Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1857-05-21
Eayard Taylor.s Letters.
LEAVING tapLANp.


MroxrovARA, Lapland, Jan. %, 1857.
While at Kautokeino / completed my
Lapp outfit by purchasing scarlet cap,
stuffed with elder down, pair Of 6ollinger,
or re ndecr lcggings, and the komogsr, or
broal boat shaped shoes, filled with dry,
soft hry. and tightly bound around the an
kles. which were worn by every body in
Lapland. Attiredia these garments Imade
very passable Larr. barring few super
fuOus in he's o. statur,, and at once realized
the pruiencc in conforming in ones costume
to the native habits After the first feeling
of awkwardness is over, nothing can be
better adapted to Polar Wister than the
Lapp dress. l walked about at first with
the sensation of having each foot in the mid
die of a large feather bed, but my blood
preserved It's natural warmth, even after
sitting for hours in an open pulk. The
Lollmger, fastened around the thighs by
drawing strings of reindeer sinew, are so
covered by the poesk that one becomes for
all practical purposes, biped reindeer,
and may wallow in the snow without the
possibility of particle getting through his
hide a. s
The temperature was, nevertheless, sin
gularly mild when We set out on our return.
There had been a violent storm of wind
and snow the previous night, after which the
mereurvr,se to 16 deg. above zero. We
waited until noon before our reindecrs could
be collected, and then set off, with the kind
farewell wishes Of the four Norwegian in
habitants Of that place. j confess to feel
ing Of relief when we turned our faces
southwark, and commenced our return to
daylight We had at last seen the Polar
night, the day without sunrise, we had
driven our rein lccr under the arches of
the aurora borealis, we had learned enough
OF the I.apps to convince US that further ac-
quaintance would be of little profit, and it
now seemed time to attempt an escape from
the limbo Of Death into which we had ven
tured Our faces had already begun to
look pale and faded from three weeks of
alternate darkness and twilight, but the
novelty of our life preserved us from any
feeling ofdepression and prevented any per-
ceptible effect upon our bodily health, such
as would assuredly have followed a pro-
tracted experience of the Arctic Winter
Every day now would bring us further over
the steep northern shoulder of the Earth,
and nearer to that great heart Of life in the
south, where her blood pulsates with eter-
nal warmth. Already there was pcrcept-
iblc increase Of the suns altitude, and at
MONDAY thin upper slice of his disc was
, visible for about half an hour o. sitf
1 REINDEER AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS.
The night was cold and
splendidly clear Wewere obliged to leave
/ the river on account of rotten ice, and took
to the open plains, where our deers sank to
their bellies in the loose snow. The lead
ing animals became fractions, and were OBJ
liged to stop every few minutes, until their
paroxysms subsidized. 1 could not perceive
that the Lapps themselves exercised much
| more control over them than we, who were
new to the business The doinesticated
reindeer still retains his wild instincts, and
never fails to protest against the necessity
oflabor. They are possessed by an incor-
rigible stupidity. Their sagacity applies
only. to their animal wants, and they seem
almost totally deficient IN memory They
never become attached to men, and the on
| ly sign Of recognition they show. is some
times to allow certain persons to catch them
more easily than others. In. point of speed
they are not equal. to the horse, and An
hours run generally exhausts them.-
When ons considers their size, however,
their strength and power of endurance seem
marvellous. Herr Berger informed me that
he had driven rcindeer from AIten to