82 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



climate forbids ; while the food of the animal, consisting of 

 the Lichen rangiferinus, L. Islandicus, and the buds of the 

 coniferous evergreens and other arctic plants, is obtained 

 with little trouble. The domestic Reins draw his sledge with 

 such speed, that a pair of them, in the language of Lapland, 

 will change his horizon three times in the twenty-four hours : 

 that is they can pass three times the furthest limit in sight 

 on starting, which in their latitudes is computed at above 

 one hundred miles. The skin of the animal is wrought up 

 for clothing, boots, &c. ; the horns to make utensils ; the 

 sinews for thread ; the flesh for food : the milk is drank 

 fresh, or converted into cheese, and the serous part kept 

 for drink ; the bladder and the guts are also converted to 

 use, and the tongues are usually exported. 



Thus the possession of Rein-deer forms the sole riches of 

 the Laplander, and the care of them his sole occupation. 

 According to the season he migrates to the sea-shore, the 

 low lands or the mountains. The rich among them often 

 possess two thousand head, and the poorest seldom less 

 than one hundred. In their language and dialects seventy- 

 six different names of the animal or of its different states 

 may be reckoned *. In a wild state they are gregarious ; 

 in a domestic they are not only gregarious, but possessed 

 f an excessive attachment to each other. In both they 

 implicitly follow an old male through every circumstance 

 of danger or difficulty. The herdsman directs him by a 

 whistle, and a look or a stamp of the foot will make the 

 rest obey with a docility and quickness of apprehension 

 which proves the superior degree of intelligence with which 

 they are endowed f. 



The Rein-deer suffer much in the summer months from 

 insects, and particularly from the CEstris Tarandi ; the 



* See Nemnich Algemeines Polyglotten Lexicon der Natur Ges~ 

 chichte, under the word Cervus Tarandus. 



t See Mr. Bullock's interesting pamphlet on a Family of Lap- 

 landers and the Rein-deer. 



