The Lapps usually have bleary eyes and it looks as if the one word might be derived from the other. There are a number of causes, prime among which are:
1. Wind. When I first started my journey and was subjected to a storm, my eyes became red and I was unable to open them fully and was obliged to keep them half-closed. All the more so, then, for those who live in the mountains, where the wind is everpresent.
2. The snow and all the whiteness, especially when the sun shines, has been a particular source of trouble to me. Therefore, also to the Mountain Lapps who have permanent snow.
3. Mist. I could manage well enough on the glacier today until the fog, mist or cloud – which is all the same thing – arrived and so impaired the eyes both of myself and my interpreter that we could hardly keep them open however hard we tried. Same with the Lapps.
4. Smoke. What, if not sore eyes, can be expected among people who dwell in a “kåta” where the smoke gets into everyone’s eyes and into every corner just as readily as it goes through the hole in the roof?
5. Cold, and where is colder than Lappland? The Mountain Lapps merely rely on tents and do not use a permanently built “kåta”.