MILKING. 231 



and night, summer and winter, scorched by the meridian 

 sun by day, and half-frozen by night for in these inhospi- 

 table regions, there are few nights throughout the whole 

 year that the quicksilver does not fall below the freezing- 

 point ; and in winter it not unfrequeritly congeals altogether 

 does the Lapp watch the herd with his faithful dog, as 

 well to prevent the deer from wandering and intermixing 

 with other herds, as to protect them from bears, wolves, &c. 

 The twenty-four hours are divided into three watches, of 

 eight hours each. Men and women all take their turn, 

 attended by their relays of dogs, which, on a given signal, 

 repair to their posts, and remain as sentinels on duty, as if 

 on guard at Queen Victoria's palace. 



When the deer are about to be milked in the summer 

 e, at least the herd is driven into a small enclosure, rudely 

 fenced with boughs in the immediate vicinity of the encamp- 

 ment. In this enclosure are several fires damped with wet 

 moss, the smoke from which tends, in a degree, to keep away 

 the mosquitoes. The poor creatures seem fully sensible of 

 the beneficial effects of the smoke in ridding them of their 

 tormentors ; for one sees them nestling, as it were, almost 

 into the very fires themselves. They are extremely tame at 

 such times, and on more than one occasion I have myself 

 actually walked over their backs without their rising from 

 the recumbent posture in which they were reposing. 



The deer seem rather inimical to being milked; and it 

 is only by force that they are made to submit to the opera- 

 tion. Men, as well as women, officiate on these occasions, 

 each being provided with a long pliant leathern thong, fur- 

 nished at its extremity with a running noose, which, lasso 

 fashion, they throw over the antlers of the individual singled 



