.190 



LAPLAND; 



LipUnil. will often give a cheese, says Linnaeus, in exchange for 



v ~"Sr' a turnip. The Finns have introduced the cultivation 



of grain even into the country of Alten ; and theirs may 



be considered as the most northern agriculture of the 



world. 



Animals. The domestic animals of the Laplanders, are cows, 

 cheep, dogs, goats, and rein-deer. The cows are fed du- 

 ring winter on hay from the meadows, or on the moss 

 used by the rein-deer. The sheep and goats subsist on 

 similar food ; and, notwithstanding the rigour of the cli- 

 mate, are remarkably prolific. The she-goats constant- 

 ly produce two kids, and sometimes three at a birth ; 

 and the ewes often bring forth twins twice a-year. The 

 dogs are chiefly kept for collecting the herds of rein- 

 deer, and are trained to obey the slightest signal from 

 their masters. The rein-deer are the most valuable 

 part of a Laplander's possessions, and the principal ob- 

 ject of his attention. These animal* have a considera- 

 ble resemblance to stags ; and thpir whole body is of a 

 grey colour, which becomes whiter before the hair falls 

 off. They cast their horns every year; the males im- 

 mediately after the rutting season, in the end of No- 

 vember ; and the females in May, after having brought 

 forth their young. The new horns are at first flexible, 

 and so tender as to occasion pain to the animal when 

 roughly handled. Those of the male are often two 

 feet and a half in length,'_ancl their points are as far 

 distant from each other. The height of the animal, 

 from the fore foot to the top of the back, is generally 

 four feet ; and the length, from the shoulder to the tail, 

 two feet. The hoofs are constructed in such a man- 

 ner, that, when the foot is pressed on the ground, their 

 points are separated from each other, and striking to- 

 gether every time the foot is raised, occasions a crack- 

 ling noise as the animal walks along. The rein-deer 

 eat grass during summer, and feed with avidity on the 

 great water horse-tail, even in a dry state ; but they 

 will not eat hay; and subsist during the greater part of 

 the year entirely upon the lichen rangiferinus, or rein- 

 deer moss, which grows eveiy where in great abun- 

 dance, and which the animal easily contrives to reach 

 under the deep covering of snow, where it is protected 

 from the frost. They are said also to feed on frogs, 

 snakes, and lemnings, or mountain rats ; and to be par- 

 ticularly fond of human urine, which they greedily lick 

 up wherever it has fallen. Of these useful creatures a 

 wealthy Laplander often possesses a thousand, or more ; 

 a person of the middle class from 300 to 700 ; and the 

 poorer people from 50 to 200. The herds are com- 

 monly tended by the children and females of the fa- 

 mily ; and are driven home, morning and evening, to 

 be milked. For this purpose they are tied, by a rope 

 put round their horns, to a small pole stuck in the 

 ground; and all hands, master and mistress, men and 

 maids, are busily employed in milking. When the 

 milk does not come easily, they beat the udder with 

 their hands to cause a greater flow ; and each female 

 generally yields about the same quantity as a she-goat. 

 When the young males are about a year and a half old, 

 the Laplander proceeds to castrate them by bruising 

 the contents of the scrotum with his teeth, yet so as 

 not to break the skin, which would generally prove fatal. 

 These, if not put to work, become larger, fatter, and 

 tamer than such as are left in their natural state ; and 

 are counted of so great value to their owner,, that the 

 worth of any article is commonly expressed by equal, 

 ling it to a gelt rein-deer ; and it is considered as one 

 of the highest compliments to a friend, to tell him, that 

 he is as estimable as a rein-deer gelding. During sum 



nier, the gelt rein-deer and the hinds are commonly I.apland. 

 suffered to range the woods without any attendance; "* V"*' 

 and every person is able to l*iow his own deer by a Amnlals - 

 particular mark, or incision, made in the aniroal's car. 

 After seven years of age, the males are apt to die, of 

 the weakness and emaciation which succeed the cast- 

 ing of the hair and horns; but the geldings live to the 

 age of 12 or 14' years. They are subject also to various 

 diseases ; such as ulcers near the upper elites of the 

 hoof, which often render them completely lame, and 

 unable to keep up with the herd ; a vertigo, or giddi- 

 ness, causing them to run round continually, generally 

 incurable, but sometimes removed by cutting the cars, 

 so as to produce a free discharge of blood j ulcerations 

 in the flesh, an epidemic disorder, supposed to prove 

 fatal by the animal licking and swallowing the corro- 

 sive matter from his own skin, or from others of the 

 herd ; an affection of-the spleen, which is accounted in. 

 curable, and so infectious, that those which are attack- 

 ed are immediately killed. They are much tormented 

 in summer by a species of gad-fly, (oestrus tarandi) 

 which deposits its eggs in the skin, and produce ulcer- 

 ations which frequently prove destructive to the fawns. 



Wild rein-deer abound in Norwegian Lapland ; but 

 few are found in Swedish Lapland, except between 

 Granoen and Lycksele. They are considerably larger 

 than the tame deer. Hares are plentiful, and in the 

 winter season become entirely white. Three kinds of 

 martens are found, especially in Norwegian Lapland, 

 which are distinguished, according to the places which 

 they frequent, by the names of stone-marten, birch- 

 marten, and fir-marten. The glutton is common in 

 the country, and its skin is of great value for making 

 muffs and gloves. The beaver is also found in some 

 parts of Lapland, and in some rare instances are of a 

 white colour. Otters of different kinds ermines, a 

 species of white weasel squirrels, which are shot with 

 blunt arrows to preserve the beauty of their skins 

 mns lemnui, a species of marmot peculiar to Lapland 

 and field-mice in immense numbers, are all natives 

 of those high latitudes. Foxes also are extremely nu- 

 merous, some of which are white, with black ears and 

 feet some red, or red with a black cross some black, 

 or black with long hairs on the back of a silver colour 

 at their extremities ; the skins of which, known by the 

 name of silver-haired, are highly valued in the north of 

 Europe. Wolves, generally of a tawny hue, but some- 

 times of a whitish colour, are also numerous, and ex- 

 tremely destructive to the tame rein-deer. Bears are 

 common in Lapland, and, though subsisting principal- 

 ly on berries and herbs, frequently prey upon the cows, 

 sheep, or goats ; but are not able to overtake the rein- 

 deer and, unless provoked, would rather avoid than 

 attack a man. 



Many birds are found in Lapland,, which have not Birds, 

 yet been discovered in other countries ; particularly the 

 Lapland wood-cock, which has its beak turned up at 

 the end ; the Swedish mock-bird, remarkable for the 

 variety of its notes, as well as the beauty of its plu- 

 mage, and called by the natives the bird of a " hun- 

 dred tongues ;" the Lapland owl, a very rare bird ; a 

 species of magpie, called the Lapland crow ; the three 

 toed wood-pecker ; the great dark coloured wood-cock, 

 with a very long beak, of which the lower half is red, 

 &c. The only birds which remain during winter, are 

 partridges, crows, owls, and ptarmigans ; but great 

 multitudes resort, in summer, to the lakes and marshes 

 for the purpose of breeding ; and are well supplied 

 with food from the berries and insects which abound at 



