190 
MATERNAL LOVE. 
know no other food; yet they yield their 
owners a delicious milk, a succulent flesh, 
and warm furs; affording the poor Laplan¬ 
der all the benefits we derive from the cow, 
the horse, and the sheep. On the appear¬ 
ance of the aurora borealis, which cheers 
their long nights, the Laplanders assemble 
around poles, and celebrate, to the beating 
of the tambour, the virtues, or warlike deeds 
of their forefathers; whilst their wives are 
seated near them, cherishing, in moss cra¬ 
dles, their little infants, enveloped in er¬ 
mine. 
Beneficent nature, in those dreary climes, 
surrounds every thing with mosses, to pre¬ 
serve her children from the biting frosts, 
and to nourish them upon her maternal 
bosom. 
