426 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



reveals certain Mongol characteristics, and 

 it is now generally admitted that, originally 

 of Mongol stock, the characters of the yellow 

 race have been largely obliterated by cross- 

 ing with the Caucasian type. Professor 

 Keane says, " The Lapp still retains the 

 round, low skull, prominent cheek-bones, 

 and somewhat flat features of the Mongol." 

 Yellow and reddish tints are noted in the 

 colour of the skin. No other coloured race 

 contains so many men of very light hue as 

 the Lapps. Many of the women have delicate 

 complexions and rosy cheeks, and Du Chaillu 

 describes the appearance of freshly washed 

 specimens as positively dazzling. The Lapp 

 language is a member of the Finnish branch 

 of the Mongolo-Tartar family. 



The different tribes are bound together 

 by hardships which are the common lot. 

 Some are hunters, some fishermen; others, 

 again, herdsmen of deer. All have to 

 struggle equally hard for existence. They 

 are, however, cheery and contented. They 

 endure with indifference and even manage 

 to enjoy hard conditions of life under 

 which more civilised peoples could not 

 possibly exist. 



The dress of the Lapps has now almost 

 lost its old Arctic character, and assumed 

 that of the northern Europeans with whom 

 alone they communicate. Coarse woollen 

 stuffs are gradually but certainly taking the 

 place of skins. But in winter both men 

 and women wear reindeer-skin with the 

 hairy side in. The men's head-gear is a 

 huge, four-cornered cap; while that of the 

 women somewhat resembles a helmet on a wooden frame. In summer men and women 

 are clad only in a long shirt of loadmal with sleeves reaching to the wrist, and as a. 

 rule the old national costume is better preserved by the Mountain Lapps than by those of 

 the seaboard. In summer they wear tight-fitting trousers of reindeer-skin, shoes of leather 

 turned iip at the toes, and a woollen shirt. They are nomads, and on their journeys wear 

 a strong belt with a knife in it. This belt is occasionally adorned with bear's teeth after a 

 successful hunting expedition. They carry leather bags on their back for provisions. Where 

 European influence is most strongly felt, the dress becomes more like that of the Norse 

 peasant, the women wearing a woollen under-garment, and over that another reaching to the 

 knees, with red and yellow stripes on its lower border. An ornamental belt, with knife and 

 scissors, girds the waist; and the dress is completed with blue stockings. 



The weapons of the Lapps who do not live by fishing are the bow, knife, and bear-spear. 

 The bow, about 6 feet in length, is usually made of birchwood and fir, fastened together 

 with fish-glue, and is further secured and strengthened by being bound all over with birch- 

 bast. Some of the bows are thick, and show none of the elegant work which other 

 semi-wild peoples lavish on their weapons. They use blunt arrows for shooting fur animals 



Photo by J. A. Coldevin] 



A LAPP WOMAN. 



[Mosjoen. 



