Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1871-05-25

cracks Of these petrltled trees within a
few months, just as they do into the
crevices of any rock that gives them a
convenient shelter. Instead of having
lived for a hundred thousand years,
these little reptiles had probably not
celebrated more than one anniversary
of their birthday. The Petrifed Forest
is an important fact, and the. world will
| probably hear much of it from learned
men. 1t is within two hundred yards
of the Calistoga and Santa Rosa stage
road, and tourists leaving here in the
morning can see all there is of it and be
back here by noon the next day.
WHAT WE DID AT QUICKJOCK.
| Interesting Sketch of Life in Lapland.
In the last number of Chambers Jour
nal there is a sketch of travel in Lap
land worth reading. The writer, speak
ing of little inland town, says:
"Quiclzjock wore its gayest aspect.
The Capps had come hither from all
parts to attend the service in the little
church. st. Johns Day is their great
1 festival, on which they commemorate
at least 20 mouths to supply with food,
and every morning two boats set off
with their nets to the lake for the days
supply. They would return about IL a.
M, with large quantity of fish, but it
! was never too large for the consumers,
who would each of them eat six pounds
as easily as one pound if set before them.
Nothing was ever left for the MOI row.
They subsist entirely on fish, milk and
bread. The harmless little people
pleased the travellers immensely. There
was nice little COUPLE says Captain
Hutchinson, we took a great fancy to-,
and after much consultation, decided
to our. satisfaction which was the
boy and which the girl. AS both men
and women haye long hair, and
dress alike in high blue cloth billycock
hats, and reindeer skin coats and leg
ings, it is almost impossible to disting
uish them. We asked them how old
they were, and whether they belonged
to the school. The laugh was greatly
against us when we found the gentle
| man to be s26 and the lady, his wife, "a
| instead of IA and II, as we had settle
them to be- In this lovely living Lii
| Hput potatoes are the size of walnuts,
lamb steaks as big as larks, and a calf
about the dimensions of a large cat.
No doctor is within a hundred miles, for
| the Lapps are never i'll until just before
| they die; and the one doctor even at
| tients. The effects of climate are very
curious to watch. The summer had set
| in, and everything seemed to be grow
| ing by steam; though Quickjock lies at
| such an altitude that an hours walk up
| any of the mountains around would
bring one to perpetual snow. With the
| warmth come the mosquitoes, which are
as troublesome to the natives as to
visitors, and are prepared against by
covering the tops of the chimneys with
sods of earth, and kept out by never
opening the windows at all, and the
doors only for the indispensable amount
| of ingress and egress. .fI
"On Sunday morning the travellers
had grand opportunity for seeing the
whole of the little settlement dressed in
their best. The Lapps were in their
Ego-to-meeting' skins and numerous
beads. and jewels. The Swedes were in
black cloth dress suits. Even the
children wear swallow-tailed coats and
| trousers and a more comical looking
little creature could not be imagined
than a tiny boy of four years old whom
we saw airing himself with his back to
the fire, his hand undershis coat tails,
lust like the good old English gentle
man all of the olden timel There are
seats in the church for one hundred and
fifty, but twenty persons composed the
congregation. Three hours Journey
from the little town is Waldi Spiket,
with a conical peak, surmounting a
sheer precipice of 200 feet, and range
of snow-clad mountains rising one above
the other beyond it. There is tirst-rate
shooting to be had in the neighborhood,
piarmigon, hares, wood grouse and dot
terel; and in the lowlands in front of
the village, golden-eye, widgeon, teal,
scamp, velvet duck, etc. All this, with
nothing to pay, no lease to be asked,
and nothing to be desired but an Eng
lish dog Everywhere in the forest are
strange sights and strange birds, which
have no fear of man, which whistle as
one passes, and, though frightened for
a moment at the report of ones gun,
fly off for only few yards, and then
return, and twitter and chirp as before
"The ants in Lapland are three times
as large as our common ant. Their
nests are hillocks of fir sprigs and rub
bish, often four feet high, the inside a
mass of eggs and ants; we'll beaten
roads diverge from them in every direc-
ton, like the lines of railway from Lon
| don in Bradshaw. 'These ants says
the writer, 'cross the little streams and
| brooks by means of natural bridges.
One day l was jumping over a brook,
ana brushed with my head and shOul-
| ders two willow branches which met
over the water; in an instant was
| covered with ants, which were making
their way across the bridge which had
| disturbed XII.
"After the travellers had sojourned for
a week at the pastors house, Captain
Hutchinson wrote note to him in his
best Swedish, inclosing bank notes for
27 shillings, for six days board and
lodging, and asking permission to re-
main another week. The pastor bor-
rowed his guests dictionary, and, al
though entirely unacquainted with Eng
| lish, concocted the following answer:
WMaster Captain: Much thanks for
generous paiment. Master and Mistress
fain may to be here than one week
With humility, l.. LEsTADIUs.'
"The travellers remained fortnight,
and were sorry to take leave of all but
the mosquitoes. When one reads of
the glorious scenery, the splendid
weather, the simple, healthful life, the
innocent, friendly, honest people, and
the delightful rest and insulation from
| the turmoil of civilized life, with entire
freedom from savagery, it is not surpris-
ing to learn that the travellers turned
awav with raluctance from Ouickiock ;,