THE REINDEER. 
255 
the reindeer that carries his baggage, and drags his 
sledge* But the beauty of this animal is by no means 
on a par with his various moral and physical endow¬ 
ments. His antlers, indeed, are magnificent, branching 
back to the length of three or four feet; but his body is 
poor, and his limbs thick and ungainly: neither is his 
pace quite so rapid as is generally supposed. The Lap¬ 
landers count distances by the number of horizons they 
have traversed; and if a reindeer changes the horizon 
three times during the twenty-four hours, it is thought 
a good day’s work. Moreover, so just an appreciation 
has the creature of what is due to his great merit, that if 
his owner seeks to tax him beyond his strength, he not 
only becomes restiff, but sometimes actually turns upon 
the inconsiderate Jehu who has overdriven him. When, 
therefore, a Lapp is in a great hurry, instead of taking 
to his sledge, he puts on a pair of skates exactly twice 
as long as his own body, and so flies on the wings of 
the wind. 
Every Laplander, however poor, has his dozen or 
two dozen deer; and the flocks of a Lapp Croesus 
amount sometimes to two thousand head. As soon as 
a young lady is born—after having been duly rolled in 
