Uncle Dick and Lisa's Old Time Animal Tales

Attempt to Colonize the Animal Was Not a Success-Marked Intelligence Shown by Them.
A hundred years ago it was thought that the mountain forests of Great Britain might be colonized by raindeer from Lapland, and an account was given in 1821 in an issue of the Observer. London, of the extraordinary sagacity displayed by them when a number of were brought to England at the instigation of an eminent naturalist, Mr. Bullock. The herd was accompanied by a Laplander, to whom the animals were attached and to whose wishes they were usually obedient. All went well till they arrived at the place of embarkation, when the herdsman invited the deer to follow him to the boat. When the leader of the herd put his foot upon the float leading to the vessel he started back in alarm. It was the first unsteady ground he had ever trod. Fresh invitations to follow the herdsman and fresh investigations followed, the whole herd looking on and watching the proceedings, placing entire confidence in the captain, not attempting to move till he gave a signal that all was well. After a time he seemed to be reassured and in a majestic manner entered the vessel, where he trod upon every plank and carefully examined everything. When he had satisfied himself that it was perfectly safe, he uttered a kind of snort, when the hitherto passive herd bounded into the boat and in three minutes all had embarked. The account continues that the vessel was overloaded and the intelligent beast indicated this to his followers. “Were we not assured of the fact, we could hardly credit it,” the reporter continues. “As he had intimated other things, he also intimated to his followers. No sooner was this done than the individual deer he appealed to leaped into another boat.”
The experiment did not prove a success, but the marked intelligence of the raindeer made a deep impression upon the public.