d sleep
quite comfortably in the clothes which they probably have not taken
off for a year or two. The whole family is not likely to be in the
tent at the same time; some members of it must always be looking
after the reindeer, as the herd can never be left to its own devices;
consequently, there is generally plenty of room.

Meals are free-and-easy affairs; there is no dinner-bell and no
fixed time for eating. But food is always ready, hanging in a pot
over the fire; and when anyone feels inclined to eat, the hand is
plunged into the pot, and a piece of meat pulled out and devoured. In
addition to reindeer-meat--of which the Lapps consume a great deal--the
food consists of cheese, and sometimes a kind of porridge; while for
drink they have water, melted snow, reindeer-milk, and, on occasions,
coffee. The latter they are very fond of, but few families can afford
to drink it often; so also with spirits, which, however, they only
manage to obtain in the towns.

Thus live the Mountain Lapps year in year out. To-day a family is in
one place, to-morrow a dozen miles away; now and again other families
are met with, and received hospitably; but for the most part the
family and its herd keep to themselves, since to do otherwise might
lead to difficulties about grazing. The rain floods their tent; the
snow buries it; the wind blows it down; yet they survive, and glory
in their free life.

The Sea Lapps, though much more numerous than their brethren of the
mountains, are not so interesting. They live by the coast in huts built
of wood or of sods, and obtain a livelihood by fishing. The River
Lapps, on the other hand, are both herdsmen and fishermen. Residing
in small settlements on the banks of the rivers, they keep reindeer
as well as a few cows and sheep, and they do a little in the way
of farming the land round the settlement. Many of them are even
intellectual, and the advantages of having their children properly
educated in the schools are gradually becoming appreciated.

CHAPTER XVI

WINTER IN CHRISTIANIA

Cold it is, of course--bitterly cold, and always freezing hard; but
it is a dry cold, and you hardly notice it. The streets are all one
sheet of frozen snow, and great care is taken to keep them in good
repair, gangs of road-menders being always at hand to fill up ruts
by the simple process of picking up the hard snow of the roadway and
then sprinkling a little water on the top, which at once produces a