TESTIMONY OF AN ARCTIC BROTHER.
By Editor
At the recent camp meeting of Seventh-day Adventists at Moss, Norway, Brother Jon Eisen, a Lapp from the northern part of Norway, gave a very interesting testimony. His remarks were translated into English by Brother Knud Brorsen, whose death was noted last week, and by favor of Elder S. N. Haskell we are enabled to present the matter to our readers:— "I feel thankful that I can speak in behalf of my people. We have no government or country of our own, but are wanderers like Abraham, pilgrims and strangers, having no abiding city. Neither have we an independent language. In this too we represent Abraham, for he mingled with the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Canaanites. We live principally in the northern parts of Sweden and Norway. Our language is in three dialects,—one is a mixture of the Finnish, another of the Norwegian, and a third of the Swedish. There are about 28,000 in Norway and Sweden, of which about 16,000 are in Norway. Those living in the mountains live somewhat differently from the others. In the summer we eat the flesh of the reindeer and a kind of grass cooked in reindeer milk. In the winter we use some flour instead of grass. As the feed for the reindeer varies in different parts, we go where the reindeer go, and thus are with them. "We wear a peaked-top hat, and our women wear a short tunic that comes a little below the knees. The women usually wear brass buttons as ornaments, while the wealthy wear gold and silver. We live in tents. They are round, with a hole in the top, and we build our fires in the center. In the winter we put deerskins on the outside of the tents, and sometimes on the inside also. If the ground be wet, we cover it with brush or grass. We have no sickness such as the civilized Christians have, unless we come in contact with them. We drink the blood of the reindeer, and eat their flesh. In severe snowstorms the deer lay under the snow for days. Once I did this, and stayed with the deer under the snow three days. As I finally grew very hungry, I took my lasso rope and drew a deer near to me, cut his throat, drank his blood, and ate his flesh. "In the winter the children are protected from the cold by young deerskins. Most of our clothing is made of deerskins. We have no chairs or tables. Our people are very superstitious, and believe that there are people living under the ground or somewhere where we cannot see them. These we are afraid of. The Bible is in each of the three dialects, and some of us can read it and some cannot. Of late most of us can read. There is a mission in Northern Sweden free for Lapps, but they do not encourage their children to go, and the children do not like to go, because they are not encouraged. "Nearly all boys and girls learn to use tobacco605when sixteen or seventeen years of age, and even chew and swallow it. They smoke, chew, and snuff tobacco. It is about sixty years since tobacco was first introduced among us. Drunkenness also prevails, and we use much coffee. At the age of 21 I was engaged to be married to a girl of 20. We lived in a place where brandy was kept close by. We drank together till she vomited and it ran down on my clothes. "Nearly all the Norwegian Lapps can read, and would purchase books, but we wander so the books would have to be delivered at the time the orders are taken. In the summer they are more together than in the winter. They are easily impressed, and would embrace the truth but the Lutheran priests oppose us. We all respect the Bible as sacred. In Norway eleven Lapps have been baptized and twenty are keeping the Sabbath; including the children there are thirty. We want that you should do missionary work among us. "I was an infidel and opposed to all religion, and after I had read a little of your papers I would not read any more. But it worked on my mind, and finally I said to my wife, 'Well, I will keep the Sabbath; will you do that too?' She said, 'Yes, I will do that, papa.' Then we got down on our knees and began to pray and to keep the Sabbath; but we had many things to contend with. When I was baptized, I drank no more liquor and used no more tobacco. And since I came down here I say I will never drink any more coffee."