Linguistically the Lapps belong to the Finno-Ugrian group (q.v.); the similarity of their speech to Finnish is evident thoughthe phonetics are different and more complicated. It is broken up into very distinct and even mutually unintelligible dialects, the origin of several of which is, however, easily found in the political and social dismemberment of the people. Düben distinguishes four leading dialects; but a much greater number are recognizable. In Russian Lapland alone there are three, due to the influence of Norwegian, Karelian and Russian (Lönnrot,Acta Soc. Sci. Fennicae, vol. iv.). “The Lapps,” says Castren, “have had the misfortune to come into close contact with foreign races while their language was yet in its tenderest infancy, and consequently it has not only adopted an endless number of foreign words, but in many grammatical aspects fashioned itself after foreign models.” That it began at a very early period to enrich itself with Scandinavian words is shown by the use it still makes of forms belonging to aLanguage.linguistic stage older even than that of Icelandic. Düben has subjected the vocabulary to a very interesting analysis for the purpose of discovering what stage of culture the people had reached before their contact with the Norse. Agricultural terms, the names of the metals and the word for smith are all of Scandinavian origin, and the words for “taming” and “milk” would suggest that the southern strangers taught the Lapps how to turn the reindeer to full account. The important place, however, which this creature must always have held in their estimation is evident from the existence of more than three hundred native words in connexion with reindeer.The Lapp tongue was long ago reduced to writing by the missionaries; but very little has been printed in it except school-books and religious works. A number of popular tales and songs, indeed, have been taken down from the lips of the people. The songs are similar to those of the Finns, and a process of mutual borrowing seems to have gone on. In one of the saga-like pieces—Pishan-Peshan’s son—there seems to be a mention of the Baikal Lake, and possibly also of the Altai Mountains. The story of Njavvisena, daughter of the Sun, is full of quaint folk-lore about the taming of the reindeer. Giants, as well as a blind or one-eyed monster, are frequently introduced, and the Aesopic fable is not without its representatives. Many of the Lapps are able to speak one or even two of the neighbouring tongues.The reputation of the Laplanders for skill in magic and divination is of very early date, and in Finland is not yet extinct. When Erik Blood-axe, son of Harold Haarfager, visited Bjarmaland in 922, he found Gunhild, daughter of Asur Tote, living among the Lapps, to whom she had been sent by her father for the purpose of being trained in witchcraft; and Ivan the Terrible of Russia sent for magicians from Lapland to explain the cause of the appearance of a comet. One of the powers with which they were formerly credited was that of raising winds. “They tye three knottes,” says old Richard Eden, “on a strynge hangyng at a whyp. When they lose one of these they rayse tollerable wynds. When they lose an other the wynde is more vehement; but by losing the thyrd they rayse playne tempestes as in old tyme they were accustomed to rayse thunder and lyghtnyng” (Hist. of Trauayle, 1577). Though we are familiar in English with allusions to “Lapland witches,” it appears that the art, according to native custom, was in the hands of the men. During his divination the wizard fell into a state of trance orWitchcraft.ecstasy, his soul being held to run at large to pursue its inquiries. Great use was made of a curious divining-drum, oval in shape and made of wood, 1 to 4 ft. in length. Over the upper surface was stretched a white-dressed reindeer skin, and at the corners (so to speak) hung a variety of charms—tufts of wool, bones, teeth, claws, &c. The area was divided into several spaces, often into three, one for the celestial gods, one for the terrestrial and one for man. A variety of figures and conventional signs were drawn in the several compartments: the sun, for instance, is frequently represented by a square and a stroke from each corner, Thor by two hammers placed crosswise; and in the more modern specimens symbols for Christ, the Virgin, and the Holy Ghost are introduced. Anarpaor divining-rod was laid on a definite spot, the drum beaten by a hammer, and conclusions drawn from the position taken up by the arpa. Any Lapp who had attained to manhood could in ordinary circumstances consult the drum for himself, but in matters of unusual moment the professional wizard (naid,noideornoaide) had to be called in.
Linguistically the Lapps belong to the Finno-Ugrian group (q.v.); the similarity of their speech to Finnish is evident thoughthe phonetics are different and more complicated. It is broken up into very distinct and even mutually unintelligible dialects, the origin of several of which is, however, easily found in the political and social dismemberment of the people. Düben distinguishes four leading dialects; but a much greater number are recognizable. In Russian Lapland alone there are three, due to the influence of Norwegian, Karelian and Russian (Lönnrot,Acta Soc. Sci. Fennicae, vol. iv.). “The Lapps,” says Castren, “have had the misfortune to come into close contact with foreign races while their language was yet in its tenderest infancy, and consequently it has not only adopted an endless number of foreign words, but in many grammatical aspects fashioned itself after foreign models.” That it began at a very early period to enrich itself with Scandinavian words is shown by the use it still makes of forms belonging to aLanguage.linguistic stage older even than that of Icelandic. Düben has subjected the vocabulary to a very interesting analysis for the purpose of discovering what stage of culture the people had reached before their contact with the Norse. Agricultural terms, the names of the metals and the word for smith are all of Scandinavian origin, and the words for “taming” and “milk” would suggest that the southern strangers taught the Lapps how to turn the reindeer to full account. The important place, however, which this creature must always have held in their estimation is evident from the existence of more than three hundred native words in connexion with reindeer.
The Lapp tongue was long ago reduced to writing by the missionaries; but very little has been printed in it except school-books and religious works. A number of popular tales and songs, indeed, have been taken down from the lips of the people. The songs are similar to those of the Finns, and a process of mutual borrowing seems to have gone on. In one of the saga-like pieces—Pishan-Peshan’s son—there seems to be a mention of the Baikal Lake, and possibly also of the Altai Mountains. The story of Njavvisena, daughter of the Sun, is full of quaint folk-lore about the taming of the reindeer. Giants, as well as a blind or one-eyed monster, are frequently introduced, and the Aesopic fable is not without its representatives. Many of the Lapps are able to speak one or even two of the neighbouring tongues.
The reputation of the Laplanders for skill in magic and divination is of very early date, and in Finland is not yet extinct. When Erik Blood-axe, son of Harold Haarfager, visited Bjarmaland in 922, he found Gunhild, daughter of Asur Tote, living among the Lapps, to whom she had been sent by her father for the purpose of being trained in witchcraft; and Ivan the Terrible of Russia sent for magicians from Lapland to explain the cause of the appearance of a comet. One of the powers with which they were formerly credited was that of raising winds. “They tye three knottes,” says old Richard Eden, “on a strynge hangyng at a whyp. When they lose one of these they rayse tollerable wynds. When they lose an other the wynde is more vehement; but by losing the thyrd they rayse playne tempestes as in old tyme they were accustomed to rayse thunder and lyghtnyng” (Hist. of Trauayle, 1577). Though we are familiar in English with allusions to “Lapland witches,” it appears that the art, according to native custom, was in the hands of the men. During his divination the wizard fell into a state of trance orWitchcraft.ecstasy, his soul being held to run at large to pursue its inquiries. Great use was made of a curious divining-drum, oval in shape and made of wood, 1 to 4 ft. in length. Over the upper surface was stretched a white-dressed reindeer skin, and at the corners (so to speak) hung a variety of charms—tufts of wool, bones, teeth, claws, &c. The area was divided into several spaces, often into three, one for the celestial gods, one for the terrestrial and one for man. A variety of figures and conventional signs were drawn in the several compartments: the sun, for instance, is frequently represented by a square and a stroke from each corner, Thor by two hammers placed crosswise; and in the more modern specimens symbols for Christ, the Virgin, and the Holy Ghost are introduced. Anarpaor divining-rod was laid on a definite spot, the drum beaten by a hammer, and conclusions drawn from the position taken up by the arpa. Any Lapp who had attained to manhood could in ordinary circumstances consult the drum for himself, but in matters of unusual moment the professional wizard (naid,noideornoaide) had to be called in.
History.—The Lapps have a dim tradition that their ancestors lived in a far eastern land, and they tell rude stories of conflicts with Norsemen and Karelians. But no answer can be obtained from them in regard to their early distribution and movements. It has been maintained that they were formerly spread over the whole of the Scandinavian peninsula, and they have even been considered the remnants of that primeval race of cave-dwellers which hunted the reindeer over the snow-fields of central and western Europe. But much of the evidence adduced for these theories is highly questionable. The contents of the so-called Lapps’ graves found in various parts of Scandinavia are often sufficient in themselves to show that the appellation must be a misnomer, and the syllable Lap or Lapp found in many names of places can often be proved to have no connexion with the Lapps.5They occupied their present territory when they are first mentioned in history. According to Düben the name first occurs in the 13th century—in theFundinn Noregr, composed about 1200, in Saxo Grammaticus, and in a papal bull of date 1230; but the people are probably to be identified with those Finns of Tacitus whom he describes as wild hunters with skins for clothing and rude huts as only means of shelter, and certainly with the Skrithiphinoi of Procopius (Goth.ii. 15), the Scritobini of Paulus Warnefridus, and the Scridifinni of the geographer of Ravenna. Some of the details given by Procopius, in regard for instance to the treatment of infants, show that his informant was acquainted with certain characteristic customs of the Lapps.
In the 9th century the Norsemen from Norway began to treat their feeble northern neighbours as a subject race. The wealth of Ottar, “northmost of the northmen,” whose narrative has been preserved by King Alfred, consisted mainly of six hundred of those “deer they call hrenas” and in tribute paid by the natives; and the Eigils saga tells how Brynjulf Bjargulfson had his right to collect contributions from the Finns (i.e.the Lapps) recognized by Harold Haarfager. So much value was attached to this source of wealth that as early as 1050 strangers were excluded from the fur-trade of Finmark, and a kind of coast-guard prevented their intrusion.Meantimethe Karelians were pressing on the eastern Lapps, and in the course of the 11th century the rulers of Novgorod began to treat them as the Norsemen had treated their western brethren. The ground-swell of the Tatar invasion drove the Karelians westward in the 13th century, and for many years even Finmark was so unsettled that the Norsemen received no tribute from the Lapps. At length in 1326 a treaty was concluded between Norway and Russia by which the supremacy of the Norwegians over the Lapps was recognized as far east as Voljo beyond Kandalax on the White Sea, and the supremacy of the Russians over the Karelians as far as Lyngen and the Målself. The relations of the Lapps to their more powerful neighbours were complicated by the rivalry of the different Scandinavian kingdoms. After the disruption of the Calmar Union (1523) Sweden began to assert its rights with vigour, and in 1595 the treaty of Teusina between Sweden and Russia decreed “that the Lapps who dwell in the woods between eastern Bothnia and Varanger shall pay their dues to the king of Sweden.” It was in vain that Christian IV. of Denmark visited Kola and exacted homage in 1599, and every year sent messengers to protest against the collection of his tribute by the Swedes (a custom which continued down to 1806). Charles of Sweden took the title of “king of the Kajans and Lapps,” and left no means untried to establish his power over all Scandinavian Lapland. By the peace of Knäröd (1613) Gustavus Adolphus gave up the Swedish claim to Finmark; and in 1751 mutual renunciations brought the relations of Swedish and Norwegian (Danish) Lapland to their present position. Meanwhile Russian influence had been spreading westward; and in 1809, when Alexander I. finally obtained the cession of Finland, he also added to his dominions the whole of Finnish Lapland to the east of the Muonio and the Köngämä. It may be interesting to mention that Lapps, armed with bows and arrows, were attached to certain regiments of Gustavus Adolphus in Germany during the Thirty Years’ War.The Lapps have had the ordinary fate of a subject and defenceless people; they have been utilized with little regard to their own interest or inclinations. The example set by the early Norwegians was followed by the Swedes: a peculiar class of adventurers known as the Birkarlians (fromBjarkorBirk, “trade”) began in the 13th century to farm the Lapps, and, receiving very extensive privileges from the kings, grew to great wealth and influence. In 1606 there were twenty-two Birkarlians in Tornio, seventeen in Lule, sixteen in Pite, and sixty-six in Ume Lappmark. They are regularly spoken of as having or owning Lapps, whom they dispose of as any other piece of property. In Russian Lapland matters followed much the same course. The very institutions of the Solovets monastery, intended by St Tryphon for the benefit of the poor neglected pagans, turned out the occasion of much injustice towards them. By a charter of Ivan Vasilivitch (November 1556), the monks are declared masters of the Lapps of the Motoff and Petchenga districts, and they soon sought to extend their control over those not legally assigned to them (Ephimenko). Other monasteries were giftedwith similar proprietary rights; and the supplication of the patriarch Nikon to Alexis Mikhaelovitch, for example, shows clearly the oppression to which the Lapps were subjected.It is long, however, since these abuses were abolished; and in Scandinavia more especially the Lapps of the present day enjoy the advantages resulting from a large amount of philanthropic legislation on the part of their rulers. There seems to be no fear of their becoming extinct, except it may be by gradual amalgamation with their more powerful neighbours. In Norway the total number of Lapps was 20,786 in 1891, and in Sweden in 1904 it was officially estimated that there were 7000. Add to these some 3000 for Russian Lapland, and the total Lapp population approximates to 30,000. In Sweden the Lapps are gradually abandoning their nomadic habits and becoming merged in the Swedish population. The majority of the Norwegian Lapps lead a semi-nomadic existence; but the number of inveterate nomads can scarcely reach 1500 at the present day. In Sweden there are about 3500 nomads.Authorities.—G. von Düben,Om Lappland och Lapparne(Stockholm, 1873), with list of over 200 authorities; C. Rabot, “La Laponie suédoise d’après les récentes explorations de MM. Svenonius et Hamberg,”La Géographie, Soc. Géog. de Paris VII. (1903); S. Passarge,Fahrten in Schweden, besonders in Nordschweden und Lappland(Berlin, 1897); Bayard Taylor,Northern Travel(London, 1858); E. Rae,The White Sea Peninsula(London, 1882), andLand of the North Wind(London, 1875); P. B. du Chaillu,Land of the Midnight Sun(London, 1881); S. Tromholt,Under the Rays of the Aurora Borealis(London, 1885); Y. Nielsen,Det Norske geogr. Selskabs Aarbog(1891); H. H. Reusch,Folk og natur i Finmarken(1895); K. B. Wicklund,De Svenska nomadlapparnas flyttningar till Norge i älore och nyare tid(Upsala, 1908); see alsoSweden. Among older works may be mentioned Scheffer,Lapponia(Frankfurt, 1673, English trans. Oxford, 1674); Regnard,Voyage de Laponie, English version in Pinkerton’sVoyages, vol. i.; Leem,Beskrivelse over Finmarkens Lapper(Copenhagen, 1767), in Danish and Latin; see also Pinkerton,loc. cit.; Sir A. de C. Brooke,A Winter in Lapland(London, 1827); Laestadius,Journal(1831).As to the language, J. A. Friis, professor of Lapp in the university of Christiania, has publishedLappiske Sprogprover: en samling lapp. eventyr, ordsprog, og gåder(Christiania, 1856), andLappisk mythologi eventyr og folkesagn(Christiania, 1871). See also G. Donner,Lieder der Lappen(Helsingfors, 1876); Poestion,Lappländische Märchen, &c. (Vienna, 1885). Grammars of the Lapp tongue have been published by Fjellström (1738), Leem (1748), Rask (1832), Stockfleth (1840); lexicons by Fjellström (1703), Leem (1768-1781), Lindahl (1780), Stockfleth (1852). Among more recent works may be mentioned a dictionary (1885), by J. A. Friis; a reader, with German translations (1888), by J. Qvigstad; a dictionary (1890) and two grammars (1891 and 1897) of the Luleå dialect, and a chrestomathy of Norwegian Lappish (1894), by K. B. Wiklund; a dictionary of Russian Lappish, or the Kola dialect (1891), by A. Genetz; readers of different dialects (1885-1896), by J. Halász; and a grammar of Norwegian Lappish (1882), by S. Nielsen; further, a comparative study of Lappish and Finnish by Qvigstad in theActs of the Finnish Academy of Science, vol. xii., 1883; the same author’sNordische Lehnwörter im Lappischen(1893); Wiklund,Entwurf einer urlappischen Lautlehre(1896); see also various articles by these writers, Paasonen and others in theJournal de la Société Finno-Ougrienneand theFinnisch-Ugrische Forschungen; Qvigstad and Wiklund,Bibliographie der lappischen Literatur(1900).The older literature on the Lapps received a notable addition by the discovery in 1896, among the letters of Linnaeus preserved in the British Museum, of a MS. diary of a journey made in 1695 to the north of Swedish Lappmark by Olof Rudbeck the younger. On missionary work see Stockfleth,Dagbog over mine missions Reiser(1860); E. Haller,Svenska Kyrkans mission i Lappmarken(1896). It was not until 1840 that the New Testament was translated into Norwegian Lappish, and not until 1895 that the entire Bible was printed in the same dialect. In the Russian dialect of Lappish there exist only two versions of St Matthew’s gospel.
In the 9th century the Norsemen from Norway began to treat their feeble northern neighbours as a subject race. The wealth of Ottar, “northmost of the northmen,” whose narrative has been preserved by King Alfred, consisted mainly of six hundred of those “deer they call hrenas” and in tribute paid by the natives; and the Eigils saga tells how Brynjulf Bjargulfson had his right to collect contributions from the Finns (i.e.the Lapps) recognized by Harold Haarfager. So much value was attached to this source of wealth that as early as 1050 strangers were excluded from the fur-trade of Finmark, and a kind of coast-guard prevented their intrusion.Meantimethe Karelians were pressing on the eastern Lapps, and in the course of the 11th century the rulers of Novgorod began to treat them as the Norsemen had treated their western brethren. The ground-swell of the Tatar invasion drove the Karelians westward in the 13th century, and for many years even Finmark was so unsettled that the Norsemen received no tribute from the Lapps. At length in 1326 a treaty was concluded between Norway and Russia by which the supremacy of the Norwegians over the Lapps was recognized as far east as Voljo beyond Kandalax on the White Sea, and the supremacy of the Russians over the Karelians as far as Lyngen and the Målself. The relations of the Lapps to their more powerful neighbours were complicated by the rivalry of the different Scandinavian kingdoms. After the disruption of the Calmar Union (1523) Sweden began to assert its rights with vigour, and in 1595 the treaty of Teusina between Sweden and Russia decreed “that the Lapps who dwell in the woods between eastern Bothnia and Varanger shall pay their dues to the king of Sweden.” It was in vain that Christian IV. of Denmark visited Kola and exacted homage in 1599, and every year sent messengers to protest against the collection of his tribute by the Swedes (a custom which continued down to 1806). Charles of Sweden took the title of “king of the Kajans and Lapps,” and left no means untried to establish his power over all Scandinavian Lapland. By the peace of Knäröd (1613) Gustavus Adolphus gave up the Swedish claim to Finmark; and in 1751 mutual renunciations brought the relations of Swedish and Norwegian (Danish) Lapland to their present position. Meanwhile Russian influence had been spreading westward; and in 1809, when Alexander I. finally obtained the cession of Finland, he also added to his dominions the whole of Finnish Lapland to the east of the Muonio and the Köngämä. It may be interesting to mention that Lapps, armed with bows and arrows, were attached to certain regiments of Gustavus Adolphus in Germany during the Thirty Years’ War.
The Lapps have had the ordinary fate of a subject and defenceless people; they have been utilized with little regard to their own interest or inclinations. The example set by the early Norwegians was followed by the Swedes: a peculiar class of adventurers known as the Birkarlians (fromBjarkorBirk, “trade”) began in the 13th century to farm the Lapps, and, receiving very extensive privileges from the kings, grew to great wealth and influence. In 1606 there were twenty-two Birkarlians in Tornio, seventeen in Lule, sixteen in Pite, and sixty-six in Ume Lappmark. They are regularly spoken of as having or owning Lapps, whom they dispose of as any other piece of property. In Russian Lapland matters followed much the same course. The very institutions of the Solovets monastery, intended by St Tryphon for the benefit of the poor neglected pagans, turned out the occasion of much injustice towards them. By a charter of Ivan Vasilivitch (November 1556), the monks are declared masters of the Lapps of the Motoff and Petchenga districts, and they soon sought to extend their control over those not legally assigned to them (Ephimenko). Other monasteries were giftedwith similar proprietary rights; and the supplication of the patriarch Nikon to Alexis Mikhaelovitch, for example, shows clearly the oppression to which the Lapps were subjected.
It is long, however, since these abuses were abolished; and in Scandinavia more especially the Lapps of the present day enjoy the advantages resulting from a large amount of philanthropic legislation on the part of their rulers. There seems to be no fear of their becoming extinct, except it may be by gradual amalgamation with their more powerful neighbours. In Norway the total number of Lapps was 20,786 in 1891, and in Sweden in 1904 it was officially estimated that there were 7000. Add to these some 3000 for Russian Lapland, and the total Lapp population approximates to 30,000. In Sweden the Lapps are gradually abandoning their nomadic habits and becoming merged in the Swedish population. The majority of the Norwegian Lapps lead a semi-nomadic existence; but the number of inveterate nomads can scarcely reach 1500 at the present day. In Sweden there are about 3500 nomads.
Authorities.—G. von Düben,Om Lappland och Lapparne(Stockholm, 1873), with list of over 200 authorities; C. Rabot, “La Laponie suédoise d’après les récentes explorations de MM. Svenonius et Hamberg,”La Géographie, Soc. Géog. de Paris VII. (1903); S. Passarge,Fahrten in Schweden, besonders in Nordschweden und Lappland(Berlin, 1897); Bayard Taylor,Northern Travel(London, 1858); E. Rae,The White Sea Peninsula(London, 1882), andLand of the North Wind(London, 1875); P. B. du Chaillu,Land of the Midnight Sun(London, 1881); S. Tromholt,Under the Rays of the Aurora Borealis(London, 1885); Y. Nielsen,Det Norske geogr. Selskabs Aarbog(1891); H. H. Reusch,Folk og natur i Finmarken(1895); K. B. Wicklund,De Svenska nomadlapparnas flyttningar till Norge i älore och nyare tid(Upsala, 1908); see alsoSweden. Among older works may be mentioned Scheffer,Lapponia(Frankfurt, 1673, English trans. Oxford, 1674); Regnard,Voyage de Laponie, English version in Pinkerton’sVoyages, vol. i.; Leem,Beskrivelse over Finmarkens Lapper(Copenhagen, 1767), in Danish and Latin; see also Pinkerton,loc. cit.; Sir A. de C. Brooke,A Winter in Lapland(London, 1827); Laestadius,Journal(1831).
As to the language, J. A. Friis, professor of Lapp in the university of Christiania, has publishedLappiske Sprogprover: en samling lapp. eventyr, ordsprog, og gåder(Christiania, 1856), andLappisk mythologi eventyr og folkesagn(Christiania, 1871). See also G. Donner,Lieder der Lappen(Helsingfors, 1876); Poestion,Lappländische Märchen, &c. (Vienna, 1885). Grammars of the Lapp tongue have been published by Fjellström (1738), Leem (1748), Rask (1832), Stockfleth (1840); lexicons by Fjellström (1703), Leem (1768-1781), Lindahl (1780), Stockfleth (1852). Among more recent works may be mentioned a dictionary (1885), by J. A. Friis; a reader, with German translations (1888), by J. Qvigstad; a dictionary (1890) and two grammars (1891 and 1897) of the Luleå dialect, and a chrestomathy of Norwegian Lappish (1894), by K. B. Wiklund; a dictionary of Russian Lappish, or the Kola dialect (1891), by A. Genetz; readers of different dialects (1885-1896), by J. Halász; and a grammar of Norwegian Lappish (1882), by S. Nielsen; further, a comparative study of Lappish and Finnish by Qvigstad in theActs of the Finnish Academy of Science, vol. xii., 1883; the same author’sNordische Lehnwörter im Lappischen(1893); Wiklund,Entwurf einer urlappischen Lautlehre(1896); see also various articles by these writers, Paasonen and others in theJournal de la Société Finno-Ougrienneand theFinnisch-Ugrische Forschungen; Qvigstad and Wiklund,Bibliographie der lappischen Literatur(1900).
The older literature on the Lapps received a notable addition by the discovery in 1896, among the letters of Linnaeus preserved in the British Museum, of a MS. diary of a journey made in 1695 to the north of Swedish Lappmark by Olof Rudbeck the younger. On missionary work see Stockfleth,Dagbog over mine missions Reiser(1860); E. Haller,Svenska Kyrkans mission i Lappmarken(1896). It was not until 1840 that the New Testament was translated into Norwegian Lappish, and not until 1895 that the entire Bible was printed in the same dialect. In the Russian dialect of Lappish there exist only two versions of St Matthew’s gospel.
1The most probable etymology is the Finnishlappu, and in this case the meaning would be the “land’s end folk.”2Hence they have been supposed by many to be the originals of the “little folk” of Scandinavian legend.3Bertillon found in one instance a cephalic index of 94. The average obtained by Pruner Bey was 84.7, by Virchow 82.5.4A valuable paper by Ephimenko, on “The Legal Customs of the Lapps, especially in Russian Lapland,” appeared in vol. viii. of theMem. of Russ. Geog. Soc., Ethnog. Section, 1878.5The view that the Lapps at one time occupied the whole of the Scandinavian peninsula, and have during the course of centuries been driven back by the Swedes and Norwegians is disproved by the recent investigations of Yngvar Nielsen, K. B. Wiklund and others. The fact is, the Lapps are increasing in numbers, as well as pushing their way farther and farther south. In the beginning of the 16th century their southern border-line in Norway ran on the upper side of 64° N. In 1890 they forced their way to the head of the Hardanger Fjord in 60° N. In Sweden the presence of Lapps as far south as Jämtland (or Jemtland) is first mentioned in 1564. In 1881 they pushed on into the north of Dalecarlia, about 61° 45′ N.
1The most probable etymology is the Finnishlappu, and in this case the meaning would be the “land’s end folk.”
2Hence they have been supposed by many to be the originals of the “little folk” of Scandinavian legend.
3Bertillon found in one instance a cephalic index of 94. The average obtained by Pruner Bey was 84.7, by Virchow 82.5.
4A valuable paper by Ephimenko, on “The Legal Customs of the Lapps, especially in Russian Lapland,” appeared in vol. viii. of theMem. of Russ. Geog. Soc., Ethnog. Section, 1878.
5The view that the Lapps at one time occupied the whole of the Scandinavian peninsula, and have during the course of centuries been driven back by the Swedes and Norwegians is disproved by the recent investigations of Yngvar Nielsen, K. B. Wiklund and others. The fact is, the Lapps are increasing in numbers, as well as pushing their way farther and farther south. In the beginning of the 16th century their southern border-line in Norway ran on the upper side of 64° N. In 1890 they forced their way to the head of the Hardanger Fjord in 60° N. In Sweden the presence of Lapps as far south as Jämtland (or Jemtland) is first mentioned in 1564. In 1881 they pushed on into the north of Dalecarlia, about 61° 45′ N.
LA PLATA,a city of Argentina and capital of the province of Buenos Aires, 5 m. inland from the port of Ensenada, or La Plata, and about 31 m. S.E. of the city of Buenos Aires, with which it is connected by rail. Pop. (1895) 45,609; (1907, estimate) 84,000. La Plata was founded in 1882, two years after Buenos Aires had been constituted a federal district and made the national capital. This necessitated the selection of another provincial capital, which resulted in the choice of an open plain near the former port of Ensenada de Barragán, on which a city was laid out after the plan of Washington. The streets are so wide that they seem out of proportion to the low brick buildings. The principal public buildings, constructed of brick and stucco, are the government-house, assembly building, treasury, municipal hall, cathedral, courts of justice, police headquarters, provincial museum and railway station. The museum, originally presented by Dr Moreno, has become one of the most important in South America, its palaeontological and anthropological collections being unique. There are also a university, national college, public library, astronomical observatory, several churches, two hospitals and two theatres. A noteworthy public park is formed by a large plantation of eucalyptus trees, which have grown to a great height and present an imposing appearance on the level, treeless plain. Electricity is in general use for public and private lighting, and tramways are laid down in the principal streets and extend eastward to the port. The harbour of the port of La Plata consists of a large artificial basin, 1450 yds. long by 150 yds. wide, with approaches, in addition to the old port of Ensenada, which are capable of receiving the largest vessels that can navigate the La Plata estuary. Up to the opening of the new port works of Buenos Aires a large part of the ocean-going traffic of Buenos Aires passed through the port of La Plata. It has good railway connexions with the interior, and exports cattle and agricultural produce.
LAPORTE, ROLAND(1675-1704), Camisard leader, better known as “Roland,” was born at Mas Soubeyran (Gard) in a cottage which has become the property of the Société de l’Histoire du Protestantisme français, and which contains relics of the hero. He was a nephew of Laporte, the Camisard leader who was hunted down and shot in October 1702, and he himself became the leader of a band of a thousand men which he formed into a disciplined army with magazines, arsenals and hospitals. For daring in action and rapidity of movement he was second only to Cavalier. These two leaders in 1702 secured entrance to the town of Sauve under the pretence of being royal officers, burnt the church and carried off provisions and ammunition for their forces. Roland, who called himself “general of the children of God,” terrorized the country between Nîmes and Alais, burning churches and houses, and slaying those suspected of hostility against the Huguenots, though without personally taking any part of the spoil. Cavalier was already in negotiation with Marshal Villars when Roland cut to pieces a Catholic regiment at Fontmorte in May 1704. He refused to lay down his arms without definite assurance of the restoration of the privileges accorded by the Edict of Nantes. Villars then sought to negotiate, offering Roland the command of a regiment on foreign service and liberty of conscience, though not the free exercise of their religion, for his co-religionists. This parley had no results, but Roland was betrayed to his enemies, and on the 14th of August 1704 was shot while defending himself against his captors. The five officers who were with him surrendered, and were broken on the wheel at Nîmes. Roland’s death put an end to the effective resistance of the Cévenols.
See A. Court,Histoire des troubles des Cévennes(Villefranche, 1760); H. M. Baird,The Huguenots and the revocation of the Edict of Nantes(2 vols., London, 1895), and other literature dealing with the Camisards.
See A. Court,Histoire des troubles des Cévennes(Villefranche, 1760); H. M. Baird,The Huguenots and the revocation of the Edict of Nantes(2 vols., London, 1895), and other literature dealing with the Camisards.
LA PORTE,a city and the county seat of La Porte county, Indiana, U.S.A., 12 m. S. of Lake Michigan and about 60 m. S.E. of Chicago. Pop. (1890) 7126; (1900) 7113 (1403 foreign-born); (1910) 10,525. It is served by the Lake Erie & Western, the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, the Père Marquette, the Chicago, South Bend & Northern Indiana (electric), and the Chicago-New York Electric Air Line railways. La Porte lies in the midst of a fertile agricultural region, and the shipment of farm and orchard products is one of its chief industries. There are also numerous manufactures. La Porte’s situation in the heart of a region of beautiful lakes (including Clear, Pine and Stone lakes) has given it a considerable reputation as a summer resort. The lakes furnish a large supply of clear ice, which is shipped to the Chicago markets. La Porte was settled in 1830, laid out in 1833, incorporated as a town in 1835, and first chartered as a city in 1852.
LAPPA,an island directly opposite the inner harbour of Macao, the distance across being from 1 to 1½ m. It is a station of the Chinese imperial maritime customs which collects duties on vessels trading between China and the Portuguese colonyof Macao. The arrangement is altogether abnormal, and was consented to by the Portuguese government in 1887 to assist the Chinese authorities in the suppression of opium smuggling. A similar arrangement prevails at the British colony of Hong-Kong, where the Chinese customs station is Kowloon. In both cases the customs stations levy duties on vessels entering and leaving the foreign port in lieu of levying them, as ought to be done, on entering or leaving a Chinese port.
LAPPARENT, ALBERT AUGUSTE COCHON DE(1839-1908), French geologist, was born at Bourges on the 30th of December 1839. After studying at the École Polytechnique from 1858 to 1860 he becameingénieur au corps des mines, and took part in drawing up the geological map of France; and in 1875 he was appointed professor of geology and mineralogy at the Catholic Institute, Paris. In 1879 he prepared an important memoir for the geological survey of France onLe Pays de Bray, a subject on which he had already published several memoirs, and in 1880 he served as president of the French Geological Society. In 1881-1883 he published hisTraité de géologie(5th ed., 1905), the best European text-book of stratigraphical geology. His other works includeCours de minéralogie(1884, 3rd ed., 1899),La Formation des combustibles minéraux(1886),Le Niveau de la mer et ses variations(1886),Les Tremblements de terre(1887),La Géologie en chemin de fer(1888),Précis de minéralogie(1888),Le Siècle du fer(1890),Les Anciens Glaciers(1893),Leçons de géographie physique(1896),Notions générales sur l’écorce terrestre(1897),Le Globe terrestre(1899), andScience et apologétique(1905). With Achille Delesse he was for many years editor of theRévue de géologieand contributed to theExtraits de géologie, and he joined with A. Potier in the geological surveys undertaken in connexion with the Channel Tunnel proposals. He died in Paris on the 5th of May 1908.
LAPPENBERG, JOHANN MARTIN(1794-1865), German historian, was born on the 30th of July 1794 at Hamburg, where his father, Valentin Anton Lappenberg (1759-1819), held an official position. He studied medicine, and afterwards history, at Edinburgh. He continued to study history in London, and at Berlin and Göttingen, graduating as doctor of laws at Göttingen in 1816. In 1820 he was sent by the Hamburg senate as resident minister to the Prussian court. In 1823 he became keeper of the Hamburg archives; an office in which he had the fullest opportunities for the laborious and critical research work upon which his reputation as an historian rests. He retained this post until 1863, when a serious affection of the eyes compelled him to resign. In 1850 he represented Hamburg in the German parliament at Frankfort, and bis death took place at Hamburg on the 28th of November 1865. Lappenberg’s most important work is hisGeschichte von England, which deals with the history of England from the earliest times to 1154, and was published in two volumes at Hamburg in 1834-1837. It has been translated into English by B. Thorpe asHistory of England under the Anglo-Saxon Kings(London 1845, and again 1881), andHistory of England under the Norman Kings(Oxford, 1857), and has been continued in three additional volumes from 1154 to 1509 by R. Pauli. His other works deal mainly with the history of Hamburg, and includeHamburgische Chroniken in Niedersächsischer Sprache(Hamburg, 1852-1861);Geschichtsquellen des Erzstiftes und der Stadt Bremen(Bremen, 1841);Hamburgisches Urkundenbuch(Hamburg, 1842);Urkundliche Geschichte des Hansischen Stahlhofes zu London(Hamburg, 1851);Hamburgische Rechtsalterthümer(Hamburg, 1845); andUrkundliche Geschichte des Ursprunges der deutschen Hanse(Hamburg, 1830), a continuation of the work of G. F. Sartorius. For theMonumenta Germaniae historicahe edited theChroniconof Thietmar of Merseburg, theGesta Hammenburgensis ecclesiae pontificumof Adam of Bremen and theChronica Slavorumof Helmold, with its continuation by Arnold of Lübeck. Lappenberg, who was a member of numerous learned societies in Europe, wrote many other historical works.
See E. H. Meyer,Johann Martin Lappenberg(Hamburg, 1867); and R. Pauli in theAllgemeine deutsche Biographie, Band xvii. (Leipzig, 1883).
See E. H. Meyer,Johann Martin Lappenberg(Hamburg, 1867); and R. Pauli in theAllgemeine deutsche Biographie, Band xvii. (Leipzig, 1883).
LAPRADE, PIERRE MARTIN VICTOR RICHARD DE(1812-1883), known asVictor de Laprade, French poet and critic, was born on the 13th of January 1812 at Montbrison, in the department of the Loire. He came of a modest provincial family. After completing his studies at Lyons, he produced in 1839 a small volume of religious verse,Les Parfums de Madeleine. This was followed in 1840 byLa Colère de Jésus, in 1841 by the religious fantasy ofPsyché, and in 1844 byOdes et poèmes. In 1845 Laprade visited Italy on a mission of literary research, and in 1847 he was appointed professor of French literature at Lyons. The French Academy, by a single vote, preferred Émile Augier at the election in 1857, but in the following year Laprade was chosen to fill the chair of Alfred de Musset. In 1861 he was removed from his post at Lyons owing to the publication of a political satire in verse (Les Muses d’État), and in 1871 took his seat in the National Assembly on the benches of the Right. He died on the 13th of December 1883. A statue has been raised by his fellow-townsmen at Montbrison. Besides those named above, Laprade’s poetical works includePoèmes évangéliques(1852),Idylles héroïques(1858),Les Voix de silence(1864),Pernette(1868),Poèmes civiles(1873),Le Livre d’un père(1877),VariaandLivre des adieux(1878-1879). In prose he published, in 1840,Des habitudes intellectuelles de l’avocat.Questions d’art et de moraleappeared in 1861, succeeded byLe Sentiment de la nature, avant le Christianismein 1866, andChez les modernesin 1868,Éducation libéralein 1873. The material for these books had in some cases been printed earlier, after delivery as a lecture. He also contributed articles to theRevue des deux mondesand theRevue de Paris. No writer represents more perfectly than Laprade the admirable genius of French provincial life, its homely simplicity, its culture, its piety and its sober patriotism. As a poet he belongs to the school of Chateaubriand and Lamartine. Devoted to the best classical models, inspired by a sense of the ideal, and by worship of nature as revealing the divine—gifted, too, with a full faculty of expression—he lacked only fire and passion in the equipment of a romantic poet. But the want of these, and the pressure of a certain chilly facility and of a too conscious philosophizing have prevented him from reaching the first rank, or from even attaining the popularity due to his high place in the second. Only in his patriotic verse did he shake himself clear from these trammels. Speaking generally, he possessed some of the qualities, and many of the defects, of the English Lake School. Laprade’s prose criticisms must be ranked high. Apart from his classical and metaphysical studies, he was widely read in the literatures of Europe, and built upon the groundwork of a naturally correct taste. His dislike of irony and scepticism probably led him to underrate the product of the 18th century, and there are signs of a too fastidious dread of Philistinism. But a constant love of the best, a joy in nature and a lofty patriotism are not less evident than in his poetry. Few writers of any nation have fixed their minds so steadily on whatsoever things are pure, and lovely and of good report.
See also Edmond Biré,Victor de Laprade, sa vie et ses œuvres.
See also Edmond Biré,Victor de Laprade, sa vie et ses œuvres.
(C.)
LAPSE(Lat.lapsus, a slip or departure), in law, a term used in several senses. (1) In ecclesiastical law, when a patron has neglected to present to a void benefice within six months next after the avoidance, the right of presentation is said to lapse. In such case the patronage or right of presentation devolves from the neglectful patron to the bishop as ordinary, to the metropolitan as superior and to the sovereign as patron paramount. (2) The failure of a testamentary disposition in favour of any person, by reason of the decease of its object in the testator’s lifetime, is termed a lapse. SeeLegacy,Will.
LAPWING(O.Eng.hleápewince= “one who turns about in running or flight”),1a bird, theTringa vanellusof Linnaeus and theVanellus vulgarisorV. cristatusof modern ornithologists.In the temperate parts of the Old World this species is perhaps the most abundant of the plovers,Charadriidae, breeding in almost every suitable place from Ireland to Japan—the majority migrating towards winter to southern countries, as the Punjab, Egypt and Barbary—though in the British Islands some are always found at that season. As a straggler it has occurred within the Arctic Circle (as on the Varanger Fjord in Norway), as well as in Iceland and even Greenland; while it not unfrequently appears in Madeira and the Azores. Conspicuous as the strongly contrasted colours of its plumage and its very peculiar flight make it, it is remarkable that it maintains its ground when so many of its allies have been almost exterminated, for the lapwing is the object perhaps of greater persecution than any other European bird that is not a plunderer. Its eggs are the well-known “plovers’ eggs” of commerce,2and the bird, wary and wild at other times of the year, in the breeding-season becomes easily approachable, and is shot to be sold in the markets for “golden plover.” Its growing scarcity in Great Britain was very perceptible until the various acts for the protection of wild birds were passed. It is now abundant and is of service both for the market and to agriculture. What seems to be the secret of the lapwing holding its position is the adaptability of its nature to various kinds of localities. It will find sustenance equally on the driest of soils as on the fattest pastures; upland and fen, arable and moorland, are alike to it, provided only the ground be open enough. The wailing cry3and the frantic gestures of the cock bird in the breeding-season will tell any passer-by that a nest or brood is near; but, unless he knows how to look for it, nothing save mere chance will enable him to find it. The nest is a slight hollow in the ground, wonderfully inconspicuous even when deepened, as is usually the case, by incubation, and the black-spotted olive eggs (four in number) are almost invisible to the careless or untrained eye. The young when first hatched are clothed with mottled down, so as closely to resemble a stone, and to be overlooked as they squat motionless on the approach of danger. At a distance the plumage of the adult appears to be white and black in about equal proportions, the latter predominating above; but on closer examination nearly all the seeming black is found to be a bottle-green gleaming with purple and copper; the tail-coverts, both above and below, are of a bright bay colour, seldom visible in flight. The crest consists of six or eight narrow and elongated feathers, turned slightly upwards at the end, and is usually carried in a horizontal position, extending in the cock beyond the middle of the back; but it is capable of being erected so as to become nearly vertical. Frequenting parts of the open country so very divergent in character, and as remarkable for the peculiarity of its flight as for that of its cry, the lapwing is far more often observed in nearly all parts of the British Islands than any other of the group Limicolae. The peculiarity of its flight seems due to the wide and rounded wings it possesses, the steady and ordinarily somewhat slow flapping of which impels the body at each stroke with a manifest though easy jerk. Yet on occasion, as when performing its migrations, or even its almost daily transits from one feeding-ground to another, and still more when being pursued by a falcon, the speed with which it moves through the air is very considerable. On the ground this bird runs nimbly, and is nearly always engaged in searching for its food, which is wholly animal.
Allied to the lapwing are several forms that have been placed by ornithologists in the generaHoplopterus,Chettusia,Lobivanellus,Defilippia. In some of them the hind toe, which has already ceased to have any function in the lapwing, is wholly wanting. In others the wings are armed with a tubercle or even a sharp spur on the carpus. Few have any occipital crest, but several have the face ornamented by the outgrowth of a fleshy lobe or lobes. With the exception of North America, they are found in most parts of the world, but perhaps the greater number in Africa. Europe has three species—Hoplopterus spinosus, the spur-winged plover, andChettusia gregariaandC. leucura; but the first and last are only stragglers from Africa and Asia.
(A. N.)
1Skeat,Etym. Dict. (1898),s.v. Caxton in 1481 has “lapwynches” (Reynard the Fox, cap. 27). The first part of the word is fromhleápan, to leap; the second part is “wink” (O.H.G.winchan, Ger.wanken, to waver). Popular etymology has given the word its present form, as if it meant “wing-flapper,” from “lap,” a fold or flap of a garment.2There is a prevalent belief that many of the eggs sold as “plovers’” are those of rooks, but no notion can be more absurd, since the appearance of the two is wholly unlike. Those of the redshank, of the golden plover (to a small extent), and enormous numbers of those of the black-headed gull, and in certain places of some of the terns are, however, sold as lapwings’, having a certain similarity of shell to the latter, and a difference of flavour only to be detected by a fine palate.3This sounds likepee-weet, with some variety of intonation. Hence the names peewit, peaseweep and teuchit, commonly applied in some parts of Britain to this bird—though the first is that by which one of the smaller gulls,Larus ridibundus(seeGull), is known in the districts it frequents. In SwedenVipa, in GermanyKiebitz, in HollandKiewiet, and in FranceDixhuit, are names of the lapwing, given to it from its usual cry. Other English names are green plover and hornpie—the latter from its long hornlike crest and pied plumage. The lapwing’s conspicuous crest seems to have been the cause of a common blunder among English writers of the middle ages, who translated the Latin wordUpupa, property hoopoe, by lapwing, as being the crested bird with which they were best acquainted. In like manner other writers of the same or an earlier period latinized lapwing byEgrettides(plural), and rendered that again into English as egrets—the tuft of feathers misleading them also. The wordVanellusis fromvannus, the fan used for winnowing corn, and refers to the audible beating of the bird’s wings.
1Skeat,Etym. Dict. (1898),s.v. Caxton in 1481 has “lapwynches” (Reynard the Fox, cap. 27). The first part of the word is fromhleápan, to leap; the second part is “wink” (O.H.G.winchan, Ger.wanken, to waver). Popular etymology has given the word its present form, as if it meant “wing-flapper,” from “lap,” a fold or flap of a garment.
2There is a prevalent belief that many of the eggs sold as “plovers’” are those of rooks, but no notion can be more absurd, since the appearance of the two is wholly unlike. Those of the redshank, of the golden plover (to a small extent), and enormous numbers of those of the black-headed gull, and in certain places of some of the terns are, however, sold as lapwings’, having a certain similarity of shell to the latter, and a difference of flavour only to be detected by a fine palate.
3This sounds likepee-weet, with some variety of intonation. Hence the names peewit, peaseweep and teuchit, commonly applied in some parts of Britain to this bird—though the first is that by which one of the smaller gulls,Larus ridibundus(seeGull), is known in the districts it frequents. In SwedenVipa, in GermanyKiebitz, in HollandKiewiet, and in FranceDixhuit, are names of the lapwing, given to it from its usual cry. Other English names are green plover and hornpie—the latter from its long hornlike crest and pied plumage. The lapwing’s conspicuous crest seems to have been the cause of a common blunder among English writers of the middle ages, who translated the Latin wordUpupa, property hoopoe, by lapwing, as being the crested bird with which they were best acquainted. In like manner other writers of the same or an earlier period latinized lapwing byEgrettides(plural), and rendered that again into English as egrets—the tuft of feathers misleading them also. The wordVanellusis fromvannus, the fan used for winnowing corn, and refers to the audible beating of the bird’s wings.
LAPWORTH, CHARLES(1842- ), English geologist, was born at Faringdon in Berkshire on the 30th of September 1842. He was educated partly in the village of Buckland in the same county, and afterwards in the training college at Culham, near Oxford (1862-1864). He was then appointed master in a school connected with the Episcopal church at Galashiels, where he remained eleven years. Geology came to absorb all his leisure time, and he commenced to investigate the Silurian rocks of the Southern Uplands, and to study the graptolites and other fossils which mark horizons in the great series of Lower Palaeozoic rocks. His first paper on the Lower Silurian rocks of Galashiels was published in 1870, and from that date onwards he continued to enrich our knowledge of the southern uplands of Scotland until the publication by the Geological Society of his masterly papers onThe Moffat Series(1878) andThe Girvan Succession(1882). Meanwhile in 1875 he became an assistant master in the Madras College, St Andrews, and in 1881 professor of geology and mineralogy (afterwards geology and physiography) in the Mason College, now University of Birmingham. In 1882 he started work in the Durness-Eriboll district of the Scottish Highlands, and made out the true succession of the rocks, and interpreted the complicated structure which had baffled most of the previous observers. His results were published in “The Secret of the Highlands” (Geol. Mag., 1883). His subsequent work includes papers on the Cambrian rocks of Nuneaton and the Ordovician rocks of Shropshire. The term Ordovician was introduced by him in 1879 for the strata between the base of the Lower Llandovery formation and that of the Lower Arenig; and it was intended to settle the confusion arising from the use by some writers of Lower Silurian and by others of Upper Cambrian for the same set of rocks. The term Ordovician is now generally adopted. Professor Lapworth was elected F.R.S. in 1888, he received a royal medal in 1891, and was awarded the Wollaston medal by the Geological Society in 1899. He was president of the Geological Society, 1902-1904. HisIntermediate Text-book of Geologywas published in 1899.
See article, with portrait and bibliography, inGeol. Mag.(July 1901).
See article, with portrait and bibliography, inGeol. Mag.(July 1901).
LAR,a city of Persia, capital of Laristan, in 27° 30′ N., 53° 58′ E., 180 m. from Shiraz and 75 from the coast at Bander Lingah. It stands at the foot of a mountain range in an extensive plain covered with palm trees, and was once a flourishing place, but a large portion is in ruins, and the population which early in the 18th century numbered 50,000 is reduced to 8000. There are still some good buildings, of which the most prominent are the old bazaar consisting of four arcades each 180 ft. long, 14 broad and 22 high, radiating from a domed centre 30 ft. high, an old stone mosque and many cisterns. The crest of a steep limestone hill immediately behind the town and rising 150 ft. above the plain is crowned by the ruins of a castle formerly deemed impregnable. Just below the castle is a well sunk 200 ft. in therock. The tower-flanked mud wall which surrounds the town is for the most part in ruins.
LARA,western state of Venezuela, lying in the angle formed by the parting of the N. and N.E. ranges of the Cordillera de Mérida and extending N.E. with converging frontiers to the Caribbean. Pop. (1905 estimate) 272,252. The greater part of its surface is mountainous, with elevated fertile valleys which have a temperate climate. The Tocuyo river rises in the S.W. angle of the state and flows N.E. to the Caribbean with a total length of 287 m. A narrow-gauge railway, the “South-western,” owned by British capitalists, runs from the port of Tucacas 55 m. S.W. to Barquisimeto by way of the Aroa copper-mining district. Lara produces wheat and other cereals, coffee, sugar, tobacco, neat cattle, sheep and various mineral ores, including silver, copper, iron, lead, bismuth and antimony. The capital, Barquisimeto, is one of the largest and most progressive of the inland cities of Venezuela. Carora is also prominent as a commercial centre. Tocuyo (pop. in 1891, 15,383), 40 m. S.W. of Barquisimeto, is an important commercial and mining town, over 2000 ft. above sea-level, in the midst of a rich agricultural and pastoral region. Yaritagua (pop. about 12,000), 20 m. E. of Barquisimeto, and 1026 ft. above the sea, is known for its cigar manufactories.
LARAISH(El Araish), a port in northern Morocco on the Atlantic coast in 35° 13′ N., 6° 9′ W., 43 m. by sea S. by W. of Tangier, picturesquely situated on the left bank of the estuary of the Wad Lekkus. Pop. 6000 to 7000. The river, being fairly deep inside the bar, made this a favourite port for the Salli rovers to winter in, but the quantity of alluvial soil brought down threatens to close the port. The town is well situated for defence, its walls are in fair condition, and it has ten forts, all supplied with old-fashioned guns. Traces of the Spanish occupation from 1610-1689 are to be seen in the towers whose names are given by Tissot as those of St Stephen, St James and that of the Jews, with the Castle of Our Lady of Europe, now the kasbah or citadel. The most remarkable feature of Laraish is its fine large market-place inside the town with a low colonnade in front of very small shops. The streets, though narrow and steep, are generally paved. Its chief exports are oranges, millet, dra and other cereals, goat-hair and skins, sheepskins, wool and fullers’ earth. The wool goes chiefly to Marseilles. The annual value of the trade is from £400,000 to £500,000.
In 1780 all the Europeans in Laraish were expelled by Mohammed XVI., although in 1786 the monopoly of its trade had been granted to Holland, even its export of wheat. In 1787 the Moors were still building pirate vessels here, the timber for which came from the neighbouring forest of M’amora. Not far from the town are the remains of what is believed to be a Phoenician city, Shammish, mentioned by Idrisi, who makes no allusion to Laraish. It is not, however, improbable from a passage in Scylax that the site of the present town was occupied by a Libyan settlement. Tradition also connects Laraish with the garden of the Hesperides, ‘Arāsibeing the Arabic for “pleasure-gardens,” and the “golden apples” perhaps the familiar oranges.
LARAMIE,a city and the county-seat of Albany county, Wyoming, U.S.A., on the Laramie river, 57 m. by rail N.W. of Cheyenne. Pop. (1900) 8207, of whom 1280 were foreign-born; (1905) 7601; (1910) 8237. It is served by the Union Pacific and the Laramie, Hahn’s Peak & Pacific railways, the latter extending from Laramie to Centennial (30 m.). The city is situated on the Laramie Plains, at an elevation of 7165 ft., and is hemmed in on three sides by picturesque mountains. It has a public library, a United States Government building and hospitals, and is the seat of the university of Wyoming and of a Protestant Episcopal missionary bishopric. There is a state fish hatchery in the vicinity. The university (part of the public school system of the state) was founded in 1886, was opened in 1887, and embraces a College of Liberal Arts and Graduate School, a Normal School, a College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, an Agricultural Experiment Station (established by a Federal appropriation), a College of Engineering, a School of Music, a Preparatory School and a Summer School. Laramie is a supply and distributing centre for a live-stock raising and mining region—particularly coal mining, though gold, silver, copper and iron are also found. The Union Pacific Railroad Company has machine shops, repair shops and rolling mills at Laramie, and, a short distance S. of the city, ice-houses and a tie-preserving plant. The manufactures include glass, leather, flour, plaster and pressed brick, the brick being made from shale obtained in the vicinity. The municipality owns and operates the water-works; the water is obtained from large springs about 2½ m. distant. Laramie was settled in 1868, by people largely from New England, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa, and was named in honour of Jacques Laramie, a French fur trader. It was first chartered as a city in 1868 by the legislature of Dakota, and was rechartered by the legislature of Wyoming in 1873.