212 NEIGHBORS WITH CLAWS AND HOOFS. 



sledge is made of birch-wood ; it is pointed at the end, 

 runs on a kind of wide keel, and resembles a coffin in 

 shape. It travels with incredible swiftness over the 

 snow. 



4. " When a colony of Lapps is moving from place to 

 place, their numerous sledges have a rather pretty effect. 

 This is especially the case when a number of sledges, 

 drawn by reindeer, are passing over a broad sheet of 

 frozen water. The sledges, the Lapps with their wives 

 and children, and the numbers of the dogs, running at the 

 top of their speed, render the sight a most novel and in- 

 teresting one. The tame reindeer is by no means of an 

 amiable disposition. It is by nature vicious, and, when 

 drawing the sledge, the Lapp has but little control over 

 it; it often becomes restive, stands suddenly still, and 

 kicks out behind. Then it will occasionally stop when 

 running at full speed, turn round, and coolly attack its 

 driver with its horns. 



5. " In this predicament the Lapp turns the sledge 

 completely over, and gets underneath ; the reindeer then 

 pokes away at the sledge with its horns, but injures itself 

 more than its master. When the vicious brute has ex- 

 pended its wrath in this manner, and ceases its attack on 

 the sledge, the Lapp quietly emerges, sets the sledge on 

 its keel again, seizes the reins once more, and continues 

 his journey as if nothing unusual had happened. 



6. " Like the wild reindeer, the tame species has many 

 enemies, and numbers fall victims to the bear, the wolf, 

 and the glutton. The tame reindeer is neither so bold 

 nor so powerful an animal as the wild, and, when attacked 

 by beasts of prey, it makes but little resistance. The 

 tame reindeer feeds principally upon various kinds of 

 lichens, and is driven to the f jelds in summer to search 

 for them. In winter it finds the same kind of food under 



