Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1873-07-09
lapland,
Tho People ana tho Reindeer.

A writer in London "Society" dcs-
cribes what he saw i'm Lapland, lie
stood at the door OF a tent perhaps
eight feet In diameter, with fire In
its centre, above which was q a>holc In
the roof to serve MS means of exit
for tho smoke. lilo coljectured that
such tent might accommodate two
or three, pefchance four persons, and
waited to SEQ how many would
emerge.
Onc comes forth, n man, dressed I'm
u garment OF skin, brown and rusty,
with tall cap, also brown aud rusty,
which has q long projecting peak.
Spanyles of brass and OF her barbarous
lornaments adorR his person, and n
knife hangs ut his side. His face is
tanned TO the color of his dress OF
skins; his expression Is one Of low
cunning and arrant knaverv, and his
blcared eyes, that arc watering from
tho smoky atmosphere in which he
has bccn sitting, lends to his hang
dog face an appearance of dissipation
that is melancholy to see. Is there
anything of poetry about this crca-
ture! Poetry! there is nothing but
dirt.
But he is followed by another ami
NAL of the same type-an old woman,
who grins, and sniirks, and chatters ;
an undesirable, filthy old hag. Then
follows young woman, another
man, a third woman, two more men ;
and there are still an old man aud
two women in tho tent We have
been dcceivrd by the chroniclcrs OF
Lapland traditions, if these are fair
specimens of the people. They arc q
low and filthy herd, who are not in.
odorous. ...
The reindeer are good specimens oi
the animal. Some of the number arc
fine, handsome beasts, with tall
branching amtlers, that reach above
ones head, bu, mostly they are no,
so large, their size hardly exceeding
that OF Il young calf. Many are dur
b:own, shading oiffo white under thu
belly and round the head but til,
greater proportion arc of u pcculia
mouse color, relieved in tho sam
manner with white. The hair is Ion;
and thick, in such dense masses OH tn
creatures sides as to be Of surprisin;
softness. They certainly require
warm covering for in the extreme o
winter it frequently occurs that the!
must endure u coldncss Of tempcra
turc which, measured on the scale o
Fahrenheit, would be represented by
perhaps $50 degrees Of frost. Sucl
cold is of the most intense severity
but it is often reached i'll Swccdisl
Lapland; it is, i'll fact, far colder ther,
than Oh the north. cost of old Norway
where the sea is never frozen up
colder even than the very cX
trcme North, where the Arctic cxpc
ditions have wintcrcd.
The hair of the reindeer seems Il
be but indifferently fastened to Tho
skin, and is perpetually falling OF
The animal is i'll fact, in Il chroni,
state ofmoult although not, of course
to such an extent for it to be apparen
beyond the mere signs of loose Aai
OH the ground.
The process of catching the anima,
is very pretty. The wary old woman
prepares the rope in her black ali,
shrivcled hands, casts glance rouut
the head before singing out her vic
tim; then, with a dcxtrous throw
which seldom misses its aim. she fling
the moose round the selected animal
horns, and, ''hauling in the slack,
has the reindeer most secure prison
er. She then knots the rope abou
the animals. nose, aud ties it tirInl,
to u tree; after which she directs he
attention to another member of In
herd.