186 
11EIN DEER, 
this operation the Laplanders perform with their 
teeth ; these become sooner fat when taken from 
labour ; and they are found to be stronger in draw- 
ing the sledge. There is usually one male left 
entire for every six females ; these are in rut from 
the feast of St. Matthew to about Michaelmas. 
At this time, their horns are thoroughly burnished, 
and their battles among each other are fierce and 
obstinate. The females do not begin to breed till 
they are two years old ; and then they continue 
regularly breeding every year till they are superan- 
nuated. They go with young above eight months, 
and generally bring forth two at a time. The 
fondness of the dam for her young is very remark- 
able ; it often happens, that when they are separated 
from her, she will return from pasture, keep calling 
around the cottage for them, and will not desist 
until, dead or alive, they are brought and laid at 
her feet. They are at first of a light brown ; but 
they become darker with age ; and at last the old 
ones are of a brown, almost approaching to black- 
ness. The young follow the dam for two or three 
years ; but they do not attain their full growth 
until four. They are then broke in, and managed 
for drawing the sledge ; and they continue service- 
able for four or five years longer. They never 
live above fifteen or sixteen years ; and when they 
arrive at the proper age, the Laplander generally 
kills them for the sake of their skins and their flesh. 
This he performs by striking them on the back 
of the neck with his knife, into the spinal marrow ; 
upon which they instantly fall, and he then cuts 
the arteries that lead to the heart, and lets the 
blood discharge itself into the cavity of the breasts. 
There is scarce any part of this animal that is 
not converted to its peculiar uses. As soon as it 
begins to grow old, and sometimes before the rut, 
it is killed, and the flesh dried in the air. It is 
