aise their heads, and remain quiet when we pitch our tents.
Once in a while there is so much snow in some districts that it is
impossible for reindeer to get at the moss; then the only way is to go
to the lowlands, or into the forest, where the reindeer can feed on the
moss hanging from the firs or pines.

"Some of the reindeer," he went on, "though trained to eat kept moss,
hay, and even bread, thrive only when they are free to roam about; they
cannot be kept all the time in their stables. They must wander over the
snow and eat it. Otherwise they are sure to degenerate and become
useless as draught animals."

"How many reindeer," I asked, "does a family require for its support?"

He replied, "A thousand at least. A herd of two thousand to two thousand
five hundred gives from two hundred to two hundred and seventy-five,
perhaps three hundred, calves a year. Sometimes we have bad years with
our reindeer. Some years prove unfavorable to their increase. Some years
the snow is very deep, which prevents them from digging for food; the
herd then become emaciated from their exertions and want of sufficient
food, and many die.

"Some Lapps," he added, "own five or six thousand reindeer, one or two
among us, eight or ten thousand. The spring is a bad time for them; the
snow melts during the day from the sun's heat, and a thick crust forms
at night from the frost, so that their feet break through, causing
lameness and disease. At that time we move them as much as we can only
during the day, but it is hard work for them to go through the soft
snow.

"Without the reindeer we could not exist in this northern land of snow.
The reindeer is our horse, our beast of burden. On him we feed. He gives
us our clothing, our shoes, our gloves; his skin is our blanket and our
bed; his sinews our thread. On the march a herd of reindeer is easily
managed. We keep them together without much trouble, and in winter they
remain where we leave them to get the moss; but if the wolves are after
them, then they flee in every direction, and many herds then become
mixed together."

"When your reindeer get mixed with those of other herds, how can you
tell which are yours?" I inquired.

Pehr answered, "Every owner has his own mark branded on the ears of all
his reindeer, and no other person has the right to use the same, as this
is legal proof of ownership; otherwise, when several herds were mingled
together the separation would be impossible. The na