The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1893-10-16
KNocK.ABoUr NOTES.

have learned at last what the mos
ouito's business is in this world. His
mission is to be shepherd dog to the
reindeer of Lapland. His performances
on the New Jersey coast in the bathing
season are playful vagabond departure
from the strict line OF duty and useful
labor This new appreciation of the
mosquito dawned on mo in the pleasant
Midway Pliisance, where the duilest
cannot help learning new things and
seeing old ones in new lights.
1t is a sudden transition from the
slave coast OF Africa to the northwest
corner OF tho map Of Europe, the land
OF tho Laps, where the daylight lasts
for months and the night is long with
out day-dawn. These odd nomads
inhabit region that stretches forseven
hundred miles from east to west, lies
largely within the Arctic circle and be-
longs in part to Norway, to Sweden and
to Russia. Tho governmental lines are
now understood with reasonable &c.
curacy. but it has been the fortune OF
the lap 10 pay tribute TO two, some
times to all OF these countries at once, q
practical way OF getting on well with
superior race. Remembering where we
stand we tread lightly, lest the thing
tip up with US and dump US III the
Arctic ocean.
1t would be interesting to know moro
about these runty folk than can be
learned in the Worlds Fair village,
more than most OF US know from our
reading In way philologists come
to the rescue, telling US that the Lap
pish tongue is one OF the many
branches OF tho widespread Ural- Al
taic, or Turanian, which has played so
prominent part in the east, spoken
to-day in some OF its related forms by
forty millions of people from tho At
lantic to the Pacific in northern Europe
and northern Asia, aud from the Arctic
ocean to the Mediterranean, in nearly
the whole OF Asiatic Russia and part OF
European Russia, in Persia, Asia Minor,
European Turkey and Hungary. The
Laps have no history except as scandi.
nayians have recorded it for them, but
they have legends, among them one
telling how, in the long long ago, they
came from far away to the eastward.
There is no way OF knowing TO how re.
mote a period this misty legend relates.
1t may cover years by the thousands.
There is about the Lap nothing that
would relate him to the GermOnic stock
and very much that suggests the Tar.
tar. For nino centuries he has called
himself Christian, AMI since the re.
formation the scandinavian Lap has
been counted among tue Professionals.
lie has absorbed some OF tho Scandina.
Wan Language, chiefly the names and
uses OF articles which have come to him
through Scandinavian contact. There
are rich tongues OF the great linguistic
family to which he belongs. but can
not discover that there is any richness
IN the Lappish, nor, from the primitive
life Of the Laps, could thero well he,
But my friend with whom am trying
to exchange some thoughts in the sign
language. has more than three hundred
Lappish words relating to tho reindeer.
uo knows some Swedish and thinks we
may strike common gut on that lcyo
"Svensk?' he asks, looking M hope
fully. Tor no wants TO talk. mo, my
esteemed Arctic friend, that is another
part OF NV early education that was
neglected" IIo understands the mega