434 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



■or by the help of the dogs, to join their fellows trotting briskly 

 •on ahead. Amid renewed general grunting, and loud barking 

 from the dogs, the reassembled herd surges onwards; a very forest 

 ■of antlers presses forwards, and something akin to sportsman's 

 joy stirs the heart of the spectator who is unfamiliar with the 

 sight. 



The sun is declining; the draught animals groan heavily, their 

 tongues hanging far out of their mouths; it is time to allow them 

 rest. At a short distance, beside one of the innumerable lakes, 

 there rises a low flat hill. Towards it the herdsman directs his 

 course, and on its summit he brings his antlered team to a stand. 

 One sledge after another arrives; the herd also soon comes up and 

 immediately betakes itself to the best grazing -ground, quickly 

 followed by the unharnessed draught animals. 



The women select a suitable spot for erecting the tshum, place 

 the poles upright in a circle, and cover them with the sheets of 

 bark; the herdsman in the meantime takes his already prepared 

 noose, and with experienced eye picks out a young, fat stag from 

 the herd. Quickly he casts the lasso over its horns and neck. In 

 vain the animal struggles for his freedom; the huntsman comes 

 nearer and nearer, and the reindeer follows him unresisting towards 

 the tshum, which has now been erected. An axe -stroke on the 

 back of the head fells the victim to the ground, and a knife is 

 plunged into his heart. In a couple of minutes the animal is 

 skinned and dexterously cut up. A minute la,ter all the members 

 ■of the family, who have assembled hastily, are dipping strips of 

 ■cut-up liver into the blood collected in the breast-cavity, and the 

 '" bloody meal" begins. Crouching in a circle round the still warm 

 stag, each cuts himself a rib or a piece of the back or haunch; lips 

 become red as if they had been badly painted; drops of blood flow 

 ■down over chin and breast; the hands, too, are stained, and, dripping 

 with blood, they smear the nose and cheeks; and blood-stained 

 countenances meet the astonished stranger's gaze. The baby 

 leaves its mother's breast to share in the meal, and after he has 

 swallowed a piece of liver, and reddened face, hands, and whatever 

 else he can reach, he crows with joy as his careful mother breaks 



