"Yes, it is settled," agreed Erik's father; "but I had hoped that my son
would live here in Lapland and become an owner of reindeer. There are not
so many owners as there should be."

"Why, I thought that all Laplanders owned reindeer!" exclaimed Birger.

"No," said his father, "there are about seven thousand Lapps in Sweden,
but only three or four hundred of them own herds. There are the fisher
Lapps who live on the coast; and then there are the field Lapps who live
on the river-banks and cultivate little farms. It is only the mountain
Lapps who own reindeer and spend all their lives wandering up and down
the country, wherever their herds lead them."

"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.