The Land of the Long Night | Page 2

kinds of knick-knacks, tin horns, "booby" prizes, mugs,
etc.,--souvenirs of frolics at which I have had fine times. My two
windows look out on the roof of a church; it is all I can see; the noise of
a wheel never reaches my 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 Givijärvi.--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.--Givijärvi.--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