ery fond of swinging. They are also very fond of
swimming. In some places they have diving wells. The boys plunge from
a high bank down into the water below.

[Illustration: A Tiger.]

The rich people have very fine houses, with gardens and flowers and
fountains. There are carpets, cushions, and tables in the houses, but
no chairs. They sit on cushions on the floor.

The beds are very low, and the legs are often of silver or gold or
ivory. They have no sheets or pillow cases, but covers of velvet or
satin.

The people who are poor live in houses made of dried mud, with roofs of
bamboo poles and straw. They have hardly any furniture. They sleep on
mats made of palm leaves.

[Illustration: Cobras.]

In many of the houses they have no tables. They eat off of leaves on
the floor. Their food is mostly rice. All the family do not eat
together. The father of the family always eats first. When he has
eaten, the mother and children sit down to eat.

The women do most of the work. So the girls have to learn to work.
But the men and boys do all the sewing. How queer this seems!

[Illustration: An Elephant Piling Lumber.]

There are a great many wild beasts in India--tigers, leopards, cobras,
and crocodiles. The tigers are very fierce. They sometimes come into
villages at night and carry off men, women or children, and kill and
eat them. There are logs. They do work of many kinds. An elephant is
much stronger than a horse. He can carry a far heavier load.
Sometimes all the family ride on one elephant's back.

[Illustration: Riding on an Elephant.]

LAPLAND.

Jingle! jingle! jingle! Where does the merry sound come from? It
comes from a sleigh drawn by a reindeer. The sleigh is called a
"pulk'ha." It is made of birch wood. It has no runners. It goes on a
little keel like that on the bottom of a boat. The sleigh is very low.
It is pointed at the front like a rowboat, and is flat at the back.
There are no seats in it. The driver sits in the bottom. The reindeer
draws the sleigh, and goes very fast. If the driver is not very
careful the sleigh may be upset.

It is in Lapland that you may see this kind of a sleigh. The people
who live there are called Lapps. They are short and stout. You would
think the men and women were boys and girls.

It is very cold in Lapland. The summer is short, and the winter is
long. So the Lapps have to wear warm clothes most of the year.

The m