Big People and Little People of Other Lands Part 4

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Lapp Family at Home.]

The Lapps do not all live in the same way. Some of them are called mountain Lapps. In summer the mountain Lapps live in tents among the hills. Their tents are made of reindeer skin. They have a great many reindeer.

The reindeer is very useful to the Lapps. It gives them milk. It draws their sleighs. Its flesh is good to eat. They make clothes of its skin. They make knives and spoons of its horns.

In summer the reindeer eat the soft shoots of shrubs and trees. In winter they feed on moss called lichen. They get the lichen themselves. They would not eat it if it were gathered for them. In winter they dig down through the snow with their feet to get at the lichen. They dig first with one fore foot and then with the other.

The snow is often so deep that the reindeer has to dig a hole so large that its body is almost hidden.

The reindeer are not put in stables. They like to be out in the cold and snow. They are able to take care of themselves.

The Lapps eat a good deal of meat. Their meat is the flesh of the reindeer. They are very fond of fat. All people who live in very cold countries eat a great deal of fat. It helps to keep them warm. The Lapps also have milk and cheese. They eat rye bread and fish and berries. They drink coffee.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A White Bear.]

In winter they have to melt snow in a pot over the fire to get water.

The rivers and lakes are all frozen.

The Lapps cook their food in a large pot over the fire. They sit around the fire to eat. The father takes a piece of meat out of the pot. Then he serves a piece to each. The Lapps use no forks. They use their fingers instead.

In some places they have a funny way of storing their food. They make a little log house on the top of a post. They have a ladder to go up to it. In this little house they store cheese and milk and other things. Then wild animals cannot reach them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Lapland Wolf.]

There are bears and wolves and foxes in Lapland. These animals are sometimes very fierce. They would come into the people's tents and houses at night, were it not for the dogs. Nearly every person has a dog. Even the hoys and girls have dogs. The dogs are very brave.

They are not afraid to attack wolves or bears.

But you will wish to know about the children in Lapland. You have heard about the old woman who lived in a shoe. The Lapp baby has a cradle shaped like a shoe. It is made of a single piece of wood. It is lined with moss and other warm things. The mother often carries it in her arms. Sometimes she carries it on her back, slung from her shoulders. The baby plays with strings of b.u.t.tons or gla.s.s beads.

When a baby is born in Lapland they give it a reindeer. If the reindeer has any young ones, they keep them for the baby until it is a man or woman. They also give a reindeer to the person who is the first to find that the baby has cut a tooth.

The Lapp boys and girls have very few toys. The toys they have they make themselves. The boys make willow flutes and play on them. When the boys go on the water they have long, narrow boats like canoes.

Some boys also make sleighs.

Many of the boys and girls go to school. They learn to read and write and count.

There are towns near the sea and by the rivers and lakes. In these towns they have schools and churches.

GREENLAND.

Very strange people live in Greenland. They are called Eskimos.

Greenland is a country very far north. It is always cold there. So the children need warm clothing. Their stockings are made of birdskin.

The soft feathers keep their little feet very warm. Their shoes are made of sealskin.

An Eskimo girl does not wear skirts. Her clothes are like her brother's. Her trousers are made of white bearskin. Her jacket is made of fur. When she goes out sleigh riding, she puts on fur mittens.

Do you know what a fur boa is? This little girl wears one around her neck. It is made of the tail of a fox. The strings to it are made of long pieces of skin.

[Ill.u.s.tration: An Eskimo Girl.]

Perhaps you think the Eskimo children are white. No, they are brown.

Their faces are round and fat.

Our babies ride in carriages, but an Eskimo baby rides on its mother's back. The mother wears a coat with a pocket on the back of it. The pocket is lined inside with soft reindeer skin. This makes a nice warm nest for baby.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Eskimo Mother and Baby.]

In Greenland all the boys and girls have sleds. The runners of the sled are made of bone. The top is made of strips of sealskin. It has a back for the boy or girl to lean against. Dogs draw the sled across the snow. But the Eskimos also have sleds made of ice. I think you would like an ice sled. Oh, how fast it runs over the snow! The boys and girls have fine fun with these sleds!

They play a nice game in the snow with their sleds. I will tell you about it. Do you know what a reindeer is? It is like a deer, but it has long, branching horns. The horns are called antlers. When the Eskimos kill a reindeer for meat, the boys and girls get the antlers.

They set these antlers up in the snow on a hillside. They leave s.p.a.ces between the antlers. Then the boys and girls get on their sleds and slide down the hill. They must go between the antlers, but must not touch them. Sometimes the boys and girls have bows and arrows. They try to hit the antlers with their arrows. This is very hard, but it is great fun. Do you think you could do this?

The boys have boats made of long, thin bones covered with skins. These sail very well on the water. The boys use paddles to move the boats.

A paddle is like an oar. The boys sometimes go in their boats to help their fathers catch fish.

Eskimo children cannot read or write. They do not go to school, for the Eskimos have no schools. They are very fond of stories, but they cannot read them in books. So their mothers tell them stories. The mothers cannot read, either. The stories they tell are what they heard from their mothers. Are you not happy that you can read stories for yourself?

Perhaps you think the Eskimo children are unhappy? Oh, no! Though they cannot read books, they play all kinds of games. There is a funny game they play in the house. All the children get on their knees in a ring. Then they hold their toes with their hands and move along by jumps. The one who goes the fastest wins.

The Eskimo boys play a game like the game of "cup and ball." They have two pieces of bone. One is flat, with holes in it. The other is long and sharp like a pin. Both are joined by a string about a foot long.

The flat piece is tied to one end of the string, and the pin to the other end. The pin is held in the hand, and the flat piece is thrown into the air. The game is to catch the flat piece upon the point of the pin, by one of the holes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Eskimo Children.]

Eskimo boys play another game with a ball and a stick made of bone. It is something like shinny, one of the games yon play. They also play a game with a sealskin hall about as big as a baseball. They strike the ball with their hands and try to keep it in the air all the time. The Eskimo boys play football very well. They think it great fun. They never touch the ball with their hands; they only kick it.

The girls have dolls made of wood, with fur clothes. The dolls look like the little girls themselves.

Perhaps you would like to know about the houses the Eskimos live in.

They have summer houses and winter houses. The summer house is a tent made of skins. The winter house is made of stones and earth covered with snow. It is not much higher than a man. They have a strange way of getting into these houses. A long, narrow pa.s.sage leads from the door on the outside. They must crawl on their hands and knees along this pa.s.sage. Then they go through a small opening into the house.

The long pa.s.sage keeps out the cold.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Winter House.]

There is only one room in the house. Everything is done in this room.

They sleep and eat and cook in it. The beds are of sealskins, and are made on a bench along the wall. There are no stoves in the house. The Eskimos use lamps to keep themselves warm and to give them light. They cook their food, too, with lamps. The lamps give great heat, and the houses are quite warm.

When the men kill a bear they have a party. At the party everybody sits around the lamp The bear is cut up and every one gets a piece.

Then the children sing and dance. The Eskimos eat a great deal of meat. They kill seals and bears and birds for their meat. They also eat berries and seaweed.

There are no tables in Eskimo houses. A large dish is set on the floor. The family sit round it and eat out of it. They cut their meat with knives made of bone. Their cups are made of sealskin.

Do you know what a seal is? It is an animal with thick fur. Sometimes it lives on the land and sometimes in the water. The people in the North kill it and make clothes of its skin. Its fur is very warm and makes fine jackets. The Eskimos eat the flesh of the seal. They make knives and other things of its bones.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Seals.]

Eskimo boys and girls have a funny kind of candy. It is the red skin of a bird's foot soaked in fat. You would not care for this. But the Eskimo children eat it and like it. The cold weather makes them like to eat fat.