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184 REGNARD’S JOURNEY TO LAPLAND.
« Tornotrefch begins to form a river, ona certain ifland in the middle of the cataract
“¢ called Dara, Seytan {tones are found, placed in regular order, and bearing the human
“form. ‘The firlt is of the fize of a tall man, and four others, fomewhat lefs, placed at
“its fide: every one of them hasonits head a kind of little hat; and becaufe it is very
<¢ difficult, and even dangerous, to approach this ifland in a boat, the Laplanders have
** for a long time paft ceafed to vifit this altar; and they cannot underftand how it has
“* been poflible to adore thefe gods, and in what manner thefe {tones have been conveyed
“thither.” We approached this altar, and perceived rather a large heap of rein-deer’s
horns, than the gods who were behind. ‘The firft was the thickeft and the largeft: it
was not at all fhaped inthe human form, and I cannot well fay what it refembled; but
this I can fay, that it was very greafy and very dirty, in confequence of the blood and
fat with which it was covered. This one was called Seyta: his wife, his children, and
fervant were ranged on his right fide in regular order; but all thefe ftones had no
other fhape than what they received from nature, when expofed to a fall of water :
they were as thick as the firft, but much fhorter. All thefe {tones, and particularly
that which reprefented Seyta, were placed upon branches of the birch-tree which had
been lately cut; and there was to be feen on one fidea mafs of carved pieces of wood,
upon which fome characters were engraved. We obferved one in the middle which
was much thicker and taller than the reft; and this was, as our Laplanders informed
us, the ftaff which Seyta employs when on a journey. A little behind all thefe gods
there were two others, thick, greafy, and covered with blood, under whom there was,
as well as the reft, a number of branches: thefe were nearer the river than the others ;
and our Laplanders told us that thefe gods had been thrown feveral times into the water,
and that they had always been found again in their places. Some time after I faw a
circumftance contradictory of the information of Tornzus. He fays, in the firft place,
that this {pot is no more frequented by Laplanders, in confequence of the difficulty of
approaching it; and it is on this account that it is held in fuch great veneration by them,
becaufe, according to them, the Seytan gods take delight in places difficult of accefs, or
even inacceflible, as is evinced by the facrifices which they make at the bottom of the
mountains where they imbue the ftone with the blood of the victim, and throw it to
thofe places which they are unable to reach. But according to the aflurances of our
Laplanders, this place is at prefent as much frequented as formerly; and this we were
induced to believe, by the green leaves which {till remained on the branches which
fupported thefe ftones, and by the frefh blood with which they were {till {prinkled.
With refpeét to the hats which Tornzus. mentions the gods had upon their heads, they
confift merely of a flat figure which is at the top of the ftone, and juts out a little from
it: but only the two firft, which reprefent Seyta and his wife, have this appearance ; the
reft being merely ftones of a long fhape, full of protuberances and holes, and ending
in a point, they reprefent the children of Seyta and all the reft of his houfehold. In
fine, the altar is compofed folely of a fingle rock, which is covered with grafs and mofs
like the reft of the ifland, with this difference, that the blood fpilt, and the quantity of
wood and bones of the rein-deer, render the place more frequented.
Notwithftanding all that our Laplanders could fay to prevent us from carrying off
thefe gods, we failed not to diminifh the number of Seyta’s family, and to take each of
us one of his children; while they failed not to threaten us, and to call down impreca-
tions on our head, by afluring us that our journey fhould be unfuccelfsful, if we excited
the wrath of their gods. If Seyta had been thinner and lefs heavy, I fhould have car-
ried him off with his children; but having taken him in my hand, it was with great
difficulty that I could move him from the ground. The Laplanders obferving this, con-
’ fidered
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