Carl von Linné

“ The peasants of this upper part of East Bothnia, children of darkness in their houses, are no less so in their slovenly appearance, chiefly owing to their uncombed hair. Their breeches reach as low as the feet, and are white, and they wear a sort of short cloak, sewed together in front.—Their disposition is quarrelsome. Their habitations are infected with a smell of sour fish, like sour Strœmming, for they are kept very dirty. These people speak no other language than the Finlandish. ”

“ I could not but wonder how so much pride and ambition, such scandalous want of information, with such incorrigible stupidity, could exist in persons of their profession, who are commonly expected to be men of knowledge; yet any school-boy twelve years of age might be better informed. No man will deny the propriety of such people as these, at least, being placed as far as possible from civilized society.
The learned curate began his conversation with remarks on the clouds in this country, setting forth how they strike the mountains as they pass, carrying away stones, trees and cattle. ”

“ At every step the water was above our knees, and the ice was at the bottom. Where the frost was quite gone, we often sunk still deeper. When we had traversed this marsh, we sought in vain for any human creature, and were therefore under the necessity, a little further on, of crossing another bog, still worse than the former, and a mile in extent. ”

“ The Laplanders drink the water in which the fish has been boiled, which I was unable to do,—though I could not but commend the practice, as favourable to digestion.
The reindeer are innumerable, like the forests they inhabit. The herds are driven home, night and morning, to be milked. It was amusing to observe the manner of driving them, performed by a maid-servant with a dog. If the reindeer proved refractory, the dog easily made them obey the word of command, particularly when seconded by the hissing of the woman, at which they were extremely terrified. ”

“ I know not what it is that so deceives the sight in our Alps during the night, as to render objects far less distinct than in the middle of the day, though the sun shines equally bright. The sun being near the horizon, spreads its rays in such a horizontal direction, that a hat can scarcely protect our eyes: besides, the shadows of plants are so infinitely extended, and so confounded with each other, from the tremulous agitation caused by the blustering wind, that objects very different in themselves are scarcely to be distinguished from each other. ”

“ I wondered that the Laplanders hereabouts had not built a score of small houses, lofty enough at least to be entered in an upright posture, as they have such abundance of wood at hand. On my expressing my surprise at this, they answered: "In summer we are in one spot, in winter at another, perhaps twenty miles distant, where we can find moss for our reindeer." ”

“ When the company rise in the morning, if the bridegroom's father and their party have any thing left, they treat the others with it; for the family of the bride have seldom any preparation made, not expecting, or not being supposed to expect, such company, and they never keep any brandy by them, but purchase it for every occasion. Whatever cold meat therefore remains is brought forward, to which the bride's party indeed add cheese, and any other preparation of milk they may have in store, as well as any dried meat ”

“ All along by the road side I remarked the curious manner in which the Fir blossoms. Its branches produce a fresh shoot every year from their extremity; by observing the series of which shoots the age of the tree can be accurately computed. They retain their original leaves, which are needle-shaped, for three years; but when these fall the same branch never acquires any more. The male flowers, each of which is a corymbus of stamens, grow from the side of the present year's shoot, near its base; but the female ones proceed from the extreme point, and are round and red. ”

“ Some persons make a practice of boiling those berries by themselves, preserving them afterwards in small tubs, or other wooden vessels. They boil their fish more thoroughly than their meat, over a slow fire, drinking likewise the water in which it has been drest. The meat is never so much boiled as to separate from the bone. Fresh fish is sometimes roasted over the fire. Few people dry and salt it, though that method is sometimes practised. Meat is dried by the air, sun and smoke all together, being hung up in the chimney, or rather hole by which the smoke escapes through the roof. ”

“ Every kind of fish or meat is cooked by the men; and if the women happen not to be at hand, even the cheese and milk fall under their management.
The alps are destitute of human inhabitants in the winter season, because the Laplanders are then obliged to seek more woody parts of the country, where alone they are able to find a sufficient quantity of moss (Lichen rangiferinus) to feed their reindeer. On the alps there is not only a want of wood, but the snow is covered with too hard a frozen crust to be penetrated so as to come at any thing beneath it. ”

“ It is believed that if any of the ulcerous part, which is cast off, be swallowed by the animal, in licking his own coat, or that of any other of the herd labouring under this malady, it proves fatal by corroding the viscera.
The dugs of the female often become chapped or sore, so as to bleed whenever they are milked.
The male reindeer in his natural state is fatter than such as are castrated, except the latter be kept without work, in which case they become the fattest. Such as are castrated and allowed to run wild, become considerably larger, as well as tamer, in consequence. ”

“ Ovid's description of the silver age is still applicable to the native inhabitants of [Pg 132] Lapland. Their soil is not wounded by the plough, nor is the iron din of arms to be heard; neither have mankind found their way to the bowels of the earth, nor do they engage in wars to define its boundaries. They perpetually change their abode, live in tents, and follow a pastoral life, just like the patriarchs of old. ”

“ When the reindeer are milked, as they cast their coat during the whole course of the summer, the hair flies about very inconveniently, often covering the milk in the pail. Some hair sticks also to the dugs of the animal, and it is found necessary to clean and soften them before the milking is begun. This is generally done by dipping the fingers into the milk which may be in the pail already, and washing them therewith. Whenever it happens that one of the reindeer strays from its master's herd to that of a neighbour, the person to whom it comes milks it, without any offence to the proper owner. ”

“ All the Laplanders are of a small stature. I have never yet met with any of them so tall as myself. A large heavy body cannot move so nimbly as a small one, even though its organs are proportionably stronger and more durable. This is apparent in many similar cases. A little pony from the isle of Oeland, or one of a similar kind from Norway, runs with extreme velocity; for though a great trooper's horse may get before it, the little animal moves its legs with astonishing rapidity, and much quicker than the great horse. ”

“ The wind is excessively powerful in this alpine region, so that sometimes it is impossible to stand against it, both men and sledges being overturned by its violence.
It blew so hard at the place where I now was, that one of the windows of the curate's house was blown in upon the floor.
Every Laplander constantly carries a sort of pole or stick, tipped with a ferule, [Pg 49] and furnished with a transverse bit of wood. Whenever he is tired, he leans his arms and nose against it to rest himself.
Such as live in the forests are dexterous marksmen, but not those who inhabit the alps. ”

“ When he grows a little older, he learns to follow these animals, which are always quick-paced, insomuch that it is more laborious to keep up with them than with a herd of goats, and more difficult to run after them than to frisk about with a parcel of calves. If therefore a rope-dancer, or a running-footman, acquires great agility by perpetual practice, no wonder that a Laplander, who till he is married, and often all his life long, runs habitually after [Pg 328] the reindeer, should rival any of them in swiftness of foot. ”

“ A part of the employment of the men is to make sledges, or other machines of wood for carriage. They cut rough wood in the forests for the boxes which they carry with them into the alps.
The duty of the women is to mend the clothes of the whole family.
Laplanders have several plays or amusements.
Children make of the dwarf birch (Betula nana) something like reindeer's horns, with which they gore one another in sport. They amuse themselves frequently by building little huts of stone.
Grown-up people play very well at tennis, but they seldom partake of that diversion. ”

“ I witnessed with pleasure the supreme tranquillity enjoyed by the inhabitants of this sequestered country. After they have milked their reindeer, and the women have made their cheese, boiled their whey to the requisite consistence, and taken their simple repast, they lie down to enjoy that [Pg 315] sound sleep which is the reward and the proof of their innocent lives. There is rarely any contention among them. The inhabitants of the neighbouring moveable village had pitched their tents close together in lines, either from east to west, or otherwise. ”

“ Even when the feet are boiled, the hair never comes off without the skin. Thus the animal when living is the more firmly protected against the snow. The hoofs are thrown away as useless.
The dung of the reindeer in summer is almost as large as cow-dung, but in winter it more resembles that of the goat.
Each individual reindeer does not bear horns of precisely the same shape every year. ”

“ The Laplanders are altogether carnivorous. They have no vegetable food brought to their tables. They now and then indeed eat a raw stalk of Angelica, as we would eat an apple, and occasionally a few leaves of Sorrel; but this, compared with the bulk of their food, is scarcely more than as one to a million. In spring they eat [Pg 330] fish, in winter nothing but meat, in summer milk and its various preparations. It may further be remarked, that salted food, which these people do not use, renders the body heavy. ”

“ I have never yet seen any animal swim so light as the reindeer. During the dogdays the herds of reindeer, belonging to the inhabitants of the woody parts of Lapland, are very badly off for want of snow, with which those animals refresh themselves in hot weather upon the alps. Hence they constitute a more valuable and thriving pro [Pg 88] perty to the alpine Laplanders than to any others. ”

“ A contrary variety is observable, in Scania and other places, in the ram, which has sometimes four, six or eight horns, that part growing luxuriant to excess, like double flowers.
The forests chiefly consist of the Hoary-leaved Alder. Birch trees here also bear abundance of matted branches. To whatever side I cast my eyes, nothing but lofty mountains were to be seen. Not far from Æssja the little Strawberry-leaved Bramble [Pg 52] (Rubus arcticus) was in full bloom. The cold weather, however, had rendered the purple of its blossoms paler than usual. ”

“ Wahlenberg display a singular acuteness of observation. They are a complete picture, drawn by a masterly hand, not only to the adept in Natural History, but to every one who has the least taste for beholding the face of Nature, under its most striking and unusual aspects. ”