The Mountains [1]

The water in the lake VIRIJAURE was whitish green, just like water standing in a bowl in which there has been milk before. This was because of the very great purity and lightness of the water, as well as its transparency. It was colder than snow water.

On the west side of the mountain called KAITSANJUNJE a short distance from the lake, there was a stream and also a strange sort of rock or fluorspar with blueish rays and square stones.

It rained in the evening and I found a number of butterflies with purple spots.

All the rocks were flaky, like horn. Some contained black alum, also usually horn-like. Eroded and with silvery grains, rarely quartz grains.

11th. We were up early in the morning and we arrived very quickly (after 1 3/4 miles) at the ice-mountain, which was a very high mountain covered in eternal snow. I noticed that the snow was very hard, as if frozen, and we sometimes walked on the crust and sometimes went down through it just as if we were walking in sand. Every so often there were rivers which ran under the snow, and in some places the snow had fallen through so that it was possible to see many consecutive strata of snow. The rivers now began to flow towards the west – a sign that we were in Norwegian Lappmark. The sweet green earth that had earlier alternated with the snow was no longer visible and there were no lovely flowers here; instead, the whole area was blanketed in white snow. The cold east wind drove us quickly on, forcing us to protect our hands from the chill and to put on an extra coat. We were proceeding along the north side of the mountain, driven so hard by the wind that as often as not we fell over and tumbled far down the hillside. Once I fell the distance of a gunshot and ended up not that far from the edge of a precipice that would have put an end to the farce. That shows how strong the wind was. The rain, which was coming at us from the side, brought a coating of ice that stuck as an icy crust on our shoes and backs. Had this wind been against us, we should never have endured such a long and toilsome distance. When we had travelled 20 to 25 miles in such conditions, rocky and barren cliffs began to appear and, by and by, the western sea showed up between the cliffs. Earlier we had had perpetual spring, now we had perpetual winter, next it would be perpetual summer.

On the ice we saw only the bird the Lapps call “Pago”, that is, ‘Hiaticula’ [Ringed Plover] with its black collar, saffron yellow feet and white throat.

By noon we had put the mountains behind us and, arriving at the edge of them, we saw far below us even the tallest trees looking as though they were only small plants; and there was a beautiful expanse of green. The same mountain plants that we had seen on the other side were also to be seen here. We went downhill – I feel as if I am still walking, so long and steep was that hill. The mountain plants, however, were not to be seen farther down.

When we at last reached the bottom, what a joy it was for my tired body. I came from a cold and frozen mountain world down into a warm and seething valley in which I sat myself down and ate wild strawberries. Instead of snow and ice I saw green plants blossoming at their most beautiful, and never before and nowhere else had I seen such tall grass. Instead of the strong wind there was the fine scent of clover in flower and of other plants. O, most beautiful summer!

For the most part, the plants I saw here were the same as in Uppland, except for ‘Aconitum lycoct.’ [Northern Wolfsbane], ‘Muscipula parva montana, flore albo erecto’ [Rock Catchfly], ‘Coronopus marit. punctata Kyll.’ [Sea Plantain], ‘Mesomora’ [Dwarf Cornel] and cloudberry. I was now thoroughly exhausted but was able to refresh myself with cow’s milk, restore myself with food, and sit in a chair.

It amazed me that, after I had completed such a splendid march, the 2 Lapps with me – one of them approaching 70 and the other 50 – could still run, jump and play about even though each of them had had his load to carry; not a particularly large load, admittedly, but sufficient for the route. I decided, therefore, to resolve the question that Dr. Rosén had put to me: Why are the Lapps so fleet of foot? The answer is as follows, and it is not due to one single cause but to many related causes.4

1. The Lapps wear boots without heels whereas we do the opposite. We can see that dancing masters and tightrope walkers use low heels or no heels at all and perform very rapid feats that they would be unable to perform in shoes with heels. Other people who move quickly, such as runners and foreigners, do the same. On the other hand, those who wear large and high heels walk deliberately and heavily. If we want horses to have a steady gait, we put heavy shoes on them while they are still young. And if farm-lads down in the south want to run, they take their shoes off. For heels remove half the control from the muscles of the sole of the foot. High heels and little exercise also cause the muscles to grow stiffer; a man with a wooden leg walks heavily.

2. Practice in running right from childhood. As soon as a Lapp boy can walk, he has to run to head off the reindeer, and as soon as he is a little bigger, he has to follow the reindeer, which are always on the move at a fast pace. They are, in fact, worse to follow than goats and more difficult to keep up with than racing with calves. Now, if a runner and a tightrope walker – who habitually exercise the use of their feet from youth onwards – become light of foot, why should not the same true of a Lapp, who often has to follow reindeer right up until the time he gets married?

3. Freedom from heavy labour. All heavy tasks such as ploughing, threshing, chopping, felling etc. make the blood thick and the body stiff. It is quite obvious that a farmer’s flesh is hard and tough whereas a maiden’s flesh is soft and tender, and a farmer cannot perform the same capers and nimble steps as a maid. When are we more pliable than when we are children, when are we stiffer than when we are worn out and old? A lad can put his foot to his own shoulder, a farmer cannot bite his own toes. Thus the Lapps remain lighter and more nimble in all their tasks because they are not faced with heavy Herculean labours.

4. Suppleness of the muscles. A tightrope dancer stretches and bends his pupil’s joints as often as possible so that they become soft. Initially, it is by force that a dancing master compels the muscles to hold the foot out straight. Natural habit follows on from practised flexure. Similarly, the Lapps are always flexing the muscles intended for walking: they even sit with their legs crossed in a way that others cannot do for long without strain and discomfort. We do like to sit comfortably. At first I found it difficult, now it is comfortable, and now I really can walk 4 times as far as before.

5. Meat eating. We can see that all the animals in the world that eat vegetable matter are rigid but strong – like the stag or the bull. On the other hand, carnivores like the dog, cat, wolf or lion are all much more agile and supple. I do not know the reason for this fact but it is a fact nevertheless. The Lapps are completely carnivorous creatures; they have no vegetable dishes and, if they eat a raw stalk of Angelica (as others eat an apple) or some sorrel leaves, it adds up to no more than 2 part in 2 000 000 in proportion to other food. They are carnivores because in spring they eat fish, in winter nothing but meat, in summer milk and milk products such as cheese. Salted food makes one heavy.

Here I cannot desist from making a few points in passing about those people who try to prove on the basis of the teeth that man is created to eat all kinds of things. They claim that man has teeth such as the incisors that resemble those of the fructivores like the hare or rabbit or squirrel, canines like those of the carnivorous dog and cat, and molars like those of the herbivorous cow and horse. But I do not find this reasoning wholely satisfactory. In the first place, if we examine the incisors, they will be found to be quite different from those of the gnawing animals such as the mouse and the hare, in which animals these teeth are set at an obtuse rather than a right angle – unlike our incisors which are vertical and have points that meet. Theirs, therefore, can be very long: witness the teeth of the beaver. Certain carnivorous animals also have incisors like…[gap in manuscript]. We have canines, and I consider them important even though we have no more than 4 of them. Our molars do not place us close to the herbivores even though oxen and cows also have them, since dogs, cats and indeed all the carnivores have molars. I have never yet seen a specimen of the herbivores that has only a single stomach or which does not ruminate – and the whole family of mice are no exception to this.