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ACCOUNT OF DANISH LAPLAND BY LEEMS. 415
Hares are bred in great numbers in Finmark. This wild animal is called by fome
of the inhabitants of Norway Ta/e, but by the Laplanders Njaamel. Wares found in
this tract of country during winter, are of a white colour, but in fummer of a grey, as
they are elfewhere. Befides the gun, the moft ufual inftrument of killing wild animals,
other methods and arts are in ufe for catching hares. In thofe places where hares
ufually haunt, {nares con{tructed from fmall fticks and cords artificially put together,
are fixed in the ground, in which the hares, ftraying without caution and freely among
the trees, frequently run into the trap and are taken. They are caught too by a cer-
tain iron machine, defcribed in another place. The Ruflians pay for each hare’s
{kin eight-pence. The Swedes are faid to make coverlets from thefe kind of fkins.
In Finmark, not lefs than through the remaining tra&ts of Norway, are found bears.
The bear in Lapland is called Guouzhia, the word denoting the male and female of this
animal. But the Laplanders alfo diftinguifh the male and female, the male is denak ; the
female is Ae/fe ; the Norwegians generally fay Bingse. The rein-deer eafily efcape the bears
by the fleetnefs of running ; cows, goats, and fheep are much more expofed to their cruelty
and rapacity. ‘That the Laplanders of Indragria, in Sweden, were compelled to bury the
bodies of their deceafed friends, in certain little iflands, fcattered in the lake of Indragria,
left they fhould be a prey to the voracity of bears, has been handed down to us, but for
the truth of the relation I cannot an{wer, relating only what I have heard. The bear is
wonderfully delighted with certain blue berries, in Norwegian called Blaabaer, a grea
abundance of which is found in this country: but he alfo feeds on grafs. ‘he
Laplanders in common fhoot their bears with grooved guns, which are only in ufe
among them. If the bear does not fall with the firft bullet, but is only wounded, he in-
ftantly returns to take vengeance for himfelf, and often not without effe. But thefe
wild beafts are taken not with fhooting alone, but by other modes and ftratagems. It
is a matter well known and afcertained through the regions of the north, that the bear,
during the winter, lies concealed in his den, and that he is there fuftained by no other
aliment, than a certain milky juice, which he fucks from his fore paws with a growling.
It not feldom occurs, that the Laplander, going to hunt birds, fquirrels, and other game
in the woods, accidentally falls on the haunt of a bear laid up for the winter, by the affift-
ance and guidance of his hunting dog, ftanding and barking at the den, he has found
out by the feent. The Laplander obferving this, puts in the bow with which he de-
figns to kill birds, (for bows, it appears, are in ufe as yet in fome of the countries
of Lapland,) to the aperture or door of the cen, while the bear is full carelefsly at reft,
and not attempting to come out. He then cuts off branches from the fir-tree, if at
hand, if not, from any others in his way, by which he fhuts up the mouth of the den,
drawing out firft his bow with caution, yet in fuch a manner that it fhould not be alto-
gether clofed up, as there muft be a fmall aperture for the bear to put his head through.
‘Things thus arranged, the Laplander armed with an axe plants himfelf before the door
of the den, in order to irritate the bear by every means and threat in his power, until
he, provoked in the extreme, fhall rife, prepared to attack the enemy, fo wantonly
challenging him and provoking him. The bear then thrufting his head fiercely through
the narrow aperture that is made, is hit, or, in plain terms, receives a mortal blow
from the Laplander, with the axe, which, if it has ftruck the upper part of the face is
almoft harmlefs, but if the lower part and next the eyes, the blow immediately cuts off
the head of the wild beaft. The Laplanders purfue a different method in other parts
of the country, and in the following manner : When they have found the place where
a bear has perhaps killed a wild beaft, but having killed it, has foon quitted, they fur-
round, by a certain inclofure furnifhed with two doors, made in the form of an opening
gate,
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