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252 JOURNEY OF ,MAUPERTUIS. S
ture; a difpofition from curiofity of penetrating to the centre of Lapland; the moft
flender hope of feeing the only monument of this defcription perhaps extant in the
world, with the habitude which we had of encountering hardfhips and danger; thefe
perhaps may excufe me. I refolved then on going, and had the good fortune of being
accompanied by M. Celfius, who to a moft profound acquaintance with aftronomy,
joined a profound knowledge of the northern languages, and who had made a particular
itudy of Runic infcriptions, to which we thought this which was {poken of to us might
have fome relation.
It perhaps may be pleafing to know the method ufed in travelling in Lapland. In
the beginning of winter the roads conduéting to frequented places are marked with
branches of fir: fcarcely have the fledges and pulkas beaten the firft fnow which covers
the road, and begun to hollow it, before a fucceeding fall, driven by the wind, fills it,
and brings it to a level with the furface of the country, lake, or river. ‘The next car-
riages that pafs beat again the way which other falls of fnow cover anew, and thefe roads
alternately hollowed by carriages, and filled by the wind, that reduces every where the
{now to a level ; although not more raifed than the circumjacent parts, form neverthe-
lefs caufeways, or bridges of compreffled fnow, from which by varying to the right or
left, one is engulphed by the fmow. Great care is taken not to {werve from thefe
roads, and moitly towards the middie they are hollowed by a kind of furrow, made by~
the pulkas travelling over them ; but in the midit of forefts and unfrequented places no.
fuch roads exift. he Finsand Laplanders only find each other by marks cut on trees.
Sometimes the rein-deer plunges up to the horns in fnow, and in thefe places if over-
taken by one of thofe ftorms, during which the fnow falls in fuch quantity, and driven
by the wind on every fide in {uch manner, that it is impoflible to fee two fteps from one, °
it would be impoffible to find again the way pafled over, or to purfue one’s courfe ;
deftruction muft infallibly follow, and above all, if not provided with tents, as we were,
to fhelter us from part of the ftorm. ;
While on our journey, our Laplanders, fruitful in wonderful flories, related-to us on
this fubje€t many accounts of men who had been taken up into the air in thefe {torms,
with their pulkas and their rein-deer, and precipitated fometimes on rocks, at others.
into the middle of the lakes.
I left Pello the eleventh of April, 1737, and arrived in the evening at Kingis, which is
twelve or fifteen French leagues diftant. I did not {top there, being defirous of getting to:
the place where rein-deer were to be provided for me as foon as poilible ; I theretore
proceeded five leagues farther, and flept at Pellika: this is one of the houfes which forms
the village of Payala. In thefe countries villages are compofed of no more than two or
three houfes, each fome leagues diftant from the other. I there found fix rein-deer
with their pulkas; but as we could yet go three leagues further in fledges, I referved
‘our horfes for the next day to carry us to Erckiheicki, to which place I fent forward the
rein-deer to wait for me.
In thefe unfortunate climates, inceffantly burnt during the f{ummer by the rays of the:
fun, which never goes down, and afterwards during the winter wrapt in profound and.
continual night, one could not expect to meet with fuch an agreeable afylum as that we:
found. The houfe called Pellika, in fpite of its remotenefS from the inhabited world,
was one of the beft I had met with in the country ; we {tretched out {kins of bears and:
rein-deer, on which we prepared ourfelves by taking a little reft for the fatigues of our
next day’s journey.
Long before fun-rife I left Pellika on the twelfth of April, and foon arrived at Ercki-
heicki, where I ftopped no longer than was neceflary to leave our fledges and get tied
in our pulkas; a precaution without which, when the rein-deer is at its fpeed, one
fhould
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