AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
249 
English miles in a day; or, according to their own way 
of reckoning, they can thrice change the horizon in 
twenty-four hours — that is, they can three times pass the 
most remote object which presents itself, at their setting 
out, in these dreary wastes. 
The sledge is somewhat the shape of a boat, having a 
back board, for the Laplander to lean against. Its bottom 
is convex, and so constructed, that it requires considera- 
ble experience to enable the traveller to maintain his equi- 
librium. To this the Laplander ties himself; and ma- 
nages the animals with great dexterity, by means of a stick 
and the reins. Before he enters the sledge, he puts on 
his gloves, rolls the reins round his right thumb, and 
then seats himself, giving the reins a violent shake, when 
the animals bound off with astonishing fleetness. Besides 
the reins, in directing the course of the Deer, he uses his 
voice. The Laplander lightens the tedium of his journey, 
by chanting some wild love song. These often possess 
much beauty, and breathe the native wildness of that rude 
and uncivilized people. Several of these have been trans- 
lated into English, and have attracted universal admira- 
tion, for their simplicity. The following is a specimen 
of one of these, from Consett’s Tour in Lapland. It 
affords a happy illustration of that consolation which con- 
tentment brings, in any condition of life. 
The snows are dissolving 1 on Tornao’s rude side, 
And the ice of Lulhea flows down the dark tide : 
Thy dark stream, oh, Lulhea, flows freely away ! 
And the snow-drop unfolds her pale beauties to-day. 
Far off the keen terrors of winter retire, 
And the North’s dancing streamers relinquish their fire. 
The sun’s genial beams swell the bud on the tree. 
And Enna chants forth her wild warblings with glee. 
The Rein Deer, unharness’d, in freedom shall play, 
And safely o’er Odon’s steep precipice stray; 
The wolf to the forest’s recesses shall fly, 
And howl to the moon as she glides through the sky. 
Then haste, my fair Luah, oh ! haste to the grove, 
And pass the sweet season in rapture and love ; 
In youth let our bosoms in ecstacy glow, 
For the winter of life ne’er a transport can know. 
It may seem difficult to account for the mode by which 
these people direct their course to their destination, over 
a country which presents a uniform surface of snow and 
ice — and this, even during the night. It is to the Rein 
Deer they trust their lives ; and accidents are said to be of 
rare occurrence. 
The Rein Deer feeds on the Lichen rcmgiferinus, and 
the Lichen Islandicus, the buds of coniferous evergreens, 
and other arctic plants. 
It is singular, that this animal inhabits a very limited 
R r r 
physical range, and cannot exist beyond these precincts. 
Cuvier, after a laborious investigation of these limits, has 
proved, that it never extended farther north than the 
northern boundary of Poland, nor farther south than the 
Baltic. An attempt to naturalize this species in Great 
Britain was made in 1823, but failed. In the autumn of 
that year, a Norwegian, with five Deer, arrived in Eng- 
land, which were conveyed to the seat of a gentleman in 
Worcestershire. There they remained during the winter; 
and were fed with the Lichen rangiferinus. They con- 
tinuedhealthy until thefollowing April, when they were re- 
moved to Clee Hill, on thehighestpartof which that lichen 
grows in great abundance; but before winter they had all 
died. The same attempt was made in Ireland; but with no 
better success. The Rein Deer is found wild in the Uralian 
mountains, and in Siberia. — Broivn’s Anec. of Quad. 
SNOW STORM. 
[There is something exceedingly graphic and interesting in the fol- 
lowing description of a snow storm in Scotland, by the Ettrick Shep- 
herd, and it is well calculated to give an impressive idea of the power 
of nature in one of her most magnificent aspects.] 
Of all the storms that ever Scotland witnessed, or I 
hope ever will again behold, there is none of them that can 
once be compared with the memorable 24th of January, 1794, 
which fell with such peculiar violence on thatdivision of the 
south of Scotland that lies between Crawford-muir and the 
border. In that bounds there were seventeen shepherds pe- 
rished, and upwards of thirty carried home insensible, who 
afterwards recovered; but the number of sheep that were 
lost far outwent any possibility of calculation. One farmer 
alone, lost seventy-two scores for his own share — and 
many others, in the same quarter, from thirty to forty 
scores each. Whole flocks were overwhelmed with 
snow, and no one ever knew where they were till the 
snow was dissolved, that they were all found dead. I myself 
witnessed one particular instance of this on the farm of Thick- 
side; there were twelve scores of excellent ewes, all one 
age, that were missing there all the time that the snow lay, 
which wasonly aweek, andno tracesof them couldbefound; 
when the snow went away, they were discovered all lying 
dead, with their heads one way, as if a flock of sheep had 
dropped dead going from the washi ng. Many hundreds were 
driven into waters, burns, and lakes, by the violence of the 
storm, where they were buried or frozen up, and these the 
flood canned away, so that they were never seen or found 
by the owners at all. The following anecdote somewhat 
illustrates the confusion and devastation that it bred in the 
