New Orleans daily crescent., 1860-11-12

4 7rnAuIied the HORIZON and prepared for the hunt
/ pIange The wild and mystic verses Of Tegner,
perhaps suggested BY that very spectacle OF ths
| death Of the northern sun, recarred TO me Will
hoding olearness. began to wonder whether
had not been very rash aud absurd in wishing TO
stop winter in Lapland like mole IN IT'S barrow,
began 10 sigh after Gloncsstershlfe, "ns.s sne Sun
would shine out, many day. on the Crisp sn0M
and frostsilsered houghs, when should De ieit
| in Gimnerian darkness.
piunve the red sun had flashed down below
the horizon A heawy twilight m sstls9 s,1 81 T ~
magic over the fair landscape, still gilded by the
smiles of summer, Alas the good fairy. so be-
| peficent, so bright in her rainbow robe, studded
/ with flowers, gone, and KING frest was 70
/ reign over her devastated realms. Hark the long
wailinr cadences of The sweet sad chsnt--an old,
| oii heather chant of the days when Freya was
worshiped, Ereya, at once Venus and Summer Of
this far remote race, in which the Laplanders be-
wall the partial day.
Now for the long, long night! Already, as we
turned to quit the HILL after straning our eyes nm
til The last faint glow had died away. too, already
an icy breeza had sprung up from the dim north.
west, and shivered and wrapped my cloak round
me at the sudden sensation of cold. 1T Is the
snow-windm said an old Lapiander, as we paced
down to the village; .no more flowers for the
| lasses TO braid in their hair this year." | must
confess that felt uncommonly like heightened
/ child left alone in the dark, and regretted my
4 whim for staying among the Laps. Nay, put Tor
l very shnme believe should have proposed to
4 hire Peter Vows boat, before the ice should seal
1 up and river, and start like nrd OF passage
4 in pursuit of the sun The country seemed to me
i TO change in the unwonted twilight; the famlilar
rocks Of the glen, the far-away moorlands, the
/ pine thickets, assumed weird aspect; even the
\ faces of my entertainers looked strange and gro
tesque and their pigmy figures iinpish, in the deep
! shadow.
Then, too, the singular feeling that all this was
4 not dream; that it was real, waking lie that
had actually seen the sun 60 down into an obscu-
rity that to last fer the better part of year
and that was going to try and while away WIN
ter night that wond have given time to Scherazade
herself to exhaust quarter of her budget of sto
| ries-all this bewildered me.
But that night there were high revels held
| among the dwelers In caves. Peter Wow, as ehiei
4 of the village, entertained all the beauty and
wealth (ail the ugliness and poverty as weld Of
4 Kublitz in his hospitable halls underground.
Torches blazed and sputtered; lamps, fed by seal
4 oil and deer's fat were lighted, and hung to every
bracket and projection through all the subterra-
mean dwelling; and at very early hour the mo.
notonous but impatient beating of the Lapland
drum summoned the guests. AllKublitz was there,
4 young and old, in holiday garb. There were
/ games and sweetmeats for the children, dancing
| for the lads and lasses aud abundance of tobacco
gossip and strong liquors for the seniors of the viii
! lage. pet REINDEER lovely niik.white erea.
4 ture, almost hidden by the flowers with which il
was garlanded- led through the rooms by a
rope Of roses held by six young maidens. Sia
4 young hunters followed, each with drawn sword
4 with which they were presently to figure in tbs
4 ancient sword dance Of Scandinavia. The orches
ira, composed of the srangest looking instruments
v still managed-for the Laps are very mnsiea
people-to discourse sweet sounds, now Of VIII
pathos, now almost maddeningly gay and exciting
Il Such hearty, vigorous, agile dancing never be
held.
n Even in the gayest circles Of Stockholm, primi
live capital in which the elegant world has not ye
become too languid for enjoyment, those Laplant
dancers would have been wonders, and yet ther
n was nothing boisterous or ungainly in their move
n ments. Indeed, these were as sprighty and al
most as small as fairies, and had something OF th
fawnlike elasticity and grace Of childhood in al
their motions. felt the thrill of the music awak
forgotten sympathies, aud half wished to dane
too, and regretted that | was too mature and to-
bulky to be fitting partner for one of those 1.-the
H smalllimbed elfns Of Lapiand, who were sweepin
SO trippingly past me. Peter Wow did offer t
Il procure me partner, but | saw, by the twinkl
Il Of his eye, that be meant nothing more than jest
4 and / should have felt, like Gullivar, afraid o
4 crushing the whole Liliputian company Indeed
4 it was marvellous sight, that assembly of small
folks under the level of the EARTH and it put me il
4 mind Of what | had heard of the Daione Sheah o
the Scottish legends, and their revery within somt
i haunted hill. j could hardly help fancying wa
4 really a captive or gnest Of troop of carousins
gnomes, Or that, like the Rhymer 4 had been born,
a away to fairy land, and had but faint prospect
A revsiting the real daylight world again.
Il Peter Wow, the tallest man in the community
had attained the gigantic stature of five feet four
and, with his high red cap set anntily on his gra
locks, his enormous white beard and poustache
moving down like a iTQIen rlVeT, anu MS unliOrI
costume of reddish-bro cloth, looked uncom
monty like the King of the Drows or Gnomes a
II Morse superstitions describe him. The still NOR
dwarfish assemblage presented every variety, frol
Il the grotesque and witehlike ugliness of the oil
4 women to the infantine and diminutive beauty
4 some of the young girls The children were a.
Il most all pretty and rosy Of complexion; but ass
il it seems, comes on with terribly swift strides
among these dwellers of the frozen world, as we
ais with the ann.scorched Asiatic; and looked i
vain for the pleasant matronly faces that fa
i to meet the eye in a temperate climate. Ther
i seemed to be quick transition from delicate yout
i to weird age. Some of the men were fine aotiv
little fellows, wonderfully strong, in spite Of thei
4 pigmy stature, and full OF life and fire.
4 1t has been essayed more than once to rails
troops among the Laplanders, but in vain, for tn
4 little warriors cannot endure the rdcule OF thei
big comrades of Swedish or Morse stock, and end
4 less quarrels are sure to keep garrison in ho
water il a Lap is enlisted. There is the Swedis
Lapland corps of sharpshooters, who serve on sno'
4 Shoes and form a militia on the border; and ther
the sensitive little heroes less exposed to be dc
! rided because their heads can barely touch tn
\ sixty inch standard. The Laps profess to despis
4 allSwedes. Norwegians and Southerners generally
4 as heavy and stupid race, whose large limbs aA
| lofty forms are given them as . compensation 70
| their scanty stock of brains.
And, indeed, the Norsemen always say, " H
who deals with Lap gets the worst Of the bar
| gain y for the small folks have wonderful acute
ness, with all their simple bearing. But beliey
that In their secret hearts the tiny tribe value sz
| and height above all things. | know Peter Wo'
| was prodgiousy vain because his head was With
| an ace of being level with my shoulder; and
| think many young fellow would have bartere
| his youth for my six feet of perpendicular eleva
| tion, which never gained its owner any remarka
| BILE popularity elsewhere.
/ The next morning had surprise indeed.
shout from the upper earth aroused me, an
4 scrambIing to the outer air, ! beheld the rocks
| the black pine capse the mitable moorlands
one dazzling alIpervading sheet Of blinding snow
All gone the fair flowers, the song Birds the un
cultured fruits that offered their profusien every
where blooming heather, and green grass, al
gone buried, until next summer brought day
| light, beneath spotess, nnyarying shroud @
virgin snow. To my great releaf it was not s.
] dark as had expected. a SORT OF hazy simmer
| ing light prevailed, like moon-beams through
mist. The Northern wind blew keen; and eve
as gazed, the binding snowfakes came whirlin
4 down again, and seemed to bury the dead summe
Il deeper at every instant. They are plucking th
wild gooses feathers finely up there, north,n sal
Peter Wow, unconscious that his proyerb was
British as well as a Lapiand one.
We oil laid by our summer clothes, put on ou
manifold wraps Of fur and woolen, and betook U
to winter aYOcations. And now came strang
season. when II was hard to say whether it was ds
or night, or both, or neither. The lamps wer
meyer suffered TO go out; the fiddles and drum
the bonefute and the musk-ox's horn, wer
never silent for three consecutive hours and ther
! seemed no regular times for meals, or sleep, {
work, or recreation. On the contrary, music, an
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