UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 29 



" Bat, uncle," said I, " can that be the 

 case in such countries as Lapland and Norway, 

 which give one an idea of the utmost misery and 

 want?" 



" You have named a part of the world," he 

 replied, " which is an excellent proof of what I 

 have just said. There, you know, the rein-deer, 

 that most useful animal, contributes in every 

 way to the comfort and the sustenance of the 

 inhabitants. They drink the milk they eat the 

 flesh they make clothing of the skin and, 

 besides, with its assistance, they can move from 

 place to place with delightful swiftness, when 

 otherwise they must be confined by the snow, 

 during three-fourths of the year. But what would 

 become of the rein-deer, was there not an 

 abundant supply of the vegetable on which its 

 vast herds are supported the rein-deer moss. 

 No vegetable grows throughout Lapland in such 

 abundance ; for many miles together the sur- 

 face of the sterile soil is covered with it, like 

 snow : and on the destruction of forests by fire, 

 when no other plant can lind nutriment, this 

 moss, or lichen, springs up and flourishes. Here 

 the rein-deer are pastured, and whatever may 

 be the depth of snow during the long winter 

 of that climate, they have the power of pene- 

 trating through it, and obtaining the necessary 

 food," 



D 3 



