. I put on a poesk of reindeer skin, and
my fur-lined Russian boots. Ludwig took a pulk also, to assist us in
case of need. These pulks are shaped very much like a canoe; they are
about five feet long, one foot deep, and eighteen inches wide, with a
sharp bow and a square stern. You sit upright against the stern-board,
with your legs stretched out in the bottom. The deer's harness consists
only of a collar of reindeer skin around the neck, with a rope at the
bottom, which passes under the belly, between the legs, and is fastened
to the bow of the pulk. He is driven by a single rein, attached to the
base of the left horn, and passing over the back to the right hand of
the driver, who thrusts his thumb into a loop at the end, and takes
several turns around his wrist. The rein is held rather slack, in order
that it may be thrown over to the right side when it slips to the left,
which it is very apt to do.

I seated myself, took proper hold of the rein, and awaited the signal to
start. My deer was a strong, swift animal, who had just shed his horns.
Ludwig set off first; my deer gave a startling leap, dashed around the
corner of the house, and made down the hill. I tried to catch the breath
which had been jerked out of me, and to keep my balance, as the pulk,
swaying from side to side, bounced over the snow. It was too late; a
swift presentiment of the catastrophe flashed across my mind, but I was
powerless to avert it. In another second I found myself rolling in the
loose snow, with the pulk bottom upward beside me. The deer, who was
attached to my arm, was standing still, facing me, with an expression of
stupid surprise (but no sympathy) on his face. I got up, shook myself,
righted the pulk, and commenced again. Off we went, like the wind, down
the hill, the snow flying in my face and blinding me. My pulk made
tremendous leaps, bounding from side to side, until, the whirlwind
suddenly subsiding, I found myself off the road, deep overhead in the
snow, choked and blinded, and with small snow-drifts in my pockets,
sleeves and bosom. My beard and eyebrows became instantly a white, solid
mass, and my face began to tingle from its snow-bath; but, on looking
back, I saw as white a beard suddenly emerge from a drift, followed by
the stout body of Braisted, who was gathering himself up after his third
shipwreck.

We took a fresh start, I narrowly missing another overturn, as we
descended the slope below the house, but on reaching