ly good meadows
enable the settlers of the Murman to rear all the cattle they need.
Turnips are the only vegetables that can be raised, with, here
and there, a few potatoes.

The southern and western portions of the Peninsula are covered with
pretty good timber, mostly pine (_Pinus silvestris_). As you go
further north, the timber becomes more and more stunted, consisting
chiefly of birchwood, till you reach the open _tundra_, which is
clothed in moss and low-growing shrubs.

The Lapps lead a semi-nomadic life. The settlements in which they
live are called _pagosts_, each group of Lapps having its particular
summer and winter _pagost_. The latter is usually inland near the
forests, where they herd their deer in winter. In summer they wander
nearer to the coasts and lakes for the sake of the fishing. The
winter dwelling of the Lapp is called a _toopa_, a small smoky
sod-covered hut, covering some 150 to 200 square feet; whereas in
summer he lives in his _vieja_, a large wigwam resembling a Samoyede
_choom_, but covered over, not with skins as with the Samoyedes,
but with branches, tree-bark and turfs.

The typical Lapp is dwarf-like and thick-set. He usually wears
a grey cloth jacket, his head being encircled in a high woollen
cap tapering to a tassel at the top, while his feet, wrapped up
in rags, are then covered with big shoes. In general, his whole
appearance, with his pointed beard, bears a striking resemblance
to the familiar representations of "gnomes," as these denizens of
the subterranean world are pictured to us in fairy books. Few of
the Lapps, however, confine themselves to this characteristic type
of Lapp costume, but wear whatever comes to their hands,--hats,
caps, clothes "made in Germany" and so on.

Among the women, especially the younger ones, some fairly pretty
faces may be met with. Their dress is usually a calico _sarafan_,
and generally speaking, there is nothing specially distinguishing
about their apparel.

The Lapp race is evidently dying out, or rather, is gradually
intermingling with, and being absorbed by, the neighbouring races.
With neither written memorials nor a historic past to cling to,
nor any particular religious belief, they are all of the Orthodox
Faith. In assuming the customs and civilization of the Russians,
the Lapps often abandon their own tribe, and assimilate with the
stronger race. I have often heard such sayings as the following
from Lapps who have more or less settl