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474 ACCOUNT OF DANISH LAPLAND BY LEEMS.
bable that their confeflion was extorted from them, partly by violence and fear ; for it
appears from the ancient law-books, or memoirs of Finmark, among which thefe mat-
ters are related by the law-clerks, that fome have been put to the torture before they
would confefs: but that the magic art was formerly exercifed I am not difpofed to deny,
when the devil is fo powerful among unbelievers ; and who would deny what the facred
page teftifies by precept and example? all hitherto related belongs to the witchcraft of
the Norwegians. I fhall now enter and touch on certain-rites of the Laplanders them-
felves, which they preferve in their practice of the magic art.
As to what relates to their tabors or drums, Runic words, a certain writer has im-
pofed that name upon them, calling to mind that they were ftruck with a hammer.
Runic drums of this fort, as well asI can recolleé&, refemble a kind of large box,
of an oval form, yet differing fomething in that refpeét from the fhape of common boxes:
1. that underneath they are open, different from thofe which in the lower part of them
are clofed and folid; befides, they have within a various affortment of thongs, which
hang down, affixed at one of their extremities to the upper part of the drum, and laden
with brazen rings and other fuch like baubles, given the owners by their friends, for
the fake of greater ornament, and perhaps that by the found and jingle of the rings the
greater noife fhould be excited. 2. That as the common boxes are made to open and
fhut, and are covered with lids that move on hinges, Runic drums are found covered
with a very extended fkin, after the manner of common drums. On the outfide of the
parchment are painted various characters, on the bark of the alder-tree, of which fome
are to fignify the deity; fome Radien, or chief_god, Jupiter, of the Pagan Laplanders ;
fome the angels; fome evil {pirits; fome Noaaide-Gadze, or the affociates of the magi-
cian; fome the fun; fome Phofphorus, and the evening ftar ; fome temples ; fome the
habitations of the Norwegian people ; fome Paffe-Varek, or facred mountains, where
facrifices were offered ; fome the habitations of the Laplanders themfelves ; fome fmall
fheds, propped on pillars, which are ufually erected at a diftance from cottages in the
woods and mountains, adapted for putting up their flores ; fome the folds, within which
the rein-deer in fummer are brought to the milk-pail; fome birds; fome fifhes ; and
others to reprefent bears and foxes, yet with fome difference. Some of thefe characters
are of happy omen, others unlucky and inaufpicious: to the one the evil {pirit and wolf
are ufually applied; to the other god the angel, Noaaide-Gadze, the bear, fox, &c.
The Laplanders, preparing for a longer journey, for hunting, and other matters of
greater account, before they enter on it, ufually confulted their Runic drums, in the fol-
lowing manner : A large ring was put on the fkin, by which the upper part of the drum
was covered, deftined for this very ufe: the drum was then {truck with a {mall ham-
mer, made from rein-deer’s horn, called in the Lapland Ballem, by which blow the ring
was moved freely, but fortuitoufly, to different characters drawn on the furface of the
fkin, lucky or unlucky; whence an omen of the event of the undertaking was decided
on. If the ring, by the blow of the wizard, followed the courfe of the fun, it augured
the favourable event of what was taken in hand; but if it went againft the courfe of
the fun, a doubt then arofe of the profperous event of it. Whether a fick man fhould
die, or recover, they even imagined they could difcover by Runic drums: the tree from
which they were made fhould be at a diftance from a place never vifited by the rays of
the fun, and removed from all other trees as far as poflible: Runic drums were not
thought fufficiently fit for their ufes, unlefs got by inheritance. The wizard kept his
Runic drum, as a fecret not to be revealed, covered and rolled up in fillets or bandages,
left it fhould be expofed to the eyes of every one: the women were not permitted to
touch them. Scheffer has given of thefe drums a tedious defcription.
8 Through
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