356 ANIMALS OF THE 



favourite cattle, and remains unaffected in a sea- 

 son which would be speedy death to those bred 

 up in a milder climate. He gives himself no un- 

 easiness to house his herds, or to provide a win- 

 ter subsistence for them ; he is at the trouble 

 neither of manuring his grounds nor bringing in 

 his harvests ; he is not the hireling of another's 

 luxury ; all his labours are to obviate the neces- 

 sities of his own situation, and these he under- 

 goes with cheerfulness, as he is sure to enjoy the 

 fruits of his own industry. If, therefore, we com- 

 pare the Laplander with the peasant of more 

 southern climates, we shall have little reason to 

 pity his situation : the climate in which he lives 

 is rather terrible to us than to him ; and as for 

 the rest, he is blessed with liberty, plenty, and 

 ease. The rein-deer alone supplies him with all 

 the wants of life, and some of the conveniencies, 

 serving to show how many advantages nature is 

 capable of supplying when necessity gives the 

 call. Thus, the poor little helpless native, who 

 was originally, perhaps, driven by fear or famine 

 into those inhospitable climates, would seem, at 

 first view, to be the most wretched of mankind ; 

 but it is far otherwise : he looks round among the 

 few wild animals that his barren country can 

 maintain, and singles out one from among them, 

 and that of a kind which the rest of mankind have 

 not thought worth taking from a state of nature : 

 this he cultivates, propagates, and multiplies, and 

 from 'this alone derives every comfort that can 

 soften the severity of his situation. 



