long acrobatic endeavour to keep the 

 postage stamp on top of my charger. 

 Once he sneezed and lost his bit, so 

 careless of him, but with grave con- 

 cern the string was readjusted behind 

 his ears by the string man, who 

 was never far away. 



Seven o'clock and still no sign. 

 Updal on a boulder had been looking 

 long toward the west; suddenly 

 he slipped down the east side and 

 motioned for us to dismount noise- 

 lessly and anchoring the horses with 

 stones, led an elaborate stalk to the 

 crown of a near hill. On raising 

 our heads over it cautiously, a great 

 sweep of desolation came in view. 

 At first I saw nothing different, then, 

 about a mile off a brown patch like 

 a dried leaf on a sheet began to move 

 zig-zag slowly then swiftly in a 

 straight line and disappeared. It 

 was my first glimpse of reindeer. 

 Over a thousand were in the herd, 

 Updal said, as we hurried forward. 

 They had been feeding and had not 

 become visible until passing over 

 the snow surface and they had dis- 

 appeared for me where the brown- 

 grey earth swallowed their colour 



