Part 1

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Transcriber's Notes

In this plain text version the ASCII character set only is used.

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Inconsistent spellings, punctuation and hyphenation have been retained as in the original text. Changes made to the text in the case of typographical errors are listed at the end of the book.

* * * * *

_Lachesis Lapponica_,

OR A TOUR IN LAPLAND,

NOW FIRST PUBLISHED FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT JOURNAL OF THE CELEBRATED LINNAEUS;

BY

JAMES EDWARD SMITH, M. D. F. R. S. ETC. PRESIDENT OF THE LINNAEAN SOCIETY.

IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I.

"Ulterius nihil est, nisi non habitabile frigus." OVID.

_LONDON_:

PRINTED FOR WHITE AND COCHRANE, HORACE'S HEAD, FLEET-STREET, BY RICHARD TAYLOR AND CO., SHOE-LANE.

1811.

* * * * *

TO

THOMAS FURLY FORSTER, ESQ.

FELLOW OF THE LINNAEAN SOCIETY.

_My dear Sir,_

_Among the various consultations and communications which have taken place between us in the course of our long and uninterrupted friendship, I recollect that one object of your anxious curiosity has always been the_ Lachesis Lapponica _of Linnaeus, so often alluded to by himself and his pupils, and the original Swedish manuscript of which came into my hands with the rest of his collection. Of this I now present you with an English translation; and I offer it to you with the more satisfaction, because you are, amongst all my Linnaean acquaintance, one of the most capable of entering into every feeling of the original writer. His love of truth and of nature were not more ardent than your own, nor was his mental profit more. You, who have so deeply studied the works he prepared for the public, will with no less pleasure listen with me to his familiar conversation. We here behold, not the awful preceptor of the learned world in his professorial chair, but a youthful inexperienced student, full of ardour and curiosity, such as we ourselves have been, recording his ideas and observations for his own use, not delivering them forth for the instruction of others; and while we admire his perseverance and acuteness, we can sympathize with his embarrassments, and readily pardon his very inconsiderable mistakes. Happy are those who, like you, can equally sympathize in his pious and benevolent affections, his disdain of hypocrisy and oppression, and his never-ceasing desire to turn his scientific acquisitions to practical utility!_

_Be pleased, my dear Sir, to accept, with your usual favour, this sincere tribute of respect and esteem, from_

_Your very faithful friend,_

_J. E. SMITH._

PREFACE

BY THE EDITOR.

The biographers of Linnaeus have often mentioned the Journal of his Lapland Tour, to which he himself has frequently adverted, in various parts of his voluminous works, under the title of _Lachesis Lapponica_. The publication of this Journal has been anxiously desired; and so valuable was the manuscript considered, that on his whole collection and library being sold, after the death of his son, it was remarked that these papers at least ought to have been retained in Sweden, as a national property; the journey which they record having been undertaken at the public expense, and the objects illustrated thereby being, necessarily, more important to the author's countrymen than to any other people. This remark, however, was not made till long after the manuscript, with all the treasures which accompanied it, had escaped, by land and by sea, the pursuit instituted by the Swedish monarch to recover them, and had reached England in safety. It became a duty for their fortunate possessor to render them useful. To place the authority of this collection, as far as possible, out of the reach of accident, he has made it his chief object to extend any information to be derived from it, not only to his own countrymen, but to his fellow-labourers in every quarter of the globe. The Banksian herbarium was, in the course of seven months, compared with that of Linnaeus throughout, to their mutual advantage, by a copious interchange, not only of information, but of specimens. Plants or insects were for many years continually sent from France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Germany, and even Sweden, as well as from America, for comparison with the authentic originals named by the hand of Linnaeus. The time and labour devoted to this task have been richly compensated, by the acquisition of various novelties, and of much instruction, as well as by the pleasure of so extensive an intercourse with persons occupied in the same favourite and delightful pursuit, and by the acknowledgements with which most of them have overpaid the trouble.

The manuscripts of Linnaeus were no less freely consulted; but great was our disappointment to find the _Lachesis Lapponica_ written in Swedish. For a long time therefore it remained unexplored. At length Mr. Charles Troilius, a young gentleman in the mercantile line, resident in London, undertook the task of translating it. The manuscript proved to be the identical journal written on the spot during the tour, which certainly rendered it the more interesting; but the difficulty of decyphering it proved from that very circumstance unexpectedly great. The bulk of the composition is Swedish, but so intermixed with Latin, even in half sentences, that the translator, not being much acquainted with this language, found it necessary to leave frequent blanks, giving a literal version only of what he was able to read. The whole abounds also with frequent cyphers and abbreviations, sometimes referring to the publications or opinions of the day, and intended as memorandums for subsequent consideration. It is, in short, such a journal as a man would write for his own use, without the slightest thought of its ever being seen by any other person. The composition is entirely artless and unaffected, giving a most amiable idea of the writer's mind and temper; and it cannot but be considered as highly curious, to contemplate in these pages the development of such a mind as that of Linnaeus. As not a word throughout the whole was written for the use of any person but the author, the reader may perhaps be disappointed at not meeting with any thing like a professed description of Lapland, or even a regular detail of the route of the traveller. What was familiar to Linnaeus, either in books or in his own mind, is omitted. By the brilliant sketches he has left us in his _Flora Lapponica_, published a few years after his return, we see what he might have written had he here undertaken to communicate his own knowledge or remarks to others; and the same may be said of such of his dissertations, in the _Am[oe]nitates Academicae_, as professedly treat of subjects belonging to Lapland. The curious and learned reader will, however, here and there, meet with the first traces of ideas, opinions or discoveries, which scarcely acquired a shape, even in the mind of the writer, till some time afterwards. If on the one hand the Journal may seem defective in communicating information, the occasional quotations, references and allusions, the familiar and sufficiently correct use of the Latin language, and the general accuracy of the whole, give a very high idea of the author's accomplishments. The extemporaneous journals of the most illustrious travellers, made without a single book to refer to, or a companion to consult, would few of them perhaps stand the test of criticism so well.

To render the translation fit for the public view, the editor found himself under the necessity of writing the whole over; but in doing this, though often obliged to supply the forms of whole sentences, of which only hints or cyphers exist in the manuscript, he has been careful to give as literal a translation of the rest as the materials would allow. This principle ever kept in view, and the difficulty of the undertaking, which, small as the book is, has taken up much of his time for seven years past, must apologize for any inelegancies of composition. Yet in many parts the original displays a natural and striking eloquence, of which the translation may possibly fall short. Such passages, when they occurred, repaid the labour and perplexity of studying for hours to decypher some obscure mark, or some ill-written Swedish or Latin word, which the original translator had given up in despair.

The sketches with a pen, that occur plentifully in the manuscript, are not the least curious part of the whole. They are often necessary to explain descriptive passages in the work, and about sixty of them have been selected to illustrate the book. These have been cut in wood, with such admirable precision, that every stroke of the pen, even the most casual, is retained, and it is but justice to the artist, Mr. R. T. Austin, to record his name. Several plants, but rudely sketched in this manuscript, being more completely represented in the _Flora Lapponica_, it was thought unnecessary to publish such figures, except a few, for the sake of curiosity, or of particular illustration.

The notes are entirely supplied by the editor. Every name or remark that he has added to the text, is scrupulously inserted between crotchets; nor is there, throughout the whole, any one passage or word of the original author's so inclosed.

The "Brief Narrative," subjoined to the Journal, having been drawn up by Linnaeus himself, to lay before the Academy of Sciences at Upsal, could not with propriety be omitted. Part of it throws great light on the body of the work; and though there are some repetitions, there is little that can be thought superfluous.

* * * * *

_Norwich_, April, 1811.

JOURNEY TO LAPLAND.

Having been appointed by the Royal Academy of Sciences to travel through Lapland, for the purpose of investigating the three kingdoms of Nature in that country, I prepared my wearing apparel and other necessaries for the journey as follows.

My clothes consisted of a light coat of Westgothland linsey-woolsey cloth without folds, lined with red shalloon, having small cuffs and collar of shag; leather breeches; a round wig; a green leather cap, and a pair of half boots. I carried a small leather bag, half an ell in length, but somewhat less in breadth, furnished on one side with hooks and eyes, so that it could be opened and shut at pleasure. This bag contained one shirt; two pair of false sleeves; two half shirts; an inkstand, pencase, microscope, and spying-glass; a gauze cap to protect me occasionally from the gnats, a comb; my journal, and a parcel of paper stitched together for drying plants, both in folio; my manuscript Ornithology, _Flora Uplandica_, and _Characteres generici_. I wore a hanger at my side, and carried a small fowling-piece, as well as an octangular stick, graduated for the purpose of measuring. My pocket-book contained a passport from the Governor of Upsal, and a recommendation from the Academy.

_May_ 12, 1732, old style.

I set out alone from the city of Upsal on Friday May 12, 1732, at eleven o'clock, being at that time within half a day of twenty-five years of age.

At this season Nature wore her most cheerful and delightful aspect, and Flora celebrated her nuptials with Ph[oe]bus.

_Omnia vere vigent et veris tempore florent, Et totus fervet Veneris dulcedine mundus._

Spring clothes the fields and decks the flowery grove, And all creation glows with life and love.

Now the winter corn was half a foot in height, and the barley had just shot out its blade. The birch, the elm, and the aspen-tree began to put forth their leaves.

Upsal is the ancient seat of government. Its palace was destroyed by fire in 1702. With respect to situation, and variety of prospects, scarcely any city can be compared with this. For the distance of a quarter of a Swedish mile it is surrounded with fertile corn-fields, which are bounded by hills, and the view is terminated by spacious forests.

I had no sooner passed the northern gate of the city than I perceived signs of a clay soil, except in the hills, which consist of sand and stones. The road here is level, and for a quarter of a mile destitute of trees. In ditches by the way side the Water Byssus was observable (_Byssus Flos aquae_), particularly in places sheltered from the wind. It greatly resembles the cream of milk, and is called by the peasants _Watnet blommar_, or Water Flower.

A number of mares with their colts were grazing every where near the road. I remarked the great length of the young animals' legs, which according to common opinion are as long at their birth as they ever will be; therefore if a measure be taken from the hoof up to the knee of a young colt, and so on from the knee to the extremity, it will give the height of the horse when full grown. A similar observation has been made on the size of the bones in the ear of an infant.

I observed the same kind of moss, or rather _Lichenoides terrestre_, _daedaleis sinubus_, (_Lichen nivalis_,) which is found on the hill near the palace at Upsal.

Geese were now accompanied by their goslings, which are all uniformly of the same yellow hue when hatched, whatever colour they may acquire afterwards.

I left old Upsal on the right, with its three large sepulchral mounds or _tumuli_.

The few plants now in flower were _Taraxacum_ (_Leontodon Taraxacum_), which Tournefort erroneously combines with _Pilosella_ (_Hieracium Pilosella_), notwithstanding the reflexed leaves of its calyx; _Draba caule nudo_ (_D. verna_), which in Smoland is called Rye Flower, because as soon as the husbandman sees it in bloom he is accustomed to sow his Lent corn; _Myosotis scorpioides_; _Viola tricolor_ and _odorata_; _Thlaspi arvense_; _Lithospermum arvense_; _Cyperoides_ (probably some species of _Carex_); _Juncoides_ (_Juncus campestris_); _Salix_ (_S. caprea?_); _Primula veris_, as it is called, though neither here nor in other places the first flower of the spring; _Caltha palustris_, known by the name of Swedish Caper, as many people are said to eat it instead of the true Caper; the report of its giving a colour to butter is certainly false.

The lark was my companion all the way, flying before me quivering in the air.

_Ecce suum tirile, tirile, suum tirile tractat[1]._

[1] "The lark that tirra-lirra chaunts." _Shakspear's Winter's Tale._

The weather was warm and serene. Now and then a refreshing breeze sprang up from the west, and a rising cloud was observable in that quarter.

Okstad (more properly H[:o]gsta) is a mile and a quarter from Upsal. Here the forests began to thicken. The charming lark, which had till now attended my steps, here left me; but another bird welcomed my approach to the forest, the Red-wing, or _Turdus iliacus_, whose amorous warblings from the tops of the Spruce Fir were no less delightful. Its lofty and varied notes rival those of the Nightingale herself.

In the forest innumerable dwarf Firs are to be seen, whose diminutive height bears no proportion to their thick trunks, their lowermost branches being on a level with the uppermost, and the leading shoot entirely wanting. It seems as if all the branches came from one centre, like those of a palm, and that the top had been cut off. I attribute this to the soil, and could not but admire it as the pruning of Nature. This form of the Fir has been called _Pinus plicata_.

L[:a]by is a mile and a quarter further. Here the forest abounds with the Red Spanish Whortle-berry (_Arbutus Uva Ursi_), which was now in blossom, and of which, as it had not been scientifically described, I made a description; (see _Flora Lapponica_; and _Engl. Bot. t. 714_.)

A large and dreary pine-forest next presented itself, in which the herbaceous plants seemed almost starved, and in their place the soil, which was hardly two inches deep, all below that depth being pure barren sand (_Arena Glarea_), bore Heath (_Erica_), _Hypnum parietinum_, and some Lichens of the tribe called _coralloides_.

Above a quarter of a mile beyond the post-house, near the road, is a Runic monument; but I did not allow myself time to copy the inscription, finding it had lately been deciphered by somebody else.

A quarter of a mile further stands a land-mark of a curious construction, consisting of four flattish upright stones placed in a square, with a fifth in their centre.

I discovered a large stone of the kind called _Ludus Helmontii_[2], and, wishing to break it, I took a smaller stone, which proved to be of the same kind. My endeavours were vain as to the former; but the small one broke into many fragments, and proved to contain minute prismatic crystals, which were quite transparent; some white, others of a deep yellow.

[2] So I understand the original, which is _Lapis marmoreus polyzonos_.

Before the next post-house, I noticed on the right a little farm, and on the other side of the way a small ditch used to wash in. Here stood a plain sloping stone of white granite, in which were three large dark-grey squares, seeming to have been inlaid by a skilful stone-cutter. It was evident, however, on examining one end, that they were continued through the whole substance of the stone.

Opposite to Yfre is a little river, the water of which would at this time have hardly covered the tops of my shoes, though the banks are at least five ells in height. This has been occasioned either by the water continually carrying away the loose sand, or, as I am more inclined to believe, the quantity of water is less than it has been.

_Chrysosplenium_ (_alternifolium_) was now in blossom. Tournefort defines it _foliis auriculatis_, but erroneously, as the leaves are all separate and distinct[3]. It has eight stamens, placed in a quadrangular position, and two pistils. Thus it evidently approaches nearer to the _Saxifragae_, as former botanists have justly thought, than to the _campaniformes_, or flowers with a monopetalous corolla.

[3] Tournefort by this definition probably meant to compare the shape of the leaves, with the ears of some animal. In the criticism of Linnaeus respecting the natural affinity of this plant, we may observe how his own system, professedly artificial, and yet so affectedly despised by some botanists for not being natural, led him to the real truth. In fact, some truth is to be learnt from every system and every theory, but perfection is not to be expected from any one.

At Yfre, two miles further, I noticed young kids, under whose chins, at the commencement of the throat, were a pair of tubercles, like those sometimes seen in pigs, about an inch long, of the thickness of their mother's nipples, and clothed with a few scattered hairs. Of their use I am ignorant.

Near the church of Tierp runs a stream, whose bank on the side where it makes a curvature is very high and steep, owing to timber placed close to the water. The great power of a current, and the way in which it undermines the ground, is exceedingly visible at this place. Hence the strongest earthen ramparts, made with the greatest expense and labour, are often found insufficient to secure the foundations of large palaces or churches in some situations. But where timber has been used, the attacks of water are little to be dreaded. On both sides of the church were several small sepulchral mounds. It now grew late, and I hastened to Mehede, two miles and a half further, where I slept.

_May 13._

Here the Yew (_Taxus baccata_) grows wild. The inhabitants call it Id or Idegran.

The forest abounded with the Yellow Anemone (_Anemone ranunculoides_), which many people consider as differing from that genus. One would suppose they had never seen an Anemone at all. Here also grew Hepatica (_Anemone Hepatica_) and Wood Sorrel (_Oxalis Acetosella_). Their blossoms were all closed. Who has endowed plants with intelligence, to shut themselves up at the approach of rain? Even when the weather changes in a moment from sunshine to rain, though before expanded, they immediately close. Here for the first time this season I heard the Cuckoo, a welcome harbinger of summer.

Having often been told of the cataract of Elf-Carleby, I thought it worth while to go a little out of my way to see it; especially as I could hear it from the road, and saw the vapour of its foam, rising like the smoke of a chimney. On arriving at the spot, I perceived the river to be divided into three channels by a huge rock, placed by the hand of Nature in the middle of its course. The water, in the nearest of these channels, falls from a height of twelve or fifteen ells, so that its white foam and spray are thrown as high as two ells into the air, and the whole at a distance appears like a continual smoke. On this branch of the cascade stands a saw-mill. The man employed in it had a pallid countenance, but he did not complain of his situation so much as I should have expected.

It is impossible to examine the nature of the inaccessible black rock over which the water precipitates itself.

Below this cataract is a salmon fishery. A square net, made of wicker work, placed at the height of an ell above the water, is so constructed that the salmon when once caught cannot afterwards escape.

Oak trees grow on the summits of the surrounding rocks. At first it seems inconceivable how they should obtain nourishment; but the vapours are collected by the hills above, and trickle down in streams to their roots.

In the valleys among these hills I picked up shells remarkable for the acuteness of their spiral points. Here also grew a rare Moss of a sulphur-green colour[4].

[4] This appears to have been _Bartramia pomiformis_, _Bryum pomiforme_ of Linnaeus. See _Fl. Lapp. n. 400_.

From hence I hastened to the town of Elf-Carleby, which is divided into two parts by the large river, whose source is at Lexan in Dalecarlia. The largest portion of the town stands on the southern side, and contains numerous shops, occupied only during the fairs occasionally kept at this place.

I crossed the river by a ferry, where it is about two gun-shots wide. The ferryman never fails to ask every traveller for his passport, or license to travel. At first sight this man reminded me of Rudbeck's Charon, whom he very much resembled, except that he was not so aged. We passed the small island described by that author as having been separated from the main land in the reign of king John III. It is now at a considerable distance from the shore, the force of the current rendering the intermediate channel, as Rudbeck observes, every year wider. The base of the island is a rock. Only one tree was now to be seen upon it.