REINDEER GRAZING INVESTIGATIONS IN ALASKA 7 
and are easily broken to drive. On a trip, the Lapps drive a double 
team ahead and lead a long string of single reindeer behind, each 
pulling a sled. (PL 3, fig. 1.) Ordinarily reindeer work better in 
company, and double driving is preferable to single. 
In experiments with a sled reindeer conducted while the reindeer 
experiment station was at Nome, training was begun by haltering 
the animal and permitting it to drag a rope about the barn inclo- 
sure for a couple of days. Then each day for three or four days 
the haltered animal was coaxed to lead a little. Finally it was har- 
nessed, gently but firmly, and. hitched with a second trained rein- 
deer to a sled and driven 2 or 3 miles. It was then returned to the 
barn, with the harness left on over night. The next morning the 
harness was removed; two days later the animal was again har- 
nessed, hitched to a sled, and driven behind a trained sled reindeer 
about 4 miles. To make the start, the animal had to be led by the 
halter a short distance until it would follow the other sled reindeer, 
and then it was off at a run. After a few sudden stops and starts, 
it finally settled down and palled its sled willingly. The next day 
it was hitched to a loaded sled and successfully driven double for a 
while, and then single for about 10 miles; thereafter the reindeer 
was steadily worked for a period with entire satisfaction. 
HARNESS 
Two types of harness are used in driving sled reindeer, one with a 
single pulling tug fastened under the chest and running between 
the hind legs, and the other with two tugs and a singletree, as used 
with a horse or dog (pi. 3, figs. 2 and 3). In the first case the tug 
is usually made of a strip of reindeer skin, since this is less apt to 
chafe the legs of the animal. Both kinds of harness are satisfactory. 
A wooden collar is used, made in tw T o pieces to fit around the neck, 
the ends fastened together by thongs. To this collar are fastened 
the side-straps leading to a body-band, which encircles the animal 
just back of the forelegs. When the singletree is used, the tugs, one 
on each side, are fastened to the body-band and are continuations of 
the straps leading from the collar. In the single-tug type, the tug 
is fastened to the harness and to the sled by means of a wooden toggle 
inserted into a loop. 
For guiding sled reindeer two driving lines attached to the halter 
are used. The animal is started by flipping one of the lines across 
the back and over the root of the tail, and is guided to the right or 
left by jerking one line or the other. 
WORK ABILITY 
To determine the value of feeding grain in the use of sled reindeer, 
a cross-country trip of 527 miles was made over a period of 42 clays, 
23 of which were spent in actual travel. In addition to the lichen 
roughage, grain was fed regularly during the entire period. For 
comparison, a dog team also was driven on the trip, and it was found 
that as a draft animal a reindeer performs the work of about three 
dogs. 
The sled reindeer made the trip very successfully, and demonstrated 
that when fed grain to keep up strength, they may be worked steadily 
