appear to have taught exactly the same doctrine as their leader; and though Har Govind armed all his followers, it was on a principle of self-defence, in which he was fully justified, even by the usage of the Hindús. It was reserved for Gúrú Govind to give a new character to the religion of his followers; not by making any material alteration in the tenets of Nanac, but by establishing institutions and usages, which not only separated them from other Hindús, but which, by the complete abolition of all distinction of casts, destroyed, at one blow, a system of civil polity, that, from being interwoven with the religion of a weak and bigoted race, fixed the rule of its priests upon a basis that had withstood the shock of ages. Though the code of the Hindús was calculated to preserve a vast community in tranquillity and obedience to its rulers, it had the natural effect of making the country, in which it was established, an easy conquest to every powerful foreign invader; and it appears to have been the contemplation of this effect that made Gúrú Góvind resolve on the abolition of cast, as a necessary and indispensable prelude to any attempt to arm the original native population of India against their foreign tyrants. He called upon all Hindús to break those chains in which prejudice and bigotry had bound them, and to de. vote themselves to arms, as the only means by which they could free themselves from the oppressive government of the Muhammedans; against whom, a sense of his own wrongs, and those of his tribe, led him to preach eternal warfare. His religious doc trine was meant to be popular' and it promised equality. The invidious appellation of Bráh men Cshatriya, Vaisya, and Súdra, were abolished. The pride of descent might remain, and keep up some distinctions; but, in the religious code of Góvind, every Khálsa Singh (for such he termed his followers) was equal, and bad a like title to the good things of this world, and to the blessings of a future life. Though Gúrú Góvind mixes, even more than Nanac, the mythology of the Hindús with his own tenets; though his desire to conciliate them, in opp sition to the Muhammedans, against whom he always breathed war and destruction, led him to worship at Hindú sacred shrines; and though the peculiar customs and dress among his followers, are stated to have been adopted from veneration to the Hindu goddess of courage, Dúrga Bhaváni; yet it is impossible to reconcile the religion and usages, which Góvind had established, with the belief of the Hindús. It does not, like that of Nánac, question some favourite do mas of the disciples of Brahmá, and attack that worship of idols, which few of these defend, except upon the ground of these figures, before which they bend, being symbolical representations of the attributes of an all-powerful Divinity; but it proceeds at once to subvert the foundation of the whole system. Wherever the religion of Gúrú Góvind prevails, the institutions of Brahmá must fall. The admission of proselytes, the abolition of the distinctions of cast, the eating of all kinds of flesh, except that of cows, the form of religious. worship, worship, and the general devotion of all Singhs to arms, are ordinances altogether irreconcileable with Hindu mythology, and have rendered the religion of the Sikhs as oboxious to the Bráhmens, and higher tribes of the Hindús, as it is popular with the lower orders of that numerous class of mankind. From Von Buch's Travels through Norway and Lapland. ON THE QUANS. Alten is not only the most agreeable, the most populous, and the most fertile district in Finmark, but also the only one in which agriculture is carried on-the most northern agriculture of the world. This merit is due to the Quäns in Alten. Before they appeared the eultivation of grain had never been tried. They may now have inhabited these vallies for nearly a century; and they brought along with them diligence and industry into the country. They were very probably driven out by the wars of Charles XII. and especially by the cruel havoc made by the Russians in Finland of their flocks and herds. They went higher and higher north, till at lest they passed beyond Torneo, and first descended into Alten about the year 1708. The first emigrations were followed by others; and since that period they have, to the great advantage of Lapland, perpetually continued, to such a degree that the Laplanders themselves, not without reason, are in fear that the Quäns will at last take possession of the whole of their country, and drive them completely out. This they might easily prevent if they were to fol low the example of the Quans, and select constant habitations, and cultivate the ground. The Quans still resemble their ancestors; they live in the very same manner, and observe the same customs. They speak exactly the same Finnish language which is spoken throughout all Finland, and which bears less resemblance to the Laplandie (or the Finnish, as it is called in Finmark) than the Swedish bears to the German (Leem. S. 8. 10, 11.) Their houses are wholly construct. ed, for the most part, like those.in Finland, and in quite a different manner from those of the Norwegians. The greatest part of the house consists in a large room of logs, the perte, which reaches up to the roof. On one side there is a large furnace, without a chim→ ney, which takes in the greatest part of the wall. The smoke from the furnace rises up towards the roof, descends along the walls, and issues out through several quadrangular openings in the re maining walls, about three feet from the ground. When the fire is burnt out, they shut up the furnace and collect a Syrian warmth in the perie. The upper part of the furnace serves for the sweat. ing baths, every where used in Finland and Russia. In their dress alone the Quäns do not differ from the Laplanders; in their manners they completely differ. The Quäns are the most civilized inhabitants of Finmark, not even excepting the Norwegians. They are distinguished for their understanding: their comprehension is easy and rapid, and they do not dislike to work. Hence they easily learn all the trades which are necessary for ordinary ordinary establishments, and the progress they are capable of yet making in agriculture, and, consequently in the arts of life, is proved by the peasants of Tornea, Uleoborg, and Cajaneborg. Even the pernicious influence of a sea life, the expectation of profit, without laying by any thing for times of want, has never manifested itself among the Quäns to the extent which it has among the -Norwegians and Finns; and hence it is possible enough that they will in time not only drive the Finns from their districts, but also the Norwegians themselves. The prosperity of the country will lose nothing by it. Why this people is called Quans here is as little known as the origin of Lappe and Finner; but they are all equally ancient. The old Icelandic sagas speak of Quans and Quanland: even Eigla (Torfäus I. 160.) lays down the situation of the country pretty accurately. She says, "Eastwards from Nummedalen (at Drontheim), lies Jämteland, then, farther eastwards, Helsingeland, then Quänland, then Finland, and lastly Carelen. Under this was probably understood the greatest part of the present Finland, and it has been so laid down by Schöning and Bayer in their maps. The name disappeared after King Erich the Saint took possession of the country in the middle of the twelfth century, and subjected it to his authority; and now the general name of Finland and Fin is all that remains in Sweden. The oldest geographer of the North, Adam Von Bremen, had heard something of this country, but being unacquainted with the correct Icelandic writers, he was deceived by the name: he transformed Quäner into Quiner (women), and Quänland into Quindeland (the land of women); and he was hence induced to lay down here an Amazonian country, which the native writers never dreamt of This was eagerly laid hold of by Rudbeck and his scholars, who imputed to this Amazon land all that the Greek writers had related of the Scythian Amazons. Schöning has hardly been able to extirpate these romantic notions by his excellent treatises (Gamle Geographie, p 64.); for even in recent times a Magister Eneroth wished to prove that the Amazons did not inhabit Osterbottn, but the Swedish province of Norrland'; and we cannot help being grieved at seeing similar things repeated in the last edition of Tuneld's Swedish Geography, notwithstanding the learned Giörwell is given out as its editor. The Quans were a quarrelsome people; they frequently came over from the Bothnian Gulph to Finmark and Nordland, and committed depredations on the Norwegians and Finns, which they in turn endeavoured to repay by their predatory incursions as far as Carelen. Is it to this momentary appearance that they owe their name in this country? Or must the Finlanders have another name, as the Laplanders had already taken possession of that of Finn; the name actually disappears when both people are no longer in imme diate contact. Even in Helegland nothing is known of Quäns, and still less is known of them in the south of Norway, or of the country inhabited by the Laplanders. The Swedish practice is there fol lowed, . lowed, and the Finlanders are called Finns; and this sometimes gives rise to misconceptions and errors. Several thousands of Finlanders, perhaps, live in the western part of Dalecarlia, and among the mountains of Orsa Socker, above the Eastern Dal Elv, who were invited there, it is said, by Charles IX and who still retain their language and customs, notwithstanding they are surrounded by Sweden, and far distant from their original country. The country which they inhabit is in Sweden called Finmark. This appears to have misled Tuneld to connect this Finmark with the Norwegian Finmark, and the Norwegian Finns. "Finmark, says he (Geographic, I. 111.) is a name given to a tract of country which runs from Bahuslebn along the Norwegian frontiers, all the way to Lapmark. There the remains of the first inhabitants of the country still live, who, driven out by Othin's conductor, advanced farther and farther northwards, and now alone inhabit Lapmark." What errors! Neither in Babuslehn, nor in Dalsland, nor in Elvedal, nor Herjeadalen, are there any Finlanders, and consequently there is no Finmark there. And bow is it possible to join the Finns of Orsa with the Norwegian Finns, or the Laplanders? Nomades with diligent agriculturists! A people who yet speak the language of Abo, with Laplanders who do not understand a word of Finnish? The Finlanders of Dalecarlia have also advanced into Norway, and have peopled and brought under the plough several districts in the Prastegieldts of Tryssild. Grue, Elverum, and Vinger. They root ed out, and set fire to the woods, cultivated rye among the ashes, and procured in this way rich harvests. But they remained in the Gaards which they first constructed in the valley where they still dwell. The indefatigable missionary, Thomas Von Westen, heard of these Finns in Drontheim in 1719, on his return from his third journey to Fin mark and his zeal would not allow bim to rest till he had also converted them to Christians. But the College of Missionaries in Copenhagen dissuaded him from his purpose, as the place inhabit, ed by the Finns belonged to the bishoprick of Christiania, and they were afraid of the powerful and highly-dreaded Bishop Deichmann, of Christiania, who, secure of the King's favour, acted in every thing in a very arbitrary and disrespectful manner. This, bowever, with M. Von Westen, was but throwing oil into the fire. With a true zeal for proselytism, he boldly threw the souls of all these Rug finns on the Bishop's conscience, and proved that he would be answerable for them at the last day. The Missionary Col lege could oppose nothing to such weighty reasons. With the utmost caution, almost trembling, and after several years consideration of the matter, they ventured, in 1727, to represent to the mighty Bishop that it would be useful and necessary to dispatch missionaries also among these Finns, which were independent of the Bishop, and be longed to the Missionary College. They received the unlooked-for answer, that their zeal was here perfectly unnecessary, as the Finns of Christiania lived like Norwe gians, and as far back as any thing was was known of them, had always been Christians, like the Norwegians. Had they been called Quans, or merely Finlanders, they would have spared M. Von Westen many a sad hour towards the end of his life, and the Missionary College many a consultation how they should represent so ticklish an affair to the Bishop, for nore of them would have thought of doubting that the Finlanders had been Christians for centuries. These Finns then were of opinion, in 1727, that they had come over from Sweden more than a hundred years before, and previously from Tawastebuns in Finland: both very probable circum stances. At present the Quans actually constitute by far the greatest part of the population of Alten, and in the valley of Altens- Elv they are almost the only inhabitants. In the year 1801, of one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three souls who inhabited the Prästegieldt of Alten, only four hundred and seventy-five were Norwegians. Of the remaining one thousand four hundred and ninety-three, a few hundreds only were sea Laplanders (See-Finner) who lived in Langford and in Stiernesund; the remaining one thousand two hundred, and consequently nearly twothirds of the whole population, were Quäns. A cruel, slow, and infectious disorder, it is true, considerably diminished their number in 1906. Whole hamlets died: in remote places, men were found dead before their houses and on the roads, who, in the midst of winter had gone out in quest of assistance for their suffering families, but being themselves at tacked by the malady, for want of strength had fallen down by the way. The disease spread over all Finmark, and gave a very considerable shock to the population of that province. Alten will more easily, however, recover from it; for the meadows and fish of Alten are still sufficient to protect the industrious Quans from the gripe of hunger, and of the rapid increase of the population afterwards, such striking examples are furnished by Cajaneborg, Kusamo, Sodankylä, that they deserve the utmost attention of every politician. MANNERS OF THE LAPLANDERS. The barking of dogs below announced the vicinity of a herd and the hut of a Lapland family. We made all the haste we could to wards it; for the rising storm and rain from the south-west seriously admonished us to seek shelter for the night. We soon found the hut or gamme at the foot of the hill, and on the bank of the Great Marsh. They received us, but not in a friendly manner. The Laplanders are not Arabs. Where the spruce and Scotch fits, and where birches will not succeed, the nature of man seems equally defec tive. He sinks in the struggle with necessity and the climate. The finer feelings of the Laplanders are to be developed by brandy; and, as in eastern countries, a visit is announced by presents, the glass alone here softens their hostile dispositions. Then, indeed, the first place in the bottom of the tent, opposite to the narrow door, is conceded to the stranger. We lie in the circumference of a room containing |