Carl von Linné

“ 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. ”

“ I never met with any people who lead [Pg 27] such easy happy lives as the Laplanders. In summer they make two meals of milk in the course of the day, and when they have gone through their allotted task of milking their reindeer, or making cheese, they resign themselves to indolent tranquillity, not knowing what to do next. In winter their food is cheese, taken once or twice a day, but in the evening they eat meat. A single reindeer supplies four persons with food for a week. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Hunting the Bear is often undertaken by a single man, who, having discovered the retreat of the animal, takes his dog along with him and advances towards the spot. The jaws of the dog are tied round with a cord, to prevent his barking, and the man holds the other end of this cord in his hand. As soon as the dog smells the bear, he begins to show signs of uneasiness, and by dragging at the cord informs his master that the object of his pursuit is at no great distance. ”

“ When he has gradually advanced to within gunshot of the bear, he fires upon him; and this is the more easily accomplished in autumn, as the bear is then more fearless, and is continually prowling about for berries of different kinds, on which he feeds at that season of the year. Should the man chance to miss his aim, the furious beast will directly turn upon him in a rage, and the little Laplander is obliged to take to his heels with all possible speed, leaving his knapsack behind him on the spot. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Here I think it worth while to observe, that the alpine Laplanders are more honest, as well as more good-natured, than those who dwell in the woodlands. Having acquired more polish from their occasional intercourse with the inhabitants of towns, the latter have, at the same time, learned more cunning and deceit, and are frequently very knavish. The inhabitants of the alps dwell in villages formed of their tents, living together, as I have already related, in great comfort and harmony. Those who occupy the woody parts of the country live dispersed. ”

“ 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. ”

“ When the frost is so intense as to form an impenetrable crust on the surface of the [Pg 38] snow, so that the animal cannot break it with his feet, to get at the Lichen on which he feeds, he is frequently starved to death. This misfortune is as dreadful to the Laplanders as any public or national calamity elsewhere; for, when his reindeer are killed, he must himself either starve to death, beg for his livelihood, or turn thief. ”

“ 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. ”

“ How unaccountably negligent are the Laplanders, [Pg 108] not to collect in the course of summer a stack of this plant and of the Reindeer-moss (Lichen rangiferinus) for winter fodder! They would then have some provision for the herd, when the country is covered with an impenetrable crust of frozen snow, and not hazard the loss of all they are worth in the world.
The inhabitants of Westbothnia, to defend themselves against the bites of gnats, besmear their skin with a mixture of tar and fish-grease, or some other kind of fat. They keep this composition in a horn which hangs at their side. ”

“ We Swedes are accustomed to have all our clothing made very tight. Not only the neckcloth, but the coat, waistcoat, breeches, stockings, sleeves, &c., must all stick close to the body, and the tighter they are the more fashionable. The Laplanders, on the contrary, wear only two, and those slight, bandages about them, which moreover are broad, and therefore less injurious than a narrow bandage in any part. ”

“ The Laplanders' gloves are made of skin taken from the legs of the animal; their hairy shoes, of that from its forehead between the horns, such being worth two dollars, copper money; while those made from the skin of the legs, being much thinner, are of very little or no value.
A Laplander never goes barefoot, though he has nothing to serve him for stockings but hay (Carex sylvatica, Fl. Brit.) . Sometimes he buys leather for shoes or boots from his neighbours.
The people of this country boil their meat in water only, without any addition or seasoning, and drink the broth. ”

“ Each is often lined or covered, about the central part, with a piece of hairy reindeer skin, to prevent the foot slipping about upon the shoe, and give a firmer step in walking over the snow. This is most practised in Kimi-Lapmark, where the wild reindeer are most abundant.
The Lapland thread is made out of the tendons of reindeer fawns half a year old. Such thread is covered with tin foil for embroidery, its pliability rendering it peculiarly fit for the purpose. The tendons are dried in the sun, being hung over a stick. They are never boiled. ”

“ The fish, after being repeatedly squeezed, is laid between two slices of bread, and so eaten. After it they take some sour preparation of milk, without cream. Sometimes indeed they eat a bit of cheese, or bread and butter; but they never eat meat after the sour Strœmming. Their vegetable food consists of cabbage, pease, or turnips, the first being generally eaten on Sundays. Pease are eaten once a week, except when the cabbage is deficient, and then they supply its place. ”

“ When the insects lodge on their backs and form pustules there, the people make a practice of squeezing them out, to prevent the reindeer from being too much irritated by them. (This species is the Oestrus nasalis, though the account here given is not very clear; but in the first edition only of the Fauna Suecica Linnæus says, on the authority of a gentleman named Friedenreich, that "this Oestrus lodges its eggs in the frontal sinus of the reindeer in Lapland, and is frequently cast out by them as they travel along in the spring.") ”

“ A leather thong crosses the saddle, connected with another longer one, which goes round the chest of the animal at one part, and round its thighs, like the breechings of a horse, at the other. A pack-saddle, made either of reindeer skin, or of walmal cloth, with a bow of spruce fir, goes across the back, and is connected with the leather thongs just mentioned, being further secured by a girth under the belly. ”