Peeps at Many Lands: NorwayMockler-Ferryman, A. F. (Augustus Ferryman)
History
Peeps at Many Lands: Norway
Mockler-Ferryman, A. F. (Augustus Ferryman)
Norway -- Description and travel
Let us now see the kind of place which the Mountain Lapp calls
"home." It cannot be anything very elaborate or bulky, as it has to be
packed up and moved about nearly every day, and it has to be carried
on the backs of the reindeer in summer, or drawn by them in sleighs
in the winter. So it is nothing more than a most unconventional form
of tent, not altogether unlike the wigwam of the Red Indian, or the
dwelling of many other nomadic people. A few long poles are stuck up
on a circle, with their ends fastened together to form a sort of cone,
and over this framework is stretched a covering of coarse woollen
material. At one side there is a loose flap, forming a door, and the
whole of the top part of the tent round about the ends of the poles
is left open, to admit light and to allow the smoke from the fire to
issue forth. The diameter of the tent is about twelve or fifteen feet,
and the height in the centre eight or ten feet. This is the kitchen,
larder, store-room, drawing-room, dining-room, and bedroom of the
family--men, women, boys, girls, babies, dogs and all.
A few branches of trees are spread on the ground, and in the middle,
immediately under the opening in the roof, is the fire, which is
kept alight day and night. Around it the inmates sit on the ground
by day, and sleep by night. There is no furniture of any kind, and
only a few cooking-pots, with some wooden bowls, and spoons of wood
or of horn. Beds and blankets and suchlike luxuries are also absent,
so undressing, dressing, washing, and absurdities of that kind are
not indulged in. When the time has come to go to sleep, those who
are in the tent just roll themselves close up to the fire, and sleep
quite comfortably in the clothes which they probably have not taken
off for a year or two. The whole family is not likely to be in the
tent at the same time; some members of it must always be looking
after the reindeer, as the herd can never be left to its own devices;
consequently, there is generally plenty of room.
Meals are free-and-easy affairs; there is no dinner-bell and no
fixed time for eating. But food is always ready, hanging in a pot
over the fire; and when anyone feels inclined to eat, the hand is
plunged into the pot, and a piece of meat pulled out and devoured. In
addition to reindeer-meat--of which the Lapps consume a great deal--the
food consists of cheese, and sometimes a kind of porridge; while for
drink they have water, melted snow, reindeer-milk, and, on occasions,
coffee. The latter they are very fond of, but few families can afford
to drink it often; so also with spirits, which, however, they only
manage to obtain in the towns.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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