CHAPTER III 
TRIBES AROUND THE POLE 
Before we begin to follow the achievements of the 
great Polar worthies, it seems desirable to take a brief 
survey of the dwellers on the threshold of the Arctic 
regions; for here are races who have for ages found 
homes along the European, Siberian, and American 
coasts of the Polar Ocean and in Greenland. 
To begin with the Spitsbergen quadrant ; the northern 
coast of Norway, now known as Finmarken, and the Kola 
peninsula face the Polar Sea, but, owing to the warm 
current from the south, this coast has its bays and inlets 
clear of ice throughout the year. The coast is lined by 
numerous islands, several of them of considerable size 
to the west of the North Cape, and is indented by deep 
fjords. The most northern point of Europe is in yi° n'. 
Inland there is a flat mountain plateau, with a height 
of some 1500 feet, consisting of stony desert with a few 
patches of reindeer moss, and some morasses. The 
plateau is traversed by rivers such as the Tana and the 
Alten, which force their way through accumulations of 
gravel before reaching the sea. Pine forests have now 
receded from the coast to the foot of the gneiss mountains 
in the interior, and their place is taken by dwarf birch 
near the sea. The Kola peninsula, known to the Russians 
as the Murman coast, has high and precipitous granite 
cliffs and a line of central hills sending the drainage on 
one side to the Murman, and on the other side to the 
White Sea. 
This is the land of the Lapps, encamped for hunting, 
and on the sea coast for fishing in summer. Their 
average height is about 5 ft. 1 in., and they have high 
cheek-bones, small elongated eyes, wide mouths, little 
or no beard, and dark straight hair. Their circular tents 
