REINDEER NOT DOMESTICATED IN AMERICA. 89 



carry freights, as well as provide milk for the inhabitants 

 of Lapland and the Siberian wastes, no attempt ever ap- 

 pears to have been made in the New World to utilize their 

 capacities. This is the more surprising when we consider 

 that only a few years back Russia possessed a large por- 

 tion of the north-west angle of the Continent of America, 

 a country literally swarming with wild caribou, from the 

 herds of which no difficulty would be found to make cap- 

 tives. Still, such has never been done with a view of utiliz- 

 ing their labor, although in her possessions across the Behr- 

 ing Sea reindeer are in constant use among the sparse pop- 

 ulation that inhabits the North Asiatic slopes that margin 

 the Pacific. Between America and Asia, up in these high 

 latitudes, for many years an extensive trade has been car- 

 ried on in furs, so that the inhabitants of the one continent 

 must have intercourse with, and a knowledge of the ways 

 of life of the other. 



Although the reindeer easily becomes domesticated, and 

 when in that state is no more difficult to herd than sheep, 

 still, when in the wild state, particularly if near to the con- 

 fines of civilization, they are of all game the most difficult 

 to approach, even to obtain sight of. Their large, heavy 

 ears enable them to possess most wonderful powers of 

 hearing, and their olfactory organs and sight are none the 

 less acute; so that they are able to distinguish the approach 

 of an intruder upon their demesne long before the sports- 

 man is aware of their presence. Thus, when hunting car- 

 ibou, I have often come across the indentations caused by 

 their tread in the soft, bent moss of the swamp, and so late- 

 ly made that you might observe the pressed stems revert- 

 ing to their original position, still no sight of the quarry 

 could be obtained, although it was impossible they could 

 be more than a second or two in your advance. However, 

 the caribou has a way of stealing off, gliding, as it were, 



