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whence it had disappeared. The twinkle in the elephant's eye, as he thus enriched his own bed at the expense of his neighbour, was capital.

So numerous are the anecdotes of this truly interesting animal's sagacity, docility, and usefulness, that we feel regret at being obliged, from want of space, to bring them to a close.

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The 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 REIN-DEER.

Cervus Tarandus.

THIS most patient and useful creature is an inhabitant of all the Arctic regions, and lives as far north as any animal life can subsist. It supplies to the Laplanders the place of the horse, the cow, the goat, and the sheep, which cannot exist in these cold climates; and, though the land is covered with snow nine months in the year, he gives his owner no trouble for fodder, as he maintains himself by digging moss or lichen from under it. The rein-deer has been domesticated by the Laplander from the earliest ages, and alone renders the dreary climate in which he lives supportable. Whoever is the possessor of several hundred rein-deer has attained the highest pinnacle of prosperity, though he never alters his simple mode of living in the slightest degree, or increases

his enjoyments, except perhaps as regards the quantity of brandy he consumes. The chief wealth of the Laplander, besides his herds of reindeer, is comprised in a few articles of clothing, and bedcovers, a tent or two for living in, some stakes of wood with which he forms a fold where the reindeer are driven to be milked, a copper vessel for cooking his food, and a few wooden dishes. The Laplander spends his superfluous money chiefly in the increase of his herds of reindeer. Possessed

of a thousand of these animals he is considered a rich man, and then he begins to think of amassing silver. The fondness of the Laplander for silver money is well known; it is said that they are in the habit of burying this money in places unknown even to their wives and children, both from a feeling of timidity and mistrust, and also from being perhaps unable to carry articles of value about them in their wandering course of life. The consequence of this is, that considerable sums are lost among the mountains, if death should surprise the Laplander before it is possible for him to reveal to his relations the spot where his treasure is

buried. Indeed, in that desert land it would be difficult for him to indicate the locality without being close to it. It appears very strange that he should himself be enabled to discover his treasure; but the Laplander is gifted with singular keenness of sight, and an acuteness in other perceptions that appears to exist among all people who live in a state of nature. Although the mountains of Lapland, and more especially the plains, offer but few objects which can fix attention, there is no instance of a Laplander losing himself on a journey if he has once travelled a track, it becomes known to him for the rest of his life. Fog alone, or drifted snow, can lead him into error, and these he seems to have the power of foreseeing; but if a storm should overtake him, he throws his mantle over his head, lies down on the snow, and, covering himself with it, patiently waits for a favourable change in the weather to continue his journey. He can also distinguish with ease each individual among a herd of many hundreds of deer.

The wild and tame skins of the reindeer are

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