[Three Hundred Animals Contents]
IS common in Russia and all hyperborean countries; he is easily tamed and harnessed to a chariot or sledge, which he draws with astonishing swiftness on snow and icy ground; his horns divide at the root, part of which ascends, the other part being depressed about the ears, which are long and sharp. Like all animals of the deer kind, he has eight teeth in the lower jaw and none above.
“Swift as the trackless winds on frozen fields,
Where hoary winter spreads his ermine robe,
The rapid Rein-deers flee, and bear away
The sliding sledges; whilst the Lapland dames,
Well fenc’d with native fur, against the blast,
Sit and direct their emulative flight
Athwart the slipp’ry plains; with brighter rays
The moon illumes the coursers’ branching crests,
And leaves a length’ning shade behind. –
—————————————————Z.
