NORWECxIAN LAPLAND. 327 



I am now writing, throw off their shoes 

 when they intend to ran, 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 run- 

 ning 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 v/onder that a 

 Laplander, who till he is married, and 

 often all his life long, runs habitually after 



