80 A SPRING AND SUMMER IN LAPLAND. 



wanted a good mate. The peasant lad whom I 

 took up, however good he might be on the fell or 

 in the forest, was no companion. The good priest 

 with whom we boarded was a man of few words, 

 rather morose in his disposition ; and had it not 

 been for the jolly old parish clerk — who was a 

 perfect contrast to all the rest of our neighbours, 

 and was, moreover, a bit of a collector — I should 

 scarcely have had a man to speak to. Doubtless 

 the inclinations and tempers of the inhabitants of 

 every land are much affected by the climate and 

 scenery of the country in which they live, and the 

 Lap settlers are just what you would expect men 

 to be who live for more than half the year snowed 

 in, with no companionship but their own. They 

 never see the sun during the depths of winter ; 

 and by referring to a Lap almanac, I see that it is 

 supposed to rise here on Christmas day at forty 

 minutes after ten, and to set at twenty minutes 

 after one. In describing a Lap winter to me, the 

 old clerk wound up with — " For forty-two days in 

 the dead of winter we can't see to kill a bird at a 

 hundred yards with a rifle. 5 ' There is nothing 

 jolly about these settlers. Men and women are 

 the same. If you speak to them you get a half 

 civil answer, but nothing more ; and although the 

 stranger is sure to be treated with civility, and, 

 no doubt, what they consider kindness, their man- 



