CARIBOU OR AMERICAN REINDEER. 
117 
stones and rocks until all the coloured tops of the hair are worn off, and 
their fur appears to be entirely of a soiled white colour.” 
“ The closeness of the hair of the Caribou, and the lightness of its skin, 
when properly dressed, render it the most appropriate article for winter 
clothing in the high latitudes. The skins of the young Deer make the best 
dresses, and they should be killed for that purpose in the month of August 
or September, as after the latter date the hair becomes too long and brittle. 
The prime parts of eight or ten Deer-skins make a complete suit of 
clothing for a grown person, which is so impervious to the cold that, with 
the addition of a blanket of the same material, any one so clothed may 
bivouack on the snow with safety, and even with comfort, in the most 
intense cold of an Arctic winter's night.” 
The same author gives the following habits of the variety he called 
“ Arctica “ The Barren-ground Caribou, which resort to the coast of the 
Arctic sea in summer, retire in winter to the woods lying between the 
sixty-third and the sixty-sixth degree of latitude, where they feed on the 
usnece, aledorite, and other lichens, which hang from the trees, and on the 
long grass of the swamps. About the end of April, when the partial 
melting of the snow has softened the cetrarue, cornicularitz, and cevomyces, 
which clothe the barren grounds like a carpet, they make short excursions 
from the woods, but return to them when the weather is frosty. In May 
the females proceed towards the sea-coast, and towards the end of June 
the males are in full march in the same direction. At that period the 
power of the sun has dried up the lichens on the barren grounds, and the 
Caribou frequent the moist pastures which cover the bottoms of the narrow 
valleys on the coasts and islands of the Arctic sea, where they graze on 
the sprouting carices and on the withered grass or hay of the preceding 
year, which is at that period still standing, and retaining part of its sap. 
Their spring journey is performed partly on the snow, and partly after the 
snow has disappeared, on the ice covering the rivers and lakes, which 
have in general a northerly direction. Soon after their arrival on the 
coast the females drop their young ; they commence their return to the 
south in September, and reach the vicinity of the woods towards the end 
of October, where they are joined by the males. This journey takes place 
after the snow has fallen, and they scrape it away with their feet to procure 
the lichens, which are then tender and pulpy, being preserved moist and 
unfrozen by the heat still remaining in the earth. Except in the rutting 
season, the bulk of the males and females live separately : the former 
retire deeper into the woods in winter, whilst herds of the pregnant does 
stay on the skirts of the barren grounds, and proceed to the coast very 
early in spring. Captain Parry saw Deer on Melville peninsula as late 
