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[This is an extract from a well-known book by Lord Dufferin, entitled Letters from High Latitudes, which describes a yacht voyage made by the author in 1856, to Iceland, Spitzbergen, &c.]

1. It was in the streets of Hammerfest that I first set eyes on a Laplander. Turning round a corner of one of the ill-built houses, we suddenly ran over a diminutive personage, in a white woollen tunic, bordered with red and yellow stripes, green trousers fastened round the ankles, and reindeer boots, curving up at the toes like Turkish slippers. On her head

for she turned out to be a lady-was perched a gay party-coloured cap, fitting close round the face, and running up at the back into an overarching peak of red cloth. Within this peak was crammed-as I afterwards learned-a piece of hollow wood, weighing about a quarter of a pound, into which is fitted the wearer's back hair.

2. Hardly had we taken off our hats, and bowed a thousand apologies for our unintentional rudeness to the fair lady, before a couple of Lapp gentlemen hove in sight. They were dressed pretty much like their companion, except that an ordinary red nightcap replaced the queer helmet worn by the lady; and the knife and sporran fastened to their belts, instead of being suspended in front as hers were, hung at the side. Their tunics, too, may have been a trifle shorter.

3. Not one of the three was beautiful. High cheekbones, short noses, oblique Mongol eyes, no eyelashes, and enormous mouths, composed a cast of features which their burnt-sienna complexion, and hair like ill-got-in hay, did not much enhance. The expression of their countenances was not unintelligent; and there was a merry, half-timid, half-cunning twinkle in their eyes, which reminded me a little of faces I had met with in the more neglected districts of Ireland.

4. In the summer-time, the Laplanders live in canvas tents; during winter, when the snow is on the ground, the forest Lapps build huts in the branches of trees, and so roost like birds. The principal tent is of a hexagonal form, with a fire in the centre, whose smoke rises through a hole in the roof.

5. Hunting and fishing are the ments of the Lapp tribes; and to most honourable exploit a Lapp

principal employslay a bear is the hero can achieve.

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