Part 3

We endeavoured to descend on the south side, which was the steepest, and where rocks were piled on rocks. We were often obliged to sit down, and in that position to slide for a considerable way. Had we then met with a loose fragment of rock, or a precipice, our lives had been lost. About the middle of this side of the mountain, an Eagle Owl (_Strix Bubo_) started up suddenly before us. It was as large as a hen, and the colour of a woodcock, with black feathery ears or horns, and black lines about the bill. I wished for my gun, which I had left, finding it too troublesome to carry up the hill. Immediately afterwards we perceived a little plat of grass, fronting the south, and guarded, as it were, with rocky walls on the east and west, so that no wind but from the south could reach it. Here were three young birds and a spotted egg[9]. Of these birds one was as large as two fists, healthy and brisk, clothed all over with very soft long whitish feathers like wool. This we took away with us to the house. The other two were but half as large. The egg fell to pieces as I took it up, and contained only a small quantity of a thin watery fluid, the abominable smell of which I shall not venture to describe, lest I should excite as much disgust in my readers as in myself. I believe the two smaller birds were the offspring of the Eagle Owl. Close to the nest lay a few small bones, of what animal I am ignorant. These birds were all quite full fed. Near them was a large dead rat, of which the under side was already putrefied and full of maggots. I verily believe that these young birds cannot digest flesh, but are obliged to wait till it decays and affords them maggots and vermin. Their bills and cere were black. The egg was almost globular, white, the size of that of a guinea-hen.

[9] So I interpret Linnaeus's cypher in this and another place, which is _ovum_ [square with dot] _sum_, (ovum maculosum). If I am wrong, the candid reader will rather compassionate than condemn me; yet Linnaeus says, a little further on, that the egg was white.

Here and there among the rocks small patches of vegetation were to be seen, full of variety of herbaceous plants, among others the Heart's Ease, _Viola tricolor_[10], of which some of the flowers were white; others blue and white; others with the upper petals blue and yellow, the lateral and lower ones blue; while others again had a mixture of yellow in the side petals. All these were found within a foot of each other; sometimes even on the same stalk different colours were observable: a plain proof that such diversities do not constitute a specific distinction, and that the action of the sun may probably cause them all. There could scarcely be a more favourable place for vegetation than this, exposed to the sun, sheltered from the cold, and moderately watered by little rills which trickled down the mountain.

[10] More probably, from the place of growth, as well as the description, _Viola lutea_ of _Fl. Britannica_, and _English Botany, vol. 11. t. 721_.

Leaving this mountain, and proceeding further on my journey, I observed by the road a large reddish stone, full of glittering portions of talc. The greater part of my way lay near the sea shore, which was bespread with the wrecks of vessels. How many prayers, sighs and tears, vows and lamentations, all alas in vain! arose to my imagination at this melancholy spectacle! It brought to my mind the student[11], who in going by sea from Stockholm to Abo had experienced so severely the terrors of the deep, that he rather chose to walk back to Stockholm through East Bothnia, Tornea, West Bothnia, &c., than trust himself again to so cruel and treacherous a deity as Neptune.

[11] This was Tillands, afterwards Professor at Abo, who hence assumed this surname, expressive of his attachment to land, and Linnaeus named in honour of him a plant which cannot bear wet. See his _Ord. Nat. 291_.

Towards evening I reached Sundswall, a town situated in a small spot between two high hills. On one side is the sea, into which a river discharges itself at this place.

About sunset I came to Finstad, but continued my route the same evening to Fj[:a]hl, where I was obliged to pass a river by two separate ferries, the stream being divided by an island.

_May 18._

Being Ascension day, I spent it at this place, partly on account of the holiday, partly to rest my weary limbs and recruit my strength.

The country bears a great resemblance to Helsingland, but is rather a more pleasant residence.

I took a walk about the neighbourhood to amuse myself with the beauties of Flora, which were here but in their earliest spring. I found an aquatic Violet with a white flower, which very much resembled the large wild Violet (_Viola canina_), of which I should have taken it for a variety had I not compared them together. It always grows near the water. The odd petal, or lip, is always more or less of a blueish colour; the rest whitish, generally indeed quite white[12]. Close to this grew the little Marsh Violet, mentioned some time since, (_V. palustris_, see _p. 20_,) but here it was remarkable for a purplish tinge; (_V. palustris [beta] Fl. Brit.?_)

This evening it rained very hard.

[12] Linnaeus appears to have neglected to describe this _Viola_ in his printed works. May it not be _V. lactea_, _Fl. Brit. 247._ _Engl. Bot. vol. 7. t. 445_?

_May 19._

On the following morning I arose with the sun, and took leave of Fj[:a]hl. Having proceeded about a quarter of a mile, I came within sight of the next church, called Hasj[:o]. Here I turned to the left out of the main road, to examine a hill where copper ore was said to be found. The stones indeed had a glittering appearance, like copper ore; but the pyrites to which that was owing were of a yellowish white, a certain indication of their containing chiefly iron. Some stones of a blackish colour lay about this hill, decomposed by the action of the air. An opening not more than six feet in breadth, and as much in depth, was the only examination that had as yet been made into this mine. The mountain is named Balingsberget.

Not far distant, close to the church on the north-east, a huge stone is to be seen. The credulous vulgar relate that, when the church was building, some malignant beings of gigantic size were desirous of knocking it down, but the stones thrown for that purpose fell short of the sacred spot. As a confirmation of this history, they show the evident marks of four huge fingers and a thumb on the upper side of the stone.

In approaching the next large mountain, called Brunaesberget, I turned towards the left, and found a cave, formed by Nature in the mountain itself, resembling an artificial dwelling. The sides, end and roof were all of stone. The front was open, but much narrower and lower than the inside, which was so lofty that I could not reach the roof. The entrance was concealed on the outside by two large trees, a fir and a birch, and the descent was pretty steep. On the floor lay some burnt stumps of trees. The neighbouring people informed me that a criminal had concealed himself for two years in this cavern, its situation being so retired, and the approach from the road so well fortified by stones piled on stones, that he remained entirely undiscovered.

On the roof and sides of this cave, near the entrance, the stones were clothed with a fungous substance, like a sponge in texture, without any regular form; or rather like the internal medullary part of the Agaric of the Birch, when dressed for making tinder. It appeared to me quite distinct from all plants hitherto described. (This is the _Byssus cryptarum_; _Linn. Fl. Lapp. n. 527_, and _Fl. Suec. n. 1181_. Succeeding travellers have gathered it here.)

Every where near the road lay spar full of talc, or Muscovy glass, glittering in the sun.

Now we take leave of Medelpad and its sandy roads, as well as its Yellow Aconite (_Aconitum lycoctonum_), both which it affords in common with Helsingland.

ANGERMANLAND.

About a quarter of a mile from the next post-house is a small bridge, over a rivulet which joins two little lakes. This water separates Medelpad from Angermanland. We no sooner enter this district, than we meet with lofty and very steep hills, scarcely to be descended with safety on horseback.

Very near Hernosand, in the territories of the bishopric, I picked up a number of Chrysomelas of a blueish green and gold. (These were the beautiful _Chrysomela graminis_. See _Faun. Suec. n. 509_.)

The city of Hernosand is situated about half or three quarters of a mile within the borders of the province, standing on an island, accessible to ships on every side, except at Vaerbryggan, where they can scarcely pass.

In the heart of the Angermannian forests trees with deciduous leaves, _Betula alba_ and the hoary-leaved Alder (_Betula incana_), abound equally with the Common and Spruce Firs (_Pinus sylvestris_ and _Abies_), while among the humble shrubs the Heath (_Erica_) and the Bilberry (_Vaccinium Myrtillus_) alternately predominate; the former chiefly on the hills, the latter in the closer parts of the forest.

These hills might with great advantage be cleared of their wood; for here is a good soil remaining wherever the trees are burnt down, not barren stones as in Helsingland and Medelpad. The valleys between the mountains, as in those countries, are cultivated with corn, or laid out in meadows, but here are spacious plains besides.

Every house has near it one of those stages already described, on which the rye, less plentiful here than barley, is laid to dry, as are the peas likewise.

The woods abound with matted branches of the birch, I know not from what cause.

Between Norsby and Veda, on the hill towards M[:o]rtsi[:o]n, I had a very extensive view of the surrounding country, which presented itself like clouds of dense vapour rising one above another. The mountains looked quite blue from the fog which rose from them; and this vapour gave them the appearance of having each a more lofty summit than the hill before it. This was the case in every part of the prospect.

Veda is situated near the great river of Angermanland, which takes its name from the country (_Angermanna Elfven_), and is half a Swedish mile in breadth near its mouth. The water is entirely salt, this being more properly an arm of the sea than a river.

I crossed this water, and, on approaching the opposite shore, observed all along the coast a remarkable line of white froth, an ell broad, carried along with the stream. On inquiring the cause of this, my companions in the boat replied, they knew of no other than that this line was the course of the current of the river.

Near the road, every here and there, were nets for catching fish. These were not painted black, but coloured red by boiling large pieces of the inner bark of the birch. When this liquor begins to cool, the nets are immersed in it.

_May 20._

In some places the cows were without horns; a mere variety of the common kind, and not a distinct species. Nor have they been originally formed thus; for though in them the most essential character of their genus is, as to external appearance, wanting, still rudiments of horns are to be found under the skin. A contrary variety is observable, in Scania and other places, in the ram, which has sometimes four, six or eight horns, that part growing luxuriant to excess, like double flowers.

The forests chiefly consist of the Hoary-leaved Alder. Birch trees here also bear abundance of matted branches. To whatever side I cast my eyes, nothing but lofty mountains were to be seen. Not far from Aessja the little Strawberry-leaved Bramble (_Rubus arcticus_) was in full bloom. The cold weather, however, had rendered the purple of its blossoms paler than usual. I cannot help thinking that it might more properly and specifically be called _Rubus humilis_, _folio fragariae_, _flore rubro_, than _fructu rubro_. It likewise seems to me, that this plant exactly agrees in structure with the _Rubus folio ribes alpinus anglicus_ of authors, which I must compare with it the first opportunity[13].

[13] Linnaeus soon satisfied himself that the latter was his _Rubus Chamaemorus_. The _arcticus_ is a much more valuable plant for its fruit, which partakes of the flavour of the raspberry and strawberry, and makes a most delicious wine, used only by the nobility in Sweden.

A quarter of a mile further is Doggsta, on the other side of which, close to the road, stands a tremendously steep and lofty mountain, called Skulaberget, (the mountain of Skula,[14]) in which I was informed there was a remarkable cavern. This I wished to explore, but the people told me it was impossible. With much difficulty I prevailed on two men to show me the way. We climbed the rocks, creeping on our hands and knees, and often slipping back again; we had no sooner advanced a little, than all our labour was lost by a retrograde motion. Sometimes we caught hold of bushes, sometimes of small projecting stones. Had they failed us, which was very likely to have been the case, our lives might have paid for it. I was following one of the men in climbing a steep rock; but seeing the other had better success, I endeavoured to overtake him. I had but just left my former situation, when a large mass of rock broke loose from a spot which my late guide had just passed, and fell exactly where I had been, with such force that it struck fire as it went. If I had not providentially changed my route, nobody would ever have heard of me more. Shortly afterwards another fragment came tumbling down. I am not sure that the man did not roll it down on purpose. At length, quite spent with toil, we reached the object of our pursuit, which is a cavity in the middle of the mountain. I expected to have seen something to repay my curiosity, but found a mere cavern, formed like a circle or arch, fourteen Parisian feet high, eighteen broad, and twenty-two long. The stones that compose it are of a very hard kind of quartz or spar, yet the sides of the cavern are in many places as even as if they had been cut artificially. Several different strata are distinguishable, particularly in the roof, which is concave like an arch. In that part a hole appears, intended, as I was told, for a chimney. Whether it is pervious to any extent, I know not. Some convulsion of the mountain seems to have shivered the rock in longitudinal fissures. All the shivers of stone, many of which lie on the floor, are quadrangular, and of a considerable size. I am fully persuaded of this grotto having been formed by the hand of Nature, and that art had afterwards merely cleared away the fragments of stone. The entrance is sufficiently large to afford a full view of the inside, occupying an eighth part of the whole. Drops of water trickle down from the roof near one of the sides. Some species of _Polypodium_, the _Asplenium Trichomanes_, and other ferns, grow on the adjacent parts of the mountain. Before the orifice of this cavern grew a Sallow tree, which when king Charles XI. passed this way was cut down, and, having grown up again, was a second time felled by the inhabitants[15].

[14] Its perpendicular height is two hundred Swedish ells. See _Dissert. de Angermanni[^a]_.

[15] This cavern has been visited by other naturalists since the time of Linnaeus, among whom was Dr. Olaf Swartz, the present Bergian Professor of Botany at Stockholm, well known by his various excellent publications, who gathered here the same _Byssus_ (_cryptarum_) which Linnaeus found in the other cavern at Brunaesberget. Both their original specimens are now in my possession.

Having taken leave of this mountain, I had scarcely continued my journey a quarter of a mile before I found a great part of the country covered with snow, in patches some inches deep. The pretty spring flowers had gradually disappeared. The buds of the birch, which so greatly contribute to the beauty of the forests, were not yet put forth. I saw nothing but wintry plants, the heath and the whortle-berry, peeping through the snow. The high mountains which surround this tract, and screen it from the genial southern and western breezes, added to the thick forests which will hardly allow the first mild showers of spring to reach the ground, may account for the long duration of the snow.

This part of the country is very mountainous, and is watered by many small rills, originating on the sides of the mountains from the copious rains falling upon them, and running from thence, by various channels, to swell the streams of Helsingland and Medelpad.

The cornfields afford a crop two years successively, and lie fallow the third. Rye is seldom or never sown here, being too slow in coming to perfection, so that the land, which must next receive the Barley, would be too much exhausted. The ploughs are made with two transverse beams on one side, that the sods may be turned the first time the land is ploughed, as will presently be more particularly explained.

_May 21._

After going to church at Natra, I remarked some cornfields, which the curate of that place had caused to be cultivated in a manner that appeared extraordinary to me. After the field has lain fallow three or four years, it is sown with one part rye and two parts barley, mixed together. The seed is committed to the ground in spring, as soon as the earth is capable of tillage. The barley grows rank, ripens its ears, and is reaped. The rye in the mean while goes into leaf, but shoots up no stem, as the barley smothers it and retards its growth. After the latter is reaped, the rye advances in growth, and ripens the year following, without any further cultivation, the crop being very abundant. The corn so produced is called Kapps[:a]d.

Today I met with no flowers, except the Wood Sorrel (_Oxalis Acetosella_), which is here the _primula_, or first flower of the spring. The _Convallaria bifolia_ and Strawberry-leaved Bramble (_Rubus arcticus_) were plentifully in leaf.

The rocks are generally of a whitish hue, the uppermost side indeed being rather darker from the injuries of the air, and the minute mosses that clothe it.

The inhabitants make the same kind of broad cakes of bread, which have already been described. The flour used for this purpose commonly consists of one part barley and three of chaff. When they wish to have it very good, and the country is rich in barley, they add but two portions of chaff to one of corn[16]. The cakes are not suffered to remain long in the oven, but require to be turned once. Only one is baked at a time, and the fire is swept towards the sides of the oven with a large bunch of cock's feathers.

[16] How would this _very good_ bread suit English stomachs? This _honest_ adulteration has not been thought of by any of our schemers, whose projects only serve to teach evil-disposed bakers to make bread of any thing rather than what they ought, and to spare their pockets at the expense of the public welfare.

In summer the people eat _Segmiolk_ (Thick Milk), prepared in the following manner: After the milk is turned, and the curd taken out, the whey is put into a vessel, where it remains till it becomes sour. Immediately after the making of cheese, fresh whey is poured lukewarm on the former sour whey. This is repeated several times, care being always taken that the fresh whey be lukewarm. Finally they let the mixture remain for some time, the longer the better, and it becomes at length so glutinous, that it may be drawn out from one side of the house to the other. Even if a vessel be filled with it and set by in the cellar, as is usually practised for winter provision, care must be taken that not the least drop may run out, otherwise the whole would escape, so great is the cohesion of its particles.

This prepared milk is esteemed a great dainty by the country people. They consider it as very cooling and refreshing. Sometimes it is eaten along with fresh milk. In taking it from the dish, it cannot be poured out, as it all runs back again if not cut with a knife, or, as is more usual, parted by holding the finger against the edge of the spoon.

Intermittent fevers would not be so rare here as they are, if they could be produced by acid diet, for then this food must infallibly occasion them.

A small quantity of this preparation is sometimes put into the barley cakes, in order to give them tenacity.

I had here abundant opportunities of examining a fish, not every where to be met with, called the Harr, (_Salmo Thymallus_, or Grayling,) which in appearance very much resembles a Salmon. (See _Fauna Suecica, ed. 2. 125_.)

The coverlets of the beds at this place are made of hare-skins.

_May 22._

The cows in this neighbourhood have no horns, so that the owners can neither by the rings on the horn ascertain how many calves the cow has had, nor, as is usual with respect to goats, determine the age of the animal every year by the new horns. A few of them indeed bore horns of a finger's length only, and those bent down, immediately from their origin, so close to the hide, that they were hardly visible above the hair.

Apple trees grow between Veda and Hornoen, but none are to be seen further north. No kind of Willow is to be met with, as I was informed, throughout Angermanland. The Hazle is not to be found here. Cherries do not always ripen, but Potatoes thrive very well. Tobacco and Hops both grow slowly, and are of rare occurrence.

In the road I saw a Cuckoo fed by a _Motacilla_ (Water Wagtail?). I am sure of the fact, and that there was no deception in the case.

In the forest previous to my arrival at Ouske, I picked up a striated stone, from a small cleft in the rock, which had the appearance of imperfect cinnabar.

Ochre was here very abundant in the marshes, and had a coat which tinged the fingers with a silvery hue; a sign of iron, but not of any mineral water.

_Stellaria_ with oblong leaves (_Callitriche autumnalis_) grew in the surrounding puddles. Those botanists are much mistaken who distinguish this from the kind with oval leaves (_Callitriche verna_), for they only differ in age. The lower leaves of the preceding year, of an ovate form, still remained under water quite fresh, bearing ripe seeds in their _axillae_.

The stones hereabouts are of a light grey colour, with large white spots.

Near the coast was a quicksand, caused here, as in Scania, by the fine light sand of the soil being taken up by the wind into the air, and then spread about upon the grass, which it destroys.

The road in several parts lies close to the sea shore.

_May 23._

After having spent the night at Normaling, I took a walk to examine the neighbourhood, and met with a mineral spring, already observed by Mr. Peter Artedi[17], at this his native place. It appeared to contain a great quantity of ochre, but seemed by the taste too astringent to be wholesome. It is situated near the coast to the west, on the south of the church, and at no great distance from it.

[17] The celebrated writer on fishes, afterwards so intimately connected with Linnaeus. The latter published his Ichthyology, and wrote his life in a style which does equal honour to his own feelings and the merit of his friend.

I observed on the adjacent shore that an additional quantity of sand is thrown up every year by the sea, which thus makes a rampart against its own encroachments, continually adding by little and little to the continent.