hide.

The temperature was, nevertheless, singularly mild when we set out on
our return. There had been a violent storm of wind and snow the previous
night, after which the mercury rose to 16 deg. above zero. We waited until
noon before our reindeers could be collected, and then set off, with the
kind farewell wishes of the four Norwegian inhabitants of the place. I
confess to a feeling of relief when we turned our faces southward, and
commenced our return to daylight. We had at last seen the Polar night,
the day without a sunrise; we had driven our reindeer under the arches
of the aurora borealis; we had learned enough of the Lapps to convince
us that further acquaintance would be of little profit; and it now
seemed time to attempt an escape from the limbo of Death into which we
had ventured. Our faces had already begun to look pale and faded from
three weeks of alternate darkness and twilight, but the novelty of our
life preserved us from any feeling of depression and prevented any
perceptible effect upon our bodily health, such as would assuredly have
followed a protracted experience of the Arctic Winter. Every day now
would bring us further over the steep northern shoulder of the Earth,
and nearer to that great heart of life in the south, where her blood
pulsates with eternal warmth. Already there was a perceptible increase
of the sun's altitude, and at noonday a thin upper slice of his disc was
visible for about half an hour.

By Herr Berger's advice, we engaged as guide to Lippajarvi, a Lapp, who
had formerly acted as postman, and professed to be able to find his way
in the dark. The wind had blown so violently that it was probable we
should have to break our own road for the whole distance. Leaving
Kautokeino, we travelled up the valley of a frozen stream, towards
desolate ranges of hills, or rather shelves of the table-land, running
north-east and south-west. They were spotted with patches of stunted
birch, hardly rising above the snow. Our deer were recruited, and we
made very good progress while the twilight lasted. At some Lapp tents,
where we stopped to make inquiries about the ice, I was much amused by
the appearance of a group of children, who strikingly resembled
bear-cubs standing on their hind legs. They were coated with reindeer
hide from head to foot, with only a little full-moon of tawny red face
visible.

We stopped at Siepe an hour to bait the deer. The single wooden hut was
crowded with Lapps,