THE EBINDBBE. 453 



all of them had dug holes so deep that I could see only their 

 tails, which swayed to and fro. This was certainly a landscape 

 I had never seen before." 



It is a well-attested fact, although a singular one, that the rein-r 

 deer occasionally eats the lemming, or mountain rat. 



A good deer is capable of drawing a weight of nearly 300 lbs., 

 but the Laplanders generally allot about 240 lbs. for each animal. 

 They are by their construction better calculated for hauling than 

 for carrying weights, yet in some countries they are made 

 available even for this purpose, and formerly in Kamtschatka, 

 Siberia, and even in Russia, they were ridden by travellers. 

 Martin Sauer, in his account of the geographical and astronomical 

 expedition performed by Commodore Joseph Billings to the 

 northern parts of Russia, by command of the Empress Catherine 

 the Second, during the latter part of the last century, gives a 

 curious description of this mode of travelling : " Having with 

 me," he writes, " the ship-builder and my servant, at 3 p.m. I 

 left the party mounted on a beautiful young reindeer ; the saddle 

 placed on its shoulders, without stirrups ; no bridle, but a leather 

 thong about five fathoms long tied round the head of the deer ; 

 this is kept in the rider's left hand, that he may prevent its escape 

 if he falls, and when refreshing have a little scope to select its 

 food, A strong stick about five feet long assists the rider to 

 mount, though the Tungoose, for this purpose use their bow ; 

 standing on the right side of the deer, they put the left leg upon 

 the saddle, lean on the stick with the right hand, and spring up 

 with astonishing apparent ease : we, however, could not effect it 

 by any means without assistance ; and during about three hours' 

 travelling, I daresay that we fell near twenty times. The top of 

 the saddle is square and flat, projecting a few inches over the 

 sides of the deer ; the seat is secured by drawing up the calves of 

 the legs towards the thighs, and clinging fast to the projecting 

 parts of the saddle, which at first causes astonishing pain to the 

 thighs ; by the third day, however, I became a very expert rider ; 

 the ship-builder could not manage it at all, and went for the 

 most part on foot: of course my travelling was not very ex- 

 peditious." 



