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 men 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. Its flesh is good to eat. They make clothes of
its skin. They make knives and spoons of its horns.
In summer the reindeer eat the soft shoots of shrubs and trees. In
winter they feed on moss called lichen. They get the lichen
themselves. They would not eat it if it were gathered for them. In
winter they dig down through the snow with their feet to get at the
lichen. They dig first with one fore foot and then with the other.
The snow is often so deep that the reindeer has to dig a hole so large
that its body is almost hidden.
The reindeer are not put in stables. They like to be out in the cold
and snow. They are able to take care of themselves.
The Lapps eat a good deal of meat. Their meat is the flesh of the
reindeer. They are very fond of fat. All people who live in very cold
countries eat a great deal of fat. It helps to keep them warm. The
Lapps also have milk and cheese. They eat rye bread and fish and
berries. They drink coffee.
[Illustration: A White Bear.]
In winter they have to melt snow in a pot over the fire to get water.
The rivers and lakes are all frozen.
The Lapps cook their food in a large pot over the fire. They sit
around the fire to eat. The father takes a piece of meat out of the
pot. Then he serves a piece to each. The Lapps use no forks. They
use their fingers instead.
In some places they have a funny way of storing their food. They make
a little log house on the top of a post. They have a ladder to go up
to it. In this little house they store cheese and milk and other
things. Then wild animals cannot reach them.
[Illustration: A Lapland Wolf.]
There are bears and wolves and foxes in Lapland. These animals are
sometimes very fierce. They would come into the people's tents and
houses at night, were it not for the dogs. Nearly every person has a
dog. Even the hoys and girls have dogs. The dogs are very brave.
They are not afraid to attack wolves or bears.
But you will wish to know about the children in Lapland. You have
heard about the old woman who lived in a shoe. The Lapp baby has a
cradle shaped like a shoe. It is made of a single piece of wood. It
is lined with moss and other warm things. The mother often carries it
in her arms. Sometimes she carries it on her back, slung from her
shoulders. The baby plays with strings of buttons or glass beads.
When a baby is born in Lapland they give it a reindeer. If the
reindeer has any young ones, they keep them for the baby until it is a
man or woman. They also give a reindeer to the person who is the first
to find that the baby has cut a tooth.
The Lapp boys and girls have very few toys. The toys they have they
make themselves. The boys make willow flutes and play on them. When
the boys go on the water they have long, narrow boats like canoes.
Some boys also make sleighs.
Many of the boys and girls go to school. They learn to read and write
and count.
There are towns near the sea and by the rivers and lakes. In these
towns they have schools and churches.