was repeated, more distinctly and more musically, and then I
felt sure that it was the call of a Lap to the herd of reins. I paused,
glanced keenly between the intercepting branches, and lo! there they
were, of all sizes, by twos and threes, and dozens and scores. There
they were, "native burghers of this desert city," denizens of the wilds,
gathering together in one jostling mass of animated life! See their
tossing antlers and glancing sides, as they pass to and fro among the
green underwood.

They were on the far side of Elv; and just as I reached one bank of the
stream, they came up to the other. The water here flowed with extreme
violence, and was piercingly cold, but I unhesitatingly plunged in, and
waded across. In a minute I was in the midst of the herd, and then saw
that a Lap youth and Lap girl were engaged in driving them to the
encampment. The youth had very bright, playful, hazel eyes, rather
sunken, and small regular features of an interesting cast. His hands,
like those of all Laps, are as small and finely shaped as those of any
aristocrat. The simple reason for this is, that the Laps, from
generation to generation, never perform any manual labor, and the very
trifling work they necessarily do is of the lightest kind. His _paesk_
(the name of a sort of tunic, invariably worn by the Laplanders) was of
sheep-skin, the wool inward, reaching to his knees. His boots were of
the usual peaked shape, a few inches higher than his ankles, and made of
the raw skin of the reindeer, the hair being nearly all worn off. On his
head was a round woolen cap, shaped precisely like a night-cap, with a
red tassel, and a red worsted band round the rim. This species of cap is
the favorite one worn by the Laps.

The dress of the girl was similar in shape, but her paesk was of very
coarse, light-colored woolen cloth, a material frequently used in summer
for the paesks of both sexes, as being cooler than reindeer-skin or
sheep-skin. Her head was bare, and her hair hung low over her shoulders.
Her features were minute, and the prettiest and most pleasing of any Lap
I ever saw either before or since. The complexion was a tawny reddish
hue, common to all Laplanders. The legs of the nymph in question were
bare from the tops of her boots to the knee, and were extremely thick
and clumsy, furnishing a striking contrast to the delicate shape of her
hands. The twain were accompanied by three little rein-dogs, and were
very leisurely drivin