406 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 



its excellency when it is in good order in the proper season. 

 Captain Hardy, speaking of the Woodland Caribou, says : " Ev- 

 ery pound of meat pays for packing it out of the woods, being, 

 in my opinion, far finer wild meat thafi any other venison I have 

 tasted." On the other hand, Richardson says of this deer : " It 

 is much larger than the Barren-ground Caribou ; has smaller 

 horns, and is much inferior as an article of food." However, 

 as this is but a comparison, and, as we shall presently see, he 

 speaks in high terms of the flesh of the smaller species, the tastes 

 of these two observers might not be irreconcilable, at last. After 

 all, tastes so widely differ, especiallj'' as to game food, men may 

 well disagree as to the quality of this meat. From other sources 

 I learn that this venison is generally very highly esteemed. I 

 have nowhere seen a comparison made between the flesh of our 

 Caribou and that of the European Reindeer or between that of 

 the tame and the wild Reindeer there. 



Richardson is almost our only authority that speaks dii-ectly 

 to the quality of the venison of the Barren-ground Caribou. 

 " The flesh of the Caribou is very tender, and its flavor when in 

 season is, in my opinion, superior to the finest English venison ; 

 but when the animal is lean it is very insipid ; the difference 

 being greater between well-fed and lean Caribou than any one 

 can conceive who has not had an opportunity of judging. The 

 lean meat fills the stomach, but never satisfies the appetite, and 

 scarcely serves to recruit the strength when exhausted by labor. 

 The flesh of the moose deer and buffalo, on the other hand, is 

 tough when lean, but is never so utterly tasteless and devoid of 

 nourishment as that of the Caribou in poor condition." All flesh 

 from poor animals has a larger proportion of water, and is 

 of poorer flavor, and is less nourishing than from fat ani'mals, 

 even the muscle ; but we may believe from this statement of so 

 good an observer, and having such abundant opportunities to 

 form an opinion, that the flesh of the Barren- ground Caribou is 

 exceptional in this regard. Whether this is a constitutional pe- 

 culiarity, or results from peculiarity of food, we may not safely 

 say. Certain it is that, in the spring or summer time, when, if 

 they are like all the other deer, they are in the poorest condition, 

 they get no arboreous food, being dependent entirely on the 

 lichens of the barren grounds, only finding tree food in their 

 southern range in the fall and winter. But then that is their 

 principal food at all times, and is generally accredited as being 

 very nourishing. The other species, too, depend very largely on 



