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418 ACCOUNT OF DANISH LAPLAND BY LEEMS.
ranean reeefs, digs a way to it, not in a direct line, but in one curved and winding,
with a variety of turnings, with the intent, it feems, that no one with either {pear or
any other noxious in{trument fhould reach it; and as it neceflarily follows, that this den,
and the windings to it, cannot be dug without throwing up agreat quantity of earth,
you will not without reafon be furprized, that, in fuch aden, fometimes of no middling
fize, no heaps of earth dug up are to be feen, but that every thing is found plain and
level. ‘Phe Laplander, when going to catch a fox in his den, fhuts up the entrance
through which it appears he pafies, having made a new one in its place, by the help of
which he ftrives to find out thofe which lead to the den; which, when he has found out
and laid open, he attacks the den itfelf of the fox, where, when he has arrived, he drags
him out from it, and killshim. It happens but very feldom, that two foxes are found
together in the fame den. Fox-fkins are ftretched ona certain machine called Ratz, as
was mentioned above of wolf. fkins.
The marten, called by the Laplanders Nactre, is found too in Finmark. ‘There are
three {pecies of this animal; the firft comprehends thofe which in the Danifh language
are called Steen-Maar, that is, marten, found among the rocks. ‘The marten of this
fpecies is darkifh, fhort hairs, and brownith tail, with afh-coloured f{pots, fometimes in-
clining to a black and blue colour, marked under the netk. It takes its name from the
mountains and {tony grounds it molt ufvally haunts. The fecond fpecies is the mar-
ten, called Birfe- Maar, thatis, the marten that delights in places planted with the birch-
tree; this is of a dark colour, with a purple coloured tail, and marked with white fpots
under the neck. ‘To the third clafs belongs the fpecies of marten called Furr-Maar,
ufed to the haunts of fir-trees. This is of a dark mud colour, with a yellow tail,
and a mud coloured fpot under the neck, fomewhat white. ‘The martens are caught
in a trap or iron machine, which I defcribed above.
The glutton, called Bie/fras,in Lapland Gyeed’k, is found in Finmark, but rare and
feldom. He is {trongly furnifhed with teeth, as well as the fharpeft nails. Thofe of
Lapland, who have explored the nature of this animal, and thoroughly examined it,
affert, that the glutton, though {mall in the body, is certaimly not to be compared to the
rein-deer, yet that it is able to kill one of full age and growth, but without ftratagem,
as appears from the following ftatement: In the woods, where the rein-deer ufually
{lray, the wily glutton gets up a tree, from it he leaps down on the head of the rein-
deer as he pafles, and fo mangles his neck with his greedy bites, that he drops at length
ifelefs under him. ‘The fkins of the glutton, on account of the white fhining ftreak
with which this animal is marked along the neck, and which they call in common, a
looking-glafs, are in great eftimation. From that part of the fkin which is taken from
the feet of this animal, the Laplanders make gloves, elegantly adorned and diverfified
with threads of tin interfperfed, as is the cuftom of the nation. With fo great, fo in-
fatiable a voracity does this animal hunger, that he is faid not fooner to quit the carcafe
than he has confumed it all. But if he cannot contain the whole of it, he fearches.
out two trees very clofe to each other, between which he fqueezes himfelf, and by
prefling and conftraining himfelf violently, relieves his belly ; when he has done this,
he haftens again to the carcafe, and devours the remainder of it. Impelled by the
fame greedinefs, it is ufual with him to go to the cupboards of the Laplanders built on
the ways, as faid, and gnawing and digging through the coverings, gates, and floors of
them, the greedy guelt, getting in, deltroys the meats and whatever foods are there to
be found.
The beaver, in Lapland Mayeg, is alfo met with in fome diftriéts of Finmark, no
where more frequently than in Indiager, a diltrict of Swedifh Lapland, and on the banks
of
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