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CONCERNING LAPLAND. 155
pens to lie in his way, without ftoppirg his courfe. The children,
as foon as they are able to walk, climb up the fides of the moun-
tains, and exercife themfelves in the ufe of thefe fkates.
When they travel with their rein-deer, the celerity of their
pace can only be conceived when feen: they drive with equal
expedition up the top of mountains and down them, infomuch,
that the vibration of the reins upon the backs of the rein-deer is
{carcely perceptible to the eye. The Laplanders on the coaft are
exceedingly {kilful in the management of their boats. Our good
miffionary fuppofes this extraordinary agility of the Laplanders to
proceed in a great meafure from the train-oil, which from their
birth conftitutes a principal part of their food. But the fact is,
that from their infancy they are practifed in feats of activity and
bodily exertion : they learn to afcend the mountains, to carry heavy
loads of timber, to hunt the wild, and to follow the tame rein-
deer for confiderable diftances. In this manner they alfo become
inured to fuffering every degree of heat and cold with patience.
It is chiefly by the exercife of hunting that they are rendered
{wift of foot, and their agility is favoured by the fmallnefs of their
ftature. They are content with little, and have minds incapable
of being affected by thofe paffions, which prey upon and dettroy
the bodies of a great part of mankind. They fleep equally on
both fides,* and do not accuftom themfeves to retire to reft be-
* In utramvis dormiunt aurem, nec plumis indormire mollibus magni @ffimant, are
the words of the Bifhop of Drontheim, from whom this particular is borrowed.
It is to be obferved, that in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, it is
ufual to fleep on one feather-bed, and to have another over it inftead of blankets
De, and
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