Lachesis Lapponica Part 3

Here I think it worth while to observe, that the alpine Laplanders are more honest, as well as more good-natured, than those who dwell in the woodlands. Having acquired more polish from their occasional intercourse with the inhabitants of towns, the latter have, at the same time, learned more cunning and deceit, and are frequently very knavish. The inhabitants of the alps dwell in villages formed of their tents, living together, as I have already related, in great comfort and harmony. Those who occupy the woody parts of the country live dispersed.

The Laplanders know no musical instrument except the _lur_ (a sort of trumpet), and pipes made of the bark of the quicken tree or mountain ash. They are not accustomed to sing at church, except those who are reckoned among the great or learned of the community.

The inhabitants of this country are not more troubled with chilblains than those of other places. They do not mind having their cheeks frost-bitten. The women wear an embroidered band round the head, which affords no protection in this respect; but the men have a loose band of skin with the hair on, which can be pulled down occasionally over their cap, when the cold is intolerable.

(But to proceed with a further account of the diversions of the people I am describing).

_Spetto_, one of their games, is played, by men as well as women, in the following manner. They prepare from thirty to fifty or sixty pieces of wood, a hand's breadth in length, which are spread upon the extended skin of a reindeer. One of the players takes a ball made of stone or marble, larger than a boy's playing marble, which he throws up into the air about an ell high. While the ball is up, he s.n.a.t.c.hes away one of the sticks, but in such a manner as not to miss catching the ball in its fall, holding the stick in the same hand. He subsequently gathers together, in his other hand, as many of the sticks as he has thus been able to procure. If he fails in any respect, another person is to take the ball, and proceed in the same manner, the former player resigning up to him one of the sticks every time the ball is thrown, till no more remain in his own possession. He who can take up all the sticks wins the game.

The following rules are to be observed.

1. He who catches the ball, but not one of the sticks, must resign the ball to another player, as well as he who has let it fall.

2. He who takes up more than one stick at a time, must return what he has taken.

3. The adversary, that is, the last player, who could not succeed in taking up all the sticks, is allowed to lay down as many as he pleases of the sticks he has collected, and may arrange them according to his fancy. It is usual to lay one upon another, in order to render the game more difficult, the player being obliged to s.n.a.t.c.h up each separately; which is not easy without taking two, when so situated, at once.

4. When at length one person has taken up all the sticks, his adversary is permitted to replace the two last of them upon the skin in any manner he chooses. He commonly separates them as widely as possible. The person who had previously gained the whole, is then required to take up both these sticks at one throw of the ball, and if he fails he must give up the game. Thus the victory is often lost by means of these two last sticks.

5. When the adversary fails of his aim, the other player is to take all the sticks lying on the field, as well as those which, after having been laid down by himself, were won by the other person, and the whole are to be laid down again directly, in order to be taken up according to the above rules. But he is no longer under any obligation himself to take up the sticks which he has thus laid for his companion.

The game called _Tablut_ is played with a checkered board, and twenty-five pieces, or men, in the following manner.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 1, is the king, whose station is in the central square or royal castle, called _konokis_ by the Laplanders, to which no other person can be admitted.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 2, represents one of the eight Swedes his subjects, who, at the commencement of the game, are stationed in the eight squares, adjoining to the royal castle, marked 2 and 3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 3, is one of sixteen Muscovites, their adversaries, who occupy the sixteen embroidered squares, (some of them marked 4 in the cut,) situated four together in the middle of each side of the field.]

The vacant squares, distinguished by letters, may be occupied by any of the pieces in the course of the game.

LAWS.

1. Any piece may move from one square to another in a right line, as from _a_ to _c_; but not corner-wise, or from _a_ to _e_.

2. It is not allowed to pa.s.s over the heads of any other pieces that may be in the way, or to move, for instance, from _b_ to _m_, in case any were stationed at _e_ or _i_.

3. If the king should stand in _b_, and no other piece in _e_, _i_, or _m_, he may escape by that road, unless one of the Muscovites immediately gets possession of one of the squares in question, so as to interrupt him.

4. If the king be able to accomplish this, the contest is at an end.

5. If the king happens to be in _e_, and none of his own people or his enemies either in _f_ or _g_, _i_ or _m_, his exit cannot be prevented.

6. Whenever the person who moves the king perceives that a pa.s.sage is free, he must call out _raichi_, and if there be two ways open, _tuichu_.

7. It is allowable to move ever so far at once, in a right line, if the squares in the way be vacant, as from _c_ to _n_.

8. The Swedes and the Muscovites take it by turns to move.

9. If any one man gets between two squares occupied by his enemies, he is killed and taken off, except the king, who is not liable to this misfortune.

10. If the king, being in his own square or castle, is encompa.s.sed on three sides by his enemies, one of them standing in each of three of the squares numbered 2, he may move away by the fourth. If one of his own people happens to be in this fourth square, and one of his enemies in number 3 next to it, the soldier thus enclosed between his king and the enemy is killed. If four of the enemy gain possession of the four squares marked 2, thus enclosing the king, he becomes their prisoner.

11. If the king be in 2, with an enemy in each of the adjoining squares, _a_, _A_ and 3, he is likewise taken.

12. Whenever the king is thus taken or imprisoned, the war is over, and the conqueror seizes all the Swedes, the conquered party resigning all the Muscovites that he had taken.

The Laplanders use the middle bark of the elm for dressing their reindeer skins, but merely by chewing it, and rubbing their saliva on the skins.

They also tan with birch bark, but do not suffer the skins to remain long under the operation, which they say would render them rotten and apt to rend, neither can they spare them very long.

White _walmal_ cloth is procured from Russia, but for want thereof they commonly wear a light grey cloth of the same kind.

Ropes are made of roots of spruce fir in the following manner. Choosing the most slender roots, they sc.r.a.pe off the bark, while fresh, with the back of a knife, holding the roots against the thigh. Afterwards each root is first split with the knife into three or four parts, which are then by degrees separated into a number of very slender fibres; and these, being wrapped round the hand like a skain of thread, are tied together. They are then boiled in a kettle for an hour or two, with a considerable quant.i.ty of wood ashes. While still soft from this boiling, they are laid across the knee, and sc.r.a.ped three or four times over with a knife. At last they are twisted into small ropes. Birch roots serve in like manner to afford cordage for the Laplanders, but more rarely. The latter are more generally used, without being split, for basket-work.

For various articles of furniture the roots of _Tall_ (Scotch Fir, _Pinus sylvestris_) are cut into small boards. The wood of that tree serves for inferior kinds of work, and, amongst other things, for cheese-vats.

The Laplanders sc.r.a.pe with a knife the young and tender stalks of the plant called _Jerja_, (_Sonchus alpinus_, _Sm. Plant. Ic._ _t._ 21.) and eat them as a delicacy, like those of the great _Angelica_ (_A.

Archangelica_), which in the first year of their growth are termed _Fatno_.

A Laplander always places himself at the further part of his hut, and his guest is seated next to him on a skin spread on purpose. The master of the hut is by this means enabled to reach the vessel in which water is kept for drink, and which always stands in the upper part of the hut.

The river Hyttan flows in a perpetual stream both summer and winter. Now if, according to the general opinion, the water of this river were derived from exhalations of the great ocean, collected by the alps of this country, it should cease to run when all the alpine tracts are frozen. The stream must therefore be constantly fed by neighbouring springs.

The names by which the Laplanders distinguish the several times of the day or night are as follows.

Midnight is called in their language _kaskia_. The remainder of the night before dawn, _pojela kaskia_. The morning dawn, _theleeteilyja_.

Sun-rise, _peivimorotak_. Two or three hours after sun-rise, _areiteet_.

The hour of milking the reindeer, which is about 8 or 9 o'clock, _arrapeivi_. Noon, or dinner time, _kaskapeivi_. About 5 or 6 o'clock in the afternoon, _eketis peivi_. Sunset, _peiveliti_. Night, _ia_.

The days of the week are named as follows.

Sunday, _Sotno peivi_.

Monday, _Mannutaka_.

Tuesday, _Tistaka_.

Wednesday, _Kaska vacku_, or middle of the week.

Thursday, _Tourestaka_.

Friday, _Perietaka_.