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.
366 TRAVELS OF EHRENMALMs
when the weather is gloomy, this mift only rifes from the middle of the declivity, about
as high as the place where we were encamped between two Lapland huts. It was fo
near us, that one of our fellow-travellers walked for a whole night in this mift without
being able to get out of it, nor to perceive the fire we had purpofely kindled to ferve
him as a light-houfe. :
In the time of thefe mifts, which commence in Augutt, the cold is as fharp in this
diftri€ as it is at Stockholm in the beginning of October. The diftance of:three or four
degrees of latitude, fhould not occafion fo great a difference in the effects of the climate.
We may therefore attribute the premature rigour of this cold, to the northerly wind
which blows from the mountain of Swans.
The moft neighbouring fummit to this latter appeared very near us, and yet the rein-
deer which we perceived running, feemed fo fmall, that we could fearcely difcern a flock
of fixty. How fhould we meafure the diftance between thefe two mountains? We
had no trigonometrical inftrument. The mountain was too fteep, to judge of its dif-
tance by the number of paces. “We could only eftimate it by the power of the voice, or
found. 1 therefore went there, and the Baron Cederhielm remained near the tent.
This diftance appeared to us about two hundred fathoms. From the fight alone, I
fhould have judged it of a hundred and fifty ; but the tent appeared to me at a greater
diftance, than the fummit where I was fituated appeared to thofe who obferved me
from the tent. This isa phenomenon in optics, arifing, no doubt from the difference in
the projection of light, or in the refletion of the rays. I was not lefs furprifed at the
thirft which is experienced on thefe mountains, while it is not felt in the climate. Never-
thelefs the waters are very clear, taftelefs, and commonly produced from the melting of
the fnow, which fhould quench the thirft ; unlefs the falts and the nitre with which they
abound produce the contrary effect.
From the lake of Malgomai, we had beheld all the country to which cultivation
might extend. It appeared to us impoflible to be carried farther. Thus we ‘refolved
to walk back, after having waited three days in vain for clear weather. ‘The mift
which the little heat remaining occafioned to exhale about thefe mountains covered with
frefh {now, deprived us of the fight of the fun and ftars. It was time to return to the
abode of light and the living. Nature only offered to our obfervation the profpeét of an
eternal winter. It threatened to envelope us in its frofts, if we delayed to refume a
youte, which even in the fummer had caufed us great difficulty to purfue. The lakes
were about to be covered with ice; the trace of the paths effaced; the Laplanders
buried in their huts. Navigators are ftill happy, when they only behold fky and
water : but to wander among fnow and clouds, unable to advance, or only to advance
to be bewildered; to have rivers to defcend by frequent cataracts, between points of
rocks from which are detached flakes of ice fufficient to break a {mall boat to pieces,
or to fink it ; this was the fituation that awaited us if we made the {malleft delay. We
haftened, with the fatisfaction of having obferved not lands to conquer, but countries
to till, a country fufficiently extenfive to people, to cultivate, in fine to render worthy
of the innocence of its inhabitants. A fhort fummary of their manners fhall complete
the picture of their dreary region. por
Such is the weaknefs of the human mind, that it can only arrive at truth through a
crowd of errors. It is only by reading the different defcriptions which travellers have’
made of the form and manners of a people, that we can obtain a perfect knowledge.
Thefe pictures differ according to the obfervers. A traveller almoft every where mea-
fures man by his ftature, and judges of their manners by his -education. But thofe
whofe
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
