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REGNARD’S JOURNEY TO LAPLAND. 197
who are generally quite white, and do not take their red colour, except during the
two hotteft months of the year.
There are almoft as many birds as quadrupeds in Lapland. The eagle, the king of
birds, is found in great abundance ; and fo prodigioufly large are fome of them, that
they are able, as I have already faid, to carry off the young rein-deer, and take them to
their nefts, which are at the top of the highe{t trees; on which account, it is neceflary
to have them always watched.
I do not believe, that there is any country in the world, which abounds more with
ducks, teal, divers, fwans, wild-geefe, and other aquatic birds, than this; fo perfectly
covered are the rivers with them, that one can eafily kill them with a ftick. Ido not
know how we fhould have lived during our journey had it not been for thefe animals,
which were our ufual food; we fometimes killed thirty or forty ina day, without
{topping a moment, and we employed ourfelves in this bufinefs, only on the road.
All thefe animals migrate, and leave this country in winter, for the purpofe of vifiting
warmer regions where they can find fome rivers which are not frozen up; but they
return in the month of May, when they depofit their eggs in fuch abundance, that the
whole country is covered with them. ‘The Laplanders take them in their nets, and
the fkin which has been flayed from the fwan, is made ufe of as a bonnet ; the others
are ufed for food. ‘There is a bird very plenty in this country, which they call /oom,
. which furnifhes the inhabitants with their fineft ornaments for the head. ‘Uhe plumage
of this animal is of a violet and white colour, and is curled ina peculiar manner ; it is
the fize of the goofe, and is fometimes taken in the nets which the fifhermen employ to
take fifh, when the keennefs for their prey carries them too far, and they purfue fome
fifh under the water. They alfo adorn with its fkin, the extremities of the fineft gloves.
The heath-cock and wood-hen are alfo found here in great abundance. But there is
in this country a particular kind of bird which I have not feen elfewhere, which is de-
nominated /nyeruiport, and the Greeks called /agopos, about the fize of a hen; the plu-
mage of this bird in fummer is grey, of the fame colour with a pheafant, and in winter,
it is quite white, like all the animals that live in this country ; and beneficent nature
gives them the fame colour with the fnow, that they may not be recognized by the
hunter, who could eafily perceive them, if they were of any other colour than the
fnow, with which the earth is totally covered. I have already defcribed this animal :
its tafteis more favoury than that of a partridge, and it gives, by its cry, a certain mark
that it will foon fall among the fnow, as may be eafily under{ftood by its name which
fignifies bird of the fnow. ‘The Laplanders place their nets upon the fnow, and forma
little hollow, in the midft of which they leave an empty fpace, where the fnares are
placed, and through which the birds muft pafs.
It is impoflible to conceive the quantity of fifh in Lapland. It is every where inter-
fected by rivers, lakes, and rivulets, and fo full of fifth are thofe rivers, lakes,
and rivulets, that a man can take as many with a fingle line in half an hour,
as he is able to carry. This is alfo the fole nourifhment of the Laplanders ;
they have no other bread; and they do not catch them folely for their own ufe ; they
form the only article of their commerce, and purchafe thofe commodities they ftand in
need of, with fifh or {kins ; for which reafon, fifhing is all their occupation; for whe-
ther they wifh to eat, or to indulge themfelves in luxury, which is not fuffered to reign
in this country, they have no other means of doing fo. It is true, that the rich never
fifh; the poor fifh for them ; and they give them tobacco, or fpirits, or iron, or fome
article of that nature, in exchange. Without {topping to take notice of all the fifh in this
country, I will mention, that there is no place where falmon are found in greater abun-
dance. They begin to arrive in the month of May, and they are, at that time, much
fatter
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