20 A SPRING AND SUMMER IN LAPLAND. 



It is not my intention to occupy more space 

 than I can possibly help with the details of my 

 journey, and, in fact, throughout my whole notes, 

 will endeavour to be as concise as possible; but 

 this little work being intended as a guide for any 

 future traveller or naturalist who may wish to 

 visit this interesting land, of which comparatively 

 so little is known in England, I shall, perhaps, 

 notice some matters which may appear trivial to 

 the general reader, yet prove of great service to 

 the traveller. As my trip, however, was solely 

 for the purpose of collecting and obtaining a better 

 knowledge of the habits of the rarer British birds 

 during the breeding season, my notes on the 

 ornithology of the districts which I visited may 

 probably assume a more lengthened form ; and 

 the reader may rely implicitly on what I write ; 

 for, as I ever have done, I shall state nothing as a 

 fact which does not come under my own personal 

 observation. I shall, in the first place, give a 

 short sketch of the journey up, and make a few 

 remarks on life in Lapland, as it struck me ; and 

 I shall carefully avoid tiring the reader with 

 anecdotes related to me by others ; for I look 

 upon a narrative or book filled with anecdotes, 

 unless the writer can himself vouch for their truth, 

 as little better than a work of fiction. And let 

 me remark at starting, that if I state any fact at 



