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CONCERNING LAPLAND. 145
of ages, he thinks himfelf juftified in comprehending under the
name of Laplanders all the people dwelling upon the coafts of
Finland and Norland, who lead a paftoral life, like the other in-
habitants of Norway, as well as thofe families which wander about
from mountain to mountain with their rein-deer.
With refpe&t to the point in queftion, namely, the defcent of
the Laplanders from the Scythians, afterwards called Tartars, the
Bifhop of Drontheim, in his Annotations, obferves, that the Finns,
the neareft anceftors of the Laplanders, are mentioned by Ptolomy,
the geographer, and by the Roman hiftorian Tacitus, whofe de-
fcription of the Finns, the Bifhop might have added, is applicable
in the moft ftriking and important inftances, to the mountain
. Laplanders, and the fhepherds of Norland and Finmark of the
prefent day.
The Bifhop, while he confiders the Laplanders and Finlanders
as originally the Finns or the Finni of Ptolomy and Tacitus, fup-
pofes the Finns themfelves to be defcended from the Scythians or
Tartars, and from that tribe or nation of Tartars known by the
name of Samoeids. The Norwegian, Swedifh, and Ruffian Lap-
landers, he holds to be the fame people.
The Finlanders, or Finnifh Laplanders, are offended, Bifhop
Gunner tells us, at being called Laplanders. This he accounts
for with Scheffer, by fuppofing Jap to be a term of reproach.*
* The Laplanders feem to have been known to Herodotus and other ancient
writers, who have given them the names of Cynocephali, Troglodytes and Pyg-
mies. It is fuppofed that their prefent name was given to them by the Swedes,
who made the firft and principal conqueft of their country. Itis faid to be de-
Vou. IL. U rived
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