The Land of the Long Night | Page 2

ears. It is an ideal room to write books in.
I am surrounded by pictures of boys and girls, and many older friends; they look down upon me and cheer me, and when I write they all seem to say, "Go on, Paul," and at other times, they cry, "Stop, Paul, you have written enough to-day; go and take a walk, go and see people and life, dine with friends; you will work much better to-morrow. 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.' We shall be here to welcome you when you come back."
How good it is to have friends, no matter how humble some of them are. I love them all. No one ever has too many friends, and life without them is not worth having.
Now, as I am ready to lay down my pen, I draw a long breath--"The Land of the Long Night" is ready for the printer. I am just thinking: all my books have been published in New York, and all but two have been written, in the dear old city.
Your friend,
PAUL DU CHAILLU.

Contents
Chapter Page
I. On the Way to "The Land of the Long Night."--Homesick.--Tempted to Return.--Girls and Boys Say "No; Go on, Go on, Paul."--Decide to Continue my Journey.--Winter Coming On.--Don Warmer Clothing.--From Stockholm North. 1
II. Snow Land.--A Great Snowstorm.--Fearful Roads.--Snow-ploughs.--Losing the Way.--Intelligence of the Horses.--Upset in the Snow.--Difficulty of Righting Ourselves.--Perspiring at 23 Degrees below Zero.--Houses Buried in the Snow. 9
III. Halt at a Farmhouse.--Made Welcome.--A Strange-looking Interior.--Queer Beds.--Snowed In.--Exit through the Chimney.--Clearing Paths.--I Resume my Journey.--Reach Haparanda. 17
IV. Good Advice from the People of Haparanda.--Warned against Still Colder Weather.--Different Costume Needed.--Dressed as a Laplander.--Lapp Grass for Feet Protection. 29
V. What the Arctic Circle is.--Description of the Phenomenon of the Long Night.--Reasons for its Existence.--The Ecliptic and the Equinoxes.--Length of the Long Night at Different Places. 36
VI. Fine Weather Leaving Haparanda.--Windstorms succeed.--A Finlander's Farm.--Strange Fireplace.--Interior of a Cow-House.--Queer Food for Cattle.--Passing the Arctic Circle. 40
VII. Skees, or the Queer Snowshoes of the North.--How They Are Made.--Learning to Use Them.--Joseff's Instructions.--Hard Work at First.--Going Down Hill.--I Bid Joseff Good-bye. 48
VIII. A Primitive Steam Bath House.--How the Bath was Prepared.--What are the Twigs for?--I Ascertain.--Rolling in the Snow.--Fine Effect of the Bath. 56
IX. How the Laps and Finns Travel.--Strange-looking Sleighs.--Different Varieties.--Lassoing Reindeer.--Description of the Reindeer. 60
X. Harnessing Reindeer.--The First Lessons in Driving.--Constantly Upset at First.--Going Down Hill with Reindeer.--Thrown Out at the Bottom.--Queer Noise Made by Reindeer Hoofs. 66
XI. The Last Days of the Sun.--Beginning of the Long Night.--A Mighty Wall of Ice.--The Long Night's Warning Voice--The Aurora Borealis and its Magnificence. 73
XII. The Snow Getting Deeper.--Lapp Hospitality.--A Lapp Repast.--Coffee and Tobacco Lapp Staples.--Babies in Strange Cradles.--How the Tents are Made.--Going to Sleep with the Mercury at 39�� Below. 77
XIII. Toilet with Snow.--A Lapp Breakfast.--Lapp Dogs. Talks with my Lapp Friend about the Reindeer.--Their Habits and Various Forms of Usefulness. 89
XIV. Moving Camp.--Another Great Blizzard.--A Remarkable Sight--Deer Getting their Food by Digging the Snow.--How Reindeer are Butchered. 99
XV. Watching for the Reappearance of the Sun.--The Upper Rim First Visible.--The Whole Orb Seen from a Hill.--Days of Sunshine Ahead. 109
XVI. Wolves the Great Foe of the Lapps.--How the Reindeer are Protected against Them.--Watching for the Treacherous Brutes.--Stories of their Sagacity. 112
XVII. In Search of Wolves.--A Large Pack.--They Hold a Consultation.--Their Fierce Attack on the Reindeer.--Pursuing Them on Skees.--Killing the Chief of the Pack. 122
XVIII. Great Skill of the Lapps with Their Skees.--Leaping over Wide Gullies and Rivers.--Prodigious Length of Their Leaps.--Accuracy of Their Coasting.--I Start Them by Waving the American Flag. 129
XIX. We Encounter More Wolves.--My Guide Kills Two with his Bludgeon.--A Visiting Trip with a Lapp Family.--Extraordinary Speed of Reindeer.--We Strike a Boulder.--Lake Givij?rvi.--Eastward Again. 136
XX. The Lapp Hamlet of Kautokeino.--A Bath in a Big Iron Pot.--An Arctic Way of Washing Clothes.--Dress and Ornaments of the Lapps.--Appearance and Height of the Lapps.--Givij?rvi.--Karasjok. 142
XXI. Leave Karasjok still Travelling Northward.--The River Tana.--River Lapps.--Filthy Dwellings.--On the Way to Nordkyn.--The Most Northern Land in Europe. 150
XXII. Leave Nordkyn.--Frantic Efforts of the Reindeer to Keep their Footing on the Ice.--The Bear's Night.--Foxes and Ermines.--Weird Cries of Foxes.--Building Snow Houses.--Shooting-boxes.--Killing Foxes.--Traps for Ermines.--A Snow Owl. 155
XXIII. Jakob Talks to Me about Bears.--The Bear's Night.--Watching a Bear Seeking for Winter Quarters.--They Are Very Suspicious.--I Tell a Bear Story in my Turn. 165
XXIV. Preparations for Crossing the Mountains to the Arctic Ocean.--Decide to Take the Trail to the Ulf Fjord.--Houses of Refuge.--A Series of Terrific Windstorms in the Mountains.--Lost.--Gloomy Reflections.--A Happy Reunion. 170
XXV. A Dangerous Descent.--How to Descend the Mountains.--The Most Perilous Portion of the Journey.--Exhaustion of the Reindeer.--All Safe at the Bottom.--Arrival at the Shore of the Arctic Sea. 183
XXVI. Sail on the Arctic Ocean.--The Brig Ragnild.--?gir and Ran, the God and Goddess of the Sea.--The Nine Daughters of ?gir and Ran.--Great Storms.--Compelled to Heave To. 190
XXVII. A Dark Night