The Laplanders do not number more than 30.000. They are short in stature (height, 1.529 to 1.555 meters) and brachycephalic. They have triangular faces, high eheek-bones, flat noses, small black eyes, and chestnut or black hair. Over two-thirds of them live in Norway, about 501)1) in Sweden, and 3000 in Russia. Many Norwegians. Swedes, Finns. and Russians have moved into the country, and it is quite certain that the Lapps, who are of Asiatic origin, will ultimately disappear by absorption among the surrounding peoples. They were called Lapps by the Swede:. the name meaning nomads: they call themselves Sameh, or Samelats. Virehow believed them to he a branch of the Finns. though they seem to he clearly distinguished from the Finns proper by the form of the crania and their physical features. Schaafhansen regarded them as the descendants of :Nlongolian tribes driven northward and migrating west along the Aretie shores. Their language is allied to that of the Finns. and they are not a pure race. as is shown by their family names„ which include Swedish. Norwegian. Finn ish. and Russian names. The Lapps living on or not far from the seacoast are more numerous than those of the interior, and are known as the coast Lapps. Their living is largel• derived from fishing and hunting. though the Norwegian Lapps keep many reindeer as well as those of the interior. who are known as the reindeer Lapps. The huts of both the fishing and reindeer Lapps are made of a conical framework covered with canvas or sonk woolen fabric, with a hole at the top to permit the smoke to escape. Those fishing Lapps who have no reindeer lead a more settled life than their kinsmen, who are compelled to be migratory in their habits because of the frequent need of supplying their reindeer with fresh pas turage. While the fishing Lapps have some small settlements of inure or less permanency, each fam ily of the nomadic natives lives by itself. because
a herd of reindeer requires a considerable area in which to live. The lichens grow very slowly after having been nibbled. and pasturage once closely cropped is not regarded as usable again for at least ten years. A family is very poor that does not own at least 25 reindeer. while 100 head are regarded as a modest competence. A few of the wealthier Lapps own as many as 2000. The staple food is the flesh, blood. and milk of these animals, the herd also supplying the The Lapps are honest, strongly :Ittaelfed to their people and country. The Bible and a few religions books have been translated into their language, and they embrace the forms of religion prescribed by their local Government. Thus they are all Lutherans in Scandinavia and Orthodox Greeks in Russia. Those who have come so far under the influence of missionaries or civilized immigrants as to learn to read and to adopt some of the ways of civilization usually abandon the nomad life and remain in the settlements, blend ing with the more southern peoples. Towns or villages are unknown among the Lapps proper. The mining town of Gellivare has 6000 inhabi tants, and the ice-free port of Alexandro•sk, on the north shore of the Kola Peninsula, founded by the Russians. is developing into an important town.
Consult: Von Diiben. Om Lappland orb Lap parne (Stockholm. 1873), with ineltnled bibliog raphy; Stoekfieth. Dagboy orer »zinc Missions Reiser i Finmarken (Christiania, 1860); Fri js, i Finmarken (Christiania, 1871) Anbel. Reisc harh Lappland (Leipzig, 1874) Do Chaillu, Land of the Midnight on (London, 1881); Edward Rue, The White Sea Peninsula (1882) ; O. Nieolaissen, Pra Yo•dlands Port id (1889) ; G. II. Nellin, Skildringar of den Scandinaciska Nordens Folklif op Nat or (1876); Fries, "Det Forsta Naturvetenskapliga Forskningsfiirden i Sverige," in the Not-disk Tidsk (1898).