Part 4

The Lemming or Red Mouse, see _p._ 18, (_Mus Lemmus_,) in some seasons entirely overruns the country; devouring the corn and grass: but though these animals thus occasionally appear by millions at a time, they subsequently depart and disappear as unaccountably, so that nobody knows what becomes of them. They do no mischief in the houses.

The Ermine (_Mustela Erminea_) is white in winter, red in summer. This animal is seldom met with on the alps, but is very plentiful in the forests. Foxes and Wolves have destroyed the chief of the Hares. The Wolves indeed kill the Foxes.

The Shrew Mouse (_Sorex araneus_) and Common Small Mouse (_Mus Musculus_) are found in Lapmark, but no Rats (_Mus Rattus_).

Hunting the Bear is often undertaken by a single man, who, having discovered the retreat of the animal, takes his dog along with him and advances towards the spot. The jaws of the dog are tied round with a cord, to prevent his barking, and the man holds the other end of this cord in his hand. As soon as the dog smells the bear, he begins to show signs of uneasiness, and by dragging at the cord informs his master that the object of his pursuit is at no great distance. When the Laplander by this means discovers on which side the bear is stationed, he advances in such a direction that the wind may blow from the bear to him, and not the contrary; for otherwise the animal would by the scent be aware of his approach, though not able to see an enemy at any considerable distance, being half blinded by the sunshine. When he has gradually advanced to within gunshot of the bear, he fires upon him; and this is the more easily accomplished in autumn, as the bear is then more fearless, and is continually prowling about for berries of different kinds, on which he feeds at that season of the year. Should the man chance to miss his aim, the furious beast will directly turn upon him in a rage, and the little Laplander is obliged to take to his heels with all possible speed, leaving his knapsack behind him on the spot. The bear coming up with this, seizes upon it, biting and tearing it into a thousand pieces. While he is thus venting his fury, and bestowing all his attention, upon the knapsack, the Laplander takes the opportunity of loading his gun, and firing a second time; when he is generally sure of hitting the mark, and the bear either falls upon the spot or runs away.

_July 24._

In the huts of this neighbourhood I observed an instrument which I had no where noticed before, consisting of an oblong board, placed transversely at the end of a pole. Its use is to stir the pot while boiling.

Directly opposite to Hyttan towards the west, and on the south of the mountain of Wallivari, is a vein of fine iron ore, but hardly worth working while the roads, by which it must be conveyed to Lulea, are in so bad a state.

This night I beheld a star, for the first time since I came within the arctic circle. Nevertheless the darkness was not considerable enough to prevent my reading or writing whatever I pleased.

One of the Laplanders had caught a quantity of the fish called _Sikloja_ (_Salmo Albula_) of a large size. He stuck about twenty of them on one spit, the back of each being placed towards the belly of the next, and they were thus roasted before the fire. These fish had previously been dried, though not at all salted.

The glue used by the Laplanders for joining the two portions of different woods of which their bows are made (see _p._ 66,) is prepared from the Common Perch (_Perca fluviatilis_) in the following manner. Some of the largest of this fish being flayed, the skins are first dried, and afterwards soaked in a small quantity of cold water, so that the scales can be rubbed off. Four or five of these skins being wrapped up together in a bladder, or in a piece of birch bark, so that no water can get at them, are set on the fire in a pot of water to boil, a stone being laid over the pot, to keep in the heat. The skins thus prepared make a very strong glue, insomuch that the articles joined with it will never separate again. A bandage is tied round the bow while making, to hold the two parts the more firmly together.

When these people undertake a short journey only, they carry no bag for provisions, the latter being stored between their outer and inner jackets, which are always bound with a girdle, being wide, and formed of numerous folds, both above and below it.

The Purple Willow-herb, or _Epilobium_ (_angustifolium_?) made the fields at this time very beautiful. The Golden-rod (_Solidago Virgaurea_) was likewise here in blossom, though not yet upon the alps, where it flowers later.

I have never yet seen any animal swim so light as the reindeer. During the dogdays the herds of reindeer, belonging to the inhabitants of the woody parts of Lapland, are very badly off for want of snow, with which those animals refresh themselves in hot weather upon the alps. Hence they constitute a more valuable and thriving property to the alpine Laplanders than to any others. In the winter time, when the favourite Lichen of the reindeer (_L. rangiferinus_) cannot be got at, their keepers fell trees laden with filamentous Lichens, to serve them for food; but it scarcely proves sufficient.

The rivulet near Kiomitis Trask has a very white appearance, as if milk had been mixed with it. This the inhabitants term _kalkwatter_, or lime-water, from the colour, not from any knowledge of its cause or origin. This rivulet they told me came from the alps. It empties itself into the great river near Kiomitis, and renders the water of that river white for the space of four or five miles. I noticed a similar phænomenon at Wirijaur.

I was amused with the mode in which these Laplanders take brandy. After they have laid hold of the mug, they dip their forefingers into the liquor, and rub a little on their foreheads, as well as on the middle of their bosoms. On inquiring the reason, I was told their intention was that the brandy might not prove hurtful either to the head or breast.

Some people here were regaling themselves with fresh fish, of the kind lately mentioned (_Salmo Albula_), which having boiled into a mass like pap or flummery, they were eating out of their hands.

The dress of the Laplanders is, in one particular at least, very wisely contrived. Their thick collars effectually protect the throat and breast, which being furnished with numerous nerves and small muscles, and being the seat of the windpipe and of many principal veins and arteries, are very important and susceptible parts. The neck moreover, from its slender shape, is peculiarly exposed to cold. Hence the protection of clothing is found very necessary to the parts in question. For want of it our young women suffer much injury, which our youths avoid by running into the contrary extreme of tying their neckcloths so tight as to make themselves as red in the face as if they were half strangled.

We Swedes are accustomed to have all our clothing made very tight. Not only the neckcloth, but the coat, waistcoat, breeches, stockings, sleeves, &c., must all stick close to the body, and the tighter they are the more fashionable. The Laplanders, on the contrary, wear only two, and those slight, bandages about them, which moreover are broad, and therefore less injurious than a narrow bandage in any part. Those to which I allude are the waistband and knees of their breeches, both made sufficiently loose and easy.

To-day I gathered the following plants.--A reed-like panicled Grass, with a very slender branched stem. (This appears to have been _Arundo Calamagrostis_, _Fl. Lapp._ _n._ 42.)

A great aquatic _Carex_, with inflated, whitish, pendulous spikes. In more dry situations they were upright and shorter, but in every other particular the same. (_C. vesicaria._) A grass with a slender dark-coloured panicle, approaching the stem. (_Agrostis rubra_, _Fl. Lapp._ _n._ 46.)

_July 25._

The lakes in this part of the country did not afford me so many plants as further south. Their bottoms were quite clear, and destitute of vegetation. Their shores were no less barren. No Water-lilies (_Nymphææ_), no Water-docks, &c., (different species of _Rumex_,) grew about their borders, but the surface of the water itself was covered with the Water Ranunculus (_R. aquatilis_), bearing round as well as capillary leaves, and whitening the whole with its blossoms. I could not but wonder to see these broad patches of white spread over the lakes, though, when I passed up the country but a fortnight before, I had not perceived the least appearance of even the herbage of the _Ranunculus_ that composed them. Now its branches, an ell in length, swam on the surface. The growth of the stem must be very rapid, as it often proceeded from a depth of three fathoms. Some of the plants thrown up on the shore had capillary leaves, as are all those which grow under the water. The root resembles that of the _Iris_.

I noticed also the Pondweed with leaves clasping the stem (_Potamogeton perfoliatum_, rare in Lapland); and a very large branched floating Water-grass, with cylindrical spikes, which I hesitate whether to separate from the _Gramen aquaticum geniculatum spicatum_, (of Bauhin and Rudbeck. _Alopecurus geniculatus_ of Linnæus. The grass of which he here speaks is _n._ 38 of his _Flora Lapponica._ _A. geniculatus_ [beta], _Sp. Pl._ 89.)

The annexed figure represents the Norwegian cross-bow, used for shooting squirrels, which it will hit at the distance of twenty or thirty paces as certainly as a gun.

It was curious to observe the dexterity with which one of the Laplanders hit a small fly, which I had set up for a mark, at the distance of thirty paces.

The bow itself, a, a, a, made of steel, is two feet and a half long, two inches wide in the middle, gradually sloping off to the extremities, which are only one inch in width. Each end is rounded, with a notch, where the cord is fixed, which, when the bow is drawn, seems in danger of immediately slipping off, but it never does. The whole bow when at rest makes a curve of two inches; when strongly bent it forms one of seven.

The cord b, fixed on at the ends b, b, is made of twisted hemp, as thick as one's finger, bound round with hempen thread, especially in the middle, where it is to receive the bolt.

The stock c, c, made of wood ornamented with inlaid work of bone, is two feet and a half long, and half a palm broad, being half an inch thick towards the top, and an inch at the base. Its upper side is entirely covered with the above-mentioned inlaying, and quite even or flat, except towards the base or handle, where it is slightly concave.

The part marked d on the bow, and D on a larger scale annexed, is the catch, like a pulley, which turns on an iron pin, and in the side of which is a projection, with a rectangular notch, see _fig._ 1 and 2. When the bow is bent, the angle at _fig._ 2 catches the cord, and is let go by means of the apparatus represented at c, c, by the side.

As no human being is sufficiently strong to draw this bow with the hands alone, a strap of leather is fixed round the loins, ending in two iron hooks, which lay hold of the cord. One foot is put into the strap at the top of the bow, h, and then, by the exertion of the body, the bow is drawn till the cord catches the angle of the pulley D.

The annexed cut represents the bolt of this Norwegian crossbow, which is a foot and half long, an inch thick. From the extremity, which is thicker and blunt, to the feathered part, is about a foot. The feathers, taken from the wing of the great Grous or Cock of the wood, (_Tetrao Urogallus_,) are stripped from the quill, and placed erect in three longitudinal rows; and after being bound on with thread, the part by which they are attached is smeared with pitch, to fix them the more firmly. The whole bolt is made of birch wood. Its base is compressed, naked and smooth, formed with a groove to receive the bow-string.

This more finished and elaborate sort of bow is principally used in Westbothnia. The whole cost of one, with all its appurtenances, amounts to fifteen dollars, copper money. The Laplanders therefore content themselves with a far more rude and simple apparatus, consisting of such a wooden bow made of birch, as I have already described, with a string fitted to it. Or they merely cut a branch of fir in the forest, and with any bit of cord that happens to come in their way, kill abundance of squirrels, holding the bow with their left hand, and drawing it with their right by means of a small cleft stick. Thus they will, as I have witnessed, take successful aim at the _Emberiza nivalis_, or Snow Bunting, sitting on the tops of the most lofty pines.

It is commonly reported that no clay is to be found in Lapland, but I met with some in two different places; in each instance indeed it was at the bottom of a lake, as at Rondijaur and Sckalka trask, the shores being of sand though the bottom was clay.

Nets are set in the lakes in winter to catch the Sijk fish (_Salmo Lavaretus_, or Gwiniad.) Holes are made for this purpose in the ice, and the nets are dragged with a string. This is done from St. Andrew's day, (Nov. 30th,) to Christmas.

The Laplanders make their sledges serve for chests, when they are not used for their proper purpose, by constructing a sort of roof or convex covering, with an opening in the middle, to admit whatever they choose to store up within. This opening shuts with a moveable lid. Sledges in this state occasionally serve for the conveyance of goods from one place to another, the covering keeping them dry.

Caps are made of the skin of the _Colymbus arcticus_, (Black-throated Diver,) which is very tough when properly prepared. This bird has a grey ring round its neck, as described by Wormius.

I met with a _Carex_, bearing round capsules, full of black powder. (Probably _Carex panicea_, whose seeds are often infected with the _ustilago_ or smut.)

_July 26._

I shall here give a description of the _Achier_ or sledge. This is a kind of travelling machine invented by the Laplanders, drawn along the ground like other sledges, and made of birch wood. The back part is upright, or nearly so, the lower part only being somewhat sloping inwards, and its form is roundish, the height a foot, the breadth a foot and a half. The body of the machine is like the hulk of a boat, with an obtuse keel, and consists of five longitudinal boards on each side, lying one over the edge of another; that which forms the keel being about an inch thick, and lying flat like the others. Each board is not externally plane, but convex, so that as the carriage is drawn over the snow it leaves several tracks or lines where it goes, the board which forms the keel only being quite flat. The boards, which are fixed at one extremity in a circular manner to the roundish board that makes the back, (or as it were the stern,) are collected by their points at the other, and all bound together with a rope, for there are no nails to fasten them. The whole carriage is six feet in length, and from the back part to within two feet of the front its breadth is all the way about four feet. From that spot the keel begins to curve upwards, and the transverse dimensions are contracted gradually to a point. This sledge is drawn by a rope that goes through a hole in the front of the keel. The edges or sides of the machine do not curve outwards, but rather inwards. When any covering is to be put on, which is always done in part when any person is to travel sitting in this carriage, and entirely, from one end to the other, when it is intended to be used for the conveyance of goods, two or three semicircular or archlike bows are erected, fixed by their ends within the edges of the carriage, which serve to support a covering of seal-skin, or cloth, whose margin next the back is loose, and so far distant from that part as to allow the traveller to sit upright, his legs lying under the cover, while the said margin is tied round his waist, like an apron, serving to keep the snow out of the hollow part of the machine. The person of the traveller is further secured by strings fixed to the edges of the carriage, which lace around him across the top, so as to prevent his being thrown out by any oblique or unexpected movement. Each board, which composes the body of the sledge, is somewhat convex on the inside, but still the whole internal surface is sufficiently smooth and even. The point in front sometimes projects a foot beyond the hollow part[5].

It is worthy of notice that the Laplanders use no almanack, but in its stead only a kind of instrument like the ancient runic calendar of the Goths, composed of seven small splinters or boards. They have indeed names to mark some periods, as already mentioned p. 62; but they do not, like us, compute time by the month, but by the course of their various holidays. They have also a name for every week. They are unable to tell when an eclipse of the sun or moon is to be expected. The year begins, by their reckoning, on the Friday before Christmas day.

The people in the part of the country where I was now travelling wear, in summertime, either a coat of walmal cloth next the skin, or no coat at all, only a _lappmudd_ as they call it, (or garment of reindeer-skin,) stripped of its hair.

At sun-set we reached Purkijaur, where we in vain attempted to procure a boat. We had no resource but to make ourselves a float or raft, on which we committed our persons and all our property to the guidance of the current of the river. The night proved very dark in consequence of a thick fog, insomuch that we could not see before us to the distance of three fathoms. After a while we found ourselves in the middle of the stream, and it was not long before the force of the water separated the timbers of our raft, and we were in imminent danger of our lives. At length however, with the greatest difficulty, we reached a house situated on an island, after a voyage of half a mile from where we embarked[6].

At Purkijaur I hired a man to show me the manner of fishing for pearls, for which I agreed to pay him six dollars. He made a raft of five timbers as thick as my body, and two fathoms in length. At each end was a staple to which the anchor was attached. This anchor was nothing more than a stone, tied round with twigs of birch that it might not be lost, to which he fastened a cord, about two fathoms in length, made of birch twigs. He was likewise furnished with a pole of the same length, which served him to steer his raft, as it floated along the strong current. The bottom of the river is not easily seen at any great depth; but when he could distinctly perceive it, he dropped his stone anchor, fixing the upper end of the rope to the staple on the raft, by which it became stationary. Whenever he wished to examine another spot, he weighed anchor, and resigned himself to the force of the current. Where the water was shallow, he stood upright on his raft; but where the depth was considerable, he lay at full length, with his face downwards, looking over the edge of the raft.

By means of a pair of wooden pincers, two fathoms in length, he laid hold of the pearl oysters (rather muscles, _Mya margaritifera_,) and drew them up. The part of the pincers below the joint or hinge was about a span long, and of three fingers breadth, hollowed out at the points, one of which was curved, the other flat. Taking the other end of these pincers in his hands, he easily directed them to the spot where he saw the shells lying.

The latter were generally open, so that they might readily be discerned by the whiteness of their inside; but when the water is very much agitated, the animals immediately close their shells, though destitute of eyes or ears.

The form of the shell is elliptic-oblong, with a contraction, or shallow notch as it were, about the middle of their outer margin. The man opened them by means of a whilk shell, which he thrust with violence between the valves, for it is impossible to effect this with the finger only. He introduced the point of the whilk in the centre of the base, or broader end, of the muscle, searching for the pearls chiefly towards the other end, on the inside of the valve. If the inside of the latter be white, the pearl is white; but if dark or reddish, the pearl is of the same colour.

When it was first discovered that this neighbourhood produced pearls, the river at Purkijaur was the place where the principal pearl-fishery was established. But now it is nearly exhausted. When the discovery of this bed of pearl muscles was first made, it is said the shells were in such abundance that nobody could reach the bottom of them, which is far from being the case at present.

There is no external sign about the shell, by which it is possible to know whether it contains a pearl or not. Consequently many thousands are destroyed to no purpose before one pearl is found. It is also a great pity that all the muscles are killed in consequence of this examination. Each pearl is either attached to the shell, or loose. They are found at all seasons of the year, and are sometimes thrown out of the shell spontaneously by its inhabitant.

I witnessed at this place what appeared to me a very extraordinary phenomenon, a pike in whose stomach, when opened, was found a young duck entire. The peasant who was my companion told me he had many times seen the same thing.

_July 27._

The reindeer fed with evident avidity on the great water Horsetail (_Equisetum fluviatile_), which the Laplanders call _Aske_, though it was in a dry state, and though they will not eat common hay. How unaccountably negligent are the Laplanders, not to collect in the course of summer a stack of this plant and of the Reindeer-moss (_Lichen rangiferinus_) for winter fodder! They would then have some provision for the herd, when the country is covered with an impenetrable crust of frozen snow, and not hazard the loss of all they are worth in the world.

The inhabitants of Westbothnia, to defend themselves against the bites of gnats, besmear their skin with a mixture of tar and fish-grease, or some other kind of fat. They keep this composition in a horn which hangs at their side. The Laplanders however give themselves no trouble about any such matter.

In order to add to the pungency of the tobacco which they are in the habit of chewing, the Laplanders mix with it the root of _Angelica_. (_A. Archangelica_ is preferred, but when that is not at hand, the _sylvestris_ is used, as appears from the _Flora Lapponica_.)

The women wear their belts in the same manner as the men, except when they are big with child, in which case the belt must necessarily be placed much higher than ordinary.

This day I found the little heart-leaved _Ophrys_ (_O. cordata_) growing, as it usually does, amongst the _Rubus Chamæmorus_, whilst I was gathering the fruit of the latter. Also the least _Pinguicula_ (_P. villosa_); but its leaves were withered, and the fruit was ripe, which is heartshaped and emarginate, of two valves and one cell. The last-mentioned plant grew among White-moss (_Sphagnum palustre._ These specimens are still preserved in the Linnæan herbarium.)

The bird called (by the Swedes) Lappskata, Rödfogel in Westbothland, Gvousach in Lapland, (_Corvus infaustus_, _Faun. Suec._ 32. _Lath. Ind._ 159. _Lanius infaustus_, _Syst. Nat._ _v._ 1. 138,) is of a small size, but it audaciously lays hold of any thing it can find, being so far from timid that it flew away with part of our provisions as we sat at table. This bird seems nearly allied to the Jay (_Corvus glandarius_).