orns.

The man had to use all his strength before the animal was subdued. Once
or twice he was pulled by the reindeer and almost fell. In his efforts
to get away the reindeer entangled his legs in the lasso and fell
powerless. In the mean time Jon had come gently towards his reindeer and
knotted the cord of the lasso round his muzzle.

"We always do this," said he to me, "as a measure of precaution. When
thus corded the reindeer move with far more difficulty if they wish to
run away."

The other reindeer, which fought so desperately for freedom, had only
been used twice during the winter and was not accustomed to being
lassoed.

These two animals were tied to trees, and then Jon and the Lapps went to
capture two others. Jon missed the second reindeer, a splendid bull, on
the first throw, the lasso falling on his back; but the next throw
caught him. At the same time the other man had succeeded in lassoing the
fourth one.

[Illustration: "The man had to use all his strength."]

Then Jon, pointing to the second reindeer he had lassoed, said: "Paulus,
I wanted this one especially for you. He is thirteen years old. He is
one of my favorites and has been often under harness. He does not go
quite as fast as he did formerly, but he is just the reindeer for
you, for he is more easily managed than any others I own."

I looked at the reindeer. I noticed that the animal had much stouter
legs than the common deer, or even than the elk, and the hoofs were
particularly large. They are smaller than our own big elks, and looked
very much like our caribou. The hair of the majority of the reindeer was
gray, very coarse and thick, and almost white under the belly. Some of
the animals in the herd were white.

Then we went homeward. Two or three times one of the reindeer made a
light show of resistance and had to be pulled for a minute or so, and
the wilder one was even less easy to manage; he struggled hard several
times, and twice the Lapp who held him was almost thrown down.

CHAPTER X

HARNESSING REINDEER.--THE FIRST LESSONS IN DRIVING.--CONSTANTLY UPSET
AT FIRST.--GOING DOWN HILL WITH REINDEER.--THROWN OUT AT THE
BOTTOM.--QUEER NOISE MADE BY REINDEER HOOFS.

On our return we tied our reindeer securely and went to a small house
where the harness was kept. There I saw along the walls many collars,
leather straps, and traces, but no bits. I thought this was singular,
and I wondered how the reindeer could be