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 Ångermanland. 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 bluish 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 Ångermanlandn 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 Hälsingland 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 Mörtsiön, 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 Ångermanland, 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 Skåne 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 Æssja 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 fragariæ, 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.<15>

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,<16>) 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.<17>

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 whortleberry, 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 Hälsingland 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 Kappsäd.

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.<18> 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.

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 everywhere 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 Ångermanland. The Hazel 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 axillæ.

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

Near the coast was a quicksand, caused here, as in Skåne, 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<19>, 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.

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.

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 Sörmjole, is a river called Angeræn, separating Ångermanland 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, ands 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, (previous Illustration), 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.

VÄSTERBOTTEN, 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 Sörmjole, 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 Ångermanland. Galtha 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 (Eriophrum 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 Röbäck, where I passed the night. The wind blew hard from the north-east, and the evening was cold.

May 24.

Close to Röbäck 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 Umeå, are some mineral springs, abounding with ochre, and covered with a silvery pellicle. I conceive that Röbäck may have obtained its name from this red sediment, from röd, red, and back, 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.

Umeå, situated on the abovernentioned 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 nivails), 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 Skåne. 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 β 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, salad, and red cabbage, which last thrives very well, though the white will not come to perfection here; also garden cresses, winter cresses (Erysimum barbarea β 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 poppyheads. 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 horseradish, 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 Västerbotten, I had remarked that all the inhabitants used a peculiar kind of shoes or half-boots, called Kangor. 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 Västerbotten 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 Umeå. 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 Lappmark. 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 it 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 Belke (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 forests 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.<20>

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 Corailoides ramosissimum perforatum, ramis implexis, niveum.<21> 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. Everywhere in the road grew the beforementioned leafy sulphur-coloured Lichen (nivalis?) in the greatest profusion.

The marshy places abounded with Muscus tectorius<22> and Polytrichum, intermixed with abundance of Black Whortleberries.

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 pincushion.

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.<23>

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,<24> 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 Umeå. 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. Linnæus 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 heaver 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.

This young Beaver, which fell under my examination, was a foot and half long, exclusive of the tail, which was a palm in length and two inches and a half in breadth. The hairs on the back were longer than the rest; the external ones brownish black, the inner pale brown. The belly clothed with short dark-brown fur. Body depressed. Ears obtuse, clothed with fine short hairs, and destitute of any accessory lobe. Snout blunt, with round nostrils. Upper lip cloven as far as the nostrils; lower very short. The whiskers black, long and stout. Eye-brow of three bristles like the whiskers over each eye. Neck none. The fur of the belly was distinguished from that of the sides by a line on each side, in which the skin was visible. Feet clothed with very short hairs, quite different from those of the body. A fleshy integument invested the whole body. The intestinum cæcum was large, with a very large appendix. Upon the stomach lay two large cellular glands, of whose nature and use I am ignorant. There were two cutting teeth in each jaw, of which the upper pair were the shortest, and notched at the summit like steps; the lower and larger pair were sloped off obliquely. Grinders very far remote from the fore-teeth, which is characteristic of the animal, four on each side. Hind feet webbed, but fore feet with separate claws. Tail flat, oblong, obtuse, with a reticulated naked surface.

The strength of the Beaver in its fore teeth, so as to cut through the trunk of the largest aspen trees, is I believe beyond that of any other animal.

May 29.

Very early in the morning I quitted Genom in a haœp or small boat, such as shall be hereafter described, proceeding along the western branch of the river of Umeå; for the river which takes its name from that place divides into two branches near Gresele, two miles from Umeå. One branch comes from Lycksele, the other, as I was told, from Sorsele. By the western branch, as I have just mentioned, we proceeded to Lycksele. When the sun rose, nothing could be more pleasant than the view of this clear unruffled stream, neither contaminated by floods, nor disturbed by the breath of Æolus. All along its translucent margin the forests which clothed its banks were reflected like another landscape in the water. On both sides were several large level heaths, guarded by steep ramparts towards the river, and these were embellished with plants and bushes, the whole reversed in the water appearing to great advantage. The huge pines, which had hitherto braved Neptune's power, smiled with a fictitious shadow in the stream. Neptune however, in alliance with his brother Æolus, had already triumphed over many of their companions, the former by attacking their roots, while the latter had demolished their branches.

We passed several small islets separated from the main land by the action of the current, as Calnäsholm (the isle of Calnäs), &c. Close to the shore were many Charadrii hiaticulæ (Ringed Plovers) and Tringæ (Sandpipers). One of the latter my companions shot, but destroyed it so completely that we obtained only a wing and a leg entire, the remaining parts being so torn that I could not make out the species. The foot consisted of four toes, of which the hinder one was very small, and the two external ones joined by a web at their base.

A little further on a couple of young owls were suspended on a tree. On my inquiring what these birds had done to be so served, the rower made me remark, on the most lofty of the fir trees, concave cylinders of wood, closed at top and bottom, and having an aperture on one side. These cylinders are placed on the highest part of the trees, in order to tempt wild ducks to lay their eggs in them, and they are afterwards plundered by the country people. In one of these nests a brood of young owls had been hatched instead of young ducks.

Presently afterwards the breast of a Cock of the wood was given me to eat, by way of a bait. It had been shot this spring and dried in the sun, without being previously cooked; neither had it so many longitudinal cuts as that I have described in the foregoing pages.

As we proceeded further we saw seven or eight large white swans lying on the water, making a loud noise, and biting one another with their beaks. Cranes also are found here. The rower said he had shot one and nailed it up against the wall, with all its flesh and feathers on. What an absurdity! The peasant who was my rower and companion had placed nets all along the shore, in which he caught plenty of pike. He had upwards of thirty small nets, The money with which he pays his taxes is chiefly acquired by fishing. A dried pike of twenty pounds weight is sold for a dollar and five marks, silver coin. In one of the nets he found a large male Goosander caught (Mergus merganser). The bill of this bird was long and narrow, of a blood red, blackish on the upper edge. Its upper mandible longest, tipped with a hooked point which rendered it obtuse, and furnished with thirty large teeth pointing inwards. Lower mandible channelled underneath, and furnished with about forty smaller teeth, likewise pointing inwards. A triple row of very small teeth was observable in the upper mandible within the others. Tongue narrow, bordered with bristles and with a double row of very minute teeth. Nostrils oblong, placed in the substance of the bill. Eyes round, with a crimson iris. A pellucid membrane, proceeding from the inner corner of the eye, covers the ball while the bird is diving under water; which is remarkable. It has besides a whitish membrane of greater thickness (membrana nictitans), which closes the eye as in other birds. The head is of a grey colour, with a very long pendulous blackish crest composed of a few light downy feathers. Neck like that of a Woodcock. Breast and belly white. Middle of the back black, with white lateral spots, further on grey or whitish, with transverse undulated lines. The ten outermost large feathers of the wing are black; the inner ones black and white, so that the speculum, or spot of the wing, is very large and white, divided by two black transverse lines. Tail short, ash-coloured. Feet red. Legs compressed. Hind toe very small, with a membranous lobe, and curved inwards. Fore toes three, the outermost of four joints, middle one of three, and the innermost of two only. All the toes are connected by a palmate web, and the innermost has, besides, a marginal longitudinal membrane. The windpipe is remarkable, formed not of half rings, as in most birds, but of circular ones. About the middle it is dilated into a sort of bag, and further down into another smaller one.<25>

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