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ACCOUNT OF DANISH LAPLAND BY LEEMS. 407
The belly of the rein-deer is girt round with a broad belt, called in Lapland Aagotas,
the outer part of which, touching the belly of the animal, is leather, but the upper,
which comes round each fide and the back itfelf, is of cloth outfide, or texture of ker-
fey, adorned with threads of tin, the leather being turned in. The lower part of the
belt is ornamented with broad fillets of cloth of kerfey, drawn into a variety of bend-
ings or fpirals, partly of the colour of the girt itfelf, and partly of a colour different
from it. This girt is an entire piece from the belly to the back, where it is faftened
by four fmall ribbons, on the extremities of which are crefts, made from fhreds of diffe-
rent coloured cloth, which difplay themfelves for the greater ornament of the girt.
But that thefe are merely ornamental, and ufed for that purpofe alone is evident, that,
when the king’s treafurer, together with his fuite, Swedifh merchants, and other young
Laplanders of quality wore thefe, they generally drefled the cattle on which they rode
after this manner. Meantime thefe girts fo frequently praifed among them are not with-
out their ufe; for thofe that gird the middle of the belly, have in them {mall apertures,
through which, the ropes by which the rein-deer draw their fledges, pafs, with this view,
that they may not while drawing, ftagger, or the vehicle be too much fhaken. ‘The
Aagotas, or girt of this fort, yet is not much in ufe ; for very frequently they do with-
out it, and the fledge is not jogged more than ufual: and the reafon is, that the rope
by which it is dragged has a free paflage between the legs of the animal while drawing.
It is ufual with women, when driving, to put coverlets over the animals that draw,
ornamented with bells laid in order. Befides the faid ornaments with which the Lap-
landers ornament their cattle employed in carriage, there are alfo a few more in ule, but
of fmall, not fufficiently that we fhould longer delay ourfelves in defcribing them.
The hairy coliar by which the neck of the rein-deer is furrounded, the leffer collar,
or Riefegas, to which the bell hangs, the girt from the ikin of the rein-deer, and the
whole remaining harnefs, for vehicles, are made by the women alone.
The rope with which the Laplanders of the Swedifh mountains faften their rein-deer,
when they wifh them at hand, and fometimes tie them to trees, is twifted from the
{mall roots of trees, if fome are to be believed on that fubject.
The vehicle, or fledge, in which the mountain Laplanders are drawn, is not unlike
to a {mall boat, (our people call Speg/ Baad, on account of the fhape of the {tern re-
fembling, as it were, a mirror,) for in the ftern of the fledge, to make ufe of a fea-term,
isa feat, in form like a mirror, which falls down to the keel, but by rifing in the part
above, props up the back of the driver. The fledge is made of long planks, extending
from the ftern of it to the prow, a little bent, and put together almoft in the fame man-
ner as the planks are in the ftructure of fhips, with this difference, that thefe are faf-
tened with iron {pikes, but the others with wooden buttons or faftenings. And that
the planks fhould the more clofely and fitly lie together, nor through ill joining, through
their joints, let in the water, they draw them together with oziers twifted round and
round, with their greateft exertions. The fledge has a keel or bottom of a fpan broad,
equalling the fledge itfelf in length, The keél, in its lower extremity, proje¢ts a little be-
yonnd, in frot it is extended to the prow, terminating in a crooked beak. On the out-
fide, along eachfide of the keel, is drawn aplate. The fledge is bound tight within with
a variety of pieces of wood placed acrofs, as is ufual in the conftruétion of veflels.
Vehicles, or fledges, in ule among the Laplanders are of four forts; the firft is called
Giet-Kierres, the fecond, Raido-Kierres, the third Pulke, the fourth Lok-Kierres, each
of which confifting of long beams, a keel, as above mentioned, furnifhed with a prow
and ftern, But among thefe vehicles or fledges there is a difference, though minute.
The fledge, which in Lapland is called Giet-Kierres, that is, the hand-fledge, is princi-
pally
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