








































190 MATERNAL LOVE- 
The Laplanders, we are told, protect them- 
selves from the rigours of winter by covering 
their subterraneous dwellings with moss; their 
numerous herds of rein deer know no other 
food; yet they yield their owners a delicious 
milk, a succulent flesh, and warm furs; afford- 
ing the poor Laplander all the benefits we derive 
from the cow, the horse, and the sheep. On 
the appearance of the aurora borealis, which 
cheers their long nights, the Laplanders as- 
semble around poles, and celebrate, to the 
beating of the tambour, the virtues, or war- 
like deeds of their forefathers; whilst their 
wives are seated near them, cherishing, in 
moss cradles, their little infants, enveloped in 
ermine, 
Beneficent nature, in those dreary climes, 
surrounds every thing with mosses, to preserve 
her children from the biting frosts, and to 
nourish them upon her maternal bosom. 

