Their stay was a long one, and not wishing to watch them longer I turned to the other side of the deck; and there in the water were a dozen or more eider ducks swimming along as gracefully as could be, seeming not one bit afraid of the people who rowed past them. Eider ducks frequent low, rocky places near the coast. Their down is in great demand; it is used in that country for filling bed-coverlets, and you would be surprised to know how light in weight coverlets filled with eider down are. During the breeding season no one is allowed to shoot the eider ducks, or even to fire off a gun near their nests. Persons who are thoughtless enough to do so are fined for it. Because of the great care taken they are very tame, and do not fear man when he comes near them. The sun was getting pretty low, and the time for starting was near at hand. I was still on deck, but now my eyes were cast in the direction of the city. I was looking for a boat that would bring back the passengers who had gone ashore. In the distance a boat came in view, and taking the field glass which was near by I pointed it in that direction; and there, sure enough, was the one I had been, looking for. My joy was complete when the passengers, including my husband, were all safe on board the Kong Halfdan. All those who had gone ashore went expressly to visit a camp of Lapps, which was about a mile from the landing. The people were very much surprised to have so many strangers come upon them suddenly, so the children and dogs—and there were many of them—were badly scared; but the grown people seemed willing to stand and look. I missed seeing the camp by remaining back, but I saw many of the Lapps, for they hung about the ship’s landing. They were a curiosity to us, for their dress was very odd, which you can see for yourselves by looking at the family in the picture. There is father, mother and six children. That seems to be a large family for such a small hut, but the Lapps live very close together, and the less house room there is, the less work the housewife has to do. [Illustration: _Lapp Hut._] Those people are short in stature, measuring perhaps four or five feet in height. It is somewhat of a task to tell their complexion. Very little attention is paid to the care of it, but I’ll say it seemed dark, rather copper-colored. If their faces were washed no doubt we should find a complexion altogether different from what has been described. The young Lapps have quite wrinkled, puckered-up looking faces, and with surprise you wonder why it is so. But when one takes into consideration the fact that most of their time is spent out of doors we cannot but conclude that wind and weather add nothing to their looks.