A  greater  enemy  to  Sweden  than  the  bear  or  any  other  beast  is  an
animal  of  the  rat  species,  not  more  than  five  inches  in  length.  Period-
ically vast  troops  of  these  animals,  called  lemmings,  come  down  from  the
north  where  they  have  been  feeding  on  moss,  lichens  and  grass,  and  emi-
grate toward  the  Atlantic  Ocean  or  the  Gulf  of  Bothnia.  Hawks  and
owls  above  them,  and  bears,  wolves  and  foxes  behind  them,  and  in  their
very  ranks,  do  not  so  diminish  their  mighty  numbers  as  to  prevent  a
wholesale  devastation  of  croi)s  and  pastures.  Huntsmen  and  villages
turn  out  and  wage  war  against  this  invasion  of  the  beasts  of  the  field,
Init  armies  of  the  lemmings  find  their  way  to  the  warmer  coast  regions.
After  having  spent  a  winter  there   the  experience  through  which  they


I'EASANT    AND    an"TA(;EK.  845

have  passed  does  not  deter  the  old  ones  from  migrating  again  to  their
northern  grounds,  being  reinforced  by  millions  of  the  younger  genera-
tions. These  migrations  southward  are  said  to  be  occasioned  by  a
pressure  of  population  in  the  northern  mountains  of  Scandinavia,  for
lemmings  breed  almost  as  rapidly  as  rabbits.  The  Lapps  eat  the  lemming.
In  ancient  times  the  .Scandinavian  peasants,  seeing  these  animals
descending  from  the  mountains  and  from  the  north,  like  clouds  from
above,  imagined  that  they  fell  as  plagues  from  heaven,  and  they  were
often  exorcised  by  the  priests  as  troops  of  evil  spirits.
PEASANT  AND  COTTAGER.
These  are  representatives  of  two  distinct  classe.s,  the  peasant  being
one  who  owns  his  land  and  house,  while  the  cottager  hires  both  and  may
be  called  a  farm  laborer.  Although  the  tendencies  of  the  .Swedes  are
toward  democratic  ideas,  the  cottager  is  far  below  the  peasant  socially.
