REINDEER 147

savagely. They were evenly matched in weight,
strength, and courage; and push as they might
neither got the upper hand, first one yielding a few
inches, then the other, while they swayed to and fro
in their struggles, smashing the bushes and ploughing
up the soil. Finally they separated and stood some
little distance apart, under the great pines ; their sides

 

REINDEER

heaving, and columns of steam rising from their
nostrils through the frosty air of the brightening
morning. And several times did the struggle re-
commence, to end indecisively.

The wapiti has twelve or more points in his antlers ;
- some have fourteen points, besides irregular prongs.

The Asiatic deer are very numerous, and are nearly all
K2