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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.
Where the sun is first seen again, begins at: Karasjok January 16th Vardö 20th Hammerfest 21st North Cape or Nordkyn 24th I hope that I have been successful in giving you an idea of day and night in the Frigid Zone. I left Haparanda in the beginning of January, surrounded by the friends who had taken such an interest in me.
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 Givijärvi, 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° 35', and within a few miles of the longitude of Nordkyn. The hamlet was situated on the shores of the Karasjoki river.
And at the Arctic Circle the sun is only completely hidden on the 22nd of December. The following table shows you the dates of the disappearance of the sun, and of its reappearance at the principal places to which we are going. Where the sun is last seen, begins at: Karasjok November 26th Vardö 22nd Hammerfest 21st North Cape or Nordkyn 18th
In order to be able to grapple with any degree of cold, we were supplied with the richest assortment of reindeer-skin clothing; we had it specially thick, medium, and quite light. It took a long time to get these skin clothes prepared. First the reindeer-skins had to be bought in a raw state, and this was done for me by Mr. Zappfe at Tromsö, Karasjok, and Kaatokeino.
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.
I only stopped the night in Karasjok, and after getting new reindeer at the post station and a new guide, started north. On leaving Karasjok I travelled northward, over the frozen Karasjoki, until I came to a broad stream called the Tana. As we drove on the river I saw here and there solitary farms and strange little hamlets inhabited by river Lapps.
The Lapps of Kautokeino have hitherto exalted themselves over the Lapps of Karasjok and Karessuando, because the Länsman, Berger, and Pastor Hvoslef could speak with English and French travellers in their own language, while the merchants and pastors of the latter places are acquainted only with Norwegian and Swedish; and now their pride received a vast accession.
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