n6 HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 



tame Deer, on the contrary, is patient, active, and wil- 

 ling. When hard pufhed, the Rein-deer will trot the 



diftance of fixty miles without flopping ; but in fuch ex- 

 ertions, the poor obedient creature fatigues itfelf fo ex- 

 ceedingly, that its mafter is frequently obliged to kill it 

 immediately, to prevent a lingering death that would en- 

 fue. In general, they can go about thirty miles without 

 flopping; and that without any great or dangerous effort, 

 —-This mode of travelling can be performed only in the 

 winter feafon, when the face of the country is covered 

 with fnow ; and, although the conveyance is fpeedy, it 

 is inconvenient, dangerous, and troublefome. 



As the Rein-deer constitutes the fole riches of the 

 Laplander, it may well be fuppofed, that a conftant at- 

 tention to preferve and fecure it, forms the chief employ- 

 ment of his iife. It is no uncommon thing, for one per- 

 fon to poflefs above five hundred in a fingle herd. 



As foon as fummer appears, which forms but a fhort 

 interval from the moil piercing cold, the Laplander, who 

 had fed his Rein-deer upon the lower grounds during the 

 winter, drives them up to the mountains, leaving the 

 woody country and the low paflures, which at that fea- 

 fon are in a flate truly deplorable. Myriads of infecls, 

 bred by the heat of the fun in the woods and fens with 

 which this country abounds, are all upon the wing ; the 

 whole atmofphere fwarms with life ; every place and eve- 

 ry creature is infefted ; the natives are obliged to cover 

 their faces with a mixture of pitch and milk, to fhield 

 them from thefe minute invaders, which are drawn in 

 with the breath, and enter the noftrils, and even the 

 eyes: But they are chiefly inimical to the Rein-deer: 

 The horns of that animal being then tender, and covered 

 with a fkin which renders them extremely fenfitive, a 



