THE LAPPS. 119 



musical intonation, and several of their songs have been collected. But they are 

 not a pure race, as shown by their old Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, and even 

 Russian family names. 



Those of the interior, probably the least mixed, are generally of very low 

 stature compared with their almost gigantic Swedish neighbours. But the mean 

 height is greater than has been supposed by lovers of the marvellous, who have 

 been fond of contrasting the Patagonian giants with the pigmy Lapps, living at 

 the two extremities of the habitable world. Dulk gives the mean height at 5 feet 

 3 inches, and Yon Diiben, who has most carefully studied them, at 4 feet 11 inches. 

 The repulsive features credited to them exist only in the imagination of their 

 neighbours, and although mostly marked by high cheek bones, nose flattened at 

 the extremity, small eyes, triangular face, scant beard, yellowish complexion, their 

 cranium is very capacious, with a high and really noble brow, smiling mouth, 

 animated and kindly expression. The eye is usually black, but the colour of the 

 hair varies greatly, being sometimes chestnut or quite black, sometimes perfectly 

 fair. Although not so ringing and melodious as that of the Swedes, their voice is 

 by no means weak or thick, except amongst the brandy-drinkers, now rarely met, 

 especially in Sweden, since the sale of spirits was totally interdicted in 1839. 

 Brandy has been replaced by coffee, which those who can afford the expense drink 

 all day long, mixing it with salt, cheese, or even blood and dripping. Thanks to 

 the salubrity of the climate, and in spite of the foul air and filth of their hovels, 

 they are generally healthy and long-lived. Mortality is lower than amongst the 

 civilised peoples of the seaboard, but, as was remarked by Acerbi in the last 

 century, they often suffer from red and sore eyes, caused by the smoke of their 

 tents and their long journeys across the snows. 



According to their manner of life the Sameh are divided into Highland and 

 Coast — that is, reindeer and fishing — Lapps. A few have become agriculturists in 

 the plains about the Grulf of Bothnia, but even these rely mainly on the produce 

 of the lakes and rivers. Their huts are composed of a simple conic frame covered 

 with canvas or some woollen fabric, leaving the smoke to escape at the top. Some 

 are raised on piles, and household affairs are managed by the men, possibly a relic 

 of gynaecocracy, or "mother's right," so prevalent amongst primitive races. 



The Lapps of the arctic shores are more numerous than those of the interior, 

 who are necessarily nomads, although they do not form migratory tribes like the 

 Bedouins and Turkomans. Each family lives apart in the forest, not through any 

 unsociable feeling, but because of the great space needed to support their reindeer 

 herds. Every Laj^p requires at least twenty-five animals, and after being nibbled 

 the lichens grow very slowly. Hence the herds return only every ten years to 

 the same grazing grounds, and but for the grass and sprouts available in summer 

 all Lapland would be too small for its few thousand inhabitants. Reindeer milk, 

 unfortunately far from abundant, forms their chief nutriment, and this they " eat," 

 even in winter, in the form of frozen cakes. But the flesh and blood of the animal 

 are also consumed, and the ordinary daily meal is the "blood soup," made of flour 

 and clotted blood preserved during the winter in casks or skins. Being thus 



