w a good many
patches, and I thought of the story of the knife and handle,--first the
blade broke, then a new blade was put in; after this the handle broke,
and a new handle was put on. I remembered that once a dear old aunt of
mine said to me: "Paul, this black silk dress has lasted me twenty
years." I exclaimed, "Twenty years, aunty! Are you sure of this?" Then
in the course of a few days, by indirect questions I found out that she
had had three new bodices put on at different times, and three different
skirts. I thought the tent of the Lapp might be twenty years old in the
same way.

After the meal had been finished the babies were taken from their
cradles, and their little beds were made afresh. The cradle bottoms were
covered with fine, soft, well-dried lichen or reindeer moss, over which
a little cotton sheet was spread. The babies were stark naked, and were
wrapped in little sheepskins while their beds were being made. Then they
were laid in, the sheet turned down, with a coarse piece of vadmal and
sheepskin over it; the whole was made fast by a cord fastened through
holes on each side of the cradle and laced across.

One of the mothers said to me: "When a child is born it is the custom
among Lapps to give him or her a reindeer. When baptized the sponsor,
too, often gives a reindeer to the babe, and these animals, and the
increase thereof, become the child's own property."

This woman, pointing out her sister to me, observed: "When my baby had
his first teeth, my sister here presented him with a reindeer. This is a
custom among us Lapps."

Then two of the men and two of the women with their dogs and their
skees went to relieve the people who were watching the reindeer herd,
and Pehr Wasara remarked, "My reindeer are divided in a number of
herds--for they could not all pasture together. We are afraid of wolves.
These people are to remain on the watch all night."

The family was very pious; they were, like all the Lapps, Lutherans.
Before going to sleep they sang psalms and hymns, praising God for the
blessings of the day.

Then they dressed themselves for the night, putting on over the garments
they wore during the day a long reindeer kapta, a sort of nightshirt
reaching below the feet. More reindeer skins were put over the skins on
which we were seated. Then a big bearskin was given to me as a blanket,
Pehr saying, "I killed this bear myself."

Before retiring I took off my shoes, the Lapp grass, and my s