LAPLAND. 97 



out of ten, if that was better done by, lie could 

 grow double crops without going to the expense 

 of draining new land. Every year proves the 

 fact, that there are few countries under the sun 

 which cannot be brought to minister to the wants 

 of man, and few places where an energetic^ prac- 

 tical settler cannot thrive. But I really believe 

 Lapland was made only for the Laplander and his 

 reindeer ; and I fear the Lap settler must be con- 

 tent to live upon the fish and game with which 

 Nature has so liberally supplied him ; and if he 

 wants the luxuries of civilized life, he must come 

 and live among his civilized brethren. I have, 

 perhaps, dwelt too long upon this subject, as it 

 is not very probable that any of my readers will 

 come up to Lapland either to cultivate the mosses 

 or work at the Gellivare mines, but still may like 

 to know what will grow so far north ; and before 

 I visited Lapland I heard and read such mar- 

 vellous tales respecting the fertility of this wild 

 land, that I was most anxious to judge for myself 

 how far it was adapted to agriculture, and I have 

 now given the reader my exact opinion on the 

 matter. 



The season of 1862 was wretchedly cold, and 

 the wind, which seemed always to blow from 

 north and north-west, would come howling down 

 from the fells through the gully in which Quick- 

 ie 



