POPULATION. 101 



in herds of reindeer may very frequently indulge his 

 fancy for a new spouse, who of course supersedes the 

 last as head matron, unless, as sometimes occurs, she 

 is considered too young and inexperienced for the 

 onerous duties of the office ; in which case the two 

 ladies occupy the same apartment with their husband, 

 and, strange to say, no signs of jealousy are ever dis- 

 played, nor is harmony disturbed ; long custom, no 

 doubt, reconciles the females to these and other as 

 curious arrangements. It will thus be seen that very 

 large yarangs are required to afford shelter to so many 

 persons ; besides which a home is often provided for 

 the mother of the master, and possibly also such of 

 his father's wives as may survive in widowhood. 

 Metra's yarang contained twenty-six individuals on 

 one occasion when I sought to ascertain the number of 

 its inmates ; but I will not venture to assert that these 

 were all residents, although such is my belief, as I visited 

 the several places at evening, when the outer door was 

 closed, and all inside were certainly going to remain. 

 But some may have been visitors. 



From some attempts at a census which I made at 

 different periods, I consider ten souls to be about the 

 average number of inmates in a hut ; as, although a few 

 may contain only a poor old couple, or even a solitary 

 creature, dragging out the miserable remainder of 



