104 SOME WANDEEINGS IN THE NORTH OF FINLAND. 



by water, and most of the paths iu the forest seem to lead 

 to the swamps, to which they go for grass. 



We had only left the road a short time when we got into 

 swamps such as I have described ; but towards the evening, 

 after finding our way round a lake and across a stream, we 

 were lucky enough to come upon a small farm and slept 

 comfortably in one of the hay huts. Next morning we were 

 ferried across a stream by the farmer, and found a path 

 which brought us to another settlement by the side of a 

 large lake. But soon after midday our path took us into 

 the middle of a huge swamp and then deserted us, so we 

 kept our direction again by the compass and presently 

 got on to some higher ground, where we saw our first 

 reindeer. Fortunately, he was quite as interested in us as 

 we were in him, and so we sat down quietly while he kept 

 trotting round us with a curious shambling trot, snorting 

 with astonishment or indignation. His hoofs are very large 

 and make wide tracks on the ground, which must be of 

 great assistance to him when travelling over snow in winter. 

 Presently we saw another, and on the top of the hill found 

 an open sandy bit of ground, which was evidently much 

 frequented by them to judge from their tracks. 



All the rest of that day we walked through forest of all 

 sorts without seeing any sign of mankind, but towards 

 evening we arrived at a small lake surrounded by swamp 

 and found there some very rough hay huts, into one of which 

 we crawled for the night. 



What a night it was ! In the middle of a lonely forest 

 swamp, probably some miles from any human dwelling and 

 not twenty yards from the water of the lake, on which were 

 numbers of duck and geese. The wild geese were con- 

 tinually flying close to us and splashing about on the 

 water, making strange noises all night. We were thankful 



