LAPLAND. 87 



leads them in winter to seek the forests and lower 

 grounds where the snow is not so deep, and in 

 summer the highest fells, to escape the mosquitoes 

 which then swarm in the forests. There are 

 several grades among these Laps, and, unlike other 

 wild men, who have everything in common, there 

 are rich and poor among them, and their riches 

 are computed by the number of reindeer each one 

 owns. Some will probably own several hundred, 

 and the value of a reindeer is not a little. To say 

 nothing of the general utility of the animal while 

 living, in autumn thousands are slaughtered. The 

 skins they can sell for from 3s. to 5s. each, and the 

 dried flesh is worth about 4s. for 201b. (a good 

 reindeer will weigh about 1201b. to 1501b.), and 

 the horns are boiled down for glue. Many, how- 

 ever, possess no reindeer, and these are called 

 "Fisk Lappar," generally miserably poor, living 

 by fishing or shooting, or serving their richer 

 brethren — and I should say of all servitude, Lap 

 servitude was the lowest. Many of the richer Laps 

 appear fond of finery, and I have seen some, both 

 men and women, decorated with much silver about 

 their caps and girdles. But the generality of them 

 are dirty in the extreme ; they never take their 

 clothes off when they sleep, nor do I believe they 

 cast away their mangy old skin coat until it drops 

 off. That " cleanliness is next to godliness " is a 



