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ACCOUNT OF DANISH LAPLAND BY LEEMS. 457
How they expel pain from the foot or arm, by the means of a hot burning applica-
tion, has been fhewn before.
The nerve which is extended through the hinder feet of the rein-deer to the hoofs,
ferves for the purpofe of binding up the nerves and other parts bruifed, and put out
of joint, and of reftoring them+to their former ftate and place, with this difference,
that thofe of the female ferve for the men, thofe of the male for the women,
The body of a Laplander, when dead, is placed naked on a bier on fome fhavings.
The funeral, conducted with little ceremony, accompanied by a very few of his
friends is conducted to the place of interment. The furviving relatives, if in circum-
ftances, receive the attendants at a fupper ferved up in the fimpleft manner, the whole
confifting of a fmall portion of water and honey, &c. It was of old acuftom in this
country, that thofe who were diftinguifhed for their fkill in the bow, or the gun, fhould
be buried in places confecrated to the worfhip of their idols, others being interred in the
wild ways, and fuch ignoble places. The fepulchre itfelf had no other ornament than
a common fledge, called in Lapland Kierres, in the place of amonument. It was acul-
tom too in time palt, to lay on the body, the outward bark of the birch tree, which
the Norwegians call, Naever, and ufe in the place of laths, covered with heaps of
ftones gathered and raifed up for this purpofe. The tomb itfelf, adapted to the
body, confifted of fmooth and oblong ftones, raifed and put in order on each fide,
with a top and bottom made of {tones of the fame fort and form, and not unlike al.
together the common biers in ufe among us. In the funerals of the ruftic Laplanders
inhabiting Finmark Proper, this fingular cuftom is obferved that the end of the fe.
pulchral linen, while the proceffion is moving, for greater folemnity and ornament,
projects a little from the bier.
Among the manners peculiar to this people it is here deferving of notice, that the
Laplanders ufually make a prefent to their children when born, of a female rein-deer,
commonly called Sim/e, on the condition, that the boy fhould poffefs it with all its pro-
geny, in future and thereby become in procefs of time the lord of no {mall herd, When
either parent dies, the boy demands, receives, and retains as his legitimate poffeffion
due to him by juft title, the faid animal with all its produce, feparated from the partition
of the effects that may be made by the other heirs of the effects of the deceafed,
Cuap. XIX.—Of the Gods of the Laplanders.
THE Laplanders formerly fafhioned to themfelves various gods, inhabitants of the
mountains, lakes, and other places ; whence their frequent forms of exclamation and
ejaculation, as Gedge Olmuthz, Paffe-Gedge Vakkiet, that is, O man of ftone, O holy
ftone, aflift me I conjure thee ! alfo Vaekkiet buorre, Paffe Vaerre, dato Mudngij dal
haette bodi ! that is holy and good mountain, affift me in my affliction, and other nu-
merous appellations by which they invoke their gods, in mind and manner altogether
heathen. And as they believed their gods could be appeafed with facrifices in thofe
places where they prefided, they frequently facrificed to them after the manner of their
country. But this fubject will be treated of more diffufedly in the following Chapter.
The account of an uncertain author, not long fince fell into my hands, which as con-
taining a hiftory of fome of the gods of this nation, | fhall tranfcribe at large for
the reader.
A fhort Relation of fome of the Idols of the Pagan Laplanders, and their Idolatry.
The Laplanders fancied for themfelves gods refiding in various places.
1. They placed fome in the heavens, and in the fidereal tky.
VOL. 1. 3N 2. Others
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