Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-12-19
HltsreIIanecus
From u roylor's Letters.
ARCTIC LIFE.

Ono OF the stations on this coast, named Makur,
consisted of q few h~shesmeu's huts, at the bottom
of a dismal rocky height. There was no grass to
be seen, except some tufts springing from the
earth with which the roots were covered, and it
was even difficult to see where so much earth had
been scraped together. The background was q
hopelessly barren hill, more than half enveloped
in snow. And this was midsummer--an human
beings spent their lives here! Those people
surely deserve to enter Paradise when they de-
remarked to my friend, "for they live in hell
while upon earth" mot for that he answered,
'but because il is impossible for them to commit
sin. They cannot injure their neighbors, for they
have none. They cannot steal, for there is moth
ing to tempt them. They cannot murder, for
there are none Of the usual incentives to hate and
revenge. They have 50 hard u struggle to live,
that they cannot fall into the indulgence Of sense
so that If there is nothing recorded in their favor,
there is nothing against them, aud they m
the next life with flank books"
.ra X
vadso is a town of about 500 inhabitants, with
q secure though shallow harbor, at present crowd
ed with fishing vessels and Russian traders from
the White Sea. 1t lies on the bleak bill side,
without a tree or bush, or a patch Of grass large
enough to be seen without close inspection and its
only summer perfume is that Of the dried fish. ]
saw in gardens attached to one or two houses q
few courageous radished aud some fool 20
tatoes, which had ve6tured above the ground with
out the least chance of living long enough to bios
som. The snow had been four feet deep in the
streets in the beginning of June, and in six weeks
it would begin to fall again. A few forlorn cows
were hunting pasture over the hills, now and then
looking with melancholy resignation at the strings
of Goldfish heads hanging up to dry, on the broth
of which they will be fed next winter. / took a
walk and made a sketch during the afternoon. but
the wind was so chill that l was glad to come back
shivering to cur quarters.
y 4
Our windows commanded n full view of q grog
shop across the way, where drunken Lapps were
turned out with astonishing rapidly. This is the
marriage months OF the Lapps, and the town was
full of young couples who had come down to be
Joined, with their relatives and friends, all in their
gayest costumes. Through the Intervention of
the post MASTER procured two women and a child
as subjects for a sketch. They were dressed in
their best, and it was impossible not to copy the
leer Of granfed vanity lurking in the corner of
their broad mouths. The Summer dress consisted
of a loose gown Of bright green cloth, trimmed
ON the neck and sleeves with bands of scarlet and
yellow, and n peculiar head dress, shaped like a
helmet, but with a broader and 6atter crest, round
ed in front. This also, was covered with scarlet
cloth, and trimmed with yellow end blue. They
were greatly gratifed with the distinction, and all
the other Lapps, as in Kautokeino, would have
willingly offered themselves. | find the same
physical characteristics here as there-a fresh rud.
dy complexion, inclining to tawny bright blue
eyes, brown hair, high cheek bones, and mouths Of
enormous width. They are not strikingly below
thu average size. lleine says in one Of his mad
songs;
"In Lapland the people are dirty
Flat-headed, and broad mouthed and small;
They squat round the fire while roasting
Their fishes, and chatter, and squall."
which is as good a description of them as can be
packed into a stanza. On the present occasion
they were all drunk, in addition. One Of them
lay for a long time at the door, with his legs
doubled under him as he iell, the others, stepping
over his body as they went in and out. These
poor creatures were openly and shamelessly allow
ed to drug themselves as long as their money last
ed. No 'Mouder the race is becoming extinct
when the means of destruction is so freely of
8 cred. ttt.fs .-
- ~ y n y y
am tired of this u%neniing daylight, ant
would willingly exchange the pomp Of the Arctic
midnight for he starlit darkness of home. W.
are confused by the loss of night we lose the per
ceRtion of time. One is never sleepy, but simply
tired, aud after a sleep Of eight hours by sunshine
wakes up as tired as ever. His sleep at least i;
broken and irregular be substitutes a number o
short maps, distributed through the twenty-toul
hours. for the one natural rep use, and finally gets
into a state Of general uneasiness and discomfort
A Hammerfest merchant, who has made trequen'
voyages to Spilzenbergen, told me that in the latl
tude of 80 deg. he never knew certainly whether
it was day or night, and the cook was the only per
son on board who could tell him.
Al first, the nocturnal sunshine strikes you a:
being wonderfully convenient. You lose nothing
Of the scenery ; you can read and write as usual
you need never be in q hurry because there is
time for everything. 1t is not necessary to d.
your days work in daytime, for no night cometh
s. You are never belated. and somewhat of the stress
4p- of life is lifted from your shoulders. But, after
asc time, you would be glad of an excuse to stop see
ing, aud observing, and thinking-and even Of en-
3 joying. There is no compulsire rest, such as dark
ness brings-no sweet isolation, which is the bes
refrcshment of sleep. You lie down in the broad
day, and the summons Arise !" attends on ever