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178 REGNARD’S JOURNEY TO LAPLAND,
to the fame place, which is generally in the immediate neighbourhood of a cataract,
which affords them a great facility in procuring fifh.
It was in one of thefe huts, that we paffed the night: it was covered only with
branches interwoven, which were filled with mofs. We met here two Laplanders,
whom we faluted by giving them our hand and faying, Pouri/?, which is the Lapponian
falutation, and means, Welcome. ‘Thefe poor people faluted us in the fame manner,
and returned our falute by the word Pourift oni, You are alfo welcome. They accom-
panied thefe words, with their ordinary bow, which they performed in the manner of
the Mufcovites, by bending their knees. We did not fail, to give them five or fix
kinds of {pirits for the purpofe of becoming acquainted with them; which they took
fo heartily, that they became intoxicated, and their brain beginning to turn, one of
them wifhed to aét the forcerer, and took his tabor. As this inftrument is the moft
effential point of their fuperftition, you no doubt with, Sir, that I fhould {peak to you of
their religion.
All the world knows, that the people who lived neareft to the north, have always
been addi&ted to idolatry and to magic: the Finlanders in this refpect, furpaffed all
others ; and we may fay, that they were as well verfed in that diabolicalart, as if they
had had for their teachers, Zoroafler or Circé. The ancients knew them tobe fo;
and a Danifh author, in {peaking of the Finlanders, from whom the Laplanders are de-
fcended, fays, Tune Biarmenfes arma artibus permutantes, carminibus in nimbos folvere celum,
latamque aeris faciem trifti imbrium afpergine confuderunt. ‘* The Biarmenfes, having re-
“< courfe to arts inftead of arms, change, by means of their incantations, ferene weather
« into dreadful tempefts, and cover the cheerful face of heaven with gloomy clouds.”
‘This writer informs us, that the Biarmenfes, who were the anceltors of the prefent
Finlanders, were as bad foldiers as they were good magicians. He {peaks of them in
another paflage in thefe terms. Sunt Finni ultimi feptentrionis populi ; vix quidem
habitabilem orbis terrarum partem cultura complent: acer tifdem telorum eft ufus ; non
alia gens promptiore jaculandi peritia fruitur, grandibus et latis fagittis dimicant, incanta-
tionum ftudiis incumbunt, &c. ‘* The Finlanders,” fays he, ‘‘ are the people who
s¢ dwell fartheft towards the north; they live in the moft uninhabitable part of the
*¢ world, and make ufe of arrows fo fkilfully, that there is no other peopie fo adroit
«¢ in drawing the bow ; they fight with large and broad arrows, and give themfelves up
“ to the ftudy of enchantments.”’ If the Finlanders were fo much addicted to magic for-
merly, their defcendants, the Laplanders, are not lefs fo, atthe prefentday. They are
only Chriftians, from policy, and by conftraint. Idolatry, which is much more palpa- _
able, and which affe&ts the fenfes more than the worfhip of the true God, cannot be
rooted out of their affections. ‘The errors of the Laplanders may be clafled under two _
heads ; thofe which arife from their fuperftition and paganifm, and thofe which are
owing to their enchantments and their magic. Their firft fuperftition is generally to
obferve their unlucky days, during which they are unwilling to go to the chace, and
believe that their bows would break on thefe days, which are the days of Saint
Catharine, Saint Mark, and others. They willfcarely venture out on Chriftmas-day,
which they believe to be unlucky. The origin of this fuperftition is that they have
mifunderftood what happened on this day, when the angels defcended from heaven,
and aftonifhed the fhepherds; and they believe that on this day, evil {pirits are abroad
in the atmofphere and might deftroy them. They are alfo fuperttitious enough to
believe that after death, there remains fomething called mnes, of which they are
much afraid, and when any one is killed in a difpute with another, it is neceflary fora
third perfon, to go to the place where he is buried, that he may be enabled to’pra«
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