"What do the reindeer live on in the winter when the snow covers the moss?" questioned Birger.
"The Lapps have to find places where the snow is not more than four or five feet deep, and then the animals can dig holes in the snow with their forefeet until they reach the moss," replied his father. "The reindeer are never housed and seem to like cold weather. They prefer to dig up the moss for themselves, and will not eat it after it has been gathered and dried."
Just then the Lapp mother came to speak to her husband, and in a few minutes all the rest of the family arrived.
"They are going to milk the reindeer," Erik explained to Gerda.
"How often do you milk them?" she asked.
"Twice a week," was the answer. "They give only a little milk, but it is very thick and rich."
Erik and his brother Pers went carefully into the herd and threw a lasso gently over the horns of the deer, to hold them still while the mother did the milking. The twins looked on with interest; but to their great astonishment not one of the reindeer gave more than a mug of milk. They had been used to seeing brimming pails of cow's milk at the Ekman farm in Dalarne.
"How do they ever get enough cream to make butter?" questioned Gerda.
"We never make butter, but we make good cheese," Erik's mother explained, as she brought a cup of milk for them to taste.
"What do these people eat?" Gerda asked her father, when the woman went back to her milking.