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12 6 Of the Laplanders Difeafes ,
Sacrifice over their friend, whilst he was alive : when they had Spent a
whole day in qnaffing, they camme to the fiek mans Hut,and by that time
found him quite dead. This is an example of the latest date , that hath hapj
penedin theSe our daies, Srom whence we may learn how just and
reasonable the c:mplaints were, which were premiSed to the Charter of
Gujla-tus Adophus, concerning the Lapland School. Furthermore, it is cuftomary
if any die, of whatever diftemper,all instantly SorSake the Cottage where
the departed perfon lies; for they imagine ( v hich is elSewhere Shewn ) that
there Survives fomething of the deceafcd, fuch as the ancient Latins called
Mines, and that that was not alwaies benign , but fometimes hurtfull: for
this reafon they are afraid of the corps of the decfaSed. And if the perfon
departed were of the richer fort: they wrap his corps in a linnen garment,
if a poor mean man, in a woollen tattered one, fo as to cover over as well
the head, as all the other parts of the body, this they call Waldmar. So
indeed do they that are more obfervant of the Chriftian rites then
ordinary there; as for the others, they cover their dead with their own veftments,
and thofe too the best they had v. hen alive, as N. Matthias Steuchius aSTures
me by a Letter, and confirms it too by a late example that a perfon worthy
to be credited, related to him by an Inhabitant of Vnderfaok., a near
neighbour to Lapland. The body of the dead, faies he , they cover with the beSl
garments he had alive, andJhut it up in a Biere. They lay the corps fo wrap’d
up in a Coffin , or funeral Cheft, which is done by one peculiarly intreated
to undertake the employment, and who muft receive*^the neareft kinfman
to the deceafed perSon a ring of Alchimy, and wear it faftned to his right
arm. Twe reafon of fo tying this ring is, becanfe they beleive it to be a
prefervative againft the harm the Manes of the deceafed perfon may
other-wife bring upon them, for this reafon he is fain to wear this fame ring
till the Burial be over, I fuppofe, becaufe then they think the ghost may
be more quiet, which is theancisnt fuperftition as well of Greeks as
Romans. The Coffin is ufuallymade of the hollowed trunk of a tree, when
they have not wherewithall to make a Coffin , as is common with them that
dwell in the barren Mountains near Norway , they lay the corps of the
deceafed on a Carr or Sledga, which they call Akja, inftead of a Coffin.
The place of their Buriall in ancient times , before they turned Chriftians,
was the firft convenient place they met withall for that purpofe, efpecially
a Wood. As for them that dwell at a confiderable distance from the Church
at this day, they leave not off the custom of burying them any where where
they first light, with the Sledge too, efpecially if there are only. b<y^e Rocks,
and no Trees to be feen. Others on every fide beferthe Sledge with the
corps too with stocks of Trees, both above and below, on each Side, fo as
that it may not contract filthinefs or moulder, nor the corps be torn in
pieces, or devoured by wild B:afts.
There are fone befides that lay them in Caves, and flop up the mouths
of them with ftones. But what Peucer writes that they dig a hole, and lay
their dead bodies under their hearth, thereby to efcape the hauntings of
Ghofts, that is neither known nor heard of by the Laplanders : " Whereas
" faies he, they are ftrangely frightned and haunted with the Ghofts of their
" kindred after death, they provide againft that by burying their bodies
under their hearths: by this only remedy they guard and proted rhem-
" felves
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