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772 KERGUELEN’$ VOYAGE TO THE NORTH.
a flat face, little black eyes, a funk nofe, wide mouth, and thin lips; their ftrong black
hair hangs over their fhoulders, their complexions are olive brown, and their ears very
large. They have little or no beard. The phyfiognomy of the women bears refemblance to
that of the men, they however have rather more delicate features, and {maller feet ; but as
the two fexes drefs alike, it is difficult to diftinguifh them. Both one and the other wear
drefles made of rein-deer fkins, turned infide out, which bind round and cover their bodies.
As to what relates to the Laplanders, fcarcely any refemblance is to be found be-
tween them and the Samoiedes, unlefs it be their drefs, which is nearly the fame, their
wandering life. and their common ule of the rein-deer. The Laplanders pretty much
refemble the Europeans, and particularly the Fins; they have however the upper jaw-
bone rather longer and more high. ‘Their hair is of various colours ; and as for what
regards the women, there are {ome among them who would pafs for handfome in any
nation. The Laplanders further differ from the Samoiedes in their beard, which the
former have very thick and bufhy. The Laplanders are efteemed to be defcendants
of the Fins, and the Samoiedes of fome Tartar race anciently inhabiting Siberia, which,
prefled upon by other hordes, retreated to the extremity of the continent. ‘The Lap-
landers do not, as is mentioned in different relations, ufe the javelin, they are even igno-
rant of the ufe of it; they have mufkets, and buy their powder at Kola. They do not
eat their meat and fifh raw like the Samoiedes, they do not make flour of pounded fifh
bones, this cuftom is ufual among the Fins of Carelia; but the Laplanders make ufe of
the fine pellicle which is under the bark of the fir-tree; they lay in a ftock of it in the
month of May, dry it, reduce it to duft, and mix it with flour of which they make
bread ; they pretend it a fovereign remedy againft the feurvy. They do not make fifh-
oil their beverage. It is not true that polygamy is allowed among them, any more
than the reputed practice of marrying without regard to affinity. They do not offer
their wives and children to ftrangers ; this charge is void of proof. Much has been faid
of the witchcraft of the Laplanders, but all the tales on that fubje&t are much exaggerated.
Although the greater part of them profefs Chriftianity, they have nothing of it among
them but the name. They find great difficulty in changing their manners, and quitting
their idols. Neither the Laplanders nor the Samoiedes are fo fhort as they have been
reputed by hiftorians, who have been defirous of making them pafs for pygmies; however,
they are very little more than from four feet three to four feet five in height. The life
of the Laplanders is an image of the life of our firft parents. They live without houfes,
without farms, without fowing, without planting, without fewing, or making cloth, &c.
Providence has afforded them an animal which requires little or no care, and this fatisfies
all their wants. ‘The rein-deer is the leaft expenfive of all domeftic animals, and at the
fame time the moft ufeful; it feedsand takes care of itfelf; in fummer it lives on mofs,
leaves, and herbage, which it meets with on the mountains ; in winter it fcratches up
the fnow with its feet to get to the mofs, which inftin& points out to it. Whena
rein-deer has been running all day, his mafter does no more than let him loofe, or tie it
to atree, and carry ita couple of handfuls of mofs: it has a ftrong refemblance to the
{tag, but differs in its horns projecting forward. ‘This animal ferves the Laplander in-
ftead of fields, meadows, horfes, and cows. Its flefh and its milk form his principal
food ; its fkin he ufes for clothing in winter, and in fummer he fells it, or exchanges it
for a tent, which ferves him to dwell in. Of its hair thread is made, its bones and
horns make furniture and tools, its fkin provides him with a bed, and to fum up the
whole, its milk makes him excellent cheefe. Thus does the rein-deer make the for-
tune of a Laplander. Several of them keep as many as a thoufand ; and know them
all by their names. When they travel, or are defirous of tranfporting their ee
13 they
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