The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1877-03-03
The Laps.

and are generally honest and indus
trious, with an air of independence and
ghtforwardness Like the poorer
Swedes elsewhere, they are greatly given
to the use of tobacco in all forms; and,
besides smoking and chewing in the
usual approved methods, they actually
eat large quantities of snuff, helping
themselves, as the Highlanders do, with
a horn spoon from box. The women
have pleasant faces, with rather refined
expression. There is a strong family
resemblance among them, and the type
consists in large gray eyes, brown hair,
rather fine compilations, free carriage,
and not ungraceful figure, though with
full waists and large hands and feet.
The older women look worn, but never
have the haggish and almost brutalized
look which is not uncommon in old
women in other countries who have led
hard outdoor lives. The general ex-
preston of countenance is somewhat
pathetic, though they seem contented
with their strange, solitary, and joyless
life; and we could never get any of them
to- confess that they would care to
change it, nor even to complain of what
as it appeared to us, must be the terrible
monotony and hardship of the long dark
winter. In looking at these settlements
and considering the nature of the life,
we seemed to understand more clearly
the position and circumstances of the emf
grants who are gradually pushing
further and further along the shores of
the great rivers Of the American continent,
and carrying into the solitudes of the
immense forests of the West the proofs
Of Anglo-Saxon courage, endurance and
pertinacity. At some of the stations we
saw specimens of the original inhab-
itants of the lands within the Arctic Cir
Gle, in the persons of Lap men and
women of uncertain age, about four
feet high, and dressed in skins, with
blue conical caps on their heads. In
Norway it is said that Laps are looked
upon and treated as an inferior race,
the pariahs of the North; but in Swedish
Lapland there is no appearance of such
distinctions The comfort and even
safety of the settlers depend so much on
their good relations with their Ieighbors
that they have renamed on terms of
equality and friendship. Intermar-
riages are not uncommon, and many of
the present settlers show signs of the
mixture of the races. The population
of Swedish Lapland is said to include
1000 persons of true Lap race, and in
some districts this number is increasing.
The children born in the mountains die
fast, but those who remain in the vii
lagos are healthy. Provision is made
for their instruction, and in common
with the children of the Swedes they all
learn to read and write, though, judg-
ing by the absence of books at the set
Elements, they reap little advantage from
their instruction. The Laps were con-
verted to Lutheranlsm some 100 years
ago, and are said to be strict religionists.
At the present time some kind of revival
is going on among them, faint reflex
of the Moody and Sankey movement in
this country and America. They de-
pend for their living entirely upon their
reindeer, which they take up into the
mountains all the summer, feeding
them in the villages during the winter,
binary food, is no longer obtainable in
the woods. This migration is rendered
necessary by the habits of the reindeer,
which must be near snow to keep in
health. When ON their summer excur-
sions the Laps live in tents made of
rein-skins, lying at night around fire in
the center, hole being left in the roof
for the passage of the smoke. Their
food consists of rein-fesh, fish and
game, and they keep pot, like the gyp-
sizes, constantly on the fire, into which
are thrown all contributions in the way
of edibles, which are thus stewed together
into thick rich soup. In the winter
they move about on their snow-shoes, in
the management of which they are ex-
tremely adroit, shooting down the hills
and in and out of the trees with immense
swiftness and precision. On these shoes
they hunt down both wolves and
bears when these animals, which are
now getting scarce, cross their path;
they kill them with their spears and
knives, getting a reward of fifty kronor
from the Government for each head
killed. The sale of spirits is strictly
prohibited in Lapland, as some years
ago their immoderate use was decimat-