The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-12-10
(By Rev. N. p. Tuleen)

On the morning of July s we lef
for Abiskoiokk on the shore of LAX
ITorneo-and stopped at the Touris
hotel. At various stations along tn
line we had seen the Laps, but W
had not seen how they lived, as w
had failed at two previous occasion
to find them because they had move,
their tents away. Therefore we tool
train to kaisepakte and from Their
we walked two kiometers up thu
mountain to, a small plateau on til,
north side the mountain wher,
ten Lapp families lived.
When reaching the place, the Laps
sent their dogs at us which frightened
my wife and boy, but l told then
to be quiet and after a while the
dogs quieted down.. Then the children
! from some of the tents or "kotas'
came out | gave the children cor
each. At once they reported at the
'kotas" and five young men came out
who gave me permission to take one
! photograph of the "kotas" | wished
to photograph them, but they asked
for kron each, so [ saved my plate
for cheaper objects. Only one Lapr
could speak little Swedish.
When leaving we were invited to
drink coffee in one of the tents.
and my boy stepped in and thanked
them for their kindness, but we had to
leave in order to take the. next train
F., to the Tourist hotel.
| The frame work of their tents is
covered with skins of the reindeer
Each one of the family has his or
her place in the tent
At the center of the tent is the
fireplace. over which the kettle hangs
on an iron chain or hook. Innermost
of the tent sits the husband and at
his left his wife; next to the hus-
band sit the sons and next to the
wife sit the daughters If the Lapp
has any servants, they have their
places at the opposite sides of the
doorway and right in front, inside
of the door lays the dogs.
The Lapps have a good market for
their curios made out of the horns
and bones of the reindeer as the tour
lists are very anxious to have SOU
verirs from different places.
1t the Tourist hotel we met ravel-
ers from America, England, Germany,
France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and
Finland. Right by the hotel is the
Torneo lake and every afternoon a
steamer takes out passengers to va
rious places of interest.
After supper we walked about one
and a nalf miles up the Nuolga noun
tain. We stood watching the sun from
ll:3O to one o'clock at midnight
fighting the mosquitoes.
Along the sides OF the best trail
the rocks are marked with, red and
white paint and where there are no
rocks poles We're placed, to guide the
travellers. In spite of, this. our party
lost the trail when going down the
mountain but we separated and in
less than half an hour we found the
right trail again.
carried Lawrence out to see the mid
night sun according to agreement, and
having seen the sun he, looked towards
the south and said: 81 see the mid
night moon ALSO" which was correct.
We left Abiskoiokk at ii a. m. on
the 9th of July and came to Boden
at 9:30 in the evening SO tired out
that we concluded to stop there over
the night. The following morning at
six o'clock we continued our jour
ney south, arriving at the city of
Solefteo at nine in the evening.
Here We had the first but not the
last difficulty in getting lodgings. The
hotels being crowded, we found a pri-
vate family where we stayed. Tips
are expected everywhere; even at
places where it says ''no tips" the
servants look for them.
We stopped at Solefteo over Sunday,
attending church in the morning and
lin the afternoon. l spoke at a Sun
day school fest. Had supper at the
parsonage.
On Monday morning at seven o'clock
we left SolefteO on a small steamer
going down the Ongermana river, be-
ing the most beautiful river of north
ern Sweden. We changed boats at
Hernosand and came to the city of
Sundswall in the evening. This is
the lumber region of Sweden. All the
rivers were filled with logs and saw
mills here and there. At Sundswall
are twenty eight sawmills, but 1 could
not find out how many planning mills
The scenery along the rivers is sim
|ply fine.
After seeing parts of the city of
Sundswall we left on the evening
train arriving at Bollnas at one
o'clock in the morning.
Stopping at a hotel the remainder
Iof the night, we left at 1885 a. m
for the historical city of Mora in
Dalarne. There we visited the histori-
cal places of the King Gustaf Vasa
the old church tower and the monu-
ment of the late president of the
Swedish Lutheran Augustana synod OF
North America, Rev. DR.. Sward. In the
evening we crossed lake Silian ON a
steamer to Rattvik, the finest sum-
mer resort in the province of Dalarne
There we met the Rev. DIR. G.. j. Petri
of Minneapolis, Mimi, who was visit