One day the _Snowflake_ lay becalmed in one of those long narrow fiords
by which the whole of the west coast of Norway is cut up, and some of
which extend from seventy to a hundred miles inland.
There was no prospect of a breeze, so another boat excursion was talked
of. Hearing this, Hans Ericsson informed his master that there was a
small settlement of Laplanders about thirty miles or so inland, and that
he would be very glad to guide him and his friends to it if they chose.
They jumped at the proposal at once, and in less than half an hour they
were on their way to it. Bob Bowie also went on this expedition.
No carioles could be procured in that wild region, but at a poor
fishing-village on the coast they got two of the country carts. These
are small rough machines, with a seat on wooden springs. They can hold
only two persons, and are light and serviceable, well suited to the
rough roads. Fred and Sam led the way; Grant and the steward followed.
Hans acted the part of shooscarle to the former, and the owner of the
carts drove the latter.
The first start was up the side of a hill at least two thousand feet,
and the road was so steep that it was all that the ponies could do to
drag up the empty carts. Having gained the top of the first hill, they
came upon a level plateau, resembling the bleak Scottish moorlands,
which terminated in a range of wild snow-capped mountains. After
resting the ponies a few minutes, they set off at a brisk trot, and were
soon across the level ground. Ascending to another plateau, they
crossed it, and finally reached the higher mountain-range of the
interior. Here they crossed several patches of snow which the summer
heat had not yet been able to melt away.
As soon as they were fairly amongst the mountains, the roads became
horrible, and it was a matter of wonder that the springs of the carts
were not broken. Toiling up hills, and dashing down on the other
side,--crashing over fallen rocks, and shaving the edge of yawning gulfs
and precipices,--thus they advanced till evening, through a country
which was the picture of barrenness and desolation.
Rocks were the chief feature of the scenery. They had got to such a
height above the level of the sea that there were no pines, only a few
stunted birch-trees. There was little soil, but that little was well
clothed with vegetation. Rocky mountains, rocky masses, and rocky glens
everywhere; but as they went farther inland the scenery improved a
little.
Soon they found that instead of travelling inland they had been only
crossing one of these broad necks of high land which separate the fords
of Norway from each other, and ere long they came in sight of the sea,
with precipitous mountains dipping into it.
Here, on a green slope facing the fiord, were seen the conical tents of
the strange people whom they had travelled so far to visit.
The inhabitants of Lapland are a distinct race from their southern
neighbours the Norwegians, in size, intelligence, civilisation, and
manner of life. They are as near as may be _savages_ in appearance, and
in some of their habits, insomuch that on first visiting them a stranger
might be apt to set them down as _real_ savages. Yet they are many
degrees higher than the savage, such as the Red Indian of North America.
The Lapp is as dirty as the Indian, and dwells in as poor a hut, and
lives in as simple a style; but he is rich in _property_--his property
being herds of reindeer, while the Indian depends entirely on the chase
for wealth and subsistence. Then again, although the Lapp has nothing
worthy of the name of a house, he is an educated man, to a small extent.
He can read, and, above all, he possesses the Word of God in a language
which he understands.
In bodily size, however, the Red Indian beats him; for as a race the
Lapps are particularly small, though they are well proportioned and
active.
They are seldom visited by strangers; and it is not improbable that when
the two carts dashed into their village our friends were the first
Englishmen they had ever seen.
It happened to rain heavily during the last part of the journey to the
Lapp village. To the surprise and amusement of the travellers, Bob
Bowie drew forth from his cart a huge red cotton umbrella which he had
purchased at Bergen, and which, seeing the sky cloudy, he had brought
with him in the hope that he might have occasion to use (that is, to
display) it.
The rain, however, did not depress the spirits of the party a whit.
Nothing in the shape of water could damp their enthusiasm.
If any one wants to see a poor, ragged, diminutive, wizened, yet jolly
race of human beings,--a race of beings who wear hairy garments, sup
reindeer's milk with wooden spoons, and dwell in big bee-hives,--he has
only got to go to Lapland and see the Lapps.
Quitting the carts at the outskirts of the village, the travellers
advanced into the centre of it just as the natives were driving a herd
of reindeer into an enclosure to be milked.
There could not have been fewer than three hundred reindeer-stags, does,
and numerous fawns; and these, they afterwards learned, constituted the
entire wealth of three families of Lapps.
As Fred and his friends strode into the enclosure, and came upon these
good people rather suddenly, their amazement was unspeakable at finding
they had bagged a party of giants along with their deer. Even scraggy
Sam Sorrel looked quite big compared with them.
After the first gaze and shout of surprise, they crowded round the
strangers, and they all--men, women, and children--began to eye and paw
them over, and to examine their costumes with deep interest. The
diminutive size of the Lapps became very apparent as they were thus
engaged. None of the men were much, if at all, above five feet, several
were considerably under that height, and the women were short in
proportion.
If the bosoms of these Lapps were small, their hearts must certainly
have been very large, for they received their visitors with great warmth
and delight. Altogether they were a jovial and hearty, though
uncommonly ill-dressed race of mortals.
The men were clothed partly in deer-skin, partly in coarse cloth, and
these garments were reduced by long service to a uniform dirty-brown
colour. They showed signs of being slept in by night as well as worn by
day.
There was a schoolmaster amongst them. Only fancy, a Lapp schoolmaster,
four feet nine or ten inches high! Sam Sorrel took a sketch of this
gentleman on the spot, with his wife and child. What the schoolmaster
taught, or whom he taught, or when or where he taught, are questions to
which Fred could obtain no answer. To look at him, one would have
imagined that eating, sleeping, and herding reindeer were the only
lessons that he was able to teach. Yet it was found on inquiry that
some of them could read Norse; and Sam actually discovered an old man in
one of the huts poring over a New Testament in that language. There
seemed something strangely incongruous in all this. They were dirty and
uncouth; they had no houses, no tables or chairs, no civilised habits of
any kind; yet they could read, and they had a schoolmaster! A very
dirty one, to be sure, and not very deeply learned, I dare say; still a
dominie, without doubt. On the strength of their acquirements, Fred
presented the tribe with a Norse New Testament.
Besides being four feet ten, the schoolmaster was comical and quizzical.
He was evidently the wit of his tribe. His face was yellow and dirty;
his nose was short and red, in addition to which it was turned up at the
point; his eyes were small, and sloped downwards at the inner corners
towards the nose, like those of the Chinese. His dirty leathern tunic
was belted so low down, and his little legs were so short, that there
was considerably more of him above the belt than below it. On his head
he wore a cap, somewhat like that of a jockey in shape, and his lower
limbs were encased in tight but ill-fitting leggings. Altogether, this
man was the most disreputable-looking schoolmaster that was ever seen
either at home or abroad.
While both parties were making acquaintance with each other, the rain
fell more heavily.
"You'd better put up your umbrella, Bob Bowie," said Fred.
Bob, who had forgotten the umbrella, in consequence of being so much
taken up with the Lapps, at once put it up. Being extremely proud of
this curiosity, he was glad of the opportunity to display it. A shout
of surprise and delight greeted its appearance. It was clear that the
Lapps had never seen one before. The schoolmaster at once seized it out
of Bob's hand, and strutted about with it over his head, to the
inexpressible joy of the children, who ran after him and crowded round
him. Undoubtedly he must have been a kind schoolmaster. For some time
the earnest attention of old and young was entirely given to this
umbrella, while they tried to find out how many could get under it at
once.
The costume of the women was as rude as that of the men. The
schoolmaster's wife wore a sort of cloth helmet, and a rough yellow
cloth gown, which was not by any means too long. Her little girl wore a
tight-fitting skull-cap, and another youngster had on a thing much too
large for it--like a huge extinguisher, which seemed to be its father's
nightcap.
They were extremely ugly, all of them, but very happy-looking and
good-natured.
Of course Fred had taken a few trinkets with him, such as beads,
thimbles, scissors, sugar-plums, knives, etcetera; and as every one in
the village received something, the whole place resounded with
exclamations of joy.
Despite the rain, Sam Sorrel pulled out his sketch-book and began to
take portraits. Here was another source of wonder to the Lapps. For
some time they knew not what to make of it, but crowded round Sam with
looks of inquisitive surprise, and, getting on tip-toe, peeped at his
book. When one or two lines had been drawn, exclamations of interest
were uttered by one and other; and when in a few minutes, the small
youth with his father's extinguisher on his head became clearly defined
on the paper, there was a regular burst of laughter.
Sam instantly received a far greater number of "orders" than he could
execute. The stout little woman in the cloth helmet placed herself in
an attitude which was no doubt meant to be irresistibly attractive.
Several of the youngsters plucked the artist by the sleeve, and thrust
forward their pert little faces, as if to say, "Do me!" or "Here's a
chance for you!" and the schoolmaster, promptly clearing a space in
front of Sam, placed himself in an attitude, and by his commanding look
ordered him to begin at once. He did begin, on the spot and finished
the portrait in five minutes--rather a long sitting, considering the
state of the weather, and the impatience of the schoolmaster to see
himself on canvas!
While this was going on in one quarter, Bob Bowie had attracted round
him a circle of warm admirers, whose souls he captivated by showing and
explaining to them the interior of his watch. As the lecture was
delivered in English, it is not to be supposed that the audience
profited much by means of their ears, but their eyes did double duty
that day; at least one might reasonably suppose so, from the immense
size to which they were constantly expanded!
They evidently did not know whether to regard the watch as a mechanical
contrivance or a living creature. In the study of this mysterious thing
they were somewhat distracted by the presence of their first love the
umbrella, which the lecturer had erected over his head in order to
shield his timepiece from the rain. Fred and Grant went about
everywhere, looking at everything, and talking, as they best could, to
everybody.
Meanwhile the three hundred deer, in the midst of which they had been
standing all this time, kept moving about the enclosure, emitting a
peculiar grunting sound, and making a strange clicking noise with their
ankle-joints. This is a well-known peculiarity of the reindeer. Every
time they lift or set down their feet, the ankle-joints crack as do the
knuckles of a man when he pulls his fingers. As these deer were
constantly getting up and lying down, the twittering rattle of their
ankle-joints was unceasing.
Presently the schoolmaster's wife took a small wooden cup, milked one of
the does, and handed the proceeds to Fred. He was surprised to find the
milk as thick and as pleasant to the taste as the richest cream; and he
was still more surprised to be told that all that could be got from a
doe at any one time was about half a tea-cupful.
The deer varied in colour from dark brown to almost white. The stags
stood about three feet eight inches high at the shoulder, and the
antlers were about three feet long, following the curve.
Quitting the enclosure, the party next visited several of the huts,--
which were made of moss, turf, sticks, etcetera, put together in such a
confused way, that it was difficult to make out how they had been
formed. A hole in the side was the only door to each hut, and a hole in
the top was the window and chimney. In one of these they found an
extremely old woman seated on a pile of dirty deerskins. Sam Sorrel
said he was convinced she was the schoolmaster's great-grandmother. She
looked like a living mummy, so small and wrinkled and brown and dried up
was the poor old body. Yet she was lively enough to show signs of
pleasure when Fred patted her back gently and presented her with a pair
of scissors and a pair of worsted gloves.
It was a late hour before the curiosity of our friends was satisfied;
the sun was dipping low on the horizon when at last they bade adieu to
the Lapps, and harnessing their ponies, set out on the return journey.
The way was long, and their eyes were heavy. They tried by means of
conversation and song to keep themselves awake, but were unsuccessful.
Despite their utmost efforts their heads _would_ nod, and brief little
dreams kept perpetually reminding them of Laplanders, dirty little
schoolmasters, and reindeer.
Now, while Fred was nodding in his cart, and trying to keep awake that
night, he little thought that he was so nearly attaining the great
object for which he had come to Norway. Yet so it was. They came, in
course of time, to the summit of a ridge from which could be had a
splendid view of the fiord, and the sea with its thousands of islands
beyond, and the _Snowflake_ floating like a white speck on the blue
water far below. Here Hans pulled up and touched Fred on the shoulder.
"Well, Hans, anything wrong?" said Fred starting and looking round.
"Sun not set here," replied Hans with a grin.
"What!" cried Fred, jumping out of the cart, rubbing his eyes, and
staring at the great luminary which was dipping close to the sea.
"Impossible! we are not yet far enough north. You must be mistaken,
Hans."
To this Hans replied that he was _not_ mistaken. That he had been on
that same spot at the same time of the year long ago, and had noticed
that the sun had not descended below the horizon. Pointing to the sharp
top of a hill that rose some six or eight hundred feet close beside
them, he said that from that point the sun would be seen complete, while
from the place where they then stood the lower part of it would be hid
below the horizon.
"Hallo! Grant Sam, d'ye hear that?" shouted Fred with enthusiasm.
"We've no time to lose, quick, follow!"
Away Fred Temple went up the mountain-side like a deer, followed by Sam
and Grant, who having been more than half-asleep when aroused by their
comrade's shout, scarce knew what they were about. Even Bob Bowie's
spirit was stirred, and he went stumbling after his friends rubbing his
eyes and yawning as he went.
The highest peak was soon reached. Here they sat down to watch. The
sun was close upon the horizon now, and Fred's heart beat fast with
anxiety lest it should descend below it.
"There's but a narrow line of sky between the sea and the lower edge of
the sun now," said Fred. "It looks no more than an inch broad, and it
is narrowing, I think."
"No, it is growing broader," said Grant.
"No, narrower," whispered Sam.
"Broader it is!" said Fred eagerly.
For a few seconds they remained uncertain and silent, gazing earnestly
at the sun. At last there could be no doubt of it. The line of sky was
evidently broader: _the sun had begun to rise without having set_.
"Huzzah," shouted Fred Temple, springing up, tossing his cap into the
air, and cheering as enthusiastically as if he had just discovered a new
gold-field! Infected with the same spirit, the others joined him, and
then they expended their energies in building a _cairn_ of stones on the
hill-top to commemorate the event!
"Hans, thou son of Eric," said Fred, grasping the hand of his pilot and
guide when this was finished. "I like thee, man; thou hast done me good
service this day. But for you I should have missed this chance, so I
consider myself thy debtor, lad; mark me well, I will discharge this
debt when we return to the south. So now, let us be gone."
How Fred discharged this debt remains to be seen. Meanwhile the party
descended the hill, and returned once more to their floating home.