52 THE LAPLAND ALl''S. 



having their cheeks frost-bitten. The wo- 

 men wear an embroidered l)and round 

 the head, which affords no protection m 

 this respect ; but the men have a loose 

 band of skin with the hair on, which can 

 be pulled down occasionally over their cap, 

 when the cold is intolerable. 



(But to proceed with a further account 

 of the diversions of the people I am de- 

 scribing). 



Spetto, one of their games, is played, by 

 men as well as women, in the following 

 manner. They prepare from thirty to fifty 

 or sixty pieces of wood, a hand's breadth in 

 length, which are spread upon the ex- 

 tended skin of a reindeer. One of th^ 

 players takes a ball made of stone or 

 marble, larger than a boy's playing marble, 

 which he throws up into the air about an 

 ell high. While the ball is up, he snatches 

 ^way one of the sticks, but in such a 

 manner as not to miss catching the ball 

 in its fall, holdino- the stick in the same 

 hand. He subsequently gathers together» 



