THE REINDEER. 203

tormented to such a degree, that the Laplander, if he were
to remain in the forests during the months of June, July, and
August, would run the risk of losing the greater part of his
herd, either by actual sickness, or from the deer fleeing of their
own accord to mountainous situations to escape the gad-fly.
From these causes, the Laplander is driven from the forests to
the mountains that overhang the Norway and Lapland coasts,
the elevated situations of which, and the cool breezes from
the Ocean, are unfavourable to the existence of these trouble-
some insects, which, though found on the coast, are in far
less considerable numbers there, and do not quit the valleys;
so that the deer, by ascending the highlands, can avoid
them.” Reindeer are extremely. timid when hunted, but if
the hunter can get sufficiently near to strike panic into a herd
they seem to lose all sense but that of fear, and are easily
captured in numbers. Writing of the North American Rein-
deer, Sir John Richardson says:—“The Chippewayans, the
Copper Indians, the Dog-ribs, and Hare Indians of the Great
Bear Lake, would be totally unable to inhabit their barren
grounds, were it not for the immense herds of this deer that
exist there. Of the caribou horns they form their fish spears
and hooks; the hide, dressed with the fur on, is excellent
for winter clothing, and supplies the place both of blanket
and feather bed to the inhabitants of these arctic wilds.”
Captain Franklin gives the following description of the man-
ner in which the Dog-rib Indians kill the reindeer. “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 guns of both in a horizontal posi-
tion, 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