Lake Givijaervi. I had to
be told that it was a lake, for it was a continuous snow-land. Here was
a farm, the owner of which kept a small store and sold sugar, coffee,
salt, flour, tobacco, matches, some woollen underwear, etc., to the
Lapps; and bought from them skins, shoes, and gloves, in summer smoked
tongue and reindeer meat, reindeer cheese, etc., and every year went
with these to some of the Norwegian towns on the Arctic Sea to sell them
and buy groceries and other goods.

Here I had a clean room and bed. The place was a great rendezvous for
nomadic Lapps, and I found many of them. The farmer extended to them
unbounded hospitality, and spread as many reindeer skins on the floor at
night as the room could hold, for them to sleep on.

The Lapps liked the place very much, and came there to rest for a few
days, bringing their food with them. Their wives and children would also
come, and were sure to be welcome at the farm. I could not drink
sufficient milk or coffee, or eat enough reindeer meat, cheese, or
butter that had been churned in summer, to please the good-hearted
farmer. He wanted no pay. He even insisted on accompanying me to
Karasjok.

The sleighing was fine, and the snow was six and seven feet deep on a
level. Our arrival at Karasjok, after a hundred miles' journey from
Givijaervi, was announced by the fierce barking of the dogs of the place,
and twice I was almost overtaken by one more fierce than the others.
"They only bark," shouted my guide. I was now in latitude 69 deg. 35', and
within a few miles of the longitude of Nordkyn. The hamlet was situated
on the shores of the Karasjoki river. Some of the fir trees of the
forests near Karasjok measured twenty inches in diameter; but once cut
they do not grow again. I saw very few young trees.

The hamlet was composed of eighteen or twenty homesteads, with about one
hundred and thirty inhabitants. There were over twenty horses, besides
cows, sheep, and reindeer. The horses were so plentiful because they are
used to haul timber. I reflected that the horse is a wonderful animal,
and can live like man in many kinds of climate.

All the houses at Karasjok were built of logs. The finest residence was
that of the merchant of the place. The Karasjok Lapps, and others in the
neighborhood, were very unlike those I had seen before. They were tall;
some of them six feet in height. The women were also tall, most of them
having dark hair. The fair complexion and bl