o have great difficulty in
procuring reindeer, for no reindeer can be had at the post stations now.
You may be detained on the way, and be obliged to wait until snow has
melted and the rivers become navigable. At this time of the year the
reindeer are very feeble; it is the worst time to travel with them; they
shed their coats and horns and are weak and lean from their winter
digging. During the day they feel the heat of the sun, and do not go as
fast as during the winter months. So, though we love to have you stay
with us, if you want to go you had better hasten your departure. Do not
forget to take with you blue or green goggles, for the glare is so
intense, on account of the bright sun, you will surely become snow-blind
if you have none with you. We are going to send for reindeer, and we
will give you a guide to go with you."

The long days come on with remarkable rapidity in this far North. The
sun was below the horizon till the latter part of January, and now on
the 25th of April in clear weather I could read a newspaper at midnight.
There were to be no more nights. The Long Night had been driven away
from the pole.

CHAPTER XXXIII

COMPARISON OF FINMARKEN WITH ALASKA.--THE TWO LANDS MUCH ALIKE.--WHAT
MUST BE DONE FOR ALASKA.--COLONIZATION.--IMPORTATION OF
REINDEER.--PROTECTION OF FISHERIES.--HOUSES OF REFUGE.

That same evening (it has to be called so for the sake of distinction) I
stood out on the brow of the hill, looking at the fjord and Arctic
Ocean. Suddenly Alaska came to my mind. I remembered all I had seen on
the coast of Finmarken, and also all I had encountered and done in "Snow
Land", "The Land of the Long Night," and "The Land of the Winds," and I
said to myself, "Why should not Alaska have its fishing towns,
settlements, and hamlets, like those of Finmarken, and become as
prosperous as the country I have travelled through?" There is a
wonderful similarity between these two countries; they are both exactly
in the same latitudes; they have the same kind of barren coast bathed by
a warm stream, and both have fjords.

Alaska has immense shoals of codfish and herring, besides salmon. Both
have their long nights, and then long days of Midnight Sun. We must give
inducements to the people of Finmarken to come to Alaska. They will find
in their new country something similar to the one they have left, they
will enjoy the same life. California and Oregon will provide the people
with flou