REINDEEE CHEESE. 97 



home to be milked. These animals are as sagacious 

 as English sheep-dogs, and can distinguish their re- 

 spective charges by some instinctive recognition of 

 their faces. The Lapp is neither kind nor gentle to 

 his dogs, but keeps them in a state of semi-starvation ; 

 they have to depend for their food on the bones of 

 the reindeer that are thrown to them, or to the licking 

 out of the pots as they lie round the Lapp's tent. A 

 grim joke is extant in Norway, to the effect that the 

 Lapp is too lazy to clean his pots and pans, so he 

 keeps his dogs hungry to do it for him. 



A reindeer cheese is a particularly nasty-looking ar- 

 ticle of food. It is flat and round like a huge muffin. 

 Its flavour is very little better than its look. It is 

 said that the oil extracted from a reindeer cheese by 

 holding it before a bright fire is, if applied to the 

 affected part, a sure and safe remedy for the cure of 

 frost-bite. 



The Lapps are extremely superstitious, and all out- 

 ward signs are closely observed among them as omens 

 of good or evil fortune : the stars, the appearance of 

 the clouds, the rising of the moon, the flight of birds 

 in small or large numbers, the falling of the leaves in 

 autumn with unusual rustling, are eagerly scanned and 

 watched. It is considered very unlucky to spill milk ; 

 and if a stranger,, sojourning among the Lapps, should 

 do this, the little people will dance about, tear their 

 hair, grin diabolically, and not be satisfied until the 

 head of the family has covered the spilled milk with 

 earth, then scooped it up in his hand, and scattered it, 

 outside the tent, to the winds of heaven. 



The Lapps are very hospitable to strangers, although 

 suspicious of them at first. They will give the passing 



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