Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 05.djvu/497

LEFT LAPPS 421 LARAMIE churches, National and State banks, daily, weekly and monthly periodicals. Pop. (1910) 10,545; (1920) 15,158. LAPPS, the inhabitants of Lapland (q. V.) The Lapps, who call themselves Sabme or Sabmeladsjak (the Norwegians call them Finns), belong to the Ural- Altaic stock, and are consequently closely related to the Finns (Suomi). As a race they are the shortest people in Europe (four or five feet in height), and the most brachycephalic. In other respects they are spare of body, with dark, bristly hair and scanty beard, and short, often bandy, legs. The mouth is large, the lips thick, and the eyes small and pierc- ing, but not obliquely set. The Lapps are usually distinguished as Mountain, Sea, Forest, and River Lapps. The Mountain Lapps, the backbone of the race, are nomads; they move constantly, seeking Arctic moss for their reindeer herds, their only source of wealth. The Sea Lapps, mostly impoverished Moun- tain Lapps, or their descendants, dwell in scattered hamlets along the coast, and live by fishing. The Forest and River Lapps are nomads who have taken to a settled mode of life; they not only keep domesticated reindeer, but hunt and fish. The nomad Lapps live all the year round in tents. The reindeer supplies nearly all their wants, except coffee, tobacco, and sugar. They live on its flesh and milk; they clothe themselves in its skin; and use it as a beast of burden. In win- ter, harnessed to a boat-shaped sledge (pulk), it takes them the longest jour- neys, across frozen lakes and rivers, and over the mountains and through the forests. It is computed that there are 400,000 reindeer in Lapland, for the most part semi-wild. In his personal habits and in his clothing the Lapp is the re- verse of cleanly. He is, however, very good-natured. As a rule, he is "saving, almost miserly," "selfish and cute in all his dealings," not very trustworthy in the matter of speaking the truth, but on the whole inclined to take life easily. The Lapps all profess Christianity; those of Norway and Sweden belong to the Luth- eran Church, those of Russia to the Greek Church. The Norsemen treated the Lapps as a subject race as early as the 9th century, but. had to reconquer them in the 14th; the Russians followed suit in the 11th, and the Swedes in the 16th. From the 13th to the 17th century the Lapps were kept in a state little bet- ter than slavery by Swedish adventurers knovni as Birkarlians. But at the pres- ent day both the Scandinavian govern- ments bestow on them every kindness. LAPWING, in ornithology, the genus Vanellus and species V. cristatus. The specific name refers to the occipital feathers of the male in winter, which are very loose, long, and curved upward, so as to constitute an erectile crest. This crest, the top of the head, the front of the neck and breast are glossy black, the up- per parts green with brilliant reflections. The sides of the neck, the under parts pure white, most of the tail black, lower coverts reddish, bill blackish, feet red- dish brown. Length about a foot. It is seen in spring flying over fields and downs, turning somersaults in the air, and uttering a musical cry, from which it is often called peewit. LAB, plural LARES (la'rez), more rarely LARS, a tutelary divinity, usu- ally a deified ancestor or hero. The worship of the Lares is a species of Manes Worship, and was very prevalent among the Romans. They were of two kinds : domestic and public. Of the for- mer the Lar familiaris, regarded as the founder of the family, and inseparable therefrom, was the most important, and corresponded to the eponymic hero of the Greeks. The latter was divided into Prasstites, guardians of a whole city; Compitales watching over a certain por- tion of a city; Rurales, gods of the coun- try; Viales, protecting travelers; and Marini or Permarini (Liv. xl: 25), gods of the ocean. (See Penates.) LAR, capital of the district of Laris- tan, in South Persia; on a wooded plain, 60 miles from the Persian Gulf and 170 S. E. of Shiraz; has trade in tobacco, cotton, and grain; pop. about 12,000. LARA (la'ra), a celebrated Spanish family, the founder of which was Ferdi- nand Gonzales, Count of Castile and Lara; died in 970. In 1130, the family was divided into two branches, the first from Manrique De Lara, which took the title of Viscount of Narbonne, for its stock; and the second dei'iving from Or- dogno Perez, and preserving the title of Count of Lara, till it became extinct in the latter half of the 14th century. The members of this family played an im- portant part in the civil wars of Castile, under Alphonso X., Sancho IV., Ferdi- nand IV., and Alphonso XL, Avith whom they often disputed the crown. LARAMIE, a city and county-seat of Albany co., Wyo., on the Laramie river, the Union Pacific, and the Colorado, Wyoming and Eastern railroads ; 58 miles N. W. of Cheyenne, the State capital. It is the trade center for a large stock- raising and mining section; and is also engaged in manufacturing; has large de- posits of gold, silver, lead, graphite, anti- mony, cinnabar, and other minerals, and