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REGNARD’S JOURNEY TO LAPLAND. 1567
We travelled the whole of Friday without ftopping, and were from four o’clock of the
morning, till night, in going three miles; if, indeed, it may be called night where
the fun is always in fight, and where no diltinction can be made betwixt to-day and
to-morrow. .
We went more than half of the way on foot, in confequence of the dreadful tor-
rents, whichit was neceflary to pafs. We were even obliged to carry our boat in fome
places ; and we had the pleafure of feeing at the fame time, two little boats defcending
in the midft of the cataracts. ‘The fwifteft and the lighteft bird could not fly with fuch
impetuofity ; the fight cannot even follow the courfe of thefe boats, which hide
themfelves from view, and at one time dive into the waves where they feem buried, and
at another time rife to an aftonifhing heigth. During this rapid courfe, the pilot is
f{tanding, and employs all his {kill to avoid ftones of an extraordinary fize, and to
pafs through the middle of rocks, in a fpace no larger than the breadth of the boats,
which would be driven into a thoufand pieces, if they touched them in the flighteft
degree.
We killed to-day in the wood, two young pheafants, three ducks, and two teal,
without going out of our way, during which, we were very much incommoded by
gnats, which are the curfe of this country, and which nearly drove us to defpair.
The Laplanders have no other method of defending themfelves againft thefe curfed
creatures, than by filling the places of their refidence with {moke ; and we obferved,
on the road, that to preferve their cattle from thefe troublefome infects, they light a
large fire, in the place where their cows, (which are all wholly white,) graze amidit the
fmoke of which they place themfelves, and thus chafe away the gnats, which are un-
able to remain.
We purfued the fame method, and fmoked ourfelves as foon as we arrived at the
houfe of a German, who has refided thirty years in the country, and receives the tri-
bute of the Laplanders for the King of Sweden. He told us, that this people were
obliged to be in acertain place, appointed for them in the preceding year, to bring the
neceflary tribute; and that they generally preferred the winter feafon on account of the
convenience which it afforded them, in travelling, by means of their rein-deer, upon
the ice. ‘The fum which they pay is very fmall; and it is the policy of the King of
Sweden, as he is defirous that they fhould remain his tributaries, not to impofe on
them vexatious burdens, left this people, deftitute of any fixed refidence, and to whom
the whole of Lapland is a dwelling-place, fhould remove to the territories of other
Princes, on account of the troublefome exactions to which they were fubjected.
Some of thefe people, however, pay tribute to different countries ; and fome-
times, a Laplander will be tributary to the King of Sweden, that of Denmark, and the
Grand Duke of Mufcovy ; they will pay to the firft on account of refiding within his
territories ; to the fecond, for permiflion to fifh on the coaft of Norway, which be-
longs to him ; and to the third, that they may be allowed to hunt upon his lands.
Nothing worthy of obfervation befel us during our journey on Saturday; but we
had no fooner arrived at the refidence of a peafant, than we were aftonifhed with find-
ing every body bathing. Their baths are made of wood, like all their houfes. One
oblerves in the middle of this bath, a great mafs of ftones thrown together without
order, except that they leave a hole in the middle, in which the fire is lighted. Thefe
{tones being once heated, communicate warmth to the whole place; but this heat
augments toa great degree, when they proceed to throw water upon the flint-{tones,
which emitting a ftifling fmoke, caufe the air which is breathed in thefe places to be
warm as fire. But what furprifed us moft in entering this bath, was finding boys and
girls,
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