CONCERNING LAPLAND. 
l 57 
the commencement, and during the earlier part of the lalt cen¬ 
tury, the Laplanders were immerfed in the darknefs of paganifm, 
and without the leaft tindure of letters. It was Frederick the 
Fourth, king of Denmark, who afcended the throne in 1619, 
that firft began to introduce the light of the gofpel amongft them. 
For this purpofe he eftablifhed a religious million, which has been 
continued by his fon, Chriftian the Sixth, Frederick the Fifth his 
grandfon, and Chriftian the Seventh, the prefent fovereign, his 
great grandfon. They are now, as Mr. Leems tells us, well in- 
ftru<fted in the Chriftian religion, and have the New Teftament 
in their own tongue. The miflionary mentions with rapture the 
names of fome Laplanders who could repeat by rote the whole 
catechifm, and large portions of the gofpel, with a part of the 
pfalms, both in the Lapland and Danifti tongues ; particularly a 
venerable old man of feventy years of age, who was able to recite 
a great part of the catechifm, though he never knew a letter in 
his life, nor had ever committed any thing to memory before= 
This inftance of the power of memory does not appear at all in¬ 
credible. The Arabs, and other paftoral tribes, who are in the 
habit of amufing their leifure by telling and liftening to tales, 
will remember them though very long, and rchearfe them with 
great fidelity, after one hearing. It is conje< 5 tured by Julius Ciefar, 
that one of the chief reafons why the ancient Druids did not com¬ 
mit their inftrucftions to writing was, that their pupils might im- 
prefs them better on their memories. It was the opinion of So¬ 
crates, as appears from the Phasdo of Plato, that knowledge was 
more 
