an
area of something like 35,000 square miles. But statistics show that
in Norwegian Lapland there are a great many more inhabitants than
there are in Russian, Finnish, and Swedish Lapland put together;
and the people, whether they be under the rule of Russia, Sweden,
or Norway, are all of the same race--Asiatics and Mongols--totally
unlike Europeans in appearance.

In the first place, they are dark, and what we consider ugly, though
it is quite possible that in their eyes we ourselves are hideous. Then
they are short--a five-foot Lapp would be almost a giant--but what
they lack in stature they make up in sturdiness; for, although spare
of body, probably no men in the world can do a longer day's work,
or survive greater hardships. Dirty they are certainly, since they
never change their clothes and seldom comb their hair; yet, for all
that, they are perfectly healthy and happy.

They have gradually split up into three groups, known as Mountain
Lapps, Sea Lapps, and River Lapps, the first being nomads, or
wanderers, and the other two settlers, by the sea or river, who have
abandoned the original mode of life of their race.

Mountain Lapps are the most restless individuals it is possible to
imagine. Winter and summer they are always on the move, and three days
are seldom passed in one place. Time does not enslave them, for they do
not trouble about it. Routine is nothing to them: they eat and drink
when they feel inclined, and they sleep when a favourable opportunity
occurs. In such matters, as well as in many others, they resemble wild
animals. But in some respects they are methodical: they work by the
seasons, and in their wanderings take the same lines each year. In
the summer months they are down by the sea; during the remainder of
the year they are on the mountains, though at Christmas-time they
usually arrange to encamp somewhere in the vicinity of a church;
for Christmas is a great event in the lives of the Lapps, since they
profess Christianity, and if they are able to go to church at no
other time of the year, they make a point of doing so at this season.

To-day these people are law-abiding and peaceable, but they are a
strange mixture of good and bad. They are kind and hospitable, and of
a cheerful disposition; at the same time they can be cruel, cunning,
and selfish, while their love of money is no less than their love of
drink--when they can obtain it.

For one thing only does the Mountain Lapp live--hi