In fine weather, on a good snowy road, there is something delightfully exhilirating in sledge travelling, snugly enveloped in furs, whilst “The vault is blue, Without a cloud, and white without a speck.” The traveller glides swiftly over the level snow, enlivened by the tinkling of a sonorous bell attached to an arch that rises off the head of the centre horse; for sometimes three horses abreast are used in sledges, and cheered or soothed, as his mood may be, by the wild yet plaintive song of the driver. The traveller is laid in the sledge like a child in his cradle. He holds the rein or puller, which is fastened to the deer’s or horse’s head, on his right thumb. When the driver is ready to start, he shakes the rein, and the animal springs forward with great speed. He directs his course by the rein and by the voice; he sings to him as he goes along; speaks kindly to him—and cheers him on his way. He never strikes or hurts him, for he loves the animal too much to be cruel to him. The Laplanders, Russians, Poles, and other nations are thus enabled to travel in winter, by night and by day, when the whole country far and wide is entirely covered by snow, and scarcely a hut or tree is to be seen, and they travel from one part of the country to another with great speed. In the Royal Palace of Sweden is a portrait of a rein-deer which is described as having travelled with despatches eight hundred miles in forty-eight hours. It was a very pretty thing to see our beloved Queen and family “sledging,” because it shows that the Queen has courage, and a love of amusement; and should this winter be a cold one, Peter Parley hopes to see Her Majesty again in her sledge. [Illustration] Exploits in the Desert. The deserts of Southern Africa are immense and formidable, rarely trod by the foot of civilised man. They present features the most wild, and at times, the most sublime that can be imagined; but man has a great knack of destroying the grand, and blotting out the wonderful. South Africa, in its central parts, abounds in features well calculated to inspire grand ideas, and to call forth all the powers of the mind in heroic exploits among the wild beasts of the desert. Here roam, in all their native freedom, bisons, blesboks, and springboks in millions; and among them prowls the lion, in all his fierce dignity of bearing, with his attendant the jackall, who follows and precedes his footsteps. The blesbok is one of the true antelopes, and is as large as a fallow deer, and all its motions and paces are full of grace and elegance; these have also a pecularity of manner (whence their name), of jumping up into the air, like so many fleas, when they first dart off into rapid motion; thus they scour the vast plains in myriads, and may be seen for miles, as if the whole desert was endowed with motion. [Illustration]