Jingle! jingle! jingle! Where does the merry sound come from? It comes from a sleigh drawn by a reindeer. The sleigh is called a "pulk'ha." It is made of birch wood. It has no runners. It goes on a little keel like that on the bottom of a boat. The sleigh is very low. It is pointed at the front like a rowboat, and is flat at the back. There are no seats in it. The driver sits in the bottom. The reindeer draws the sleigh, and goes very fast. If the driver is not very careful the sleigh may be upset.
It is in Lapland that you may see this kind of a sleigh. The people who live there are called Lapps. They are short and stout. You would think the men and women were boys and girls.
It is very cold in Lapland. The summer is short, and the winter is long. So the Lapps have to wear warm clothes most of the year.
The men and women and boys and girls in Lapland dress much alike. In the winter they wear a long outside coat called a _kap'ta_. It reaches below the knees. It is made of reindeer skin with the hair left on. Under the kapta they wear warm clothes made of wool.
[Illustration: A Lapp's Tent.]
Their shoes are also made of reindeer skin. They wear two pairs of thick woolen stockings. When they put on the stockings, they wrap their feet in dry grass. Then they put on their shoes. The grass helps to keep their feet warm. They also wear two pairs of mittens at the same time. One pair is made of wool. The other pair is made of reindeer skin. Their hats or caps are also made of reindeer skin. They are lined with eider down. Perhaps you do not know what eider down is. It is the soft, fine feathers of a bird called the eider duck. A great many of these ducks are found in Lapland. Their down is very soft and warm.
Sometimes the Lapps have to go long distances in the snow. Then they put on skees. If you saw a pair of skees, you would think that a person could not walk with them. They are flat pieces of wood, four or five inches wide, and very long. Some skees are six feet long. Some are ten or twelve feet long. They are turned up a little in the front. In the middle of each there is a hollow place. The shoe is strapped to the foot there, as you see in the picture. When the Lapps go on skees, they do not raise their feet from the ground. They slide along, one foot after the other. They have a long pole, or staff, in their hands to beep themselves from falling. They can go very fast in this way. Sometimes they go ten or fifteen miles an hour.
