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192 REGNARD’S JOURNEY TO LAPLAND.
to have fome certain proof from France, in proof of the miffion of his demon; and
this was the ftumbling-block, of all the forcerers, whom we had yet confulted. This
perfon who was confidered very expert at his profeflion, aflured us, that he had
formerly been able to do what we defired ; but that his genius had never been farther
than Stockholm, and that there were very few who could go farther; and that the
devil began to leave him as he grew old, and loft his teeth. This peculiarity aftonifhed
me, I inquired refpecting it more particularly, andI underftood, that it was very true,
and that the power of the moft intelligent forcerers decreafed as they loft their teeth ;
and I concluded, that, in order to be a good forcerer, it was neceflary to hold the devil
by the teeth, and that he ‘could only be well faftened in this manner. ‘This man ob-
ferving, that we drove him, by means of our queftions, to extremities, promifed that,
with the aid of fpiritous liquors, he would tell us fomething furprifing. He took,
and looked upon it feveral times, after having made a number of invocations, and
grimaces; but he only told us very ordinary things, which one could very eafily under-
itand, without being a great forcerer. All thefe circumftances.led me to draw a con-
clufion which was a very juft one, that all thefe people are more fuperftitious than
forcerers ; that they eafily believe the fables which are related to them refpecting their
anceftors, who, it is aflerted, had a great intercourfe with the devil. It may be true,
Sir, that there were in reality, fome forcerers among them in former times, when the
Laplanders were buried in the errors of paganifm ; but, at prefent, I believe it would
be extremely difficult to find one, who well underftood his profeflion. When we faw
that we could procure no information from our Laplander, we amufed ourfelves with
making him drunk ; and this deprivation of reafon, which continued three or four
days, gave us an opportunity of {tealing from him all his magical inftruments : we took
his tabor, his hammer, and his index, which was compofed of a number of rings, and
feveral pieces of brafs, which reprefented feveral infernal figures, or fome characters
tied together by a chain of the fame metal: and when, two or three days after, we
were on the point of fetting out, he came to us to demand all his articles, and in-
quired particularly at every one, if he had not feen them. The anfwer we gave him
was, that he could eafily know, and that if he was a forcerer, he would find no difficulty
in difcovering who had them.
We left thefe people, in order to vifit others, that we might fee and learn fome-
thing further of their manners. We entered firft into a hut, where we found three or
four women, one of whom was completely naked, and was giving fuck toa little child
which was alfo in the fame condition. The cradle was at the end of the hut, hanging in
the air ; it was made out of a hollow tree, and full of a fine mofs, which fupplied the
place of linen, mattrafs, and coverlid ; two {mall circular pieces of ofier covered the
upper part of the cradle, over which was placed a wretched piece of cloth. This naked
woman, after having wafhed her child in a pot filled with hot water placed it again in
the cradle ; and the dog, who was inftructed how to rock the child, placed his two
fore-feet upon the cradle, and gave it the fame motion which a woman does. ‘The
drefs of the woman differs very little from that of the male fex ; it is of the fame
valdmar, and the fafh is larger; it is adorned with pieces of tin, which cover
its whole breadth, and differs from that of the men in this refpect, that the latter
is only marked with pieces of the fame metal, placed one after the other. At this fath,
a fheath filled with a knife, hangs; the fheath is adorned with filaments of pewter ;
there is alfo a purfe adorned in the fame manner, in which they place a fteel to ftrike
fire with, and all their moft precious articles; this is alfo the place where they hang
their needles attached to a piece of leather, and covered with a piece of brafs, which
they
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