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ACCOUNT OF DANISH LAPLAND BY LEEMS. 43t
A little bird befides is found in Finmark, called in Norwegian Smoelle Bot, or Nord
Bef Fuglen, but by the Laplanders Nworte Lodde, or Bjeggufh. The Norwegian name,
Smaelle Bot, it takes from its arrival, happening at the feafon of the year when the in-
habitants of Norland, called in Norwegian Smaeller, ufually come for the fake of fifhing 5
but it is called Nord ve? Fuglen, from the quarter of the world fituated towards the
north-eaft, whence it comes by fea to Finmark. ‘This little bird fomewhat exceeds in
fize the tame {parrow ; it is white under the belly, dark along the back, marked with
various fpecks, a fharp beak, black colour, rather long feet, of grey colour, in great
part cleft; whence it can live as well on land as it can at fea. The fifhermen on the
fight of this bird, little doubt of a north-eaft wind /hortly cuming on. ‘Vhe Laplanders,
in hunting them, ufe grooved guns, by which they not only ufually kill greater birds,
fuch as wild geefe, &c. but even {mall ones, fuch as thefe.
Befides the above-mentioned birds, in Finmark are feen the cuckoo, the woodpecker,
the black-bird of the field, the fwallow, the wagtail, a little bird, called in Norwegian
Rendefteens-Snagere, and Ring-Erler, and many others ; but the ftarling, the tame {par-
row, and fome others, very frequent in other places, are not to be found in Finmark.
The magpie, as I mentioned above, is very rare in this country.
Cuap. XIII.—Of the Fifbery.
THE fhores of Finmark, all along the coaft of Norway, abound in fifh. The great
number of whales that were taken by the fifhermen formerly, as well as the quantity of
falmon taken at this day, in that very celebrated river Thana, may be adduced as
proof. Of thefe not a few are exported, by reafon of their very exquifite flavour, in
comparifon of others, fo highly efteemed ; to fay nothing of the great quantity of the
various kinds of cod-fifh, and of every kind of fith, the feas of Finnfark abound in ; and
for the catching of which, the inhabitants of Norland flock to them in the very middle of
winter, not without imminent peril of their lives. But the good fubjetts of this country
are not only permitted fecurely and quietly to enjoy the benefit of fifhery and hunting
on their annual return, that if a war fhould break out ever fo extenfively, between the
Danes and neighbouring Swedes, they may purfue in fafety, and at their leifure, the
ufual bufinefs of fifhing and hunting ; but it is further provided, that they fhould exer-
cife them with that degree of liberty that each may have full freedom, no one oppofing,
or prefuming to oppofe, of going to get wood, of cutting down trees, of {tripping bark
from birch-trees, for either burning as fire, or building houfes (they ufually cover the
tops of houfes with bark), of cutting grafs with a bill, of hunting fifh, bird, or wild beatt.
For though a certain writer has thought fit to defcribe Finmark as a country deprived
of all the gifts of a kinder nature, and its inhabitants as men more than barbarous, and
deftitute of all intercourfe with other men; and though Saxo himfelf feems to deplore
that vague and unfettled life to which the Laplanders are addicted and expofed ; though
he writes, among other things, the Finni are the laft inhabitants of the north, having
embraced a quarter of the world fcarcely inhabitable, from either culture or dwelling,
an uncertain habitation and wandering home; yet the Laplanders’ fifh, venifon, and
other delicacies, are delightful, which may be fought for in vain in more cultivated parts
of the world.
It is not my intention to write on the fifhes of the fea about Finmark, tedioufly
to defcribe the external.and internal form of every fifh, which by others has been
already done. It is fufficient for me, after a defcription, fuch as it is, of the external
figure of certain fifhes, to fhew fomewhat more fully the method in part, by which the
Laplanders catch them, in part how they are ufed to manage and turn them to their
ufe,
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