WOLVES THE GREAT FOE OF THE LAPPS.--HOW THE REINDEER ARE PROTECTED
AGAINST THEM.--WATCHING FOR THE TREACHEROUS BRUTES.--STORIES OF
THEIR SAGACITY.
After the reappearance of the sun I came to a region where the Lapps
among whom I lived were in great fear of wolves, for three packs of them
had made their appearance in the forests about one hundred and fifty
miles away to the eastward, and the news had come to the people.
One day as I was in the tent watching the meal that was being cooked,
one of the Lapps said to me, "We dread the wolves. No animal is as
cunning as a wolf when he is hungry, and the Chief of the Pack is chosen
by them as their leader because he is the most cunning of them all."
"What do you mean," I asked, "by the Chief of the Pack being chosen?"
He replied, "The wolves are very intelligent, and they choose their
leader just as people do. They select the one among them that can lead
them where there is prey."
Then he added, with a tone of sadness in his voice: "Our life is one of
constant vigilance, and old and young are continually on the lookout for
wolves. We have not suffered from them for three years, but they may
appear suddenly at any moment when we think they are far away. When
wolves attack our herds the reindeer scatter in great fright in every
direction to long distances, and we have very hard work in bringing them
together again. When they have once been attacked by the wolves they
become very suspicious, and take fright easily, and at the least alarm
run away. After their flight they roam in small bodies without any one
to watch over them, or dogs to look out for their enemies, and they
become an easy prey to the wolves. Sometimes the herd is destroyed, and
the rich Lapp becomes suddenly poor. Yes," he added with flashing eyes,
and in a loud tone, "the wolves are our greatest enemies. We kill them
whenever we can."
He remained thoughtful for a little while and then proceeded: "Reindeer
bulls have more fight in them than the females, and sometimes fight
successfully one wolf; but what can they do against a pack of them? Our
life is a hard one indeed when wolves are around, for we have to be
constantly on the watch night and day. The wolves are so wary that they
always approach a reindeer or a herd of them when the wind blows from
the herd towards them, so that neither dogs nor reindeer can scent
them."
"I hope," I said to myself, "that I shall see bull reindeer fight some
of these treacherous wolves and get the better of them; besides I will
make them taste my buckshot, and kill them before the poor reindeer is
overpowered."
After this conversation we went on our skees to scour the country for
wolves, but there were none to be seen, and we returned in time for our
dinner.
The following day, as we stood in front of our tent watching the sun
above the horizon, we saw in the distance a black speck coming over the
snow. We watched! What could it be? The speck came nearer, and we
recognized a woman with a bludgeon coming towards us as fast as her
skees could carry her. As soon as she was within hearing distance she
shouted, "Wolves! Wolves!" The dreaded news had come; the wolves had
made their appearance in our district.
She stopped when she reached us, and with one voice the Lapps asked her
when the wolves had been seen, and if they had attacked any herd. "No,"
she answered, "but they will soon do so, for the tracks of three packs
have been seen." She had hardly spoken these words when she bade us
good-bye, and was on her way to some of her family who had pitched their
tent about four miles from where we were. The bludgeon she carried for
defence against the wolves.
Soon every man, woman, and child of our tent were on their skees. The
men armed themselves with heavy bludgeons and guns and, followed by all
the dogs, we started for the herd, taking a lot of reindeer meat with
us. Now there was to be an increased watch day and night.
I followed the Lapps on my skees, and though I lagged behind, as I could
not go as fast as they did, one of the girls remained with me to show me
the way, and now and then she would stop and scan the country for
wolves.
I was armed with my double-barrelled shotgun loaded with buckshot. "Oh,
if I could encounter the wolves," I said to myself, "what havoc I would
make amongst them."
When we came to the herd we told those who were on the watch the news of
the appearance of wolves. Immediately preparations were made to discover
their whereabouts.
Some of the people went in different directions to reconnoitre, all
armed with their heavy bludgeons. They shouted as they left: "We will
show the wolves if we meet and chase them on our skees what our
bludgeons can do. We will smash their heads and break their legs."
Towards dark, when they returned, they had seen no wolves nor their
tracks. "The wolves are so cunning and their ways are so unknown to us
that we must be on the lookout all night," said the Lapps to me.
Then we partook of our reindeer meat, which had been kept between our
clothing and our chests to prevent it from freezing. It is not pleasant
to eat a frozen piece of meat as hard as a rock. But I had learned not
to be so very particular. Otherwise I should never have been able to
travel in the country.
The moon was on the wane. When it rose it cast its dim light upon the
snow. It was a very busy night for the Lapps, for the reindeer had to be
kept together and required constant watching.
The dogs acted with great intelligence; they seemed to know that their
masters dreaded the wolves; they barked continually, and looked once in
a while into the distance, moving away, as if to see if they could scent
the wolves afar off.
I walked with my skees slowly, looking off into the distance! Suddenly I
thought I saw far away a pack of them. I drew the attention of the Lapp
who was with me to the spot; but his eyes, accustomed to scan the snow,
soon discovered what it was. He said to me: "There are no wolves there;
only the top of some branches of birch trees above the snow."
All the Laplanders, men, women, and big boys and girls, remained on
their skees all night. The men were outside and made a circle round the
herd. The second circle was made by the women; the third circle, the
nearest to the reindeer, by the children. All shouted and yelled. I
yelled also--I thought it was great fun! The dogs barked as they
followed their masters or mistresses, going outside of the ring to look
for wolves. They were constantly urged; but little urging was required,
for almost all of them knew from past experience that it meant that the
herd had to be protected from wolves, for they had seen them come when
their masters were acting precisely as we were doing, and they were
ready for the fray.
If it had been a dark night, or if it had been snowing, we should have
been in a bad plight; but the moon was our friend. The night passed away
and the wolves had not made their appearance. When daylight came we
were all pretty tired, and we moved the reindeer nearer to the tent.
Then after the coffee was made and drunk, and some reindeer meat had
been eaten, we all huddled the best way we could into the tent, covered
ourselves with skins, and soon after fell asleep, leaving the care of
the reindeer to those who were on the watch and to the dogs--their
untiring and faithful friends.
When I awoke, three dogs were fast asleep near me--the dear dogs
required rest as well as ourselves; they had worked hard for their
masters all night. I remembered the time we had had during the night,
and said to myself, "Hard, indeed, is the life of the Laplander." The
reindeer lay on the snow. After breakfast they were taken a short
distance to pasture, and those who had slept watched them, ready to
fight the wolves if they came.
The news had spread quickly among the Lapps in the district that wolves
might make their appearance at any moment, and several families with
their tents came to camp near us and their herds were kept near ours for
mutual protection. We were numerous enough to fight a great number of
hungry wolves, and the country was scoured in every direction.
Numbers of juniper-brush fires were lighted at night where we had
cleared away the snow to scare off the wolves.
That evening the Lapps told wolf stories. One began thus:
"When wolves have lost the Chief of the Pack, they hold a council and
name another Chief, who they expect will lead them safely through their
wanderings and direct them when an attack is to be made. The wolves
understand each other perfectly well, and they obey the Chief of the
Pack. They often speak to each other with their eyes. This appears
wonderful, but it is so. But woe to the Chief when the wolves become
dissatisfied with him. When they find that under his leadership they are
constantly starving, they agree among themselves to destroy him. They
then pounce upon him, kill him, and devour him. They have a way of
agreeing to do this without their Chief knowing what is to happen to
him. They pass judgment upon him and sentence him to die."
"Wonderful indeed," I said, "is the intelligence of the wolves, if what
you say is true."
"It is true," said the narrator, and the rest with one voice confirmed
him. "Wolves are as knowing as people, and we know some of their cunning
ways. The Chief of the Pack must often lead the wolves on long marches,
through forests and unbeaten tracks, over the snow to some place where
he supposes they will find prey. Besides he must not lead them into
ambush where they may be destroyed. The Chief must be not only cunning,
but brave also. We see them often, after they have discovered us, going
away or taking another direction than the one in which they were going.
It is simply to deceive us, to make us believe that they are going
away. Then they make a long detour and take our reindeer in our rear.
People say foxes are cunning, but the cunning of a fox is nothing to
compare to the cunning of a wolf."
"That is so," repeated all the Lapps.
Another man said: "When the Chief of the Pack becomes old, and is not
able to lead the wolves any more, the wolves kill him and eat him. When
two packs meet there is often a great fight between the two chiefs for
the mastery, and the defeated one runs away. Then his own pack over
which he ruled runs after him and kills him. Then they proclaim the
victor the new Chief and the two packs join forces. Often, when the
wolves make an attack, the Chief looks on with a few of his followers as
a reserve to see how things are going, and then rushes in with them to
insure victory."
After this story the Lapps lighted their pipes and puffed away. Then one
passed his snuffbox round, each taking a pinch of snuff. I took one, and
I had immediately a fit of sneezing that lasted quite a while, to the
great amusement of my Lapp friends. One of the latter then told the
following story:
"Some winters ago, while a number of us were on skees on our way to
church, which was about one hundred miles away, we saw in the distance
quite a number of wolves, following the Chief of the Pack. He was easily
recognized, not only because he seemed larger than the others, but
because he was always in the lead, and when he stopped they did
likewise. It was fortunate that we were on skees instead of in sleighs,
for the reindeer would have become unmanageable in their fright and
would certainly have been attacked by the wolves. We were armed with our
bludgeons, and three of us had guns. The wolves, which had seen us, came
in our direction and when at about a quarter of a mile from us stopped
and suddenly held a consultation, then advanced again towards us. When
they had come within shooting distance I aimed with my gun at the Chief
of the Pack, who stood by himself, and killed him. Immediately the other
wolves precipitated themselves upon him and fought over his body and
devoured him. In the mean time we shot two others. Those likewise were
devoured by their comrades. It did not take the wolves much time to
devour their three companions. It was done in the twinkling of an eye.
The wolves were so voracious because they had not eaten for several
days. This is the time when they follow men and sometimes attack them
when they are a large pack together.
"The other wolves made off, cowed by the death of their three comrades,
but soon stopped and held a consultation among themselves again, and
soon we saw one among them take the lead. This was the new Chief of the
Pack that had been chosen by them. Then they walked towards us again,
and we were ready to meet them on our skees. Our object was to kill this
new Chief of the Pack. I aimed at him and succeeded in killing him also.
He had hardly fallen when he was set upon and devoured. Now the
appetite of the wolves was more or less satisfied, and after we had
killed another they fled as they saw him fall; once in a while they
looked back towards us, but having no chief they did not know what to do
until they had chosen another--and they disappeared in the distance."