556 H. H. Howorth—The Mammoth in Siberia. 
Capell-Brooke’s Travels in Lapland, 76, et seq. Inter alia he says : 
‘The reindeer, most contrary to expectation, was not only found 
abundantly in Scotland, but in most parts of England, particularly 
on Bagshot Heath, while the climate and even latitude of Scotland 
did not materially differ from the part of Norway whence they 
came. Notwithstanding these favourable circumstances, they died 
one by one, till I believe none remained in Scotland.’ It cannot be 
the moss is not of the same quality, for, as Mr. Brooke says, the 
reindeer is by no means particular; it eats the leaves of the birch, 
willow and aspen, particularly the former, and browses also upon 
the young herbage and the tender shoots of the mountain shrubs. 
He gives a long list of the plants upon which it habitually feeds 
in summer (op. cit. 88 and 89). He also tells us that it is sometimes 
fed on hay in the winter. In this he is supported by Mr. Laing, 
who says that it eats grass and hay as well as moss. It lives on 
moss because there is nothing else to live on in the Fjeld (Residence 
in Norway, 264). There is therefore no reason in regard to its food 
why the Reindeer should not now live in Scotland. On turning to 
Iceland we have a different tale to tell. Twenty-four does were 
embarked from Hammerfest in Finmark for that island. They 
succeeded very well, and were soon so abundant that Sir George 
Mackenzie, in his work on Iceland, says they are not unfrequently 
seen there on the mountains in herds of sixty or one hundred to- 
gether. It is clear therefore that some change has occurred recently 
in Scotland adverse to the mode of life of the reindeer. The obvious 
cause of this at first sight would be said to be that the reindeer 
thrives best in the coldest and most exposed situations: that 
Scotland and Southern Norway are too warm for it; while Spitz- 
bergen, Greenland and Siberia are its more natural habitats, and 
this proves in some measure to be confirmed by the fact that the 
reindeer formerly in not remote times lived in Scotland at a time we 
have many reasons for believing the climate there was much more 
severe than it is now. ‘This view would be partially, but not 
wholly correct. Mr. Capell-Brooke tells us at the same time that 
when the imported reindeer were dying in Scotland, others kept in 
confinement, and experiencing the very opposite reverse to their 
former mode of life, not merely survived but remained healthy and 
vigorous ; withstood the effects of a London season, and an atmo- 
sphere most unusual to them, that of a room frequently crowded to 
suffocation (op. cit. 79).” 
As I have said, reindeer thrive in the mountains north and 
east of Manchuria, a comparatively temperate region, and lived 
until quite recently, if not now, in the Southern Urals. On turning 
to Mr. Laing’s most admirable narrative of a residence in Norway, I 
find the following passage, which I believe solves the difficulty. 
Speaking of the hair and skin of the reindeer, he says, “The former 
does not throw off wet well, and even parts from the skin after any 
continuance of moisture. With our damp climate and wet ground 
the animal would be drenched through the hair to the skin for weeks 
together, and would die of cold or rot, as our sheep often do in wet 
