unded the
newly arrived steamer in their boats, offering furs, carved horn
implements, moccasons, walrus-teeth, and the like for sale. These
wares are of the rudest type, and of no possible use to civilized
people; but they are curious, and serve as mementos of the
traveller's visit to these northern latitudes. In the town there are
several stores where goods, manufactured by the better class of
Lapps, can be had of a finer quality than is offered by these
itinerants, who are very ready to pass off inferior articles upon
strangers. Their drinking-cups, platters, and dishes generally are
made of the wood of the birch. Spoons and forks are formed of the
horns and bones of the reindeer. In the fancy line they make some
curious bracelets from the roots of the birch-tree. These Lapps are
very shrewd in trade, and are not without plenty of low cunning
hidden behind their brown, withered, and expressionless faces.

On the main-land near by, as we were told, there are some singular
relics of antiquity, such as a series of large stones uniformly
arranged in circles, and high cairns of stone containing in their
centres one or more square chambers. At one place in this district
there is a remarkable mound of reindeer's horns and human bones,
mingled with those of unknown species of animals. It is believed that
here, centuries ago, the Lapps sacrificed both animals and human
beings to their Pagan deities. There are also some deep earth and
rock caves found in the same vicinity, which contain many human bones
with others of huge animals, which have excited great interest among
scientists. In the neighborhood of Tromsoee, and especially still
farther north, large numbers of eider-duck are found, so abundant
that no reliable estimate can be made of their number. The eggs are
largely used by the natives for food, the nests being also regularly
robbed of the down, while the birds with patient resignation continue
for a considerable period to lay eggs and to renew the soft lining of
their nests. The birds themselves are protected by law, no one being
permitted to injure them. The male bird is white and black, the
female is brown. In size they are larger than our domestic ducks.
Landing almost anywhere in this sparsely inhabited region along the
coast, but more particularly upon the islands, one finds the
eider-ducks upon their low accessible nests built of marine plants
among the rocks, and during incubation the birds are quite as tame