Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Travels through Lapland - Chapter XI - Conclusion
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
THROUGH LAPLAND. 131
To the enlightened philofopher Lapland prefents throughout,
fubjects of reflection and contemplation *—no arts flourith here
—you no where meet with temples, houfes, wrecks of columns,
or of other monuments. The antiquary walks forth amidft the
ruins of edifices, that he may learn the hiftory, and admire the
actions of former times. In Lapland, the philofopher’ has an
opportunity of ftudying among wandering tribes the firft elements
of focial life ; of fociety in its moft ancient and primitive form—
he comes not here for the purpofe of admiring human produc-
tions, but for that of contemplating nature, the order and har-
mony which prevail in the creation, the fixed and unchangeable
order of things, and the wifdom of Providence that is every where
confpicuous ; he comes for the purpofe of enlarging in thofe de-
ferts the bounds of his knowledge, of animating his piety, and pre-
paring the way for improving his future happinefs. What a
journey is that to Lapland, to a traveller from the South! What
* It is an important queflion in natural philofophy, how far the opinion of
Mairan, Buffon, Baillie, and others, concerning what they term central heat, is
founded on facts. It is afked, was there ever a priod fince the formation of the
earth, when the regions of the North were warmer than they are at prefent? Can
we fuppofe that there has been a change of climates, and that in the courfe of
ages an-effential difference has taken place in the temperature of the atmofphere ?
Thefe queries would naturally prefent themfelves to a perfon travelling in Lap-
land ; but I am forry to acknowledge, that I have met with nothing that might
tend to.anfwer them. So farIcan fay, that during the fhort {pace of time I was
in Lapland, I did not difcover any thing that could be confidered as ‘confirming
fo fublime a theory. I faw no hot fprings, nor fimilar vefliges of a warmer tem-
perature ; nor did I perceive any traces of a greater population, nor any indica-
tions of ery remote inhabitants, by remains of art, and fragments of antiquity.
SHz other
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
