"No, Ole, and so, of course, the air inside is very close and unpleasant. There isn't even a chimney. A hole is left in the roof large enough to let out the smoke; that is all. When the short summer comes round, the Lapps prefer to live in deer-skin tents, and I can't say I blame them." "Did you ever visit them in their homes, Adolf?" asked Henrik. "Yes, I stayed with a family of them over night. They seemed very friendly and tried to make my visit pleasant, but I didn't enjoy it very much, it was such a dirty, smoky place. "In the middle of the room was a stone fireplace, over which hung the kettle when our supper was cooked. They all squatted on deer-skins around the fire. When I had been there a few minutes, I heard a noise overhead. I looked up and saw a dear little blue-eyed baby, swinging in a hammock and cooing to me. I reached up and took it down, and it snuggled in my arms as though it knew I was a friend." "What did you have for supper?" asked the farmer. "Everything came from the reindeer, of course. There was plenty of rich milk, besides a good-sized cheese and a meat stew. I have eaten worse meals since, many times." "But how did you sleep?" "The beds were easily made by stretching deer-skins on the floor. We covered ourselves with more skins, and lay snug and warm till morning." "Did you sleep more warmly than we do here?" The farmer laughed as he said it. "I must say I did," replied Adolf, with an answering laugh. "Although the Lapps' huts are far from beautiful, they are made so that wind and snow cannot blow in, at any rate." Adolf pointed to a ridge of snow that had sifted in through the wall, although they had stuffed the cracks as well as they could with dried moss. "But, dear me! the Lapps wouldn't mind it very much if it did," he went on. "The men will lie down to sleep in an open field on rocks or snow, if they are not near their home. They are not afraid of the cold, and it seldom seems to hurt them, either. "As I lay on the floor of the hut that night, I could see rows of smoked meat and fish hanging against the sides of the walls. They have neither storehouses nor closets, so they are obliged to keep their provisions in the huts. "The next morning I went out among the reindeer with the chief of the settlement. I believe there were more than a thousand reindeer in sight. It was milking-day and the men were having a lively time of it. They had to catch each animal and hold it still with a lasso while the milking was done." "Why did you speak of milking-day, Adolf? Don't the Lapps milk the reindeer as often as we do our cows?" "No, indeed. It is done only once a week, because the creatures are so wild. They are not gentle and tame, as you have probably supposed. They can be managed very well in driving, however. It is great sport to ride behind a team of reindeer, for one flies over the snow like the wind. Their masters sometimes drive them a hundred miles in a day."