THE REIN-DEER. 141 



thus accomplishing 25 feet 8 inches in every se- 

 cond. * 



To give some idea of travelling in Lapland with 

 these useful creatures, we have abridged an account 

 of a journey performed by Sir Arthur de Capel Brooke 

 in that country, and can recommend the perusal of 

 his " Winter in Lapland," as a work of much inte- 

 rest, and containing one of the best histories of the 

 domestic condition of the rein-deer. 



The party of which Sir Arthur formed a part, 

 were about to travel from Alten to Stockholm in 

 sledges. They leave Alten ; but, at a distance of 

 some miles, find themselves stopped by one of the 

 streams being still unfrozen. Some of the party, 

 among whom was our traveller, return to Alten to 

 pass the night, while others take up their quarters 

 in the cottage of a Finlander, where the rendezvous 

 was to take place again early next morning. About 

 nine o'clock the journey was to be again commenced. 

 " The morning was cold and stormy ; I was jaded, 

 miserably tired for want of rest, and just on the point 

 of being tied to the tail of a wild deer, and dragged 

 at random in the dark, in a kind of cock-boat, some 

 hundred miles across the trackless snows of Lapland. 

 Our pulks were ranged together in close order ; and 

 the wappus or guide having performed the last office 

 for us, by tying each of us in as fast as possible, and 

 giving us the rein, jumped into his own, and then 



Capel Brooke, p. 107 



