“The Russe divideth the whole nation of the Lappes into two sortes. The one they call ‘Nowremanskoy Lapary,’ that is, the Norvegian Lappes.... The other that have no religion at all but live as bruite and heathenish people, without God in the worlde they cal ‘Dikoy Lapary,’ or the wilde Lappes.”
There is, however, a possibility that this Russian name may have come from the maps or in a literary way. In any case we have as early as the fifteenth century a distinction between Finnlapps (i.e., Fishing Lapps) and Mountain Lapps or Wild Lapps, besides Finns in Finland; but this shows at the same time that they must have been nearly akin, since both are called Lapps.
Of great interest is Peder Claussön Friis’s description of the Lapps, which is derived from the Helgelander, Judge Jon Simonssön (ob. 1575). He draws a distinction between “Sea Finns,” who live on the fjords, and “Lappe-Finns” or “Mountain Finns,” “who roam about the great mountains,”
“and both sorts are also called ‘Gann-Finns’ on account of the magic they use, which they call ‘Gan.’” “The Finns [i.e., Lapps] are a thin and skinny folk, and yet much stronger than other men, as can be proved by their bows, which a Norse Man cannot draw half so far as the Finns can. They are very black and brown on their bodies, and are hasty and evil-tempered folk, as though they had the nature of bears.”
“The Sea Finns dwell always on Fjords, where there is sufficient fir and spruce, so that they may have firing and timber to build ships of, and they live in small houses or huts, of which the half is in the ground, albeit some have fine houses and rooms.... They also row out to fish like other Northern sailors, and sell their fish to the merchants, who come there, for they do not sail to Bergen, and they are not fond of going where there are many people, nor do people wish to have them there, and they apply themselves greatly to shooting seal and porpoise, that they may get their oil, for every Finn must have a quart of oil to drink at every meal....”
“They keep many tame reindeer, from which they have milk, butter, and cheese ... they also keep goats, but no sheep.
“They shoot both elks and stags and hinds, but for the most part reindeer, which are there in abundance; and when one of them will shoot reindeer, he holds his bow and arrow between the horns of a tame reindeer, and shoots thus one after another, for it is a foolish beast that cannot take care of itself.”
“The Finns are remarkably good archers, but only with handbows, for which they have good sharp arrows, for they are themselves smiths, and they shoot so keenly with the same bows that they can shoot with them great bears and reindeer and what they will. Moreover they can shoot so straight that it is a marvel, and they hold it a shame at any time to miss their mark, and they accustom themselves to it from childhood, so that the young Finn may not have his breakfast until he has shot three times in succession through a hole made by an auger.
“They are called Gann-Finns for the witchcraft they use, which they call ‘Gann,’ and thence the sea or great fjord which is between Russia and Finmark, and stretches to Karelestrand, is called Gandvig.
