s herd of
reindeer. They provide all his wants--food, clothing, and the
wherewithal to purchase luxuries. They are his wealth; his very
existence depends on them, and, in consequence, his mode of living
has to be accommodated to the habits of his reindeer. Whither-soever
they choose to graze, their owner has to follow; and he deems it
no hardship to pitch his rough tent on the snowy wastes in winter,
or even to sleep out under a rock, with the thermometer at seventy
degrees below zero. It is his life; from earliest childhood he has
known none other; he is content with it. And it is not only the men who
pass their lives thus; for the Lapp family is to some extent a united
one, and the women and children thoroughly enjoy the wild, free life,
apparently suffering no ill effects from the rigours of the climate.

A Lapp baby starts life in a very queer way. Until it is able to
walk it is kept in what is called a _komse_, a kind of cradle made
of strips of wood covered with leather, and just large enough to take
the baby. The little creature is rolled up in sheepskin and put into
the cradle, which is then stuffed with moss, and the leather covering
laced securely all around, so that only the baby's face is seen. To
protect its head the _komse_ is provided with a wooden hood, like most
cradles, and there is generally a shawl, which can be thrown over
the whole thing in severe weather; in fact, when the baby has been
properly done up in its _komse_, it might go by parcel post without
coming to much harm. It is a very excellent arrangement, because the
family is incessantly moving about, and the mothers have their work
to do, so cannot always be bothering about their babies. A thong of
leather stretches from head to foot of the _komse_, which the mother
can thus sling on her shoulder when going about, and by this thong
the baby can be hung up to a tent-pole or to the branch of a tree if
its mother is busy. But as often as not the _komses_ are just stuck
up on end in the snow or against a rock while work is going on.

As soon as the child can walk and has finished its cradle existence, it
is dressed in clothes similar to those of his or her father or mother,
and looks most quaint. And the life which these children lead is devoid
of much amusement. From the beginning they are helping to pack up and
move the tent, and to look after the reindeer; they are nothing more
than little old men and women; their toys are miniatures, or mod