_Of the_ Laplanders _Weapons, and other instruments of Hunting_.
By the former Discourse it plainly appears that in hunting they use
severall Instruments and Weapons, in our next therefore it will be
requisite to give some account of them. The first and most frequent
is a bow three ells long, two fingers broad, and an inch thick, being
made of Birch and Pine (which by reason of the resine in it is very
flexible) and covered over with Birch bark, to preserve both from the
weather. What _Lomenius_ saies of its being made of Rain-deers bones,
must needs be false, since no bone can be so pliable as is required in
the making of a bow; his words are these, _Rangiferi asperantur ossa
in cultros & curvantur in arcus congeneribus feris trucidandis_, if he
had left out _& curvantur in arcus_ he had spoke more to the purpose:
but I believe he had this, besides many other things, to fill up his
Journall from _Olaus Magnus_, who among the utensils these People have
from the Rain-deers, saies the Fletchers much desire their bones and
horns, from whence _Lomenius_ collects that bows are made of them. But
it is evident that _Olaus_ meant not this bow, but a kind of cross-bow
termed by the Germans _Armbrust_, and the French _Arbalestre_, which
is impossible to be made of bone, but the handle might be adorned with
it, because in these Northern parts they have no mother of Pearle,
which other Countries perhaps make use of to this purpose. It was
then a good plain wooden long-bow, which would not require an engine
to bend it, but might be drawn with an hand only. And since I told
you it was made of two pieces of wood, we will see next how they were
joined together, which is with a kind of glew made of Perches skin well
scaled, that melts in using like ours. They have also steel-bows, which
are so strong, that when they bend them they must put their foot in a
ring for that purpose at the head of them, and draw the string up to
the nut, made of bone in the handle, with an iron hook they wear at
their girdle. From their bows I pass to their darts and arrows, which
are of two sorts, either pointed with iron to kill the larger beasts,
or blunt without it like bolts, to kill the smaller. These points are
not alwaies made of iron, but sometimes bones, which are fastned with
glew into a hole bored with a hot iron at the end of a staff, and
afterwards sharpened with a knife, or on a whetstone. But besides they
use Guns, which they (as hunters do in other places) with a great deal
of superstition enchaunt that they should never miss. These are made at
_Soederhambn_, a town in _Helsingia_, famous for weapons, from whence
the _Bothnians_ buy them, and sell them to the _Laplanders_: hence
they have Gun-powder and bullets, or at least lead to make them: and
sometimes _Norway_ furnishes them with all these. Spears they use only
in hunting Bears, and are so little different from ours that they will
not need a description. I come now to their other instruments relating
to this sport, the cheifest of which are their shoes, with which they
slide over the frozen snow, being made of broad planks extremely
smooth; the Northern People call them _Skider_, and by contraction
_Skier_ (which agrees something with the _Germans_ _Scheitter_, that
is, cleft wood) and sometimes _Andrer_ or _Ondrur_ or _Skiidh_. Their
shape is, according to _Olaus Magnus_, five or six ells long, turned
up before, and a foot broad: which I cannot believe, because I have a
pair which are a little broader, and much shorter, and _Wormius_ had a
pair but of three ells long. And those are much shorter which are to be
seen at _Leiden_, which _Frisius_ saies are just seven foot long, four
inches and a little more broad: and it must needs be so to hold with
_Olaus Magnus_, and every bodies opinion, that one shoe must be longer
than the other by a foot, as if the man or woman be eight foot high,
one must be eight foot, and the other nine. _Frisius_ saies they are
both of a length at _Leiden_, and _Olaus Wormius_ takes no notice of
any difference in his, but I believe then those were of two Parishes,
for my biggest is just such an one as _Frisius_ describes covered over
with resin or pitch, and the shorter plain. But because the larger is
of greatest use, it is no wonder that one or two of them were sent
abroad for a pattern, but since those at _Leiden_ are both the biggest,
they were not made for men so tall as _Frisius_ speaks of, they fitting
men of six foot, which is a stature sometimes met with in _Lapland_.
They are smooth and turned up before, not behind, as they are pictured
in _Wormius_, not by the fault of the Author, but the Painter, for
the original in his study shews them otherwise; I have observed in
my longer shoe that it is not quite strait, but swells up a little in
the middle where they place their foot. _Frisius_ did ill in giving
a picture but of one, and in that nothing of this bending, I will
therefore describe both, and a _Laplander_ sliding in them.
[Illustration]
These shoes are fastned to their feet by a with, not run through the
bottom but by the sides, that it might not hinder their sliding,
or wear out with often using, which is not expressed in _Frisius’s_
Picture, this is directly in the middle, and ti’d to the hinder part of
the leg, as you may see in the figure. That which is often in _Olaus
Magnus_, and set forth by _Frisius_, is a meer fancy and figment of
an Italian Painter, that could not understand what these shoes were,
but by describing them like long wooden broags turning up with a sharp
point before: which is very idle, because the foot goes into it at
the hinder part, and agrees not with _Olaus’s_ other cuts; for if the
place of the foot were there, it could not endure so great a weight
before it, or effect that for which this shoe was first invented: for
they must tread firm upon the Snow, which they could not do if all
the weight lay at one end; but when ’tis in the middle, that which is
before and behind will keep the foot from sinking in. The way of going
in them is this: they have in their hand a long staff, at the end of
which is a large round piece of wood fasten’d, to keep it from going
deep into the Snow, and with this they thrust themselves along very
swiftly. This way of running they not only use in plain and even, but
in the most rugged grounds, and there is no Hill or Rock so steep, but
with winding and turning they can at last come up to the top, (which
Pope _Paul_ the Third could not believe) and that which is a greater
Miracle will slide down the steepest places without danger. These
shoes they cover with young _Rain-deers_ skins, whose haires in their
climbing run like brisles against the Snow, and keep them from going
back. _Wormius_ saies they were cover’d with Sea Calf’s Skins, but I
believe he talk’d of those, that the _Siæfinni_, or the Maritime people
use. And this is the first instrument of hunting, which they use as
well in other businesses in winter time, for they can pass no other way
over the Snow, at which time they can out run any wild beast. The other
instrument they use is a sledg, which altho it is fit for any journy,
they use it in hunting especially the _Rain-deeres_, the description of
which, because ’tis fit for all manner of carriages, I shall defer to
another place.