I was treated with _[:o]stamus_, or milk turned to curd by rennet, which,
together with a great proportion of cheese that I had eaten of late,
disagreed violently with me, and almost brought on a _tenesmus_.
The women here, as well as the men, smoke tobacco, and indeed do almost
every thing but actually wear breeches. The men dress the meat, while
the women employ themselves only in making cheese, and other various
preparations of milk. Every kind of fish or meat is cooked by the men;
and if the women happen not to be at hand, even the cheese and milk fall
under their management.
The alps are destitute of human inhabitants in the winter season,
because the Laplanders are then obliged to seek more woody parts of the
country, where alone they are able to find a sufficient quantity of moss
(_Lichen rangiferinus_) to feed their reindeer. On the alps there is not
only a want of wood, but the snow is covered with too hard a frozen
crust to be penetrated so as to come at any thing beneath it.
The poorest people only remain here as long as possible, for the sake of
catching Ptarmigans (_Tetrao Lagopus_); which is done in the following
manner.
They take a little forked birch twig, about a span long, which is stuck
into the snow perpendicularly by its divided end, forming a sort of
arch. A snare or noose, made of packthread or horsehair, is then fixed
to the twig by one end, and placed in the open space between the forks.
The thin curling bark of the twig, being carefully slit down at the
outer side, curls inward, and serves both to confine and conceal the
snare, by drawing it close to the branch on the inner side. Such traps
as these are ranged in a line, about a fathom from each other, in the
birch thickets, brush wood being laid from one to another, so as to form
a low fence. Now as the Ptarmigans come running along, for they seldom
fly, they have no way to go but through these snares, and forty or fifty
of them are frequently caught at a time.
This day I both heard and saw the Cuckoo (_Cuculus canorus_), which the
Laplanders call _Geecka_; and also the great fishing Gull with a grey
back (_Larus canus_), to which they give the name of _Staule_; (not
_Straule_, as in the _Fauna Suecica_.)
The _Andromeda_ (_hypnoides_) with leaves like moss, or needle-shaped,
was here in flower. The petal is bell-shaped, white tipped with purple,
divided half way down into five semi-ovate segments. Calyx five-cleft,
erect, acute. Anthers orange, very short, furnished with white bristles.
Pistil one, obtuse.
In walking over the snow, I once sunk up to my middle, the floods having
undermined it to a great depth. Two men drew me out with a rope, and I
received no damage except a blow on my thigh and being very wet. Soon
afterwards I met with a Laplander who was both a Danish and Swedish
subject. He offered me brandy, which I would have declined; but he
insisted on my taking a glass, and some tobacco.
The water of the lake of _Virijaur_ (perhaps _Wire-jaur_) was of a
whitish green colour, exactly like water poured into a vessel
previously used for milk. This appearance arose merely from its extreme
purity, levity, and consequent transparency. It was cooler than the
water flowing from the snow.
Not far from this lake, on the left, upon the side of the mountain
called _Kaitsoniunni_, near a rivulet, I picked up a curious stone or
radiated _fluor_, of a blueish colour, composed of square parts
(probably zeolite). In the evening it rained, but I observed the
_Papilionoides_ with purple spots (_Sphinx Filipendulae_).
The stones hereabouts were mostly fissile, horny; some black and
aluminous, but generally horny and spontaneously decomposing, with
silvery talc, rarely any quartz.
_July 11._
We rose early this morning, and after walking a quarter of a mile
arrived at the lofty icy mountain. This is indeed of a very great
elevation, and covered with perpetual snow, the surface of which was,
for the most part, frozen quite hard. Sometimes we walked firmly over
it, but it occasionally gave way, crumbling under our feet like sand.
Every now and then we came to a river taking its course under the snowy
crust, which in some parts had yielded to the force of the currents, and
the sides of each chasm exhibited many snowy strata one above another.
Here the mountain streams began to take their course westward, a sign of
our having reached Norwegian Lapland. The delightful tracts of
vegetation, which had hitherto been so agreeably interspersed among the
alpine snows, were now no longer to be seen. No charming flowers were
here scattered under our feet. The whole country was one dazzling snowy
waste. The cold east wind quickened our steps, and obliged us to protect
our hands that we might escape chilblains. I was glad to put on an
additional coat. As we proceeded across the north side of this
mountain, we were often so violently driven along by the force of the
wind, that we were taken off our feet, and rolled a considerable way
down the hill. This once happened to me in so dangerous a place, that,
after rolling to the distance of a gun-shot, I arrived near the brink of
a precipice, and thus my part in the drama had very nearly come to an
end. The rain, which fell in torrents on all sides, froze on our shoes
and backs into a crust of ice. This journey would have been long and
tiresome enough without any such additional inconvenience. At length,
after having travelled betwixt three and four miles, the mountains
appeared before us, bare of snow though only sterile rocks, and between
them we caught a view of the western ocean. The only bird I had seen in
this icy tract, was what the Laplanders call _Pago_ (_Charadrius
Hiaticula_). Its breast is black, throat white, feet orange.
Having thus traversed the alps, we arrived about noon upon their bold
and precipitous limits to the westward. The ample forests spread out
beneath us, looked like fine green fields, the loftiest trees appearing
no more than herbs of the humblest growth. About these mountains grew
the same species of plants that I had observed on the other side of the
alps. We now descended into a lower country. It seems, as I write this,
that I am still walking down the mountain, so long and steep was the
descent, but the alpine plants no longer made their appearance after we
had reached the more humble hills. When we arrived at the plains below,
how grateful was the transition from a chill and frozen mountain to a
warm balmy valley! I sat down to regale myself with strawberries.
Instead of ice and snow, I was surrounded with vegetation in all its
prime. Such tall grass I had never before beheld in any country. Instead
of the blustering wind so lately experienced, soft gales wafted around
us the grateful scent of flowery clover and various other plants. In the
earlier part of my journey, I had for some time experienced a
long-continued spring (whose steps I pursued as I ascended the Lapland
hills); then unremitting winter and eternal snow surrounded me; summer
at length was truly welcome. Oh how most lovely of all is summer!
Here grow, for the most part, the common plants of Upland, besides which
I noticed _Aconitum lycoctonum_, and the little Mountain Catchfly with a
white upright flower (_Silene rupestris_[61]); as also _Coronopus
maritimus punctatus_ (_Plantago maritima [beta]_, _Fl. Suec. 46_),
_Mesomora_ (_Cornus suecica_), and the Cloudberry (_Rubus Chamaemorus_).
[61] This appears by the _Flora Suecica_ to be likewise a native of
Upland.
By this time I was heartily tired, and found the refreshment of some
cow's milk, and meat, with a chair to sit upon, very acceptable. I could
not but wonder to see my two Laplanders, who had accompanied me during
the whole of this day's tedious walk, one of them fifty years of age,
the other upwards of seventy, running and frisking about in sport,
though each of them had carried a burthen all the way; not indeed a very
heavy one, but, considering the distance, by no means trifling. This set
me seriously to consider the question put by Dr. Rosen, "why are the
Laplanders so swift-footed?" To which I answer, that it arises not from
any one cause, but from the cooperation of many.
1. The Laplanders, unlike us, wear no heels to their half boots. We see
dancing-masters and rope-dancers, with little or no heels, perform feats
of great agility, scarcely practicable with them. The same may be
observed of running-footmen, and people of various countries who
habitually walk fast; while, on the contrary, those who are accustomed
to large and high heels, move in a heavy and deliberate manner. It is
usual to shoe young horses heavily, that they may acquire a steadiness
of pace; and I observe that the country boys where I am now writing,
throw off their shoes when they intend to run, as the heels with which
these shoes are made, deprive them of half the natural control of the
muscles in the soles of their feet. Those muscles, by means of high
heels, and consequently less use or exercise, become more and more
stiff, and a man with a wooden foot or leg cannot but move heavily.
2. These people are accustomed to running from their infancy. As soon as
a Lapland boy can go alone, he is taught to run and put a halter round
the reindeer's neck. When he grows a little older, he learns to follow
these animals, which are always quick-paced, insomuch that it is more
laborious to keep up with them than with a herd of goats, and more
difficult to run after them than to frisk about with a parcel of calves.
If therefore a rope-dancer, or a running-footman, acquires great agility
by perpetual practice, no wonder that a Laplander, who till he is
married, and often all his life long, runs habitually after the
reindeer, should rival any of them in swiftness of foot.
3. Freedom from hard labour is another cause. All laborious employments,
such as directing the plough, threshing, cutting and hewing of wood, &c.
render the blood thick, and the limbs stiff. Hence the flesh of a
peasant is hard and tough, that of a young damsel soft and tender; nor
can a peasant move with the lightness and flexibility of limbs that we
see in a girl. How delicate are the muscles of children compared with
those of an aged person! The Laplanders appear to be more nimble and
active, in all their movements, because they undergo no hard or
Herculean labours.
4. Habitual exercise of the muscles. A rope-dancer trains his pupils to
the continual contraction and dilatation of their muscles, that they may
acquire the more pliability. A dancer is at first taught by violence to
turn out his toes; but by custom that position becomes easy, for use is
second nature. So the Laplanders are perpetually exercising the muscles
used in walking, which thence become so flexible, that they are able to
sit for a long while cross-legged, without pain or inconvenience, in a
posture intolerable to us, who are used to commodious seats. For my own
part, since I set out on my journey, I have become able to walk four
times as far as I could at first.
5. Animal food. It is observable that such of the creation as feed on
vegetables, are of a more rigid, though strong, fibre; witness the Stag,
the Bull, &c.; while, on the contrary, carnivorous animals, as the Dog,
Cat, Wolf, Lion, &c., are all more flexible. The fact and its cause are
both evident. The Laplanders are altogether carnivorous. They have no
vegetable food brought to their tables. They now and then indeed eat a
raw stalk of Angelica, as we would eat an apple, and occasionally a few
leaves of Sorrel; but this, compared with the bulk of their food, is
scarcely more than as one to a million. In spring they eat fish, in
winter nothing but meat, in summer milk and its various preparations. It
may further be remarked, that salted food, which these people do not
use, renders the body heavy.
Here I cannot help making a few incidental remarks, on the opinion that
man is proved, by his teeth, to be formed to eat all kinds of food.
Those who advance this opinion say, his front or cutting-teeth are like
those of animals that eat fruits or nuts, as the Hare, Rabbit, Squirrel,
&c.; his canine, or eye-teeth, like those of beasts of prey, as the Cat;
and his grinders like those of animals that live upon herbage, as the
Cow, Horse, &c. But this reasoning is not altogether satisfactory to me.
If, in the first place, we examine the human fore-teeth, we shall find
them quite different from those of nut-cracking animals of the Squirrel
or Hare tribe, which are more prominent, and rather spreading than erect
at the angle, whereas ours are perpendicular, with their summits close
and level. Hence the fore-teeth of such animals are very long, witness
those of the Beaver. Some carnivorous animals have similar fore-teeth to
ours, but have we any such canine teeth as theirs? They do not exceed
ours in number, but they are much more important. The being furnished
with grinders as such, will not, on the other hand, class us with
herbivorous animals, although Bulls and Cows have them; for the Dog and
Cat, and all other carnivorous ones, have grinders likewise. I have not
yet met with any herbivorous animal, with a simple stomach, which is not
subject to eructation, nor is the Mouse tribe any exception.
But to decide concerning our own species. If we contemplate the
characters of our teeth, hands, fingers, and toes, it is impossible not
to perceive how very nearly we are related to Baboons and Monkeys, the
wild men of the woods. In as much therefore as these are found to be
carnivorous, the question is decided with respect to ourselves.
6. The Laplander is satisfied with a small quantity of food at once. He
does not eat his fill at one meal, but takes food from time to time, as
he feels inclined.
On the contrary, the peasants of Finland cram themselves with as many
turnips, and those of Scania with as much flummery, as their stomachs
can possibly receive. The inhabitants of Dalecarlia eat till the body is
as tight as a drum. Such people are much better qualified to labour in
the cultivation of the ground, than to run over the alps. The Laplanders
are always of a thin slender make. I never saw one of them with a large
belly. Milk diet also contributes to render them active.
7. I examined their knees, ankles, and feet, but could not perceive the
least difference in their shape from those of other countries, except
perhaps that the sole of the foot seemed rather more concave, at the
inner side, than usual. How far this may make any difference, a better
mechanic than I am must determine.
8. All the Laplanders are of a small stature. I have never yet met with
any of them so tall as myself. A large heavy body cannot move so nimbly
as a small one, even though its organs are proportionably stronger and
more durable. This is apparent in many similar cases. A little pony from
the isle of Oeland, or one of a similar kind from Norway, runs with
extreme velocity; for though a great trooper's horse may get before it,
the little animal moves its legs with astonishing rapidity, and much
quicker than the great horse.
There is a striking difference in stature between the inhabitants of
Helsingland and those of Lapland, nor is the reason of this difference
at all obscure. If we give a young puppy plenty of food, he will grow
large; if but little, he will turn out small. If kept warm, he will also
grow to a much larger size than if he is always inured to cold. The same
remarks may be applied to the people in question.
Another subject of inquiry is, why the Laplanders are so healthy; for
which the following reasons may be assigned.
1. The extreme purity of the air, which seemed to give me new life as I
inhaled it.