354 THE LEMMING. 



stout, and the hairs on them and the tail, have a greyish 

 appearance from some of them being black, and others white. 

 The length of the- tail is scarcely more than an inch. 



In wet seasons, the lemmings appear in such abundance that 

 the simple Laplanders believe they fall from the clouds. They 

 descend, after continued rains, from the mountains, by millions, 

 covering the whole plain : their habitual movement during the 

 night is in the form of a square, but as soon as daylight appears 

 they rest 3 and it is no uncommon thing for the ground to be 

 covered by them for more than a square mile, and so close are 

 they together, that no part of the ground can be seen. To kill 

 them is out of the question, and to attempt to arrest their 

 migration would be vain, for no obstacle will divert them from 

 their course, which is from the north-west to south-east j if a 

 river or lake happen to be in the direct line, they swim across ; 

 and should a boat be in the way, they will not swim round, but 

 go straight forward over it ; in fact, nothing will obstruct their 

 progress. If any body attempt to attack one of these little 

 animals, it flies boldly at him, fastens on him, and is with 

 difficulty made to quit its hold. Their food is chiefly vegetables j 

 and in a very short time a whole meadow is destroyed, and 

 appears as if it had been burnt and strewed with ashes. Did 

 they not at last destroy each other, their numbers would render 

 the country uninhabitable. When vegetable food becomes 

 scarce, they fight together most furiously ; after this battle 



