thing to live upon, they refolved to emigrate, mutually to fupport
each other, and to fix their abode in a remote corner of the country,
where they might acquire fome property. Whoever is dif-
pofed to citabliih himfelf in Lapkind has only to chufe his fituation,
but it mud be at the diftance of fix miles from the bounds of
the neareft village ; and the moment he has built his hut, all the
land for fix miles round him is his own by right of poffeffion.
The traveller, who in his excurfions vifits this country in fum-
mer, will be enchanted, at every ftep he takes, with the finding
afpeit of thofe hills and lakes, and with the variety and foftnefs of
the pictures which prefent themfelves in fucceffioa to his eye. If
that traveller Ihould have been the victim of thole vices and paf-
fions which riot in great towns, and countries highly civililed
and refined ; ihould he have narrowly efcaped being ihipwrecked
on the tempeftuous fea of ambition; or ihould he have buffered
the mortification of a difappointed felf-love, and all the inquietude
of an overweening conceit of his own m e rit; ihould thj$
miierable man have never found one with whom he might ihare
his pains and his pleafures; ihould he, in ihort; have never tailed
the fweets of genuine friendihip—ah ! how ought fuch a diilurbed
and affliited mind to covet the innocence and fimplicity of this
country ! How fortunate would it be for him, could he exchange
this, with its artlefs joys, for the high blown luxuries in which he
had hitherto lived. But alas! there is nothing on earth perfect;
no human enjoyment is without alloy. Even that fpot, which I
have defcribed as io peaceful and charming, has its ihare of mifery,
which
which diminifhes or even deftroys its attraflions. The long continuance
of the winter and its horrors; the oppreffive multitude
of tormenting infedls in the fummer, would, in the opinion of
moil men, counterbalance any advantages which the beauty of the
fituation, or the allurements of rural life, could prefent. But,
after all, where can the unhappy find peace and joy ; what region
can fhelter him from the forrows that dwell in his wounded heart?
I f content he not the inmate o f his bofom, it is in vain to feek
for it in diflant countries: it is a phantom th a t will conflantly
elude his grafp. . A change of climate cannot relieve the confliil
in his breafl; and why ihould he fight without, fince the battle
rages within ! Happineis, like the fun's rays, is difperied over the
whole earth : it is diilributed, though with apparent inequality,
yet with impartial juilice. The Laplander is without night in
fummer; but he is alfo without day during his long winter. N ature
balances all things.
Muonionifca is a village compofed of fifteen or fixteen dwell-
ing-houfes, irregularly placed on the left bank of the river Muo-
nio. Eailward it is bordered by a chain of mountains, of which
Mount Pallas and Keimio-tunduri are the moil confiderable ; towards
the north, and at a ihort diflanqe, the woods terminate
the view, which is the cafe alio towards the weft and fouth, into
which quarter the river holds its courie. Muonio is the name of
the river, nifca fignifies. beginning; and the village is fo called,
becaufe it is the place where the river begins to affume a regular
form. At Muonionifca there is a church and a parfon, who, like
that