68 SIBERIA IN EUROPE. CHAP. vn. 



feeding. In the wood we saw an eagle, a pair of marsh tits, 

 a pair of Siberian jays, and occasionally we marked a pair of 

 ravens. 



After breakfast we visited the chooms, and very pic- 

 turesque they looked in the white landscape in the dazzling 

 sunshine. Here and there a few willows dotted the undu- 

 lating ground near a winding rivulet, in the centre of which 

 ran a narrow stream of open water. The reindeer were not 

 to be seen, all were away feeding. Two chooms stood a 

 few feet apart from the rest ; in front of these the sledges 

 were drawn up, twenty-three in number; some light and 

 elegant in shape, with four carefully hewn ribs on each 

 side, and a low sloping back. In these the Samoyedes and 

 their families travelled. Others were not quite so finely 

 finished, and had only three ribs on each side ; these were 

 used for the lighter baggage, reindeer skins, malitzas, &c., 

 covered over, in some cases, with a tarpaulin made of 

 pieces of birch bark, neatly sewn together with reindeer 

 sinew. Other sledges again were of much stronger and 

 clumsier make, with only two ribs on each side, adapted for 

 the heavy baggage. Some of these were a simple gantry 

 upon runners, carrying casks of reindeer meat, others a 

 wooden chest with an angular roof like the recognised 

 Noah's ark model, containing loaves of black bread and 

 other perishable articles. 



The harness of the reindeer is very simple. The saddle is 

 a plain band of tanned reindeer leather, about eight inches 

 broad, hanging a few inches below the body on each side. 

 About six inches from each end a double thong of reindeer 



