The Virginia Gazette

That M. le Monnier, one of the Academicians sent into the North to make Astronomical Observations, had sent a Letter to Paris from Pello, a high uninhabited Mountain in Lapland, giving an Account, that they had built Two little Timber Houses, in one of which they placed a Sector of 12 Feet Semi-diameter, an Instrument with which they measure exactly the Space of the Heavens that answers to the Ground they had measured Geometrically: That they passed the Days in Sleeping or Hunting, and the Nights in making Observations: That they lived mostly upon Fish, particularly upon fresh Salmon: That the Laplanders have also wild Fowl, such as Cock of the Wood, wood Cocks, Duck, Teal, Snipes, etc. and Tongues of Rain-Deer, exceeding cheap. He adds, that they see the Sun at Midnight, 8 Days before and 8 Days after the Summer Solstice: And as that Star, in turning about the Earth of that Climate without Setting, considerably heats the Air, the French are prodigiously incommoded by it, especially by the incredible Multitude of Gnats. Towards the Autumnal Equinox, the Aurora Borealis is so frequent there, that they see very well both Day and Night. And most commonly some Noise is then heard in the Firmament.