To the natives of North America the reindeer is invaluable. There is hardly a part of the animal not made available for some useful purpose. Clothing made of its skin is, according to Sir J. Richardson, so impervious to cold, that, with the addition of a coverlet made of the same material, any one so protected may bivouac on the snow with safety in the most intense cold of the Arctic night. The venison, when in high condition, has several inches of fat on the haunches, and is said to equal that of the fallow-deer in our English parks; the tongue, and a portion of the tripe, are reckoned most delicious morsels. Pemmican is made by pouring one-third part of fat over two-third parts of the pounded meat, and mixing fat and meat thoroughly together. The Eskimos and Greenlanders consider the stomach, or paunch, with its contents, a special delicacy; and Captain Sir James Ross says that the contents form the only vegetable food ever tasted by the natives of Boothia. For the reindeer is a herbivorous animal, and feeds upon the mosses and grasses. [Illustration: WILD REINDEER.] The reindeer is by no means a graceful animal; its joints are large, and powerful in proportion to its size; the divided hoofs are very large, and as the animal is compelled to lift its feet high when going over the snow, its gallop has none of that beautiful elastic spring which characterizes the deer of our own islands, though its pace is “telling,” and soon carries it ahead of everything but the long-winded, long-legged wolf. The stags cast their antlers, and the does drop their young, in May or June, about the time of the first thaw. The males and females are then very seldom found together; the female deer collecting in small herds with their young; the little creatures, which seem all eyes, ears, and legs, taking alarm at any unaccustomed sound or the slightest appearance of danger. The summer vegetation fattens the bucks and does amazingly, and the fawns thrive and develop; all three, says Osborn, having a comparative holiday, and getting into condition to face the trials of the coming winter; while the wolf and the fox, their sworn enemies, are pursuing the infant seals and bears, or attending to their own little domestic duties. But when the autumn frost sets in, and hardens the ground, and the dense snow once more overspreads the dreary northern landscape, the wolves resume their attacks on the unfortunate deer. For warmth or protection, and following the natural instincts of gregarious animals, they now begin to collect together in large herds of bucks, does, and fawns, numbering as many as sixty and seventy head. The stags seem to undertake the discipline of these large companies, as well as to be responsible for their safety.