Part 13

In the evening, and indeed till the night was far advanced, we sought for one of the Laplanders' huts, but to no purpose. Tracts made by the reindeer were plentiful enough in the marshy grounds, which we followed sometimes in one direction, sometimes in another, without their leading us to what we were in search of. I had walked so much that I could hardly stand on my legs, and was near fainting with fatigue, so that I lay down, resolving rather to endure the cold and boisterous wind, than proceed any further this night. At length the Laplander and his servant, who were my guides, found some dung of the reindeer. One of them took it up, and after squeezing it in his hand and smelling at it, gave it to his companion to smell also. He was even desirous that I should take a snuff at it. By its freshness they were rejoiced to discover that a Laplander with his herd had but recently left this spot, and they accordingly pursued a track which was here and there discernible in the snow. After we had proceeded half a mile, we met with the object of our search, who had removed but the day before, so that I had now an opportunity of taking some repose.

_July 9._

Fatigued with my late journey, I remained here all the following day and night, not only because it was Sunday, but because I was too much tired to undertake to cross the ice that day. Near the icy mountains the water of the neighbouring lakes was frozen to the depth of a fathom. I employed myself in making the following memorandums.

I was told that _Fungi_ are very plentiful in the alps in autumn.

Scarcely any other fish is found in the lakes of this neighbourhood than the _R[:o]ding_, which the Laplanders call _Raud_ (_Salmo alpinus_, or Charr), and this is extremely abundant. It is a Salmon, or rather Trout, with a scarlet belly. Its length is about a foot. The scales are extremely minute. Head smooth, ovate, obtuse. Jaws furnished with teeth, and the tongue also bears two rows of teeth, six in each row. The palate moreover is toothed at each side. Nostrils small, with two holes to each, one above the other, the lowermost largest, and capable of being closed. Iris of the eyes grey, with a black pupil. Below each eye, in the cartilage of the cheek, are seven little hollow points ranged longitudinally, and in its hinder part are three others placed perpendicularly. The rays which cover the gills are ten on each side, connected together. Fin of the back with twelve rays, of which the two foremost are gradually longer, the third and fourth longest of all and subdivided. The whole fish is black in the upper part; its sides of a sky blue; head and throat white underneath; belly reddish-yellow. The ventral fins are red, with a white exterior edge. Many yellowish spots are scattered longitudinally along each side of the fish near the lateral line. The tail is of a brick-colour, and forked. The flesh is red, and very palatable. The people here caught fifty of these fishes with two hauls of the net, of which they made a dinner for me and themselves. One dish consisted of the fresh fish boiled, which was not agreeable to my palate for want of salt. Others were roasted on a wooden spit before the fire, but for the same reason I could hardly taste them. The third mode of preparation was the most acceptable to me, and had a very good flavour. This was made of the dried and salted R[:o]ding, roasted on a spit. The Laplanders drink the water in which the fish has been boiled, which I was unable to do,--though I could not but commend the practice, as favourable to digestion.

The reindeer are innumerable, like the forests they inhabit. The herds are driven home, night and morning, to be milked. It was amusing to observe the manner of driving them, performed by a maid-servant with a dog. If the reindeer proved refractory, the dog easily made them obey the word of command, particularly when seconded by the hissing of the woman, at which they were extremely terrified.

I observed also the manner of driving them out to pasture. The wind blowing hard from the east, their conductress preferred a circuitous path, rather than face the storm. The reindeer, on the contrary, delighting to run against the wind, turned homeward when diverted from their inclination, while the dog ran after the woman. When these animals are permitted to face the wind, they run very fast and without intermission, in hopes of finding a place to cool themselves. Indeed I observed one of the herds crowding close together under the shadow of a hill, on a spot covered with snow, to avoid the heat caused by the reflection of the sun from the snow in other places. These animals will eat nothing in hot weather, especially as the gnats are then very troublesome. The males much resemble stags, but none in any of the herds had now more than one branch to their horns.

The head of the reindeer is grey, blackish about the eyes. Mouth whitish. Nostrils oblique. Tail short, not above six inches long, obtuse, white, concealed between the haunches. Feet encompassed with white above the hoofs. The whole body is grey, blacker when the new coat first comes on, whiter before it falls. The hair is not readily plucked off, but easily broken. The horns of the female are upright, or slightly bent backward, furnished with one or two branches in front near the base, the summit sometimes undivided, sometimes cloven. Those of the male are often two feet and a half long, and their points are as far distant from each other. They are variously branched, with more or less numerous subdivisions. These animals cast their horns every year; the males immediately after the rutting season, about the end of November; the females in May, after they have brought forth their young. If the females are barren, it is known by their casting the horns in winter[59]. Those of the males scarcely differ from the females in general structure. Both are hairy, but the hairiness falls off before Michaelmas. In some which I have seen broken, the inside, under the skin, of the young growing horns, appears like a cartilage. Hence they are flexible, and so very sensible, that the animal can scarcely bear to have them handled. Under a narrow layer of cartilage, the whole cavity is full of blood-vessels. When arrived at their full growth, the horns are bulbous at their base, like those of a stag.

[59] These particulars concerning the casting of the horns of the reindeer, much confused in the manuscript, are corrected from the admirable history of this animal in the _Am[oe]nitates Academicae_, _v._ 4. 150. It is there said that the castrated males also cast their horns, but rarely before they are nine years old. The sooner they begin, the more healthy they are esteemed.

The length of the leg of the reindeer, from the joint of the foot to that next the body, is two feet. From this latter joint to the top of the back is also two feet. From the shoulders to the tail two feet. From the shoulders to the horns one foot, and the same from the horns to the mouth. From the belly to the back, that is, the perpendicular measure of the trunk, is a foot and half.

As the reindeer walks along, a crackling noise proceeds from its feet. This excited my curiosity; and inquiring what was supposed to be the cause, the only answer I could get from any one was, that "our Lord had made it so." I inquired further in what manner our Lord had formed the reindeer so as to produce such an effect; but to this the respondent answered nothing[60]. When I laid hold of the animal's foot, pulled it, twisted and stretched it, or pushed it backward and forward in every possible way, no crackling was produced. At length I discovered the cause in the hoofs themselves, which are hollowed at their inner side. When the animal stands on its feet, the hoofs are, of course, widely expanded, and their points most remote from each other; but every time the foot is lifted from the ground, they strike together, and cause the noise above mentioned. This I was afterwards able to imitate at pleasure, by moving the foot with my hand.

[60] "Sed ad hoc Sorberius nihil."

When the reindeer are driven to the place where they are accustomed to be milked, they all lie down, breathing hard and panting violently, chewing the cud all the while. The report of Scheffer therefore, that they do not ruminate, is false, and Ray guessed more correctly than Scheffer observed.

When the fawn is missed by its mother, she runs in search of it with the most violent anxiety, stooping with her nose to the ground like a sow, till she finds it. She even quits the herd to which she belongs, and seeks her young at the Laplander's hut.

After the herd has lain down in the manner above described, each of the people takes a small rope, and, making a noose, throws it over the head of one of the females intended to be milked. The cord is afterwards twisted round the horns, and the other end tied to a small pole fixed in the ground. One pole is sufficient to secure four of the animals, which all hands are afterwards employed in milking, both master and mistress, men and maids. If the milk does not come with facility, they beat the udder very hard with their hands; which causes a greater flow. The dugs are four, very rarely six, all yielding milk, and none of them dry. The young are not separated from their mothers. After the herd was milked and gone to pasture, I observed the maid-servant taking up some of the soft black dung, which, after kneading it with her hands, she put into a vessel. On my inquiring what could be the use of this, she answered that the dugs were besmeared with it, to prevent the fawn's sucking too much. She added that it would dry upon the nipple by the morning after it was applied, and might then be easily rubbed off. The female reindeer bring forth their young early in May, and their owners begin milking them on Midsummer day, and continue to do so till the beginning of November in the forests, but in this neighbourhood they leave off milking about Michaelmas. The fawns acquire horns the first year, which are perfectly simple, like fingers. I could not help wondering how the Laplanders knew such of the herd as they had already milked, from the rest, as they turned each loose as soon as they had done with it. I was answered that every one of them had an appropriate name, which the owners knew perfectly. This seemed to me truly astonishing, as the form and colour are so much alike in all, and the latter varies in each individual every month. The size also varies according to the age of the animal. To be able to distinguish one from another among such multitudes, for they are like ants on an anthill, was beyond my comprehension.

_July 10._

I witnessed with pleasure the supreme tranquillity enjoyed by the inhabitants of this sequestered country. After they have milked their reindeer, and the women have made their cheese, boiled their whey to the requisite consistence, and taken their simple repast, they lie down to enjoy that sound sleep which is the reward and the proof of their innocent lives. There is rarely any contention among them. The inhabitants of the neighbouring moveable village had pitched their tents close together in lines, either from east to west, or otherwise. When my servant came in, he put his nose close to that of any person whom he wished to salute, as if he had intended to kiss him, saluting him with the old expression "_purist_." I inquired whether they actually kissed each other; but my man answered in the negative, that they only put their noses together. This custom is in use among relations only.

A boy had been sent out to gather sorrel (_Rumex Acetosa_), the larger kind, or variety, of which he brought home enough of the leaves with their stalks to fill a kettle. A small quantity of water was poured upon it, just sufficient to cover the bottom of the kettle. It was kept stirring over the fire, and allowed to boil, till the whole was reduced to a pulp. This was afterwards mixed with milk, and put into large barrels. When it has stood by for some time, it acquires an agreeable sourish taste, quite different from the flavour of the fresh plant. The barrels thus filled are preserved in holes, dug in the ground for the purpose, either lined with brickwork, or with birch bark, to protect them from rats or mice.

Another boy came in with as much as he could carry in his arms of the stalks of _Angelica_ (_sylvestris_) which had not yet flowered. The people stripped off the leaves, and by means of a knife peeled the stalks, the skin of which came off like hemp. They ate the remainder as they would an apple, thinking it a great delicacy. I partook of it with them. The broad sheathing footstalks of the leaves, which enfold the young umbels, not being esteemed good to eat fresh, were peeled, and added to the _syra_, see p. 243, which was destined to make _jumomj[:o]lk_, see p. 273.

In the hut where I was a guest, an infant lay in its leather cradle. Its head was protected by a screen of leather, and at the sides two longitudinal pieces of cloth, folding one over the other, were drawn together by a cord, over the child's body, which was besides covered with reindeer skins underneath. The head, breast, and shoulders were bare. It lay in this state all night long in the cold tent, and was exposed to the open air at other times, though the weather was very cold; yet the child did not suffer any inconvenience.

I slept every night between two reindeer skins.

I was treated with _[:o]stamus_, or milk turned to curd by rennet, which, together with a great proportion of cheese that I had eaten of late, disagreed violently with me, and almost brought on a _tenesmus_.

The women here, as well as the men, smoke tobacco, and indeed do almost every thing but actually wear breeches. The men dress the meat, while the women employ themselves only in making cheese, and other various preparations of milk. Every kind of fish or meat is cooked by the men; and if the women happen not to be at hand, even the cheese and milk fall under their management.

The alps are destitute of human inhabitants in the winter season, because the Laplanders are then obliged to seek more woody parts of the country, where alone they are able to find a sufficient quantity of moss (_Lichen rangiferinus_) to feed their reindeer. On the alps there is not only a want of wood, but the snow is covered with too hard a frozen crust to be penetrated so as to come at any thing beneath it.

The poorest people only remain here as long as possible, for the sake of catching Ptarmigans (_Tetrao Lagopus_); which is done in the following manner.

They take a little forked birch twig, about a span long, which is stuck into the snow perpendicularly by its divided end, forming a sort of arch. A snare or noose, made of packthread or horsehair, is then fixed to the twig by one end, and placed in the open space between the forks. The thin curling bark of the twig, being carefully slit down at the outer side, curls inward, and serves both to confine and conceal the snare, by drawing it close to the branch on the inner side. Such traps as these are ranged in a line, about a fathom from each other, in the birch thickets, brush wood being laid from one to another, so as to form a low fence. Now as the Ptarmigans come running along, for they seldom fly, they have no way to go but through these snares, and forty or fifty of them are frequently caught at a time.

This day I both heard and saw the Cuckoo (_Cuculus canorus_), which the Laplanders call _Geecka_; and also the great fishing Gull with a grey back (_Larus canus_), to which they give the name of _Staule_; (not _Straule_, as in the _Fauna Suecica_.)

The _Andromeda_ (_hypnoides_) with leaves like moss, or needle-shaped, was here in flower. The petal is bell-shaped, white tipped with purple, divided half way down into five semi-ovate segments. Calyx five-cleft, erect, acute. Anthers orange, very short, furnished with white bristles. Pistil one, obtuse.

In walking over the snow, I once sunk up to my middle, the floods having undermined it to a great depth. Two men drew me out with a rope, and I received no damage except a blow on my thigh and being very wet. Soon afterwards I met with a Laplander who was both a Danish and Swedish subject. He offered me brandy, which I would have declined; but he insisted on my taking a glass, and some tobacco.

The water of the lake of _Virijaur_ (perhaps _Wire-jaur_) was of a whitish green colour, exactly like water poured into a vessel previously used for milk. This appearance arose merely from its extreme purity, levity, and consequent transparency. It was cooler than the water flowing from the snow.

Not far from this lake, on the left, upon the side of the mountain called _Kaitsoniunni_, near a rivulet, I picked up a curious stone or radiated _fluor_, of a blueish colour, composed of square parts (probably zeolite). In the evening it rained, but I observed the _Papilionoides_ with purple spots (_Sphinx Filipendulae_).

The stones hereabouts were mostly fissile, horny; some black and aluminous, but generally horny and spontaneously decomposing, with silvery talc, rarely any quartz.

_July 11._

We rose early this morning, and after walking a quarter of a mile arrived at the lofty icy mountain. This is indeed of a very great elevation, and covered with perpetual snow, the surface of which was, for the most part, frozen quite hard. Sometimes we walked firmly over it, but it occasionally gave way, crumbling under our feet like sand. Every now and then we came to a river taking its course under the snowy crust, which in some parts had yielded to the force of the currents, and the sides of each chasm exhibited many snowy strata one above another. Here the mountain streams began to take their course westward, a sign of our having reached Norwegian Lapland. The delightful tracts of vegetation, which had hitherto been so agreeably interspersed among the alpine snows, were now no longer to be seen. No charming flowers were here scattered under our feet. The whole country was one dazzling snowy waste. The cold east wind quickened our steps, and obliged us to protect our hands that we might escape chilblains. I was glad to put on an additional coat. As we proceeded across the north side of this mountain, we were often so violently driven along by the force of the wind, that we were taken off our feet, and rolled a considerable way down the hill. This once happened to me in so dangerous a place, that, after rolling to the distance of a gun-shot, I arrived near the brink of a precipice, and thus my part in the drama had very nearly come to an end. The rain, which fell in torrents on all sides, froze on our shoes and backs into a crust of ice. This journey would have been long and tiresome enough without any such additional inconvenience. At length, after having travelled betwixt three and four miles, the mountains appeared before us, bare of snow though only sterile rocks, and between them we caught a view of the western ocean. The only bird I had seen in this icy tract, was what the Laplanders call _Pago_ (_Charadrius Hiaticula_). Its breast is black, throat white, feet orange.

Having thus traversed the alps, we arrived about noon upon their bold and precipitous limits to the westward. The ample forests spread out beneath us, looked like fine green fields, the loftiest trees appearing no more than herbs of the humblest growth. About these mountains grew the same species of plants that I had observed on the other side of the alps. We now descended into a lower country. It seems, as I write this, that I am still walking down the mountain, so long and steep was the descent, but the alpine plants no longer made their appearance after we had reached the more humble hills. When we arrived at the plains below, how grateful was the transition from a chill and frozen mountain to a warm balmy valley! I sat down to regale myself with strawberries. Instead of ice and snow, I was surrounded with vegetation in all its prime. Such tall grass I had never before beheld in any country. Instead of the blustering wind so lately experienced, soft gales wafted around us the grateful scent of flowery clover and various other plants. In the earlier part of my journey, I had for some time experienced a long-continued spring (whose steps I pursued as I ascended the Lapland hills); then unremitting winter and eternal snow surrounded me; summer at length was truly welcome. Oh how most lovely of all is summer!

Here grow, for the most part, the common plants of Upland, besides which I noticed _Aconitum lycoctonum_, and the little Mountain Catchfly with a white upright flower (_Silene rupestris_[61]); as also _Coronopus maritimus punctatus_ (_Plantago maritima [beta]_, _Fl. Suec. 46_), _Mesomora_ (_Cornus suecica_), and the Cloudberry (_Rubus Chamaemorus_).

[61] This appears by the _Flora Suecica_ to be likewise a native of Upland.

By this time I was heartily tired, and found the refreshment of some cow's milk, and meat, with a chair to sit upon, very acceptable. I could not but wonder to see my two Laplanders, who had accompanied me during the whole of this day's tedious walk, one of them fifty years of age, the other upwards of seventy, running and frisking about in sport, though each of them had carried a burthen all the way; not indeed a very heavy one, but, considering the distance, by no means trifling. This set me seriously to consider the question put by Dr. Rosen, "why are the Laplanders so swift-footed?" To which I answer, that it arises not from any one cause, but from the cooperation of many.

1. The Laplanders, unlike us, wear no heels to their half boots. We see dancing-masters and rope-dancers, with little or no heels, perform feats of great agility, scarcely practicable with them. The same may be observed of running-footmen, and people of various countries who habitually walk fast; while, on the contrary, those who are accustomed to large and high heels, move in a heavy and deliberate manner. It is usual to shoe young horses heavily, that they may acquire a steadiness of pace; and I observe that the country boys where I am now writing, throw off their shoes when they intend to run, as the heels with which these shoes are made, deprive them of half the natural control of the muscles in the soles of their feet. Those muscles, by means of high heels, and consequently less use or exercise, become more and more stiff, and a man with a wooden foot or leg cannot but move heavily.

2. These people are accustomed to running from their infancy. As soon as a Lapland boy can go alone, he is taught to run and put a halter round the reindeer's neck. When he grows a little older, he learns to follow these animals, which are always quick-paced, insomuch that it is more laborious to keep up with them than with a herd of goats, and more difficult to run after them than to frisk about with a parcel of calves. If therefore a rope-dancer, or a running-footman, acquires great agility by perpetual practice, no wonder that a Laplander, who till he is married, and often all his life long, runs habitually after the reindeer, should rival any of them in swiftness of foot.

3. Freedom from hard labour is another cause. All laborious employments, such as directing the plough, threshing, cutting and hewing of wood, &c. render the blood thick, and the limbs stiff. Hence the flesh of a peasant is hard and tough, that of a young damsel soft and tender; nor can a peasant move with the lightness and flexibility of limbs that we see in a girl. How delicate are the muscles of children compared with those of an aged person! The Laplanders appear to be more nimble and active, in all their movements, because they undergo no hard or Herculean labours.