Lachesis Lapponica; Or, A Tour in Lapland, Volume 1Linné, Carl von
History
Lachesis Lapponica; Or, A Tour in Lapland, Volume 1
Linné, Carl von
Lapland -- Description and travel; Natural history -- Lapland
When the Laplanders mean to appear in full dress, they attire themselves
in white _walmal_ cloth, (see _p. 137_,) without any lining, and their
jacket is ornamented with a high blue collar with a brown edge, the
whole collar being stitched over and over with thread. The cloth for
this part costs a dollar, copper money, extraordinary for every ell, on
account of the brown edge. Eight ells make a jacket, so that the whole
comes to as much as a small garment of reindeer skin.
They complained to me about the sale of their manufactures, which they
are now obliged to dispose of at too low a rate. They would willingly
allow twenty per cent. profit to the merchants of Stockholm, giving them
a preference that they might be enabled to pay the duties, nor would
they then listen to applications from any other quarter.
The Lapland women are accustomed to sew all the clothes and shoes, and
to cook all such articles of food as are made of milk; but the men dress
the meat, fish, and fowl. If the housewife happens not to be at hand,
the preparation of the milk dishes falls upon the husband, but not
otherwise. The Laplanders in this part of Norway, who have become
cultivators of the ground, use scythes whose upper end rests on a
projecting piece of wood set on the ground, as on a pivot, another piece
opposite to it serving for a handle.
This was a very hot day, with a few drops of rain in the afternoon.
[Illustration]
The weather being now calm, we ventured to go out to sea in a boat, in
order to search for the natural productions of that element. We soon
caught, with a hook and line, plenty of Sey-fish (_Gadus virens_). These
were about ten inches long, very smooth, fat and tender, covered with
extremely minute scales. The back was of a darkish green, the belly
white. The mouth toothed, like that of a perch. Some of these fish had
sticking to them several _Remoræ_, or rather _Pediculi marini_ of
Frisch, of which I preserved specimens. (_Lernæa Assellina?_) The fish
themselves were so numerous and so voracious, that we had no sooner
thrown out the hook, letting it float after the boat, than they
swallowed it so quick that we could hardly take them out fast enough.
The next day however, the sky being very clear, we had no such success.
The hook we used was of steel, without any kind of bait, and yet we
caught above sixty fish in all.
Torfiolme, where I now was, is entirely encompassed by lofty mountains
covered with snow. Between their summits dark grey clouds were stationed
here and there, so that the base of each mountain, as well as the summit
itself, was clear. These clouds, or vapours, at length gradually
subsided.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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