QUADRUPEDS. 131 
bowstrings, and when split, thread ; of the horns, glue ; 
and of the bones, spoons. During the winter, the Rein- 
deer supplies the want of a horse, and draws sledges with 
amazing swiftness over the frozen lakes and rivers, or 
over the snow, which at that time covers the whole coun- 
try. Innumerable are the uses, the comforts, and advan- 
tages which the poor inhabitants of this dreary climate 
derive from this animal. We cannot sum them up better 
than in the beautiful language of the poet : 
Their Rein-deer form their riches. These their tents, 
Their robes, their beds, and all their homely wealth 
Supply, their wholesome fare, and cheerful cups : 
Obsequious at their call, the docile tribe 
Yield to the sled their necks, and whirl them swift 
O'er hill and dale, heaped into one expanse 
Of marbled snow, as far as eye can sweep, 
With a blue crust of ice unbounded glazed. 
The mode of hunting the wild Rein-deer by the Lap- 
landers, the Esquimaux, and the Indians of North Ame- 
rica, have been accurately described by late travellers. 
Captain Franklin gives the following interesting account 
of the mode practised by the Dog-rib Indians, to kill 
these animals. " The hunters go in pairs, the foremost 
man carrying in one hand the horns and part of the skin 
of the head of a Deer, and in the other a small bundle 
of twigs, against which he, from time to time, rubs the 
horns, imitating the gestures peculiar to the animal. His 
comrade follows, treading exactly in his footsteps, and 
holding the gun of both in a horizontal position, so that 
the muzzles project under the arms of him who carries the 
head. Both hunters have a fillet of white skin round their 
foreheads, and the foremost has a strip of the same round 
his wrists. They approach the herd by degrees, raising 
their legs very slowly, but setting them down somewhat 
suddenly, after the manner of a Deer, and always taking 
