[Illustration: THE HANDLING OF MILK IN THE PYRENEES
The handling of milk in the Pyrenees is, more especially in the villages, conducted in goat or sheep skins, in a similar way to the methods which prevail in Eastern Europe, and the picture shows a skin of milk on a small farm in the Pyrenees. The churning is very often performed by simply rocking the skin between the knees, acidity being induced by remnants of the previous day's milk; souring of milk is induced by the same method.]
A curious example of how the virtues of such an article may be independently discovered by another nation is to be found in Lapland, where reindeer's milk is the article used. "The reindeer's milk," says Acerbi,[11] "constitutes a principal part of the Laplander's food, and he has two methods of preparing it, according to the season. In summer he boils the milk with sorrel till it arrives to a consistence; in this manner he preserves it for use during that short season. In winter the following is his method of preparation: The milk, which he collects in autumn till the beginning of November, from the reindeer, is put into casks, or whatever vessels he has, in which it soon turns sour, and, as the cold weather comes on, freezes, and in this state it is kept. The milk collected after this time is mixed with cranberries and put into the paunch of the reindeer, well cleaned from filth; thus the milk soon congeals, and it is cut out in slices, together with the paunch, to effect which a hatchet is used, for no smaller instrument would perform the office of dividing that lump of ice. It is then separated into small pieces and eaten throughout the winter every day at noon, which is the Laplander's dinner-hour. It must be presumed, as it is served up without being brought to the fire, that this is ice-cream in the greatest perfection: here are flesh and fruit blended with the richest butyraceous milk that can be drawn from any animal; but, notwithstanding the extraordinary fatness, which may be supposed to resist in a great degree the effect of cold, this preparation, as our good missionary remarks with a degree of feeling, as if his teeth still chattered whilst he delivered the account, chills and freezes the mouth in a violent manner whenever it is taken. The milk which is drawn late in the winter freezes immediately after being drawn. This is put into small vessels made of birchwood, and is considered by the Laplander as such an extraordinary delicacy, that he reserves it as the most acceptable present he can offer even a missionary. It is placed before the fire and eaten with a spoon as it is thawed. When put by, it is carefully covered up, because if the cold air gets to it afterwards, it turns of a yellow colour and becomes rancid."