A REINDEER EIDE THROUGH LAPLAND. 11 



to drag, commenced to gallop round and round in a 

 small circle, very soon upsetting the poolk, and leaving 

 its occupant ignominiously sprawling on the snow. 

 After a good deal of struggling and hard work he 

 regained his seat ; and as the rest of us had by this 

 time fairly started and were already some distance off, 

 the deer set out to rejoin his fellows, and was soon 

 trotting quietly enough in the rear of us all, only, 

 however, to repeat its cantrips several times later 

 on. 



With the exception of this little contretemps, the 

 start was successfully accomplished, and now we had 

 time to examine the country. Hitherto, we had 

 driven through a beautifully wooded valley, evidently 

 a former riparian lake, as the shore-marks on the 

 neighbouring heights seemed to indicate. Gradually, 

 however, trees became fewer and fewer, and soon in 

 front of us and on both sides we saw nothing but a 

 wild waste of snow, stretching many miles away to 

 the south-east, in which direction our course lay. 

 Here the glare of the sun on the snow rendered it 

 necessary for us to put on our coloured spectacles. 

 Strangely enough, though the heat of the sun seemed 

 to be considerable, it did not in the slightest degree 

 affect the snow. 



Up to this time the weather had been delightful, 

 and even warm at least so it seemed to us ; while 

 our faces were tanned by the sun much -more than 

 would have been the case in a southern latitude 



