Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1889-12-20
REARING REINDEER.


REARING REINDEER.
A Profitable Indastry Carried On Big ths
Thrifty samoyedss.
Rearing and tending reindeer Is par
excellence the profession OF Sa-
moyede. II not rich enough to pos
sess herd OF his own he enters the
service Of the owner OF large herd,
who keeps him and his family in food
and clothes and gives him a certain
number OF reindeer calves per annum
in return for his services. The servant
thus lays the foundation OF herd OF
his own, and, If lucky. can, after few
years service set up on his own ac-
count. Luck, however. plays a great
part In this means Of livelihood, for
.'reindeering' is q great lottery. The
animals are very liable to a disease
which corresponds to the rinderpest in
cattle, and which in day or two will
kill off herd OF six or seven hundred
deer. II this happens in the middle. OF
the Tundra, the local name for these
great. bare arctic steppes, it probable
means death to the owner and
his entire family, as they are
left possibly hundreds OF versts
from any human hei2. without food
and without means Of locomotion. In
my subsequent journey Icame upon the
scene OF one of these not uncommon
tragedies, and have rarely witnessed
more pathetic sight than the half
standing chooms surrounded by few
sledges aud the other poor possessions
OF the Inflated owners and scattered
all around the bones and horns Of the
pest-stricken herd. The owners them.
selves had been subsequently, buried
by some native passing by. as we
found their wooden box-like graves on
a hill a short way of. Though the loss
OF the herd does not often prove as
fata, as this. to the owner it ALWAYS
means material ruin. and saw q good
instance OF this at Obdorsk, whore
came across Samoyede, at one time
the owner of herd Of 1000 deer, rep
resenting roughly a capital OF E3. 500,
content to work as laborer for 40
copecks a week. When successful, on
the other hand. the rearing of reindeer
is most profitable occupation. When
clear OF disease the herd is almost sure
to double in number year by year.
Their cost OF maintenance is nil, while
they supply their owner with all his
essential wants and with the PEE
cuniary means for obtaining such luz
uries as are within his reach. Their
hides provide him with clothing and
shelter in the shape of his hide-covered
choom; their meat forms the staple oil
his food. The skin OF calf in raw
condition yields about three rubles
when very young and dark, as much as
| five. The skins of the older deer
fetch about two. With this circulating
medium in his pouch, the Samoyede
buys the vodka and other creature
comforts his soul delights in, or adorns
his wife with the spangles and strips Of
colored cloth she SO highly prizes
But over and above all these gifts which
the mild reindeer presents to his lore
is the one to which the nomad domi.
mates and determines all the rest-that
of locomotion. This industry. if SO il
may be termed, necessarily implies the
nomad life pure and simple, the Samo-
yedes pitching their tents wherever
reindeer moss is abundant, and moving
off as soon as their herds have cropped
the surrounding district bare. In win
ter the Samoyedes prefer to be in the
vicinity of forests. partly for the SAX,
of the wood which they need for fue
and for making new and tinkering W
old sledges, partly because the snow
here is not so deep as in the open Tun
dra, and the deer can thus get NOR,
easily at the moss. Here also the,
trap the white fox and ptarmigan, tn
wings of which have great sale. Il
summer they drive their herds int
the Tundra, over which large portion
of my journey lay, and which | ma,
here take the opportunity to describe
The Tundra is a messy marsh, slightl
accentuated here and there with Low
hills, and sprinkled with numberles
shallow lakes not connected with eac
other. For miles and miles the grount
is so marshy that one runs the risk @
sinking up to ones middle if one at
tempts to walk over it. Now and agai
one comes upon a spot where tn
ground resembles Scotch moor minu
the heather, very springy moss wit
an occasional clump of low willo'
brushwood. These spots the nativ
makes for when, after his days journey
he wishes to pitch his choom, as tn
moss here grows thick and rich an
the brushwood affords the little fuel h
requires. Not tree, not rock, break
the monotony of the scene, and tn
greeuish- brown color of the Tundra
losing itself in dull, gray sky. is q
dreary picture as the human eye ca
we'll rest upon.-Murray's Magazine
CarbolIc Acid for Weeds.
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