£34 LAP 
of thirty or forty rein-deer and fledges tied to one another, 
the foremoft being led by a Laplander on foot. When 
they have chofen a fpot for the encampment, they form a 
large circle of their rein-deer and fledges ready yoked ; 
and the animals, lying down quietly on the fnow, are fed 
with mofs by their matters. The people kindle great fires, 
around which, men, women, and children, fit, andiup on 
dried fifh ; but the more voluptuous fpread out bear-lkins 
under their tents, where they lie at their eafe and fmoke 
tobacco. 
The revenue arifing from this country is of no great 
confequence; it is.paid partly in rix-dollars, but chiefly in 
furs; nay, fome, that can procure neither, pay the tribute 
in dried pikes. The produce of the mines forms likewife 
a confiderable article. Fifty fquirrel-fkins, or one fox- 
fkin, with a pair of Lapland flioes, are valued at one rix- 
dollar. Part of the taxes is allotted for the maintenance 
of the Lapland clergy. The frightful afpeft of this coun¬ 
try has been deemed a more eft'eftual defence than artifi¬ 
cial bulwarks and garrifons, of which here are none; or 
than the arms and courage of the natives, who are neither 
warlike in themfelves, nor in the leaft tindtured with 
difcipline. 
The Laplanders call themfelves Salme-Same , and Samen- 
Almatjeh. Their country they denominate Samc-Landa, or 
Samt-aednam ; the Swedes ftyle it Lapland, or. Lappmarken , 
and the inhabitants Lappar. The natives of thofe diftrifts 
under the dominion of Sweden and Denmark are Luthe¬ 
rans ; while many of thofe who are fubjedt to Ruflia 
are ftill Pagans. Swedifli Lapland contains about eight 
churches, which in fome parts lie at fa great a diftance 
from each other, that a native is frequently obliged to 
travel three days in order to attend divine fervice. The 
Laplanders, before their converfion to Chriftianity, which 
was not till lately introduced amongft them, pofiefled no 
books or manufcripts, though they knew many traditional 
hiftories and fongsof ancient heroes and princes who once 
reigned over them; but involved in great uncertainty, 
and mixed with the mod fabulous accounts. They have 
now' a tranflation of the New Teftament in their lan¬ 
guage ; and many of the natives are able to read and 
write. Accrbis Travels. Confett's Tour. Linnaus's Lackejis 
Lapponica. 
There has been publilhed lately at Stockholm, in Swe- ■ 
di(h, a very interelting “ Account of a Journey,” under¬ 
taken in 1807, by M. Valenberg, under the aufpices of 
the Academy of Sciences of Sweden, “ for the purpofe of 
determining the Height of the Mountains of Lapland, and 
obferving their Temperature.” The mountains vifited by 
M. Valenburg make a part of the great chain which runs 
through Sweden and Norway, and ftretches in fome of its 
branches even to Finland and Ruflia. They are fituated 
between 67 and 63 degrees north latitude, and belong to 
the polar regions. On feveral points their bafes are waflied 
by the fea, and from their fummits the immenfe plain of 
the Northern Ocean is difcoverabie. Thefe mountains 
had been only hitherto viewed in all their majeftic gran¬ 
deur by the Lapland nomade, following his flocks of deer 
and his game. A few travellers had contemplated them 
at a diftance; and M. de Brack, a learned German, dur¬ 
ing his travels in Norway, approached within a fliort fpace 
of them; but no perfon had ever yet penetrated into this 
afylum of nature, and attempted to ftruggle with the dif¬ 
ficulties of afcending thefe fummits eternally covered with 
fnow and ice. 
The undertaking was difficult in many refpects. The 
afcents were moltly exceftively fteep, and in climbing 
them the traveller was by turns fufpended over deep ex¬ 
cavations, lakes, torrents, bottomlefs marfhes, and gulfs. 
He had no intelligent guide; there was no habitation on 
his route, and no aftiftance to be expected. He frequently 
was obliged to make circuits of many leagues to reach a 
fummit; and he crofted not only fnow and ice full of cre¬ 
vices, but alfo marfhes, where he ran a continual rifle of 
being buried in the mud and ftagnant water. He palled 
L A F 
the nights on naked rocks, without a tent or the fmallefij 
fhelter; and he was frequently reduced to quench his de¬ 
vouring thirft by fwallowing fnow, which occafioned in¬ 
flammations and painful fuppurations in the mouth. 
M. de Valenberg’s meafurements give the Lapland moun¬ 
tains an elevation of from 5 to 6000 feet above the level 
of the fea. Although this elevation is lefs than that of 
the mountains of Swifleriand and the Pyrenees, all the 
phenomena of the alpine regions, and particularly glaciers, 
are obfervable. At fuch a proximity to the polar circle, 
the region of eternal fnow commences at nearly 4000 feet 
above the ocean, while in the Alps it begins at from 7 to 
8000, and in the Pyrenees at 8000 feet. On the 14th July, 
M. de Valenberg afeended the moft confiderable glacier, 
called Sulitelma, a Lapland word, which fignifies Solemn 
Mountain, becaufe formerly the Laplanders adored on 
one of its fummits their principal idol. This mountains, 
which is the Mont Blanc of the north, is compofed of a 
fucceflion of fummits, of which the bafe has an extent of 
feveral leagues. Its greateft elevation is 5700 feet above 
the fea. To reach this elevation our traveller was obliged 
to make his way over enormous crevices, where recently 
before fome hunters had been engulfed with their deer 
and their dogs. Seas of ice have defeended into the val¬ 
leys feven hundred feet below the line of fnow. A border 
of earth furrounds the ice, confifting of llime and ftones. 
The ice of Sulitelma‘is very clear and almoft tranfparent y 
it is as hard as ftone, but not fo heavy as the ice of the 
fea. The fnow is fometimes a hundred feet in depth, 
and fo hard that the footftep leaves no mark on it: that 
which is detached from the fummits, or crevices, roll to 
immenfe diftances. Fortunately thefe avalanches in their 
defeent aft only on inanimate nature; whatever direction 
they take, they feldom encounter living beings, or the 
abodes" of men. All is defert in thefe regions for vaft 
extents, where induftry has gained no conqueft over the 
folitary domain of the primitive creation. In proportion 
as the line of fnow is approached, the produftive force of 
nature diminiflies ; and men, brute animals, and plants, 
yield to the rigour of the cold. At 2600 feet below the 
line, the pines difappear, as well as the cattle and habita¬ 
tions. At 2000 feet, the only tree is the birch ; and its 
degraded form and indigent verdure atteft the inclemency 
of the climate; at the lame time the greateft number of 
wild animals difappear, and the lakes contain no fifh. 
At 800 feet below the fame line of fnow, the Laplander’s 
progrefs is flopped for want of mols to his rein-deer. The 
Lachefis Lapponica tells us, that in fome parts of thefe 
inhofpitable mountains, the fnow was frozen to the depth 
of a fathom on the 9th of July. Above the line every 
thing prefents the picture of agony and death. The 
moft robuft lichens are only to be found at 1000 and 2000 
feet in the crevices of perpendicular rocks ; and the bird 
named Emberiza nivalis, or fnow-bunting, is the only liv¬ 
ing creature to be feen. The heat does not rife to one 
degree of Reaumur in the region which is 5000 feet above 
the fea. 
LAP'LAND, adj. Belonging to Lapland, produced in 
Lapland. 
LAP'LAN'DER,yi A native of Lapland. 
LAP'LANDISH, adj. Belonging to Lapland. 
LAPLIS'IA, or Laply'sia, /. in helminthology, the 
Sea Hare ; a genus of vermes mollufca , or gelatinous 
worms. Generic characters—Body creeping, covered with 
reflected membranes, with a membranaceous fliield on the 
back covering of the lungs : aperture on the right fide; 
vent above the extremity of the back: feelers four, re- 
fembling ears. 
Species. 1. Laplifia depilans, the excoriating worms 
body pale lead-colour, immaculate. This animal is an 
apparently niis-fhapen mafs enveloped in a loofe fkin, 
which folds over and nearly meets on the back : the fliield 
is nearly in the middle of the back, and circular; the 
two fore-feelers thick and placed forwards, the hind-ones 
at a little diftance backwards, and refembling ears; and 
j behind 
