LAPLAND
Psychologists tell us that man is naturally of a jealous and envious
temperament, and that in spite of centuries of civilisation the
cave man or woman propensity that is manifested whenever a _crime
passionnel_ takes place is to be found in practically every race and
at every period of history. This popular conception is, however, only a
half-truth, for while jealousy may be said to be found generally among
mankind, there is one race in which it is never met with, and probably
several others (ethnologically related to it) who rarely manifest
any sign of it. Scattered over Russia, Finland, Sweden and Norway,
north of the sixth degree of latitude, and therefore well within the
Arctic circle, are a nomadic people belonging to the Mongolian race,
the Laplanders, who, like the Red Indians of North America, have been
in close contact with civilisation for centuries, without being
more than superficially affected by it. Indeed, the Lapps are among
the most primitive nations in the world, and, living their lives
in the uncultured ways of their remote ancestors, have remained so
fundamentally averse to the ways of civilisation that untimely death
has almost invariably been the portion of any member of their race who
has made essay of them. A less discontented nation does not, however,
exist than the Laplanders, and, unperturbed by the vicissitudes of
life, good fortune, or weather, they appear to lead serenely happy
and contented lives, which prove how little happiness has to do with
material comfort or wealth.
The popular conception of Lapland is that of a vast desolate waste
in the extreme north, perpetually snow-bound, and of the Lapps as a
kind of Eskimo whose lot is as hard and cold as the bleak mountains
where they tend their herds of reindeer. But this is hardly the case.
Lapland is doubtless one of the parts of the world where the winter is
the longest and the most trying. The temperature during the greater
part of the year usually averages thirty or more degrees of frost,
and for over three months the fleeting gleams of the aurora borealis
and the light of the moon and the stars are the only substitute for
sunlight; yet the Lapps are not without a summer, and for a period of
six weeks the sun never sets, while emerald green meadows and leafy
woodlands, radiant lakes and wild flowers that are as profuse as they
are short-lived, bring a little pleasure and respite to a race whose
existence would otherwise be terribly grey and barren.
A visit to these timid and peace-loving people is a comparatively easy
matter in this season of the year, as during this time they momentarily
abandon their nomadic life and erect their huts on the slopes of the
mountains or the shores of lakes. Here they can be observed living in
conditions that are almost identical to those under which they were
existing in the beginning of civilisation.
Short but sturdily built, the Lapps, like all Mongolian races, have
high cheek-bones, oblique eyes, black hair, and dark complexions. When
they arrived in Europe is uncertain; probably before the dawn of modern
history. Their life, which is spent in contact with Nature, gives them
great endurance and hardihood, but they are not hard workers, and once
they have made provision for the day or the morrow, they spend most of
their time sitting in their huts smoking plug tobacco. Before their
conversion to Christianity they were believed to be wizards and to hold
dealings with the devil, to whom, and other gods, they were wont to
sacrifice reindeer.
The welfare of the Laplanders is inseparably bound up with that of
their flocks, and any dwindling in the number of these cattle is
invariably attended by a corresponding decrease in their own numbers.
In the last two decades many Lapps have died owing to the loss of their
reindeer, which have perished in thousands for want of a suitable
pasturage. As the last few years have, however, been less arduous, the
number of reindeer has shown an appreciable increase, and consequently
the threatened extinction of the Lapp race, which a few years ago
appeared to be only a question of a few years, has momentarily been
arrested, the total number of Lapps inhabiting Sweden being 10 per cent
greater than what it was five years ago (the Lapps have increased from
6200 to about 7000), this increase in population being occasioned by a
corresponding increase of 30 per cent among the reindeer. (There are
over 300,000 reindeer at present in Lapland.)
For the subsistence of a Lapp family a large herd of deer is, however,
required, and many Laplanders own from 500 to 1000 or more of these
cattle. The meat and milk constitute their principal food, while the
hide is tanned for skin and clothes, and many of the smaller household
requisites are fashioned out of the bones and antlers.
Last year over 60,000 reindeer were sold in North Lapland, with prices
varying from 45 to 60 crowns, mostly to Southern Sweden, Germany,
and Hungary, where their meat is highly appreciated. In exchange for
these animals and their products the Lapps purchase such necessities
as salt, cloth, coffee, tobacco, and flour, their requirements being
extraordinarily simple. Their meals consist principally of reindeer
meat, which they eat sometimes uncooked, but more usually stewed,
fried, or smoked, coffee which they sprinkle with salt, unfermented
bread or cake, and brandy, to which some are often immoderately
addicted.
No race lives as strenuous or hard an existence for the greater part
of the year as this unfortunate people, over which hangs interminably
the tragic suggestion of the inevitableness of the grind of life.
And except for certain months when they have abundant leisure for
making their articles of reindeer horn and clothing, or for taking
a well-earned rest basking in the July sunshine, they are almost
continually on the move, breaking up camp almost daily in order to find
a suitable grazing ground for their reindeer and the moss without which
they could not possibly live through the winter. Throughout this period
and the spring and autumn months they are exposed almost unceasingly
to the most rigorous of climates and to a cold that is almost lethal,
their patience and good humour being as exemplary as their fortitude.
Like most nomads, they are treated as a privileged race by the Swedish
Government, which fully realises the value of their wholly distinctive
industry in the utilisation of enormous territories that are absolutely
unsuitable for any other purpose. They consequently pay no taxes or
rent, are excused military service and political or civil obligations,
and are allowed to roam or to camp at will within the very extensive
areas that have been allotted to them, while the most ample protection
is afforded to their lives and their industry. They have, however,
often proved a bone of contention among the several northern nations
in which they are to be found, and regulations have often had to be
formulated governing the inter-State migrations of their flocks,
the latter resolutely refusing to confine their wanderings to any
particular country, while their owners on their side have proved
equally powerless to prevent their incursions in foreign territory. But
I must also mention the attempts which have been made to provide the
Laplanders with a groundwork of education, and the Swedish State has
appointed teachers, frequently of Lapp birth, who, moving about among
the nomads and residing with them at their various winter and summer
encampments, have diligently sought to render them more amenable to
modern ways.
[Illustration: LULEA, LAPLAND The export harbour for iron ore.]
For over six years, in fact, every Lapp child is now compelled to
receive instruction in Lapp and Swedish, and is taught the scientific
raising and management of reindeer and the rudiments of natural
history, nature study, and hygiene. The Lapps make good and exemplary
pupils, and frequently reach a higher level of education than Swedish
children of the same age; but on reaching the age of thirteen their
mental development suddenly ceases, and they become incapable of
progressing any further. Their thirst for acquiring knowledge then
rapidly transforms itself into a tendency to revert to the prejudices
and customs of their race and a corresponding inability to
appreciate the benefits of civilisation so complete that no amount
of persuasion ever succeeds in inducing them to modify their natural
aversion to water or to cleanliness. The Lapps, in short, live like
animals, and neither wash nor take off their clothes even at night.
After their evening meal, and with about as much formality as is
displayed by a dog which is weary of eating and sinks into sleep,
they quickly remove their raw-hide moccasins, drop down on the soft
deerskins that are spread on the ground, and are asleep almost in the
very act of falling. As their mode of eating is usually characterised,
moreover, by an equal disdain of refinement and a way of attacking
the meat or bone that is very reminiscent of a savage devouring his
food, it is abundantly clear that the great majority of the Laplanders
have little progressed beyond the first stage of civilisation, and,
consequently, that it is waste of time trying to induce them to
modify their traditional way of living. Highly significant, moreover,
is the fact that the medical authorities of the hospital which has
been built at Kiruna for those Lapps who are unable to find a cure
for their ailments only retain their patients for a period of two
months. They tell me that if a Lapp does not mend in that space of
time it is useless keeping him any longer, as he invariably succumbs
after two to three months’ experience of civilisation, or becomes a
victim to consumption. There is, however, one danger to the race which
the Swedish authorities are determined to stamp out, and that is the
heavy child mortality which is prevalent in all Lapp settlements,
and every effort is being made to induce the Lapp mother to adopt a
less Spartan and antiquated method of dealing with her progeny. The
problem offers almost insurmountable difficulties, however, as the Lapp
mother refuses to countenance modern methods of rearing children, and
consequently only the hardiest infant continues to survive. The only
apparent good, therefore, which has so far resulted from the Lapps’
contact with civilisation has been their conversion to Christianity.
They are now a deeply religious nation, and hold Sunday in such
respect that they absolutely refuse to have any money transaction on
that day, while their standard of morality stands higher than that of
far more civilised communities. They belong to the Laestadian sect,
and their Lutheran aversion to graven images is such that they are
inclined to regard any image wrought by the magic of the camera as
an insult to the Deity. It is only, however, when they worship their
god that they cast off all reserve and display any marked exuberance,
and they should be seen when possible after their services, as they
sing their folk-songs and talk animatedly together. Laestadianism, if
a somewhat repellent and sombre creed, would appear, therefore, to
concord with the prevailing temper of the Laplanders, which probably
accounts for the fact that it has spread throughout the entire race
and is the dominating influence in their lives. Such are the principal
characteristics of the curious people which I have endeavoured to
describe, and of all the races which I have come across none have
proved of more engrossing interest.