126 Caribou or American Reindeer
RANGIFER CARIBOU.
[Rangifer tarandus]
CARIBOU OR AMERICAN REINDEER.
[Caribou]
PLATE CXXVI.--MALES. Fig. 1.--Summer Pelage. Fig. 2.--Winter
R. Magnitudine fere Elaphi Canadensis; in aestate saturate fuscus, in hyeme
cinereus; vitta alba supra ungulas.
CHARACTERS.
Nearly the size of the American Elk (Elaphus Canadensis); colour, deep
brown in summer, grayish-ash in winter, a white fringe above the hoofs.
SYNONYMES.
GENUS CERVUS. Linn., sectio Rangiferini.
CARIBOU, OU ASNE SAUVAGE. Sagard Theodat. Canada, p. 751, Ann. 1636.
CARIBOU. La Hontan, t. i. p. 77, Ann. 1703.
CARIBOU. Charlevoix, Nouv. France, tom. v. p. 190.
REINDEER, or RAINDEER, Drage, Voy., vol. i. p. 25.
REINDEER. Dobbs' Hudson's Bay, pp. 19, 22.
REINDEER. Pennant's Arctic Zoology, vol. i. p. 22.
REINDEER. Cartwright's Labrador, pp. 91, 112, 133.
REINDEER. Franklin's First Voyage, pp. 240, 245.
CERVUS TARANDUS. Harlan, Fauna, p. 232.
CERVUS TARANDUS. Godman, Nat. Hist., vol. ii. p. 283.
CERVUS TARANDUS--REINDEER or CARIBOU, Rich., F. B. A., p. 238.
RANGIFER TARANDUS--REINDEER. DeKay, Nat. Hist. State of New York, p. 121.
ATTEHK. Cree Indians.
ETTHIN. Chippewyan Indians.
TOOKTOO. Esquimaux.
TUKTA. Greenlanders.
CARRE-BOEUF, or CARIBOU. French Canadians.
DESCRIPTION.
Young, about two years and a half old.
Larger and less graceful than the common American deer; body, stout and
heavy; neck, short; hoofs, thin, flattened, broad and spreading, excavated or
concave beneath; accessory hoofs, large but thin; legs, stout; no glandular
opening and scarcely a perceptible inner tuft on the hind legs; nose, somewhat
like that of a cow, but fully covered with soft hairs of moderate length; no
beard, but on the under side of the neck a line of hairs about four inches in
length which hang down in a longitudinal direction. Ears, small, short, and
ovate, thickly clothed with hair on both surfaces; horns, one foot three and a
half inches in height, slender (one with two, and the other with one, prong);
prongs, about five inches long.
Hair, soft and woolly underneath, the longer hairs like those of the
antelope, crimped or waved, and about one to one and a half inches long.
COLOUR.
At the roots the hairs are whitish, then become brownish-gray, and at the
tips are light dun gray, whiter on the neck than elsewhere; nose, ears, outer
surface of legs, and shoulder, brownish; a slight shade of the same tint behind
the fore legs.
Hoofs, black; neck and throat, dull white; a faint whitish patch on the
sides of the shoulders; forehead, brownish-white; belly, white; tail, white,
with a slight shade of brown at the root and on the whole upper surface; outside
of legs, brown; a band of white around all the legs adjoining the hoofs, and
extending to the small secondary hoofs; horns, yellowish-brown, worn whiter in
places.
There is a small patch of brown, faintly defined, around and behind the
ears.
Description of the horns of another specimen.
The two main antlers are furnished with irregular and sharp points, and
their extremity is pointed; some of these points are from six to eight inches
long, but most of them are quite short; width between the horns on the skull,
eight inches; width of horns at the root, two inches and three quarters; depth,
one inch and three quarters; length of main horn, following the curve, three
feet; there is a palmated brow antler with four points, on one side, inclining
downwards and inwards; on the opposite horn there are two points, but the antler
is not palmated; immediately above the brow antlers there is a branch or prong
on each horn about fourteen inches in length, terminating in three points; these
prongs incline forward and inward. About half the length of the horn from the
skull there is another prong on each about two inches long; beyond these prongs
each horn continues about the same thickness, spreading outwards slightly to
within a few inches of its extremity, where one diverges into five points and
the other into six. The horns are but slightly channelled; they are dark
yellow. Between the tips, where they approach each other, the horns are two
feet apart, and at their greatest width two feet eight inches.
The female Caribou has horns as well as the male, but they are smaller.
DIMENSIONS.
Young--about two and a half years old. Feet. Inches.
Length from nose to root of tail,. . . . . . 6 0
Length of tail (vertebrae),. . . . . . . . 0 4
Length of tail (including hair), . . . . . . 0 6 1/2
Height of shoulder, . . . . . . . . . . 3 6
Width between the eyes, . . . . . . . . . 0 5 1/2
From point of nose to lower canthus of eye, . . 0 9
From point of nose to ear, . . . . . . . . 1 2
Height of ear posteriorly, . . . . . . . . 0 5
HABITS.
The Caribou, or American Reindeer, is one of the most important animals of
the northern parts of America, and is almost as graceful in form as the elk
(Elaphus Canadensis), to which it is nearly equal in size; but it has never, we
believe, been domesticated or trained to draw sledges in the manner of the
Reindeer of the old world, although so nearly allied to that species that it has
been by most authors considered identical with it.
Whilst separating the Caribou found in Maine and the States bordering on
the St. Lawrence, and in Canada, Labrador, &c., from the Reindeer of Europe, we
are inclined to think that the Reindeer found within the polar circle may be the
European species, domiciled in that part of America, and that they sometimes
migrate farther south than even Hudson's Bay. Sir JOHN RICHARDSON says the
Reindeer or Caribou of North America "have indeed so great a general resemblance
in appearance and manners to the Lapland Deer that they have always been
considered to be the same species, without the fact having ever been completely
established."--Fauna Boreali Americana, p. 238.
The greater size and weight of the Caribou found in Canada seem to have
surprised Sir JOHN, but while he says in a note (p. 239), that "Mr. HENRY, when
he mentions Caribou that weigh four hundred pounds, must have some other species
of Deer in view," he has not done more than point out two varieties of Reindeer
beside the one he considered identical with Cervus tarandus the European
Reindeer, and to neither of these varieties can we with certainty refer the
Caribou, our present animal. In the Fauna Boreali Americana (p. 241) one of
these varieties--C. tarandus, var. A. Arctica, Barren-ground Caribou--is said to
be so small that the bucks only weigh from ninety to one hundred and thirty
pounds, exclusive of the offal, when in good condition; the other variety--C.
tarandus, var. B. sylvestris, Woodland Caribou (idem, p. 250)--is much larger
than the Barren-ground Caribou, has smaller horns, and even when in good
condition is vastly inferior as an article of food."
Leaving these supposed varieties where we found them--in doubt--we will
proceed with an account of the habits of the Caribou detailed to us by Mr. JOHN
MARTYN, Jr., of Quebec:
This species, that gentleman informed us, is not abundant near Quebec; it
is mostly found in the swamps, wherever these are well supplied with
moss-covered dead trees and bushes; the moss the animals prefer is a long and
black species, and forms their chief subsistence during the winter months; but
towards spring these animals remove to the sides of the hills or mountains, and
even ascend to their summits occasionally, feeding on the newly swollen buds of
different shrubs. Like the moose deer they shed their antlers about this
period, and renew them in the summer months.
The Caribou is famous for its swiftness, and has various gaits, walking
trotting or galloping alike gracefully and rapidly. By many people these
animals are in fact thought to be much fleeter animals than the moose, and they
are said to take most extraordinary leaps.
When pursued the Caribou immediately makes for a swamp and follows the
margin, taking at times to the water and again footing it over the firm ground,
and sometimes turning towards the nearest mountain crosses it to another morass.
If hard pressed by the hunters (who now and then follow up the chase for four or
five days) the animal ascends to the loftiest peaks of the mountains for greater
security, and the pursuit becomes very fatiguing and uncertain. Upon one
occasion two men followed several Caribou for a whole week, when, completely
tired out they gave up the chase, which was then continued by two other hunters
who at last succeeded in killing a couple of the animals at long shot.
Sometimes, however, fresh tracks are found and the Caribou is surprised whilst
lying down or browsing, and shot on the spot. When the snow is not deep and the
lakes are covered with ice only, the animal if closely pushed makes for one of
them and runs over the ice so fast that it is unable to stop if struck with
alarm at any object presenting itself in front, and it then suddenly squats down
on its haunches and slides along in that ludicrous position until, the impetus
being exhausted, it rises again and makes off in some other direction. When the
Caribou takes to the ice the hunters always give up the chase.
Sometimes when the mouth and throat of a fresh killed Reindeer are examined
they are found to be filled with a blackish looking mucus, resembling thin mud,
but which appears to be only a portion of the partially decomposed black mosses
upon which it fed, probably forced into the throat and mouth of the animal in
its dying agonies.
We were informed that two wood-choppers, whilst felling trees at a distance
from any settlement, saw a Caribou fawn approaching them which was so gentle
that it allowed them to catch it, and one of the men took it up in his arms; but
suddenly the dam also made her appearance, and the men dropping the young one
made after her in hopes of killing her with their axes. This object was of
course soon abandoned, as a few bounds took the animal out of sight, and to
their mortification they found that the fawn had escaped also during their short
absence, and although they made diligent search for it, could not again be seen.
At times, even the full grown Caribou appears to take but little heed of man.--A
person descending a steep woody hill on a road towards a lake, saw several of
them, which only turned aside far enough to let him pass, after which they came
back to the road and proceeded at a slow pace up the hill. At another place a
lad driving a cart was surprised to see five of these animals come into the road
just before him, making a great noise through the woods. As soon as they got
into the road they walked along quite leisurely, and on his cracking his whip
only trotted a few paces and then resumed their walking.
When overtaken by dogs in chase, the Caribou stand at bay and show fight,
and when thus brought to a stand will not pay much attention to the hunter, so
that he can approach and shoot them with ease.
During our expeditions in Labrador we saw many trails of Reindeer through
the deep and stiff moss; they are about as broad as a cowpath, and many times
the fatigues of a long day's hunt over the sterile wilds of that country were
lightened by following in these tracks or paths, instead of walking on the
yielding moss.
We did not see any of these animals ourselves, but bought one from the
Indians and enjoyed it very much, as we had had no fresh meat for nearly three
months, except fishy ducks, a few curlews, and some willow-grouse.
We were informed that the Caribou are sometimes abundant on the island of
Newfoundland, to which they cross on the ice from the mainland, and as the
fishermen and French trappers at St. George's Bay told us, sometimes the herds
stay so late in the spring that by the occasional early breaking up of the ice,
they are prevented from leaving the island.
The horns of the Caribou run into various shapes, and are more or less
palmated. The female of this species has also horns, which are not dropped
until near the month of May. No two individuals of this species have the horns
alike, nor do the horns of any grow into the same number of prongs, or resemble
those of the last season. Notwithstanding this endless variety, there is always
a specific character in the horns of this species (as well as in all our other
deer), which will enable the close observer at once to recognise them.
"In the month of July," says Dr. RICHARDSON, "the Caribou sheds its winter
covering, and acquires a short, smooth coat of hair, of a colour composed of
clove brown, mingled with deep reddish and yellowish-browns, the under surface
of the neck, the belly, and the inner sides of the extremities, remaining white
in all seasons. The hair at first is fine and flexible, but as it lengthens it
increases gradually in diameter at its roots, becoming at the same time white,
soft, compressible, and brittle, like the hair of the moose deer. In the course
of the winter the thickness of the hairs at their roots becomes so great that
they are exceedingly close, and no longer lie down smoothly, but stand erect,
and they are then so soft and tender below, that the flexible coloured points
are easily rubbed off, and the fur appears white, especially on the flanks.
This occurs in a smaller degree on the back; and on the under parts, the hair,
although it acquires length, remains more flexible and slender at its roots, and
is consequently not so subject to break. Towards the spring, when the Deer are
tormented by the larvae of the gad-fly making their way through the skin, they
rub themselves against stones and rocks until all the coloured tops of the hair
are worn off, and their fur appears to be entirely of a soiled white colour."
"The closeness of the hair of the Caribou, and the lightness of its skin,
when properly dressed, render it the most appropriate article for winter
clothing in the high latitudes. The skins of the young Deer make the best
dresses, and they should be killed for that purpose in the month of August or
September, as after the latter date the hair becomes too long and brittle. The
prime parts of eight or ten Deer-skins make a complete suit of clothing for a
grown person, which is so impervious to the cold that, with the addition of a
blanket of the same material, any one so clothed may bivouack on the snow with
safety, and even with comfort, in the most intense cold of an Arctic winter's
night."
The same author gives the following habits of the variety he called
"Arctica:" " The Barren-ground Caribou, which resort to the coast of the Arctic
sea in summer, retire in winter to the woods lying between the sixty-third and
the sixty-sixth degree of latitude, where they feed on the usneae, alectoriae,
and other lichens, which hang from the trees, and on the long grass of the
swamps. About the end of April, when the partial melting of the snow has
softened the cetrariae, corniculariae, and cevomyces, which clothe the barren
grounds like a carpet, they make short excursions from the woods, but return to
them when the weather is frosty. In May the females proceed towards the
sea-coast, and towards the end of July the males are in full march in the same
direction. At that period the power of the sun has dried up the lichens on the
barren grounds, and the Caribou frequent the moist pastures which cover the
bottoms of the narrow valleys on the coasts and islands of the Arctic sea, where
they graze on the sprouting carices and on the withered grass or hay of the
preceding year, which is at that period still standing, and retaining part of
its sap. Their spring journey is performed partly on the snow, and partly after
the snow has disappeared, on the ice covering the rivers and lakes, which have
in general a northerly direction. Soon after their arrival on the coast the
females drop their young; they commence their return to the south in September,
and reach the vicinity of the woods towards the end of October, where they are
joined by the males. This journey takes place after the snow has fallen, and
they scrape it away with their feet to procure the lichens, which are then
tender and pulpy, being preserved moist and unfrozen by the heat still remaining
in the earth. Except in the rutting season, the bulk of the males and females
live separately: the former retire deeper into the woods in winter, whilst
herds of the pregnant does stay on the skirts of the barren grounds, and proceed
to the coast very early in spring. Captain PARRY saw Deer on Melville peninsula
as late as the 23d of September, and the females, with their fawns, made their
first appearance on the 22d of April. The males in general do not go so far
north as the females. On the coast of Hudson's Bay the Barren-ground Caribou
migrate farther south than those on the Coppermine or Mackenzie rivers; but none
of them go to the southward of Churchill."
The Caribou becomes very fat at times, and is then an excellent article of
food. As some particulars connected with its edible qualities are rather
singular, we subjoin them from the same author: "When in condition there is a
layer of fat deposited on the back and rump of the males to the depth of two or
three inches or more, immediately under the skin, which is termed depouille by
the Canadian voyagers, and as an article of Indian trade, it is often of more
value than all the remainder of the carcass. The depouille is thickest at the
commencement of the rutting season; it then becomes of a red colour, and
acquires a high flavour, and soon afterwards disappears. The females at that
period are lean, but in the course of the winter they acquire a small depouille,
which is exhausted soon after they drop their young. The flesh of the Caribou
is very tender, and its flavour when in season is, in my opinion, superior to
that of the finest English venison, but when the animal is lean it is very
insipid, the difference being greater between well fed and lean Caribou than any
one can conceive who has not had an opportunity of judging. The lean meat fills
the stomach but never satisfies the appetite, and scarcely serves to recruit the
strength when exhausted by labour." "The Chepewyans, the Copper Indians, the
Dog-Ribs and Hare Indians of Great Bear Lake, would be totally unable to inhabit
their barren lands were it not for the immense herds of this Deer that exist
there. Of the Caribou horns they form their fish-spears and hooks; and previous
to the introduction of European iron, ice-chisels and various other utensils
were likewise made of them." "The hunter breaks the leg-bones of a recently
slaughtered Deer, and while the marrow is still warm devours it with much
relish. The kidneys and part of the intestines, particularly the thin folds of
the third stomach or manyplies, are likewise occasionally eaten when raw, and
the summits of the antlers, as long as they are soft, are also delicacies in a
raw state. The colon or large gut is inverted, so as to preserve its fatty
appendages, and is, when either roasted or boiled, one of the richest and most
savoury morsels the country affords, either to the native or white resident.
The remainder of the intestines, after being cleaned, are hung in the smoke for
a few days and then broiled. The stomach and its contents, termed by the
Esquimaux nerrooks, and by the Greenlanders nerrokak or nerriookak, are also
eaten, and it would appear that the lichens and other vegetable matters on which
the Caribou feeds are more easily digested by the human stomach when they have
been mixed with the salivary and gastric juices of a ruminating animal. Many of
the Indians and Canadian voyagers prefer this savoury mixture after it has
undergone a degree of fermentation, or lain to season, as they term it, for a
few days. The blood, if mixed in proper proportion with a strong decoction of
fat meat, forms, after some nicety in the cooking, a rich soup, which is very
palatable and highly nutritious, but very difficult of digestion. When all the
soft parts of the animal are consumed the bones are pounded small, and a large
quantity of marrow is extracted from them by boiling. This is used in making
the better kinds of the mixture of dried meat and fat, which is named pemmican,
and it is also preserved by the young men and females for anointing the hair and
greasing the face on dress occasions. The tongue roasted, when fresh or when
half dried, is a delicious morsel. When it is necessary to preserve the Caribou
meat for use at a future period, it is cut into thin slices and dried over the
smoke of a slow fire, and then pounded betwixt two stones. This pounded meat is
very dry and husky if eaten alone, but when a quantity of the back-fat or
depouille of the Deer is added to it, is one of the greatest treats that can be
offered to a resident in the fur countries."
"The Caribou travel in herds, varying in number from eight or ten to two or
three hundred, and their daily excursions are generally towards the quarter from
whence the wind blows. The Indians kill them with the bow and arrow or gun,
take them in snares, or spear them in crossing rivers or lakes. The Esquimaux
also take them in traps ingeniously formed of ice or snow. Of all the Deer of
North America they are the most easy of approach, and are slaughtered in the
greatest numbers. A single family of Indians will sometimes destroy two or
three hundred in a few weeks, and in many cases they are killed for the sake of
their tongues alone."
Captain LYON's private journal contains some accounts of this species:
"The Reindeer visits the polar regions at the latter end of May or the early
part of June, and remains until late in September. On his first arrival he is
thin and his flesh is tasteless, but the short summer is sufficient to fatten
him to two or three inches on the haunches. When feeding on the level ground,
an Esquimaux makes no attempt to approach him, but should a few rocks be near,
the wary hunter feels secure of his prey. Behind one of these he cautiously
creeps, and having laid himself very close, with his bow and arrow before him,
imitates the bellow of the Deer when calling to each other. Sometimes, for more
complete deception, the hunter wears his Deer-skin coat and hood so drawn over
his head as to resemble, in a great measure, the unsuspecting animals he is
enticing. Though the bellow proves a considerable attraction, yet if a man has
great patience he may do without it, and may be equally certain that his prey
will ultimately come to examine him, the reindeer being an inquisitive animal,
and at the same time so silly that if he sees any suspicious object which is not
actually chasing him, he will gradually and after many caperings, and forming
repeated circles, approach nearer and nearer to it. The Esquimaux rarely shoot
until the creature is within twelve paces, and I have frequently been told of
their being killed at a much shorter distance. It is to be observed that the
hunters never appear openly, but employ stratagem for their purpose; thus, by
patience and ingenuity, rendering their rudely formed bows and still worse
arrows, as effective as the rifles of Europeans. When two men hunt in company
they sometimes purposely show themselves to the Deer, and when his attention is
fully engaged, walk slowly away from him, one before the other. The Deer
follows, and when the hunters arrive near a stone, the foremost drops behind it
and prepares his bow, while his companion continues walking steadily forward.
This latter the Deer still follows unsuspectingly, and thus passes near the
concealed man, who takes a deliberate aim and kills the animal. When the Deer
assemble in herds there are particular passes which they invariably take, and on
being driven to them are killed with arrows by the men, while the women with
shouts drive them to the water. Here they swim with the ease and activity of
water-dogs; the people in kayaks chasing and easily spearing them; the carcases
float, and the hunter then presses forward and kills as many as he finds in his
track. No springes or traps are used in the capture of these animals, as is
practised to the southward, in consequence of the total absence of standing
wood."
As presenting a striking illustration of the degree of cold prevailing in
the Arctic regions, we may here mention that Dr. RICHARDSON describes a trap
constructed by the Esquimaux to the southward of Chesterfield inlet, built of
"compact snow." "The sides of the trap are built of slabs of that substance,
cut as if for a snow house; an inclined plane of snow leads to the entrance of
the pit, which is about five feet deep, and of sufficient dimensions to contain
two or three large Deer. The pit is covered with a large thin slab of snow,
which the animal is enticed to tread upon by a quantity of the lichens on which
it feeds being placed conspicuously on an eminence beyond the opening. The
exterior of the trap is banked up with snow so as to resemble a natural hillock,
and care is taken to render it so steep on all sides but one, that the Deer must
pass over the mouth of the trap before it can reach the bait. The slab is
sufficiently strong to bear the weight of a Deer until it has passed its middle,
when it revolves on two short axles of wood, precipitates the Deer into the
trap, and returns to its place again in consequence of the lower end being
heavier than the other. Throughout the whole line of coast frequented by the
Esquimaux it is customary to see long lines of stones set on end, or of turfs
piled up at intervals of about twenty yards, for the purpose of leading the
Caribou to stations where they can be more easily approached. The natives find
by experience that the animals in feeding imperceptibly take the line of
direction of the objects thus placed before them, and the hunter can approach a
herd that he sees from a distance, by gradually crawling from stone to stone,
and remaining motionless when he sees any of the animals looking towards him.
The whole of the barren grounds are intersected by Caribou paths, like
sheep-tracks, which are of service to travellers at times in leading them to
convenient crossing places of lakes or rivers."
The following account of a method of "impounding" Deer, resorted to by the
Chepewyan Indians, is from HEARNE:
"When the Indians design to impound Deer, they look out for one of the
paths in which a number of them have trod, and which is observed to be still
frequented by them. When these paths cross a lake, a wide river, or a barren
plain, they are found to be much the best for the purpose; and if the path run
through a cluster of woods, capable of affording materials for building the
pound, it adds considerably to the commodiousness of the situation. The pound
is built by making a strong fence with brushy trees, without observing any
degree of regularity, and the work is continued to any extent, according to the
pleasure of the builders. I have seen some that were not less than a mile
round, and am informed that there are others still more extensive. The door or
entrance of the pound is not larger than a common gate, and the inside is so
crowded with small counter-hedges as very much to resemble a maze, in every
opening of which they set a snare, made with thongs of parchment Deer-skins well
twisted together, which are amazingly strong. One end of the snare is usually
made fast to a growing pole; but if no one of a sufficient size can be found
near the place where the snare is set, a loose pole is substituted in its room,
which is always of such size and length that a Deer cannot drag it far before it
gets entangled among the other woods, which are all left standing, except what
is found necessary for making the fence, hedges, &c. The pound being thus
prepared, a row of small brush-wood is stuck up in the snow on each side of the
door or entrance, and these hedge-rows are continued along the open part of the
lake, river, or plain, where neither stick nor stump besides is to be seen,
which makes them the more distinctly observed. These poles or brushwood are
generally placed at the distance of fifteen or twenty yards from each other, and
ranged in such a manner as to form two sides of a long acute angle, growing
gradually wider in proportion to the distance they extend from the pound, which
sometimes is not less than two or three miles, while the Deer's path is exactly
along the middle, between the two rows of brushwood. Indians employed on this
service always pitch their tents on or near to an eminence that affords a
commanding prospect of the path leading to the pound, and when they see any Deer
going that way, men, women, and children walk along the lake or river side under
cover of the woods, till they get behind them, then step forth to open view, and
proceed towards the pound in form of a crescent. The poor timorous Deer,
finding themselves pursued, and at the same time taking the two rows of brushy
poles to be two ranks of people stationed to prevent their passing on either
side, run straight forward in the path till they get into the pound. The
Indians then close in, and block up the entrance with some brushy trees that
have been cut down and lie at hand for that purpose. The Deer being thus
enclosed, the women and children walk round the pound to prevent them from
jumping over or breaking through the fence, while the men are employed spearing
such as are entangled in the snares, and shooting with bows and arrows those
which remain loose in the pound. This method of hunting, if it deserve the
name, is sometimes so successful that many families subsist by it without having
occasion to move their tents above once or twice during the course of a whole
winter; and when the spring advances, both the Deer and the Indians draw out to
the eastward on the ground which is entirely barren, or at least which is called
so in these parts, as it neither produces trees nor shrubs of any kind, so that
moss and some little grass is all the herbage which is to be found on it."
With the following extract from the Fauna Boreali Americana, our readers
may perhaps be amused: "The Dog-rib Indians have a mode of killing these
animals, which, though simple, is very successful. It was thus described by Mr.
WENTZEL, who resided long amongst that people: The hunters go in pairs, the
foremost man carrying in one hand the horns and part of the skin of the head of
a Deer, and in the other a small bundle of twigs, against which he, from time to
time, rubs the horns, imitating the gestures peculiar to the animal. His
comrade follows, treading exactly in his footsteps, and holding the guns of both
in a horizontal position, so that the muzzles project under the arms of him who
carries the head. Both hunters have a fillet of white skin round their
foreheads, and the foremost has a strip of the same around his wrists. They
approach the herd by degrees, raising their legs very slowly but setting them
down somewhat suddenly after the manner of a Deer, and always taking care to
lift their right or left feet simultaneously. If any of the herd leave off
feeding to gaze upon this extraordinary phenomenon it instantly stops, and the
head begins to play its part by licking its shoulders and performing other
necessary movements. In this way the hunters attain the very centre of the herd
without exciting suspicion, and have leisure to single out the fattest. The
hindmost man then pushes forward his comrade's gun, the head is dropt, and they
both fire nearly at the same instant. The Deer scamper off, the hunters trot
after them; in a short time the poor animals halt to ascertain the cause of
their terror, their foes stop at the same moment, and having loaded as they ran,
greet the gazers with a second fatal discharge. The consternation of the Deer
increases; they run to and fro in the utmost confusion, and sometimes a great
part of the herd is destroyed within the space of a few hundred yards."
We do not exactly comprehend how the acute sense of smell peculiar to the
Reindeer should be useless in such cases, and should think the Deer could only
be approached by keeping to the leeward of them, and that it would be a very
difficult matter, even with the ingenious disguise adopted by the "Dog-Ribs," to
get into the centre of a herd and leisurely single out the fattest.
Dr. RICHARDSON considers the variety he calls the woodland Caribou as much
larger than the other, and says it has smaller horns, and is even when in good
condition vastly inferior as an article of food. "The proper country of this
Deer," he continues, "is a stripe of low primitive rocks, well clothed with
wood, about one hundred miles wide, and extending at the distance of eighty or a
hundred miles from the shores of Hudson's Bay, from Athapescow Lake to Lake
Superior. Contrary to the practice of the barren-ground Caribou, the woodland
variety travels to the southward in the spring. They cross the Nelson and
Severn rivers in immense herds in the month of May, pass the summer on the low
marshy shores of James' Bay, and return to the northward, and at the same time
retire more inland in the month of September."
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION.
This species exists in Newfoundland and Labrador, extends westward across
the American continent, and is mentioned both by PENNANT and LANGSDORFF as
inhabiting the Fox or Aleutian Islands.
It is not found so far to the southward on the Pacific as on the Atlantic
coast, and is not found on the Rocky Mountains, within the limits of the United
States. According to PENNANT there are no Reindeer on the islands that lie
between Asia and America. It is somewhat difficult to assign limits to the
range of the Caribou: it is found, however, in some one or other of its
supposed varieties, in every part of Arctic America, including the region from
Hudson's Bay to far within the Arctic circle.
GENERAL REMARKS.
The American Caribou or Reindeer has by most authors been regarded as
identical with the Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) of Europe, Greenland, and the
Asiatic polar regions. The arguments in favour of this supposition are very
plausible, and the varieties which the species exhibits in America, together
with the fact that the antlers of the Reindeer assume an almost infinite
diversity of form, that they differ not only in different specimens, but that
the horns on each side of the head of the same animal often differ from each
other, afford still stronger grounds for the supposition: notwithstanding all
this, supposing that they are only varieties, they have become such permanently
in our continent, and require separate descriptions, and as they must be known
by particular names we have supposed we might venture on designating the
American Reindeer as a distinct species, admitting at the same time that the
subject requires closer comparisons than we have been able to institute, and
further investigations.
We believe that several naturalists have bestowed new names on the American
animal, but we are not aware that any one has described it, or pointed out those
peculiarities which would separate the species. Among the rest, we were
informed that our esteemed friend Professor AGASSIZ had designated it as
Tarandus furcifer, and believing that he had described it we adopted his name on
our plate; subsequently, however, we were informed that he had merely proposed
for it the name of Cervus hastatus. He did not, however, describe it, and as
the common name under which it has been known for ages past in America will be
most easily understood, and can by no possibility lead to any misapprehension as
regards the species, we have named it Rangifer Caribou, and respectfully request
our subscribers to alter the name on the plate accordingly.
CHARACTERS.
Nearly the size of the American Elk (Elaphus Canadensis); colour, deep
brown in summer, grayish-ash in winter, a white fringe above the hoofs.
SYNONYMES.
GENUS CERVUS. Linn., sectio Rangiferini.
CARIBOU, OU ASNE SAUVAGE. Sagard Theodat. Canada, p. 751, Ann. 1636.
CARIBOU. La Hontan, t. i. p. 77, Ann. 1703.
CARIBOU. Charlevoix, Nouv. France, tom. v. p. 190.
REINDEER, or RAINDEER, Drage, Voy., vol. i. p. 25.
REINDEER. Dobbs' Hudson's Bay, pp. 19, 22.
REINDEER. Pennant's Arctic Zoology, vol. i. p. 22.
REINDEER. Cartwright's Labrador, pp. 91, 112, 133.
REINDEER. Franklin's First Voyage, pp. 240, 245.
CERVUS TARANDUS. Harlan, Fauna, p. 232.
CERVUS TARANDUS. Godman, Nat. Hist., vol. ii. p. 283.
CERVUS TARANDUS--REINDEER or CARIBOU, Rich., F. B. A., p. 238.
RANGIFER TARANDUS--REINDEER. DeKay, Nat. Hist. State of New York, p. 121.
ATTEHK. Cree Indians.
ETTHIN. Chippewyan Indians.
TOOKTOO. Esquimaux.
TUKTA. Greenlanders.
CARRE-BOEUF, or CARIBOU. French Canadians.
DESCRIPTION.
Young, about two years and a half old.
Larger and less graceful than the common American deer; body, stout and
heavy; neck, short; hoofs, thin, flattened, broad and spreading, excavated or
concave beneath; accessory hoofs, large but thin; legs, stout; no glandular
opening and scarcely a perceptible inner tuft on the hind legs; nose, somewhat
like that of a cow, but fully covered with soft hairs of moderate length; no
beard, but on the under side of the neck a line of hairs about four inches in
length which hang down in a longitudinal direction. Ears, small, short, and
ovate, thickly clothed with hair on both surfaces; horns, one foot three and a
half inches in height, slender (one with two, and the other with one, prong);
prongs, about five inches long.
Hair, soft and woolly underneath, the longer hairs like those of the
antelope, crimped or waved, and about one to one and a half inches long.
COLOUR.
At the roots the hairs are whitish, then become brownish-gray, and at the
tips are light dun gray, whiter on the neck than elsewhere; nose, ears, outer
surface of legs, and shoulder, brownish; a slight shade of the same tint behind
the fore legs.
Hoofs, black; neck and throat, dull white; a faint whitish patch on the
sides of the shoulders; forehead, brownish-white; belly, white; tail, white,
with a slight shade of brown at the root and on the whole upper surface; outside
of legs, brown; a band of white around all the legs adjoining the hoofs, and
extending to the small secondary hoofs; horns, yellowish-brown, worn whiter in
places.
There is a small patch of brown, faintly defined, around and behind the
ears.
Description of the horns of another specimen.
The two main antlers are furnished with irregular and sharp points, and
their extremity is pointed; some of these points are from six to eight inches
long, but most of them are quite short; width between the horns on the skull,
eight inches; width of horns at the root, two inches and three quarters; depth,
one inch and three quarters; length of main horn, following the curve, three
feet; there is a palmated brow antler with four points, on one side, inclining
downwards and inwards; on the opposite horn there are two points, but the antler
is not palmated; immediately above the brow antlers there is a branch or prong
on each horn about fourteen inches in length, terminating in three points; these
prongs incline forward and inward. About half the length of the horn from the
skull there is another prong on each about two inches long; beyond these prongs
each horn continues about the same thickness, spreading outwards slightly to
within a few inches of its extremity, where one diverges into five points and
the other into six. The horns are but slightly channelled; they are dark
yellow. Between the tips, where they approach each other, the horns are two
feet apart, and at their greatest width two feet eight inches.
The female Caribou has horns as well as the male, but they are smaller.
DIMENSIONS.
Young--about two and a half years old. Feet. Inches.
Length from nose to root of tail,. . . . . . 6 0
Length of tail (vertebrae),. . . . . . . . 0 4
Length of tail (including hair), . . . . . . 0 6 1/2
Height of shoulder, . . . . . . . . . . 3 6
Width between the eyes, . . . . . . . . . 0 5 1/2
From point of nose to lower canthus of eye, . . 0 9
From point of nose to ear, . . . . . . . . 1 2
Height of ear posteriorly, . . . . . . . . 0 5
HABITS.
The Caribou, or American Reindeer, is one of the most important animals of
the northern parts of America, and is almost as graceful in form as the elk
(Elaphus Canadensis), to which it is nearly equal in size; but it has never, we
believe, been domesticated or trained to draw sledges in the manner of the
Reindeer of the old world, although so nearly allied to that species that it has
been by most authors considered identical with it.
Whilst separating the Caribou found in Maine and the States bordering on
the St. Lawrence, and in Canada, Labrador, &c., from the Reindeer of Europe, we
are inclined to think that the Reindeer found within the polar circle may be the
European species, domiciled in that part of America, and that they sometimes
migrate farther south than even Hudson's Bay. Sir JOHN RICHARDSON says the
Reindeer or Caribou of North America "have indeed so great a general resemblance
in appearance and manners to the Lapland Deer that they have always been
considered to be the same species, without the fact having ever been completely
established."--Fauna Boreali Americana, p. 238.
The greater size and weight of the Caribou found in Canada seem to have
surprised Sir JOHN, but while he says in a note (p. 239), that "Mr. HENRY, when
he mentions Caribou that weigh four hundred pounds, must have some other species
of Deer in view," he has not done more than point out two varieties of Reindeer
beside the one he considered identical with Cervus tarandus the European
Reindeer, and to neither of these varieties can we with certainty refer the
Caribou, our present animal. In the Fauna Boreali Americana (p. 241) one of
these varieties--C. tarandus, var. A. Arctica, Barren-ground Caribou--is said to
be so small that the bucks only weigh from ninety to one hundred and thirty
pounds, exclusive of the offal, when in good condition; the other variety--C.
tarandus, var. B. sylvestris, Woodland Caribou (idem, p. 250)--is much larger
than the Barren-ground Caribou, has smaller horns, and even when in good
condition is vastly inferior as an article of food."
Leaving these supposed varieties where we found them--in doubt--we will
proceed with an account of the habits of the Caribou detailed to us by Mr. JOHN
MARTYN, Jr., of Quebec:
This species, that gentleman informed us, is not abundant near Quebec; it
is mostly found in the swamps, wherever these are well supplied with
moss-covered dead trees and bushes; the moss the animals prefer is a long and
black species, and forms their chief subsistence during the winter months; but
towards spring these animals remove to the sides of the hills or mountains, and
even ascend to their summits occasionally, feeding on the newly swollen buds of
different shrubs. Like the moose deer they shed their antlers about this
period, and renew them in the summer months.
The Caribou is famous for its swiftness, and has various gaits, walking
trotting or galloping alike gracefully and rapidly. By many people these
animals are in fact thought to be much fleeter animals than the moose, and they
are said to take most extraordinary leaps.
When pursued the Caribou immediately makes for a swamp and follows the
margin, taking at times to the water and again footing it over the firm ground,
and sometimes turning towards the nearest mountain crosses it to another morass.
If hard pressed by the hunters (who now and then follow up the chase for four or
five days) the animal ascends to the loftiest peaks of the mountains for greater
security, and the pursuit becomes very fatiguing and uncertain. Upon one
occasion two men followed several Caribou for a whole week, when, completely
tired out they gave up the chase, which was then continued by two other hunters
who at last succeeded in killing a couple of the animals at long shot.
Sometimes, however, fresh tracks are found and the Caribou is surprised whilst
lying down or browsing, and shot on the spot. When the snow is not deep and the
lakes are covered with ice only, the animal if closely pushed makes for one of
them and runs over the ice so fast that it is unable to stop if struck with
alarm at any object presenting itself in front, and it then suddenly squats down
on its haunches and slides along in that ludicrous position until, the impetus
being exhausted, it rises again and makes off in some other direction. When the
Caribou takes to the ice the hunters always give up the chase.
Sometimes when the mouth and throat of a fresh killed Reindeer are examined
they are found to be filled with a blackish looking mucus, resembling thin mud,
but which appears to be only a portion of the partially decomposed black mosses
upon which it fed, probably forced into the throat and mouth of the animal in
its dying agonies.
We were informed that two wood-choppers, whilst felling trees at a distance
from any settlement, saw a Caribou fawn approaching them which was so gentle
that it allowed them to catch it, and one of the men took it up in his arms; but
suddenly the dam also made her appearance, and the men dropping the young one
made after her in hopes of killing her with their axes. This object was of
course soon abandoned, as a few bounds took the animal out of sight, and to
their mortification they found that the fawn had escaped also during their short
absence, and although they made diligent search for it, could not again be seen.
At times, even the full grown Caribou appears to take but little heed of man.--A
person descending a steep woody hill on a road towards a lake, saw several of
them, which only turned aside far enough to let him pass, after which they came
back to the road and proceeded at a slow pace up the hill. At another place a
lad driving a cart was surprised to see five of these animals come into the road
just before him, making a great noise through the woods. As soon as they got
into the road they walked along quite leisurely, and on his cracking his whip
only trotted a few paces and then resumed their walking.
When overtaken by dogs in chase, the Caribou stand at bay and show fight,
and when thus brought to a stand will not pay much attention to the hunter, so
that he can approach and shoot them with ease.
During our expeditions in Labrador we saw many trails of Reindeer through
the deep and stiff moss; they are about as broad as a cowpath, and many times
the fatigues of a long day's hunt over the sterile wilds of that country were
lightened by following in these tracks or paths, instead of walking on the
yielding moss.
We did not see any of these animals ourselves, but bought one from the
Indians and enjoyed it very much, as we had had no fresh meat for nearly three
months, except fishy ducks, a few curlews, and some willow-grouse.
We were informed that the Caribou are sometimes abundant on the island of
Newfoundland, to which they cross on the ice from the mainland, and as the
fishermen and French trappers at St. George's Bay told us, sometimes the herds
stay so late in the spring that by the occasional early breaking up of the ice,
they are prevented from leaving the island.
The horns of the Caribou run into various shapes, and are more or less
palmated. The female of this species has also horns, which are not dropped
until near the month of May. No two individuals of this species have the horns
alike, nor do the horns of any grow into the same number of prongs, or resemble
those of the last season. Notwithstanding this endless variety, there is always
a specific character in the horns of this species (as well as in all our other
deer), which will enable the close observer at once to recognise them.
"In the month of July," says Dr. RICHARDSON, "the Caribou sheds its winter
covering, and acquires a short, smooth coat of hair, of a colour composed of
clove brown, mingled with deep reddish and yellowish-browns, the under surface
of the neck, the belly, and the inner sides of the extremities, remaining white
in all seasons. The hair at first is fine and flexible, but as it lengthens it
increases gradually in diameter at its roots, becoming at the same time white,
soft, compressible, and brittle, like the hair of the moose deer. In the course
of the winter the thickness of the hairs at their roots becomes so great that
they are exceedingly close, and no longer lie down smoothly, but stand erect,
and they are then so soft and tender below, that the flexible coloured points
are easily rubbed off, and the fur appears white, especially on the flanks.
This occurs in a smaller degree on the back; and on the under parts, the hair,
although it acquires length, remains more flexible and slender at its roots, and
is consequently not so subject to break. Towards the spring, when the Deer are
tormented by the larvae of the gad-fly making their way through the skin, they
rub themselves against stones and rocks until all the coloured tops of the hair
are worn off, and their fur appears to be entirely of a soiled white colour."
"The closeness of the hair of the Caribou, and the lightness of its skin,
when properly dressed, render it the most appropriate article for winter
clothing in the high latitudes. The skins of the young Deer make the best
dresses, and they should be killed for that purpose in the month of August or
September, as after the latter date the hair becomes too long and brittle. The
prime parts of eight or ten Deer-skins make a complete suit of clothing for a
grown person, which is so impervious to the cold that, with the addition of a
blanket of the same material, any one so clothed may bivouack on the snow with
safety, and even with comfort, in the most intense cold of an Arctic winter's
night."
The same author gives the following habits of the variety he called
"Arctica:" " The Barren-ground Caribou, which resort to the coast of the Arctic
sea in summer, retire in winter to the woods lying between the sixty-third and
the sixty-sixth degree of latitude, where they feed on the usneae, alectoriae,
and other lichens, which hang from the trees, and on the long grass of the
swamps. About the end of April, when the partial melting of the snow has
softened the cetrariae, corniculariae, and cevomyces, which clothe the barren
grounds like a carpet, they make short excursions from the woods, but return to
them when the weather is frosty. In May the females proceed towards the
sea-coast, and towards the end of July the males are in full march in the same
direction. At that period the power of the sun has dried up the lichens on the
barren grounds, and the Caribou frequent the moist pastures which cover the
bottoms of the narrow valleys on the coasts and islands of the Arctic sea, where
they graze on the sprouting carices and on the withered grass or hay of the
preceding year, which is at that period still standing, and retaining part of
its sap. Their spring journey is performed partly on the snow, and partly after
the snow has disappeared, on the ice covering the rivers and lakes, which have
in general a northerly direction. Soon after their arrival on the coast the
females drop their young; they commence their return to the south in September,
and reach the vicinity of the woods towards the end of October, where they are
joined by the males. This journey takes place after the snow has fallen, and
they scrape it away with their feet to procure the lichens, which are then
tender and pulpy, being preserved moist and unfrozen by the heat still remaining
in the earth. Except in the rutting season, the bulk of the males and females
live separately: the former retire deeper into the woods in winter, whilst
herds of the pregnant does stay on the skirts of the barren grounds, and proceed
to the coast very early in spring. Captain PARRY saw Deer on Melville peninsula
as late as the 23d of September, and the females, with their fawns, made their
first appearance on the 22d of April. The males in general do not go so far
north as the females. On the coast of Hudson's Bay the Barren-ground Caribou
migrate farther south than those on the Coppermine or Mackenzie rivers; but none
of them go to the southward of Churchill."
The Caribou becomes very fat at times, and is then an excellent article of
food. As some particulars connected with its edible qualities are rather
singular, we subjoin them from the same author: "When in condition there is a
layer of fat deposited on the back and rump of the males to the depth of two or
three inches or more, immediately under the skin, which is termed depouille by
the Canadian voyagers, and as an article of Indian trade, it is often of more
value than all the remainder of the carcass. The depouille is thickest at the
commencement of the rutting season; it then becomes of a red colour, and
acquires a high flavour, and soon afterwards disappears. The females at that
period are lean, but in the course of the winter they acquire a small depouille,
which is exhausted soon after they drop their young. The flesh of the Caribou
is very tender, and its flavour when in season is, in my opinion, superior to
that of the finest English venison, but when the animal is lean it is very
insipid, the difference being greater between well fed and lean Caribou than any
one can conceive who has not had an opportunity of judging. The lean meat fills
the stomach but never satisfies the appetite, and scarcely serves to recruit the
strength when exhausted by labour." "The Chepewyans, the Copper Indians, the
Dog-Ribs and Hare Indians of Great Bear Lake, would be totally unable to inhabit
their barren lands were it not for the immense herds of this Deer that exist
there. Of the Caribou horns they form their fish-spears and hooks; and previous
to the introduction of European iron, ice-chisels and various other utensils
were likewise made of them." "The hunter breaks the leg-bones of a recently
slaughtered Deer, and while the marrow is still warm devours it with much
relish. The kidneys and part of the intestines, particularly the thin folds of
the third stomach or manyplies, are likewise occasionally eaten when raw, and
the summits of the antlers, as long as they are soft, are also delicacies in a
raw state. The colon or large gut is inverted, so as to preserve its fatty
appendages, and is, when either roasted or boiled, one of the richest and most
savoury morsels the country affords, either to the native or white resident.
The remainder of the intestines, after being cleaned, are hung in the smoke for
a few days and then broiled. The stomach and its contents, termed by the
Esquimaux nerrooks, and by the Greenlanders nerrokak or nerriookak, are also
eaten, and it would appear that the lichens and other vegetable matters on which
the Caribou feeds are more easily digested by the human stomach when they have
been mixed with the salivary and gastric juices of a ruminating animal. Many of
the Indians and Canadian voyagers prefer this savoury mixture after it has
undergone a degree of fermentation, or lain to season, as they term it, for a
few days. The blood, if mixed in proper proportion with a strong decoction of
fat meat, forms, after some nicety in the cooking, a rich soup, which is very
palatable and highly nutritious, but very difficult of digestion. When all the
soft parts of the animal are consumed the bones are pounded small, and a large
quantity of marrow is extracted from them by boiling. This is used in making
the better kinds of the mixture of dried meat and fat, which is named pemmican,
and it is also preserved by the young men and females for anointing the hair and
greasing the face on dress occasions. The tongue roasted, when fresh or when
half dried, is a delicious morsel. When it is necessary to preserve the Caribou
meat for use at a future period, it is cut into thin slices and dried over the
smoke of a slow fire, and then pounded betwixt two stones. This pounded meat is
very dry and husky if eaten alone, but when a quantity of the back-fat or
depouille of the Deer is added to it, is one of the greatest treats that can be
offered to a resident in the fur countries."
"The Caribou travel in herds, varying in number from eight or ten to two or
three hundred, and their daily excursions are generally towards the quarter from
whence the wind blows. The Indians kill them with the bow and arrow or gun,
take them in snares, or spear them in crossing rivers or lakes. The Esquimaux
also take them in traps ingeniously formed of ice or snow. Of all the Deer of
North America they are the most easy of approach, and are slaughtered in the
greatest numbers. A single family of Indians will sometimes destroy two or
three hundred in a few weeks, and in many cases they are killed for the sake of
their tongues alone."
Captain LYON's private journal contains some accounts of this species:
"The Reindeer visits the polar regions at the latter end of May or the early
part of June, and remains until late in September. On his first arrival he is
thin and his flesh is tasteless, but the short summer is sufficient to fatten
him to two or three inches on the haunches. When feeding on the level ground,
an Esquimaux makes no attempt to approach him, but should a few rocks be near,
the wary hunter feels secure of his prey. Behind one of these he cautiously
creeps, and having laid himself very close, with his bow and arrow before him,
imitates the bellow of the Deer when calling to each other. Sometimes, for more
complete deception, the hunter wears his Deer-skin coat and hood so drawn over
his head as to resemble, in a great measure, the unsuspecting animals he is
enticing. Though the bellow proves a considerable attraction, yet if a man has
great patience he may do without it, and may be equally certain that his prey
will ultimately come to examine him, the reindeer being an inquisitive animal,
and at the same time so silly that if he sees any suspicious object which is not
actually chasing him, he will gradually and after many caperings, and forming
repeated circles, approach nearer and nearer to it. The Esquimaux rarely shoot
until the creature is within twelve paces, and I have frequently been told of
their being killed at a much shorter distance. It is to be observed that the
hunters never appear openly, but employ stratagem for their purpose; thus, by
patience and ingenuity, rendering their rudely formed bows and still worse
arrows, as effective as the rifles of Europeans. When two men hunt in company
they sometimes purposely show themselves to the Deer, and when his attention is
fully engaged, walk slowly away from him, one before the other. The Deer
follows, and when the hunters arrive near a stone, the foremost drops behind it
and prepares his bow, while his companion continues walking steadily forward.
This latter the Deer still follows unsuspectingly, and thus passes near the
concealed man, who takes a deliberate aim and kills the animal. When the Deer
assemble in herds there are particular passes which they invariably take, and on
being driven to them are killed with arrows by the men, while the women with
shouts drive them to the water. Here they swim with the ease and activity of
water-dogs; the people in kayaks chasing and easily spearing them; the carcases
float, and the hunter then presses forward and kills as many as he finds in his
track. No springes or traps are used in the capture of these animals, as is
practised to the southward, in consequence of the total absence of standing
wood."
As presenting a striking illustration of the degree of cold prevailing in
the Arctic regions, we may here mention that Dr. RICHARDSON describes a trap
constructed by the Esquimaux to the southward of Chesterfield inlet, built of
"compact snow." "The sides of the trap are built of slabs of that substance,
cut as if for a snow house; an inclined plane of snow leads to the entrance of
the pit, which is about five feet deep, and of sufficient dimensions to contain
two or three large Deer. The pit is covered with a large thin slab of snow,
which the animal is enticed to tread upon by a quantity of the lichens on which
it feeds being placed conspicuously on an eminence beyond the opening. The
exterior of the trap is banked up with snow so as to resemble a natural hillock,
and care is taken to render it so steep on all sides but one, that the Deer must
pass over the mouth of the trap before it can reach the bait. The slab is
sufficiently strong to bear the weight of a Deer until it has passed its middle,
when it revolves on two short axles of wood, precipitates the Deer into the
trap, and returns to its place again in consequence of the lower end being
heavier than the other. Throughout the whole line of coast frequented by the
Esquimaux it is customary to see long lines of stones set on end, or of turfs
piled up at intervals of about twenty yards, for the purpose of leading the
Caribou to stations where they can be more easily approached. The natives find
by experience that the animals in feeding imperceptibly take the line of
direction of the objects thus placed before them, and the hunter can approach a
herd that he sees from a distance, by gradually crawling from stone to stone,
and remaining motionless when he sees any of the animals looking towards him.
The whole of the barren grounds are intersected by Caribou paths, like
sheep-tracks, which are of service to travellers at times in leading them to
convenient crossing places of lakes or rivers."
The following account of a method of "impounding" Deer, resorted to by the
Chepewyan Indians, is from HEARNE:
"When the Indians design to impound Deer, they look out for one of the
paths in which a number of them have trod, and which is observed to be still
frequented by them. When these paths cross a lake, a wide river, or a barren
plain, they are found to be much the best for the purpose; and if the path run
through a cluster of woods, capable of affording materials for building the
pound, it adds considerably to the commodiousness of the situation. The pound
is built by making a strong fence with brushy trees, without observing any
degree of regularity, and the work is continued to any extent, according to the
pleasure of the builders. I have seen some that were not less than a mile
round, and am informed that there are others still more extensive. The door or
entrance of the pound is not larger than a common gate, and the inside is so
crowded with small counter-hedges as very much to resemble a maze, in every
opening of which they set a snare, made with thongs of parchment Deer-skins well
twisted together, which are amazingly strong. One end of the snare is usually
made fast to a growing pole; but if no one of a sufficient size can be found
near the place where the snare is set, a loose pole is substituted in its room,
which is always of such size and length that a Deer cannot drag it far before it
gets entangled among the other woods, which are all left standing, except what
is found necessary for making the fence, hedges, &c. The pound being thus
prepared, a row of small brush-wood is stuck up in the snow on each side of the
door or entrance, and these hedge-rows are continued along the open part of the
lake, river, or plain, where neither stick nor stump besides is to be seen,
which makes them the more distinctly observed. These poles or brushwood are
generally placed at the distance of fifteen or twenty yards from each other, and
ranged in such a manner as to form two sides of a long acute angle, growing
gradually wider in proportion to the distance they extend from the pound, which
sometimes is not less than two or three miles, while the Deer's path is exactly
along the middle, between the two rows of brushwood. Indians employed on this
service always pitch their tents on or near to an eminence that affords a
commanding prospect of the path leading to the pound, and when they see any Deer
going that way, men, women, and children walk along the lake or river side under
cover of the woods, till they get behind them, then step forth to open view, and
proceed towards the pound in form of a crescent. The poor timorous Deer,
finding themselves pursued, and at the same time taking the two rows of brushy
poles to be two ranks of people stationed to prevent their passing on either
side, run straight forward in the path till they get into the pound. The
Indians then close in, and block up the entrance with some brushy trees that
have been cut down and lie at hand for that purpose. The Deer being thus
enclosed, the women and children walk round the pound to prevent them from
jumping over or breaking through the fence, while the men are employed spearing
such as are entangled in the snares, and shooting with bows and arrows those
which remain loose in the pound. This method of hunting, if it deserve the
name, is sometimes so successful that many families subsist by it without having
occasion to move their tents above once or twice during the course of a whole
winter; and when the spring advances, both the Deer and the Indians draw out to
the eastward on the ground which is entirely barren, or at least which is called
so in these parts, as it neither produces trees nor shrubs of any kind, so that
moss and some little grass is all the herbage which is to be found on it."
With the following extract from the Fauna Boreali Americana, our readers
may perhaps be amused: "The Dog-rib Indians have a mode of killing these
animals, which, though simple, is very successful. It was thus described by Mr.
WENTZEL, who resided long amongst that people: The hunters go in pairs, the
foremost man carrying in one hand the horns and part of the skin of the head of
a Deer, and in the other a small bundle of twigs, against which he, from time to
time, rubs the horns, imitating the gestures peculiar to the animal. His
comrade follows, treading exactly in his footsteps, and holding the guns of both
in a horizontal position, so that the muzzles project under the arms of him who
carries the head. Both hunters have a fillet of white skin round their
foreheads, and the foremost has a strip of the same around his wrists. They
approach the herd by degrees, raising their legs very slowly but setting them
down somewhat suddenly after the manner of a Deer, and always taking care to
lift their right or left feet simultaneously. If any of the herd leave off
feeding to gaze upon this extraordinary phenomenon it instantly stops, and the
head begins to play its part by licking its shoulders and performing other
necessary movements. In this way the hunters attain the very centre of the herd
without exciting suspicion, and have leisure to single out the fattest. The
hindmost man then pushes forward his comrade's gun, the head is dropt, and they
both fire nearly at the same instant. The Deer scamper off, the hunters trot
after them; in a short time the poor animals halt to ascertain the cause of
their terror, their foes stop at the same moment, and having loaded as they ran,
greet the gazers with a second fatal discharge. The consternation of the Deer
increases; they run to and fro in the utmost confusion, and sometimes a great
part of the herd is destroyed within the space of a few hundred yards."
We do not exactly comprehend how the acute sense of smell peculiar to the
Reindeer should be useless in such cases, and should think the Deer could only
be approached by keeping to the leeward of them, and that it would be a very
difficult matter, even with the ingenious disguise adopted by the "Dog-Ribs," to
get into the centre of a herd and leisurely single out the fattest.
Dr. RICHARDSON considers the variety he calls the woodland Caribou as much
larger than the other, and says it has smaller horns, and is even when in good
condition vastly inferior as an article of food. "The proper country of this
Deer," he continues, "is a stripe of low primitive rocks, well clothed with
wood, about one hundred miles wide, and extending at the distance of eighty or a
hundred miles from the shores of Hudson's Bay, from Athapescow Lake to Lake
Superior. Contrary to the practice of the barren-ground Caribou, the woodland
variety travels to the southward in the spring. They cross the Nelson and
Severn rivers in immense herds in the month of May, pass the summer on the low
marshy shores of James' Bay, and return to the northward, and at the same time
retire more inland in the month of September."
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION.
This species exists in Newfoundland and Labrador, extends westward across
the American continent, and is mentioned both by PENNANT and LANGSDORFF as
inhabiting the Fox or Aleutian Islands.
It is not found so far to the southward on the Pacific as on the Atlantic
coast, and is not found on the Rocky Mountains, within the limits of the United
States. According to PENNANT there are no Reindeer on the islands that lie
between Asia and America. It is somewhat difficult to assign limits to the
range of the Caribou: it is found, however, in some one or other of its
supposed varieties, in every part of Arctic America, including the region from
Hudson's Bay to far within the Arctic circle.
GENERAL REMARKS.
The American Caribou or Reindeer has by most authors been regarded as
identical with the Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) of Europe, Greenland, and the
Asiatic polar regions. The arguments in favour of this supposition are very
plausible, and the varieties which the species exhibits in America, together
with the fact that the antlers of the Reindeer assume an almost infinite
diversity of form, that they differ not only in different specimens, but that
the horns on each side of the head of the same animal often differ from each
other, afford still stronger grounds for the supposition: notwithstanding all
this, supposing that they are only varieties, they have become such permanently
in our continent, and require separate descriptions, and as they must be known
by particular names we have supposed we might venture on designating the
American Reindeer as a distinct species, admitting at the same time that the
subject requires closer comparisons than we have been able to institute, and
further investigations.
We believe that several naturalists have bestowed new names on the American
animal, but we are not aware that any one has described it, or pointed out those
peculiarities which would separate the species. Among the rest, we were
informed that our esteemed friend Professor AGASSIZ had designated it as
Tarandus furcifer, and believing that he had described it we adopted his name on
our plate; subsequently, however, we were informed that he had merely proposed
for it the name of Cervus hastatus. He did not, however, describe it, and as
the common name under which it has been known for ages past in America will be
most easily understood, and can by no possibility lead to any misapprehension as
regards the species, we have named it Rangifer Caribou, and respectfully request
our subscribers to alter the name on the plate accordingly.
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