Chapter V: Part 5

The people brought me a peasant's daughter, a year and half old, who was deprived of sight, requesting me to say whether her complaint was a cataract. Finding the eyes well formed, without any unusual appearance, and quite free from specks or clouds, I was rather inclined to say the child had a _gutta serena_, but was soon convinced that this could not be the case, as she evidently enjoyed being in the light near the window. But at the same time I remarked curious convulsive motions in the eyes, and that when the child was spoken to, and tried to look towards the speaker, they were turned upside down, so that only the white part became visible. She was born in this state. I inquired of the mother whether, when she was with child, she had seen any body turn their eyes in this manner. She replied that she was then in constant attendance on her mother, or mother-in-law, who was supposed to be dying, but afterwards recovered, and whose eyes were affected with similar convulsions. _Hinc illae lachrymae_; this was the cause of the infant's misfortune. I believe it was not originally blind, but that the focus was situated too much on one side of the eye-ball, so that vision was impossible unless the eyes were placed in a particular position with respect to the rays of light, as is observable in persons that squint. The natural situation of the eyes in the subject before me was partly under the upper lid, so that only half the pupil was exposed, and this was sufficient for vision in one particular direction only. I know no remedy for such a misfortune, except perhaps glasses, cut in a peculiar manner for this express purpose, might help it. I recommended however that the child's cradle should be placed with the feet towards the window, so that she might, though not at first without inconvenience, gradually acquire a habit of turning her eyes downward in pursuit of the light; for by repeated efforts any thing becomes possible and easy. Bartholin's management of squint-eyed people is founded on the same principles.

After a violent storm of thunder with much rain, I went, about four in the afternoon, to the new town of Pithoea, and examined several gardens, in order to learn what plants are able to stand the severe winters of this inhospitable climate. Among them were the Burnet (_Poterium Sanguisorba_) and the Costmary (_Tanacetum Balsamita_). Some young oaks had been raised from acorns the preceding year, the greater part of which were killed by the winter frosts. A few of them only had put forth a fresh shoot just above the ground. The apple-trees were almost entirely destroyed.

_June 19._

I set out very early in the morning on a sea voyage to explore the natural productions of the tract called Skargarden and the islands belonging to it. The water a mile out at sea was scarcely salt, on account of the numerous rivers which here discharge themselves into the bay. No plants worth notice were to be found, though I searched carefully every place likely to afford any. Near the beach, where the tide often rises in winter ten or twelve fathoms, I observed an Alder thicket now white with little patches of _Trientalis_ and _Mesomora_ (_Trientalis europaea_ and _Cornus suecica_), whose snowy blossoms were a great ornament to the shore. Ray therefore justly mentions[48] the latter plant as growing in maritime places in Sweden. Here likewise grew the Male and Female Lychnis (_L. dioica_), for the most part with red flowers, very rarely with white; as well as the _Gramen miliaceum_ (_Milium effusum?_), and a Rush two feet high, with its sharp stem reaching a span above the panicle, which is lateral, and divided into three principal branches. Of this there was also a smaller variety. (This Rush must have been the _Juncus effusus_. See _Fl. Lapp. n. 117_.)

[48] See his _Historia Plantarum, v. 1. 655_, which Linnaeus here
correctly quotes from memory.

The people hereabouts talked much of mountains haunted by hobgoblins, particularly the hill called Svenberget, situated between new and old Pithoea; also of seas and fishing-places, where nothing is to be caught, unless by those who come unexpectedly. Their discourse moreover ran on that useful sort of witchcraft by which a thief is put to his wit's end and detected. The origin of these fables may partly be traced in history, and the rest is to be attributed to invention.

The fishes of this neighbourhood are the Crusian (_Cyprinus Carassius_), the Miller's Thumb (_Cottus Gobio_), the Bream (_Cyprinus Brama_), the Asp (_Cyprinus Aspius_) called in this part of Lapland _Kuroupek_, the St[:a]m (_Cyprinus Grislagine_), the Three-spined Stickleback (_Gasterosteus aculeatus_), the Lax[:a]kel, a species of Trout (can this be the small or young Salmon, mentioned in _Fauna Suecica n. 345_?), the Rud (_Cyprinus erythrophthalmus_), and the Holken (what this last is I know not).

In the island of Longoen, three miles from Old Pithoea, I was lucky enough to find, growing under a Spruce Fir, the Coral-rooted Orchis (_Ophrys corallorrhiza, Engl. Bot. t. 1547._) in full bloom, which had never fallen in my way before. It is a very rare plant, and grows so sparingly, that, after finding one specimen, there is little hope of soon meeting with another[49].

[49] In the _Flora Lapponica_ this plant is said to be very frequent
in Lapland. In other countries it is usually reckoned extremely
rare; but I was favoured by Mr. Edward John Maughan, a young
botanist of Edinburgh, in the summer of 1807, with a copious supply
of specimens and living roots, gathered amongst willows in a peat
bog, a little to the south of Dalmahoy hill, about nine miles from
Edinburgh. Some of the roots blossomed in my garden.

The root is throughout of the thickness of a very small quill, white, smooth, fleshy, almost horizontal, branched and subdivided like a coral; the branches obtuse, and very slightly compressed, destitute of capillary fibres. Stem erect, simple, smooth, six inches high. Leaves none, except three sheaths, each longer and narrower than that below it, which reaches above its base, and all cylindrical, of a pale flesh-colour. Flowers generally about eight or ten, spreading in three rows, occupying an inch and half of the upper part of the stem; all equidistant, sessile, each with an acute scale at its base, cloven with an obtuse sinus. Germen oblong, striated, curved slightly outwards, but at length becoming erect and rugged. Calyx of three oblong, narrow, acute, purple-tipped, concave, equal leaves, longer than the petals, one of them being superior, the others inferior. Petals three: two of them ovate, adhering by their edges, constituting an upper lip; their summits reddish: the lowermost a flat, reflexed, obtuse, white lip, sprinkled with purplish dots near its base.

_June 20._

This day I examined two nondescript species of fish, belonging to the genus _Cyprinus_. The first is called Stemma (_Cyprinus Grislagine_). Its head is oblong and obtuse, black on the top, silvery at the sides, and white beneath. The back of the fish is also blackish; its sides of a shining silvery hue; the belly white. Eyes round and white, their _irides_ dotted, especially the upper part, which is moreover marked with a large verdigrise-green spot just above the black pupil. Nostrils round, accompanied with a pair of smaller roundish orifices. Mouth without teeth. Tongue blunt. Lower jaw a little the shortest; that part which covers the gills consisting of five connected, obtuse, not spinous, rays on each side. Dorsal fin solitary, of ten rays, the first of which is very short and undivided; the second twice as long, but likewise simple; each of the rest twice forked, except the tenth, which is only obscurely cloven. Tail forked, acute, of eighteen rays, one of which on each side is very long and simple, the others gradually shorter, twice forked, some of them still more subdivided. Anal fin of eleven rays, like those of the dorsal one, the external ones longest, as in that, both fins appearing forked when unexpanded. Ventral fins of nine rays each, one of them long and simple, the rest, as in the foregoing, gradually shorter, the last being cloven. These fins are not forked when unexpanded. Brachial (or pectoral) fins of seventeen rays like those of the foregoing, except that each is much shorter than its preceding neighbour, the ultimate one being scarcely discernible. Scales in seventeen rows on each side, including the dorsal and ventral rows in each reckoning, otherwise only fifteen. In the tenth row the lateral line is marked by a minute ovate-oblong dot on each scale of a silvery white, so that there are about fifty such dots on each side. The dorsal fin is blackish, the rest pale, the ventral ones very slightly yellowish.

The whole length is two palms and five lines.

From the nose to the dorsal fin three inches.

Base of the dorsal fin eight lines; its length thirteen lines.

From that fin to the tail three inches and five lines.

Length of the tail one inch and four lines; its diameter at the base seven lines.

From each point to the fork ten lines.

From the tail fin to the anal one, one inch, two lines.

Base of the latter eight lines; its length eleven.

From the anal to the ventral fins one inch, five lines.

Base of the latter eight lines; their length eleven.

From the ventral to the pectoral fin one inch, eight lines.

Base of the latter four lines, length eleven.

Length of the head one inch, five lines.

Greatest diameter of the body one inch, five lines.

The other fish was a smaller _Cyprinus_, of a yellowish silvery hue, called at Pithoea _Wimba_. (_C. Wimba._ _Syst. Nat. ed. 12. v. 1. 531_). I could not perceive it to differ in any character from the preceding, except that it had sixty dots on each side, so that though a smaller fish it had more numerous dots and scales. The colour of the back was paler, and less black; the sides of a pale silvery hue. Ventral fins reddish at the outer and anterior edges, as is the lower edge of the tail.

Both these fishes differ from the Roach (_Cyprinus Rutilus_) in the colours of their eyes and fins, as well as in being thinner at the back.

_June 21._

I took my leave of the old town of Pithoea, and arrived at the more modern one of Lulea. All along by the road side I remarked the curious manner in which the Fir blossoms. Its branches produce a fresh shoot every year from their extremity; by observing the series of which shoots the age of the tree can be accurately computed. They retain their original leaves, which are needle-shaped, for three years; but when these fall the same branch never acquires any more. The male flowers, each of which is a _corymbus_ of stamens, grow from the side of the present year's shoot, near its base; but the female ones proceed from the extreme point, and are round and red. Both kinds of flowers are however but seldom found on the same shoot.

In the Money-wort (_Linnaea borealis_), though its flower is, not without reason, reckoned by every body of the regular kind, its stamens indicate the contrary. They are four as in labiate flowers, two small, and two longer ones near the other side. Betwixt these the pistil is situated, being bent towards one side as in labiate plants. The upper lip therefore is to be understood as consisting of two lobes, the lower of three, though all the lobes are alike[50].

[50] In this instance the Linnaean system led to a true knowledge of
the natural affinity of the plant, which one founded on the corolla
would scarcely have done.

The bogs were now white with the tufts of both kinds of Cotton-grass, the upright and the pendulous (_Eriophorum vaginatum_ and _polystachion_). The marshes were clothed with the white blossoms of _Ledum_ (_palustre_). The Dwarf Bramble (_Rubus arcticus_) became gradually less abundant. The forests also were white with the _Trientalis_ and _Mesomora_ (_Cornus suecica_), which began to fade, and the Bilberry (_Vaccinium Myrtillus_) was taking their place, along with the _Melampyrum_ (_sylvaticum_) and _Geranium_ (_sylvaticum_). The meadows were perfectly yellow with the upright _Ranunculus_ (_acris_), and some of the cornfields were no less so with _Brassica campestris_; but where the _Behen_ (_Silene inflata, Fl. Brit._) was beginning to shoot forth, the former withered away. The rivulets were white with _Menyanthes_ (_trifoliata_). The Cotton-grass and Willows now began to scatter their winged seeds.

DISTRICT OF LULEA.

(Here follow, in the manuscript, sketches of the leaves, with Latin descriptions, of _Salix phylicifolia [beta]_, _pentandra_, _caprea_ and _myrtilloides_, to be found more complete in the _Flora Lapponica_.)

Close to the shore, on the right of the ferry of Gaddewick, is a considerable spring, named Kall K[:a]lla, or Cold Spring, having a strong current and abounding with ochre, which is deposited abundantly along its course. The water bears a silvery film, and has a mineral taste, though not a strong one. It gushes forth with impetuosity, and never freezes in its course to the river, which is about eighteen ells distant. No high hill is near, but it springs from a swelling bank about two ells in perpendicular height above the level of the river. The mouth of the spring is towards the north-east. The inhabitants use it for washing.

In places near the highway, where the people had laid bridges, the soil appeared very thin. The gravel and sand were commonly about a span deep in moist places; in dry ones much more. The clay was often two ells in thickness, under which gravel again occurred. Between the dark-coloured sand and the clay, as well as where the clay terminated, especially near the sand, runs water, which deposits clay, as the abovementioned spring does ochre.

I noticed the following insects.

1. A large black Capricorn Beetle, variegated with a lighter hue.
(_Cerambyx Sutor_, the female.) The horns were longer than the body,
black, consisting of ten joints, each joint ash-coloured at its
base. Body black, rugged, its wing-cases besprinkled here and there
with clustered dirty spots. Abdomen cylindrical, covered towards the
thorax with beautiful red lice, (_Acarus coleoptratorum_).

2. A minute black fly, with a roundish body and white wings, (_Culex
equinus_). This infested the horses in infinite multitudes, running
under their mane, and attacking them with great fierceness, being
not easily driven off. (See its figure subjoined to the former.)

3. A grey Gnat, with striated wings, a blackish body, and black legs
surrounded with white rings. (Mentioned, in the _Fauna Suecica_, as
a large variety of _Culex pipiens_, the Common Gnat.) This cruelly
tormented me and my most miserable horse. Its wings are whitish,
appearing striated near the veins by the refraction of the sun's
rays. The thorax was hairy, especially underneath. Abdomen oblong,
dotted with black at the sides. All the other parts were grey. While
the insect feeds, it raises up its hind feet into a horizontal
posture. If I stooped ever so little whilst walking in the meadows,
my nostrils and eyes were filled with these gnats.

_June 22._

I gathered a shrubby Willow, with lanceolate downy leaves like those of _Elaeagnus_. (This was _Salix arenaria_.) It is rather a large shrub, but rarely rises to the size of a tree. The leaves are furrowed along the course of the veins, and convex between them, slightly downy and of a greyish green on the upper side; clothed with snowy woolliness beneath. The lower scales of the bud nearly smooth above, and very green. Stem smooth, almost flesh-coloured, or pale brown; the young branches reddish, clothed with white down. (See _Engl. Bot. v. 26. t. 1809_.)

Near the new town of Pithoea, close to the shore, grew the round-leaved Water Violet (_Viola palustris_) with perfectly snow-white flowers.

The Dwarf-cypress moss (_Lycopodium complanatum_) is rather plentiful hereabouts, and is used for dyeing yarn. For this purpose it is boiled with birch leaves, gathered at midsummer. It gives a yellow colour to woollen cloths. On the shore near old Lulea grew _Ranunculus minimus parisiensis_ (_R. reptans_).

The new town of Lulea is very small, situated on a peninsula, encompassed by a kind of bay. The soil is extremely barren. Indeed the town stands on a little eminence, which is a mere heap of stones, with sea-sand in their interstices. It seems as if the sea had carried away all the earth, and, like a beast of prey, had left nothing but the bones, throwing sand over them to conceal its ravages.

I quitted this new town at one o'clock, there being nothing to be got; and as no horse was to be procured in the whole place, I proceeded by sea to old Lulea, half a mile distant. Here I met with a curious kind of grass, which in Smoland is called Kaffa skiaegg, or Old-man's beard: at Pithoea its name is Svinborst, Hog's bristles: and at this place it is known by the denomination of Lapp-h[:a]r, Lapland hair. (_Nardus stricta_, _Engl. Bot. t. 290_.) It was now in blossom. The root seems half bulbous, or as it were an aggregation of numerous bulbs. The leaves are bristly like a beard, and rough to the touch. The spike is unilateral, and scarcely thicker than the stem, composed of equally narrow alternate oblong scales.

The presence of this grass, as well as the whole aspect of the forests, marshes, cornfields, meadows, waters and herbage, evinced a great conformity betwixt this country and Smoland. Many herbaceous plants grow here which are not to be found in Upland, Sudermannia, Ostro-gothia, nor Scania, though natives of Smoland.

In passing over a meadow towards the water-side I heard something snap and crackle in the marshes, as if the water had been boiling. In several places the latter was dried up, so that mud only remained, and these spots were almost entirely covered with a kind of shell-fish which made the above-mentioned noise. I observed the same in several similar places, but in others none were to be seen till I had stirred up the mud, when it proved full of these animals, which seemed to have made their way deeper and deeper into the soil as the water had withdrawn. The same sound may be observed in a thousand places, originally dry, when the water has access to them, but I had never ascertained the cause till now. (These shells seem to have been the _Mya arenaria_, _Faun. Suec. n. 2127_.)

The _Swammerdamia_ flies of Swammerdam and Lister were flying about here, as numerous as atoms. I observed an insect unknown to me, with a yellowish globular body the size of a lentil. Amongst the grass were thousands of the most minute species of Gnat, (_Culex pulicaris_,) the males being distinguished by their hairy foretops (_antennae_).

The water swarmed with innumerable small fishes, just spawned, so pellucid that they were rendered conspicuous chiefly by their large eyes. The observer of nature sees, with admiration, that "the whole world is full of the glory of God."

This neighbourhood abounds with the _Stellaria minima_ of botanists, (_Callitriche_,) generally supposed to be very rare. It is evidently no naturally distinct species, but a variety caused by circumstances. Every one knows that the common kind always floats in the water; whereas this _minima_ never grows where water is actually present, but where it has been dried up in consequence of hot weather. Not being, therefore, able to sustain itself upright, it must creep, and becomes at the same time diminutive from a deficiency of its usual aliment. If any one doubts this, let him place this dwarf plant in a rivulet, or the larger one in a situation from which the water is retiring, and the result will remove every doubt.

The inhabitants here are frequently afflicted with the scurvy, whence arise ulcers of the mouth and _uvula_, ulcerous sores and swelling of the feet, as well as aching pains in the legs and feet, and dropsical swellings of the latter. It may be expected that the peasants will be most liable to these latter diseases on festival days[51].

[51] Linnaeus perhaps means, that they may have a pretence to avoid
the drudgery of going to church, through some of the hardships he
has already described; yet here the church seems to have been near
at hand, and in itself not unentertaining.

_June 23._

I went to see the old church of Lulea. Close by the door I was shown a hole which the monks had formerly caused to be made in the stone wall. It was perfectly circular, sixteen lines in diameter, and terminated in an obtuse oval cavity. It was intended as a measure to decide in some cases occasionally brought before the ecclesiastical court. Within the church is a magnificent altar-piece, adorned with old statues of martyrs, in the heads of which are cavities to hold water, with outlets at the eyes, so that these figures could, at the pleasure of the priests, be made to weep. There are two pedestals, with an image upon each, whose hands are so contrived that, by means of a cord, they could be lifted up in adoration, as the people passed by them in entering the church[52].

[52] In Tuneld's Geography, I am told, is the following account of
this church: "The parish church of Lulea is regarded as the oldest
in Westbothnia, having been built in the very earliest ages of
Christianity, and was very famous while the catholic religion
prevailed in Sweden. It contains a remarkable old altar-piece, the
gilding of which cost 2408 ducats. In the vestry a copy of the
canonical law, in seven volumes folio, is still preserved."

A quarter of a mile to the north of the town is a mineral well, the water of which the dean and some other persons had used medicinally. The dean, who was gouty, had, in consequence of drinking this water, formed some chalk-stones. The well is situated in a steep mossy and marshy bank. Its water throws up sand as it rises, looks clear, ferments in a glass, with an iridescent appearance in the sunshine. It has a slight taste of vitriol, but is smooth in drinking. When shaken, it emitted a smell like that of gun-powder. A solution of galls turned it reddish, but the mixture did not stain white paper. Blue paper is not affected by this water. It deposits a great quantity of ochre, and the surface bears a silvery film.

This day and the two preceding, indeed every day since the 18th, had been bright, warm, and for the most part calm. The meadows were still fine and beautiful in their aspect, and every thing conspired to favour the health and pleasure of the beholder. If the summer be indeed shorter here than in any other part of the world, it must be allowed, at the same time, to be no where more delightful. I was never in my life in better health than at present.

The meadows in this neighbourhood abound with an arborescent willow, whose leaves are like those of an _Alaternus_, or a laurel. (_Salix phylicifolia_, _Engl. Bot. t. 1958_. _Fl. Lapp. n. 351. t. 8. f. d_). It is remarkable for the undulations, or flexures, between the serratures of the leaf.

The use of milk among the inhabitants of Westbothnia is very great; and the following are the various forms in which it serves them for food:

1. Fresh, of which a great deal is taken in the course of the day.

2. Fresh boiled.

3. Fresh boiled, and coagulated with beer, which is called _[:o]lost_.

4. Sour milk, deprived of its cream, and capable of being cut.

5. Sour milk eaten with its cream.

6. Butter, made, as usual, of cream shaken till its oily part
separates and floats.

7. Butter-milk, what remains after the butter is made.

8. Cheese, made of fresh milk heated, coagulated with calves' rennet,
then deprived of its whey and dried.

9. This whey being boiled, the scum which rises is repeatedly
collected, and called _walle_.

10. The remaining whey is used instead of milk or water in making
bread.

11. The same fluid kept for a long time till it becomes viscid, is
preserved through the winter, and called _syra_.

12. The whey of cheese boiled to a thick consistence is denominated
_mesosm[:o]r_, and with meal is added to the preceding. See _p. 197_.

13. _S[:o]tost_, or Sweet Cheese, is made of fresh milk boiled till it is
partly wasted, and the remainder, of the thickness of pap or gruel,
is eaten fresh.

14. _Mj[:o]lost_, Meal Cheese, is milk coagulated with rennet, mixed
with meal, and boiled.

15. _Tatmj[:o]lk_, is fresh milk poured on leaves of Butterwort,
_Pinguicula_, as already mentioned, _p_. 196, 197.

16. Servet milk. See _Aug._ 10.

17. _G[:o]s-mj[:o]lk_. See _Aug._ 10.

18. _Lapmj[:o]lk_, is milk mixed with sorrel leaves, (_R. Acetosa_,) and
preserved till winter in the stomach of a reindeer, or some other
animal.

19. The milk of the reindeer is placed in a cellar to prevent its
quickly turning sour, in order to obtain the more cream; if it
freezes, they thaw it again.

_June 24._

Midsummer day. Blessed be the Lord for the beauty of summer and of spring, and for what is here in greater perfection than almost any where else in the world,--the air, the water, the verdure of the herbage, and the song of birds!

I walked out in the morning to botanize, but met with nothing curious, except _Arisarum_ of Rivinus (_Calla palustris_), the flower of which is described in my _Characteres Generici_; and the _Corallorrhiza_.

Here I was first informed of a disease which had made great ravages amongst the cattle in this neighbourhood, and which was of so pestilential a nature, that, though the animals were flayed even before they were cold, wherever their blood had come in contact with the human body, it had caused gangrenous spots and sores. Some persons had had both their hands swelled, and one his face, in consequence of the blood coming upon it. Many people had lost their lives by it, insomuch that nobody would now venture to flay any more of the cattle, but they contrived to bury them whole. As a preventative they had adopted the practice of swimming their cattle once a day, which they believed rendered the animals proof against the disorder.

I was told that the cattle grazing on a certain declivity at Tornoea die to the number of two or three hundred in the course of the summer. I must examine whether the cause of this may not be the Water Hemlock (_Cicuta aquatica_).

Could not meadows be freed from their wart-like tumps by burning? These swellings might be cut off with an oblique hatchet, in spring after the frost ceases, and burnt in a heap; their ashes would serve as a valuable manure for the corn-field. Sandy grounds are rendered fertile with bog-earth; clay with sand. _Ledum_ (_palustre_) is laid among corn in the barns, to drive away mice.

I here obtained some of Nasaphiel's silver ore, and the curious iron ore of Lulean Lapmark, called _gubbsilfver_ (old man's silver). The mine is not yet exhausted. The working of it had been for some time discontinued, but it is now resumed. It yields sixty per cent. It is situated a mile distant from Jockmock, and is called Rutawari. I procured also from the parish of Pithoea some pencil lead, or lead-like _mica_ (black lead) which blackens the fingers.

The weather continued extremely fine, which in the opinion of the common people portended a good harvest.

_June 25._

Sunday.--After divine service, I took leave of Lulea, in order to proceed to Lulean Lapmark, and arrived at the river of Lulea. I was informed that the salmon, which remain all winter in the Western Ocean, proceed gradually, as spring advances, up the river to this place to spawn. They enter the river about the middle of May, and reach this part of it by midsummer. Hooks have been found sticking in the side of some of the fish, which proved their having been here before.

The _Subularia_, a new _Melampyrum_[53], and _Pedicularis_ (_sylvatica_) with a white flower, occurred to me at Sunnerby. The white bog-moss (_Sphagnum palustre_) powdered, is applied to excoriations in the skin of young children. Towards evening I found in a sand-hill a loose kind of sandstone containing three per cent of iron.

[53] What this was does not appear. _M. pratense_ and _sylvaticum_
only have been found in Lapland.

_June 26._

I gathered _Gramen paleaceum_ (_Juncus bufonius_), both kinds of _Tetrahit_ (_Galeopsis Tetrahit_ and _G. versicolor_, _Fl. Brit._), _Geranium_ (_sylvaticum_) with a pale white flower. At Bredacker I noticed the _Conyza_ (_Erigeron uniflorum_ or _E. acre_), the purple-flowered Millefoil (_Achillea Millefolium_), and the _Cirsium_ (_Carduus heterophyllus_.)

The Laplanders boil all their meat very thoroughly, and treat their guests with grease, by way of dainty, which is eaten with a spoon. They milk their reindeer twice a day. Each gives not more at a time than half a pint, or at the utmost three quarters.

The natives of the country tan their leather with birch bark, buying hides of the colonists for this purpose. The hides, after being plunged into warm water, are buried in some out-of-the-way corner of the hut, and taken up every day till the hair begins to separate, which is then scraped off with a roundish knife. The recent inner bark of the birch, cut into small pieces, is then boiled in common water for half an hour; in which liquor, when partly cooled, the skin is immersed. On the two following days it is taken out, the liquor warmed, and the skin replaced. Afterwards it is dried in the open air in the shade. This leather is much better and softer than what the colonists themselves prepare, but these last-mentioned people are very tenacious of their own modes and customs.

Near the margin of the river various species of Willow, which I had already gathered and described, were growing in high beauty, and contributed greatly to the ornament of its banks. The neighbouring forests consist of pine trees intermixed with birch, but the latter tree is much less abundant here than in Umoean Lapmark, especially in Siodorne. Leaves of the Meal-berry (_Arbutus Uva-ursi_) are used in tanning or dyeing; which saves a great deal of alum. Many barrels of these leaves are sent for sale to Stockholm.

The Laplanders of Westbothnia give their young children the unripe berries of this shrub boiled, by way of a laxative or purge. Ten or twelve are the usual quantity, but the dose varies according to the age of the patient.

Several kinds of Foxes are found in Lapmark. Their fur is more valuable in proportion as they come further north.

1. The black is the dearest of all. From sixty to two hundred dollars
of copper money are paid for one of these skins. People of rank in
Russia use them for hoods or head-dresses. All their counsellors
have caps of black foxes skin.

2. The rusty-coloured kind, with grey legs, sells for sixty dollars.

3. The cross foxes skins, black over the shoulders, loins and
backbone, sell for three or four plates (rather more than as many
shillings sterling).

4. Blue foxes are worth from six to ten dollars.

5. Red foxes, which are of a yellowish hue, and

6. White ones, fetch but three dollars each.

The Sting-gnat (_Culex pulicaris_) is a very minute insect, much the smallest of its genus, being about the size of a large flea, of a greyish or clouded white. Its sting is very severe, and leaves a blackish spot as large as that caused by a flea-bite. The wings of this species lie one over the other, as in (_C. reptans_) the kind already mentioned, _p. 209_.

In this part of the country, as in Umoean Lapmark, are many elevated fields of barren sand adjoining to the river, and sloping towards it, each of them divided into quarters by transverse ditches. The river has washed away one of its banks so far as frequently to form a perpendicular cliff, exhibiting _strata_ of light-coloured barren sand, which must be supposed to have been deposited there by water, as they lie horizontally. The neighbouring alps must have been the original boundaries of the current, till the quantity of water decreased. Then the large river shaped out its course, leaving several smaller channels, intersecting what is now the adjacent plain, with islands between them.

Half way between Svarl[oa] and Harns I met with the (_Pedicularis_) _Sceptrum Carolinum_, first observed by Professor Rudbeck. This stately plant was not yet in flower. It grew in a dry soil. In the neighbouring watery places grew a new species of Marsh _Ranunculus_, (_R. lapponicus_,) having a calyx of three pale reflexed leaves, five or six narrow acute rue-like yellow petals, more upright than usual, their claws each furnished with a scale. Stamens nine to twelve. Pistils six to twelve. Leaves commonly two to one stem.

_June 27._

Near Harns is found a fine handsome blue clay, in some measure fire-proof; also a rare kind of iron ore.

The corn-fields here produce _Echioides_ (_Lycopsis arvensis_), and the woods the most slender kind of _Equisetum_ (_sylvaticum_). On the river's bank near Laxeden grew the Sorrel whose leaf is cut away in the middle, called _Acetosa folio in medio deliquium patiente_, (_Rumex digynus_,) but it was not now in flower.

On the other side of the river stands a Pine tree marked with the yearly elevation of the water, as well as its greatest decrease. In 1669 it rose eight feet perpendicular more than the present year, and in 1667 it rose still one foot higher; but since that time it has every year fallen more and more short of such an elevation. Not far distant is a mineral spring, which of all that I have met with deposits the greatest quantity of ochre. Its taste is highly astringent. Some persons have drunk the water medicinally, not altogether without benefit.

Near the river I noticed the _Pinguicula_, and every where hereabouts the Least Cotton-rush (_Eriophorum alpinum_).

The people here, who dread their children should be marked with that kind of spot called _Eldmarke_, which resembles a burn, as soon as the umbilical cord is cut, rub some of its blood upon the face, hands and breast of the infant, by way of prevention.

I was here told of a specific to destroy House Crickets (_Gryllus domesticus_), which consists of grated carrots mixed with arsenic. This they eat greedily, and are all infallibly poisoned.

We passed the night in a large sailing-boat upon the river, in which we had performed the chief part of this day's expedition.

_June 28._

In the morning we continued our voyage to Storbacken a mile and half distant, from whence we were afterwards obliged to walk five miles to Jockmock. This day indeed we only reached Pajarim[54], where we slept all night in a smoky hut, ventilated merely by holes in the roof.

I found in the woods the (_Erysimum_) _Barbarea_, with a stem four feet high, but its leaves were neither so broad, nor so much auricled, as in the garden plant. Crooked pine trees were to be seen in several places, the under side of which is always as hard as box-wood, and this part is used for naves of wheels and the bottoms of sledges. Such wood is called _kior_.

[54] The author in his _Flora Lapponica, n. 13_, mentions having
found his _Pinguicula villosa_ growing among Bog-moss, _Sphagnum_,
near this place, and in no other. This plant is not noticed in the
manuscript Tour.

LULEAN LAPLAND.

Near Storbacken, at the confluence of the great and small rivers of Lulea, is the boundary mark between Lapmark and Westbothnia.

As soon as I entered Lapmark, the hill which forms a promontory betwixt the two rivers afforded me the following plants.

The Sorrel lately mentioned (_Rumex digynus_) was here in blossom. The calyx is of two leaves; the petals two, perfectly like the calyx. Stamens six. Pistils two, in the same flower with the stamens, reflexed. Fruit compressed, with two, not three, angles. Some of its flowers were infected with smut, as in barley.

The Small Liquorice (_Astragalus alpinus_, see _p_. 159). Some plants had white flowers, tipped with a blueish hue; the others bore entirely purple blossoms.

On the hill named Wollerim I met with a very rare little species of Asphodel, with white flowers in a roundish spike (_Anthericum calyculatum_, _Sp. Pl. Tofieldia palustris, Engl. Bot. t. 536_). The leaves are ranged on each other's back (equitant) as in the Marsh Asphodel (_Narthecium ossifragum, t. 535_). At a small distance in the marshes I found the small flowering rush of Bauhin, _Juncoidi affinis_ of Scheuchzer, (_Scheuchzeria palustris_). The calyx is of six oblong sharpish leaves, reflexed and permanent. Petals none. Stamens six, capillary, very short, pendulous, with upright, very long, obtuse, compressed _apices_ (anthers). Embryos (germens) three, often four, rarely five, ovate, compressed. Pistils (styles) none. Stigmas attached to the outer part of the embryos, not elevated. Capsules of two valves, with one seed in each capsule. Leaves concave, sheathing the lower part of the stem.

In the evening I observed Red Currants (_Ribes rubrum_), and a kind of panicled grass with blue leaves, (perhaps an _Aira_, but it cannot now be determined).

Here was the black biting spider (_Aranea palustris_), but not the _littoralis_ (_A. riparia_).

_June 29._

The Pine trees are observed to be more barren of branches on their north sides; hence the common people know by these trees which way the north lies. The timber lay here in abundance, entirely useless. Brandy is made from the fir, as well as from the berries of mountain ash.

About a mile from Pajarim I came to the mountain of Koskesvari, which is very lofty, insomuch that the snowy summits of the Lapland alps are visible from it, though at a very great distance. In this elevated situation the Red Whortle-berry (_Vaccinium Vitis idaea_) assumes a quite different appearance from what is usual, its stems being twice as long, perfectly erect, and not branched. The extremities of the branches of the Spruce-fir bear small yellow cones, which however are nothing else than the leaves deformed, being thicker and shorter than when in their proper state, and of a pale yellow, marked on their inside with two prominent orange-coloured lines. When arrived at maturity, they burst asunder, and discharge an orange-coloured powder, which stains the clothes of those who approach the tree. I conceive these excrescences to be caused by some minute insects. The common people eat them raw as a dainty, like berries. Here also I met with a narrow-leaved _Cirsium_ (_Serratula alpina_), which I had previously noticed in Umoean Lapmark, but it was not then in bloom. Likewise (_Rhamnus_) _Frangula_, _Pinguicula_, Unbranched Quaking-grass (this must have been _Melica nutans_), _Corallorrhiza_, the Narrow-leaved Spotted _Orchis_ (_maculata_), _Geranium_ (_sylvaticum_) with a white flower veined with purple, a purple pistil and blue anthers. The leaves of this last plant were variously divided, the lower in seven lobes, the middle ones in five, the uppermost opposite and sessile, with only three lobes. Two flowers grow on each stalk.

Here also I gathered a _Pinguicula_, the fore-part of whose petal was white, the hind-part blue, which is certainly a beautiful as well as singular variety. (See _Fl. Lapp. n. 11._ _P. vulgaris_.)

The trees here produce _Usnea arborea_ (_Lichen plicatus_), which the Laplanders apply to excoriations of the feet caused by excessive walking. They line their shoes with this moss, a practice which might with advantage be adopted by soldiers on a march. The Laplanders also line their shoes with grass, consisting of various species of _Carex_, (especially _C. sylvatica_, _Fl. Brit._). This grass they comb with iron or horn combs, bruising it between their hands till it becomes soft and pliable. When dried they cram it into their shoes, and it answers instead of stockings for defending the feet from cold. (See _Fl. Lapp. n. 328_.)

After much trouble and fatigue, I at length reached Jockmock, where stands the principal church of this northern district, and where its pastor resides.

_June 30._

The clergyman of Jockmock, Mr. Malming, who is the schoolmaster, and Mr. H[:o]gling the curate, tormented me with their consummate and most pertinacious ignorance. I could not but wonder how so much pride and ambition, such scandalous want of information, with such incorrigible stupidity, could exist in persons of their profession, who are commonly expected to be men of knowledge; yet any school-boy twelve years of age might be better informed. No man will deny the propriety of such people as these, at least, being placed as far as possible from civilized society.

The learned curate began his conversation with remarks on the clouds in this country, setting forth how they strike the mountains as they pass, carrying away stones, trees and cattle. I ventured to suggest that such accidents were rather to be attributed to the force of the wind, for that the clouds could not of themselves lift, or carry away, any thing. He laughed at me, saying surely I had never seen any clouds. For my part, it seemed to me that he could have never been any where but in the clouds. I replied, that whenever the weather is foggy I walk in clouds, and when the fog is condensed, and no longer supported in the air, it immediately rains beneath my feet. At all such reasoning, being above his comprehension, he only laughed with a sardonic smile. Still less was he satisfied with my explanation how watery bubbles may be lifted up into the air, as he told me the clouds were solid bodies. On my denying this, he reinforced his assertion with a text of scripture, silencing me by authority, and then laughing at my ignorance. He next condescended to inform me that after rain a phlegm is always to be found on the mountains, where the clouds have touched them. Upon my replying that this phlegm is a vegetable called _Nostoc_, I was, like St. Paul, judged to be mad, and that too much learning had turned my brain. This philosopher, who was as fully persuaded of his own complete knowledge of nature, as Sturmius was of being able to fly by means of hollow globes, was pleased to be very facetious at my expense. At length he graciously advised me to pay some regard to the opinions of people skilled in these abstruse matters, and not, at my return home, to expose myself by publishing such absurd and preposterous opinions as I had now advanced.

The other, the pedagogue, lamented that people should bestow so much attention upon temporal vanities, and consequently, alas! neglect their spiritual good[55]; and he remarked that many a man had been ruined by too great application to study.

[55] I have known one instance of such bigotry, or rather hypocrisy,
out of Lapland.

Both these wise men concurred in one thing. They could not conceal their wonder that the Royal Academy should expressly have appointed a mere student for the purposes for which I was sent, without considering that there were already as competent men resident in the country, who would have undertaken the business. They declared they would either of them have been ready to accept of the charge. In my opinion, however, they would but have exhibited a fresh illustration of the proverb of the ass and the lyre.

The number of pupils under the care of the gentleman above mentioned at this time amounted to four only. The church is but a small one.

It is a practice here with some persons who have the headache, from excessive drinking or any other cause, to hold their foreheads before the fire till they smart violently. Others apply to the temples young shoots of spruce fir bruised.

Half a mile from the church I gathered the _Cirsium minus_ (_Serratula alpina_), the _Cacalia_ (_Tussilago frigida_), the latter not in flower, and one kind of Botsko of the Laplanders, called Bi[oe]rnstut in Westbothnia (_Angelica sylvestris_), which is the narrow-leaved species of _Angelica_, and resembles the larger kind. Its general umbel is destitute of an involucrum. My Lapland companion seized it immediately, and peeling the stalk, which had not yet flowered, ate it like a turnip, as a great delicacy. Indeed it tasted not unpleasantly, especially the upper part, which is the most tender. This dainty is in great request amongst the Laplanders.

We arrived at length at Purkijau, a small island, the northern side of which is planted with forests of spruce fir, and the others with woods of birch, by way of protection to the corn. The colonist who resides here informed me that the corn never suffered from cold, as, besides the shelter afforded by these plantations, the circumjacent water moderated the degree of frost. The situation of this island is pleasant. I found in some bushy parts of it the _Sceptrum Carolinum_, and another species of _Pedicularis_, with narrow leaves and a tuft of purple flowers (this seems to have been _P. sylvatica_ only).

The river Karax, where is a pearl fishery, runs not far from hence. On its banks I remarked the _Sceptrum Carolinum_, which became very common as I advanced further on my journey.

Another mile brought us to the lake of Randiau; on approaching which we saw nothing before us but lofty mountains of an oblong obtuse form, lifting their summits one above another, and on the most distant of these snow was to be seen, though half melted away like snow in the spring.

_July 1._

Parkajaur, the first lake I reached after leaving the place where I slept, is a short mile in length. At its opposite shore rises the lofty peaked mountain of Achiekoivi, or Tornberget, upon whose summit the Laplanders used, in ancient times, to offer sacrifice, for the success of their herds of reindeer. The mountain still shows traces of fire. At the western end of this lake a Laplander resided, and from thence it was scarcely a quarter of a mile by land to the next lake, called Skalk, where as I passed near a waterfall, I found the _Barbarea_ and _Pedicularis_, both already mentioned, also the Asphodel (_Tofieldia palustris, Fl. Brit._) and the little _Astragalus_, see _p. 159_.

When I came to the lake Skalk in the way towards Kiomitis, about a mile short of the last-mentioned place, I was much struck with an opening between the hills to the north-west, through which appeared a range of mountains, from ten to twenty miles distant, as white as the clouds, and seeming not above a mile from the spot where I stood. Their summits reached the clouds, and indeed they resembled a range of white clouds rising from the horizon. They recalled to my mind the frontispiece of Rudbeck's _Lapponia Illustrata_. Mountains upon mountains rose before me in every direction. In a word, I now beheld the Lapland alps.

Arriving in the evening at Kiomitis, I saw the sun set apparently on the summit of a high mountain called Harrevarto, situated over against the house of the parish clerk. This spectacle I considered as not one of the least of Nature's miracles, for what inhabitant of other countries would not wish to behold it? O Lord, how wonderful are thy works!

_July 2._

At Kiomitis I rested during the whole of this day, Sunday.

Here the beautiful corn was growing in great perfection in valleys between the snowy mountains. It had shot up so high as to be laid in some places by the rain. It had been sown on the 25th or 26th of May, as at Umoea.

I found in abundance _Tripolium pratense_, _coron[^a] calyce breviori_, or _Aster folio non acri_, _flore purpureo_; (_Erigeron uniflorum_, _Fl. Lapp. n. 307. t. 9. f. 3_.) The same occurred with a white flower. Also _Euphrasia_ (_officinalis_) about its usual size, but with very small flowers; (a variety mentioned in the _Flora Lapponica, n. 247_, found likewise in Switzerland.) In the same neighbourhood grew the _Tetrahit_, both with small and large flowers, (_Galeopsis Tetrahit_, and _G. versicolor_, _Fl. Brit_.)

_July 3._

Early this morning I went with Mr. Joachim Koch, quarter-master of the regiment stationed here, and Mr. Segar Swanberg, master of the mines, to the Kiuriwari, a high mountain half a mile from Kiomitis, where a silver mine had just been opened. The ore showed itself only in one cleft, whose sides it seemed to cement together.

All over this mountain I observed a kind of _Uva Ursi_ with black fruit, which I do not know that any author has described. The flower was exactly like that of the Mealy-berry (_Arbutus Uva-ursi_); each stood on a simple stalk, and had five teeth at its orifice. The fruit was of five cells, globose, enclosed in the petal. (_Arbutus alpina._)

I likewise found here a Catch-fly with ten stamens and five styles (_Lychnis alpina_), exactly similar to the common Catch-fly (_Lychnis Viscaria_), except that the flowers were smaller and not so much scattered, neither was the stem at all viscid.

Birch trees were to be found even on the highest part of this hill, but of a very diminutive stature. Their trunks were thick but low, and their highest shoots seemed to have been killed by frost, so that the young leaves looked as if they were growing out of branches that had been burnt. I was told that these trees afford every year but a very small portion of sap, and that the wood is much harder than the common kind. Such diminutive trees grow to a great age. The further I proceeded up the country, the smaller I still found them.

Some of the people hereabouts clean their half-boots and harness with the fat of fish; others purchase blacking from Norway.

_July 4._

I met with an _Andromeda_ with leaves like _Empetrum_ (_A. caerulea_). The stem and foliage were exactly like that plant, but somewhat larger. The calyx rough, short, with five teeth. Corolla of one petal, blue, ovate, with five spreading notched segments at its orifice. Stamens ten, very short, with horned anthers. Pistil one, the length of the corolla, with a blunt pentagonal stigma.

The following food is prepared by the Laplanders from milk.

The _messen_ or whey, after the cheese is made, is boiled to a thick consistence, and a small quantity of cream from the milk of the reindeer is added. The whole is afterwards dried in the maw or rennet-bag of the reindeer, and tastes very well.

_Kappa_ is the scum which rises while the whey is boiling. This being skimmed off, is also kept in rennet-bags for use.

The milk is not turned, in order to make cheese, with rennet, but with the maws of pike (_Esox Lucius_), of charr (_Salmo alpinus_), or of the grayling (_Salmo Thymallus_). These are previously dried, and preserved for use in a little keg of milk. When any of this is taken out for use, they are careful to fill up the vessel with fresh milk, that they may always have a supply at hand.

_Jumomj[:o]lk_ is prepared by boiling half a pint of _syra_ (see _p. 243_) in a small quantity of water, which must be kept stirring till the whole is perfectly dissolved. It is then mixed with milk of the reindeer, and poured either into rennet-bags of that animal, or some kind of pot or tub, in which it is preserved for future use, if not immediately eaten.

Rennet is also made by taking the maws of such reindeer fawns as die in the spring, putting milk into them, and hanging it up to dry for use.

I here made the following observations relative to the remedies used by the Laplanders.

Their _Moxa_, as the Japanese call it, but which they term _Toule_, is made of a fine fungus found on the birch, and always chosen from the south side of the tree. Of this they apply a piece as large as a pea, upon the afflicted part, setting fire to it with a twig of birch, and letting it burn gradually away. This is repeated two or three times. It produces a sore that will often keep open for six months afterwards, nor must it be closed till it heals spontaneously. This remedy is used for all aches and pains; as the headache, toothache, pleurisy, pain in the stomach, lumbago, &c. It is the universal medicine of the Laplanders, and may be called their little physician.

_Kattie_ is a kind of drawing or ripening plaister made in the following manner. The fine loose scaly bark of birch is set on fire, and immediately quenched in water. It is then chewed, in the same manner as when wanted for cementing earthen-ware together, and afterwards mixed with fresh turpentine from the spruce fir, both being kneaded together by the hands, till the mass becomes a black uniform plaister. This has a very emollient quality, and is successfully applied to hard imposthumes, &c., which it brings to maturity without pain in a short time, and promotes their discharge.

The common method of the Laplanders for joining broken earthen-ware, is to tie the fragments together with a thread, and boil the whole in fresh milk, by which they are cemented to each other.