New Britain herald., 1923-04-27

may cross from Sweden in summer
 and move to Norways northwest coast
 and in the winter may cross from
 Norway to inland Sweden,
 Aside from the real dwarf peoples,
 such as the pygmies of central Africa, | the Lapps are the smallest people in
 the Eastern Hemisphere. Their aver
 age height is in the neighborhood Of | four feet, seven inehes--a physical
 condition ascribed to the age-long
 wanderings of their ancestors In the
 frozen, cheeress region of the north.
 It has been suggested that the Lapps
 were the first inhabitants of the frozei
 zone after the great glacial sheet of the Ice Age receded and made North ern Europe habitable. Many centuries ago they are supposed to have lived throughout the Scandinavian peninsu- la, but with the arrival of other peo- pies they were forced farther north.
 Life Ccntcrcd About Reindeer
 ''fhe reindeer Is the typical animal of I.apland, and about 1t their life has centered for ages. It carries them upon it's back and draws their loads, gives them milk and cheese and meat for food, clothes them with it's skins, and furnishes materials for imple- ments and utensils from it's bones. The typical life of a Laplander has ever been that of nomadic herder, living in tents and following his herds to new locations when seasonal changes and pasturage necessities dic- tated.
 The Lapps have been decreasing in numbers in late years, and Lap land is now far fram being a land peopled by Lapps and still less by Lapp nomads. Tn Swedish Lapland. for ex-. ample, only about seven per cent of the inhabitants are Lapps. It is the pushing in of more settled people that has made life so hard for the rowing aborigines. And there has been a desertion of nomadism by some Lapps. Where once I.app' and reindeer herdsman' were synonomous, there are now numerous settled, agricul- tural Lapps; and others who fish for Q living. Some have turned miners in the rich iron fields of Swedish Lap land.
 Helped American Industry
 Christianity was taken to the Lapps only in the last few centuries, and there are observers who still question whether their somewhat con- fused religious ideas are more strong ly marked by Christian or pagan practices. The Russian Lapps espe- cially seem to insist on thorough go- ing pragmatism in their religion. It, is told of those along the Arctic coast that they make offerings at the shrine of Boris Glob when starting on fish ing expedition, and that if they are the straightaway retrieve their offerings! These same Russians Tapps, up to few decades ago, pre- 1 fe rred to steal their brides from an obtain her by purchase or persuasion, 1
 'The United States is largely in- debted to Lapps for an important and | rapidly growing industry The first | efforts to introduce reindeer into l Alaska were not very successful be- cause of lack of expert knowledge 1 In breeding. and herd management 1 Several score Lapps were induced to | go to Alaska to take charge of the | in 1898, and their skill gave reindeer raising there a great boost | The natives learned from the Lapps and now hundreds of thousands of reindeer in Alaska are turning other wise useless moss into food and cloth- ing materials for the territory and l the States as well"'