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190 REGNARD’S JOURNEY TO LAPLAND.
in order to have its {kin to carry to France. If I had returned by a direét road, I fhould
have endeavoured to carry fome live rein-deer along with me. Several individuals have
in vain endeavoured to do fo; and laft year three or four were conducted to Dantzic,
’ where they died, not being able to live in fuch a climate, it being too hot for them.
We delayed killing them till we fhould vifit the prieft, when we could dosit more con-
veniently ; and after having taken two or three of thefe little collars which are em-
ployed to guide thefe animals, and fome others, for the purpofe of fecuring them, we
fet out on our return, and made our rein-deer pafs the river: we arrived the fame day,
Saturday, at the refidence of the prieft of the Laplanders, where we had ftopt in pafling.
No fooner had we arrived than we were anxious to kill our animals. The Lap-
landers for this purpofe employ a bow, and an arrow of the fame kind, with that which
they make ufe of in killing large beafts. Wehad the pleafure of perceiving the addrefs
with which they prepared their ftroke, and we were altonifhed that a beaft fo large as
a rein-deer fhould die fo quickly of fo very inconfiderable a wound. It is true, the
arrow-pierced as far as. the half of its fhaft ; but I fhould have believed that a more dan-
gerous wound would have been neceflary to kill it fo foon.
Heret latere lethalis arundo.
We had our animals fkinned in the beft way we were able: the Laplanders took
pofleflion of the blood, and we gave them the half of one. It is difficult to conceive
how two men alone could eat the half of a large deer, without bread, without falt, and
without drink: it is however very true; and we faw it, in this inftance, take place in
our Laplanders with great aftonifhment.
We obferved that the rein-deer have no gall, but only a little black fpot on the liver.
The flefh of this animal is very good, and has a confiderable refemblance in tafte to that
of the ftag, but it is {tronger; the tongue is a delicious morfel, and the Laplanders are
fond of the marrow. At Saint Michael’s day it becomes fat as a pig 5 and it is at that
time that the rich Laplanders kill it, for the purpofe of furnifhing themfelves with pros
vifions during the reft of the year. ‘They make the cold dry the flefh, which produces
the fame effect as when it is dried by fire, and which dries it up, fo that it can be eafily
preferved. Their falting-tub confilts of the trunk of a tree hollowed out by the hands
of nature, which they cover in the beft manner they are able, to prevent the bears from
ftealing it.
ea fome days with the prieft, waiting for a Laplander who was confidered
a great forcerer, and whom we had fent our Laplanders to bring from a diftance of fe-
veral leagues. They returned at the end of fome days, and made fuch exertions, in
order to procure the money which we had promifed them if they brought him, that in
three days we faw them return with the forcerer, whom they had difcovered in the heart
of a wood. We were now as happy as if we had held the devil by the tail, if 1 may
ufe the expreffion; and what gave us pleafure was the promife that our enchanter made
us of telling us many things which would furprife us. We now fet out, therefore, on
our journey through woods, over rocks, and through marfhes. Where will not one go
to fee the devil in this world? We travelled more than five leagues, during which we
met with a number of birds and beatts, with the names of which we were unacquainted,
and particularly of minevers. ‘Thefe minevers are what we call in France {quirrels,
which change their red colour when the winter and the fnows make them turn grey:
the farther north they are, they become the more grey. ‘The Laplanders carry on a
conftant war with them during winter; and fo well trained are their dogs to this chace,
that
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