Scarcely any other fish is found in the lakes of this neighbourhood than
the _R[:o]ding_, which the Laplanders call _Raud_ (_Salmo alpinus_, or
Charr), and this is extremely abundant. It is a Salmon, or rather Trout,
with a scarlet belly. Its length is about a foot. The scales are
extremely minute. Head smooth, ovate, obtuse. Jaws furnished with teeth,
and the tongue also bears two rows of teeth, six in each row. The palate
moreover is toothed at each side. Nostrils small, with two holes to
each, one above the other, the lowermost largest, and capable of being
closed. Iris of the eyes grey, with a black pupil. Below each eye, in
the cartilage of the cheek, are seven little hollow points ranged
longitudinally, and in its hinder part are three others placed
perpendicularly. The rays which cover the gills are ten on each side,
connected together. Fin of the back with twelve rays, of which the two
foremost are gradually longer, the third and fourth longest of all and
subdivided. The whole fish is black in the upper part; its sides of a
sky blue; head and throat white underneath; belly reddish-yellow. The
ventral fins are red, with a white exterior edge. Many yellowish spots
are scattered longitudinally along each side of the fish near the
lateral line. The tail is of a brick-colour, and forked. The flesh is
red, and very palatable. The people here caught fifty of these fishes
with two hauls of the net, of which they made a dinner for me and
themselves. One dish consisted of the fresh fish boiled, which was not
agreeable to my palate for want of salt. Others were roasted on a
wooden spit before the fire, but for the same reason I could hardly
taste them. The third mode of preparation was the most acceptable to me,
and had a very good flavour. This was made of the dried and salted
R[:o]ding, roasted on a spit. The Laplanders drink the water in which the
fish has been boiled, which I was unable to do,--though I could not but
commend the practice, as favourable to digestion.
The reindeer are innumerable, like the forests they inhabit. The herds
are driven home, night and morning, to be milked. It was amusing to
observe the manner of driving them, performed by a maid-servant with a
dog. If the reindeer proved refractory, the dog easily made them obey
the word of command, particularly when seconded by the hissing of the
woman, at which they were extremely terrified.
I observed also the manner of driving them out to pasture. The wind
blowing hard from the east, their conductress preferred a circuitous
path, rather than face the storm. The reindeer, on the contrary,
delighting to run against the wind, turned homeward when diverted from
their inclination, while the dog ran after the woman. When these animals
are permitted to face the wind, they run very fast and without
intermission, in hopes of finding a place to cool themselves. Indeed I
observed one of the herds crowding close together under the shadow of a
hill, on a spot covered with snow, to avoid the heat caused by the
reflection of the sun from the snow in other places. These animals will
eat nothing in hot weather, especially as the gnats are then very
troublesome. The males much resemble stags, but none in any of the herds
had now more than one branch to their horns.
The head of the reindeer is grey, blackish about the eyes. Mouth
whitish. Nostrils oblique. Tail short, not above six inches long,
obtuse, white, concealed between the haunches. Feet encompassed with
white above the hoofs. The whole body is grey, blacker when the new
coat first comes on, whiter before it falls. The hair is not readily
plucked off, but easily broken. The horns of the female are upright, or
slightly bent backward, furnished with one or two branches in front near
the base, the summit sometimes undivided, sometimes cloven. Those of the
male are often two feet and a half long, and their points are as far
distant from each other. They are variously branched, with more or less
numerous subdivisions. These animals cast their horns every year; the
males immediately after the rutting season, about the end of November;
the females in May, after they have brought forth their young. If the
females are barren, it is known by their casting the horns in
winter[59]. Those of the males scarcely differ from the females in
general structure. Both are hairy, but the hairiness falls off before
Michaelmas. In some which I have seen broken, the inside, under the
skin, of the young growing horns, appears like a cartilage. Hence they
are flexible, and so very sensible, that the animal can scarcely bear to
have them handled. Under a narrow layer of cartilage, the whole cavity
is full of blood-vessels. When arrived at their full growth, the horns
are bulbous at their base, like those of a stag.
[59] These particulars concerning the casting of the horns of the
reindeer, much confused in the manuscript, are corrected from the
admirable history of this animal in the _Am[oe]nitates Academicae_,
_v._ 4. 150. It is there said that the castrated males also cast
their horns, but rarely before they are nine years old. The sooner
they begin, the more healthy they are esteemed.
The length of the leg of the reindeer, from the joint of the foot to
that next the body, is two feet. From this latter joint to the top of
the back is also two feet. From the shoulders to the tail two feet. From
the shoulders to the horns one foot, and the same from the horns to the
mouth. From the belly to the back, that is, the perpendicular measure of
the trunk, is a foot and half.
As the reindeer walks along, a crackling noise proceeds from its feet.
This excited my curiosity; and inquiring what was supposed to be the
cause, the only answer I could get from any one was, that "our Lord had
made it so." I inquired further in what manner our Lord had formed the
reindeer so as to produce such an effect; but to this the respondent
answered nothing[60]. When I laid hold of the animal's foot, pulled it,
twisted and stretched it, or pushed it backward and forward in every
possible way, no crackling was produced. At length I discovered the
cause in the hoofs themselves, which are hollowed at their inner side.
When the animal stands on its feet, the hoofs are, of course, widely
expanded, and their points most remote from each other; but every time
the foot is lifted from the ground, they strike together, and cause the
noise above mentioned. This I was afterwards able to imitate at
pleasure, by moving the foot with my hand.
[60] "Sed ad hoc Sorberius nihil."
When the reindeer are driven to the place where they are accustomed to
be milked, they all lie down, breathing hard and panting violently,
chewing the cud all the while. The report of Scheffer therefore, that
they do not ruminate, is false, and Ray guessed more correctly than
Scheffer observed.
When the fawn is missed by its mother, she runs in search of it with the
most violent anxiety, stooping with her nose to the ground like a sow,
till she finds it. She even quits the herd to which she belongs, and
seeks her young at the Laplander's hut.
After the herd has lain down in the manner above described, each of the
people takes a small rope, and, making a noose, throws it over the head
of one of the females intended to be milked. The cord is afterwards
twisted round the horns, and the other end tied to a small pole fixed in
the ground. One pole is sufficient to secure four of the animals, which
all hands are afterwards employed in milking, both master and mistress,
men and maids. If the milk does not come with facility, they beat the
udder very hard with their hands; which causes a greater flow. The dugs
are four, very rarely six, all yielding milk, and none of them dry. The
young are not separated from their mothers. After the herd was milked
and gone to pasture, I observed the maid-servant taking up some of the
soft black dung, which, after kneading it with her hands, she put into a
vessel. On my inquiring what could be the use of this, she answered that
the dugs were besmeared with it, to prevent the fawn's sucking too much.
She added that it would dry upon the nipple by the morning after it was
applied, and might then be easily rubbed off. The female reindeer bring
forth their young early in May, and their owners begin milking them on
Midsummer day, and continue to do so till the beginning of November in
the forests, but in this neighbourhood they leave off milking about
Michaelmas. The fawns acquire horns the first year, which are perfectly
simple, like fingers. I could not help wondering how the Laplanders
knew such of the herd as they had already milked, from the rest, as they
turned each loose as soon as they had done with it. I was answered that
every one of them had an appropriate name, which the owners knew
perfectly. This seemed to me truly astonishing, as the form and colour
are so much alike in all, and the latter varies in each individual every
month. The size also varies according to the age of the animal. To be
able to distinguish one from another among such multitudes, for they are
like ants on an anthill, was beyond my comprehension.
_July 10._
I witnessed with pleasure the supreme tranquillity enjoyed by the
inhabitants of this sequestered country. After they have milked their
reindeer, and the women have made their cheese, boiled their whey to the
requisite consistence, and taken their simple repast, they lie down to
enjoy that sound sleep which is the reward and the proof of their
innocent lives. There is rarely any contention among them. The
inhabitants of the neighbouring moveable village had pitched their tents
close together in lines, either from east to west, or otherwise. When my
servant came in, he put his nose close to that of any person whom he
wished to salute, as if he had intended to kiss him, saluting him with
the old expression "_purist_." I inquired whether they actually kissed
each other; but my man answered in the negative, that they only put
their noses together. This custom is in use among relations only.
A boy had been sent out to gather sorrel (_Rumex Acetosa_), the larger
kind, or variety, of which he brought home enough of the leaves with
their stalks to fill a kettle. A small quantity of water was poured upon
it, just sufficient to cover the bottom of the kettle. It was kept
stirring over the fire, and allowed to boil, till the whole was reduced
to a pulp. This was afterwards mixed with milk, and put into large
barrels. When it has stood by for some time, it acquires an agreeable
sourish taste, quite different from the flavour of the fresh plant. The
barrels thus filled are preserved in holes, dug in the ground for the
purpose, either lined with brickwork, or with birch bark, to protect
them from rats or mice.
Another boy came in with as much as he could carry in his arms of the
stalks of _Angelica_ (_sylvestris_) which had not yet flowered. The
people stripped off the leaves, and by means of a knife peeled the
stalks, the skin of which came off like hemp. They ate the remainder as
they would an apple, thinking it a great delicacy. I partook of it with
them. The broad sheathing footstalks of the leaves, which enfold the
young umbels, not being esteemed good to eat fresh, were peeled, and
added to the _syra_, see p. 243, which was destined to make _jumomj[:o]lk_,
see p. 273.
[Illustration]
In the hut where I was a guest, an infant lay in its leather cradle. Its
head was protected by a screen of leather, and at the sides two
longitudinal pieces of cloth, folding one over the other, were drawn
together by a cord, over the child's body, which was besides covered
with reindeer skins underneath. The head, breast, and shoulders were
bare. It lay in this state all night long in the cold tent, and was
exposed to the open air at other times, though the weather was very
cold; yet the child did not suffer any inconvenience.