Luhlatraesk The 22 at the Lake Lugga The 23 on the hill Kierkowari The 24 on the hill Kautom Jaurlis The 25 at the Cataract Sao The 26 on the top of a high hill called Kaiszikiae The 27 at the Lake Zyggraesk The 28 at the hill Piouki The 29 in an Island of the Lake Waikejaur called Lusbyshulos The 30 in a mountain near the River Juleo called Warieluth Neither are these are the places in the Country that are dedicated to this use but there are several others which the Idolatrous People endeavour to concele that they may avoid the suspicion of this impiety and their deserved punishment But in other parts of Lapland the number is far greater as may be easily understood and therefore I shall not tire the Reader with a recitall of them For all these places they have a high esteem whether dedicated to Thor the Sun or Storjunkar so that they exclude all women from them not permitting them so much as to go behind the house where Thor is worshipped and prohibiting all marriageble women to come near the borders of Storjunkars consecrated hills and the reason is because they think that Sex especially at that age not pure enough for those devotions but not knowing who are pure and who are not to prevent all danger they prohibite the whole Sex who if they transgress herein they must expect many misfortunes to befall them and perhaps death it self I come now to the Images of their Gods for with these they used to honour them Thors image was alwaies made of wood wherefore he is called by them Muora Jubmel i. e. the wooden God And because in Lapponia Tornensis as well as in other places they make their Gods of wood it is very probable that they worship Tiermes tho they call him Seita Of this wood which is alwaies Birch they make so many Idols as they have Sacrifices and when they have done they keep them in a cave by some hill side The shape of them is very rude only at the top they are made to represent a mans head according to the description of Matthias Steuchius which he relates from his Father who was Superintendent of Hernosandensis and had the oversight of all things relating to Piety and Religion in most parts of Lapland Of the root of the tree they make the head and of the trunk the body of the image for those Birches which grow in Fenny grounds have usually their roots growing round and from them there shoot out other little roots so that it is easily fitted to the shape of a mans head Now to manifest this to be Thor they put a hammer into his right hand which is as it were his ensign by which he is known Into his head they drive a nail of Iron or Steel and a small piece of flint to strike fire with if he hath a mind to it Tho I rather suppose it was first used to be an emblem of fire which together with the Sun they worshipped in Thor whose Image is here delineated I come now to their Sacrifices and other Ceremonies used to their Gods First it is observable that they are performed only by men all women being excluded they esteeming it as great a crime for a woman to offer Sacrifice as to frequent the consecrated places They never offer Sacrifice till they have enquired of their God whether he will accept it or no. This they do with a certain instrument which they call Kannus not unlike the old fashioned Drums from whence they are usually called Laplandish Drums and shall be exactly described hereafter This Drum being beaten and some Songs sung they bring the designed Sacrifice to Thor who if he signifies by a ring in the Drum that the Sacrifice is pleasing to him they fall presently to work otherwise they carry it to the Sun and so to Storjunkar till one of them will accept of it The manner of it is thus They pull off some of the hair at the bottom of the beasts neck and bind it to a ring which is fastned to the Drum then one of them beats the Drum and all the rest sing these words What sayst thou ô Great and Sacred God dost thou accept this Sacrifice which we design to offer unto thee And while they chant these words they repete the name of the mountain where they are then if the ring rests on that part of the Drum where the God is pictured they take it for granted that the God is pleased and so proceed to the Ceremony or else they carry the Sacrifice to Thor and use the like form of words Father God will you have my Sacrifice Peucer either thro false intelligence or misapprehension relates this business somthing differently they have saies he a brasen Drum whereon they paint several sorts of Beasts Birds and Fishes such as they can easily procure bolt upright upon this Drum they fix an iron pearch upon which stands a brasen Frog which at the beating of the Drum falls down upon some of the pictures and that creature whose picture the Frog touches they sacrifice Their usuall sacrifices are Rain-dears tho sometimes they use other creatures as Dogs Cats Lambs and Hens which they fetch out of Norway The 3d thing observable is that they offer their Sacrifices usually in the Autumn because I suppose the Winter and night being at hand they think they have more need of their Gods assistance which may probably be the reason too why every year about that time they make a new image for Thor which is alwaies don 1◠daies before Michaelmas And thus they consecrate it first they sacrifice the Rain-dear then taking out his bones they anoint the Idol with the blood and fat and bury the flesh and bones under ground Besides this Idol they erect one to him every time they sacrifice and then they place them all one by another upon a table behind their Hut First when the God hath approved of the Sacrifice which is usually a Buck to Thor they bind it behind the house then with a sharp knife they run him thro the heart and gather the heart-blood wherewith they anoint the Idol into a vessell After that having placed the images right and adorned the table they approach reverently to it anoint the head and back all over with the blood but on his breast they only draw several Crosses Behind him they place the skull feet and horns of the sacrificed Dear before him they place a Coffer made of the bark of Birch into which they put a bit of every member of the Rain-dear with some of the fat and the rest of the flesh they convert to their private uses This is the manner of the Laplanders sacrificing to Thor. But when they offer Sacrifice to Storjunkar which is likewise a male Dear then first they run a red thred thro his right ear and bind him and sacrifice him in the place they did that to Thor preserving the blood likewise in a vessel
Ladulaus did not conquer them out of any fear he conceived of their forces but by sleight foreseeing the small advantages he should receive would not quit the charges of an Army Thus the Laplanders were brought in subjection by the subtilty and expence of private persons About the year of our Saviour 1277 the Birkarli had the autority over them yet so as to acknowledg their dependance on the King of Sweden Now whether all of them were thus overcome as those that lived beyond the mountains of Norway near the Sea which are the Finlanders or Lappofinni is still in doubt except we collect it from this that all from the Northern and Western Oceans were certainly subjected But whatever dispute may arise concerning that it is manifest the Swedes were the first Conquerours of Lapland but afterwards the Norwegians and Moscovites following their example put in also for a part thus they became subject to these three severall Princes But to pass by the others the Swedes enjoyed for some former ages half the dominions from Tidisfiorden to Walangar over the Lappofinni or maritime Finlanders This was given by Charles the IX in his instructions to his Embassadors sent to the King of Danemark wherein he made it appear that the Swedes had from former times till then enjoied half the rights both sacred and civill whether as to tributes punishments men or fisherie with the Crowns of Danemark and Norway But the Swedes kept only a third part from Malanger to Waranger those of Norway and Moscovy laying claim to the other two till in the year 1595 the Moscovites by a League delivered up their part but the Swedes alwaies possessed the mountainous and more neighbouring places from Ladulaus's time for near four hundred years and exercised their autority over them The Government after the conquest was in the hands of the Birkarli according to the grant given them by Ladulaus who ruled over those that dwelt near the Bay of Bothnia imposed taxes trafficked with them and received all the profit of the Salmon fishing and all other advantages arising from them but in acknowledgement to the King as Supreme they paid a certain number of gray Squirrils skins The Laplanders by common consent received and honored the Bergchara that is men of the mountains or Birkarli as their Governours and paid them very rich skins and severall sorts of fish both for their tribute to the King of Sweden and their own proper uses Neither were there any other commissioned by the King in those times to govern them as will appear afterwards He that was their Governor was honored by them with the title of King his autority was confirmed by the Crown of Sweden he wore a red robe as the token of his Roialty now from this sort of garment by which the Birkarli were distinguished from others it is evident they were the first rulers in those parts and perhaps only one governed them whilst they dwelt near the Bay of Bothnia but when they enlarged their possessions farther into the Land and were divided into severall Counties each division had its particular Governor And that it was so is manifested from the Letters of Gustavus the first where he divides the Birkarli into Luhlians Pythians and Tornians over which accordingly there were severall Governors It may perhaps now be a dispute who these Birkarli were by whom the Swedes subdued Lapland Buraeus saies they were the Inhabitants of the allotment of Birkala but Olaus Magnus is of a different opinion and calls them Bergchara that is men of the mountains from Berga mountain and Charar or Karar men What grounds he hath for this he neither declares nor can I easily imagine But I think them so small that they will find little credit any where for from whence or from what mountains should they be thus called not from those of Norway when at that time no body inhabited there neither are there any other mountains besides these from whence they should take this name moreover the Birkarli were subjects to the Swedes and conversed commonly with the Laplanders The public records also contradict this opinion for in them there is no mention of Bergcharli but Birkarleboa It is yet clearer also from the Letters of Cnute Joanson written in Latine in the year 1318 where he saies in the Parliament held at Telge betwixt the Helsingers and Birkarleboa in his presence there was issued out this Placart c. This serves to confute Olaus It is more evident that they came from Birkala an allotment in Tavastia and described in the Mapps Next as to Gustavus the first mentioning the Birkarli in the foresaid Letters as belonging to severall marches viz. Luhla Pitha and Torna it was upon this account the Birkarli that descended from those of Tavastia were placed in these severall Towns to govern the Laplanders and because they only had the priviledge of commerce with them they were called Merchants They were used in the Summer to buy those commodities of the Merchants that came to Bothnia which were necessary for the Laplanders and in the Winter when the Rivers and Lakes were frozen over they carried them up into the Countrey This way of trafic was used by all the Inhabitants of Bothnia but perhaps only at first by one allotment which growing populous severall of the Inhabitants removed farther into the Countrey and retained the same priviledge that was first granted by Ladulaus viz. that no one but they should claim any priviledges over the Laplanders either as to the Government tribute commerce or any thing of this nature which priviledges they for a long time enjoied as is confirmed by the Letters wrote by Cnute Joanson in the time of King Smecke in which it was provided that the Birkarli should not be molested either in their passage to or from the Laplanders This priviledge they maintained till Gustavus the first who made a Contract with them at Vpsal on the 4th of April 1528 concerning the yearly tribute they were to pay to the Crown for the great advantages they received from the Laplanders This tribute was only in respect of the priviledges the Birkarli had from Ladulaus's time till then these were so largely granted that they setled them as hereditary upon their children and none but those descended from the Birkarli could enjoy them This Gustavus also confirmed according to the former grants made to their ancestors but with this alteration that they should pay half as much more as they did formerly This Government the Birkarli exercised over the Laplanders which they got by subtility had their autority from the King of Sweden preserved it in their own family and delivered it down to their children for near 300 years till Gustavus the first by reason of their insulting over the common People deprived them of this state for when their riches encreased they oppressed the poorer sort and extorted so much from them that they left them very little but that which was worth nothing Upon
plentifull with them as the former They have all sorts of other Berries tho the Natives do not so much value them This Country affords very usefull Herbs such as are Angelica which the Inhabitant value so much that they call it the Lapland herb or Samigraes they are much pleased with it in their meat it grows with a short stalk but thick In the same place is found Sorrel which they use too in their food Some particular herbs they have which are not found any where else as Calceolum Lapponicum or Brassica Rangiferorum what sort of herb it is Sam. Rheen expresses in these words which tho tedious I thought fit to transcribe that we might have his exact opinion it There grows saith he an herb which they call Calceolum Lapponicum becaus its flower is like the Laplanders shoe it is of a blew colour with three rowes of seed in the pod it has larger leaves than the vulgar cabbage its stalk is a finger thick and the root bitter it grows extraordinary fast and rises to three cubits in height and somtimes more it is thought a bad and unprofitable herb because no beast will tast of it There is another herb very usefel and wholesome and of great esteem among them which Olaus Pet. take to be like a carrot he says it is called Mosaraoth haveing the tast and flower of Pimpervel growing in marshy grounds to an ell in height That Mosaraoth is not a Lapland but Swedish name from maosa which signifies marshy places where mosse grows what the inhabitants call it I cannot yet learn And these are the peculiar herbs which this country hath I have not met with any one that could help me to the exact shape of them But altho this soil beare some peculiar herbs yet there are not many species of them which Olaus Pet. gathers from the west-Bothnia which borders on Lapland for in that place there are found but very few I come now to Mosse which is of diverse sorts The first is tree Mosse with a kind of long wool hanging down from the boughs especially of the Pitch tree and somtimes from others The 2d. which is very plentiful and affords food for the raindeers in the winter is ground Mosse of a white colour with long thin leaves growing a foot high The 3d. is ground mosse but softer of a more delicate yellow green this is pernicious to the foxes which the inhabitants cut small and mix with their baits to catch them The 4th is also ground mosse short and soft of a very fine colour which becaus it is so fine they use instead of feathers to lay under Infants new born I hear of a 5th sort with larger and longer leaves which they call Fathne good against fainting if it be bruised and drank in broth but I doubt whether this be Mosse I had rather believe it Angelica cut small prepared and boiled under ground The last thing which is to be mentioned is Grasse which is of diverse kinds the best sort is that which is found in the vallies near the mauntains called Fells being short soft and juicy that which grows in other places is thicker rougher and dryer There is a 3d sort thin and slender which the inhabitants use for stuffing of their shoes and gloves to defend their feet and hands from the weather And these are all the trees shrubs and herbs of Lapland CHAP. XXXII Of their Mettals THat mettals grow in Lapland and the outermost parts of Scandivavia is only a conjecture of the Antients and there is no certainty of it therefore none of them make any mention of them Olaus M. flatly denies that to his age there were any Iron Copper or Silver mines found therefore they were forced to fasten their boats with osiers without any nails because they had no Iron but in the 35. year of this age in Queen Christina's reign a silver mine was discovered by the Inhabitants of Pitha near Nasafialo not far from the mountains which divide Swedcland from Norway this was the first mine known in Lapland found by Loens Person an inhabitant of Pitha In the year 1645. The most Illustrious Ericus Flemming L. Baron of Lais now Senator of the Kingdome and President of the company of Mines first caused it to be opened and a melting-house built with convenient necessaries There is also a vein of Lead richer then the Silver and easier work't Rheen saith that the mountain is opened not with Pickaxes or any Iron instruments but they bore a hole which must be fill'd with Gunpowder when the mouth is well stopt they apply fire thro another little hole which touching the powder breaks the hardest stones in pieces But the use of this mine lasted no long time for in the war between the Swedes and Danes in Carolus Gustavus his reign about the year 1958. it was spoiled by one Van Anen the Danish Kings Governour from which time no man would go to the expence of cleansing and repairing the mine because it would require a vast charge before they could get any profit by it which was too much for men of mean estates to undertake The 2d Silver mine is in Luhla-Lapmark named Kiedlkievasi found by Jonan Petri living in Torpenjaur about the 60. year of this age It is in the middle of the Village Torpenjaur on an high mountain 2. miles from the top 6. miles from Raedstad a village of Norway between Raedstad and Keidlkievasi there is a famous high hill called Daorfiael in the road that leads from the mine to Norway the foul weather in the winter stops all passage over this mountain The mine is rich enough and very broad continuing the same all over lodged in a hard Marcasite It has this inconvenience that there are no woods near it but they are forced to fetch their fuel a mile and a half off they use powder instead of digging it as before the melting-house stands 5. miles off in a pleasant place near the concourse of several Rivers especially Darijock and Quickjock which last gives the house its name Here is a very spacious wood and great plenty of shrubs especially currans and all forts of herbs The river affords abundance of the best sort of fish as Salmon Trout Perch c. distant 27. miles from Taorne discovered in 1655. by an nhabitant who was showing the ore to Ericus Ericsonius who first discovered it It is very rich and not drossy only necessary's are conveyed thither with some difficulty There is another 3. miles northward called Wittange found by a Laplander in 1668. The vein is not so good because mixt with Iron wherefore they do not dig it so willingly as the other from these mines the ore is shipt away to the melting-house at Koenge to be melted and thence brought to Torna There are Iron mines too one in Torne-Lapmark joyning to the Copper mine another in the same Lapmark called Junesuando found in 1940. by Laurence an inhabitant there about 22. miles distant from
Torna whether it is carried to be beaten into bars and rods at the forge at Koenge A 3d vein of the same mettal is found in Pelziwachin at Lulha but of these the two first only are digged I heard in 1671. of a Golden mine but because there was no certainty I will not insist upon it I mention it because there are some that affirm that it was found in Swedeland in the time of Gustavus the first but this was divulged by an uncertain Author as appears by the event for to this day nothing more has bin heard of it CHAP XXXIII Of their Stones Jewels and Pearls I Come now to their stones which are very large and many of an ash colour but rough hard and intractable not to be reduced by any instrument to shape for use Besides these there are others often found on the shores which represent the shape of an animal These the inhabitants esteem much and adore them for Gods under the name of Stoorjuncare In Torne-Lapmark near the mine Junesuando on the banks of Torno there are found yellow plain stones of a circular figure like mony about the bigness of a half crown which look like dirt but are as hard as flints Dn. Grape in his papers makes mention of them I will set down a draught of them marked with the letter B. In the mine it self there are found stones in the perfect shape of Octaedra polished and worked by nature herself but very small not exceeding the bigness of a nut and somtimes less I have put down their figure with the letter C It is not certain whether the loadstone be found in this Country tho Olaus Mag. speaks of mountains under the pole which some have thought do breed the stone his words seem to intimate loadstones as big as mountains but 't is certain he cannot mean Lapland for that has none such yet there are those who affirm that the loadstone is found there As for pretious stones they have them frequently Buraeus mentions jewels and afterwards he adds Diamond Amethyst and Topaz By diamonds he means transparent stones or Chrystal they are found big and little sticking up and down upon the rocks and craggs some are as big as Childrens heads such as I saw the Illustrious Gabriel de la Galdie Chancellour of this kingdom have they have six sides ending like a pyramid tho some of them are imperfect the colour in some is bright and clear not inferior to Chrystal in other dull and spoiled with flaws some are pure others have veins like cracks branching out every way they serve the inhabitants for flints when they have occasion to light a candle and yield more fire if striken with a steel than the flints themselves I have now in a Lapland pouch some Chrystal which they made use of for flints The Jewellers polish and cut their Chrystals with such art that somtimes they are taken for true Diamonds by those that have skill I have drawn the greater sort of Chrystal in the native bigness shape marked with the letter A. Buraeus mentions Amethysts next some of which I saw brought out of Lapland but so pale and spotted that they were scarce comparable to those that come out of Bohemâ—a tho I hear since that there are much better found cut rarely The same thing is to be said of the Topaz one of which I have in my study in every thing like a Chrystal only the colour inclines to a yellow I am told that none of the rest doe shine so much as those that come from other places which is the fault of almost all the jewels of this Nation not being so apt to bare lively brisk colours as the eastern jewels doe To this head I reduce all Pearls and Margarites tho they be not stones Some rivers in Lapland produce these therefore there are certain inhabitants appointed to dive and search for them such as was John Peterson mentioned by S. Rheen who first found the Silver mine at Nasasiael he is called een diamontzbryeare sampi partefoekiare i. e. one that finds and cuts pearls Which tho out of this Country are not contemptible it cannot be denied but that most of them want that liveliness which the oriental Pearls have tho some are found as good and in bigness and shape exceeding them There are found some not come to perfection half round and half slat the round part being bright the other yellow and dull I saw one a few years agoe brought out of Bothnia so exactly round with such fresh colours that a certain woman offered an 120. crowns for it a Jeweller assured me that if he had another as good he would not sell both for 500. They are bred not of such shells as are in the east broad plane and almost circular like Oister but longer and hollower like Muscle shels and not in the Sea but in Rivers as may be gathered from Olaus Magnus Those that are not come to perfection stick within the shells but those that are perfect are loose and drop out when the shell is opened CHAP. XXXIV Of their Rivers LApland if any Country is well watered with springs and rivers the most noted are those from whence the particular marches and regions have their names as Umeao Pitheao Luhleao Torneao and Kimeao these spring from the Norway mountains and are encreased by several less rivers unburdening themselves at last into the Bothnick Sea Vindela fills Vmeao and Skiellefle Pitheao Luhleao swallows a less river of the same name and Kimeao is encreased by Avilaiocki which it self is no small river for there are numberless rivulets which run into it So Luhleao which has a double stream the lesser receives Pyrrijaus Kardijoch and it is the same case with the greater called Stoor-Luhleao and Tornaeo which is filled with the river Kaeungemae Taengeleao and others And so it is with all the great rivers which upon that account are so impetuous and big that they yield to few in the world and because they run through hilly and uneven Countrys and are stopt by several dams wears they force their way over precipices with a great noise and in those places are not navigable Such is the sluce at Lughlens called Muskaumokke and another named Sao likewise Niometsaski i. e. an Hares leap so called because the river Lughla runs between two mountains so near that an Hare may leap over The like Cataracts are found at Torna the most remarkable is called terrafors near the Norway mountains Next Caengerbrooks-fors then Lappia-fors then three more meeting in an head called by one name Paelloforser next Kettille-fors and lastly Kukula-fors near Torna Although these Cataracts are a great hindrance to sailers yet they are advantagious to the mettal-melters and afford an incredible plenty of Fish Besides these rivers there are abundance of pooles so numerous that but few can be named one is Lulafraesk by Lughla by which Lughleao the greater runs Next Lugga and Sabbaig all abounding with
THE HISTORY OF LAPLAND Wherein are shewd the Original Manners Habits Marriages Conjurations c. of that People Written by Iohn Shefferus Professor of Law Rhetorrick at Upsal in Sweden At the Theater in Oxon 1674 THE HISTORY OF LAPLAND WHEREIN Are shewd the Original Manners Habits Marriages Conjurations c. of that People WRITTEN By JOHN SCHEFFER Professor of Law and Rhetoric at Upsal in Sweden At the THEATER in OXFORD M.DC.LXXIV And are to be sold by GEORGE WEST and AMOS CURTEIN Imprimatur RA. BATHVRST Vice-Canc July 8. 1674. THE PREFACE THE Reader may please to take notice that the diligent and learned Author of this History to the writing of which he was commanded and therein assisted by the Chancellor of Sweden hath in the whole work taken care to justify what he relates from the faith of authentic records the testimony of Historians and the Discourses of Laplanders themselves with whom he had ready opportunities of converse And this he hath don so precisely that having in the contexture of his work given a full account of what he thought observable in the writings or narratives to which he refers he afterwards constantly puts down at length the very words of his Authors a great part of which are in the Swedish Tongue Now in this Edition we have spared our selves the labor of such repetition which we hope will not be regretted by the Reader who we suppose would not have bin much edified by them As to the subject here discours'd of t will not be needfull to give a character of it Military Action and those public murders in which other Histories triumph have no share here Hunger cold and solitude are enemies that engage all the fortitude of this People and where so much passive valor is necessary we may dispense with the want of Active Amidst the barbarity and darkness which reign in Lapland there appear strictures of light which will entertain the eie of the most knowing observer as the Stars are no less remarkable then is the Sun it self However the Reader will not fail to meet here with what may gratify his curiosity Warmer Climates having all the comforts and necessaries of life plentifully bestowed upon them are but a more distant home where we have little else talk'd of then what we daily see among our selves but here it is indeed where rather then in America we have a new World discovered and those extravagant falsehoods which have commonly past in the narratives of these Northern Countries are not so inexcusable for their being lies as that they were told without temtation the real truth being equally entertaining and incredible THE HISTORY OF LAPLAND CHAP. I. Of the Name of Lapland THIS Country doth not every where pass by the same name By some 't is called Lappia as Johann Magnus in the Preface of his history and Saxo Grammat in his 5th book by others Lapponia as Olaus Magnus in the explication of his Map of Scandinavia and Ziegler in his description of the Northern Countries and before these Ericus Versaliensis and after them Andr. Buraeus The Swedes usually call the Country Lapmarkia in whose language Mark signifies Land the Danes and Norwegians Laplandia and also Findmarkia as appears from Petr. Claudus description of Norway for no one can gather any thing else but an account of this Country from his whole 38th Chapt. which himself too seems to intimate when he promises more about Findmarkia in his description of Lapland Of i'ts being call'd Findmark I shall speak in another place Now we will see why 't is call'd Lapponia and Lappia the Etymology of which words is not yet agreed upon by the Learned Ziegler thinks they were named so by the Germans from the dulness and stupidity of the people which the word Lappi signifies amongst them but this seems improbable since this Country is but of late known to the Germans and none of their antient Writers make any mention of Lappia Moreover the Finlanders Swedes and Russians who differ much in their language from one another as well as from the Germans call it all by the same name and the Germans who are so remote from Lapland could not transmit this name to these more Northern Countries especially when they had little or no commerce with them Neither are the people so very dull and stupid as Ziegler himself afterwards acknowledges when he confesses they are good at the needle and make delicate embroidered clothes Neither can I assent to Wexionius's opinion that the Swedes gave them this name from their wearing of Skins for Lapper and Skinlapper do not signify skins but the same as the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in English Rags from whence Ol. Petr. Nieuren who writ of Lapland in Guslavus Adolphus's time derives their name from their coming into Swedland every year with rags lapt about them which is the signification of Lapp in that language But they do not deserve that name meerly for this reason any more than the Finlanders and others for they are generally cloth'd in good woollen garments as we shall shew hereafter Grotius thinks they are call'd Lapps from running or leaping but Loepa which in the Swedish language signifies to run is writ with a single P and the name of this Country with a double one and these People naturally are no great runners tho by an art they have of sliding over the frozen snow they are very swift in their motions Some think that the Inhabitants do not denominate the Country but the Country the Inhabitants as in the name of Norwegians and others which seems to be strengthned by this because Ol. Magnus calls them Lappomanni after the manner of Nordmanni Westmanni and Sudermanni in which words Manni signifying Men they were call'd Lappomanni i. e. Men of Lappia a Johann Tornaeus Others fancy that the name of the Country is deriv'd from Lappu which in the Finnonick language is furthermost because it lies in the farthest part of Scandinavia There is yet another opinion which may seem no less plausible then any of the former which agrees as well with the signification of the word Lapp among the Laplanders themselves as the credit given to what has been matter of fact viz. that 't was call'd Lappia not from its situation or other such like accident but from the Lappi that inhabited it So that I take Lappi to signify no other than banish't persons which is the genuine signification of Lapp in the Lapland language for the Laplanders were originally Finlanders and from leaving their Country may be presum'd to have took their name and that not of their own choosing but the Finlanders b Ol. Petr. Nieuren Plantin jun. Praef. M S. Lexic Lappon imposition with whom to Lapp signifies to run away whence the compellation seeming something scandalous no person of quality to this day will endure to be call'd by it tho from the Finlanders others Nations as the Germans Swedes and Moscovites have learnt
to call them so But they of Lappia Vmensis stile themselves Sabmienladti and those of Lappia Tornensis Sameednan from the word Sabmi or Same the signification of which and whence they had it we shall see hereafter At what time this Country and it's inhabitants were first distinguish't by these names Lappia and Lappi 't is hard to prove 't is certain 't was but of late for the words are not found in any antient writer neither in Tacitus who mentions their neighbours and forefathers the Finlanders nor in Ptolomy Solinus Anton. Augustus Rutilius or others neither in Authors nearer home not to name Jornandes Paul Warnefrid c. nor in those who have writ the actions of Heraud and Bosa or Goetricus and Rolfus or King Olafus in the Islandick Norwegian or Gothick language we find nothing of them in Adam Bremensis whose diligence in writing of the Northern Countries his Scandinavia sufficiently testifies or in Sturlisonius who writ very accuratly of these parts in his own language Therefore I cannot be so easily persuaded with Grotius to believe Cluverius who says they were mention'd in the Peutingerian Tables the Author of which is thought to have liv'd at least before Theodosius's time i. e. 600 years before Adam Bremensis how then could he that was none of the best Geographers if we may beleive Welserus and very far distant from these parts give us any account of them since Adam Bremensis who was so near a neighbour and had commerce with those that lived there could give us none Besides in that Table the Sarmatians are called Lupiones with whom the Lappi were nothing concerned neither doth any antient Author say they were seated so far Northward wherefore the Lupiones there described are any People rather then the Laplanders for at that time when the Author writ they were not so much as known to any of their neighbours the Gothick Norwegian or Danish writers The first that mentions Lapland is Saxo Gramat Hist Dan. l. 5. who lived and wrote about Ann. 1190 and therefore was after Adam Bremensis who lived about 1077 near 130 years in which interval this name must needs come first in use For Saxo making mention of such a Country a great while before in the time of Frotho the third contemporary to Alricus King of Swedland who they say lived before Christ doth not prove that 't was called so then but that that Country might afterwards have had this appellation and I am fully perswaded that Adam Bremensis would not have omitted this name if he had had any knowledge of it Afterward Er. Vpsaliensis speaks of it about 1470 i. e. almost 300 years after Saxo and 200 before this present time After them Jac. Ziegler made a large and learned description of it by which it came to be known all over Europe For however we may meet with the name Lappia in Saxo none but the Swedes and Finlanders before Zieglers time knew any thing of it And so much for the names of Lapland CHAP. II. Of the Situation of Lapland THE true and exact situation of this Country the Antients seem not to have sufficiently discovered Saxo makes it bordering upon Jamtia extending its self as far or rather lying as it were between Helsingia and Finland when in these words he says the Provinces of the Helsingi Iarnberi Iemti with both the Lappia's as likewise Finnia and Estia paid annual tribute to one Domarus Ericus Vpsaliensis seems to make it a part of Finland mistaking it for a certain part of that Kingdome so called on the one side adjoining to Swedland on the other to Russia giving it a place between Carelia and Nylandia Ol. Magn. in his Table and so his brother Johan Magnus in the Preface of his History place it higher then the western Bothnia making neighbours to it Scrikfinnia furthest towards the North and Biarmia towards the East though some a Buraeus in his descr of Swedland think there is no such place as Scrikfinnia as it is certain there is none in those parts at this day called by that name But yet we must not slightly pass over the unanimous opinion of so many learned men especially Saxo not a little knowing in the Northern affairs who have all not barely named it but have described the humours of the Inhabitants their manners habits and fashion of their governments with other matters belonging to them Instead of the Scrickfinni or Scricfinni of Johan and Ol. Magn. I would rather read it Scritofinni and as for Skidfinni as Adr. Burae would have it all the Antients what ever else they differ in will agree in this that there must be an R in the word Jornandez calls them Scretfennae Paul Warnefrid and Diacon Scritobini changing f in b of which and some other things of the like nature I will treat in due time and place Adam Bremensis Scritefinni and the Greeks agree in this writing so that we ought not to doubt of the Latines Procopius will have them sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 other times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Besides 't is manifest since the Scritefinni are the same with the Finni whose Etymology in their own language is from leaping by an art they have by which with crooked pieces of wood under their feet like a bow they hunt wild beasts they could not therefore take their name from Skidh signifying the wooden shoes themselves but from their leaping i. e. swift running with them which doubtless antiently was meant by Skriida and which the Author cited by Warnius in the 46 page of his Lexicon confirms where he relates the form of an oath made by Hafur that he would preserve the peace Quamdiu Finnur skriidar i. e. as long as the Finlanders continued their manner of leaping As for the Etymology that is there given that it signifies their wandring up and down 't is altogether false for Skridsko at this day denotes those wooden shoes which they run upon the ice with neither doth Skirida signify any thing else among the Antients but to glide along the ground for they do not take up one foot after the other as in common running but carrying themselves steady upon the frozen snow they move forward stooping a little as shall be shewn hereafter And perhaps this is the onely cause that they are called Himantopodes People creeping upon their knees which agrees exactly with these Scritofinni for they hearing that Skriida was to creep along what could they fancy the Scritofinni to be but People not going like other men but crawling forward like creeping animalls but of this I shall speak more at large when I come to the Laplanders gliding upon the ice That which I would chiefly evince here is that there are such a people rightly called Scritofinni and the Country which they inhabit is Scritofinnia or Scritfinnia and that there is no reason we should think there was no such place since there are those who are called Scritfinni i. e. Finlanders who run
upon the ice with wooden shoes whose Country from thence may well be called Scritofinnia And the same may be urged for Biarmia against those that will not allow there is any such place For first the antient Writers making frequent mention of it as that Author of the History thereof calls it often Biarmaland in the old Gothick or Islandick language who also calls the King of it Hereker in Ch. 7. and his two Sons the one Roerik the other Siggeir Saxo likewise in his 9th book speaks of a certain King of this place who reigned in the time of Regner King of the Danes making it border upon Finland when he says the King of Biarmia fled for refuge to Matullus who then reigned in Finland But now granting there were antiently such names as Biarmia and Scritfinnia it remains doubtfull still whether they were distinct Countries or no. All Authors except Johan and Ol. Magn. seem to make them the same Procop. Jornand Paul Warnfrid and Adam Bremensis speak of Scritfinnia but none of Biarmia and the Northern writers do just contrary Saxo indeed mentions them both but not at the same time once in his Preface he names Scritfinnia leaving out Biarmia in other places he names Biarmia omitting the other from whence I am almost of opinion that 't is the same Country called by native Writers Biarmia by forreign Scritfinnia We may add further that as Adam Bremensis makes Scritfinnia next to Helsingia the Author of the History of Herand and Bosa sets Biarmia in the same place speaking of some Woods in it and Rivers that emty themselves into the Sinus Bothnicus or bay of Ganduia next to Helsingia And moreover as the Scritfinni are a People of Finland which not onely their name but an old Chorographick Table commended by Grotius doth intimate distinguishing the Fenni into the Scritfenni and Redefenni so 't is probable of the Biarmians b Paul Warnefrid c Ad. Erem Solin c. 44. as well for their neighbourhood to Helsingia of which before as for their worshipping a God by the name of Jomala which is a Finland word denoting God amongst them to this day Moreover the Biarmians have many other things like the Finlanders as the Art of darting of Magic c. So that Biarmia may be a Colony of Finland whose People were called by Strangers from their skirring along or gliding upon the snow Scritofinni But now supposing all this true and that the Biarmia of the Ancients and Scritfinnia were the same 't is a question still whether Lapland be distinct from them or not Joh. and Ol. Magnus in their Geographic Tables and descriptions make them distinct Countries But that cannot be for if Scritfinnia and Biarmia reach one way to Helsingia and Jamtia on the other to Finland if they lye so near these Provinces and extend to the Bay of Bothnia both which have bin demonstrated before I do not see where Lapland can have any place at all And the same Authors are also mistaken in putting it South of Biarmia and Scritfinnia whereas the Antients placed these beyond it For that they mean't only by Biarmia that which the Swedes now call Trennes appears to be false from what has bin said before for where are any Rivers in Trennes that run into the Bay of Bothnia and how is it bordering upon Finland Wherefore contrary to Joh. and Ol. Magnus I think rather that Lapland is the same that was first by the Inhabitants called Biarmia by Strangers Scritfinnia then changing the name for some of the reasons here produced it came to be Lappia or Lapponia which beginning from Jamtia and Angermannia goes all about each Bothnia and at length ends in the extremities of Carelia and Finland so as to comprehend all the whole tract from the North even to the main Ocean the white Sea and the Lake Ladek which are the very bounds of old Biarmia and Scritfinnia But that it went as far as the Ocean the Antients seem not to have so well understood nor indeed Johan and Ol. Magnus who in those parts have made Scritfinnia and Biarmia different Countries from Lapland So also Damianus Goes who whatever he knew of Lapland had it from them says it extends it self to unknown Regions because he knew not who lived further towards the North Sea But the Antients have placed there besides the Scritfinni the Cynocephali Busti Troglodytes Pygmies Cyclops's and some others passing by the Himantopodes of whom we have spoken before tho in this age none doubts but the Laplanders inhabit it all and those who have sailed along those Coasts have met with none others but Laplanders In fine Charles the 9th King of Swedland in the year 1600 being desirous to know the truth of that Country sent two famous Mathematicians M. Aron Forsius a Swedish Professour and Hicronymus Birkholten a German with instruments and all necessaries to make what discoveries they could of Lapland who at their return did certify and make it out that beyond the Elevation of the Pole 73 degrees there was no Continent towards the North but the great frozen Sea and that the farthest point was Norcum or Norcap not far from the Castle of Wardhouse But of this distant Lapland those that are curious may enquire at their leisure we purpose to treat here only of that which is subject to the Government of the Swedes and this is a vast Country thought by Paulinus in his history of the North of equall extent almost with all Swedland properly so called Andr. Buraeus says it contains in length above 100 German miles and in breadth 90. All this Country comes now under the name of Lapland in which all agree that ever described it and if we would take an account of the Climate of it by this vast compass of Earth we must begin from the 64th degree of latitude and so to the 71 but in longitude it must extend at least to the 27th Meridian or more Moreover if we will compute the longitude from journies that have bin made thither all hitherto have unanimously put the beginning of it about the 38th degree and the end in the 65th And this may suffice partly for an account of the situation of Lapland in general and partly of that which is subject to the Swedes Dam. Ã Goes a Knight of Portugall sets its bounds thus in his description of Spain Lapland is divided into the Eastern and Western part the Bothnick Sea coming between The extremity of it is Tornia Eastward it reaches to the white Lake towards the North comprehending diverse Provinces and extends it self beyond all knowledge On the West towards Island it joins to part of Norway and on the other side of Norway 't is bounded with Swedland Finland and both the Bothnia's But Ol. Petr. Nieuren confutes this of the Bothnic Sea lying between for so part of Lapland would lie in Finland or Ostrobothnia part in Westrobothnia which every one knows is false and the very vulgar can
tell so much that the Bothnic Sea comes not any where within 18 or 20 miles of Lapland tho this ought not to pass beyond Damianus's time since Nieurenius himself confesses in another place that the Laplanders had their feat about the Bothnic Sea but that afterwards they were driven out of which I shall speak hereafter I will only add here a Table of the latitudes and longitudes of the chiefest Places as they were taken by M. Aronis Forsius and Hieronymus Birckholten Ann. 1600. Â Longit. Latit Uma 38 0. 65 11. Pitha 40 0. 66 14. Lula 40 30. 66 30. Toerna 42 27. 67 0. Kimi 42 20. 67 1. Lappijaerf 42 33. 70 9. Antoware 44 4. 70 26. Tenokijle 46 0. 70 50. Porsanger 44 2. 71 42. Porsanger 43 35. 71 35. Lingen 37 30. 70 30. Traenees 32 30. 70 25. Euvenes 33 35. 70 0. Titisare 37 55. 69 40. Piala 41 40. 60 15. Siguar 38 35. 68 59. Tingwar 38 0. 69 40. Rounula 39 30. 69 47. Kontokrine 42 0. 69 17. Waranger 45 0. 71 35. Lanzoard 45 35. 71 26. Hwalsund 42 40. 71 12. Skrisae 38 50. 71 18. Trumsae 35 52. 70 55. Andaces 32 0. 70 30. Serghen 32 20. 69 3. Wardhus 52 0. 71 55. Norkaap 45 30. 72 30. I proceed next to the disposition and nature of the Country having first given you a Map of it CHAP. III. Of the temperature of the Air and soil of Lapland WE have seen how Lapland is situate let us next proceed to other particularities of it That 't is very near the Pole appears from its latitude insomuch that for some months in the Summer the Sun here never sets and on the contrary in the Winter it never rises which Herbersten says is but forty days and tho three hours in the night the body of it is something darkned so that his raies appear not yet there is so much light that they continue their work all the while Indeed the same account is not to be taken of the whole Country since part of it lies nearer and part further distant from the Pole and of these too some parts are more East and some more to the West from whence 't is that with some of them the Sun is scarce above the Horizon for so many daies as he pretends And altho in the Summer it never sets and goes below the Earth yet neither does it rise much above it but as it were kisses and gently glides along the Horizon for the most part as likewise in the Winter when lowest it is not much beneath it which is the reason that tho they have one continued night for some months yet every day the Sun comes so near that it makes a kind of twilight Joh. Magnus saies that in the absence of the Sun there are two twilights one in the morning the other in the evening in which those poor remainders of day provide that the night should not be utterly destructive And by how much the Sun is farther absent the light of the Moon is clearer Hence Petr. Claud. saies that when the Moon shines they go a fishing and dispatch all other necessaries that are to be done without doors and when it does not if the air be clear even the light of the Stars so much abates the darkness that the horrour of the night is much lessened and there is light enough for the dispatch of severall businesses which is farther assisted by the whiteness of the Snow The Air of Lapland is cold but fresh and clear and consequently very wholesome being much purified by the winds which are here very frequent and violent It has bin attested to me by eye-witnesses that there rises a certain wind out of the Sea which beginning to blow raises presently such thick and dark clouds even in the midst of Summer that they utterly hinder the sight and in the Winter drives the snow with such force and quantity that if any person be surprised abroad he hath no other remedy but to throw himself on the ground with some garment over him suffering himself to be quite buried in snow till the storm is past which don he rises up and betakes himself to the next Cortage he can meet all paths and roads being hid in the snow But the strongest and most irresistible winds are upon the Mountains where they throw down all things they meet with and carry them away by their violence into far distant places where they are never seen or heard of afterwards Their only help against these is to convey themselves into dens and caves Here is rain as in other places sometimes more and sometimes less but in the midst of Summer this as likewise the neighbouring Countries have very seldom any at all Snow they have more often and so much that in the Winter it covers all the Country of which they make this advantage that they can travel the more securely in the night for the light of the Moon reflected from the snow enlightens all the fields that they can discern and avoid any pits precipices and wild Beasts that would otherwise annoy them so convenient are the wayes for any journy that two rein deer will draw a greater load over the trodden snow then a Cart and ten Horses can in the fields at other times These snows in some places as on the tops of their highest hills remain perpetually and are never melted by the strongest heat of the Sun In the upper part of Lapland there are Mountains rising to such a vast hight that the snow continues upon them Summer and Winter and is never dissolved but in other places the Land is every year overflown with floods of melted snow They have also very great frosts and mists and good store of them which sometimes so thicken the air that the sight is quite obstructed and Passengers cann't distinguish one man from another to salute or avoid him tho he be come close up to them It is so extreme cold here in the Winter that 't is not to be endured but by those who have bin bred up in it The swiftest Rivers are sometimes frozen so hard that the ice is more than three or four cubits thick and their greatest Lakes and deepest Seas bear any burdens whatever Nor is the Summer which to some may seem incredible more moderately hot For tho the Sun be very low and his raies oblique yet lying upon them so long together their force is strangely increast the only allay being from the vapors rising out of the neighbouring Sea and from the snows which as well in Summer as Winter continue undissolv'd in hollow places between the hills As for Spring and Autumn they know neither there being so very little space between the extremity of cold in the Winter and heat in Summer that by Strangers 't is look't upon as a miracle to see every thing springing fresh and green when but a week before all things were overwhelm'd with frost and snow Ol. Petr. Nieuren has
observed it as a memorable thing and which he would not have believ'd from any one had he not seen it himself that in the year 1616 June 24 going to the Church of Thor he saw the trees budding and the grass coming up green out of the ground and within a fortnight after he saw the Plants full blown and the leaves of the trees at their perfection as if they had known how short the Summer was to be and therefore made such hast to enjoy it Their soil is generally neither very fertile nor barren but between both full of flints stones and rocks every where appearing high by whose unevenness and roughness the rest of the ground about is useless The ground is generally very soft and slabby by reason of the many Lakes and Rivers overslowing yet would it be sit either for tillage or pasture if any would be at the pains and charge of draining it Ol. Petrus saies of the Southern part lying under the same climate and influence of the Heavens with Bothnia that 't is as apt to bear any grain as the Western Bothnia it self but this is not without a concurrence and aptitude likewise of the soil and he himself confesses in Chap. 12th that the Land is stony sandy uneven overrun in some places with briars and thornes and in others nothing but hills moores fennes and standing waters which are not the qualities that usually commend Land for agriculture Then as to his urging its verdant and rich pastures it doth not follow that all Land which yields much grass should be equally capable of bearing good corn Yet doth the Land afford plenty of grass and that so good that their Cattel are fatned much cheaper and sooner with it than any other thing as also divers hearbs but particularly 't is happy in all kind of pot-hearbs There are many large Woods and Forests especially towards Norway but not very thick likewise steep rocks and high mountaines called Doffrini upon whose naked tops by reason of the violence of the winds to which they are exposed never yet grew tree Below these hills lie most pleasant Vallies in which are clear fountaines and rivulets innumerable which emtying themselves into the rivers at length are carried into the Bothnic Sea Their water is clear sweet and wholesome only their Forests abound with stinking and standing Pools This Country Winter and Summer hath an incredible number of all kinds of wild beasts especially the lesser sorts which suffice not only for their own use but to drive a great trade with their neighbours They have Birds also of all sorts very many but Fish in such abundance that a great part of the Natives are entirely fed by them But of all these we shall speak in their proper places I will add no more here but this that the Description of old Finland or Scritofinnia by the Ancients is the same which hath bin given here of Lapland to confirm what I said before that these Countries differ only in name and not in nature and situation We come now to its Division CHAP. IV. Of the Division of Lapland THoSE who have writ of Lapland mention disserent divisions of it Saxo in his 5th Book and elswhere speaks of two Laplands and after him Johannes Magnus tells us that both the Laplands are joined together Southward I suppose in that division they had respect to their situation and meant the Eastern and the Western Lapland for so Damianus Goes who seems to borrow from Joh. Magnus expresses it Lapland saith he is divided into the Eastern and the Western separated from each other by the Bothnic Sea From whence we may gather that that part of the Country which lies on one side of the Bothnia was called the Eastern Lapland and that which lies on the other the Western Besides this division of Lapland there is another taken from the places most frequented by the Inhabitants For one part thereof lying along the Coasts of the Ocean is from thence called Sioefindmarken that is the maritime Lapland the other lying higher on the Continent Fioeldmarken that is inland Lapland tho by some they are called simply Findmarken and Lappmarken This last division Pet. Claud gives us in his 27th Chapter All the Sea Coasts saith he Northward and Eastward as far as Findmarkia reaches are possest by the Siaefinni or maritime Finlanders but the mountainous and champaign Country by the Lapfinni from thence named Lapmarkia or Wildfindlandia that is wild or savage Findland Where he calls one part of the Country Lapmarckia the other Findmarckia the one lying along the shore and bordering on the Sea the other mountainous woody and savage upon the Terra firma And this too may be worth our notice that Wildfinland with him is that which others call Lappmarkia I suppose because the Natives live by hunting as those of the other do by fishing For he presently adds There are many thousands in that place that feed on nothing but the flesh of wild Beasts And indeed some there are with whom those only pass for the true Laplanders as Samuel Rheen who in his 2d Chapter of his forementioned Book tells us that besides the Scrickfinni so he calls them that with Pet. Claud. are Sioefinnes there are other true Laplanders that live on nothing but rain deer And so from the Natives feeding on wild Beasts Lapland properly so called is also stiled Wildfindland in opposition to Findmarkia whose Inhabitants live both on Fish and Cattel And yet there may be given another reason for the imposition of this name from the many woods of that Country Olaus Magnus in more places then one calls the natives men that dwell in woods or Savages as in the title of his 3d Chapt. of his 4th Book which is Concerning the fierceness of the Savages or those that dwell in woods in which Chapter he describes the Laplanders And in the following Chapter he says that the wild Laplanders are clothed with rich skins of several Beasts The Baron Herberstenius also in his History of Moscovy calls them Savage Laplanders who tho they dwell says he on the Sea Coast in little Cottages and lead a brutish kind of life are yet more civilized then the Savages of Lapland whence 't is plain that by the Findlanders living near the Sea he means those that others call Sioefinnes and by the Savage Laplanders those that possess the inland Country who he thinks were so called from their wildness and barbarity And by and by he adds that by converse with Strangers who come thither to trade they begin to lay aside their Savage nature and become a little more civilized Afterwards he calls them Diki Loppi which name the Moscovites give them at this time as hath been shewed elswhere There is also a 3d Division of Lapland that respects the several Princes to whom the Country is in subjection And this Andr. Buraeus intends when he tells us The greatest part of Lapland viz. the Southern and inland
Country belongs all to the Kingdom of Sweden The maritime tract that lies on the Ocean and is called Findmark whose Inhabitants the Sioefinni or maritime Findlanders are so named from their living by fishing to Norway The rest of them that dwell from the Castle of Warhuus to the mouth of the white Sea are subject to the Russians which part the Swedes call Trennes the Natives Pyhinienni and the Russians Tarchana voloch Of their subjection to these severall Princes we shall speak when we come to treat of their Government and also of those parts that belong to Norway or Denmark and Russia At present we shall only mention the division of that part which is under the Swedes and is named by Buraeus the Southern and inland Lapland and by Petr. Claud. Lappmarkia properly so called This is divided into six lesser parts called marker or lands tho Buraeus chuses to render them Territories or Provinces Each of these have their distinct names and are called Aongermandlandslapmark Vmalappmark Pithalappmark Lulalapmark Tornalapmark Kiemilapmark So Samuel Rheen in his first Chapter That part of Lapland which belongs to Sweden is divided into the Kiemensian Tornensian Lulensian Pithensian Umensian and Angermanlandensian Lapmark Buraeus mentions but five of these Provinces viz. Vmalappmark Pithalappmark Lulalapmark Tornelapmark and Kimilapmark comprehending Angermandlandslapmark under Vmalapmark not that they are one and the same Province but because they are both governed by one Lieutenant Each of these Provinces take their name from Rivers that run thro the midst of them as Wexionius in his description of Swedland assures us As for their situation Angermanlandslapmark borders upon Andermannia and Jemtia to this joins Vmalapmark next to that is Pithalapmark and then Lulelapmark all of them lying Westward reaching on one side to that ridg of Hills that divides Swedland from Norway and on the other side to the Western Bothnia Northward of them lies Tornelapmark and extends it self from the fartheh corner of the Bay of Bothnia all along the North Sea called by Seamen Cape Noort Next to this lies Kimilapmark winding from the North toward the East and bounded on one side by the Eastern Bothnia on another side by that part of Lapland that belongs to Russia and on a third side by Cajania and Carelia Moreover these Provinces we are speaking of are subdivided into lesser parts called by the Swedes Byar as Samuel Rheen tells us and are equivavalent to our Shires and the Pagi of the Ancients So in Caesar we meet with Pagus Tigurinus and Pagi Suevorum which were not Villages or Country Towns but large parts of a Country such as the Greeks called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used in ancient times in the division of Aegypt Hence the Glossary renders the ancient Toparchiae Pagus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are several of these Pagi or Shires in each Province except Angermanlandslapmark which makes but one Pagus vulgarly called Aosahla Vmalapmark hath four Vma Lais or Raanby Granby and Vapsteen Pithalapmark seven Graotreskby Arfwejerfsby Lochteby Arrieplogsby Wisierfby Norrvesterby Westerby Lulalapmark five Jochmoch Sochjoch Torpinjaur Zerkislocht and Rautomjaur Tornelapmark eight Tingawaara Siggewaara Sondewara Ronolaby Pellejerf Kiedkajerf Manstalka Saodankyla Kithilaby So that all the Territories or Provinces are divided into 33 Byars In each of these there are several Clans or Families which the Swedes call raekar each of which have a certain allotment of ground assign'd them for the maintenance of themselves and their Cattel not in the nature of a Country Farm with us but of a very great length and bredth so as to include Rivers Lakes Woods and the like which all belong to one Clan or family In every Biar there are as many allotments as there are families that can live of themselves and are not forced by poverty to serve others In the Byar called Aosahla there are about 30 of these Clans or families in others more or less according as they are in bigness which all have their several names tho 't is not worth while to repeat them And thus much shall suffice of the third division of Lapland not lately made except that under Charles IX some Clans had certain allotments assign'd them but derived from very ancient time as appears from hence that neither the Laplanders have known nor the Swedes given them any other since the Country hath bin under their subjection Nor are the words modern or taken from any thing that may give any cause to suspect them of novelty which I the rather observe that from hence the native simplicity agreable to the antiquity of the Nation may appear CHAP. V. Of the Laplanders in reference to the inclinations temper and habit of their minds and bodies IT is almost peculiar to this People to be all of them of low stature which is attested by the general suffrage of those Writers who have described this Country Hence the learned Isaac Vossius observes that Pygmies are said to inhabit here and adds that they are a deformed People but in truth their feature and proportion is good enough and that they are not distorted sufficiently appears from their great agility of body and fitness for active emploiment Nor need we dispute of this since in Sweden we see them every day among us and can observe no defect in any kind or deformity by Lomenius unjustly ascribed to them Ol. Mag. and Tornaeus esteem their young women indifferently handsome and of a clear skin which I have often seen my self for they take great care to preserve their natural beauty which the men neglect to do and therefore if they are less amiable then the other Sex it is to be imputed to their choice not nature To which we may add the length of their frosts and the bitterness of the Air against which they neither arm themselves sufficiently with clothes nor know how to do so besides the smoak which continually fills their cottages empairs very much their natural complexion which is the reason why most of the men also are so swarthy And as they are generally short they are also very lean and 't is rare to see a fat man amongst them for the cold that prevents their growing tall dries up likewise their moisture and makes them apt to be slender They are also very light in respect of their bulk and stature which comes from their not eating any Salt if we will believe Ol. Petr. And thus much may be said in general of the frame and condition of their bodies As for their particular parts they have thick heads prominent foreheads hollow and blear eyes short flat noses and wide mouths Their hair is thin short and flaggy their beard stragling and scarce covers their chins The hair of both Sexes is generally black and hard very seldom yellow their breasts broad slender wasts spindle shanks and swift of foot They are very strong in their limbs so that in a bow which a Norwegian can scarce half bend they will draw an arrow
up to the head Their strength is accompanied with such activity withall that with their bows and quivers at their backs they will throw themselves thro a hoop of but a cubit in diameter But this seems to be spoken only of some Tumblers for the People are generally ignorant of such sports their usual exercises being running races climbing inaccessible rocks and high trees Tho they are thus nimble and strong yet they never go upright but stooping which habit they get by frequent sitting in their cottages on the ground We come now to the habits of their mind in which 't is first observable that they are much given to superstition which is no wonder while they live in Woods among wild Beasts and maintain little correspondence one with another but of their superstition we shall treat elswhere Furthermore they are beyond all imagination fearfull and mean spirited being frighted at the very sight of a strange man or ship above all things dreading War the reason of all this being the cold to which they are condemn'd and the meanness of their diet which cannot supply good blood and spirits wherefore they are useless in war and the Swedes who raise men in all the other Provinces find none in this as it appears from the ancient Records and Catalogues of all the Souldiers that ever were listed by former Kings So that 't is fictitious and rather an abuse than history which some have reported that Gust Adolphus had several Companies of Laplanders in his Armies but they were forc't to find out some excuse for those many defeats which to the wonder of the World that most victorious Prince gave his powerfull and numerous Enemies and pretend that those Victories were obtained by the help of the Laplanders and Magic Wherefore I conclude as I said before that this opinion is absurd and contradictory not only to the nature of the People but to public testimonies and writings To which we may add that they cannot well live out of their own Country but fall into diseases and die being no more able to endure a milder air or feed upon salt bread and boiled meats than we could upon their raw flesh and fish dried by the Sun for it has bin often found by experience that they are hardly temted by any reward to come even into these parts or if they do they die suddenly afterwards much less would they be induced to march into any more remote Countries Olaus Magnus gives us an instance of six Rain-deers sent to Frederick Duke of Holsatia by Steno Sture junior Prince of Swedland with two Laplanders a man and woman to be their keepers and that both they and the beasts wanting their accustom'd manner of living died all together in a short time Ziegler indeed on the other side saies they are a valiant People and that they were a long time free resisting the Arms both of Norway and Swedland and Scaliger after him saies that against their enemies they were couragious and Petr. Claud. reports they had a King of their own called Motle and that Haraldus Pulcricomus tho he had conquered the Countries round about could not subdue them but all this doth not evince their courage for whatsoever is said of this Prince Motle is nothing at all to the purpose being all taken out of the history of Snorro which speaking of Motle and something of his skill in Magick has not a word of his or his Peoples courage And 't is manifest that Ziegler could have no ground for what he said unless from such histories as that of Snorro which therefore only seem'd true because there were none extant more likely for in his time the Laplanders were subject to the Swedes unless we had rather believe that he took the Laplanders and the Biarmians to be the same ascribing to the one People what was said of the other There is indeed mention in Saxo of severall Wars of the Biarmians but those not managed by courage but Magick and Enchantments so that it no way follows that because they continued for many Ages a free People that therefore they were valiant But whatever becomes of the Biarmians 't is sure enough that the Laplanders are far from being stout or warlike who must first fight against their nature before they can resist an enemy Besides their innate cowardise they are strangely prone to suspicion and jealousy being conscious of their own weakness and so exposed to all attemts upon them a consequent whereof is that they are also revengefull endeavouring to prevent those mischeifs which upon the slightest occasions seem to threaten them by the death and ruine of the Persons that caused their suspicion helping themselves herein by conjuration and magick Of this Pet. Claud. gives us a memorable instance in one that having attemted to mischeif his enemy who was secured by countercharms after long attendance surpriz'd him asleep under a great stone which by a spell he made break to pieces and kill him The women especially when grown old cannot brook any suddain provocation but upon the least indignity offered fly out into passion and are hurried to the most wild transports that madness can dictate The Laplanders besides are very notorious cheats and industrious to over-reach each other in bargaining tho heretofore they had the reputation of plain dealing and honesty So that 't is probable that they took up their present practice having bin first cheated by those Strangers with whom they dealt and now think it best to be before hand with one another It is farther observable that they take great plesure if they happen to outwit any one imagining that tho they are hopeless to overcome by manhood and courage they have a nobler triumph over the minds of those whom they circumvent They are also noted to be of a censorious and detracting humor so as to make it a chief ingredient of their familiar converse to reproch and despise others and this they do especially to Strangers of what Country soever So fond admirers are all men of themselves that even the Laplanders will not exchange their interests with the Inhabitants of the most happy Climate and however barbarous they are doubt not to prefer themselves in point of wisdom to those that are most ingenuously educated in Arts and Letters They are likewise exceedingly covetous it being a part of their cowardize to dread poverty yet are they very lazy withall and hereupon Olaus Peters observes that tho their Country in several parts of it be capable of emprovement by husbandry yet 't is suffer'd to lye wast nay so unwilling are they to take pains that till they are compelled by necessity they hardly perswade themselves to hunt or fish From this their covetousness and sloth arises an ill consequent their undutifulness to their Parents when grown old not only to contemn and neglect but even hate and abhor them thinking it either long before they possess what they have or thinking it grievous to provide for those
Matthias it is plain it was postnate to Christianity since which time if we should imagine the Laplanders first to have come into these parts we must also suppose the Country to have bin till then uninhabited whereas we have all reason to believe that the Biarmi and Scridfinni lived here before Christ the latter of which seem by their name to have bin only a Colony sent out of Finland and mention is made of Finlanders in these parts in the time of Harald the fair or Harfager King of Norway and his Son Ericus Bodsexe who lived long before the times of Christianity and went down into Finmark and Biarmia and obtained a great victory over them Now if he went by Sea Northwards of Norway to come to Finmark Finmark then must have bin near Norway as lying North of it near the Sea that is the same Country that is now named Finmark which because then inhabited by Finlanders as appears by the name it is not to be believed that it was first possess 't by the Laplanders that were drove out of South-Bothnia by Matthias Kurk Neither are they called Lappi from being driven out then for they were so called in Saxo's time and there is little reason to believe that Matthias Kurk's expedition was before him especially from that inscription which mentions Kurk since that in those times they knew not so much of writing as to record any thing in it Wherefore we must find out some better authority to confirm to us the originall of the Lapps for we may believe that the Finlanders more then once march't out into Lapland which is evident from the several names of their leaders whom some called Thinns-Kogre others Mieschogiesche The first and most ancient is that from whence the Biarmi took their originall whom I conclude to have descended from the Finlanders from calling their Gods by Finlandish names Besides in their nature and manners they agree with the ancient Finlanders and lastly are called by all Strangers Scridfinni i. e. Finlanders going upon frozen snow which the ancient knowing none else to go so took to be the Biarmi But the name of Biarmi was given them by the Finlanders from their going to dwell upon the Mountains from the word Varama which signifies a hilly Country now because Strangers knew from the Swedes they used wooden shoes to go upon the snow which by the Swedes are called Att Skrlida not knowing the name Biarmi they called them Scridfinni and because the Finlanders and Biarmians were of the same originall they were often subject to the same Prince as to Cuso in King Holters time What the occasion was of this leaving their Country is yet doubtfull except it was for fear of the Swedes who in the reign of King Agnus invaded Froste King of Finland and harassed the whole Country The second time of deserting their Country was when the Russians enlarged their Empire as far as the lake Ladog For fearing the cruelty of these People they retired into Lapland which I am apt to beleive because the Russians call them Kienni as has bin said before from their passage through Kajania into Lapland which they could not have known but by their own experience and their wars with them especially those of Carelia and Cajania being so ignorant both in history and other Countries that they scarce know any thing of their own that is of any antiquity And this proves what we said of their second leaving their Country which was about the 6th age after Christ and these perhaps are they which are simply called Finni by the Danes Swedes and Norwegians or with the addition of Siae or Field obsolete words of the Biarmians because they were more then they in number especially after Harald Harfiger King of Norway who almost destroyed all the Biarmi in battle In the mean while the Finlanders lay secure in Finmark and all the Biarmi being extinct the name of Finni obtained and the name and credit of the Biarmi was quite abolish't and forgot And these are all the times they left their Country before they were called Lappi for till after this they were never called otherwise than Finni Scritofinni and Biarmi But in after ages we find them named Lappones of whom Adam Bremensis makes no mention who lived in 1077 but Saxo doth that lived in 1200 and therefore 't is probable that in that intervall of time after they were call'd Lappones they made their third migration But any one that will examine the histories of that time will scarce find any thing that should move the Finlanders to leave their Country as Ericus Sanctus hath made it appear in that Expedition in which he brought them under the Swedish Government and planted among them the Christian Religion which he made in the year 1150 when no small number of them the third time seem to have deserted their Country and gone into Lapland And the reason is plain having bin subject'd to Strangers and forc't to be of a Religion different from that of their Ancestors which thereupon was hatefull to them and therefore no wonder some of them sought out a place where they might live free which is as good a reason too why they were called Lapps by those that stayed for they submitting to the Swedes and embracing Christianity look't upon them as desertors of their Country whom fear only of a good Government and better Religion had made exiles especially when the King had put forth an Edict that all should be accounted banish't that would not renounce Pagan Superstition therefore they were justly called Lappi and care not to hear of the name to this day And this is my opinion of their originall and migrations out of which I shall not be perswaded by those learned men who believe they rather came from the Tartars for we never read of any of them going into the North Moreover the Tartars live altogether by war and plunder whereas the Laplanders live by hunting and grasing abhorring nothing more than war Besides the cheif delight of the Tartars is in having many stately Horses of which the Lapps are so ignorant that in their whole language they have not a word to signify an Horse the language also of the two Nations is so different that one cannot possibly be derived from the other And altho some learned men who pretend they understood both languages of Finland and Lapland considently aver that they are altogether diverse yet it will be easy to produce diverse men as well skill'd in them as they that say the contrary Besides 't is no consequence because there are a few differences between the Finland and Lapland languages that they are therefore utterly diverse when this disagreeing may rather proceed from the length of time than any diversity of the Tongues at first as we find now many Swedish words that do not at all agree with those now in vogue which yet do not constitute a new language And their saying the Laplanders could
not come from the Finlanders because they alwaies hated one another is of little force when the reasons of their hatred are enough explained already But it signifies less that the Finlanders have severall Customs and Manners not in use among the Laplanders as the way of building houses c. for these were to accommodate themselves to the nature of the place whither they came and to forget those things which would not be of any use to them And moreover there remains still a memoriall of those that came out of Finland where they first sate down in the woods of Tavastia near a Lake which they call Lappiakairo that is the Fountain of the Laplanders who when their necessary food grew scarce went further up into the Desarts and the Finlanders pursuing them in Tavastia they retreat'd to the Bothnic bay where they might be more safe and have more conveniences for living and this is that migration yet in memory which Plantin speaks of viz. that the Laplanders lived here for an age or more till the time of King Magn. Ladulaos An. 1272 who to get them under his subjection promised any one that could effect it the Government of them which the Birkarli i. e. those that lived in the allotment or division of Birkala undertook and having for a great while cunningly insinuated themselves into them under a pretence of friendship at last set upon them unawares and quite subdued them But before this they were infested by the Tavasti under the command of Kurk which if we would strictly examine we should find it of later date than about Christs time contrary to some mens opinions As it happens in things that are taken upon trust the Laplanders confound the more modern with the ancient making but one history of all that happen'd in the distinct times of Ericus Sanctus Magnus Ladulaos with some other Kings before and after and that so confused and lame that it is hard for any one to understand it Ol. Petr. mentions at large one Matthias Captain of the Finlanders when they subdued and drove out the Laplanders into the furthest and most desolate place of the North whom some think to be a noble Family of the Kurks in Finland and that he ceased not by frequent inrodes upon them to molest them till they promised to pay him yearly tribute which he at length weary of the long and tedious journey exchanged with some of Birkarla in Tavastia for a part of Finland whence followed what is most true that the Laplanders to the year 1554 paid annuall tribute to the Birkarli besides whom it was not lawfull for any others to trade with them There are those now living who say they have seen the letters and conditions of the Kurks kept in Ersnees an allotment of Lulalapmark by one Jo. Nilson Which things are so far from being immediatly after the birth of Christ that they may be reasonably thought to have bin since Mag. Ladulaos unless we can imagine that Ol. Petr. by his Tavasti and Buraeus by Birkarli meant the same people since there were other Birkarli inhabitants of Tavastia who chose them a Captain named Kurk under whom they drove out the Laplanders out of the Borders of the Eastern Bothnia and made them tributary and the letters may not be ascribed to Kurk but to Ladulaos in which he had granted the Birkarli the priviledge to receive tribute of the Lapps and of trafficking with them for it is not probable that Kurk though he was their chosen Captain was to have all the benefit of the Laplanders to himself so as by contract to tranfer to the Birkarli his right For the Tavastii were either a free People and so shared among one another whatever they got or else under some Prince and so could not give another what was not their own but their Masters Besides if they did give Kurk any thing as some Villages or the like it was not from any bargain that they were to receive in its stead tribute from the Laplanders but as a reward to himself for his pains and conduct in the war But whatever may be said of Kurk and the Tavasti 't is certain the Laplanders never came originally from the Russians nor as others think from the Tartars but from the Finlanders having bin driven out of their Country and forc't to change their habitations often till at length they sixt in this Land where they now live and that Country which from the remove of its inhabitants was called Lapland had the same name continued by the Swedes who had conquered the greatest part thereof For after the Swedes had learnt from the Finlanders that they were called Lapps they also gave them the same name then the Danes took it up then Saxo afterwards Ziegler then Dam. Goes who had the account which he gives of the Laplanders from Ol. and Joh. Magn. and so at last all the Country was called Lapland from the Bay of Bothnia Northwards especially after it was made subject to the Swedes except only that part which lies on the Coasts of Norway which retained its antient name of Finland as also that part towards the white Sea called by the Moscovites Cajanica altho these sometimes call the inhabitants Loppi which without doubt they took from their neighbours the Finlanders CHAP. VII Of the Religion of the Laplanders HAVING seen the rise and Original of the Laplanders we come now to speak more distinctly of them but first of their Religion not only what is now but also what was before Christianity came to be receiv'd there For there were Laplanders or at least some Inhabitants of Lapland before the Christian Religion was introduced such as the Finni Lappofinni Scridfinni or Biarmi as is above said but it was very long before the Laplanders properly so called embraced the Christian Religion At first there is no doubt they were Pagans as all the Northern Nations were but being all Pagans were not of the same Religion it may be enquired which the Laplanders profest And I suppose it could be no other then that of the Finlanders from whom they derive their original and consequently their Religion too But what the Religion of the Finlanders was is very uncertain since we have no account of the ancient affairs of that Nation Therefore we must make our conjectures from the Biarmi and Scridfinni as also from some remains among the Finlanders and Laplanders We have already prov'd the Biarmi to be the first Colony that the Finlanders sent into Lapland of whom this is chiefly recorded in ancient Monuments that they worship'd a certain God whom they called Jumala which Jumala or Jomala is manifestly a different word from what is mentioned in the History of St. Olaus King of Norway and of Herrodus for they relate it as peculiar to the Biarmi and unknown to themselves who being either Goths Norwegians or Islanders it cannot possibly be any old Gothic word but of some other Country and therefore most
its several different Dialects and is so various that those that live in one part of the Country can scarce understand those of the other There are especially three Dialects the first used by the Vmenses and Pithenses in the West the 2d by the Luhlenses in the North the last by the Tornenses and Kimenses in the East And the variety of these Dialects was doubtless caused by the difference of times in which they came into Lapland some coming sooner some later some settling in one part some in another Now of all these Dialect there is none more rough or unplesant then that of the Luhlenses who as well in their life and manners as in their way of speaking are far the most rustick and clownish of all the Laplanders But that you may see what a disparity there is between these Dialects I will set down a few example the Pithenses say Jubmel the Tornenses Immel the Pithenses say Jocks Warra Olbmo nisw skaigki kiist nissu pardei seibig muriet reppi for which the Tornenses put virte taodar almai kab kawtza raopka kaap alik owre kops riemnes Now as the Language of the Laplanders is varied according to the diversity of the Territories and Marches just as it is in other Nations particularly in Germany where the Swavelanders Saxons and Belgians speak all different tongues so hath it this also common with other Countries viz. that the nigher the Territory tends to any other People so much the more do the Iuhabitants participate of their Language and so the Tornenses and Kimenses who border upon the Finlanders do at this day use very much of their speech nay they go yet farther and make it their business to learn the Language of their Neighbours so the Tornenses and Kimenses get the Finnonik the Luhlenses Pithenses and especially the Vmenses the Swedish Language and that man that is skilled in these Tongues hath not little conceit of himself and is indeed much esteemed among his neighbours It is therefore no wonder if there be many Swedish words found among the Laplanders for it could not otherwise happen but that this People who were supplied by others in many things which they had not themselves should with Forreign commodities receive also and use Forreign names and of this I could give many instances but it is not the business in hand Now of this kind we ought to esteem these words following in Lapland Salug signifies blessed which the Swedes call Saligh Niip a knife the Swedes call it kniif Fiaelo a rafter with the Swedes tilio and many more of the like nature Of all which the R. and learned Johan Tornaeus gives this account that the use of Forreign words was introduced partly by necessity and partly by conversing with Strangers and upon this account it is that they that converse with the Swedes do oftentimes use Swedish words The like may be said of those that deal with the Finlanders and with the Germans in Norway and this is the reason why one and the same thing is often called by divers appellations as for example the Swedes call a Horse Haest the Finlanders Hapoitz the Germans Ross which also is the name the Laplanders give the beast for they having no Horses of their own were forced to borrow a name from the Country from whence they had them Now what Tornaeus observes concerning the word Ross I beleive may be applyed also to the word Porcus which I suppose they had rather from the Germans then Latines for the Germans call a Barrow-Hog Bork now their Swine they had all out of Norway and it is very probable they did thence borrow that appellation also And not to trouble our selves any farther this will hold true in all the rest of that kind Wherefore setting apart other considerations and looking upon this Language not as it contains in it forreign words but only such as they alwaies used within themselves and were ever received among them it remains that we conclude it to be not a miscellany or collection of Latin German Swedish scraps and the like neither as a peculiar speech different from them altogether but such as originally took its rise from the Finlanders tho time hath brought it to pass that perhaps few of them understand it This Tongue as well as others hath its Declensions Comparisons Conjugations Moods Tenses c. and perhaps it may not be amiss if I should here insert some examples I will therefore first decline you a Laplandish Noun and afterwards give you the Finnonick Declension of the same that by comparing both you may better understand the parity and disparity of these Languages This Noun shall be Immel for so the Tornenses call it tho other say Jubmel the Finlanders terms it Jumala and it signifies God Lappon Finlappon Singul. Plural Singul. Plural N. Immel N. Immeleck N. Jumala N. Jumalat G. Immele G. Immeliig G. Jumalan G. Jumalden D. Immela D. Immewoth D. Jumalalle D. Jumalille A. Immel A. Immeliidh A. Jumalaa A. Jumalat V. ô Immel V. ô Immaeleck V. Jumala Plural A. Immelist A. Immaeliie A. Jumalasta A. Jumalilda I will add one more Noun that the case may be more clear and that shall be Olmai which signifies a man Singul. Plural N. Olmai N. Olmack G. Olma G. Olmaig D. Olmas D. Olmaid A. Olma A. Olmaig V. ô Olmai V. ô Olmack A. Olmast A. Olmaija And after this manner it is in all the rest Adjectives have their terminations in comparison as Stoure great stourapo greater stouramus greatest Enach much enapo more enamus most Vtze little utzapo less utzamus least The comparative for the most part ends in po the Superlative in mus They have also their Articles but seldom use them before Nouns as it also in other Tongues In the Masc and the Fem. Gender the Article hath the same termination but differs in the Neuter for tott signifies hic haec towt hoc Their Pronouns are mun I tun thou sun he mii we sii you tack they The Verbs also are conjugated in their Tenses and Persons as in the Indicative mood thus Sing Mun pworastan I love tum pworastack thou lovest sun pworasta Plur. Mii pworastop we love sii pworost you love tack pwrost And after this manner do they decline their other Verbs Sing mun laem I am tun laeck thou art suu lia he is Plur. mil laep we are sii lae you are tack lae they are These will serve to give us some light into the nature of this Language at least as much as is to our purpose who did not undertake to write a Grammar but only give some small description Now the Laplanders have a peculiar way of pronouncing words according to which it is impossible to express them in letters for they do mouth out all their words so that the vowels might be heard loud enough but the other letters come very softly out they do also quite out off and drown the last Syllables especially of Nouns Letters
they neither have nor ever had any and in this they agree with their ancestors the Finlander the Calendar which they use is no other but the Swedish in Runick letters And this also before they came to have commerce with the Swedes and had learned of them the observation of Holy-daies was never in use among them Johannes Burous tells us that he heard from persons of good credit of certain grave-stones and monuments which had sometimes bin found in Lapland more whereof perhaps might be found on which were engraved Runick Characters But suppose we this true it is not I hope therefore necessary that we should conclude that these were formerly the letters of the Laplanders to which indeed as well themselves as their forefathers the Finlanders are equally Strangers But we have more reason to think that the Swedes coming thither in ancient times either by force of arms or otherwise inhabited there abouts and left those stones To this day both the Laplander and Finlander use the Latine letter in the same Character the Swedes and Germens make them altho the number of them that can read among them is but very small and of them that can write a great deal less and are only such as they call great Scholars Now this Speech being only used among the Laplanders and there being none that desire to learn it but themselves in all negotiations with others they are forced to use the help of Interpreters of whom upon this account there are great numbers as I have formerly said tho these Interpreters speak all Languages but the Finnonick very barbarously which is also the fault of all Laplanders who are very hardly brought to learn or pronounce any other Tongue and much given to confound one with another So that they which traffic in Norway and border upon that Country do in their speaking mingle together the Speech of the Norwegians and Swedes as for instance jeghkiaemi for jag kom jeg gaong for jag goar So for hustro they say koona for min myssa mitt hofwud c. But of the Language of the Laplanders let this suffice CHAP. XVI Of the Houses of the Laplanders HITHERTO we have treated of the Laplander as he hath relation to the Common-wealth we shall in the next place speak of him as a private person And this we shall do first considering the things they have need of Secondly their imployments And thirdly their leasure and pastimes All necessary accommodations are either such as are to defend us from ill inconveniences or to give us necessaries Of the first sort are Houses and Cloathes of the 2d Meat and Drink We shall begin with their houses or places of aboad The Laplanders have not any houses like other Northern People it having bin their custom to wander up and down and so sometimes in one place and sometimes in another to set up small sheds for their present use so that they had no certain habitations but having eaten and consumed the fish and beasts in one place they march to another carrying their sheds or tents with them But this liberty of wandring up and down the Country was in a special Edict forbid them by Charles the ninth in the year 1602 and a certain place of habitation assigned to every family The words of the Edict are to this purpose We do in the first place command that in every Lapmark an account be taken of all Fenns Rivers Lakes c. and who they are that have hitherto had the benefit and use of them with the names of all such and then that the number of the families be compared with that of the Rivers c. and so equally divided that one family shall not possess more Rivers and Fenns then are for its use Lastly every Lapmark being thus divided it shall be committed to honest and good men who without either favor or prejudice shall assign to every family its just portion and thenceforth it shall not be lawfull for any Laplander at his plesure to wander up and down all marches as hath formerly bin used From the time of this Edict the Laplanders had their certain bounds and limits assigned them sufficient for the sustaining of their families Neither was it afterward lawfull for any one to invade the propriety of another or to wander where he pleased The 3d thing we are to note in these sheds is that they strew their floors with branches of Birch trees least by the rain they should be wetted and they use no other kind of pavement only upon the boughs for cleanliness sake they lay skins of Rain-deers on which they sit and lie And these are the dwelling houses of the Laplanders besides which they have also Store-houses in which they keep their commodities especially flesh fish and such other provisions these they call Nalla and make thus they cut the upper part of a tree off so that the body remain four or five ells from the ground high upon this trunk they place two rafters in the figure of an X or St Andrews Cross and upon these they build their repository making a door to it and covering it with boards There is one thing peculiar to these Store-houses which is that the door is not in the side but bottom of them so that when the Laplander is come down the door falls too like a trap-door and all things are safe To these they go up by ladders which they make of the trunks of trees in which they cut great notches like stairs Now the reason why they place them so high is because of the Bears and other wild beasts who oftentimes pull them down and to the great dammage of the Master eat all his provision they used also to cut off the bark of the tree and anoint the stock so that neither mice nor wild beasts could be able to climb up for slipperiness And perhaps these are the houses Olaus magnus meant when he said they placed their houses upon trees for fear of wild beasts But that you may the better conceive these Store-houses also I shall here give you the Figure of them CHAP. XVII Of the Garments of the Laplanders AMONG the Laplanders the men and women wear different kinds of Garments which they alter according to the Weather and place for they wear one sort of clothes in the Winter and another sort in the Summer one kind at home and another abroad Let us first consider the Garments of the men These in the Summer have trouses or brougs reaching down to their feet close to their body upon which they wear a gown or rather a coat with sleeves which comes down to the middle leg which they tie fast with a girdle And in this respect it was that Zieglerus in his time wrote that they used close Garments fitted to their body least they should hinder their work He calls them close because of their trouses and fitted to their body because of their being girded These they wear next their bare
skin without such linnen shirts as the Europeans use they having no flax in their Country These Garments are of course home-spun woollen cloth called Waldmar of a white or gray color such as the wool is of before it is dyed The wool they have from Swedland and buy it of the Merchants called Birkarli but the richer sort wear a finer cloth and not of the same color but sometimes green or blew and sometimes red only black they abominate Tho sometimes in dirty works and at home they wear the meanest clothes yet abroad and especially upon Festivals and Holydaies they love to go very neat Their girdles are made of leather which the richer sort adorn with filver studs and poorer with tin These studs stick out like buttons in a semicircular figure At this girdle they hang a knife and sheath and a kind of square bag tho something longer then broad also a leathern purse and then a case with needles and thred in it Their knives they have from Norway the sheath is of the skin of the Rain-deers sewed together with tin wire and in other parts with the same adornments at the end of which they use to hang rings the bag is also made of the skin of the Raindeers with the hair on it on the outside of which they also place another skin equall to the bag and make it fast by three knots and this skin they cover again with red cloth or of some other color adorned also with wire In this bag they keep a stone to strike fire not of flint but christall as I will shew hereafter Also a steel with some brimestone to light a fire where ever they come as also Tobacco and other odd things The leathern purse is also made of the same skin in an oval figure like a pear in which they keep their mony and other more choice things and at this also they hang rings Their needle case is of a peculiar sort they have a single cloth with four sides but the upper part is much narrower then the lower so that it is like an oblong triangle cut off at the vertical angle and to make it stronger they bind about the edges with leather and so stick their needles into it this they put into a bag of the same shape adorned with red or some other colored cloth and wire drawn together by a leathern string by which they hang it to their girdle Besides these they have Alchymy chains with a great company of rings of the same these they hang about all their body the bag they hang before nigh their navel all the rest they fling behind them And these are the Garments and ornaments of the body their head they cover with a cap over which the richer sort wear a case of Fox Beaver or Badgers skin they are very like our night-caps it is made of red or other colored cloth or of the Hares fur first twisted into a thred and then knit almost like our stockins or lastly of the skin of the bird called Loom with the feathers on it sometimes they so order it that keeping also the head and wings of the bird they make not an unbecoming cover for the head Olaus Magnus in his 4. Book Cap. 3. saies they make their caps of the skins of Geese Ducks Cocks which as well as other birds are there in great abundance But he doth doth not here mean common Cocks but the Vrogalli or Heath-Cocks however he gives us the picture in his 17 Book Cap. 26. They have ordinary gloves but shoes of a peculiar make they are made of the skin of the Rain-deer with the hair on out of one piece only where they tread they sew both ends together so that the haires of one part may lie forward and the other backward least if they lay all one way they should be too slippery but neither is there any more leather on the bottom then on other parts as it is in our shoes only there is a hole at the top in which they put in their feet the toe bends upwards and ends as it were in a point Upon the seame they place some narrow pieces of red or other colored cloth these shoes they wear on their bare feet and bind them twice or thrice about the bottom with a thong and least they should be too loose they fill them up with a sort of long Hay which they boil and keep for that purpose But now let us come to the garments they do not so ordinarily wear but only on some occasions which both for the men and women are made alike and all of leather to secure them from the gnats But in the Winter time the men have breeches to defend them from the weather and coats which they call Mudd These Mudd are not all alike but some better some worse the best are of the skins of young wild Rain-deers just when they have cast their first coat in the place of which comes a black one which is about the Feast of St James and these are very soft and delicate Their feet they defend with boots of the same skins and their hands with gloves or mittens of the same and their heads with a cap which reaches down and covers part of their shoulders also leaving only a space for them to see through All these Garments they wear next their skin without any linnen underneath and tie them round with a girdle only their boots and gloves they stuff with hay and sometimes in the Winter with wool And this is that which Johannes Tornaus saies of their cloathing that their garment is made of the Rain-deer the skin of the beast supplying them with coats breeches gloves sandals shoes c. the hair being alwaies on the outside so that they seem to be all hairy And hence we may understand Zieglerus when he saies their Winter garments were made of the skins of Bears and Sea-Calves which they tied in a knot at the top of their heads leaving nothing to be seen but their eyes so that they seemed to be in a sack only that it was made according to the shape of their members and hence saies he I beleive they came to be supposed all hairy like beasts some reporting this out of ignorance and some delighting to tell of strange wonders they saw abroad And truly it is not without reason that he gathers the fable of hairy men to be raised from their hairy Garments which sort of monsters whether there be in other Countries I cannot tell but I find the Cyclops's with one eye in their forehead by Adamus Bremensis to be placed here upon the same account because they had only a hole in their cap through which they looked all the rest of their body seeming hairy and therefore this hole they feigned to be an eye But whereas he saies the skins were of Bears and Sea-Calves he is a little mistaken for these skins were not so common among the Laplanders and are by them