The Mountains [2]

Household equipment consists of cooking pots, sometimes of brass, sometimes of copper; rarely skillets because of the weight.

Hemispherical bowls with handles, often with a capacity of 2 to 2 1/2 gallons and mostly so well made of curly-grained birch that one would swear that they had been turned on a lathe. They serve whatever is to be eaten in these instead of using plates; they use oblong wooden boards when they eat meat but that, too, is kept in round wooden bowls before it is divided up. Plaited cheese-baskets, always circular. Also, an elongated cask for jumo-milk. Shaggy reindeer skins, hairy side upwards, are spread out to left and right in the Lapp tents and people sit and lie on them. It is impossible to stand upright. In the middle is the hearth, or a few stones around the ashes. The firewood lies behind the fire but there are also twigs and brushwood in front of it where the household utensils also lie. Under the roof-poles and above the skins on both sides there hang 2 racks, on the front of which there is cheese drying and on the ends reindeer stomachs filled with milk for the coming winter.

A “nialmiphata” is a hood made of red cloth that they pull up over their caps so that only the eyes and mouth are visible. It covers the chin, neck and shoulders. There is an eyelet at the back, through which runs a cord that goes round the body below the shoulders and prevents it blowing up, thus protecting them from snow and wind.

The womenfolk wear trousers in the winter just like those of the men; also Lapp boots, though not above the knee. I am amazed at how, even on the coldest winter nights, they are able to follow the restless reindeer which want to graze both day and night. They do, however, have small huts here and there and, as far as possible, they force the reindeer to stay close to them by using dogs.

17th. We travelled across VIRIJAURE lake at night and it was cold and there was a cold mist. In the morning we arrived at Constable Kock’s place where I was amazed by the snow-white bodies possessed by these dark-faced people. They far surpassed women in this respect.

I saw lemmings here – “Lummick” to the Lapps – which had grey bodies, black faces, black hind-legs and blackish rumps, very short tails and ears; they feed on grass and reindeer moss, but are not eaten. They live mostly in the mountains but in some years they descend in their thousands down into the forest, go straight across lakes, bogs and morasses, and thus many of them die. They are not especially timid and they whine at passers-by from their holes like dogs. 5 or 6 young, dig holes in the ground, 3 inches long.

The Lapps always sit with their legs crossed or with one leg straight out and the other across it.

18th. We got very thirsty crossing the mountains but the water tasted earthy even though it was flowing out of snow and ice, of which there was plenty. The Lapp cut out some ice with his knife and sucked the water from the ice itself. It tasted excellent and he and I drank well. He said it was good for the chest. Pure water is never harmful even if one drinks it cold as long as it is drunk in moderation. I learned this from the Lapps and from my own experience.

I wanted to have my linen washed, something that they were quite unable to comprehend since they do not have a single bit of linen clothing. Just as they eat the flesh of animals so they are dressed by animals, whether it be in hides or in the woollen cloth that they buy.

In winter they wear Lapp boots that reach to the middle of the thigh, and they have no stockings, using shoe-grass around their feet instead. Next to the skin they wear a woollen tunic with a fur tunic on top with the hair inwards in winter and outwards in summer. Women’s boots do not go above the knee.

19th. I watched with amazement how the reindeer behave when the weather is hot. They do not stand still for a minute, hardly for a second, even. They toss, jerk, flick and snort etc. and all for the sake of one little fly. There were no more than 10 flies to a herd of 500 reindeer and yet every single reindeer was trembling and fussing. The larger flies were attacking with greater vigour but as soon as they landed the reindeer were quick to shake them off. The flies had plenty of chances because most of last year’s fur had fallen out. I caught one fly that was flying past: its sexual organs were exposed and there was a little egg, quite white and as big as …[word missing in original], in the small opening. Her rear part consisted of 4 or 5 small tubes that fitted within each other like a telescope and which she could retract just like an ordinary fly. This fly, as I have said earlier, is the cause of reindeer boils.

When Lapp children are put in their cradles they stay quiet even though their hands are pinioned. They do cry, however, when they are hungry. They are placed in a sloping position so that their heads are semi-erect. The cradle is made of spruce, hollowed out at the bottom so that it is light. There is an arch over the head-end and another half-arch down from its apex; this forms a hood which, like the whole cradle, is covered in cloth. In summer the child lies there without any covering of reindeer hair and with no more than a small woollen cloth or a piece of hide or moss under its head and body.

Both the Lapps and their wives pass the pipe around among them and, when they have finished smoking, keep their mouths full of smoke so that it has a stronger effect. Old men chew tobacco.

When they get their children up, they dress them in small fur tunics. The children can stand, move their eyes and faces and so on when they are 4 months old, which you will rarely see among our children.

I have never seen people have such a good life as the Lapps have. They eat milk products twice a day in the summer when they are milking, or whey or cheese. Afterwards they sit at peace and do not know what to do with their time. In winter they eat cheese once or twice a day and then meat in the evening. 1 reindeer ox is sufficient for 4 people for a week.

The woollen clothes they wear in summer are never sewn with thread made from sinews. Sinews are used, however, for all hide goods including shoes, whether they are being repaired or made from new. Leather is bought in and the wife does the sewing.