Graham's Magazine, Vol. XL, No. 4, April 1852Various
General
Graham's Magazine, Vol. XL, No. 4, April 1852
Various
Literature -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals
I have myself, unfortunately, no immediate access to either Richardson
or Cuvier; nor even to any well established work on the Animals of
Northern Europe. But I have seen a large herd, in my youth, of the
Lapland Reindeer, which, with their Esquimaux attendants were exhibited
many years ago in London; previous to a futile attempt at naturalizing
them in the Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland; and have a fair,
general remembrance of the animal. I possess antlers of the Cariboo,
which hang in my hall, and which are accurately portrayed in the
wood-cut; I have handled twenty times the hides of this great deer; and
I have daily opportunities—in the office of my friend, W. T. Porter, of
the Spirit of the Times—to examine the preserved heads and legs of even
finer specimens than my own. I have also letters, private, and writings
published, of a New Brunswicker, who has killed the Cariboo fifty times,
and had opportunities of seeing the European Reindeer, at the Zoological
Gardens in London, long since myself. I can, therefore, form a very fair
conjecture at the identity or non-identity of the species. At least I
can give some particulars of structure, stature, and pelage of the
American Cariboo, which will enable others to judge, who are better
posted up than I, in the peculiarities of the Lapland Reindeer. And
first—I will premise that although I have never seen the Cariboo in
life, or in his native woods—which I trust to do before the snows of
the next March shall have melted—the wood-cut illustration of this
number is so closely made up from measurements of the various parts,
heads, antlers, legs and hides of the animal, that I believe it to be as
nearly correct as any likeness can be, which is not taken from an
especial individual of the race.
In the first place—as to the stature of the Cariboo, I was long ago
struck by the statements of the New Brunswick writer, “Meadows,” alias
Mr. Barton Wallop, alluded to above, which may be found in Porter’s
edition of Hawker’s Field Sports, p. 326-333—“The Cariboo of this
country are very like the Reindeer, only a little larger”—and
again—“as this is the first time you have seen a Cariboo trail, you
will observe it is much like that of an _ox_, save that the cleft is
much more open, and the pastern of the animal being very long and
flexible, comes down the whole length on the snow, and gives the animal
additional support.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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