. 294 
GENERAL REMARKS 
SECTION XXIII. 
Of the Gods and Goddeffes which the Laplanders adored before the 
Introduction of Chrijiianity . 
A LTHQUGH the doctrines of chriRianity have been pro¬ 
mulgated fince the time of Charlemagne in Norway, the 
Laplanders cannot be faid to be chriftians of an older date than 
about a century. Before their full converjion , .fays Mr. Leems, by 
the miffionaries fent amongR them by the crown of Denmark, 
they were given to practices of the groffeR idolatry; and fo I have 
been credibly informed they are Rill, though they are at pains to 
conceal them from the miffionaries. 
There will be little difficulty in believing this, when it is con- 
fidered how much more ealy and natural it is for a people like 
the Laplanders, with circumfcribed conceptions, and in a Rate of 
perpetual flu&uation from place to place, to believe in corporeal 
and limited deities in preference to one fpiritual and omnipotent. 
That train of thinking which inevitably fuits itfelf to man’s con¬ 
dition, mufl render fuch ignorant people incapable of elevating 
their contemplation to the heavens, much lefs are their feeble ap- 
prehenfions capable of conceiving a pure fpirit and perfect intel¬ 
ligence : and further, when we reflect on the imperious influence 
of 
