REINDEER AND SNOW-CAMELS 3 



the surface. And the Klondike climate is particularly 

 favourable to this moss, which lies over the whole 

 soil, an invisible vegetable lining, between the earth 

 and the covering snow. It is so thick that even in 

 summer, when the snow melts, this non-conducting 

 layer of moss prevents the ground from thawing. 

 Before the snow melts, the deer would be travelling 

 over one vast carpet of snow-covered food ; and as 

 each reindeer, male or female, has a projecting pal- 

 mated antler, or ' snow-scraper/ with a few sidelong 

 sweeps of which it can brush away the snow, the herds 

 have no trouble in reaching their food. 



When communications with Klondike were once 

 more open, it was found that the miners were not in 

 such straits as was supposed. But the story is evidence 

 that the animal factor is not yet struck out of the lists 

 of human needs. 



When the purchase of these reindeer was announced, 

 I received from Mr. Carl Hagenbeck, of Hamburg, 

 a suggestion of another transport animal for use in the 

 snows of Klondike. 'The best animal for the Klondike 

 climate,' he wrote, ' is the big Siberian camel. These 

 camels transport all merchandise from China to Russia, 

 and can stand Siberian cold as well as the greatest heat. 

 They never need shelter, and sleep out in the deep 

 snow. . . . They can carry from five hundredweight 

 to six hundredweight, and also go in harness and pull 



i 2 



