In America this animal is much more common than in Europe. With us there are but two known varieties the red, which is the largest sort; and the brown, with a spot behind, which is less. But in the new continent the breed is extremely numerous, and the varieties in equal proportion. In Louisiana, where they are extremely common, they are much larger than in Europe, and the inhabitants live in a great measure upon its flesh, which tastes like mutton when well fatted. They are also found in Brazil, where they have the name of “cugacu apara," only differing from ours in some slight deviations in the horns. This animal is also said to be common in China, although such as have described it seem to confound it with the musk goat, which is quite of a different nature. THE ELK.-We have hitherto been describing minute animals in comparison of the elk the size of which, from concurrent testimony, appears to equal that of the elephant itself. It is an animal rather of the buck than the stag kind, as its horns are flatted towards the top; but it is far beyond both in stature, some of them being known to be above ten feet high It is a native both of the old and new continent, being known in Europe under the name of the "elk," and in America by that of the "moose-deer." It is sometimes taken in the German and Russian forests, although seldom appearing; but it is extremely common in North America, where the natives pursue and track it in the snow. The ac counts of this animal are extremely various-some describing it as being no higher than a horse, and others about twelve feet high. As the stature of this creature makes its chief pecuharity, so it were to be wished that we could come to some precision upon that head. If we were to judge of its size by the horns, which are sometimes fortuitously dug up in many parts of Ireland, we should not be much amiss in ascribing them to an animal ten feet high. One of these I have seen, which was ten feet nine inches from one tip to the other. From such dimensions it is easy to perceive that it required an animal far beyond the size of a horse to support them. To bear a head with such extensive and heavy antlers required no small degree of strength; and without all doubt the bulk of the body must have been proportionable to the size of the horns. I remember some years ago to have seen a small moose-deer, which was brought from America by a gentleman of Ireland; it was about the size of a horse, and the horns were very little larger than those of a common stag: this, therefore, serves to prove that the horns bear an exact proportion to the animal's size; the small elk has but small horns; whereas those enormous ones which we have described above must have belonged to a proportionable creature. In all the more noble animals Nature observes a perfect symmetry; and it is not to be supposed she fails in this single instance. We have no reason, therefore, to doubt the accounts of Jocelyn and Dudley, who affirm that they have been found fourteen spans, which, at nine inches to a span, makes the animal almost eleven feet high. Others have extended their accounts to twelve and fourteen feet, which makes this creature one of the most formidable of the forest. There is but very little difference between the European elk and the American moose-deer, as they are but varieties of the same animal. It may be rather larger in America than with us; as in the forests of that unpeopled country it receives less disturbance than in our own. In all places, however, it is timorous and gentle-content with its pasture, and never willing to disturb any other animal when supplied itself. The European elk grows to above seven or eight feet high. In the year 1742 there was a female of this animal shown at Paris, which was caught in a forest of Red Russia, belonging to the Cham of Tartary; it was then but young, and its height was even at that time six feet seven inches; but the describer observes that it has since become much taller and thicker, so that we may suppose this female at least seven feet high. There have been no late opportunities of seeing the male; but, by the rule of proportion, we may esti mate his size at eight or nine feet at the least, which is about twice as high as an ordinary horse. The height, however, of this female which was measured was but six feet seven inches Paris measure, or almost seven English feet high. It was ten feet from the tip of the nose to the insertion of the tail, and eight feet round the body. The hair was very long and coarse, like that of a wild boar. The ears resembled those of a mule, and were a foot and a half long. The upper jaw was longer by six inches than the lower; and, like other ruminating animals, it had no teeth (cutting teeth, I suppose the describer means). It had a large beard under the throat, like a goat; and in the middle of the forehead, between the horns, there was a bone as large as an egg. The nostrils were four inches long on each side of the mouth. It made use of its fore-feet as a defence against its enemies. Those who showed it asserted that it ran with astonishing swiftness, and that it swam with equal expedition, and was very fond of the water. They gave it thirty pounds of bread every day, besides hay, and it drank eight buckets of water. It was tame and familiar, and submissive enough to its keeper. This description differs in many circumstances from that which we have of the moose or American elk, which the French call the original. Of these there are two kinds-the common light grey moose, which is not very large; and the black moose, which grows to an enor mous height. Mr. Dudley observes that a doe or hind of the black moose kind of the fourth year wanted but an inch of being seven feet high. All, however, of both kinds have flat palmed horns, not unlike the fallow deer, only that the palm is much larger, having a short trunk at the head, and then immediately spreading above a foot broad, with a kind of small antlers like teeth on one of the edges. In this particular all of the elk kind agree, as well the European elk as the grey and the black moose-deer. The grey moose deer is about the size of a horse, and although it has large buttocks its tail is not more than an inch long. As in all of this kind the upper lip is much longer than the under, it is said that they continue to go back as they feed. Their nostrils are so large that a man may thrust his hand in a considerable way; and their horns are as long as those of a stag, but, as was observed, much broader. The black moose is the enormous animal mentioned above, from eight to twelve feet high. Jocelyn, who is the first English writer that mentions it, says that it is a goodly creature twelve feet high, with exceeding fair horns, which have broad palms, two fathoms from the top of one horn to another. He assures us that it is a creature, or rather a monster, of superfluity, and many times bigger than an English ox. This account is confirmed by Dudley; but he does not give so great an expansion to the horns, measuring them only thirty-one inches between one tip and the other: however, that such an extraordinary animal as Jocelyn describes has actually existed we can make no manner of doubt, since there are horns common enough to be seen among us twelve feet from one tip to the other. These animals delight in cold countries, feeding upon grass in summer and the bark of trees in winter. When the whole country is deeply covered with snow the moose-deer herd together under the tall pine-trees, strip off the bark, and remain in that part of the forest while it yields them subsistence. It is at that time that the natives prepare to hunt them, particularly when the sun begins to melt the snow by day, which is frozen again at night; for then the icy crust which covers the surface of the snow is too weak to support so great a bulk, and only retards the animal's motion, When the Indians, T therefore, perceive a herd of these at a distance they immediately prepare for pursuit-which is not, as with us, the sport of an hour, but is attended with toil, difficulty, and danger. The timorous animal no sooner observes its enemies approach than it immediately endeavours to escape, but sinks at every step it takes. Still, however, it pursues its way through a thousand obstacles; the snow, which is usually four feet deep, yields to its weight and embarrasses its speed; the sharp ice wounds its feet; and its lofty horns are entangled in the branches of the forest as it passes along. The trees, however, are broken down with ease; and wherever the moose-deer runs it is perceived by the snapping off the branches of the trees, as thick as a man's thigh, with its horns. The chase lasts in this manner for the whole day, and sometimes it has been known to continue for two or three days together-for the pursuers are often not less excited by famine than the pursued by fear. Their perseverance, however, generally succeeds; and the Indian who first comes near enough darts his lance with unerring aim, which sticks in the poor animal, and at first increases its efforts to escape. In this manner the moose trots heavily on (for that is its usual pace) until its pursuers come up and repeat the blow: upon this it again summons up sufficient vigour to get ahead; but at last, quite tired and spent with loss of blood, it sinks (as the describer expresses it) like a ruined building, making the earth shake beneath its fall. This animal when killed is a valuable acquisition to the hunters. The flesh is exceedingly well tasted, and is said to be very nourishing. The hide is strong, and so thick that it has been often known to turn a musketball; however, it is soft and pliable, and when tanned, the leather is extremely light, yet very lasting. The fur is a light grey in some and blackish in others; and through a microscope appears spongy like a bulrush, and is smaller at the roots and points than in the middle; for this reason it lies very flat and smooth, and, though beaten or abused never so much, it always returns to its former state. The horns are not less useful, being ap plied to all the purposes for which hartshorn is beneficial: these are different in different animals; in some they resemble those of the European elk, which spread into a broad palm, with small antlers on one of the edges; in others they have a branched brow antler between the bur and the palm, which the German elk has not: and in this they entirely agree with those whose horns are so frequently dug up in Ireland. This animal is said to be troubled with the epilepsy, as it is often found to fall down when pursued, and thus becomes an easier prey; for this reason—an imaginary virtue has been ascribed to the hinder hoof, which some have supposed to be a specific against all epileptic disorders. This, however, may be considered as a vulgar error; as well as that of its curing itself of this disorder by applying the hinder hoof behind the ear. After all, this animal is but very indifferently and confusedly described by travellers each mixing his account with something false or trivial; often mistaking some other animal for the elk, and confounding its history. Thus some have mistaken it for the rein-deer, which in everything but size it greatly resembles; some have supposed it to be the same with the tapurette, from which it entirely differs; some have described it as the common red American stag, which scarcely differs from our own; and, lastly, some have confounded it with the bubalus, which is more properly a gazelle of Africa. THE REIN-DEER.-Of all animals of the deer kind the rein-deer is the most extraordinary and the most useful. It is a native of the icy regions of the north; and though many attempts have been made to accustom it to a more southern climate, it shortly feels the influence of the change, and in a few months declines and dies. Nature seems to have fitted it entirely to answer the necessities of that hardy race of mankind that live near the pole. As these would find it impossible to subsist among their barren snowy mountains without its aid, so this animal can live only there, where its assistance is most absolutely necessary. From it alone the natives of Lapland and Greenland supply most of their wants; it answers the purposes of a horse to convey them and their scanty furniture from one mountain to another; it answers the purposes of a cow in giving milk; and it answers the purposes of the sheep in furnishing them with a warm though a homely kind of clothing. From this quadruped alone, therefore, they receive as many advantages as we derive from three of our most useful creatures; so that Providence does not leave these poor outcasts entirely destitute, but gives them a faithful domestic, more patient and serviceable than any other in Nature. The rein-deer resembles the American elk in the fashion of its horns. It is not easy in words to describe these minute differences; nor will the reader, perhaps, have a distinct idea of the similitude when told that both have brow-antlers, very large, and hanging over their eyes, palmated towards the top, and bending forward like a bow. But here the similitude between these two animals ends; for, as the elk is much larger than the stag, so the rein-deer is much smaller. It is lower and stronger built than the stag; its legs are shorter and thicker, and its hoofs much broader than in that animal; its hair is much thicker and warmer, its horus much larger in proportion, and branching forward over its eyes; its ears are much larger; its pace is rather a trot than bounding, and this it can continue for a whole day; its hoofs are cloven and moveable, so that it spreads them abroad as it goes to prevent its sinking in the snow. When it proceeds on a journey it lays its great horns on its back, while there are two branches which always hang over its forehead and almost cover its face. One thing seems peculiar to this animal and the elk-which is, that as they move along their hoofs are heard to crack with a pretty loud noise. This arises from their manner of treading; for as they rest upon their cloven hoof it spreads on the ground, and the two divisions separate from each other, but when they lift it the divisions close again, and strike against each other with a crack. The female, also, of the rein-deer has horns as well as the male, by which the species is distinguished from all other animals of the deer kind whatsoever. When the rein-deer first shed their coat of hair they are brown; but in proportion as summer approaches their hair begins to grow whitish, until at last they are nearly grey. They are, however, always black about the eyes. The neck has long hair, hanging down, and coarser than upon any other part of the body; the feet at the insertion of the hoof are surrounded with a ring of white; the hair in general stands so thick over the whole body, that if one should attempt to separate it the skin will nowhere appear uncovered: whenever it falls, also, it is not seen to drop from the root, as in other quadrupeds, but seems broken short near the bottom; so that the lower part of the hair is seen growing while the upper part falls away. The horns of the female are made like those of the male, except that they are smaller and less branching. As in the rest of the deer kind they sprout from the points; and in the beginning they are furnished with a hairy crust, which supports the blood-vessels, of most exquisite sensibility. The rein-deer shed their horns after rutting time, at the latter end of November; and they are not completely furnished again till towards autumn. The female always retains hers till she brings forth, and then sheds them about the beginning of November. If she be barren, however (which is not unfrequently the case), she does not shed them while winter. The castration of the rein-deer does not prevent the shedding of their horns; those which are the strongest cast them early in winter-those which are most weakly not so soon. Thus, from all these circumstances we see how greatly this animal differs from the common stag. The female of the rein-deer has horns, which the hind is never seen to have; the rein deer when castrated renews its horns, which we are assured the stag never does. It differs not less in its habits and manner of living, being tame, submissive, and patient; while the stag is wild, capricious, and unmanageable. The rein-deer, as was said, is naturally an inhabitant of the countries bordering on the arctic circle. It is not unknown to the natives of Siberia. The North Americans also hunt it under the name of the "caribou." But in Lapland this animal is appropriated to the most advantage; and some herdsmen of that country are known to possess above a thousand in a single herd. Lapland is divided into two districts—the mountainous and the woody. The mountainous part of the country is at best barren and bleak, excessively cold, and uninhabitable during the winter; still, however, it is the most desirable part of this frightful region, and is most thickly peopled during the summer. The natives generally reside on the declivity of the mountains, three or four cottages together, and lead a cheerful and social life. On the approach of winter they are obliged to migrate into the plains below, each bringing down his whole herd, which often amounts to more than a thou sand, and leading them where the pasture is in greatest plenty. The woody part of the country is much more desolate and hideous: the whole face of Nature there presents a frightful scene of trees without fruit and plains without verdure. As far as the eye can reach nothing is to be seen, even in the midst of summer, but barren fields, covered only with a moss almost as white as snow; no grass, no flowery landscapes-only here and there a pine-tree, which may have escaped the frequent conflagrations by which the natives burn down their forests. But what is more extraordinary, as the whole surface of the country is clothed in white, so on the contrary the forests seem to the last degree dark and gloomy. While one kind of moss makes the fields look as if they were covered with snow, another kind blackens over all their trees, and even hides their verdure. This moss, however, which darkens the country serves for its only support, as upon it alone the rein-deer can subsist. The inhabitants (who, during the summer, live among the mountains) drive down their herds in winter, and people the plains and woods below. Such of the Laplanders as inhabit the woods and plains throughout the year live remote from each other, and, having been used to solitude, are melancholy, ignorant, and helpless. They are much poorer, also, than the mountaineers; for while one of those is found to possess a thousand rein-deer at & time, none of these are ever known to rear the tenth part of that number. The rein-deer makes the riches of this people; and the cold mountainous parts of the country agree best with its constitution. It is for this reason, therefore, that the mountains of Lapland are preferred to the woods, and that many claim an exclu sive right to the tops of bills covered in almost snow. As soon as the summer begins to appear the Laplander, who had fed his rein-deer upon the lower grounds during the winter, then drives them up to the mountains, and leaves the woody country and the low pasture, which at that season are truly deplorable. The gnats, bred by the sun's heat in the marshy bottoms and the weedy lakes with which the country abounds more than any other part of the world, are all upon the wing and fill the whole air, like clouds of dust in a dry windy day. The inhabitants at that time are obliged to daub their faces with pitch, mixed with milk, to shield their skins from their depredations. All places are then so greatly infested that the poor natives can scarce open their mouths without fear of suffocation; the insects enter, from their numbers and minuteness, into the nostrils and the eyes, and do not leave the sufferer a moment at his ease. But they are chiefly enemies to the rein-deer: the horns of that animal being then in their tender state, and possessed of extreme sensibility, a famished cloud of insects instantly settle upon them, and drive the poor animal almost to distraction. In this extremity there are but two remedies, to which the quadruped as well as its master are obliged to have recourse. The one is, for both to take shelter near their cottage, where a large fire of tree-moss is prepared, which, filling the whole place with smoke, keeps off the gnat, and thus by one inconvenience expels a greater; the other is, to ascend to the highest summit of the mountains, where the air is too thin and the weather too cold for the gnats to come. There the rein-deer are seen to continue the whole day, although without food, rather than venture down to the lower parts, where they can have no defence against their unceasing persecutors. Besides the gnat, there is also a gadfly, that during the summer season is no less formidable to them. This insect is bred under their skins, where the egg has been deposited the preceding summer: and it is no sooner produced as a fly than it again endeavours to deposit its eggs in some place similar to that from whence it came. Whenever, therefore, it appears flying over a herd of rein-deer, it puts the whole body, how numerous soever, into motion; they know their enemy, and do all they can, by tossing their horns and running among each other, to terrify or avoid it. All their endeavours, however, are too generally without effect; the gadfly is seen to deposit its eggs, which, burrowing under the skin, wound it in several places, and often bring on an incurable disorder. In the morning, therefore, as soon as the Lapland herdsman drives his deer to pasture, his greatest care is to keep them from scaling the summits of the mountains where there is no food, but where they go merely to be at ease from the gnats and gadflies that are ever annoying them. At this time there is a strong contest between the dogs and the deer-the one endeavouring to climb up against the side of the hill, and to gain those summits that are covered in eternal snows; the other forcing them down by barking and threatening, and, in a manner, compelling them to go to the places where their food is in the greatest plenty. There the men and dogs confine them-guarding them with the utmost precaution the whole day, and driving them home at the proper seasons for milking. The female brings forth in the middle of May, and gives milk till about the middle of October. Every morning and evening during the summer the herdsman returns to the cottage with his deer to be milked, where the women previously have kindled up a smoky fire, which effectually drives off the gnats, and keeps the rein-deer quiet while milking. The female furnishes about a pint, which, though thinner than that of the cow, is, nevertheless, sweeter and more nourishing. This done, the herdsman drives them back to pasture-as he neither folds nor houses them, neither provides for their subsistence during the winter, nor improves their pasture by cultivation. "On the return of winter, when the gnats and flies are no longer to be feared, the Laplander descends into the lower grounds; and, as there are but few to dispute the possession of that desolate country, he has an extensive range to feed them in. Their chief and almost their only food at that time is the white moss already mentioned, which, from its being fed upon by this animal, obtains the name of the "lichen rangiferimus." This is of two kinds the woody lichen, which covers almost all the desert parts of the country like snow; the other is black, and covers the branches of the trees in very great quantities. However unpleasing these may be to the spectator, the native esteems them as one of his choicest benefits and the most indulgent gift of Nature. While his fields are clothed with moss he envies neither the fertility nor the verdure of the more southern landscape, dressed up warmly in his deer-skin clothes, with shoes and gloves of the same materials, he drives his herds along the desert, fearless and at ease, ignorant of any higher luxury than what their milk and smoke-dried flesh affords him. Hardened to the climate, he sleeps in the midst of ice; or, awaking, dozes away his time with tobacco; while his faithful dogs supply his place and keep the herd from wandering. The deer in the meantime, with instincts adapted to the soil, pursue their food, thougn covered in the deepest snow. They turn it up with their noses like swine; and, even though its surface be frozen and stiff, yet the hide is so hardened in that part that they easily overcome the difficulty. It sometimes, however, happens, though but rarely, that the winter commences with rain, and a frost ensuing, covers the whole country with a glazed crust of ice. Then, indeed, both the rein-deer and the Laplander are undone; they have no provisions laid up in case of accident, and the only resource is to cut down the large pine-trees that are covered with moss, which furnish but a scanty supply; so that the greatest part of the herd is then seen to perish without a possibility of assistance. It sometimes also happens that even this supply is wanting; for the Laplander often burns down his woods in order to improve and fertilise the soil which produces the moss upon which he feeds his cattle. In this manner the pastoral life is still continued near the pole; neither the coldness of the winter nor the length of the nights-neither the wildness of the forest nor the vagrant disposition of the herd, interrupt the even tenor of the Laplander's life. By night and day he is seen attending his favourite cattle, and remains unaffected in a season which would be speedy death to those bred up in a milder climate. He gives himself no uneasiness to house his herds, or to provide a winter subsistence for them; he is at the trouble neither of manuring his grounds nor bringing in his harvests; he is not the hireling of another's luxury;-all his labours are to obviate the necessities of his own situation; and these he undergoes with cheerfulness, as he is sure to enjoy the fruits of his own industry. If, therefore, we compare the Laplander with the peasant of more southern climates, we shall have little reason to pity his situation; the climate in which he lives is rather terrible to us than to him; and as for the rest, he is blessed with liberty, plenty, and ease. The rein-deer alone supplies him with all the wants of life and some of the conveniences serving to show how many advantages Nature is capable of supplying when Necessity gives the call. Thus the poor, little, helpless native, who was originally, perhaps, driven by fear or famine into those inhospitable climates, would seem at first view to be the most wretched of mankind: but it is far otherwise; he looks round among the few wild animals that his barren country can maintain, and singles out one from among them, and that of a kind which the rest of mankind have not thought worth taking from a state of nature; this he cultivates, propagates, and multiplies, and from this alone derives every comfort that can soften the severity of his situation. The rein-deer of this country are of two kinds the wild and the tame. The wild are larger and stronger, but more mischievous than the others. Their breed, however, is preferred to that of the tame; and the female of the latter is often sent into the woods, from whence she returns home impregnated by one of the wild kind. These are fitter for drawing the sledge, to which the Laplander accustoms them betimes, and yokes them to it by a strap, which goes round the neck, and comes down between their legs. The sledge is exceed ingly light, and shod at the bottom with the skin of a young deer, the hair turned to slide on the frozen snow. The person who sits on this guides the animal with a cord fastened round the horns, encouraging it to proceed with his voice and driving it with a goad. Some of the wild breed, though by fa the strongest, are yet very refractory, and often turn upon their drivers who have then no other resource but to cover themselves with their sledge, and let the animal vent its fury upon that. But it is otherwise with those that are tame; no creature can be more active, patient, and willing. When hard pushed they will trot nine or ten Swedish (or between fifty and sixty English) miles at one stretch; but in such a case the poor obedient creature fatigues itself to death, and, if not prevented by the Laplander, who kills it immediately, it would die in a day or two after. In general they can go about thirty miles without halt ing, and this without any great or dangerous efforts. This, which is the only manner of travelling in that country, can be performed only in winter, when the snow is glazed over with ice; and although it is a very speedy method of conveyance, yet it is inconvenient, dangerous, and troublesome. In order to make these animals more obedient and more generally serviceable, they castrate them. This operation the Laplanders perform with their teeth; these become sooner fat when taken from labour, and they are found to be stronger when drawing the sledge. They usually leave one entire male to 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 until they are superannuated. 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 remarkable; it often happens that when they are separated from her she will return from pasture, keep calling round 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 blackness. The young follow the dam for two or three years; but they do not acquire their full growth until four. They are then broke in, and managed for drawing the sledge; and they continue serviceable 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 breast. 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 some time before the rat, it is killed, and the flesh dried in the air. It is also sometimes dried and hardened with smoke, and laid up for travelling provision when the natives migrate from one part of the country to another. During the winter the rein-deer are slaughtered as are sheep with us; and every four persons in a family are allowed one rein-deer for their week's subsistence. In spring they spare the herd as much as they can, and live upon fresh fish. In summer the milk and curd of the rein-deer makes their chief provision; and in autumn they live wholly upon fowls, which they kill with a cross-bow or catch in springes. Nor is this so scanty an allowance, since at that time the sea-fowls come in such abundance that their ponds and springs are covered over. These are not so shy as with us, but yield themselves an easy prey. They are chiefly allured to these places by the swarms of gnats which infest the country during summer, and now repay the former inconveniences, by inviting such numbers of birds as supply the natives with food a fourth part of the year. The milk when newly taken is warmed in a cauldron and thickened with rennet; and then the curd is pressed into cheeses, which are small and well tasted. These it dies from mere inanition; and not one of these that are never found to breed mites, as is the case with cheese of other countries-probabably because the mite-fly is not to be found in Lapland. The whey which remains is warmed up again, and becomes of a consistence as if thickened with the white of an egg. Upon this the Laplanders feed during the summer: it is pleasant and well tasted, but not very nourishing. As to butter, they seldom make any, because the milk affords but a very small quantity, and this both in taste and consistence more nearly resembles suet. They never keep their milk till it turns sour, and do not dress it into the different sorts of dishes which the more southern countries are known to do. The only delicacy they make from it is with wood-sorrel, which, being boiled up with it and then left to coagulate, the whole is put into casks or deer-skins, and kept under ground to be consumed in are attacked with this disorder are ever found to recover. Notwithstanding, it is but very lately known in that part of the world; although, during the last ten or fifteen years it has spoiled whole provinces of this necessary creature. It is contagious: and the moment the Laplander perceives any of his herd infected he hastens to kill them immediately before it spreads any farther. When examined internally, there is a frothy substance found in the brain and round the lungs; the intestines are lax and flabby, and the spleen is diminished almost to nothing. The Laplander's only cure in all these dis orders is to anoint the animal's back with tar; if this does not succeed, he considers the disease as beyond the power of art; and, with his natural phlegm, submits to the severities of Fortune. winter. The skin is even a more valuable part of this animal than either of the former. From that part of it which covered the head and feet they make their strong snowshoes, with the hair on the outside. Of the other parts they compose their garments, which are extremely warm, and which cover them all over. The hair of these also is on the outside; and they sometimes line them with the fur of the glutton, or some other warm-furred animal of that climate. These skins also serve them for beds. They spread them on each side of the fire, upon some leaves of the dwarf birch-tree, and in this manuer lie both soft and warm. Many garments made of the skin of the rein-deer are sold every year to the inhabitants of the more southern parts of Europe; and they are found so serviceable in keeping out the cold, that even people of the first rank are known to wear them. In short, no part of this animal is thrown away as useless. The blood is preserved in small casks, to make sance with the marrow in spring; the horns are sold to be converted into glue; the sinews are dried, and divided so as to make the strongest kind of sewing thread, not unlike catgut; the tongues, which are considered as a great delicacy, are dried, and sold into the more southern provinces; the intestines themselves are washed like our tripe, and in high esteem among the QUADRUPEDS OF THE HOG KIND. natives. Thus the Laplander finds all his necessities amply supplied from this single animal; and he who has a large herd of these animals has no idea of higher luxury. Besides the internal maladies of this animal, there are some external enemies which it has to fear. The bears now and then make depredations upon the herd; but of all their persecutors, that ravenous creature called the "glutton" is the most dangerous and the most successful. The war between these is carried on not less in Lapland than in North America, where the rein-deer is called the "caribou," and the glutton the "carcajou." This animal, which is not above the size of the badger, waits whole weeks together for its prey, concealed in the branches of some spreading tree; and when the wild rein-deer passes underneath it suddenly drops down upon it, fixing its teeth and claws into the neck immediately behind the horns. It is in vain that the wounded animal then flies for protection-that it rustles among the branches of the forest; the glutton still holds its former position, and, although it often loses a part of its skin and flesh, which are rubbed off against the trees, yet it still keeps fast, until its victim drops with fatigue and loss of blood. The deer has but one only method of escape, which is by jumping into the water. That element its enemy cannot endure; for, as we are told, it quits its hold immediately, and then thinks only of providing for its own personal security. But although the rein-deer be a very hardy and vigorous animal, it is not without its diseases. I have already mentioned the pain it feels from the gnat, and the apprehensions it is under from the gadfly. Its hide is often found pierced in a hundred places like a sieve from this insect, and not a few die in their third year from this very cause. Their teats, also, are subject to cracking, so that blood comes instead of milk. They sometimes take a loathing for their food; and, instead of eating, stand still and chew the cud. They are also troubled with a vertigo, like the elk, and turn round often till they die. The Laplander judges of their state by the manner of their turning: if they turn to the right, he judges their disorder but slight; if they turn to the left, he deems it incurable. The rein-deer are also subject to ulcers near the hoof, which unqualifies them for travelling or keeping with the herd. But the most fatal disorder of all is that which the natives call the "suddataka," which attacks this animal at all seasons of the year. The instant it is seized with this disease it begins to breathe with great difficulty; its eyes begin to stare and its nostrils to expand. It acquires also an unusual degree of ferocity, and attacks all it meets indiscrimi nately. Still, however, it continues to feed as if in health, but is not seen to chew the cud, and it lies down more frequently than before. In this manner it continues, every day consuming and growing more lean, till at last BOOK III-CHAP. I. INTRODUCTION.-Animals of the hog kind seem to unite in themselves all those distinctions by which others are separated. They resemble those of the horse kind in the number of their teeth (which in all amount to forty-four), in the length of their head, and in having but a single stomach. The resemble the cow kind in their cloven hoofs and the position of their intestines; and they resemble those of the claw-footed kind in their appetite for flesh, in their not chewing the cud, and in their numerous progeny. Thus this species serves to fill up that chasm which is found between the carnivorous kinds and those that live upon grass-being possessed of the ravenous appetite of the one and the inoffensive nature of the other. We may consider them, therefore, as of a middle nature, which we can refer neither to the rapacious nor the peaceful kinds, and yet partaking somewhat of the nature of both. Like the rapacious kinds, they are found to have short intestines; their hoofs, also, though cloven to the sight, will, upon anatomical inspection, appear to be supplied with bones like beasts of prey; and the number of their teats also increase the similitude; on the other hand, in a natural state they live upon vegetables, and seldom seek after animal food except when urged by necessity. They offend no other animal of the forest, at the same time they are furnished with arms to terrify the bravest. |