Chapter VI: Part 6

The grass used for lining shoes is a _Carex pseudo-cyperus_, with many slender pendulous spikes. (_Carex sylvatica_, _Fl. Brit._)

An ointment for burns is made of fresh cream boiled to a thick consistence, with which the sore is anointed. It removes the pain, and admirably promotes the healing of the ulcer.

For chilblains, the oil or fat which exudes from toasted reindeer cheese, rubbed upon the part affected, is a sovereign cure. Some persons use dog's fat for the same purpose. The latter is also used for pains in the back, being rubbed in before a fire.

The Laplanders make use of no razor, but cut their beards with scissars. They never cut the hair of the head, and only occasionally employ a comb or any similar instrument. They have no laundress or washerwoman.

The drug called castor is one of their great remedies for every disease, and the gall of the bear is another.

When a wedding is to be celebrated, the lover takes all his relations along with him, each carrying meat and brandy. Being arrived at--(this sentence is left unfinished in the manuscript.)

_July 5._

I continued my journey to Hyttan, and in my way passed a marshy place, such as the Laplanders call _murki_. Close to the borders of it grew the least _Thalictrum_ (_T. alpinum_), with four pale petals, and twelve stamens with long anthers, their filaments purple. In another part grew an _Androsace_ with two drooping flowers. It had five stamens; one capitate pistil; an ovate fruit of one cell; a five-cleft calyx, and a swelling (corolla of one) petal. It is therefore not a good _Androsace_. (This was unquestionably _Primula integrifolia_, see _Fl. Lapp. ed. 2. 52_, which Linnaeus, in that work, seems to have confounded with _P. farinosa_. Speaking of the latter he says, "This _Primula_, the splendid crimson of whose flowers attracts the eyes of all who traverse the fields of Scania and the meadows of Upland in the early spring, did not occur during my whole journey till after I had ascended the Lapland Alps, where it grew very sparingly, furnished with only two or three flowers, and those of a very pale hue, so that in the mountains of Lapland it deserves neither the name of Caesar nor of Regulus[56]. The stem of the plant, however, in these regions was a span or more in height, which is hardly the case in any other part of Sweden." _Fl. Lapp. ed. 2. 51._ Hence it appears that the real _P. farinosa_ ought to be struck out of the Lapland Flora, provided no botanist has found it there since Linnaeus made the above remarks.)

[56] See Simler, who calls the _Primula farinosa_ "Caesar or Regulus
among herbs."

_Sceptrum Carolinum_ was in blossom near the water, as well as the gloomy _Aconitum_ (_lycoctonum_), "whose flowers with us are not yellow, as the synonyms of authors assert, but every where of a blueish ash-colour[57]."

[57] This remark of Linnaeus I have borrowed from Fl. Lapp. n. 221.

Here also grew _Juncus palustris_, _calamo trifido_ (_J. trifidus_); the Violet with a yellow flower (_Viola biflora_); and the Wood Stitchwort with heart-shaped leaves (_Stellaria nemorum_, which Linnaeus, in Flora Lapp. n. 186, confounds with his _Alsine media_, or _Stellaria media_, _Fl. Brit._ a mistake he corrected in his _Species Plantarum_).

Shortly afterwards I came within sight of an oblong and very lofty mountain, situated on the right-hand, called Carsavari, composed of a coarse kind of fissile stone, upon which pure native alum is found; see Bromell (in the _Acta Suecica_ from the year 1726 to 1730).

Very near the last-mentioned mountain is situated another, called Tavevari, remarkable for two rivulets running down from its summit, and falling over a rock in the middle of their course.

Concerning the spots or imperfections in the skins of reindeer, it is certain that they originate in the perforations made by insects, probably a species of _Tabanus_, through which those insects introduce their eggs. When the young ones arrive at maturity, they come forth by the same passage, and the wound is closed by a scar. On this subject, lest any person should be misled by authority, or by the writings or reports of others, I shall quote the learned work of Linder on _Syphilis_, _p. 11_. "Reindeer in Lapland are subject to the small-pox, which in Norland is termed Kormsiuka, as I was informed at Wicksbergensbrun by Zachary Plantin, master of arts." In this the able writer has been totally misled, by a person usually esteemed no less honest than profoundly learned. I cannot however conceive how a man, who values himself upon such a character, should willingly and deliberately propagate a falsehood. He ought, on the contrary, rather to aim at correcting it. If the reindeer should even have the small-pox every year, this supposed disease will prove on examination nothing else than the sting of the Gad-fly (_Oestrus Tarandi_). Did any man ever advance such an absurdity! Even the Laplanders themselves call the disease _Kurbma_ (which is the name of the fly that actually causes it).

One of the Laplanders' dishes, called _Kappi_, or _Kappa-tialmas_, is prepared in the following manner. While the milk of the reindeer, intended for making cheese, is warm, before the rennet is added to it, a film rises to the top, which is taken off carefully with a spoon, and put into the bladder of a reindeer. This is hung up against the side of the hut to dry; after which it is eaten, being esteemed a great delicacy. They frequently mix some kind of berries with it when used. The fruit called _Hjortron_, (Cloud-berry, or _Rubus Chamaemorus_,) bruised and eaten with milk of the reindeer, is also a very palatable Lapland dish. The milk of this animal affords at least twice as much cheese in proportion as any other milk. Butter is very seldom made by these people, nor is cream ever used for that purpose, as it scarcely rises in sufficient quantity. Milk only is used, being agitated in a wooden vessel with a whisk. The butter is of a white colour.

Candles are not in use among the Laplanders, though the tallow of the reindeer is very fit for that purpose, notwithstanding its consistence being less firm than that of ordinary tallow. These people preserve it in bladders, and boil it for food. Each reindeer yields but a small quantity of tallow in proportion to its size, not more than a sheep; having none between the muscles, like oxen and other cattle, but only round them.

Viviparous Bistort (_Polygonum viviparum_) grew hereabouts two spans in height. The _Trientalis_ in moist situations had obtuse petals (see _Fl. Lapp. n. 139, [epsilon]_). The Water _Epilobium_ in this place had very broad leaves. (_E. palustre [beta]. Sp. Pl. 495._ _Fl. Lapp. n. 148._) _Geranium_ (_sylvaticum_) had sometimes a white flower with purple veins, and blue anthers; sometimes the petals, as well as anthers, were white.

THE LAPLAND ALPS.

_July 6._

In the afternoon I took leave of Hyttan, and, at the distance of a mile from thence, arrived at the mountain of _Wallavari_ (or _Hwallawari_), a quarter of a mile in height. When I reached this mountain, I seemed entering on a new world; and when I had ascended it, I scarcely knew whether I was in Asia or Africa, the soil, situation, and every one of the plants, being equally strange to me. Indeed I was now, for the first time, upon the Alps! Snowy mountains encompassed me on every side. I walked in snow, as if it had been the severest winter. All the rare plants that I had previously met with, and which had from time to time afforded me so much pleasure, were here as in miniature, and new ones in such profusion, that I was overcome with astonishment, thinking I had now found more than I should know what to do with.

1. _Alchemilla_ with fingered leaves, silky underneath, but without flowers. (_A. alpina._)

2. _Jussiea_[58], with ternate leaves, abrupt and three-toothed at their extremities. (_Sibbaldia procumbens._) The calyx is of one leaf, very large, in ten segments, the five alternate ones of which are smallest, as in the strawberry tribe. Petals five, ovate, yellow, shorter than the calyx, and inserted betwixt its segments. The five stamens also proceed from the calyx. Pistils from five to ten, capitate at their summits, affixed laterally to the middle of the seeds, as in _Alchemilla_. (See the remarks of Linnaeus, respecting the natural order of this plant, in _Fl. Lapp. n. 111_).

[58] In this and many following instances, the original names in the
manuscript are here retained, as a matter of curiosity to the
learned botanist, who will be interested in seeing to whom Linnaeus
extemporaneously dedicated his new genera as they occurred, and who
will at the same time admire his sagacity, in determining them, at
first sight, so correctly, that not one has subsequently been set
aside by any of his severest critics.

3. _Dillenia._ Stem woody. Flower purple. (_Azalea procumbens._) Calyx coloured, small, five-cleft, acute, purple, permanent. Petal one, erect, bell-shaped, five-cleft half way down, acute, purple. Stamens five, shorter than the petal. Pistil one, seated on the embryo, the length of the calyx. Stigma capitate. Seeds numerous, roundish. Pericarp globose, of five cells and five valves. Leaves ovate, evergreen, opposite, resembling those of the Cranberry. (_Vaccinium Oxycoccus._)

4. _Bannistera._ (_Diapensia lapponica._) Calyx of large, ovate, imbricated leaves, first two, then two more, then five, so that they are nine in all. Petal one, with a short wide tube, its disk (or border) in five obtuse spreading segments. Stamens five, from the segments of the calyx (corolla), erect, broad, looking like intermediate prominent segments; the anthers situated on their inner side, at the top. Pistil one, upright, awlshaped. Stigma obtuse. Pericarp round with a point, invested with the calyx, of three cells. Seeds several, round. Leaves oblong, narrow, obtuse, reflexed, lying imbricated over each other.

(Slight sketches only of these plants are annexed to their descriptions in the manuscript, but perfect figures of the two last may be seen in _Fl. Lapp._)

5. _Saxifraga_ with oblong serrated leaves, and lanceolate petals. (_S. stellaris._) The leaves are about the root, oblong inclining to lanceolate, serrated with a few teeth. Stem naked, with several flowers at its summit. Calyx permanent, five-cleft, acute, reflexed. Petals five, somewhat spreading, oblong, sharp at each end, white, marked with two yellow dots upon the claw. Stamens ten, awlshaped, the length of the calyx. Anthers purple. Embryo (germen) with two horns. Style none. Stigmas obtuse.

6. _Saxifraga_ with palmate five-cleft obtuse leaves. (_S. rivularis._) Lower leaves cut half way down into five roundish segments; upper one in three segments. Stem short, flowering at the top. Calyx five-cleft, erect. Petals five, ovate. Stamens ten. Embryos two (rather two-horned).

7. _Saxifraga_ with a creeping stem, the leaves placed in a quadrangular form. (_S. oppositifolia_). Stems like those of a _Sedum_, creeping. Leaves oblong, obtuse, hairy at the edge, small; the points sometimes bony (or cartilaginous). Flower large. Calyx of five blunt leaves. Petals five, erect, purple, large, oblong, obtuse. Stamens ten, purple, erect, shorter than the petals, with scarlet anthers. Embryo divided. Styles none. Stigmas obtuse.

8. Female Rose-root, _Rhodia_. (_Rhodiola rosea._)

9. _Rhodia montana abortiens._ (Male plant of the same.) Differs from the female in having five lanceolate petals, and five leaves to the calyx; though often but four.

10. Purple Water _Lychnis_, (_L. dioica,_) a variety with four-cleft petals. (See _Fl. Lapp. n. 182_.)

11. _Pinguicula_ with the spur shorter than the petal. (_P. alpina._) The petal is white with a yellow beard, like a _Melampyrum_. Leaves narrower than in the common kind; spur shorter and funnel-shaped, not cylindrical.

12. _Ranunculus minimus_, leaves three-cleft, their side-lobes divided. (_R. nivalis_, var. [gamma]. _Fl. Lapp. t. 3. f. 3._)

13. _Ranunculus_ with bluntly-triangular plaited petals. (_R. glacialis._) The lower leaves are in many deep segments; the upper three-lobed, their lobes three-cleft. Calyx purplish, hispid. Petals five, very large, white, dilated upwards, obtuse, plaited at the upper edge. Stamens and anthers erect, numerous, very short, yellow. Pistils many, in a convex head, with slender points.

14. _Ranunculus_ resembling Winter Aconite. (_R. nivalis._)

15. _Draba_ with lanceolate leaves and twisted seed-vessels. (_D. incana._)

16. A small _Hesperis_ with a white flower, and oblong flat pods. Leucojum of Rudbeck? (_Arabis alpina._)

17. _Cochlearia_ with leaves like _Plantaginella_, (_Limosella aquatica_,) and umbellate pods. (_Cardamine bellidifolia._)

18. _Andromeda_ with leaves like _Empetrum_, and a blue flower. (_A. caerulea._)

19. _Andromeda_ with leaves like a _Lycopodium_, and a white, half-ovate, half-five-cleft flower. (_A. hypnoides._)

20. _Alisma_, rather _Arnica_, with lanceolate three-ribbed leaves, the radius with three teeth. (_Arnica montana [beta]._)

21. _Caryophyllata_ (_Geum_) with a solitary upright flower. Must it not be a distinct genus? The petals are eight. (_Dryas octopetala._)

22. An abortive variety of _Saxifraga_ n^o. 5 (_stellaris_), with small, obtuse, white petals, purple anthers, and a white embryo; but very rarely flowering, as the blossoms are all transformed into clusters of minute leaves. (See _Fl. Lapp. t. 2. f. 3_.)

23. _Pedicularis_ with bluntly serrated leaves, and a pale flesh-coloured flower, with a deeper-coloured spot on the lip. The upper lip is narrow; the lower in three equal segments. Calyx large, hairy. Fruit hoary. (_Pedicularis hirsuta._)

24. Dwarf Catchfly. (_Silene acaulis._)

25. The same with stamens, but an abortive fruit. Pistils three. Petals obtuse, emarginate. Capsule of one cell. Stamens ten.

26. _Sagina_ with emarginate petals and an oblong capsule. Pistils three. Is it an Alsine? (_Stellaria biflora_; see _Fl. Lapp. n. 158_.)

27. _Salix villosa_, with sessile ovate leaves. It is a humble plant. (_S. lanata._)

28. Subterraneous willow, with orbicular concave leaves, male. (_Salix herbacea._)

29. Female of the same, with red fruit.

30. _Veronica serpyllifolia_, upright, with a blue flower. (_V. alpina._)

The lofty mountains, piled one upon another, showed no signs of volcanic fire, but were covered with stones, all of a fissile kind, and by that means easily distinguishable. From the snow, which lay so plentifully on these mountains as to cover half the ground, water was continually running down in streams like so many springs, or like rivers cut through the deep snow, for the refreshment of travellers. We found it very good.

The little alpine variety of the Ptarmigan (_Tetrao Lagopus_) was now accompanied by its young. I caught one of these, upon which the hen ran so close to me, that I could easily have taken her also. She kept continually jumping round and round me; but I thought it a pity to deprive the tender brood of their mother, neither would my compassion for the mother allow me long to detain her offspring, which I restored to her in safety.

After having walked four or five miles in the course of the night, I went to sleep in the morning in one of the cottages of the country.

_July 7._

The inhabitants, sixteen in number, lay there all naked. They washed themselves by rubbing the body downwards, not upwards. They washed their dishes with their fingers, squirting water out of their mouths upon the spoon, and then poured into them boiled reindeer's milk, which was as thick as common milk mixed with eggs, and had a strong flavour. Some thousands of reindeer came home in the morning, which were milked by the men as well as the women, who kneeled down on one knee.

From the top of the head of some of these reindeer I took out the maggots which trouble them so much. I observed here in plenty the large fly with a yellow neck, and yellow segments of the body, (_Oestrus Tarandi_,) which probably is the same insect (in a perfect state), as I judge by the length of the legs.

My hosts gave me _missen_ to eat; that is, whey, after the curd is separated from it, coagulated by boiling, which renders it very firm. Its flavour was good, but the washing of the spoon took away my appetite, as the master of the house wiped it dry with his fingers, whilst his wife cleaned the bowl, in which milk had been, in a similar manner, licking her finger after every stroke.

I also tasted some _jumo_, which they mixed with reindeer's milk, but it did not please me.

This day I gathered the following plants. (The numbers are continued from _p. 291_.)

31. _Saxifraga_ with a tuberous root, a simple stem flowering at the summit, and bulbs in the bosoms of the leaves. (_S. cernua._) This has much resemblance to the common Saxifrage, (_S. granulata_,) but bears only one flower at the top of the stem, which is pendulous before it opens. The petals and stamens are white. In the bosom of each leaf are about ten naked anther-like little heads (or buds), which grow out into embryos of future plants. It inhabits watery places.

32. A very small _Juncus_, with a _spatha_ of two leaves, enclosing two seeds; (rather capsules, but Linnaeus wrote seeds, because it appears by the manuscript that he took the plant at first for a _Carex_.) This is one of the smallest of grasses, bearing a solitary spike, one floret of which has an upright glume, (or leaf of the _spatha_,) the other a reflexed one. The petals are whitish. Pistil snow-white. Stamens six. (This can be no other than _Juncus biglumis_, see _Engl. Bot. t. 898_, omitted in Linnaeus's own edition of Fl. Lapp. and supposed to have been first found by the celebrated Dr. Montin in 1749.)

33. _Carex_ with several black loose pendulous spikes, one of which is male, two or three female. (_C. saxatilis._)

34. _Draba_ with a yellow flower. (_D. alpina._) Pod like the rye-flower. (_D. verna_, see _p. 5_.)

35. _Salix_ creeping under ground, with elegant roundish-oval, rugged, rigid leaves. (_S. reticulata._) Male and female.

36. _Salix_ with oblong, obtuse, slightly serrated leaves. (_S. n. 367, Fl. Lapp.?_) In marshy places.

The Willows often grow to the height of a man in moist places, or on islands in the rivers, but in elevated situations no tree is more than a foot high; nor is there any plant, except the dwarf birch (_Betula nana_) and the Willows, that affords the inhabitants any wood.

37. A very small _Pedicularis_, with the aspect of the _Sceptrum Carolinum_. The fruit is curved. (_P. flammea._) This very elegant little plant so exactly represents the _Sceptrum Carolinum_, plentiful here in moist places, one might take it for a representation of that in miniature. The leaves are brownish, pinnate; their segments imbricated. Flowers four, five, or more, at the top of the stem. Calyx like that of _Sceptrum Carolinum_. Petal with an erect upper lip, which is narrow, compressed, and brownish; the lower lip horizontal, three-cleft, saffron-coloured, like all the rest of the flower. Root like skirrets.

38. _Saxifraga_ with oblong, acute, thickish leaves, rough with rigid hairs at the edges. (_S. aizoides._) It had not yet flowered, but I afterwards found the blossoms, which were yellow, with a large, flat calyx, in five ovate segments. Petals five, small, ovate, yellow besprinkled with orange. Embryo yellow, two-horned. Stigmas orbicular, flat, whitish. Stamens awlshaped, five of them very short.

39. _Juncoides capitulis psyllii_, with loose heads of flowers. (_Juncus campestris._) Also another with conglomerated heads. (_J. campestris [beta]_. _Fl. Lapp. t. 10. f. 2._ Certainly a distinct species.)

The birds I saw were Snow-buntings (_Emberiza nivalis_); Green Plovers in great plenty, (_Charadrius pluvialis,_) called by the Laplanders _Hutti_; and Wheat-ears. (_Motacilla Oenanthe._)

The Laplanders of this neighbourhood do not often take the diversion of shooting. They are seldom masters of a fowling-piece; and when not occupied in following or attending the reindeer, they remain in idleness for whole days together, feeding on nothing but milk, and the dishes prepared from it.

I satisfied myself here that the crackling noise made by the reindeer does not originate in the hoof, nor in the lowermost joint of the foot.

The women of this neighbourhood smoke tobacco as well as the men. Every body learns to smoke about the age of twelve or fifteen.

Whenever I gave my host about an ell of twisted tobacco, I was sure to obtain in return a cheese of double its value.

The large-flowered _Cerastium_ (_C. alpinum_) was here every where in abundance, and the prickly _Lycopodium_. (_L. Selaginoides?_).

The neighbouring mountain abounded with a very black fissile aluminous stone.

The surface of the snow appeared to have a vibratory motion, like water slightly agitated, or like a large white sail swelled by the wind.

All the inhabitants of this neighbourhood wore garments made of reindeer skins.

_July 8._

The plants I found this day were the following.

40. _Michelia._ (_Azalea lapponica._)

Its calyx is inconspicuous, green, in five obtuse segments. Petal one, erect, gradually dilated upwards, divided almost down to the base into five ovate segments, purple, deciduous. Stamens five, proceeding from the receptacle, erect, shorter than the petal, purplish, thread-shaped, with roundish anthers. Pistil one, thread-shaped, inclining to one side, longer than the petal, with a globose embryo, and thick stigma. Pericarp membranous, globose, of five cells and five compressed valves, the cells fixed to the column, as in _Ledum_, bursting at the top. Leaves thick, ovate, evergreen, clustered at the tops of the branches, as in _Ledum_. Flowers about three, at the extremity of each branch, each on a simple uncoloured stalk. Is this the same genus with _Dillenia_ (_Azalea procumbens_, n^o. 3.)? I think not. In that the calyx and flower-stalks are coloured; two flowers proceed from each bud; the petal is firm, and cut but half way down; the calyx is half as long as the petal; the pistil is erect, shorter than the petal; the stamens are directed inwards, and not attached to the receptacle. (Notwithstanding these reasons, Linnaeus united the two plants together in his _Flora Lapponica_, as one genus, under the name of _Azalea_, quoting two synonyms of Tournefort and Bauhin for this n^o. 40, which belong to _Rhododendrum ferrugineum_, his own plant being entirely new, if not a pentandrous variety of that _Rhododendrum_, which is much to be suspected. The above description, of the fruit especially, is sufficient to show it cannot belong to the same genus with _Azalea procumbens_, though perhaps it may accord better with the American _Azaleae_.)

41. _Campanula_ with a contracted flower. (_C. uniflora._) Differs from the common blue kind, (_rotundifolia,_) in having the leaves as well as the flower much contracted at the base, so that the latter is funnel-shaped. The embryo is oblong, with six sides, rough, with three orifices near the base of the calyx.

42. _Lychnis_ with a concealed flower. (_L. apetala._) Leaves pink-like. Flower solitary at the top of the stalk. Calyx ovate, inflated, closed, with ten black hispid ribs, which branch near the top. Petals five, oblong, brownish, shaped exactly like the usual claws of a _Lychnis_, but without any border. Stamens ten. Embryo oblong, inclining to cylindrical, contracted in the middle, obtuse, blackish. Pistils five, whitish. The petals, stamens and pistils are all concealed within the calyx.

43. A small _Aster_, with one solitary white flower. (_Erigeron uniflorum._) It has the calyx of the _Amellus_, the flower of a daisy, white with a yellow disk.

44. A viviparous grass, _Poa_. (Rather _Festuca vivipara_.)

45. _Juncus_ with a sharp rigid point. (_Juncus_, _n. 116. Fl. Lapp._)

46. A Catchfly which is not viscid, with the flowers collected into a tuft. (_Lychnis alpina._)

47. A smooth _Cerastium_, agreeing in every respect with the large-flowered one, except the hairiness and hoary aspect of the leaves. (_C. alpinum_, a smooth variety.)

I observed every where about the sides of the hills holes dug by the Lemming Rat. (_Mus Lemmus._) Hares are grey in summer upon the alps.

No herb or tree on the highest parts of these alps attains more than a quarter of an ell in height, though in the valleys the same species may perhaps be two or three feet high. Birch trees, which however are very scarce, creep in a manner under the earth, throwing up the tips of their branches here and there to the height of a quarter of an ell. Tender shoots of this kind sometimes conceal a very knotty depressed stem.

In the evening, and indeed till the night was far advanced, we sought for one of the Laplanders' huts, but to no purpose. Tracts made by the reindeer were plentiful enough in the marshy grounds, which we followed sometimes in one direction, sometimes in another, without their leading us to what we were in search of. I had walked so much that I could hardly stand on my legs, and was near fainting with fatigue, so that I lay down, resolving rather to endure the cold and boisterous wind, than proceed any further this night. At length the Laplander and his servant, who were my guides, found some dung of the reindeer. One of them took it up, and after squeezing it in his hand and smelling at it, gave it to his companion to smell also. He was even desirous that I should take a snuff at it. By its freshness they were rejoiced to discover that a Laplander with his herd had but recently left this spot, and they accordingly pursued a track which was here and there discernible in the snow. After we had proceeded half a mile, we met with the object of our search, who had removed but the day before, so that I had now an opportunity of taking some repose.

_July 9._

Fatigued with my late journey, I remained here all the following day and night, not only because it was Sunday, but because I was too much tired to undertake to cross the ice that day. Near the icy mountains the water of the neighbouring lakes was frozen to the depth of a fathom. I employed myself in making the following memorandums.

I was told that _Fungi_ are very plentiful in the alps in autumn.

Scarcely any other fish is found in the lakes of this neighbourhood than the _R[:o]ding_, which the Laplanders call _Raud_ (_Salmo alpinus_, or Charr), and this is extremely abundant. It is a Salmon, or rather Trout, with a scarlet belly. Its length is about a foot. The scales are extremely minute. Head smooth, ovate, obtuse. Jaws furnished with teeth, and the tongue also bears two rows of teeth, six in each row. The palate moreover is toothed at each side. Nostrils small, with two holes to each, one above the other, the lowermost largest, and capable of being closed. Iris of the eyes grey, with a black pupil. Below each eye, in the cartilage of the cheek, are seven little hollow points ranged longitudinally, and in its hinder part are three others placed perpendicularly. The rays which cover the gills are ten on each side, connected together. Fin of the back with twelve rays, of which the two foremost are gradually longer, the third and fourth longest of all and subdivided. The whole fish is black in the upper part; its sides of a sky blue; head and throat white underneath; belly reddish-yellow. The ventral fins are red, with a white exterior edge. Many yellowish spots are scattered longitudinally along each side of the fish near the lateral line. The tail is of a brick-colour, and forked. The flesh is red, and very palatable. The people here caught fifty of these fishes with two hauls of the net, of which they made a dinner for me and themselves. One dish consisted of the fresh fish boiled, which was not agreeable to my palate for want of salt. Others were roasted on a wooden spit before the fire, but for the same reason I could hardly taste them. The third mode of preparation was the most acceptable to me, and had a very good flavour. This was made of the dried and salted R[:o]ding, roasted on a spit. The Laplanders drink the water in which the fish has been boiled, which I was unable to do,--though I could not but commend the practice, as favourable to digestion.

The reindeer are innumerable, like the forests they inhabit. The herds are driven home, night and morning, to be milked. It was amusing to observe the manner of driving them, performed by a maid-servant with a dog. If the reindeer proved refractory, the dog easily made them obey the word of command, particularly when seconded by the hissing of the woman, at which they were extremely terrified.

I observed also the manner of driving them out to pasture. The wind blowing hard from the east, their conductress preferred a circuitous path, rather than face the storm. The reindeer, on the contrary, delighting to run against the wind, turned homeward when diverted from their inclination, while the dog ran after the woman. When these animals are permitted to face the wind, they run very fast and without intermission, in hopes of finding a place to cool themselves. Indeed I observed one of the herds crowding close together under the shadow of a hill, on a spot covered with snow, to avoid the heat caused by the reflection of the sun from the snow in other places. These animals will eat nothing in hot weather, especially as the gnats are then very troublesome. The males much resemble stags, but none in any of the herds had now more than one branch to their horns.

The head of the reindeer is grey, blackish about the eyes. Mouth whitish. Nostrils oblique. Tail short, not above six inches long, obtuse, white, concealed between the haunches. Feet encompassed with white above the hoofs. The whole body is grey, blacker when the new coat first comes on, whiter before it falls. The hair is not readily plucked off, but easily broken. The horns of the female are upright, or slightly bent backward, furnished with one or two branches in front near the base, the summit sometimes undivided, sometimes cloven. Those of the male are often two feet and a half long, and their points are as far distant from each other. They are variously branched, with more or less numerous subdivisions. These animals cast their horns every year; the males immediately after the rutting season, about the end of November; the females in May, after they have brought forth their young. If the females are barren, it is known by their casting the horns in winter[59]. Those of the males scarcely differ from the females in general structure. Both are hairy, but the hairiness falls off before Michaelmas. In some which I have seen broken, the inside, under the skin, of the young growing horns, appears like a cartilage. Hence they are flexible, and so very sensible, that the animal can scarcely bear to have them handled. Under a narrow layer of cartilage, the whole cavity is full of blood-vessels. When arrived at their full growth, the horns are bulbous at their base, like those of a stag.

[59] These particulars concerning the casting of the horns of the
reindeer, much confused in the manuscript, are corrected from the
admirable history of this animal in the _Am[oe]nitates Academicae_,
_v._ 4. 150. It is there said that the castrated males also cast
their horns, but rarely before they are nine years old. The sooner
they begin, the more healthy they are esteemed.

The length of the leg of the reindeer, from the joint of the foot to that next the body, is two feet. From this latter joint to the top of the back is also two feet. From the shoulders to the tail two feet. From the shoulders to the horns one foot, and the same from the horns to the mouth. From the belly to the back, that is, the perpendicular measure of the trunk, is a foot and half.

As the reindeer walks along, a crackling noise proceeds from its feet. This excited my curiosity; and inquiring what was supposed to be the cause, the only answer I could get from any one was, that "our Lord had made it so." I inquired further in what manner our Lord had formed the reindeer so as to produce such an effect; but to this the respondent answered nothing[60]. When I laid hold of the animal's foot, pulled it, twisted and stretched it, or pushed it backward and forward in every possible way, no crackling was produced. At length I discovered the cause in the hoofs themselves, which are hollowed at their inner side. When the animal stands on its feet, the hoofs are, of course, widely expanded, and their points most remote from each other; but every time the foot is lifted from the ground, they strike together, and cause the noise above mentioned. This I was afterwards able to imitate at pleasure, by moving the foot with my hand.

[60] "Sed ad hoc Sorberius nihil."

When the reindeer are driven to the place where they are accustomed to be milked, they all lie down, breathing hard and panting violently, chewing the cud all the while. The report of Scheffer therefore, that they do not ruminate, is false, and Ray guessed more correctly than Scheffer observed.

When the fawn is missed by its mother, she runs in search of it with the most violent anxiety, stooping with her nose to the ground like a sow, till she finds it. She even quits the herd to which she belongs, and seeks her young at the Laplander's hut.

After the herd has lain down in the manner above described, each of the people takes a small rope, and, making a noose, throws it over the head of one of the females intended to be milked. The cord is afterwards twisted round the horns, and the other end tied to a small pole fixed in the ground. One pole is sufficient to secure four of the animals, which all hands are afterwards employed in milking, both master and mistress, men and maids. If the milk does not come with facility, they beat the udder very hard with their hands; which causes a greater flow. The dugs are four, very rarely six, all yielding milk, and none of them dry. The young are not separated from their mothers. After the herd was milked and gone to pasture, I observed the maid-servant taking up some of the soft black dung, which, after kneading it with her hands, she put into a vessel. On my inquiring what could be the use of this, she answered that the dugs were besmeared with it, to prevent the fawn's sucking too much. She added that it would dry upon the nipple by the morning after it was applied, and might then be easily rubbed off. The female reindeer bring forth their young early in May, and their owners begin milking them on Midsummer day, and continue to do so till the beginning of November in the forests, but in this neighbourhood they leave off milking about Michaelmas. The fawns acquire horns the first year, which are perfectly simple, like fingers. I could not help wondering how the Laplanders knew such of the herd as they had already milked, from the rest, as they turned each loose as soon as they had done with it. I was answered that every one of them had an appropriate name, which the owners knew perfectly. This seemed to me truly astonishing, as the form and colour are so much alike in all, and the latter varies in each individual every month. The size also varies according to the age of the animal. To be able to distinguish one from another among such multitudes, for they are like ants on an anthill, was beyond my comprehension.

_July 10._

I witnessed with pleasure the supreme tranquillity enjoyed by the inhabitants of this sequestered country. After they have milked their reindeer, and the women have made their cheese, boiled their whey to the requisite consistence, and taken their simple repast, they lie down to enjoy that sound sleep which is the reward and the proof of their innocent lives. There is rarely any contention among them. The inhabitants of the neighbouring moveable village had pitched their tents close together in lines, either from east to west, or otherwise. When my servant came in, he put his nose close to that of any person whom he wished to salute, as if he had intended to kiss him, saluting him with the old expression "_purist_." I inquired whether they actually kissed each other; but my man answered in the negative, that they only put their noses together. This custom is in use among relations only.

A boy had been sent out to gather sorrel (_Rumex Acetosa_), the larger kind, or variety, of which he brought home enough of the leaves with their stalks to fill a kettle. A small quantity of water was poured upon it, just sufficient to cover the bottom of the kettle. It was kept stirring over the fire, and allowed to boil, till the whole was reduced to a pulp. This was afterwards mixed with milk, and put into large barrels. When it has stood by for some time, it acquires an agreeable sourish taste, quite different from the flavour of the fresh plant. The barrels thus filled are preserved in holes, dug in the ground for the purpose, either lined with brickwork, or with birch bark, to protect them from rats or mice.

Another boy came in with as much as he could carry in his arms of the stalks of _Angelica_ (_sylvestris_) which had not yet flowered. The people stripped off the leaves, and by means of a knife peeled the stalks, the skin of which came off like hemp. They ate the remainder as they would an apple, thinking it a great delicacy. I partook of it with them. The broad sheathing footstalks of the leaves, which enfold the young umbels, not being esteemed good to eat fresh, were peeled, and added to the _syra_, see p. 243, which was destined to make _jumomj[:o]lk_, see p. 273.

In the hut where I was a guest, an infant lay in its leather cradle. Its head was protected by a screen of leather, and at the sides two longitudinal pieces of cloth, folding one over the other, were drawn together by a cord, over the child's body, which was besides covered with reindeer skins underneath. The head, breast, and shoulders were bare. It lay in this state all night long in the cold tent, and was exposed to the open air at other times, though the weather was very cold; yet the child did not suffer any inconvenience.

I slept every night between two reindeer skins.

I was treated with _[:o]stamus_, or milk turned to curd by rennet, which, together with a great proportion of cheese that I had eaten of late, disagreed violently with me, and almost brought on a _tenesmus_.

The women here, as well as the men, smoke tobacco, and indeed do almost every thing but actually wear breeches. The men dress the meat, while the women employ themselves only in making cheese, and other various preparations of milk. Every kind of fish or meat is cooked by the men; and if the women happen not to be at hand, even the cheese and milk fall under their management.

The alps are destitute of human inhabitants in the winter season, because the Laplanders are then obliged to seek more woody parts of the country, where alone they are able to find a sufficient quantity of moss (_Lichen rangiferinus_) to feed their reindeer. On the alps there is not only a want of wood, but the snow is covered with too hard a frozen crust to be penetrated so as to come at any thing beneath it.

The poorest people only remain here as long as possible, for the sake of catching Ptarmigans (_Tetrao Lagopus_); which is done in the following manner.

They take a little forked birch twig, about a span long, which is stuck into the snow perpendicularly by its divided end, forming a sort of arch. A snare or noose, made of packthread or horsehair, is then fixed to the twig by one end, and placed in the open space between the forks. The thin curling bark of the twig, being carefully slit down at the outer side, curls inward, and serves both to confine and conceal the snare, by drawing it close to the branch on the inner side. Such traps as these are ranged in a line, about a fathom from each other, in the birch thickets, brush wood being laid from one to another, so as to form a low fence. Now as the Ptarmigans come running along, for they seldom fly, they have no way to go but through these snares, and forty or fifty of them are frequently caught at a time.

This day I both heard and saw the Cuckoo (_Cuculus canorus_), which the Laplanders call _Geecka_; and also the great fishing Gull with a grey back (_Larus canus_), to which they give the name of _Staule_; (not _Straule_, as in the _Fauna Suecica_.)

The _Andromeda_ (_hypnoides_) with leaves like moss, or needle-shaped, was here in flower. The petal is bell-shaped, white tipped with purple, divided half way down into five semi-ovate segments. Calyx five-cleft, erect, acute. Anthers orange, very short, furnished with white bristles. Pistil one, obtuse.

In walking over the snow, I once sunk up to my middle, the floods having undermined it to a great depth. Two men drew me out with a rope, and I received no damage except a blow on my thigh and being very wet. Soon afterwards I met with a Laplander who was both a Danish and Swedish subject. He offered me brandy, which I would have declined; but he insisted on my taking a glass, and some tobacco.

The water of the lake of _Virijaur_ (perhaps _Wire-jaur_) was of a whitish green colour, exactly like water poured into a vessel previously used for milk. This appearance arose merely from its extreme purity, levity, and consequent transparency. It was cooler than the water flowing from the snow.

Not far from this lake, on the left, upon the side of the mountain called _Kaitsoniunni_, near a rivulet, I picked up a curious stone or radiated _fluor_, of a blueish colour, composed of square parts (probably zeolite). In the evening it rained, but I observed the _Papilionoides_ with purple spots (_Sphinx Filipendulae_).

The stones hereabouts were mostly fissile, horny; some black and aluminous, but generally horny and spontaneously decomposing, with silvery talc, rarely any quartz.

_July 11._

We rose early this morning, and after walking a quarter of a mile arrived at the lofty icy mountain. This is indeed of a very great elevation, and covered with perpetual snow, the surface of which was, for the most part, frozen quite hard. Sometimes we walked firmly over it, but it occasionally gave way, crumbling under our feet like sand. Every now and then we came to a river taking its course under the snowy crust, which in some parts had yielded to the force of the currents, and the sides of each chasm exhibited many snowy strata one above another. Here the mountain streams began to take their course westward, a sign of our having reached Norwegian Lapland. The delightful tracts of vegetation, which had hitherto been so agreeably interspersed among the alpine snows, were now no longer to be seen. No charming flowers were here scattered under our feet. The whole country was one dazzling snowy waste. The cold east wind quickened our steps, and obliged us to protect our hands that we might escape chilblains. I was glad to put on an additional coat. As we proceeded across the north side of this mountain, we were often so violently driven along by the force of the wind, that we were taken off our feet, and rolled a considerable way down the hill. This once happened to me in so dangerous a place, that, after rolling to the distance of a gun-shot, I arrived near the brink of a precipice, and thus my part in the drama had very nearly come to an end. The rain, which fell in torrents on all sides, froze on our shoes and backs into a crust of ice. This journey would have been long and tiresome enough without any such additional inconvenience. At length, after having travelled betwixt three and four miles, the mountains appeared before us, bare of snow though only sterile rocks, and between them we caught a view of the western ocean. The only bird I had seen in this icy tract, was what the Laplanders call _Pago_ (_Charadrius Hiaticula_). Its breast is black, throat white, feet orange.

Having thus traversed the alps, we arrived about noon upon their bold and precipitous limits to the westward. The ample forests spread out beneath us, looked like fine green fields, the loftiest trees appearing no more than herbs of the humblest growth. About these mountains grew the same species of plants that I had observed on the other side of the alps. We now descended into a lower country. It seems, as I write this, that I am still walking down the mountain, so long and steep was the descent, but the alpine plants no longer made their appearance after we had reached the more humble hills. When we arrived at the plains below, how grateful was the transition from a chill and frozen mountain to a warm balmy valley! I sat down to regale myself with strawberries. Instead of ice and snow, I was surrounded with vegetation in all its prime. Such tall grass I had never before beheld in any country. Instead of the blustering wind so lately experienced, soft gales wafted around us the grateful scent of flowery clover and various other plants. In the earlier part of my journey, I had for some time experienced a long-continued spring (whose steps I pursued as I ascended the Lapland hills); then unremitting winter and eternal snow surrounded me; summer at length was truly welcome. Oh how most lovely of all is summer!

Here grow, for the most part, the common plants of Upland, besides which I noticed _Aconitum lycoctonum_, and the little Mountain Catchfly with a white upright flower (_Silene rupestris_[61]); as also _Coronopus maritimus punctatus_ (_Plantago maritima [beta]_, _Fl. Suec. 46_), _Mesomora_ (_Cornus suecica_), and the Cloudberry (_Rubus Chamaemorus_).

[61] This appears by the _Flora Suecica_ to be likewise a native of
Upland.

By this time I was heartily tired, and found the refreshment of some cow's milk, and meat, with a chair to sit upon, very acceptable. I could not but wonder to see my two Laplanders, who had accompanied me during the whole of this day's tedious walk, one of them fifty years of age, the other upwards of seventy, running and frisking about in sport, though each of them had carried a burthen all the way; not indeed a very heavy one, but, considering the distance, by no means trifling. This set me seriously to consider the question put by Dr. Rosen, "why are the Laplanders so swift-footed?" To which I answer, that it arises not from any one cause, but from the cooperation of many.

1. The Laplanders, unlike us, wear no heels to their half boots. We see dancing-masters and rope-dancers, with little or no heels, perform feats of great agility, scarcely practicable with them. The same may be observed of running-footmen, and people of various countries who habitually walk fast; while, on the contrary, those who are accustomed to large and high heels, move in a heavy and deliberate manner. It is usual to shoe young horses heavily, that they may acquire a steadiness of pace; and I observe that the country boys where I am now writing, throw off their shoes when they intend to run, as the heels with which these shoes are made, deprive them of half the natural control of the muscles in the soles of their feet. Those muscles, by means of high heels, and consequently less use or exercise, become more and more stiff, and a man with a wooden foot or leg cannot but move heavily.

2. These people are accustomed to running from their infancy. As soon as a Lapland boy can go alone, he is taught to run and put a halter round the reindeer's neck. When he grows a little older, he learns to follow these animals, which are always quick-paced, insomuch that it is more laborious to keep up with them than with a herd of goats, and more difficult to run after them than to frisk about with a parcel of calves. If therefore a rope-dancer, or a running-footman, acquires great agility by perpetual practice, no wonder that a Laplander, who till he is married, and often all his life long, runs habitually after the reindeer, should rival any of them in swiftness of foot.

3. Freedom from hard labour is another cause. All laborious employments, such as directing the plough, threshing, cutting and hewing of wood, &c. render the blood thick, and the limbs stiff. Hence the flesh of a peasant is hard and tough, that of a young damsel soft and tender; nor can a peasant move with the lightness and flexibility of limbs that we see in a girl. How delicate are the muscles of children compared with those of an aged person! The Laplanders appear to be more nimble and active, in all their movements, because they undergo no hard or Herculean labours.

4. Habitual exercise of the muscles. A rope-dancer trains his pupils to the continual contraction and dilatation of their muscles, that they may acquire the more pliability. A dancer is at first taught by violence to turn out his toes; but by custom that position becomes easy, for use is second nature. So the Laplanders are perpetually exercising the muscles used in walking, which thence become so flexible, that they are able to sit for a long while cross-legged, without pain or inconvenience, in a posture intolerable to us, who are used to commodious seats. For my own part, since I set out on my journey, I have become able to walk four times as far as I could at first.

5. Animal food. It is observable that such of the creation as feed on vegetables, are of a more rigid, though strong, fibre; witness the Stag, the Bull, &c.; while, on the contrary, carnivorous animals, as the Dog, Cat, Wolf, Lion, &c., are all more flexible. The fact and its cause are both evident. The Laplanders are altogether carnivorous. They have no vegetable food brought to their tables. They now and then indeed eat a raw stalk of Angelica, as we would eat an apple, and occasionally a few leaves of Sorrel; but this, compared with the bulk of their food, is scarcely more than as one to a million. In spring they eat fish, in winter nothing but meat, in summer milk and its various preparations. It may further be remarked, that salted food, which these people do not use, renders the body heavy.

Here I cannot help making a few incidental remarks, on the opinion that man is proved, by his teeth, to be formed to eat all kinds of food. Those who advance this opinion say, his front or cutting-teeth are like those of animals that eat fruits or nuts, as the Hare, Rabbit, Squirrel, &c.; his canine, or eye-teeth, like those of beasts of prey, as the Cat; and his grinders like those of animals that live upon herbage, as the Cow, Horse, &c. But this reasoning is not altogether satisfactory to me. If, in the first place, we examine the human fore-teeth, we shall find them quite different from those of nut-cracking animals of the Squirrel or Hare tribe, which are more prominent, and rather spreading than erect at the angle, whereas ours are perpendicular, with their summits close and level. Hence the fore-teeth of such animals are very long, witness those of the Beaver. Some carnivorous animals have similar fore-teeth to ours, but have we any such canine teeth as theirs? They do not exceed ours in number, but they are much more important. The being furnished with grinders as such, will not, on the other hand, class us with herbivorous animals, although Bulls and Cows have them; for the Dog and Cat, and all other carnivorous ones, have grinders likewise. I have not yet met with any herbivorous animal, with a simple stomach, which is not subject to eructation, nor is the Mouse tribe any exception.

But to decide concerning our own species. If we contemplate the characters of our teeth, hands, fingers, and toes, it is impossible not to perceive how very nearly we are related to Baboons and Monkeys, the wild men of the woods. In as much therefore as these are found to be carnivorous, the question is decided with respect to ourselves.

6. The Laplander is satisfied with a small quantity of food at once. He does not eat his fill at one meal, but takes food from time to time, as he feels inclined.