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LAPP MANNERS. 251 
those who dwell in the uttermost ends of the earth are, 
ipso facto , first cousins. 
This relationship with the Polynesian Niggers, the 
native genealogists would probably scout with indigna¬ 
tion, being perfectly persuaded of the extreme gentility 
of their descent. Their only knowledge of the patri¬ 
arch Noah is as a personage who derives his principal 
claim to notoriety from having been the first Lapp. 
Their acquaintance with any sacred history—nay, with 
Christianity at all—is very limited. It was not until after 
the thirteenth century that an attempt was made to 
convert them; and although Charles the Fourth and 
Gustavus ordered portions of Scripture to be translated 
into Lappish, to this very day a great proportion of 
the race are Pagans; and even the most illuminated 
amongst them remain slaves to the grossest superstition. 
When a couple is to be married, if a priest happens to 
be in the way, they will send for him perhaps out of 
complaisance; but otherwise, the young lady’s papa 
merely strikes a flint and steel together, and the ceremony 
is not less irrevocably completed. When they die, a 
hatchet and a flint and steel are invariably buried with 
the defunct, in case he should find himself chilly on 
