“Then, O happy thought, I recollected the _brandy_; and bringing my keg to the bedside, I tapped it, and offered them a glass if they would get up. This was quite another thing; they yawned, stretched their limbs, and stood upon the floor. Poor fellows! we then saw how ill and fagged they looked, though they were splendid specimens of the human race. “Pouring a glass of the fiery compound down their throats, they put on their coats, and followed us like sleepy dogs; but in a few moments were rowing us like heroes.” All travellers agree in bearing witness to the passion of the Lapps for alcoholic liquors. If we could spare our apostles of temperance and advocates of Good Templarism, which, alas! we cannot afford to do, few better fields could be found for their admirable labours than Lapland. * * * * * Captain Hutchinson, however, has more pleasant experiences to relate, and more agreeable “interiors” to sketch, than the preceding. Let us accompany him, for instance, on a visit to the island of Bjorkholm. The settlement here is very small, consisting of only two or three houses, and a few barns and sheds. The inhabitants, after the usual manner of the Lapps, support themselves by fishing in summer, and by the reindeer in winter. Not a tree or shrub grows upon the island; only grass. The hostess, on this occasion, was an active, good-natured little woman, not more than four feet high, who flew to and fro with a really wonderful agility. At one moment she was mounted on the dresser, searching for forks and spoons; at another, almost buried in a deep box, diving for sheets and table-cloth. Crockery was decidedly scarce; and a china slop-basin, with a wreath of prettily painted little flowers round the margin, had really a hard time of it. It was first presented to Captain Hutchinson and his party for the purpose of washing their hands; at supper it appeared filled with chocolate; in the morning it reappeared as their joint washing-basin. However, the little Lapp entertained them right royally, with hot kippered salmon, pancakes, dried reindeer, and eggs. The beds were very comfortable, the mattresses of hay, with the whitest of sheets. And though the hostess and her family seemed very poor, relics of former grandeur were visible in the silver spoons, teapot, goblet, and cream-jug. * * * * *