Part 4

A mile, or rather more, from the land, is an island named Bonden, where the bird called Tordmule (_Alca Torda_) lays its eggs every year. These are collected every season by the peasants, who assured me that the bird never lays above one egg in a year, except that egg be taken away, and then she will repeatedly lay more. It seems to me a very curious circumstance, and scarcely possible, that the increase of the species every year should be naturally not more than one. Some persons indeed told me these birds laid two eggs. It is certain that the size of the egg is very large compared with the body of the parent. I only saw some fragments of this bird, but am pretty certain of its being the _Anas arctica_ (_Alca Torda_).

In proportion as I approached Westbothland, the height of the mountains, the quantity of large stones, and the extent of the forests, gradually decreased. Fir trees, which of late had been of rare occurrence, became more abundant. Above a mile before we come to S[:o]rmjole, is a river called Angeraen, separating Angermanland from Westbothland.

The peasants hereabouts use the following implements, for breaking up the ground of their fallow fields.

No. 1 is a plough drawn by a horse. b, b, is a strong thick-backed knife, placed in the middle of the plough, and serving to cut straight lines through the grassy turf, which in the course of five or six years has accumulated on the soil.

No. 2 is used immediately afterwards, to cut the clods of turf from their base and turn them up. Of this a is the handle, as in No. 1, held by the ploughman's right hand; b the main beam of the plough; c the part which goes under the surface of the ground, and is terminated in the fore part by the plough-share; d, which is formed obliquely, turning towards the outside, not towards the man who guides the plough; e is placed on the top horizontally, reaching to the base of the plough-share, serving to turn over the clods. The whole is drawn by a horse, the only kind of animal used here in husbandry.

No. 3, p. 65, is a hoe, which, when furnished with a handle, serves to pare the earth from the under side of the turfs, after they are turned over by the machine last described. The first year after this operation they sow rye, but in the following season barley, when the turfs are become rotten.

WESTERBOTTEN, or WESTBOTHLAND.

The ground here is tolerably level; the soil sand, sometimes clay. In some places are large tracts of moss. The whole country, owing to the sand and the moss, is by no means fertile, though it affords a good deal of milk. Barley is the chief corn raised here, rye being very seldom sown, and when any is sown, it is commonly summer rye.

Before I reached S[:o]rmjole, two male reindeer came up to me. I was mounted on a mare, which had nearly thrown me. No flowers were here to be seen, not even the Wood Sorrel (_Oxalis Acetosella_), my only consolation in Angermanland. _Caltha palustris_ alone appeared in the marshes, which in this country is the first blossom of the spring. The Cotton Rush with one spike and that with many spikes (_Eriophorum vaginatum_ and _polystachion_) were now coming into bloom. _Betula nana_ was abundant enough, but as yet showed no signs of catkins or leaves. Throughout the whole of this country no Ash, Maple, Lime, Elm nor Willow is to be seen, much less Hazel, Oak or Beech.

Towards evening I reached R[:o]b[:a]ck, where I passed the night. The wind blew hard from the north-east, and the evening was cold.

_May 24._

Close to R[:o]b[:a]ck is a fine spacious meadow, which would be quite level, were it not for the hundreds of ant-hills scattered over it.

Near the road, and very near the rivulet that takes its course towards the town of Umoea, are some mineral springs, abounding with ochre, and covered with a silvery pellicle. I conceive that R[:o]b[:a]ck may have obtained its name from this red sediment, from _r[:o]d_ red, and _b[:a]ck_ a rivulet. Not far from this town is another mineral spring, by drinking of which several persons have lost their lives. It flows down an adjacent hill.

Umoea, situated on the abovementioned little river, which is passed in a ferry-boat, and navigable for merchandise to the sea, is but a small town, not having yet recovered from the damage done it by the enemy, who burnt it to the ground. The ferry-boat was conducted by a brawny, though bald and grey-bearded Charon, in an old grey coat, just such as Rudbeck describes.

I waited on Baron Grundell, Governor of the province, who is a pattern of mildness, and he received me in the kindest manner. He showed me several curiosities, and gave me much interesting information.

He had two Crossbills (_Loxia curvirostra_) in a cage, which fed on the cones of the spruce fir (_Pinus Abies_) with great dexterity. They took up a cone with their beak, and, holding it fast with one foot, picked out the seeds by means of their forked mandibles, of which the upper is very thick, ending in an oblong curved very sharp point. The lower is shorter, and cuts obliquely, sometimes to the right, sometimes to the left. Both these were male birds; their feathers of a tawny red, except the wings and forked tail, which were black.

From the window I perceived in an adjoining fen the Yellow-hammer (_Motacilla flava_) and some Swallows.

Baron Grundell told me he often had Snow Buntings (_Emberiza nivalis_), and Ortolans (_E. Hortulanus_), which last are frequently sold in France for the value of a ducat (nine shillings). These birds are also to be met with in Scania. Here had been plenty of Ruffs and Reeves this year (_Tringa pugnax_).

He showed me the skins of blue and black Foxes, and also of the variety called _Korssraf_, Cross Fox (_Canis Vulpes [beta] Faun. Suec._), which is of a yellow colour except the shoulders and hind quarters, and they are of a greyish black. He told me he had lately sent the king a live _Jarf_ (_Mustela Gulo_), and that he had once had another of that species so much domesticated, that when he would have turned it into the water, at the first cutting of the ice, it would not leave him, nor would it feed on any kind of fish alive.

In the garden the Governor showed me the garden orache, sallad, and red cabbage, which last thrives very well, though the white will not come to perfection here; also garden cresses, winter cresses (_Erysimum Barbarea [beta] Fl. Suec._), scurvy-grass, chamomile, spinach, onions, leeks, chives, cucumbers, columbines, carnations, sweet-williams, gooseberries, currants, the barberry, elder, guelder-rose and lilac. Potatoes here are not larger than poppy-heads. Tobacco managed with the greatest care, and when the season is remarkably favourable, sometimes perfects seed. Dwarf French beans thrive pretty well, but the climbing kinds never succeed. Broad beans come to perfection; but peas, though they form pods, never ripen. Roses, apples, pears, plums hardly grow at all, though cultivated with the greatest attention. The garden however affords good radishes, mustard and horse radish, and especially leeks, chives, winter cresses, columbines, goose-tongue (_Achillea Ptarmica_), rose-campion (_Agrostemma coronaria_), scurvy-grass, currants, gooseberries, barberry-berries, wild rose, and lovage (_Ligusticum Levisticum_), though scarcely cherries, apples or plums.

Barley in some of the neighbouring fields was now beginning to spring up, but in others it was not yet sown.

The Governor informed me of a singular opinion prevalent here concerning the clay in the sand-hills, that it increases and decreases with the moon, so that by digging during the full moon clay may be obtained, but, on the contrary, when the moon is in the wane, sand only will be found in the same spot. The same gentleman remarked that cracks or chasms in the ground are observable in fine or dry weather, which close in cloudy or wet seasons, and may have given rise to the above idea.

Near the water side I caught an _Ephemera_, of which I made a drawing and description. It was however of a distinct genus from the proper _Ephemera_, having the wings inclining downwards, not erect, the tail with two bristles instead of three, and the _antennae_ bent near the extremity. (This appears to have been a small specimen of the _Phryganea bicaudata_.)

From my first arrival in Westbothland, I had remarked that all the inhabitants used a peculiar kind of shoes or half-boots, called _K[:a]ngor_. These seemed at first sight very awkward, but I soon found they had many advantages over common shoes, being easier in wearing, and impenetrable to water. Those who wear them may walk in water up to the tops without wetting their feet; for the seams never give way as in our common shoes. Another advantage is that they require no buckles, and serve equally well for shoes or boots, so that those who follow the plough are not obliged to buy boots for that purpose. The lowest price of a pair of common boots is nine dollars, and of strong shoes five; but these cost only two dollars. They are cut so that not a morsel of leather is wasted. Thick soles, formed as usual of three or four layers of leather, are here needless, neither are heels wanted. Nature, whom no artist has yet been able to excel, has not given heels to mankind, and for this reason we see the people of Westbothland trip along as easily and nimbly in these shoes as if they went barefoot.

In the cornfields lay hundreds of Gulls (_Larus canus_) of a sky-blue colour.

_May 26._

I took leave of Umoea. The weather was rainy, and continued so during the whole day. I turned out of the main road to the left, my design being to visit Lycksele Lapmark. By this means I missed the advantage I had hitherto had at the regular post-houses, of commanding a horse whenever I pleased; which is no small convenience to a stranger travelling in Sweden. It now became necessary for me to entreat in the most submissive manner when I stood in need of this useful animal. The road grew more and more narrow and bad, so that my horse went stumbling along, at almost every step, among stones, at the hazard of my life. My path was so narrow and intricate, along so many by-ways, that nothing human could have followed my track. In this dreary wilderness I began to feel very solitary, and to long earnestly for a companion. The mere exercise of a trotting horse in a good road, to set the heart and spirits at liberty, would have been preferable to the slow and tedious mode of travelling which I was doomed to experience. The few inhabitants I met with had a foreign accent, and always concluded their sentences with an adjective. Throughout this whole day's journey nothing occurred to my observation worth notice, except a fine kind of sand by the rivulet at Gubbele near Brattby, which would be excellent for the purpose of making moulds for casting metal.

Not far from Spoland I caught on a willow a small insect of the beetle tribe, of a red colour, with black branching lines surrounding the whole body, and a golden head.

(This appears by the drawing, here copied from the original manuscript, to be _Chrysomela lapponica_.) Here grew a _Salix_ with ovate-oblong leaves, very hairy all over (_S. lanata_); its catkins were, for the most part, far advanced and faded.

In the evening I arrived at Jamtboht, where some women were sitting employed in cutting the bark of the aspen-tree (_Populus tremula_) into small pieces, scarcely an inch long, and not half so broad. The bark is stripped from the tree just when the leaves begin to sprout forth, and laid up in a place under the roof of a house till autumn or the following spring, when it is cut into the small fragments above described. In this state it serves as food for cows, goats and sheep, instead of hay, the latter being a very scarce article in these parts; for the fields consist principally of marshy tracts, whose herbage is but of a coarse kind.

On my inquiring what I could have for supper, they set before me the breast of a Cock of the wood (_Tetrao Urogallus_), which had been shot and dressed some time the preceding year. Its aspect was not very inviting, and I imagined the flavour would not be much better; but in this respect I was mistaken. The taste proved delicious, and I wondered at the ignorance of those who, having more fowls than they know how to dispose of, suffer many of them to be spoiled, as often happens at Stockholm. I found with pleasure that these poor Laplanders know better than some of their more opulent neighbours, how to employ the good things which God has bestowed upon them. After the breast is plucked, separated from the other parts of the bird, and cleaned, a gash is cut longitudinally on each side of the breast-bone, quite through to the bottom, and two others parallel to it, a little further off, so that the inside of the flesh is laid open in order that it may be thoroughly dressed. The whole is first salted with fine salt for several days. Afterwards a small quantity of flour is strewed on the under side to prevent its sticking, and then it is put into an oven to be gradually dried. When done, it is hung up in the roof of the house to be kept till wanted, where it would continue perfectly good, even for three years, if it were necessary to preserve it so long.

It rained so violently that I could not continue my journey that evening, and was therefore obliged to pass the night at this place. The pillows of my bed were stuffed with the hair of the reindeer instead of feathers. Under the sheet was the hide of a reindeer with the hair on, the hairy side uppermost, on which the people told me I should lie very soft.

_May 27._

In the morning the continued rain prevented my pursuing my journey till noon. The bark of the large smooth kinds of Willow is here used for tanning leather. The smooth bark of the upper branches, cut into small pieces, is chosen for the purpose, the coarse part on the bottom of the stem being useless.

At noon I departed from the place where I had slept, and continued to pursue the same bad road as the preceding day, which was indeed the worst I ever saw, consisting of stones piled on stones, among large entangled roots of trees. In the interstices were deep holes filled with water by the heavy rains. The frost, which had but just left the ground, contributed to make matters worse. All the elements were against me. The branches of the trees hung down before my eyes, loaded with rain-drops, in every direction. Wherever any young birch trees appeared, they were bent down to the earth, so that they could not be passed without the greatest difficulty. The aged pines, which for so many seasons had raised their proud tops above the rest of the forest, overthrown by the wrath of Juno, lay prostrate in my way. The rivulets which traversed the country in various directions were very deep, and the bridges over them so decayed and ruinous, that it was at the peril of one's neck to pass them on a stumbling horse. It seemed beyond the power of man to make the road tolerable, unless a Bjelke (Governor of Gefle) had the command of the district.

Many persons had confidently assured me, that it was absolutely impossible to travel to Lycksele in the summer season; but I had always comforted myself with the saying of Solomon, that "nothing is impossible under the sun:" however, I found that if patience be requisite any where, it is at this place. To complete my distresses, I had got a horse whose saddle was not stuffed, and instead of a bridle I had only a rope, which was tied to the animal's under jaw. In this trim I proceeded on my journey.

Here and there, in the heart of the forest, were level heathy spots, as even as if they had been made so by a line, consisting of barren sand (_Arena Glarea_), on which grew a few straggling firs, and some scattered plants of ling. Some places afforded the perforated coralline Lichen (_L. uncialis_), which the inhabitants, in rainy weather when it is tough, rake together into large heaps, and carry home for the winter provender of their cattle. These sandy spots were in extent three quarters of a mile or a mile, encompassed as it were with a rampart, or very steep bank, fifteen or twenty ells in height, so nearly perpendicular that it was not to be ascended or descended without extreme difficulty. They might be compared to the mountain which Alexander the Great ascended with so much labour. It often happened that above one of these sandy heaths lay another equally barren. They resembled the ridges of a field, except the perfect flatness and great breadth of the surface of each, and their being destitute of stones. The interstices of the country between these embanked heaths were occupied by water, rocks and marshes, producing abundance of firs intermixed with some birches, all covered with black and white filamentous Lichens. Juniper bushes but rarely occurred, and were all of a very diminutive size, and close-pressed to the ground.

At Skullbacken is a small current of water, which rises out of the ground at that very spot. I tried to feel the bottom with my stick, but could not reach it.

At Abackan, and on the road beyond it for a considerable way, some loose ice still remained, which surprised me much at this season of the year; yet I recollected that but a week before I had met with snow in the neighbourhood of mount Skula.

Here and there on the road lay a crustaceous _Byssus_, consisting as it were of a white rough brittle membrane, with white grains scattered over it[18].

[18] From the above description, this is very likely to have been the _Lichen byssoides_, _Engl. Bot. v. 6. t. 373_, in its early state, when it has exactly the appearance Linnaeus mentions.

On the sandy heaths among the perforated Lichen (_uncialis_) grew another kind much resembling it, but as thick as the finger, snow-white, and with more copious and dense entangled branches, which, not having been hitherto described, I denominated _Coralloides ramosissimum perforatum_, _ramis implexis_, _niveum_[19]. There was also an elegant cup-moss, (_L. cocciferus_,) repeatedly proliferous from the centre of its cups, two or more cups originating together from one centre, all over of a grey hue, except the scarlet tubercles which bordered the uppermost cups. Every where in the road grew the beforementioned leafy sulphur-coloured Lichen (_nivalis_?) in the greatest profusion.

[19] By the description and sketch in the manuscript, this seems a variety of _L. rangiferinus_.

The marshy places abounded with _Muscus tectorius_[20] and _Polytrichum_, intermixed with abundance of Black Whortle-berries.

[20] I am ignorant what Linnaeus means by this denomination.

Wherever I came I could get nothing to drink but water.

Against the walls of the houses the Agaric shaped like a horse's hoof (_Boletus igniarius_) was hung up to serve as a pin-cushion.

As a protection against rain, the people wear a broad horizontal collar made of birch bark, fastened round the neck with pins.

The women wash their houses with a kind of brush, made of twigs of spruce fir, which they tie to the right foot, and go backwards and forwards over the floor[21].

[21] This closely resembles the French method of cleaning, or at least scrubbing, their rooms, except that the Laplanders have the advantage in using water as well as a brush.

I observed they had gathered some of the Water Trefoil (_Menyanthes trifoliata_), which is the plant here called Missne. It is ground and mixed with their corn to make bread. They also boil it with some kinds of berries into an electuary, but it is in every state very bitter. The root only is used.

Part of this day's journey was performed in a Lapland boat, which will be described hereafter.

The peasants of this country, instead of tobacco, smoke the buds of hops, or sometimes juniper berries, and when nothing else can be had, the bark of the juniper tree; but to supply the want of snuff they use ashes mixed with a small portion of real snuff. They strain their milk through platted tufts of hair from a cow's tail.

In the evening I reached Teksnas, situated in the parish of Umoea. Seven miles distant from this place is the church, the road to which is execrable, insomuch that the people are obliged to set out on Friday morning to get to church on Sunday. On this account they can very seldom attend divine service, except on fast days, Whitsunday, Easter Sunday, and Christmas day.

How trifling would be the expense of building a small church, and how much have those in authority to answer for before God for neglecting to provide one! Timber for the purpose was brought here so long ago as the time of the late Abraham Lindelius; but it has lain till it is rotten, as the clergy find some difficulty in the undertaking: nor is this the only obstacle!

Here I observed a kind of dark-coloured gnat with very large dark wings (_Empis borealis_.)

_May 28._

I left Teksnas and proceeded to Genom; but as there is no conveyance but by water, from the last-mentioned place to Lycksele, and the wind blew very hard, I was obliged to stop at Genom till the following day. Indeed I did not arrive there till nine o'clock, when I found the people assembled at prayers, after which a sermon was read out of a book containing several; and as this service did not end till eleven, it would then have been too late to have set out for Lycksele, more than five miles distant, without any house or resting-place between.

One of the peasants here had shot a small Beaver. I inquired concerning the food of this animal, and was told it was the bark of trees, the birch, fir, and mountain ash, but more especially the aspen, and the castor becomes larger in proportion as the beaver can get more of the aspen bark. This confirmed the truth of what Assessor Rothman formerly asserted, that castor is secreted from the intermediate bark of the poplar, which has the same scent, though not quite so strong: hence it is to be presumed that a decoction of this bark, if the dose were sufficiently large, would have the same medicinal effects.

I wonder no naturalist has classed this animal with the Mouse tribe, (_Mures._ Linnaeus afterwards called the Order _Glires_,) as its broad depressed form at first sight suggested to me that it was of that family; in which opinion I was confirmed when I examined the broad naked tail, the short obtuse ears, and the two pair of parallel front teeth, so well formed for cutting, of which the lower pair are the largest.

The people here eat the flesh of the beaver as well as of the hare and squirrel, which indeed are all of the same natural family. The Romans, we are told, ate mice by way of a choice dainty. The beaver is very seldom roasted, but generally boiled. The rump is thrown away, but the feet are eaten. The skin spread out and dried is worth twelve dollars. The castor fetches half a dollar, or sometimes a dollar. I found the boiled flesh very insipid, for want of salt.