214 NEIGHBORS WITH CLAWS AND HOOFS, 



8. "A reindeer-cheese is a particularly unpleasant- 

 looking, article of food. It is flat and round, like a huge 

 muffin. Its flavor is very little better than its look. It 

 is said that the oil extracted from a reindeer-cheese by 

 holding it before the fire is, if applied to the affected part, 

 a sure remedy for the cure of frost-bite. When residing 

 among them, the food is the most trying part of the affair, 

 for one soon tires of reindeer- venison. Breakfast among 

 this primitive people consists of reindeer-milk, to which 

 all help themselves out of the same pot, and generally 

 with the same spoon. The dinner consists of reindeer 

 venison and soup ; at the supper, reindeer-cheese is served 

 out. 



9. " When the meal is ready, the master of the house- 

 hold takes his place near the huge copper pan in which 

 the reindeer venison and soup are cooked ; the wife, chil- 

 dren, and servants, range themselves in a row, waiting to 

 begin. The head of the family then gravely sticks his 

 fork into a piece of venison, drags it out, and begins to 

 eat it. The others do the same, and the only respect paid 

 to the master is this : when a servant hooks out a piece of 

 venison that is particularly fat and inviting, he puts it 

 into the pot again, giving his master a grin as he does so, 

 as much as to say, ' That belongs to you by right, O mas- 

 ter ! ' When this is done, the master gives a grunt of 

 satisfaction, and complacently sticks his fork into the re- 

 served morsel of venison." 



