28 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[JANUARY, 
from two of the photographs, and his account, which 
was not intended to he printed and is very long, I shall 
use to make a “Talk,” for you.—Well now, in the first 
place, look for Lapland on your maps. You, of course, 
find it in Europe, but not, at least it is not in any of my 
maps, put down as a regular division, but Lap-land or 
the land of the Lapps, ex¬ 
tends across the northern¬ 
most parts of Norway, Swe¬ 
den, and Kussia, and borders 
on the Arctic sea. It is said 
that the Lapps once had 
what is now Norway and 
Sweden, but that they have 
been gradually pushed north 
by more powerful nations, 
until they now have only a 
narrow territory, with the 
Arctic Ocean on one side and 
high mountains with per¬ 
petual snow on the other. 
There are only about 30,000 
of them altogether, and these 
are scattered in tribes, which 
have but little to do with 
each other, and according to 
Mr. K., they speak such dif¬ 
ferent languages that those 
from one part of the country 
can not understand those 
from another part, though 
they all call themselves one 
nation. Though professedly 
Christians, they are very su¬ 
perstitious, and believe in 
witches and spirits, good and 
evil. As a rule they are very 
small, the men being rarely 
over five and often under 
four feet high, and the wom¬ 
en much smaller; they have 
dark skins, very black and 
straight hair, very little 
beard, which they pull out 
when young, and dark, deeply set eyes. They dress in 
woolen cloth in summer, and in furs in winter, and are 
fond of gay colors. They use when traveling on the 
snow akind of skates, called “ skiders,” which are made 
of light wood, one of them as long as the person who 
wears it, and the other a foot shorter; the feet are fast¬ 
ened to the middle of these by thongs, and with them 
he can skim over the snow so fast that he can overtake 
the swiftest animal. Per¬ 
haps if asked what you know 
about the Laplanders, almost 
every one of you would ans¬ 
wer—“Reindeer”—and you 
would be right, for this is 
the most peculiar thing 
about them, and they are the 
only people in the world who 
regularly use any kind of a 
deer as a domestic animal. 
I don’t intend to give you a 
full history of the Lapps, or 
to tell you all that Mr. K. 
writes about them, but only 
about the points shown in 
the pictures, the people, their 
houses, and their reindeer. 
As to the people, the upper 
picture shows their dress, 
and with what I have already 
said about them, you will 
have a good idea of how they 
look. The men show much 
skill in carving articles from 
reindeer's horns, and the 
women in weaving ribbons 
and other finery of bright 
colors to wear. Some of the 
Lapps are wandering tribes, 
living always in tents and 
moving from place to place; 
others build huts of stones 
and moss (as in figure 1), 
which they live in in winter, 
and take to their tents only 
in summer, when they go 
from the mountains down to 
the sea, while others still, 
called the Fisher Lapps, live near the water all the year 
in the most miserable huts, surrounded by heaps of 
decaying fish; these are regarded as the lowest of 
all and they are so dirty as to be very unpleasant 
people. The tents are made like those of some of our 
Western Indians; a lot of poles placed together to 
form a cone, and this is covered in summer with coarse 
cloth, and in winter with skins; a hearth or fire-place of 
stones is made in the middle of the tent, and the smoke 
goes out at a hole in the top. The floor is covered with 
skins, and in this place, not more than six feet across, 
the whole family sleep at night, and huddle around the 
fire by day. All their furniture consists of a chest for the 
best clothes, a few bowls, pots, and kettles. Living in 
Fig. 1.— A FAMILY OF LAPPS AND THEIR HUT. 
this way, it is no wonder that they are not clean, that the 
smoke causes most of them to have sore eyes, and that 
there are a great many blind people among them. Even 
the wealthiest live in a manner that the poorest among 
us would think most miserable. Their wealth consists 
almost entirely of reindeer. Though the most useful, the 
reindeer is probably the least graceful of all the deer fam¬ 
ily ; you can see by those in the lower picture, which are 
Fig. 2.— REINDEER, ONE PACKED FOR A JOURNEY. 
photographic portraits, that it is far from being as 
handsome as our American deer. It is remarkable for 
the great size of its spreading hoofs, which allow it to 
travel over the snow. The horns are very large, and 
broad at the top, and weigh from 20 to 25 lbs. Unlike 
other deer, the females, as well as the males, have horns. 
It feeds in winter entirely upon what is called reindeer 
moss, which is a whitish kind of lichen, not rare in our 
Northern States, and very abundant in Lapland. The 
deer gives its owner no trouble about feeding or stabling; 
it digs its own food from under the snow, and all the 
housing it gets is a pen at night to keep off wolves; in 
summer it feeds upon the leaves of trees and upon green 
herbs. Sometimes the deer are wild, but they can b* 
made very tame and become 
fond of their master. The 
females furnish a very rich 
milk, though but little of it, 
and is used as food and to 
make butter and cheese. The 
deer is used for riding and to 
draw the sledge, and as a 
pack animal; but it is not 
much used for riding, as it is 
very weak in the back-bone, 
and the saddle is placed on 
the haunches. The Lapps, 
who wander from place to 
place, rarely stay in one spot 
more than a fortnight; by 
that time the pasture is used 
up, and in half an hour the 
tent is taken down, and that, 
with all the household goods, 
is packed on the backs of 
the deer, and the family start 
to find a new home. The 
picture shows one of the deer 
with its pack, ready to start. 
But it is in the sledge or 
“ pulka,” as they call it, that 
the deer travels best; this 
is like a boat with a round 
bottom, and it carries but 
one, and he is packed in with 
furs very snugly. The deer 
has a collar around its neck, 
from which the traces run 
down between its legs, and 
are made fast to the sledge; 
reins are attached to the 
horns,and small bells are fast¬ 
ened to the collar, as the deer is fond of their sound. 
The deer will draw the sledge 60 or 70 miles a day. Per¬ 
haps you think it would be a grand thing to go off in this 
style, but it is really hard work, and not without danger. 
The driver has all he can attend to; he has to balance 
the sledge with his body—for woe to him if he should up¬ 
set ! He carries a stick to steer by, and to prevent an 
overturn; there are no roads, and trees are many; if the 
sledge should strike a stump 
or a stone while at full speed, 
the rider would suffer. After 
all I think that I prefer our 
sleigh with a horse. Some 
rich Lapps have as many as 
1,000 to 1,500 reindeer, and 
300 are considered enough 
to support a large family; 
the rich owner can kill his 
deer, and buy with the sale 
of the skins all that he 
wants. The meat of the 
deer is the chief food of the 
Lapps, and they pnt every 
part of the body to some use: 
the tongue and marrow are 
choice parts; the blood is 
made into a pudding; the 
skin is made into clothing 
and serves for tents and bed¬ 
ding; the horns and bones 
are worked into spoons, 
knife-handles, and other 
small articles, and even the 
hoofs are used to make jelly 
and glue. Though so useful, 
the reindeer sometimes gets 
furious; then the owner must 
look out, and if he is on a 
journey he hides under the 
overturned sledge until the 
animal gets over its “tan¬ 
trums.” There are some 
unpleasant things about the 
Lapps, but they have two 
good qualities — hospitality 
and a great love of peace. 
Mr. Krohn states that the 
stranger is welcomed to the poorest Laplander’s hut; 
the common salutation being “Is peace in the land?” 
and is given the warmest place and the softest skins; he 
adds; “ peace is his motto, his first question is for peace, 
and his good bye is, ‘ may peace be with you.’ ” “ Who 
would be a Laplander?” you will say. Yet they like 
their life, and wish for no other; if taken from home, 
they pine and are miserable until they can get back. 
