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ACCOUNT OF DANISH LAPLAND BY LEEMS. 403
terrified by the found, may be driven from the cattle. And indeed fo much conftant
and fuperintending care do the miferable reindeer really ftand in need of, who are not
only weak, but even ftupid to their own ruin, againft their crafty invader, that they pre-
fent themfelves to him as the enemy; for no fooner do they fmell the wolf than all, as
many as are, rife up, taking flight, not where the wolf is, but to another quarter, when
they would beft confult for their fafety, did they remain in quiet round the cot ; the
treacherous invader, as he well remarks it, purfues themas they fly, and miferably
kills them. ‘The domeftics hearing of the fudden flight of the rein-deer which lie about
the cot, and of their being fcattered through the plains, eafily infer that the wolf is not
at a great diftance, and readily bring affiftance, yet ufually too late for the herd, who
has already fuffered. Should a wolf meet a rein-deer in the meadows, not far from his
dwelling, and fhould perceive that he is making for the hut, he cunningly ftrives to
revent his reaching it, and forces him to make for the foreft, where at his will, and
without the fear of any afliftance being brought to him, he invades his prey. The wolf
very rarely comes up with the rein deer flying up the hills; it is when running down
the declivities he overtakes him moft eafily. Should he only lay hold of him by the
loins with his gripe, but lofe him when wounded, he feldom, and with difficulty, lays
hold of him again, efcaped from his claws, ufually evaded by the fwiftnefs of the
wounded rein-deer; but if he does, he choaks him by laying hold of him by the throat.
I myfelf have feen fix rein-deer together, whom, near the cot, the wolf has ftrangled,
but alarmed by the fudden coming up of the men, had not torn; fo that when their
carcafes lay ftretched upon the {now without fign of life, but found and unhurt in ap-
pearance, for the wolf had fo artificially killed them, that by intercepting their breath
he did not leave the leaft mark of a mortal wound. ‘The wolves do not devour the
carcafe in the place it is killed in, but dragged elfewhere ; and what is truly furprifing,
they fo place the carcafe they are going to devour, that the head fhould be to the eait,
and the tail to the weft, which pofition it is manifeft, from the remaining fkeletons, they
never negle&. ‘The crows are attendants, if I may fo exprefs myfelf, on the devouring
wolves, who led by the hope of prey, always and every where accompany them; and
hence the Laplanders learn from their croaking that the wolf is not far off. The wolves
themfelves after they have made a flaughter, and put the carcafes under ground, ufually
fet up a howling. ‘Thofe of the rein-deer, a little more fpirited, boldly oppofe them-
felves to the wolf, and fometimes repel the invader, of which I remember a remarkable
inftance. A certain Laplander of the mountains, from the bay of Porfanger, by name
Mads Pederfen, that is, Matthias, fon of Peter, had a male rein-deer without horns : two
wolves attacked it in the night, but with little fuccefs, for on the next day the marks of
the conteft were vifible in the fnow; by which it moft clearly appeared that the con-
quering rein-deer had overthrown both the wolves, and that they had confulted their
fafety by flight. The rein-deer, though he withdrew from the conteft, as fuperior in it,
was found, having exhaufted his ftrength, at fome little diftance from the place of con-
teft dead. The wolf generally {pares the rein-deer if tied up; but if, terrified, he ex-
tricates himfelf from his faftenings, and takes flight, he inftantly purfues the fugitive,
and, unlefs through fwiftnefs he elcapes the enemy, miferably kills him. But by no
robable argument is it proved, though fome have with too much confidence aflirmed
it, that wolves moft eagerly thirft after the blood of a pregnant rein-deer, and that they
prefer the flaughter of it to that of men; a property of this is afcribed elfewhere to bears,
‘py thofe who are learned in natural hiftory.
Befides thefe in the management of the rein-deer among the Laplanders, the follow-
ing are to be noticed. ‘The Laplanders imprefs a mark on the ears of their rein-deer,
: 3F 2 that
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