Lachesis Lapponica Part 2

3. Native alum, rough and green, separate from its matrix; from the same mountains.

4. Alum like the former in appearance, but not salt, perhaps a calcareous stone; found not far from the same place.

5. Various alpine micaceous stones.

6. Marle from Lapland.

7. Quartz from Lapland.

8. Silver ore from Kiurivari.

9. Silver ore from Nasaphiel in Pithan Lapland.

10. Sandstone containing three per cent. of iron.

11. Black slate from the alps.

12. Petrified corals from Norway.

13. Iridescent fluors from the alps.

The fish called by the Laplanders _Sijk_ (the Gwiniad, or _Salmo Lavaretus_,) is taken in their lakes. Its head terminates in an obtuse point. The upper jaw is the longest. Mouth without teeth. Iris of the eye silvery, with a blackish upper edge, and a black pupil. The whole body is silvery, blackish about the back, eleven inches long and two deep. Head two inches long at the sides; from the snout to the dorsal fin four inches and a half. The dorsal fin consists of thirteen rays, of which the first is by far the largest, and the last cloven or interrupted. The soft fat fin is in its proper place.

_July 21._

The following are the disorders or inconveniences to which the reindeer are subject.

When the frost is so intense as to form an impenetrable crust on the surface of the snow, so that the animal cannot break it with his feet, to get at the Lichen on which he feeds, he is frequently starved to death. This misfortune is as dreadful to the Laplanders as any public or national calamity elsewhere; for, when his reindeer are killed, he must himself either starve to death, beg for his livelihood, or turn thief.

The hoofs of the reindeer are not uncommonly affected with a swelling at the edge where they are attached to the skin, at which part they consequently become ulcerated, and are seldom healed. The creature thus grows lame, and cannot keep up with the herd.

These animals are sometimes attacked with a _vertigo_, or giddiness in the head, which causes them to run round and round continually. The people a.s.sured me, that such of them as run according to the course of the sun may be expected to get the better of the disorder; but those which turn the contrary way, being supposed incurable, are immediately killed. The recovery of the former is thought to be promoted by cutting their ears, so as to cause a great discharge of blood.

The _Kurbma_, or ulceration caused by the Gad-fly, (see _vol._ 1. _p._ 280.) takes place every spring, especially in the younger fawns. Such as are brought forth in the summer season are free from this misfortune the ensuing spring, but in the following one many of them lose their lives by it. When come to their full size and strength, the consequences are less fatal; but no reindeer is entirely exempt from the attacks of this pernicious insect.

The fawns are of a reddish hue the first season, during which they cut their foreteeth. In the autumn they turn blackish, and have fodder given them. They are when young frequently afflicted with a soreness in the mouth, so as to be unable for a while to eat.

Reindeer are subject to a disease called by the Laplanders _Pekke Kattiata_, accompanied with ulcerations of the flesh, which however often heal by a sloughing of the part affected. This is an epidemic disorder. It is believed that if any of the ulcerous part, which is cast off, be swallowed by the animal, in licking his own coat, or that of any other of the herd labouring under this malady, it proves fatal by corroding the viscera.

The dugs of the female often become chapped or sore, so as to bleed whenever they are milked.

The male reindeer in his natural state is fatter than such as are castrated, except the latter be kept without work, in which case they become the fattest. Such as are castrated and allowed to run wild, become considerably larger, as well as tamer, in consequence.

The rutting season lasts but a fortnight, that is, from about a week preceding the feast of St. Matthew (Sept. 21.) to Michaelmas day, during which period the male is savage and dangerous. Immediately afterwards he casts his coat and horns, and not unfrequently becomes so emaciated, that, in many instances, death is the consequence.

Towards the feast of St. Eric (May 18.) in the following year, or within a fortnight of that period, very rarely later, the females bring forth their young. They do not copulate the first year, and seldom before the third, their progeny being found the better for this delay. Indeed neither the males nor females arrive at their full growth and perfection before they are towards three years old.

The fawn, whether male or female, is called the first year _mesk_; the second season the male is called _orryck_, and the female _whenial_. In the third year the latter, if she has been covered, is known by the appellation of _watja_ or _waja_, which means a wife; if otherwise, she goes by the name of _whenial-rotha_, the three-year old male being called _wubbers_. In his fourth year the male is termed _koddutis_; in the following one _kosittis_; in the sixth _machanis_, and in the seventh _namma lappotachis_. After that period no male is kept, they all peris.h.i.+ng in consequence of the exhaustion above mentioned, but the castrated ones live to a more advanced age. None of these animals however survive beyond their twelfth or fourteenth year. When the castrated males become very fat towards autumn, and show signs of old age; or the females, having become barren, appear otherwise to be on the decline, they are killed, by the knife, in the close of the year; from an apprehension that they might otherwise perish of themselves from infirmity, in the course of another season.

Such of the male reindeer as are destined to serve for a stock of provision, are killed before the rutting-time, and their carcases hung up to be exposed to the air and frost before flaying. The flesh is smoked and a little salted, and then laid upon sledges to dry in the sun, that it may keep through the winter till spring. About the feast of St. Matthias (Feb. 24.) the reindeer begin to be so incommoded with the gad-fly, that they are not in a fit condition to be slain for eating.

From that period therefore, till the milking season, the Laplanders are obliged to live on this stock of preserved meat. At other times of the year the females are killed for immediate use, according as they are wanted. The blood is kept fresh in kegs, or other vessels, and serves for food in the spring, being added to the _valling_ (see _vol._ 1. _p._ 129), with a small proportion of milk and water. The blood of these animals is thick in consistence, like that of a hog. The Laplanders carry a portion of it along with them from place to place, in bladders or some kind of vessels. A stock of this and all other necessaries is collected as late as possible, before the melting of the snow, while there still remains a track for the sledges.

A kind of blood pudding or sausage is made, in general without flour, and with a large proportion of fat. This the Laplanders call _marfi_.

The liver of the reindeer, which is of a considerable bulk, is boiled and eaten fresh. The lungs, being salted and moderately dried, are eaten occasionally, or else given to the dogs. The intestines, which abound with fat, are cut open, washed, and boiled fresh; nor are they unpalatable. The brain and t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es are never eaten. The foot is flayed down to the fetlock joint, beyond which the hair cannot, by scalding or any other contrivance, be separated, without the cuticle and skin coming along with it. Even when the feet are boiled, the hair never comes off without the skin. Thus the animal when living is the more firmly protected against the snow. The hoofs are thrown away as useless.

The dung of the reindeer in summer is almost as large as cow-dung, but in winter it more resembles that of the goat.

Each individual reindeer does not bear horns of precisely the same shape every year. The points are very liable to be deformed, in consequence of the animal's scratching them, while in a growing state, with its feet; they being in that state much inclined to itch, and as tender as the flesh of a fresh fish.

These animals are afflicted with maggots called _kornmatskar_ in their noses and gums, from which they relieve themselves in the spring by snorting and blowing. When the insects lodge on their backs and form pustules there, the people make a practice of squeezing them out, to prevent the reindeer from being too much irritated by them. (This species is the _Oestrus nasalis_, though the account here given is not very clear; but in the first edition only of the _Fauna Suecica_ Linnaeus says, on the authority of a gentleman named Friedenreich, that "this _Oestrus_ lodges its eggs in the frontal sinus of the reindeer in Lapland, and is frequently cast out by them as they travel along in the spring.")

When the skin is stripped from the carcase of the reindeer, it is immediately spread out, and stretched as much as possible, by means of a longitudinal pole, and a transverse stick at each end of the skin, these sticks being pulled asunder with a strong cord. Several more transverse twigs are placed between these two sticks, so as to extend every part of the edges of the hide, which in this position is allowed to dry.

The Laplanders' gloves are made of skin taken from the legs of the animal; their hairy shoes, of that from its forehead between the horns, such being worth two dollars, copper money; while those made from the skin of the legs, being much thinner, are of very little or no value.

A Laplander never goes barefoot, though he has nothing to serve him for stockings but hay (_Carex sylvatica_, _Fl. Brit._). Sometimes he buys leather for shoes or boots from his neighbours.

The people of this country boil their meat in water only, without any addition or seasoning, and drink the broth. _Jumomjolk_ (see _vol._ 1.

278.) kept for a whole year is delicate eating. Berries of all kinds are boiled in it. Some persons make a practice of boiling those berries by themselves, preserving them afterwards in small tubs, or other wooden vessels. They boil their fish more thoroughly than their meat, over a slow fire, drinking likewise the water in which it has been drest. The meat is never so much boiled as to separate from the bone. Fresh fish is sometimes roasted over the fire. Few people dry and salt it, though that method is sometimes practised. Meat is dried by the air, sun and smoke all together, being hung up in the chimney, or rather hole by which the smoke escapes through the roof.

The Laplanders never eat of more than one dish at a meal.

By way of dainty, the women occasionally mix the berries of the Dwarf Cornel (_Cornus suecica_) with _Kappi_ (see _vol._ i. _p._ 281.), which is made of whey boiled till it grows as thick as flummery. To this they moreover add some cream. That fruit is entirely neglected in the country of Medelpad.

In Dalecarlia the people generally keep their cattle up in the mountains, twelve or sixteen miles from their own dwellings, on account of gad-flies and other stinging insects. There they have their dairies, and make cheese. The remaining whey is boiled till two thirds are wasted, when it becomes as thick as flummery. This is sometimes eaten instead of b.u.t.ter, sometimes mixed with dough, or serves for food in various other manners.

The wind is excessively powerful in this alpine region, so that sometimes it is impossible to stand against it, both men and sledges being overturned by its violence.

It blew so hard at the place where I now was, that one of the windows of the curate's house was blown in upon the floor.

Every Laplander constantly carries a sort of pole or stick, tipped with a ferule, and furnished with a transverse bit of wood. Whenever he is tired, he leans his arms and nose against it to rest himself.

Such as live in the forests are dexterous marksmen, but not those who inhabit the alps. Nevertheless, they all contrive, by means of their wooden bows, to procure, in the course of the winter, a considerable number of Squirrels (_Sciurus vulgaris_) in their grey or winter clothing, for the sake of their skins.

In the winter season also they go in pursuit of their most cruel enemies the wolves. One of these animals will sometimes kill twenty or thirty reindeer at a time, if he comes into the enclosure where they are. The wolf often runs away before the Laplander can get near enough to fire at him. A bear can hardly catch a reindeer, except by coming upon it unawares, the latter being much the most swift of foot; but if he gets into any of the store-houses, he does a great deal of mischief, turning every thing topsy-turvy. Bears are also very dangerous in the fissures of rocks and mountains, where they usually conceal themselves.

The Glutton (_Mustela Gulo_) does most harm in the pantry or store-house. He never meddles with the reindeer.

A part of the employment of the men is to make sledges, or other machines of wood for carriage. They cut rough wood in the forests for the boxes which they carry with them into the alps.

The duty of the women is to mend the clothes of the whole family.

Laplanders have several plays or amus.e.m.e.nts.

Children make of the dwarf birch (_Betula nana_) something like reindeer's horns, with which they gore one another in sport. They amuse themselves frequently by building little huts of stone.

Grown-up people play very well at tennis, but they seldom partake of that diversion. More common amus.e.m.e.nts are blindman's buff, and drawing gloves.