the blustering winds, were very red, but the
protected part of the skin was as white as that of the whitest people.
There were a number of women and men, several young girls and two lads.
I was told that there were two men with the reindeer.

[Illustration: "What a strange abode these nomadic Lapps have!"]

The women were all busy; one was weaving shoe-bands of bright colors,
red predominating; another was just finishing a "kapta," and a third one
was putting a lining of red flannel over the seams upon a tiny pair of
reindeer-skin shoes for a child; the girls were sewing some
undergarments.

Wasara's father's first name was Pehr,--he was a fine-looking Lapp,
about seventy years old. His father was living, and was about ninety
years old. The outdoor life agrees with the Lapp. Give me the plateaus
of the Arctic regions for health. There are plenty of mosquitoes in
summer, but no malaria at any time. Nor is there any sore throat there.
I do not remember, indeed, ever to have heard a person cough in that
country.

The material of the tent was of very coarse woollen stuff, called
"vadmal." The tent was about thirteen feet in diameter at the ground.
Its frame was composed of poles fitting each other; the wood had become
black from being smoked for years. These poles are so well knitted
together that they can resist the terrific winds which blow over the
land. A cross pole high up sustained an iron chain, at the end of which
is a hook to hold the kettle and cooking pot. The coarse woollen stuff
which covered the frame was composed of two pieces that were made fast
by strings. The nature of the vadmal permits the wind to go gently
through. The entrance is by a small sliding door made of the same
material.

Inside, along the lower part of the tent, were boxes of different shapes
and sizes, packages lying on the top of skins to prevent the wind from
blowing in from the bottom; the outside was protected by snow.

As I glanced around I saw two queer-looking things, resembling in shape
the sabots or wooden shoes of the peasantry of Europe, only very much
larger, hanging near the sides. I looked in, and to my great
astonishment saw a Lapp baby in each. They were Lapp cradles, called
"katkem" or "komse." They were made of a single piece of wood and were
about two and a half feet long by fifteen or eighteen inches wide. In
one was such a sweet Lapp baby, a dear little girl, with her eyes wide
open. As I looked at her she smiled.