Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Pages ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
JOURNEY OF MAUPERTUIS. 253
fhould not long remain in the carriage. At this feafon, however, our precautions
again{t the rapidity of the rein-deer were fuperfluous : they were no longer thofe ungo-
vernable deer which drew me laft fummer with fuch fwiftnefs over the river, and almolt
flew with me from the top of Avafaxa. Their former fmooth horns were now no other
than white and dry bones, which one might miftake for parched ribs of dead animals :.
their bones came through their fkin, and they looked as though incapable of dragging
us a hundred fteps.
The difference of the feafons was the caufe of this change. When they drew me to
Avafaxa they came from Norway, where, during the fummer, they had nothing elfe to
do but to feed and get fat: at that period I would advife no one to travel in pulkas ;
but at the prefent feafon, after having undergone all the toil of winter and returned
from the Lapland fairs, we had nothing to fear from the rein-deer, unlefs it were to be
left behind. If it be difficult to ftop this animal when in its full ftrength, at the time of
his exhauttion it is not lefs difficult to make him proceed.
We travelled thus dragged through a foreft, having eight or nine leagues to go:
there was no road which led to the fpot we were going to, which made it fo much the
more laborious for the rein-deer ; at every fhort interval we were obliged to fuffer
them to reft, and give them mofs which we had brought with us ; this mofs is their only
food.. The Laplanders mixed it with ice and fnow, and form very hard cakes of it,
which ferve at the fame time as food and beverage for the animal, who gnaw it with
avidity. In {pite of this, we were under neceflity of leaving a deer on the road.:. he was
tied to.a tree, and fome of thefe cakes left befide him.
We ourfelves were much incommoded by the uneafy pofture which we were obliged
to aflume in thefe pulkas : the only amufement afforded us during this tirefome journey,
was in noticing in the fnow the footfteps of the different animals with which the forefts
are filled : we eafily diftinguifhed the different ones, and {aw with furprife the number of
various animals which had paffed in a very fhort fpace during a few days.
We faw on the road many fnares laid for ermines, in fome of which were prifoners.
The Laplanders tie to a tree, whofe top is cut off level with the height of the {now, a log
of wood, covered by another ready to fall, beneath which a fmall paflage is left for the
ermine, and which, upon its entering to eat the bait that is fet for him, falls on and
crufhes him.
It is thus that ermines, which are very plentiful in Lapland, are fnared: thefe animals
are cinnamon-coloured in fummer, having only the belly and tip of the ears white: we
frequently met with fuch on the banks of lakes and rivers, where I imagine they watch
for fith, of which they are particularly fond; fometimes even we have found them
fwimming in the middle of the water. In winter they become entirely white ; which
was the cafe of thofe we found in the fnares. However, upon leaving Torneo, a tame
ermine that I had in the houfe had already loft its white in many places; and on my
return fome days afterwards I found it perfectly grey. It is true, if it be the cold which,.
by any caufe whatever, whitens them, thofe which were expofed to the air fhould natu-
rally remain longer white than thofe fhut up in a houfe: perhaps the ermines found by
us had been caught fome time; for as may be conceived, frozen animals are preferved
all the winter. In the packages of ermines fold by the Laplanders, when the fkins are:
turned infide out, there are always a number of grey, or {potted with grey,. which are
not ufed for trimmings.
We arrived at Keyma, fituated at the foot of a little mountain called Winfo, at one
o’clock in the afternoon : we afcended it, it was there we were to find the monument
we were feeking, but it was covered with fnow, Our Laplanders fought for it without
being
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
