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ACCOUNT OF DANISH LAPLAND BY LEEMS. 411
fhould it begin to cry-much, inftantly ftops the fledge, and getting at the fide of it on
her knees, gives her breaft to the babe through the aperture [ have jult mentioned,
regardlefs of the feverity of cold or fnow.
The children, with the reft of the family, manage and take care of the herds of the
rein-deer. In what manner the baggage is carried has been defcribed in Chapter X.
concerning the kinds of carriage among the Laplanders.
Itis wonderful and fearcely credible, unlefs one had feen it, that the Laplander,
travelling in winter, over vaft mountains, and tracklefs haunts, efpecially at that feafon,
when all nature is covered and whitened with a conftant fnow, to a degree that neither
the {tones nor the leaft part of the earth can be feen, nor any other trace of human cul-
ture, and when the fnows, agitated by the winds and whirled in circles, take away all
ufe of fight, can find his way to his deftined place, and without miftake. WhatI ar
relating I write from experience; for indeed, it happened to me not rarely, either that
through clouds of mift and darknefs, with which the fnow driven round ina whirlwind
darkened my fight, that I could not fee the beaft by which I was drawn, on which oc-
cafion trufting to the Divine cuidance, and the faith of the driver, after the manner
of the blind, I fuffered myfelf to be carried, not knowing where | was going.
But it appears from experience, that neither enormous heaps of fnow, nor-the horrid
darkneis of the night can obftruct travellers, from arriving fafe and without errour at
their place of deftination. ‘They ufually hang bells from the necks of their rein-deer of
carriage, that if they fhould not diftinguifh by fight, they. might at leaft know each
other from heating. ‘They follow the wind too, if it is not veering, as a guide, fo that
if the place they are going to is to the fouth, and that the wind fhould’ arife in’ this
quarter, they begin their journey diretly in the teeth of this wind ; if it is a fouth-wett
wind, they goin fucha manner as to have the wind on their right hand; if its to the
eaft, they contrive to have it on the left. Should they chance to fee the ftars fhining
on the way, they direct their courfe, with confidence, by the northern tar. For thouch
the Laplanders have never learned the fcience of the fiars, yet they know the various
{tars and their fituation, and defienate them by certain names: for inftance the Plot
in Lapland are called Nieid-Gyerreg, that is a company of virgins ; the fifhes in the zocixc
Oaaggo, thatis the ffher; the morning ftar-is Guowv/o Nafe; another ftar, Serva, that
is the male rein-deer, others by different names.
Asit is afligned to Divine Providence and to it alone, that a fhip in the midft of tem-
peits, among threatening waves, quickfands, and fhoals, and darkened clouds, fhall
be unhurt, fo isit no lefs an argument of the protecting care of the Deity that a hu-
man being fhall pafs fafe, and fecure, through pathlefs haunts, through mouniains
covered with conftant {nows, through the perpetual! attacks of hail, of faow, and whirl-
winds, forming themfelves as in a troop in the very face of the traveller, and drawing
on a darknefs thicker than the moft darkfome night. For thofe, who are obliged to
travel, difcover themfelves fo often furrounded by precipices and high mountains, that
if they fhould err in the leaft from the way, they would neceflarily run into the moft
imminent danger of their life; a melancholy initance of which truth, we have had not
long ago in one Siver Henrikfon of the Lapland youth, then in Porfanger, while | was
miffionary at the fame place, who, when driving, {truck his breaft again{t a tree in the
way by turning a little out of the courfe, which occafioned his fudden death, which fol-
lowed three days afterwards.
~The Laplander is furnifhed on every journey through winter with utenfils for lighting
a fire, a fteel,a flint, tinder and fulphur, all of which he carries in his bofom inclofed in
a bag, or little box, in order that when there is occafion, he may kindle a fire, or light
his tobacco pipe. Foy it happens, arid that not feldom, what I myfelf experienced more
2G 2 than
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