The Mountains [2]

When we went back up the hill the heat was extremely strong. When we reached what we thought was the top, we could see a slope equal to the earlier one and, indeed, the same thing occurred 7 to 10 times, which makes me doubt whether this mountain has an equal anywhere in the world. It cannot be measured with any geometrical instrument since its summit cannot be seen except from many miles away. I believe myself that the hill was over 6 miles high and that it was more than 12 miles to walk up it. If we had not had sufficient water we should have been faint from thirst.

On the slope I found the little ‘Astragalus flore albo’ [Alpine Milk-vetch] and ‘Gentianella’ [Alpine Gentian].

We had been running with sweat at the bottom of the hill but, when we reached the top, our sweat-sodden clothes became stiff with frost.

We were now heading for a “kåta” and had to go down a hill that was so steep that I could not walk but had to lie on my back and slither down. It was so high and steep that I went with the speed of an arrow and ended up in wet snow within a foot of a large snow river.

When we arrived at the hut, I saw some reindeer with horns no more than a 1/2 inch long because the horse-flies had eaten them away while they were still soft. The horse-flies in Norway are worse than the mosquitoes in Swedish Lappmark.

I learned of a curious method of castrating reindeer.

A fortnight before Michaelmas and when the animal is 2 1/2 years old, the farmer gets someone to hold it by the horns while he goes to the rear and bites into the scrotum with his teeth in such a way that it does not make a hole in the skin for, if that were to happen, the reindeer would die. Then he squeezes it with his fingers a little and does the same thing on the other side, as long as the reindeer has not started kicking. The animal is healthy again within a week, though it is slightly indisposed at first and only able to follow the rest of the herd with difficulty. This is a technique which is both interesting and noteworthy; it deserves to be passed on.

The girls here, especially when they want to show themselves to advantage, tie back their hair in two bunches, one at each ear, and then tie the bunches together at the back with a ribbon so that they hang down the back. There are tassels on both ends of the ribbon.

16th. We travelled across the ice-mountain. After we had walked for a while, we saw a dense cloud in the north-east. We saw it both above and below us and, when it finally reached us, it made our clothes dampish but our hair became really wet, which is interesting. It hid the horizon from us and we could see neither sun nor moon nor, indeed, the surrounding mountain peaks. We had no idea which way to turn, fearing that on one side we should fall over the precipice and put an end to the farce just as a Lapp did a few years ago, or that we should fall the other way and end up in a river that had cut so far down into the snow that merely looking down made us dizzy. We could see no more than 4 feet in front of us. We were in the same situation as an inexperienced sailor who, in a storm at sea when the land is out of sight, fears cliffs on all sides and has no compass. Even the Lapps think it hard going when they find themselves in this sort of situation. But, even though we had no guide, good fortune led us to a reindeer trail made recently by someone canying goods over to Norway, and that showed us the way.

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”.

In order not to get too hot when they lie down to rest, they put a hook through the middle of the bed-cover so that it hangs 2 feet above them when they lie under it.

The womenfolk carry a pouch on their belt containing: