with 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), and Land 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 also Sweden. Among older works may be mentioned Scheffer, Lapponia (Frankfurt, 1673, English trans. Oxford, 1674); Regnard, Voyage de Laponie, English version in Pinkerton’s Voyages, 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 published Lappiske Sprogprover: en samling lapp. eventyr, ordsprog, og gåder (Christiania, 1856), and Lappisk 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 the Acts of the Finnish Academy of Science, vol. xii., 1883; the same author’s Nordische Lehnwörter im Lappischen (1893); Wiklund, Entwurf einer urlappischen Lautlehre (1896); see also various articles by these writers, Paasonen and others in the Journal de la Société Finno-Ougrienne and the Finnisch-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.
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.
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 112 m. It is a station of the Chinese imperial maritime customs which collects duties on vessels trading between China and the Portuguese colony
