_Of their Cattel._
After our discourse of the inhabitants of _Lapland_, their Nature and
manners, something is to be said of other things there remarkable.
First of their Cattel, of which they have some common to other Nations,
some proper only to themselves. They have no Horses, nor Asses, Oxen,
nor Bulls, Sheep nor Goats. The inhabitants do not regard Horses, for
the little use they have of them; Oxen, Sheep, Goats, they procure
from their Neighbors, for the provision of meat, wool, and hides, and
they keep them but one Summer, still killing them a little before
Winter. The Beasts proper to _Lapland_ which no other Nation has, are
Rain-deers, _Peucerus_ stiles them _Tarandi_, but without reason, for
the Rain-deer compared with _Tarandus_ as ’tis described by _Pliny_,
have scarce any thing a like, the _Tarandus_ having the bulk of an Ox,
an head bigger than a stags, and hair as thick and rough as a Bears,
which he can change into any color, as he shews in his 8^{th} book,
but nothing of this agrees to the Raindeer, as we shall shew anon.
Likewise _Gesner_ did erre in bringing this Animal from two divers
species. ’Tis not known who imposed the name; but whatever become of
the Etymology or imposition of the name, tho it seem to be of late
times, the beast it self was long before known. The first that wrote of
him was _Paulus Warnefrid_: he speaks there of a people which he calls
_Scritobini_, which were doubtless the _Laplanders_, for he describes
their cloths to be the same with those which the _Laplanders_ call’d
_Mudd_, he affirms that the beast of which they had their hides was not
unlike a Stag, which serves to prove that they were the _Rain-deer_,
for so they are call’d by _Herbestenius_, _Damianus_, and _Olaus_,
who tells us that they are something taller then a Stag: those which
have broad horns (found most in the North) are less than others. But
tis not the same thing to talke of tallness and bulk; for tho other
Stags owe their height to their long legs, they have less bodies than
the Rain-deer. They have 3 horns, 2 branching out backward, the third
sprowting down their foreheads (which _Olaus_ observes is to guard
them from the wild Beasts especially the Wolves.) _Lomenius_ speaks
of 4 horns, 2 backwards and 2 forwards, as appears by his picture, in
which the Artist falls short of the matter, as my draught which is more
accurate will show: but _Albertus Magnus_ makes them have three rows of
horns, for so _Jonstonus_ out of him, they carry saies he 3 horns, each
breeding 2 horns more, which makes his head seem bushy. Two of these
are bigger then the rest, which answer to the Stags horns, growing
sometimes to that bigness as to be 5 cubits high, and are adorned with
25 branches. The Doe has 2 short horns, one being fixt in its forehead
which it uses in conflict with other beasts. These horns are proper
only to the Buck, the Doe having much less and fewer branches. They
are commonly covered with a kind of Wool, which is most frequent after
they are cast and begin again to shoot; so _Olaus_. In the spring, they
begin to sprout, tender, but rough and full of blood: when they come
to a sufficient growth, they cast their hair in Autumn. The Rain-deer
differ from a Stag, that their feet are thick like a Bulls; hence
_Olaus_ took notice of their round hoofs: when they walk, the joints
of their feet make a noise like the clashing of flints, or cracking of
nuts, which is peculiar only to these beasts. Lastly their color is
different from a Stags, for it comes nearer an Ash: besides they are
white not only on their belly but on their haunches, which _Damianus_
observes does render them more like Asses then Stags, and _Zeigler_
agrees with him. But I cannot see on what account _Olaus_ attributes
a main to this beast: they have indeed, especially under their necks,
hair longer then ordinary, such as Goats and other beasts have, but
nothing agreeable to an horse main: tis farther observeable that tho
they are cleft they do not chew the cud. Likewise instead of the
bladder for their gall they have a black passage in their liver. This
is the picture of one drawn to the life.
[Illustration]
Moreover the beast is naturally wild, and such still abound in
_Lapland_, but now multitudes are tamed for domestick service; those
that are bred of tame ones, remain so, of which there is great plenty.
There is a third sort bred of the wild and tame, for they use, as
_Sam. Rheen_ observes, to set out tame Does about rutting time, for
the better conveniency of catching the wild ones. Thence it happens
that sometimes the tame ones breed that third sort, which they call
particularly _Kattaigiar_ or _Purach_, and are bigger and stronger
than the rest, and fitter to draw Sledges. He saies too that they
retain something of their primitive wildeness, sometimes being very
headstrong, and kicking at him that sits on the Sledge. The driver hath
no remedy then but to turn his Cart, and lie under it, till the Beast
ceases to be unruly, for they are strong, and will not be governed with
whips. They go a rutting about S. _Matthews_ tide, in the same manner
that Staggs do: if any Buck be killed in that Season, the flesh stinks
like a Goats, which makes the Inhabitants desist from killing them
at that time, but at other times they are good meat. The Does (which
they call _Waijar_) are big ten months, they calve about _May_, when
they can recruit themselves with the Sun, and fresh grass. They breed
but one a piece, but are so fertile, that of an hundred there is not
ten barren. Those that have calved are stiled _Raonæ_, which become
exceeding fleshy, as if they were fatned against Autumn, at which time
they are usualy killed.
Those that have young ones never are housed, but give suck without,
and in this case the great multitude breeds no confusion, for each Doe
knows her proper Calf, and is known by it; so saies _Sam. Rheen_, who
affirms that they know one another after two or three years absence.
When the Calves are grown they feed on grass and leaves, and what
the Mountains afford: their color is mixt of red and yellow. About
S. _James_ tide they cast their hair, which in the next growth turns
blackish. They are at their full growth in 4 years, each year changing
their name; the first, they are stiled _Namiloppa_, i. e. nameless.
_Tornæus_ calls the Buck _Hiroas_, but _Rheen_ gives him the name of
_Herki_. When they are able to work, they are tamed; one sort being
condemned to the Sledge, and thence named _Vaijom-herki_, others to
carry burdens, thence called _Lykam-herki_. Those that are design’d for
labour they commonly gueld, which renders them more tractable: this is
done when they are a year old. Those which are reserved for breeding,
are called _Servi_. The Bucks are not so numerous as the Does, of
which there be an hundred for twenty, which are profitable for Milk,
Cheese and breeding. Both men and women milk them kneeling, one hand
being emploied to hold the pail, and the other the dugg. They milk
them sometimes loose, and sometimes bound to a post, about 2 or 3 of
the clock in the evening, and but once a day, the rest being reserved
for the calves: those which have Calves alwaies yield most milk: the
greatest quantity they give at once is a Swedish pint and half, that
is about the fourth part of the ordinary measure upon the _Rhine_. The
milk is fat and thick, and very nurishing, which is their chiefest
food; that which they do not boil they make Cheese of, which is thus
described by _Rheen_. The Dairy-Maids first let the milk stand to
cream, when it hath stood they take off the cream with a skimmer. When
one Cheesefat is filled, they fill another, and put it on the first,
and so till 6 or 8 are filled, then they turn the Cheesefats, that the
lowermost be in the top, and use not their hands to press the cheese,
but let them press each other. Each Cheese requires as much milk as
ten Rain-deers can spare: their shape is round about two fingers thick,
and as big as a Trencher, which we use at table, their Milk makes very
fat Cheese, but no Butter, instead of which they have a kind of tallow,
as I shew’d before.
Now the _Laplanders_ having such advantages from these beasts, take
great care in driving them to their Meadows, and defending them from
wild Beasts. They are so concerned for them, that they bring their
Wives, Children, and Servants, to watch them in the pastures, and
drive those that wander back to the Herd. When milking time comes,
they drive them into folds, which are spots of ground, hedged in with
hurdles stuck on forks, each fold having two doors, one by which they
enter, the other which carries them out into their Medows. Their meat
in Summer is the best grass the Mountains afford, with leaves of young
Trees. They avoid all hard rough grass, especially where Bullrushes
grow. The other Seasons of the year they feed on a kind of white Moss,
which abounds in _Lapland_: when the Mountains are covered with Snow,
they scrape out this Moss with their feet. And _S. Rheen_ observes that
tho they get least food in the Winter quarter, they grow whiter and
fatter then at other times, for in Summer the excessive heat makes them
worse. These Cattel too are subject to disseases, which if once begun,
spread and kill the whole Herd, but this very rarely. They are infected
with that more frequently, which _Olaus_ describes. About _March_ worms
or wornels do begin to breed in their backs, which when alive, creep
out and make the Beasts skin, if then killed, full of holes, like a
Seive, and almost useless.
The Wolves trouble them, tho they have their horns to defend
themselves; but they are not alwaies so armed, for they cast their
horns once a year, which grow again very slowly. The Does never cast
theirs till they have calved. The Rain-deers use not their horns
when they encounter the Wolves so much as their forefeet, with these
they receive them coming on, otherwise their feet defend them by
flight, which they can easily do, if not hindred by Snow. The third
inconveniency is that if they be not very carefully lookt to, they will
wander and be lost, therefore the owners put certain marks on them to
distinguish them from others; their marks they put sometimes on their
ears, and not their horns, because they cast them. But if they escape
all accidents whatever, they never live above 10 years.
And thus much for the Rain-deers, which alone supply the want of
Horses, Sheep, and other Cattel. Therefore the Inhabitants apply
themselves only to the care of these, neglecting all the rest; besides
Dogs, which faithfully watch their Houses and Cattel, and are very
serviceable for hunting, as I have mentioned in that Chapter.