The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-12-20
WHERE THE REINDEER OF
SANTA CLAUS ARE REARED.
Hardy Types That Range the Siberian Steppe and the Shaggy
Tribes That Tend hemChukchs Have Largest Herds in the
World. Ranging Five Thousand Twenty Thousand
Animals.

WRITTEN FOR THE SUNDAY REPUBLIC.
The cold facts of science are not destruc-
tive of the pleasant myth of st. Nicholas
delivering Christmas gifts through CHM
neys from sleigh drawn by reindeer.
The Jesup. expeditions of the American
Museum of Natural History recently
brought in skulls and skins of reindeer
from entirely around the Arctic Circle.
When arranged in order of locality by
Doctor Joel Asaph Allen. the curator and
authority ON birds and mammals, he saw
at glance that the natural history of the
reindeer would require some modification.
Doctor Allen decides that in addition to
the wild form there are two. and perhaps
three. races of domesticated reindeer In
Siberia. IA different race in Scandinavia.
besides a half dozen races of caribou in
North America. all true Rangifers in
science but differing specifically.
The reindeer. of all animals. il best
adapted as Christmas delivery animal.
While he cannot endure a long journey,
and three successive days of travel is
about his limit in Siberia. he can travel
in winter at Christmas time. when there
Is a crust on the snow which will bear
him.
In summer he cannot travel much be-
cause the tundraS have thawed and he
n.-reS.
Hence the dog is the all-year-round mo-
tor of the Arctics. for whom no distance
or endurance is too great. If fed.
The Chukchis have the largest herds Of
reindeer in the world, ranging from 5000
to COCO animals.
MIR. Waldemar Rogoras. the I:ussian-Si-
berian explorer at the American Museum
Of Natural History. has made al extended
investigation of the reindeer and of the
native tribes breeding them.
ASTRJDE or REINDEER
Mr.. Bogoras penetrated the interior Of
northeasternmost Siberia from Murkova,
1850 miles north of Niadivostok. In the
mountains he found the nomadic tribes of
J.amuts. branch Of the fungus. who not
only harness the reindeer to the slcdge.
but ride on its back and load it down like
the drpmedary.
with all their household effects. on the
backs of reindeer. seeking new ground for
encampments.
They are scattered from the Asiatic Sea-
all along the mountains and inland for 100
miles southwest of Murkova.
They are Asiatic stock. kin to the Man
churians. existing in small bands, and for
ever wandering about like the flying
Dutchman or the lost tribes of Israel.
weight and one of the several tribes
which ride RENDERS exclusively.
They sit on the shoulders of the deer
like midget jockeys. but never on the
backs, and carry their household effects in
bags, using neither saddles nor stirrups.
and the children riding as handily as the
adults.
Naturally. being romadic. their herds are
not so large as those of the permanently
settled tribes. whose principal occupation
is breeding and trading in skins.
A number of tribes In the vicinity Of
the Arctic shores have possessed domestic
reindeer from the most ancient times. but.
like all domestic animals, the origin of
the domestication is lest in the obscurity
which wells the origin of man himself.
The herds are large. but apparently have
been larger, the meat and skins contrib
utfng to the existence of the tribes. The
reindeer OF the Arctic plays the part Of
cattle breeding of the plains.
The fungus. while not nomatic, owing
to the possession Of many reindeer. have
extended their operations OF hunting and