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168 RIGNARD’s JOURNEY TO LAPLAND.
that fix are found ina family. As foon as they are born they are wafhed in {now till
they are deprived of breath, and then they immerfe them in a bath of hot water : I be-
lieve they do this for the purpofe of hardening them to the cold. As foon as the mother
is delivered fhe drinks a large draught of oil from the whale, and fhe believes that it is
of great ufe to her. It is eafy to know when in the cradle of what fex a child is: if it
is a boy, they hang over its head a-bow and arrows, or a lance, to teach them, even in
the cradle, what ought to be their employment during their lives, and to inform them
that it is their duty to render themfelves expert in their exercife. Over the cradle of
girls they hang the wings of the sopos, which they call rippa, with the feet and the bill,
to infinuate to them from their infancy the advantages of neatnefs and agility. When
the women are pregnant thefe people ftrike the tabor, for the purpofe of knowing what
fex the child will be of: they prefer girls, becaufe they receive prefents in marrying
them, and they are obliged to purchafe their wives.
Difeafes, as I have already mentioned, are almoft unknown among the Laplanders,
and when they are affected with any, Nature is {trong enough to cure them herfelf; and
without the affiftance of phyficians they foon recover their health: however they employ
fome remedies, fuch as the root of the mofs, which they call jee, or that which is deno-
minated ftony angelica. ‘The fap which oozes from their fir-trees ferves them for plaf-
ters, and the cheefe of the rein-deer is their divine ointment. _’They apply thefe remedies
in various manners. ‘They have the gall of the wolf, which they mix with gunpowder,
in fpirits. When the cold has frozen fome part of their bodies, they fpread the cheefe
cut in flices over the part affected, and they are cured by it. The fecond method of
employing the cheefe, both for external and internal remedies, is by inferting a red-hot
iron into the cheefe, which by its heat draws out a kind of oil, with which they rub
themfelves on the part affected ; and this remedy is always followed with a certain and
marvellous fuccefs: it ftrengthens the breaft, removes the cough, and is good for all
contufions; but the ufual remedy for the moft dangerous difeafes is fire: they apply a
piece of charcoal perfectly red to the wound, and fuffer it to remain as long as they are
able, that every thing impure in the fore may be eaten out. ‘This is a cuftom among
the Turks: they have no remedy which they conceive more fovereign.
Thofe who are fortunate enough in France and other countries to arrive at an ex
treme old age, are obliged to fuffer a great deal of inconvenience which it brings
along with it; but the Laplanders are totally exempted from them, and they feel no
infirmity in this ftate, except a {mall diminution of their ordinary vigour: it is even
impoflible to diftinguifh the old men from the young; and white heads are very rarely
to be feen in this country: they always retain their own hair, which is generally red.
But what is ftill more remarkable, one meets with very few old men who are not blind:
their fight, naturally weak, is unable any longer to fupport either the glare of the fnow,
with which the earth is almoft conftantly covered, or the continual fmoke iffuing from
the fire which is always burning in the middle of their huts; they confequently become
blind in their old age.
When a perfon is fick, they have a cuftom of playing on a tabor, of which I fhall
treat afterwards, for the purpofe of difcovering whether the difeafe will terminate fa-
tally; and when they fuppofe themfelves certain of unhappy confequences, and that
the fick perfon is drawing near to his end, they gather themfelves round his bed; and
that they may aflift the foul of the dying in its paflage to the next world, they bring to
him as much fpirits as they can, and drink as long as it lafts, to confole themfelves for
the lofs of their friend, and to excite them to weep. No fooner is he dead than they
abandon the houfe, and even demolifh it, left that which remains of the foul of the de-
ceafed,
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