18G8.] MR. R. BROWN O.N THE MAMMALS OF GREENLAND. 353 



party starved a few years before. Behind Holsteeiisborg are valleys 

 full of Reindeer ; and I have heard tales of people climbing the hills 

 in that vicinity, and looking down into glens where the Reindeer 

 were so nnmerous that they might be snpposed to be the herds of 

 a wealthy Laplander. Ten thousand skins were shipped from that 

 port some years ago. They are slaughtered indiscriminately by the 

 natives — these improvident people, in nine cases out often, leaving the 

 hides and flesh, and only taking the tongues. They are bad-enough 

 shots ; and the Danish traders supply them with powder at less than 

 prime cost (viz. 36skillings, or 9d., per lb.), with a view to increase 

 the produce of the hunt ; but this ammunition is wasted in a most 

 reckless manner. 



On the way to and from these hunts up the fjords (" the interior 

 country," though really the natives know of no place off the coast 

 more than the Europeans do), with that savage desire to kill every 

 living thing, ducks are shot and left lying, or, if they feel hungry, 

 they will tear off the titbits : a Ptarmigan will be shot sitting 

 on its eggs, and the ball cut out of its body to be again used in 

 this murderous sport. There is no necessity for it ; for at this time 

 they are abundantly supplied with food, even to excess. It is, how- 

 ever, the season of sport and fun, looked forward to by the natives 

 much in the same light as we do to our grouse-shooting or deer- 

 stalking, and is about as profitable to all parties concerned. In 

 order to pursue this they leave the more lucrative Seal-fishery, and 

 neglect to lay in a winter's supply of food ; so that when the " ban- 

 yan" days come they bitterly regret their folly, and weary for the 

 bleached carcasses up the frozen fjords. Notwithstanding this, regu- 

 larly as the season comes round they are off again to the shooting 

 from far and near, and repeat the same improvident course : nor, if 

 they like it, has anybody a right to complain. In all verity, enjoy- 

 ments few enough fall to the lot of these hyperborean hunters. 



However, the effect of this indiscriminate slaughter is now being 

 felt in the decrease of the Reindeer in many j)arts where thev were 

 once common. They are no longer found on Disco Island, as in 

 the days of Cranz and Fabricius. Indeed there are now very few 

 shot in mid-Greenland, and many of the natives are giving up the 

 hunt for them altogether. During the summer of 1867 only five 

 Reindeer were killed in the district of Ritenbenk (lat. 69° 45' N.). 

 The yearly average had been about twenty or thirty ; but the Go- 

 vernor informs me that in his opinion Reindeer-hunting-days are 

 nearly over in that section of the country. In the districts of 

 Jakobshavn, Clavshavn, and Christianshaab I did not learn that one 

 had been killed. At Clavshavn a few natives went out hunting, 

 but met with bad weather, and returned for good, having only seen 

 two animals altogether, and shot nothing. 



In the southern portion of the country more are seen, not so much 

 on the coast as up the valleys by the fjords. It is in May or June 

 that most of the natives leave their winter houses, and go Reindeer- 

 hunting. When they do dry any meat, they cover it up in caches. 

 The dogs are not taken along with them. In old times, even making 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1868, No. XXIII. 



