Reindeer, Wolves, and Dogs
In the winter it is impossible to travel without the reindeer; without its aid commercial, civil, and military intercourse could not be kept up, although now there are telegraphs and…
From: 1917 C.E. To: 1917 C.E.
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From Through Lapland With Skis and Reindeer by Frank Hedges Butler, 1917.
Reindeer, Wolves, and Dogs
In the winter it is impossible to travel without the reindeer; without its aid commercial, civil, and military intercourse could not be kept up, although now there are telegraphs and telephones to the principal towns in the interior, like Kautokeino, Karasjok, Karesuando, Enare, and Utjoki, as well as a telegraph wire from Archangel to Petchenga and Vadso. The reindeer climb the frozen and snowy mountains and trot along the rivers, while Providence and nature have given these animals beneath the snow the moss to eat that supports them. A thousand reindeer are often to be seen feeding with only their hind quarters visible, the head and horns being covered up as they dig with their forelegs into the snow to get at the moss.
In Russian Lapland, at Petchenga Monastery, the reindeer are used by the monks for ploughing and harrowing the land, and are employed in drawing wood and fodder. The neck, shoulders, and forequarters are peculiarly adapted by nature for pulling. The hoofs are remarkably broad, flat, and spreading, and when the animal sets down its foot it has the power of contracting or spreading its hoof in a greater or lesser degree according to the nature of the surface of the ground.
The reindeer is very helpless on ice and can hardly move at all, but on the snow it can spread its hoof as large as a horse's, which prevents it from sinking as deep as it would otherwise do. It sometimes plunges at a great depth in soft snow, but its enormous strength soon enables it to get out.
The antlers of the reindeer are very bold and large, and are covered during the greater part of the year with a soft, dark velvety down, which remains till winter, when the deer throw their horns and look less grand—more like does. Only the stags are used for draught purposes, the does being in calf till June.
The eye of the reindeer is very large and full, the outside black, and the animals always seem to be looking at you.
When they walk a clicking noise is heard, occasioned by the contraction of the hoof; when rising from the ground, the inner parts of the hoof strike against each other. The coat is very thick and close and well protected against the severity of the climate. The reindeer are generally a greyish-brown, and the lower part of the neck a greyish-white. In many herds it is common to come across one or two deer perfectly white. Of these the young Lapp girls make their paesks and shoes, which are very becoming, embroidered with blue, yellow, and red.
In the winter the reindeer live entirely on moss. They never drink water, which is all frozen, but eat a good deal of snow when tired. No animal is more affected by the heat than the reindeer, and the colder it is the better he likes it. Reindeer are to be found on the summits of mountains in the summer, seeking for the places where snow may be found.
Wolves trouble the reindeer a good deal, although the latter have their horns and forefeet for defence, but the reindeer cast their horns once a year and they grow again very slowly. The does never cast theirs till they have calved. The reindeer do not use their horns so much as their forefeet to defend themselves when they encounter wolves. Often they get up on their hind legs. They adopt the same attitude to the Lapps, who deal with them in quite a pugilistic manner; they harness them, and also train dogs to coax them along with the pulkas.
The Lapps themselves can run very fast on their skis—indeed, so fast that they easily overtake the wolves and hit them on the nose with a stick, with fatal effect.
The employment of the Mountain Laplander is confined entirely to the care of the deer. The number of deer the Laplanders possess varies greatly according to the individual, and it is very difficult in some cases to form an estimate.
The dogs of the Laplanders are very valuable and extremely sagacious. The dogs generally lead the caravans and show the driver, or vappus, the winter way. If the reindeer get lazy the dogs go behind and try to bite their legs; the reindeer retaliate by hitting out with their forefeet. The dogs also cheer them along by barking in front, as if to call them on. The dog resembles a large Pomeranian, its head being sharp and pointed and ears erect.
At Easter, in Karesuando church, I counted forty dogs coming and going into the church, following their masters up to the communion table.
Butler, Frank Hedges. Through Lapland with Skis and Reindeer. T. Fisher Unwin LTD., 1917.
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