THROUGH LAPLAND. 
Iff 
To the enlightened philofopher Lapland prefents throughout, 
fubjeds of refledion and contemplation*—no arts flourifn here 
—you no where meet with temples, houfes, wrecks of columns, 
or of other monuments. The antiquary walks forth amidft the 
ruins of edifices, that he may learn the hiflory, and admire the 
actions of former times. In Lapland, the philofopher has an 
opportunity of fludying among wandering tribes the firfl elements 
of focial life ; of fociety in its moil ancient and primitive form— 
he comes not here for the purpofe of admiring human produc¬ 
tions, but for that of contemplating nature, the order and har¬ 
mony which prevail in the creation, the fixed and unchangeable 
order of things, and the wifdom of Providence that is every where 
confpicuous ; he comes for the purpofe of enlarging in thofe de- 
ferts the bounds of his knowledge, of animating his piety, and pre¬ 
paring the way for improving his future happinefs. What a 
journey is that to Lapland, to a traveller from the South ! What 
* It is an important queftion in natural philofophy, how far the opinion of 
Mairan, BufFon, Bail lie, and others, concerning what they term central heat , is 
founded on fads. It is afked, was there ever a priod fince the formation of the 
earth, when the regions of the North were warmer than they are at prefent ? Can 
we fuppofe that there has been a change of climates, and that in the eourfe of 
ages aneffential difference has taken, place in the temperature of the atmofphere ? 
Thefe queries would naturally prefent themfelves to a perfon travelling in Lap- 
land ; but I am forry to acknowledge, that I have met with nothing that might 
tend to anfwer them. So far I can fay, that during the fhort fpace of time I was 
in Lapland, I did not difcover any thing that could be confidered as confirming 
fo fublime a theory. I faw no hot fprings, nor fimilar vefiiges of a warmer tem¬ 
perature ; nor did I perceive any traces of a greater population, nor any indica¬ 
tions of very remote inhabitants, by remains of art, and fragments of antiquity. 
S 2 Other 
