Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1885 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VIII. ABOUT THE REINDEER. Their Importance To The Lapp--Eemarkable Yield--Build And Appearance--Strange Shape Of Horns--Their Growth--Reindeer versus Stag--Curious Mark Of Ownership--Fodder--Reindeer Feeding--Tame Or Wild?--Breaking-in A ReinDeer--A Fine Herd--A Splendid Forest Scene--A Comic Incident--Size Of Herds--A Rich Lapp--Enormous Totals--Precariousness Of Reindeer-raising--Enemies Of The Deer--Travelling With Reindeer--Travellers' Tales--The Speed--In Bad Weather--An Experience To Be Remembered--Marvellous Faculty Of Orientation--A Night In The Snow--The Slaughtering Season---Oestrus tarandi--Killing A Reindeer--A Cruel Method--Lapp Dainties--Charms Of The Northern Regions--The Camel Of The Arctic Desert. The most important factor in the domestic economy of the Lapp is the reindeer. They are his fields and meadows, cows and horses; and from them he obtains every article which the townsman purchases at his stores. The reindeer furnishes the Lapp with food, clothes, and labour, it supplies him with milk, cheese, meat, and money. The skin is used for clothes and furs, the skin of the head and feet for shoe-leather, and from the sale of the products of the reindeer he obtains every other requisite, such as Vadmel for clothes and tent, flour, salt, spirits, tools, and nicknacks, while from the sinews thread is made by the women, and from the horns or bones tools and glue. I intend in this chapter to describe these remarkable animals, which have an additional interest as being at one time found over the whole of Europe, but are now confined to the extreme North alone. The reindeer, which is still found in a wild state in certain parts of the Scandinavian peninsula, is both in a wild and tame state a pretty and lively animal....
