158 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



the grand phenomenon, which their ignorance connects with their own petty ex- 

 istence. 



The pretended gift of being able to predict future events is common among 

 the Laplanders. The sorcerers fall into a magic sleep, during which their soul 

 wanders. In this state, like the somnambules of more polished nations, they re- 

 veal things to come or see what passes at a distance. Men and women affect 

 the power of fortune-telling by the common trick of palmistry, or by the inspec- 

 tion of a cup of liquor ; and this, to insure the greatest possible certainty, must 

 be a cup of brandy, which at once explains the whole business of the prophecy. 

 The Lapland witches pretended, or perhaps still pretend, to the power of still- 

 ing the wind or causing the rain to cease, and such was their reputation that 

 English seamen trading to Archangel made it a point to land and buy a wind 

 from these poor creatures. 



The Lapps are a dwarfish race. On an average, the men do not exceed five 

 feet in height, many not even reaching four, and the women are considerably 

 less. Most of them are, however, very robust, the circumference of their chest 

 nearly equalling their height. Their complexion is more or less tawny and 

 copper-colored, their hair dark, straight, and lank, its dangling masses adding 

 much to the wildness of their aspect. They have very little beard, and as its 

 want is considered a beauty, the young men carefully eradicate the scanty sup- 

 ply given them by nature. 



Their dark piercing eyes are generally deep sunk in their heads, widely sep- 

 arated from each other, and, like those of the Tartars or Chinese, obliquely slit 

 towards the temples. The cheek-bones are high, the mouth pinched close, but 

 wide, the nose fiat. The eyes are generally sore, either in consequence of the 

 biting smoke of their huts or of the refraction from the snow, so that a Lapp 

 seldom attains a high age without becoming blind. Their countenances gener- 

 ally present a repulsive combination of stolidity, low cunning, and obstinacy. 

 Hogguer, who dwelt several months among them, and saw during this time at 

 least 800 Lapps, found not twenty who were not decidedly ugly ; and Dr. Clarke 

 says that many of them, when more advanced in years, might, if exhibited in a 

 menagerie of wild beasts, be considered as the long-lost link between man and 

 ape. 



Their legs are extremely thick and clumsy, but their hands are as small and 

 finely shaped as those of any aristrocrat. The reason for this is that from gen- 

 eration to generation they never perform any manual labor, and the very trifling 

 work which they do is necessarily of the lightest kind. Their limbs are singular- 

 ly flexible, easily falling into any posture, like all the Oriental nations, and their 

 hands are constantly occupied in the beginning of conversation with filling a 

 short tobacco-pipe, the head being turned over one shoulder to the person ad- 

 dressed. Such are the traits by which the whole tribe is distinguished from 

 the other inhabitants of Europe, and in which they differ from the other natives 

 of the land in which they live. 



The summer garb of the men consists of the " poesk," a sort of tunic, gener- 

 ally made of a very coarse light-colored woollen cloth, reaching to the knees, and 

 fastened round the waist with a belt or girdle. Their woollen caps are shaped 



