THE JOURNEY UP. 57 



carried in this precarious manner for 180 miles, 

 you never hear of one being lost, and as to a mail 

 robbery, such a thing is never dreamt of. We 

 were now obliged to pay a little more for our 

 horses ; in fact, it was only by sufferance that 

 we obtained them at all, and what surprised 

 me was that the peasants did not " claw " us more 

 (to use an expressive Swedish term), for we were 

 totally dependent on them, and unless they fur- 

 nished horses, must have stayed where we were. I 

 am certain in Britain we should not have come off 

 so cheap. However, by the aid of a little " soft 

 sawder," which goes a long way with a northern 

 peasant, and an intimation that we were on a visit 

 to the priest at lockmock, we managed pretty well. 

 The word " priest " has a talismanic effect upon 

 these peasants. The day was dull and cold, but 

 the sledging Capital. We made fifty English miles, 

 and the last twelve were about the best of our 

 journey, for the horses were fresh and the whole 

 distance over the frozen Lulea river. Still no 

 signs of Lapland. But now the peasants all began 

 to speak Lap, and this day we had the first speci- 

 men of a Lap settler's cottage ; and very neat and 

 clean it was, with a carpet on the floor. We slept 

 at a place called "Suart Lo" at a peasant's house, 

 and paid 2s. for our night's quarters. When we 

 reached the house night had set in, and the full 



