comfort and cleanliness, are well stored with almost every thing their wants can require; and there are few in which silver spoons, and other articles of domestic luxury, are not produced on the appearance of a guest. The bath is their chief solace, and that rapid transition from the most violent heat to extreme cold, which we are accustomed to consider so pernicious, is here practised, as in Russia, and with the same impunity. The face of the country is in general covered with fir forests; but in spite of the shortness of the summers in these parts, sufficient grain is grown for the consumption of the inhabitants, and even, as it appears, for occasional exportation.

We find our author pursuing his journey northwards, in the beginning of June, and his description of the entrance into Westrobothnia gives us a high idea of the beauty of that province, of the richness of the country in the neighbourhood of Torneo, and of the size of the forest timber which is there growing. This town, which by the treaty of Fredericksham in 1809 has become the boundary of the Russian frontier, was founded by Charles IX, of Sweden early in the seventeenth century, and its name has become familiar to us, from its having been for some time the resi dence of the French astronomers, who in 1736, were sent to measure a degree of the meridian at the polar circle. The inhabitants do not exceed 600, they are Swedes, and proverbial for their love of good cheer, and their indifference to the concerns of the rest of the world. To these convivial qualities, we suspect, must partly be attributed the decay of the trade which was formerly carried on here, as the emporium of all the commodities brought down the rivers from Lapland. This internal traffic is now conducted by the more enterprising Fins, who are encouraged to settle by the liberal provision made for new comers; and it is owing to the gradual influx of settlers from Finland that the population of Swedish Lapland is said to have doubled in the course of thirty years.

The people by whom this rapid progress in civilization has been effected are deserving of attention; and we shall take this opportunity of giving some account of the Laplanders.

The peculiar barbarism and wretchedness of the Fins, who are supposed to have inhabited this part of Europe, are noticed by Tacitus in his account of the tribes of Germany; and as they are described by him to have excelled in the practice of archery, some have been inclined to consider them as the Arimaspians, or oneeyed nation, by whom the Griffins were robbed of their gold. The difference in figure, manners, and language which exists between the modern Fins and the other inhabitants of Scandinavia has excited much inquiry into the origin of this people. That they came originally from the east there can be little doubt, as they are the earliest inhabitants of the north of Russia with whom we are

acquainted. In the ninth century Pern was their chief city, and by means of the rivers Volga and Petzora they were enabled to carry on a traffic of some importance, by introducing into the north of Europe the lighter commodities of Samarcand and India. This commerce, no doubt, by degrees became lucrative, for we find afterwards the city of Pern in alliance with the Hanse towns; she also sent three hundred men to the relief of Novogorod when attacked by Ivan Vassilivitch, a circumstance which will enable us to form some judgment both of the real strength of Pern, and of the city whose power was supposed to be only inferior to that of the gods.

We derive our first acquaintance with the people in the north of the Scandinavian peninsula from the report made by Ochter to our king Alfred. This foreigner dwelt in the northern parts of Norway, and states that he undertook a voyage round the north cape to the White sea, for the purpose of opening a trade in whalebone and other articles of the same description, with the natives in that quarter, and it is singular to observe that so little change has taken place in the manners of the people as they are described by him.

Helgeland, the native country of Ochter, is considered to be the ancient abode of those Jotuns or Giants, whom we meet with in the Icelandic poets, and whom it was as meritorious in a Norwegian to put to death, as it formerly was in Scotland to hunt a Mac Gregor. The fact appears to be, that Odin, on his arrival in the north, was resolved to exterminate the former settlers, though they also came from the east, as well as his immediate followers, and he therefore represented them as monsters both in stature and appearance,and addicted to all the horrid practices of sorcery and magic.

Wulfstan, whose voyages are to be met with in Hakluyt's collection, was also consulted by Alfred on the subject of the countries he had visited, but his information only extended to those bordering on the Baltic sea. In speaking of the customs of the people of Eastland, the Estii of Tacitus, he mentions a curious species of legacy-hunting, which if practised by us would render the training of race-horses a more productive amusement than it is generally found to be. When any one dies, says he, his effects are placed in five or six heaps, at different distances from the town in which he resided. Those who have the swiftest borses in the country around, within a certain extent, are then summoned, and as the heap o most distant from the town is the most valuable, the struggle is to obtain it. The remaining heaps fall to the lot of the less successful competitors, in the order in which they arrive at them. richesapeake

The language of the Fins has nothing in common with that of any neighbouring people, though its resemblance to the Hungarian

has been often remarked; they have been celebrated for their love of poetry, and their talent for stringing together the runic verses in the manner of the Italian improvisatori. The lines do not rhime, but are alliterative in the manner of Piers Plowman's Vision, an old poem of the 14th century. The Lapland tongue is said to possess an elegant brevity, and at the same time a great copiousness and variety of expression; if we may believe Scheffetoor, these people were not deficient in the poetical art. The specimens, however, which he has given us, and which we have all been used to peruse with so much pleasure,t appear rather to be the productions of a refined nation, than of the untutored inhabitants of Lapland.

Mr. Porthan notices the resemblance between the Lapponic language and that of the nations adjacent to the Samoyedes, from which a fair inference may be drawn of their common origin; but a strong similarity in their babits of life would induce us, with less hesitation, to derive the two tribes from the same stock, as we entirely agree with Colonel Skioldebrand in the following observation.

In general, I think that inquiries as to the resemblance of languages may throw much light on history, and prove as well the affinities as the ancient connection between people now far apart, and mutually ignorant of each other. But when the origin of nations is in question, if this conformity alone is to be found on one side, and on the other physical relations, as the same characteristic features, the same form, &c. I think one cannot mistake in preferring the conclusions deduced from the latter, as the more probable. The children of a negro and negress, born in a northern latitude, will be always negroes; yet may be unacquainted with their mother's language, and speak that only of the country where they were brought up. The jews of all countries have peculiar features which distinguish them from all other people, &c.'

We are inclined, therefore, to consider the Laplanders, the Samoyedes, the Esquimaux, and the Greenlanders, who are all to be found in the same northern latitude, as originally the same people, and to coincide with the opinion of Von Buch, who thinks it probable that the Laplanders descended from the White sea towards Norway and Sweden, and that the Fins on the other hand ascended from Esthonia, through Finland.

The tradition of the Fins,' says Skioldebrand, and the few which the Laplanders retain, confirm the opinion that the latter have formerly possessed Finland, and have been expelled by the present occupiers.

A curious similarity to the Finnish language has been observed in an unlooked for quarter. It is said to resemble in pronunciaton that of the island of Otaheite. Observations d'un Voyageur sur la Russie, par Abel Buiga, Maestricht, 1787, Spectator, No. 366-406.

Both

Thus their domains have receded from the shores of the gulph of B nia beyond the polar circle, and are every way contracted by the colonists who settle in their countries.'

There can be no doubt that both the people in question anciently possessed a much more considerable part of Scandinavia than they do at present; and we find here as in other quarters, that as the tide of colonization flowed from the east, the ancient inhabitants were compelled to seek shelter in a different direction; as the Britons, when dispossessed by the Romans and Saxons,took refuge in the mountains of Wales and the Highlands of Scotland.

Repeated attempts have been made since Lapland has in part fallen under the dominion of Sweden, to convert the inhabitants to the christian faith. They are said, however, to have an equal horror of kings and missionaries,' and such was their disinclination to give up their ancient mythology, that in the middle of the last century, a great part of the nation secretly worshipped idols, though publicly professing the christian religion.

The art of magic for which the people of Lapland were formerly so famous, is now wholly lost, and not a wind is to be purchased along the whole of the coast. The chase and the care of the rein-deer form their sole occupation, and during the long night of winter, the Laplander, unless impelled by necessity, indulges freely in his natural indolence, and becomes nearly as torpid as the rest of the animal creation. In no one point do they more resemble the Fins of Tacitus, than in their indifference to what is passing elsewhere, and the absence of all care for more than they possess.

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The superior degree of content which this rude and uncivilized race is supposed to enjoy, from the possession of the rein-deer which supplies all their wants, and their seclusion from the more tumultuous scenes of life, have called forth from Linnæus an eloquent apostrophe on the happiness of their condition; but the virtues and comforts of the savage state have now ceased to be the theme of modern philosophers; and as Von Buch very sensi bly observes, in answer to those who lament that the increase of great towns in Norway has produced a pernicious change in the national character, We ought never to forget that through social institutions a higher order of virtues and freedom may be attained, than can ever be reached in the privacy of retirement; and that a free and happy man in a civilized state, is a much more respectable and distinguished being, than a free and happy Samoyede.'

With respect to the climate of Lapland a general view of the state of vegetation in these parts will perhaps render the temperature of the country sufficiently intelligible to the greater part of our readers; and indeed, a pretty accurate judgment may be formed of the nature of any climate by this criterion.

Dr. Wahlenberg, who has made several scientific journeys into Lapland, has divided that country into five distinct parts or zones, concentric with the gulph of Bothnia, and distinguished by the different species of trees which they are calculated to produce. The first he calls woody, which bears in abundance both the Scotch and spruce fir. The second subwoody, where the spruce disappears, and the more hardy Scotch fir alone is found. In the three more northerly divisions, which he denominates Alpine, the firs are lost sight of, and the birch and willow will alone stand the inclemency of the cold. In the neighbourhood of Alten, indeed, from its sheltered situation, some Scotch firs are said to thrive, but from thence to the North Cape, only a few stunted bushes are scattered here and there. The willow is one of the few trees that seems not to suffer by the inclemency of the climate, and of this there are no less than twenty-three different kinds in Lapland and Westrobothnia, which are for the most part unknown elsewhere.

It remains but to mention the population of the two nations, the outlines of whose history we have thus succinctly given. The Laplanders in the three divisions of the country which belong to Russia, Sweden, and Norway, are not estimated by Von Buch at more than ten thousand; the Fins, on the other hand, in Finland alone, are supposed to exceed a million. This calculation was made in the year 1793.

Col. Skioldebrand left Torneo on the 16th June, not without many expressions of astonishment on the part of the inhabitants, at the singularity of his taste in undertaking so troublesome a journey, for the sake of visiting a country, which to them appeared so little interesting. It seems, however, to have been the most favourable time that he could attempt it; for it was

In that glad season from the lakes and floods
Where pure Niemi's freezing mountains rise,
And fring'd with roses Tenglio rolls his stream.”
Thomson's Seasons.

His descriptions of the country through which he passed are in general extremely good, and the following account of a nightly visit to the summit of Avasaxa, one of the Fiallen mountains, is a fair specimen of his powers.

It was now midnight, and the sun seemed to touch the summit of a lofty mountain, which partly concealed it. Nature in suspense appeared to wait the decision of the luminary, whether he would abandon the earth to the shades of night, or resuming his beneficent course, he should continue to illuminate it. We remarked the shadow of one rock upon another, in order to watch the sun's motion, and in a few minutes we observed that the shadow had vanished, and consequently that the sun was rising. Presently the united choir of birds proclaimed