Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-01-26
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LAPLAND REINDEER TRAyEL-Bayard
Taylor, in his lecture on Lapland, thus speaks
on reindeer travel:
"a more bleak and dismal region than the
greater part of Lapland could not be imagined
except when the MONDAY sky of winter covers
it with a mantle of crimson and gold. Here,
however, God has made the home of one ami
NAL, without which human life would be i'm
possible. What the camel is to the Arab, the
reindeer is to the Lap, He was created espe-
cially for the surface in the snow, as the camel
was for journeys over the sand. He is not
much larger than large Newfoundland dog,
and strong man could easily lift him. His
muscular strength is not great, yet he has a
vast deal of endurance. His hoof is divided
into two compartments, like that of the camel,
so that it spreads out and covers large surface
when it is put down, the parts coming together
as he lifts it up again This popularity, COM
bined with his lightness of body, prevents him
from sinking into the snow.
From this animal the Lap obtains his clothes,
tent, thread, needles, meat milk, butter cheese,
the handles of his knives, in fact, everything
he uses, except his musket and a little coffee.
But Of all perverse, obstinate, stupid ami
mails, the reindeer stands at the head. AL
though he has been so long domesticated, he
has not increased in. sagacity. The common
deer and the gaZelle may become familiar with
the presence of man, but they never show the
least degree of affection for him; and the same
is true Of the reindeer. All he knows is to
jump and run when he is harnessed, and turn
around and stand still whenever he chooses TO
do so. His speed has been greatly exaggerated.
There are few reindeer in Lapland that will
travel fifteen miles in an hour, but there are a
great many that will go one hundred and
twenty miles in twenty -four hours.
To drive roiDdoar il, tho Iit+la nopoo lilo
sledges is like undertaking to drive a sturgeon
in rough sea. 1t is no easy matter to retain
ones balance. If you are new hand, your
first sensation is a perfect blank, for you find
yourself head downward in a snow drift.
Laughter and applause. After a series of
such experiments you at last succeed in keep
ing your balance, even when asleep, and guild
ing the animal, but you cannot prevent him
from jumping round and staring at you with
most provoking GOODNESS, as much as to say,
"What are you going to do about it 2" There
is nothing to do but to turn him round, start
him again, and take your chance at jumping in
to the sledge as he runs The animal shows
no recognition Of his master except that he
will allow him to approach him more easily
than anybody else. This is the extent of his
affection
The sagacity with which the deer pick out
the hidden path under the snow was astonish-
ing, On those exposed plains every wind fills
up the burrows, and the traveller is drifting on
painless sea. The leading deer, driven by a
careful Lap, picks out the concealed trail as
easily as pioneer follows the track or, if he
lose 1t now and then, crosses backward and
forward till he Strikes it again. Behind him
glides the little caravan in single file, silent
and strange as procession of phantoms.
There is nothing to be heard but the breathing
Of the deer, and the slight crunching sound of
the sledge upon the snow as you sit in the
uncertain twilight, a strange and subtitle en-
chantment seems to come over you, and you
almost doubt your own identity. Gam :"
you ask, ''the man who once lectured before
literary societies, to large and intelligent
audiences? Laughter and applause Do l
inhabit the same earth where steamboats, exist
and oysters are opened, renewed laughter,
and where woman's rights conventions are
held 2"