The Land of the Long NightDu Chaillu, Paul B. (Paul Belloni)
General
The Land of the Long Night
Du Chaillu, Paul B. (Paul Belloni)
Lapland -- Description and travel -- Juvenile literature
Wasara's father's first name was Pehr,--he was a fine-looking Lapp,
about seventy years old. His father was living, and was about ninety
years old. The outdoor life agrees with the Lapp. Give me the plateaus
of the Arctic regions for health. There are plenty of mosquitoes in
summer, but no malaria at any time. Nor is there any sore throat there.
I do not remember, indeed, ever to have heard a person cough in that
country.
The material of the tent was of very coarse woollen stuff, called
"vadmal." The tent was about thirteen feet in diameter at the ground.
Its frame was composed of poles fitting each other; the wood had become
black from being smoked for years. These poles are so well knitted
together that they can resist the terrific winds which blow over the
land. A cross pole high up sustained an iron chain, at the end of which
is a hook to hold the kettle and cooking pot. The coarse woollen stuff
which covered the frame was composed of two pieces that were made fast
by strings. The nature of the vadmal permits the wind to go gently
through. The entrance is by a small sliding door made of the same
material.
Inside, along the lower part of the tent, were boxes of different shapes
and sizes, packages lying on the top of skins to prevent the wind from
blowing in from the bottom; the outside was protected by snow.
As I glanced around I saw two queer-looking things, resembling in shape
the sabots or wooden shoes of the peasantry of Europe, only very much
larger, hanging near the sides. I looked in, and to my great
astonishment saw a Lapp baby in each. They were Lapp cradles, called
"katkem" or "komse." They were made of a single piece of wood and were
about two and a half feet long by fifteen or eighteen inches wide. In
one was such a sweet Lapp baby, a dear little girl, with her eyes wide
open. As I looked at her she smiled. In the other was a big fat boy,
fast asleep.
Two women went out and collected a lot of snow, which they put on to
melt in a big iron pot hanging over the fire. This is the way the Lapps
have to do to procure water. When the snow had melted she put the water
in a coffee kettle that had a spout. One of the women ground coffee in a
mill. Then the ground coffee was put into the kettle and left to boil
for quite a while, the woman watching it, taking off the pot when it was
about to boil over, and then putting it over the fire again. The third
woman was attending to the cups and saucers. When the coffee was ready
they put in a little bit of salt to give it flavor, then set the coffee
kettle on the ground and put into it a small piece of dried fishskin to
clarify it and precipitate the grounds at the bottom of the kettle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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