163 



THE POLAK WORLD. 



landscape with a magic brilliancy, and investing every object with a dream-like, 

 supernatural beauty. 



But even without the aid of this mysterious coruscation, Lapland is rich in 

 grand and picturesque features, and has all the romance of the mountain and 

 the forest. In summer countless rivulets meander through valleys of alpine 

 verdure, and broad pellucid rivers rush down the slopes in thundering cataracts, 

 embracing islands clothed with pine-trees of incomparable dignity and grace. 

 Whoever has grown up in scenes like these, and been accustomed from infancy 

 to the uncontrolled freedom of the nomad state, receives impressions never to 

 be erased ; and thus we can not wonder that the wild Laplander believes his 

 country to be a terrestrial paradise, and feels nowhere happy but at home. 



In the year 1819 a Scotch gentleman attempted to acclimatize the reindeer 

 in Scotland, and induced two young Laplanders to accompany the herd which 

 he had bought for that purpose. The reindeer soon perished, and the Lap- 

 landers would have died of nostalgia if they had not been sent home by the first 

 opportunity. Prince Jablonowsky, a Polish nobleman, who travelled about 

 thirty years since through a part of Russian Lapland, took a Lapp girl with 

 him to St. Petersburg. He gave her a superior education, and she was well 

 treated in every respect. She made rapid progress, and seemed to be perfectly 

 reconciled to her new home. About two years after her arrival, it happened 

 that a Russian gentleman, who possessed extensive estates near the capital, 

 bought a small herd of reindeer, which arrived under the guidance of a Lapp 

 family. As it was winter-time, and these people had brought with them their 

 tents, their sledges, and their snow-shoes, they soon became objects of curiosity, 

 and crowds of fashionable visitors flocked to their encampment ; among others, 

 the good-natured prince, who imprudently conducted his pupil, the young Lap- 

 land girl, to see her countrymen, an interview which he supposed would give 

 her great pleasure. But from that moment she became an altered being; she 

 lost her spirits and her appetite, and, in spite of every care and attention, her 

 health dechned from day to day. One morning she disappeared, and it was 

 found on inquiry that she had returned to her family, where she remained ever 

 after. 



Another very remarkable instance of the Laplanders' love of their country 

 is related by Hogstrom. During the war of Gustavus III. with Russia, a 

 young Laplander enlisted in a regiment which was passing through Tornea. 

 He served in several campaigns as a common soldier, was made a sergeant in 

 consequence of his good conduct and courage ; and having given himself the 

 greatest trouble to improve his education and acquire military knowledge, at 

 length, after twenty years of service, attained the rank of captain in the Swedish 

 army. After this long time spent in the civilized world, and having become ac- 

 customed to all its enjoyments and comforts, he felt a strong desire to revisit 

 his family and his country. Scarcely had he seen his native mountains, and 

 spent a few days among his countrymen and the reindeer, than he at once quit- 

 ted the service, and resumed the nomad life of his youth. 



The Laplander's chief desire is for peace and tranquillity. Exposed to all 

 the privations of a vagrant life, and to every inclemency of weather, he endures 



