To persons unaccustomed to the habits of the Laplanders and their animals, it will appear wonderful that they should be able to travel during the winter, by night as well as by day, the earth presenting one uniform surface of snow, and not a single vestige of human industry and labour being discernible to direct their course; the snow, at the same time, flying about in all directions, and almost blinding them. Yet it is certain that they are under no difficulty in finding the spot to which they are bound; and dangerous as these journeys may seem, they rarely experience any accident. When several persons are travelling in company, they fix bells to the harness of the animals, that the whole may be kept together by hearing when they cannot see each other, after the light of their short day has failed them. To guide them in their course, the Laplanders observe, in the day-time, the quarter whence the wind blows, and, at night, they are directed by the position of the stars. The missionary Leems, who resided ten years amongst the Laplanders, remarks that, during the whole of that time, he did not remember more than one fatal accident to have occurred from this mode of travelling. As the rein-deer supplies, to the Laplanders, the place of a horse for conveyance and carriage, so it is an invaluable substitute for the cow in affording them food. The females supply them with _milk_, each yielding about as much as a common she-goat. This, though not so thick as the milk of the cow, is said to be sweeter and more nutritive: and produces them both butter and cheese. The mountain Laplander subsists, through the whole winter, upon these, or upon _flesh_ of the rein-deer, slaughtering two or three every week, according to the number of his family. The animals are killed by stabbing them in the neck, and the wound is so dexterously inflicted that no _blood_ flows from it; but this is found in the inside, whence it is carefully taken out, and prepared for use. The _fat_ of the rein-deer serves also for food. Of the _skin_, after it has been properly prepared, the Laplanders make garments, gloves, shoes, and caps, which cover them from head to foot, and protect them against the cold. These skins also serve as interior coverings for tents, as linings and coverings for sledges, and as beds. They are more or less valuable, according to the season in which the animals have been killed. If slain in the spring, the hides are found to be perforated, in various parts, by a species of insect which lays its eggs in them; but if the deer be killed in winter the skin is free from these defects. The Laplander, however, desirous of obtaining the same price for a defective skin as for a perfect one, frequently attempts to defraud the purchaser by artfully closing up the holes in such manner as to render them scarcely visible.