Annual Migrations of the Sami
It is well known, from the accounts of those travellers who have visited Lapland during the summer months, that the interior parts of it, particularly its boundless forests, are so…
From: 1826 C.E. To: 1826 C.E.
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From A Winter in Lapland and Sweden by Arthur de Capell Brooke
Whale Island during the summer months is never without three or four families of Mountain Laplanders (Field-finner) with their herds of reindeer. The causes that induce, nay even compel, these people to undertake their long and annual migrations from the interior parts of Lapland to its coast, though they may appear singular, are sufficiently powerful.
It is well known, from the accounts of those travellers who have visited Lapland during the summer months, that the interior parts of it, particularly its boundless forests, are so infested by various species of gnats, and other insects, that no animal can escape their incessant persecutions. Large fires are kindled, in the smoke of which the cattle hold their heads, to escape the attack of their enemies; and even the natives themselves are compelled to smear their faces with tar, as the only certain protection against their stings.
No creature, however, suffers more than the reindeer from the larger species (aestrus tarandi), as it not only torments it incessantly by its sting, but even deposits its egg in the wound it makes in the hide. The poor animal is thus tormented to such a degree, that the Laplander, if he were to remain in the forests during the months of June, July, and August, would run the risk of losing the greater part of his herd, either by actual sickness, or from the deer fleeing of their own accord to mountainous situations to escape the gad-fly.
From these causes the Laplander is driven from the forests to the mountains that overhang the Norway and Lapland coasts, the elevated situation of which, and the cool breezes from the ocean, are unfavourable to the existence of these troublesome insects; which, though found on the coast, are in far less considerable numbers there, and do not quit the valleys; so that the deer, by ascending the highlands, can avoid them.
Other reasons likewise induce him to repair to the coasts. During the winter he has amassed a large number of skins, as well as horns, from the deer he has killed for the support of himself and family: an opportunity, perhaps, has occurred of killing a bear or two; and he may also have collected a few fox, glutton, or marten skins. The feathers of the ptarmigans he shoots, or catches in snares, are likewise preserved. All these are, to him, valuable articles of commerce; and by bartering them with the merchants of the coast, he is enabled to procure others, that are necessary to him in winter, as coarse cloth, meal, gunpowder, and tobacco.
In addition to these inducements to repair to the coast, he will tell you, that it is absolutely necessary to the existence of the reindeer, that they should once during the summer drink the salt water. This, which appears not a little singular, I had no opportunity of witnessing, as it only takes place immediately on the arrival of the herd from the inland parts; but all constantly agreed in saying, that, as soon as the deer arrived in sight of the ocean, they hastened forward with one accord, and drank eagerly of the salt water, though they were never observed to drink it afterward during the time they remained near it.
I was informed also, that this draught was efficacious in destroying the larvae of the gad-fly, which lays its eggs in the hide of the deer, before they leave the forests, and that instinct prompts them to adopt this remedy.
The Laplander commences his annual migration in the early part of June. The snow by this time is generally off the ground: consequently his mode of travelling is no longer in sledges. These, therefore, and all his winter necessaries, are left behind him, as they would be too great an incumbrance in his summer expedition; and he generally deposits them in the storehouse, which almost every Mountain Laplander possesses, near his church, in the neighbourhood of which he generally remains during the winter season.
The distance he is obliged to travel to reach the coast varies from one to two or three hundred miles, according to the situation of the coast to which he is bound. The Swedish Laplanders, that repair to the coasts of Tromsoe and Senjen, belong chiefly to Tornea Lapmark, inhabiting the shores of the Tornea Trask. These parts are also the resort of those from Enontekis, in Russian Lapland.
The Laplanders from the other Lapmarks make for other parts of the Norwegian coasts which are nearest to them; and though the distance may be less, they do not, I believe, ever bend their steps toward the Gulf of Bothnia; preferring the coasts of Norway, from the absence of wood, the freshness of the breezes, and the freedom from the insects that annoy their deer, which swarm in the forests that skirt the shores of the Gulf, as well as in their own.
In choosing a convenient situation for their summer abode, the health and safety of their herd is the principal object kept in view; for on this their own existence depends; and their comforts are but secondary considerations. The numerous islands on the western coasts of Norway and Lapland are preferred by them for their summer residence, both on account of their superior coolness, and the greater security the deer are in from wolves and bears; which, though they may occasionally swim over, attracted by the smell of the deer, are quickly discovered and put to flight by the watchfulness of the Laplander. This is the more easily done from there being no wood to harbour them; and though, to gain these islands, it may be necessary for the whole herd to swim perhaps a distance of two miles, in some instances, from the mainland, yet the Laplander thinks little of this to obtain his object.
It may be observed, that the Laplander consults his own convenience at the same time, by making the islands his summer abode. The great advantage their situation presents, in affording convenient fishing stations, and good harbours, and the fish resorting in far greater number to the numerous fjords and narrow channels between them, naturally induce the merchants to establish themselves there. It may at first appear singular, when the above considerations are not borne in mind, that, on the whole of the northern line of coast, the mainland is nearly uninhabited, with the exception of the borders of the fiords, though the only supply of wood is to be found there; while, on the contrary, few of the numberless rocks lying off the coast are without inhabitants, though generally barren in the extreme.
Brooke, Arthur de Capell. A Winter in Lapland and Sweden. John Murray, 1826.
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