en and women and boys and girls in Lapland dress much alike. In
the winter they wear a long outside coat called a _kap'ta_. It
reaches below the knees. It is made of reindeer skin with the hair
left on. Under the kapta they wear warm clothes made of wool.

[Illustration: A Lapp's Tent.]

Their shoes are also made of reindeer skin. They wear two pairs of
thick woolen stockings. When they put on the stockings, they wrap
their feet in dry grass. Then they put on their shoes. The grass
helps to keep their feet warm. They also wear two pairs of mittens at
the same time. One pair is made of wool. The other pair is made of
reindeer skin. Their hats or caps are also made of reindeer skin.
They are lined with eider down. Perhaps you do not know what eider
down is. It is the soft, fine feathers of a bird called the eider
duck. A great many of these ducks are found in Lapland. Their down is
very soft and warm.

Sometimes the Lapps have to go long distances in the snow. Then they
put on skees. If you saw a pair of skees, you would think that a
person could not walk with them. They are flat pieces of wood, four or
five inches wide, and very long. Some skees are six feet long. Some
are ten or twelve feet long. They are turned up a little in the front.
In the middle of each there is a hollow place. The shoe is strapped to
the foot there, as you see in the picture. When the Lapps go on skees,
they do not raise their feet from the ground. They slide along, one
foot after the other. They have a long pole, or staff, in their hands
to beep themselves from falling. They can go very fast in this way.
Sometimes they go ten or fifteen miles an hour.

[Illustration: Skees.]

In some parts of Lapland the people live in houses made of earth and
stone. Each house has only one room. The Lapps have no carpets. They
have no tables or chairs. They cover their floor with twigs of trees.
They eat and sleep on skins spread on the twigs. They burn wood for
fires. The fire is made on the ground in the middle of the floor. The
smoke goes out through a hole in the roof.

[Illustration: A Lapp Family at Home.]

The Lapps do not all live in the same way. Some of them are called
mountain Lapps. In summer the mountain Lapps live in tents among the
hills. Their tents are made of reindeer skin. They have a great many
reindeer.

The reindeer is very useful to the Lapps. It gives them milk. It
draws their sleighs