A Tour in Lapland
July 6.
In the afternoon I took leave of Hyttan, and, at the distance of a mile from thence, arrived at the mountain of Wallavari (or Hwallawari), a quarter of a mile in height. When I reached this mountain, I seemed entering on a new world; and when I had ascended it, I scarcely knew whether I was in Asia or Africa, the soil, situation, and every one of the plants, being equally strange to me. Indeed I was now, for the first time, upon the Alps! Snowy mountains encompassed me on every side, I walked in snow, as if it had been the severest winter. All the rare plants that I had previously met with, and which had from time to time afforded me so much pleasure, were here as in miniature, and new ones in such profusion, that I was overcome with astonishment, thinking I had now found more than I should know what to do with.
1. Alchemilla with fingered leaves, silky underneath, but without flowers. (A. alpina.)
2. Jussiea<66>, with ternate leaves, abrupt and three-toothed at their extremities. (Sibbaldia procumbens.) The calyx is of one leaf, very large, in ten segments, the five alternate ones of which are smallest, as in the strawberry tribe. Petals five, ovate, yellow, shorter than the calyx, and inserted betwixt its segments. The five stamens also proceed from the calyx. Pistils from five to ten, capitate at their summits, affixed laterally to the middle of the seeds, as in Alchemilla. (See the remarks of Linnæeus, respecting the natural order of this plant, in. Fl. Lapp. n.111.)
3. Dillenia. Stem woody. Flower purple. (Azalea procumbens.) Calyx coloured, small, five-cleft, acute, purple, permanent. Petal one, erect, bell-shaped, five-cleft halfway down, acute, purple. Stamens five, shorter than the petal. Pistil one, seated on the embryo, the length of the calyx. Stigma capitate. Seeds numerous, roundish. Pericarp globose, of five cells and five valves. Leaves ovate, evergreen; opposite, resembling those of the Cranberry. (Vaccinium oxycoccus.)
4. Bannistera. (Diapensia lapponica.) Calyx of large, ovate, imbricated leaves; first two, then two more, then five, so that they are nine in all. Petal one, with a short wide tube, its disk (or border) in five obtuse spreading segments. Stamens five, from the segments of the calyx (corolla), erect, broad, looking like intermediate prominent segments; the anthers situated on their inner side, at the top. Pistil one, upright, awlshaped. Stigma obtuse. Pericarp round with a point, invested with the calyx, of three cells. Seeds several, round. Leaves oblong, narrow, obtuse, reflexed, lying imbricated over each other. (Slight sketches only of these plants are annexed to their descriptions in the manuscript, but perfect figures of the two last may be seen in Fl. Lapp.)
5. Saxifraga with oblong serrated leaves, and lanceolate petals. (S. stellaris.) The leaves are about the root, oblong inclining to lanceolate, serrated with a few teeth. Stem naked, with several flowers at its summit. Calyx permanent, five-cleft, acute, reflexed. Petals five, somewhat spreading, oblong, sharp at each end, white, marked with two yellow dots upon the claw. Stamens ten, awl-shaped, the length of the calyx. Anthers purple. Embryo (germen) with two horns. Style none. Stigmas obtuse.
6. Saxifraga with palmate five-cleft obtuse leaves. (S. rivularis.) Lower leaves cut half way down into five roundish segments; upper one in three segments. Stem short, flowering at the top. Calyx five-cleft, erect. Petals five, ovate. Stamens, ten. Embryos two (rather two-horned).
7. Saxifraga with a creeping stem, the leaves placed in a quadrangular form. (S. oppositifolia). Stems like those of a Sedum, creeping. Leaves oblong, obtuse, hairy at the edge, small; the points sometimes bony (or cartilaginous). Flower large. Calyx of five blunt leaves. Petals five, erect, purple, large, oblong, obtuse. Stamens ten, purple, erect, shorter than the petals, with scarlet anthers. Embryo divided. Styles none. Stigmas obtuse.
8. Female Rose-root, Rhodia. (Rhodiola rosea.)
9. Rhodia montana abortiens. (Male plant of the same.) Differs from the female in having five lanceolate petals, and five leaves to the calyx; though often but four.
10. Purple Water Lychnis, (L. dioica,) a variety with four-cleft petals. (See Fl. Lapp. n.182.)
11. Pinguicula with the spur shorter than the petal. (P. alpina.) The petal is white with a yellow beard, like a Melampyrum. Leaves narrower than in the common kind; spur shorter and funnel-shaped, not cylindrical.
12. Ranunculus minimus, leaves three-cleft, their side-lobes divided. (R. nivalis, var. γ Fl. Lapp. t.3. f.3.)
13. Ranunculus with bluntly-triangular plaited petals. (R. glacialis.) The lower leaves are in many deep segments; the upper three-lobed, their lobes three-cleft. Calyx purplish, hispid, Petals five, very large, white, dilated upwards, obtuse, plaited at the upper edge. Stamens and anthers erect, numerous, very short, yellow. Pistils many, in a convex head, with slender points.
14. Ranunculus resembling Winter Aconite. (R. nivalis.)
15. Draba with lanceolate leaves and twisted seed-vessels. (D. incana.)
16. A small Hesperis with a white flower, and oblong flat pods. Leucojum of Rudbeck? (Arabis alpina.)
17. Cochlearia with leaves like Plantaginella, (Limosella aquatica,) and umbellate pods. (Cardamine bellidifolia.)
18. Andromeda with leaves like Empetrum, and a blue flower. (A. cærulea.)
19. Andromeda with leaves like a Lycopodium, and a white, half-ovate, half-five-cleft flower. (A. hypnoides.)
20. Alisma, rather Arnica, with lanceolate three-ribbed leaves, the radius with three teeth. (Arnica montana β.)
21. Caryophyllata (Geum) with a solitary upright flower. Must it not be a distinct genus? The petals are eight. (Dryas octopetala.)
22. An abortive variety of Saxifraga no. 5 (stellaris), with small, obtuse, white petals, purple anthers, and a white embryo; but very rarely flowering, as the blossoms are all transformed into clusters of minute leaves. (See Fl. Lapp. t.2.f. 3.)
23. Pedicularis with bluntly serrated leaves, and a pale fiesta-coloured flower, with a deeper-coloured spot on the lip. The upper lip is narrow; the lower in three equal segments. Calyx large, hairy. Fruit hoary. (Pedicularis hirsuta.)
24. Dwarf Catchfly. (Silene acaulis.)
25. The same with stamens, but an abortive fruit. Pistils three. Petals obtuse emarginate. Capsule of one cell. Stamens ten.
26. Sagina with marginate petals and an oblong capsule. Pistils three, Is it an Alsine? (Stellaria biflora; see Fl. Lapp. n.158.)
27. Salix villosa, with sessile ovate leaves. It is a humble plant. (S.lanata.)
28. Subterraneous willow, with orbicular concave leaves, male. (Salix herbacea.)
29. Female of the same, with red fruit.
30. Veronica serpyllifolia, upright, with a blue flower. (V. alpina.)
The lofty mountains, piled one upon another, showed no signs of volcanic fire, but were covered with stones, all of a fissile kind, and by that means easily distinguishable. From the snow, which lay so plentifully on these mountains as to cover half the ground, water was continually running down in streams like so many springs, or like rivers cut through the deep snow, for the refreshment of travellers. We found it very good.
The little alpine variety of the Ptarmigan (Tetrao lagopus) was now accompanied by its young. I caught one of these, upon which the hen ran so close to me, that I could easily have taken her also. She kept continually jumping round and round me; but I thought it a pity to deprive the tender brood of their mother, neither would my compassion for the mother allow me long to detain her offspring, which I restored to her in safety.
After having walked four or five miles in the course of the night, I went to sleep in the morning in one of the cottages of the country.
July 7.
The inhabitants, sixteen in number, lay there all naked. They washed themselves by rubbing the body downwards, not upwards. They washed their dishes with their fingers, squirting water out of their mouths upon the spoon, and then poured into them boiled reindeer's milk, which was as thick as common milk mixed with eggs, and had a strong flavour. Some thousands of reindeer came home in the morning, which were milked by the men as well as the women, who kneeled down on one knee.
From the top of the head of some of these reindeer I took out the maggots which trouble them so much. I observed here in plenty the large fly with a yellow neck, and yellow segments of the body, (Oestrus tarandi,) which probably is the same insect (in a perfect state), as I judge by the length of the legs.
My hosts gave me missen to eat; that is, whey, after the curd is separated from it, coagulated by boiling, which renders it very firm. Its flavour was good, but the washing of the spoon took away my appetite, as the master of the house wiped it dry with his fingers, whilst his wife cleaned the bowl, in which milk had been, in a similar manner, licking her finger after every stroke. I also tasted some jumo, which they mixed with reindeer's milk, but it did not please me.
This day I gathered the following plants. (The numbers are continued from above)
31. Saxifraga with a tuberous root, a simple stem flowering at the summit, and bulbs in the bosoms of the leaves. (S. cernua.) This has much resemblance to the common Saxifrage, (S. granulata,) but bears only one flower at the top of the stem, which is pendulous before it opens. The petals and stamens are white. In the bosom of each leaf are about ten naked anther-like little heads (or buds), which grow out into embryos of future plants. It inhabits watery places.
32. A very small Juncus, with a spatha of two leaves, enclosing two seeds; (rather capsules, but Linnæus wrote seeds, because it appears by the manuscript that he took the plant at first for a Carex.) This is one of the smallest of grasses, bearing a solitary spike, one floret of which has an upright glume, (or leaf of the spatha,) the other a reflexed one. The petals are whitish. Pistil snow-white. Stamens six. (This can be no other than Juncus biglumis, see Engl. Bot. t.898, omitted in Linnæus's own edition of Fl. Lapp. and supposed to have been first found by the celebrated Dr. Montin in 1749.)
33. Carex with several black loose pendulous spikes, one of which is male, two or three female. (C. saxatilis.)
34. Draba with a yellow flower. (D. alpina.) Pod like the rye-flower. (D. verna, see above) Salix creeping under ground, with elegant roundish-oval, rugged, rigid leaves. (S. reticulata.) Male and female.
36. Salix with oblong, obtuse, slightly serrated leaves. (S. n.367, Fl. Lapp.?) In marshy places.
The Willows often grow to the height of a man in moist places, or on islands in the rivers, but in elevated situations no tree is more than a foot high; nor is there any plant, except the dwarf birch (Betula nana) and the Willows, that affords the inhabitants any wood.

37. A very small Pedicularis, with the aspect of the Sceptrum carolinum. The fruit is curved. (P. flammea) This very elegant little plant so exactly represents the Sceptrum carolinum, plentiful here in moist places, one might take it for a representation of that in miniature. The leaves are brownish, pinnate; their segments imbricated. Flowers four, five, or more, at the top of the stem. Calyx like that of Sceptrum carolinum. Petal with an erect upper lip, which is narrow, compressed, and brownish; the lower lip horizontal, three-cleft, saffron-coloured, like all the rest of the flower. Root like skirrets.
38. Saxifraga with oblong, acute, thickish leaves, rough with rigid hairs at the edges. (S. aizoides.) It had not yet flowered, but I afterwards found the blossoms, which were yellow, with a large, flat calyx, in five ovate segments. Petals five, small, ovate, yellow besprinkled with orange. Embryo yellow, two-horned. Stigmas orbicular, flat, whitish. Stamens awlshaped, five of them very short.
39. Juncoides capitulis psyllii, with loose heads of flowers. (Juncus campestris.) Also another with conglomerated heads. (J. campestris β. Fl. Lapp. t.10. f.2. Certainly a distinct species.)
The birds I saw were Snow-buntings (Emberiza nivalis); Green Plovers in great plenty, (Charadrius pluvialis,) called by the Laplanders Hutti; and Wheat-ears. (Motacilla oenanthe.) The Laplanders of this neighbourhood do not often take the diversion of shooting. They are seldom masters of a fowling-piece; and when not occupied in following or attending the reindeer, they remain in idleness for whole days together, feeding on nothing but milk, and the dishes prepared from it.
I satisfied myself here that the crackling noise made by the reindeer does not originate in the hoof, nor in the lowermost joint of the foot.
The women of this neighbourhood smoke tobacco as well as the men. Every body learns to smoke about the age of twelve or fifteen. Whenever I gave my host about an ell of twisted tobacco, I was sure to obtain in return a cheese of double its value.
The large-flowered Cerastium (C. alpinum) was here everywhere in abundance, and the prickly Lycopodium. (L. Selaginoides?) The nei-hbouring mountain abounded with a very black fissile aluminous stone. The surface of the snow appeared to have a vibratory motion, like water slightly agitated, or like a large white sail swelled by the wind. All the inhabitants of this neighbourhood wore garments made of reindeer skins.
July 8.
The plants I found this day were the following.

40. Michelia. (Azalea lapponica.) Its calyx is inconspicuous, green, in five obtuse segments. Petal one, erect, gradually dilated upwards, divided almost down to the base into five ovate segments, purple, deciduous. Stamens five, proceeding from the receptacle, erect, shorter than the petal, purplish, thread-shaped, with roundish anthers. Pistil one, thread-shaped, inclining to one side, longer than the petal, with a globose embryo, and thick stigma. Pericarp membranous, globose, of five cells and five compressed valves, the cells fixed to the column, as in Ledum, bursting at the top. Leaves thick, ovate, evergreen, clustered at the tops of the branches, as in Ledum. Flowers about three, at the extremity of each branch, each on a simple uncoloured stalk. Is this the same genus with Dillenia (Azalea procumbens, no. 3.)? I think not. In that the calyx and flower stalks are coloured; two flowers proceed from each bud; the petal is firm, and cut but half way down; the calyx is half as long as the petal; the pistil is erect, shorter than the petal; the stamens are directed inwards, and not attached to the receptacle. (Notwithstanding these reasons, Linnæus united the two plants together in his Flora Lapponica, as one genus, under the name of Azalea, quoting two synonyms of Tournefort and Bauhin for this no. 40, which belong to Rhododendrum ferrugineum, his own plant being entirely new, if not a pentandrous variety of that Rhododendrum, which is much to be suspected. The above description, of the fruit especially, is sufficient to show it cannot belong to the same genus with Azalea procumbens, though perhaps it may accord better with the American Azaleæ.)
41. Campanula with a contracted flower. (C. uniflora.) Differs from the common blue kind, (rotundifolia,) in having the leaves as well as the flower much contracted at the base, so that the latter is funnel-shaped. The embryo is oblong, with. six sides, rough, with three orifices near the base of the calyx.
42. Lychnis with a concealed flower. (L. apetala.) Leaves pink-like. Flower solitary at the top of the stalk. Calyx ovate, inflated, closed, with ten black hispid ribs, which branch near the top. Petals five, oblong, brownish, shaped exactly like the usual claws of a Lychnis, but without any border. Stamens ten. Embryo oblong, inclining to cylindrical, contracted in the middle, obtuse, blackish. Pistils five, whitish. The petals, stamens and pistils are all concealed within the calyx.
43. A small Aster, with one solitary white flower. (Erigeron uniflorum.) It has the calyx of the Amellus, the flower of a daisy, white with a yellow disk.
44. A viviparous grass, Poa. (Rather Festuca vivipara.)
45. Juncus with a sharp rigid point. Juncus, n.116. Fl. Lapp.)
46. A Catchfly which is not viscid, with the flowers collected into a tuft. (Lychnis alpina.)
47. A smooth Cerastium, agreeing in evry respect with the large-flowered one, except the hairiness and hoary aspect of the leaves. (C. alpinum, a smooth variety.)
I observed everywhere about the sides of the hills holes dug by the Lemming Rat. (Mus lemmus.) Hares are grey in summer upon the alps.
No herb or tree on the highest parts of these alps attains more than a quarter of an ell in height, though in the valleys the same species may perhaps be two or three feet high. Birch trees, which however are very scarce, creep in a manner under the earth, throwing up the tips of their branches here and there to the height of a quarter of an ell. Tender shoots of this kind sometimes conceal a very knotty depressed stem.
In the evening, and indeed till the night was far advanced, we sought for one of the Laplanders' huts, but to no purpose. Tracts made by the reindeer were plentiful enough in the marshy grounds, which we followed sometimes in one direction, sometimes in another, without their leading us to what we were in search of. I had walked so much that I could hardly stand on my legs, and was near fainting with fatigue, so that I lay down, resolving rather to endure the cold and boisterous wind, than proceed any further this night. At length the Laplander and his servant, who were my guides, found some dung of the reindeer. One of them took it up, and after squeezing it in his -hand and smelling at it, gave it to his companion to smell also. He was even desirous that I should take a snuff at it. By its freshness they were rejoiced to discover that a Laplander with his herd bad but recently left this spot, and they accordingly pursued a track which was here and there discernible in the snow. After we had proceeded half a mile, we met with the object of our search, who had removed but the day before, so that I had now an opportunity of taking some repose.
July 9.
Fatigued -with my late journey, I remained here all the following day and night, not only because it was Sunday, but because I was too much tired to undertake to cross the ice that day. Near the icy mountains the water of the neighbouring lakes was frozen to the depth of a fathom. I employed my-self in making the following memorandums.
I was told that Fungi are very plentiful in the alps in autumn. Scarcely any other fish is found in the lakes of this neighbourhood than the Röding, which the Laplanders call Raud (Salmo alpinus, or Char), and this is extremely abundant. It is a Salmon, or rather Trout, with a scarlet belly. Its length is about a foot. The scales are extremely minute. Head smooth, ovate, obtuse. Jaws furnished with teeth, and the tongue also bears two rows of teeth, six in each row. The palate moreover is toothed at each side. Nostrils small, with two holes to each, one above the other, the lowermost largest, and capable of being closed. Iris of the eyes grey, with a black pupil. Below each eye, in the cartilage of the cheek, are seven little hollow points ranged longitudinally, and in its hinder part are three others placed perpendicularly. The rays which cover the gills are ten on each side, connected together. Fin of the back with twelve rays, of which the two foremost are gradually longer, the third and fourth longest of all and subdivided. The whole fish is black in the upper part; its sides of a sky blue; head and throat white underneath; belly reddish-yellow. The ventral fins are red, with a white exterior edge. Many yellowish spots are scattered longitudinally along each side of the fish near the lateral line. The tail is of a brick-colour, and forked. The flesh is red, and very palatable. The people here caught fifty of these fishes with two hauls of the net, of which they made a dinner for me and themselves. One dish consisted of the fresh fish boiled, which was not agreeable to my palate for want of salt. Others were roasted on a wooden spit before the fire, but for the same reason I could hardly taste them. The third mode of preparation was the most acceptable to me, and had a very good flavour. This was made Of the dried and salted Röding, roasted on a spit. The Laplanders drink the water in which the fish has been boiled, which I was unable to do, though I could hot but commend the practice; as favourable to digestion.
The reindeer are innumerable, like the forests they inhabit. The herds are driven home, night and morning, to be milked. It was amusing to observe the manner of driving them, performed by a maid-servant with a dog. If the reindeer proved refractory, the dog easily made them obey the word of command, particularity when seconded by the hissing of the woman; at which they were extremely terrified. I observed also the manner of driving, them out to pasture. The wind blowing hard from the east, their conductress preferred a circuitous path, rather than face the storm. The reindeer, on the contrary, delighting to run against the wind, turned homeward when diverted from their inclination, while the dog ran after the woman. When these animals are permitted to face the wind, they run very fast and without intermission, in hopes of finding a place to cool themselves. Indeed I observed one of the herds crowding close together under the shadow of a hill, on a spot covered with snow, to avoid the heat caused by the reflection of the sun from the snow in other places. These animals will eat nothing in hot weather, especially as the gnats are then very troublesome. The males much resemble stags, but none in any of the herds had now more than one branch to their horns.
The head of the reindeer is grey, blackish about the eyes. Mouth whitish. Nostrils oblique. Tail short, not above six inches long, obtuse, white, concealed between the haunches. Feet encompassed with white above the hoofs. The whole body is grey, blacker when the new coat first comes on, whiter before it falls. The hair is not readily plucked off, but easily broken. The horns of the female are upright, or slightly bent backward, furnished with one or two branches in front near the base, the summit sometimes undivided, sometimes cloven. Those of the male are often two feet and a half long, and their points are as far distant from each other. They are variously branched, with more or less numerous subdivisions. These animals cast their horns every year; the males immediately after the rutting season, about the end of November; the females in May, after they have brought forth their young. If the females are barren, it is known by their casting the horns in winter.<67> Those of the males scarcely differ from the females in general structure. Both are hairy, but the hairiness falls off before Michaelmas. In some which I have seen broken, the inside, under the skin, of the young growing horns, appears like a cartilage. Hence they are flexible, and so very sensible, that the animal can scarcely bear to have them handled. Under a narrow layer of cartilage, the whole cavity is full of blood vessels. When arrived at their full growth, the horns are bulbous at their base, like those of a stag.
The length of the leg of the reindeer, from the joint of the foot to that next the body, is two feet. From this latter joint to the top of the back is also two feet. From the shoulders to the tail two feet. From the shoulders to the horns one foot, and the same from the horns to the mouth. From the belly to the back, that is, the perpendicular measure of the trunk, is a foot and half. As the reindeer walks along, a crackling noise proceeds from its feet. This excited my curiosity; and inquiring what was supposed to be the cause, the only answer I could get from any one was, that "our Lord had made it so." I inquired further in what manner our Lord had formed the reindeer so as to produce such an effect; but to this the respondent answered nothing.<68> When I laid hold of the animal's foot, pulled it, twisted and stretched it, or pushed it backward and forward in every possible way, no crackling was produced. At length I discovered the cause in the hoofs themselves, which are hollowed at their inner side. When the animal stands on its feet, the hoofs are, of course, widely expanded, and their points most remote from each other; but every time the foot is lifted from the ground, they strike together, and cause the noise above mentioned. This I was afterwards able to imitate at pleasure, by moving the foot with my hand.
When the reindeer are driven to the place where they are accustomed to be milked, they all lie down, breathing hard and panting violently, chewing the cud all the while. The report of Scheffer therefore, that they do not ruminate, is false, and Ray guessed more correctly than Scheffer observed.
When the fawn is missed by its mother, she runs in search of it with the most violent anxiety, stooping with her nose to the ground like a sow, till she finds it. She even quits the herd to which she belongs, and seeks her young at the Laplander's hut. After the herd has lain down in the manner above described, each of the people takes a small rope, and, making a noose, throws it over the head of one of the females intended to be milked. The cord is afterwards twisted round the horns, and the other end tied to a small pole fixed in the ground. One pole is sufficient to secure four of the animals, which all hands are afterwards employed in milking, both master and mistress, men and maids. If the milk does not come with facility, they beat the udder very hard with their hands; which causes a greater flow. The dugs are four, very rarely six, all yielding milk, and none of them dry. The young are not separated from their mothers. After the herd was milked and gone to pasture, I observed the maid-servant taking up some of the soft black dung, which, after kneading it with her hands, she put into a vessel. On my inquiring what could be the use of this, she answered that the dugs were besmeared with it, to prevent the fawn's sucking too much. She added that it would dry upon the nipple by the morning after it was applied, and might then be easily rubbed off. The female reindeer bring forth their young early in May, and their owners begin milking them on Midsummer day, and continue to do so till the beginning of November in the forests, but in this neighbourhood they leave off milking about Michaelmas. The fawns acquire horns the first year, which are perfectly simple, like fingers. I could not help wondering how the Laplanders knew such of the herd as they had already milked, from the rest, as they turned each loose as soon as they had done with it. I was answered that every one of them had an appropriate name, which the owners knew perfectly. This seemed to me truly astonishing, as the form and colour are so much alike in all, and the latter varies in each individual every month. The size also varies according to the age of the animal. To be able to distinguish one from another among such multitudes, for they are like ants on an anthill, was beyond my comprehension.
July 10.
I witnessed with pleasure the supreme tranquillity enjoyed by the inhabitants of this sequestered country. After they have milked their reindeer, and the women have made their cheese, boiled their whey to the requisite consistency, and taken their simple repast, they lie down to enjoy that sound sleep which is the reward and the proof of their innocent lives. There is rarely any contention among them. The inhabitants of the neighbouring moveable village had pitched their tents close together in lines, either from east to west, or otherwise. When my servant came in, he put his nose close to that of any person whom he wished to salute, as if he had intended to kiss him, saluting him with the old expression "purist." I inquired whether they actually kissed each other but my man answered in the negative, that they only put their noses together. This custom is in use among relations only.
A boy had been sent out to gather sorrel (Rumex acetosa), the larger kind, or variety, of which he brought home enough of the leaves with their stalks to fill a kettle. A small quantity of water was poured upon it, just sufficient to cover the bottom of the kettle. It was kept stirring over the fire, and allowed to boil, till the whole was reduced to a pulp. This was afterwards mixed with milk, and put into large barrels. When it has stood by for some time, it acquires an agreeable sourish taste, quite different from the flavour of the fresh plant. The barrels thus filled are preserved in holes, dug in the ground for the purpose, either lined with brickwork, or with birch bark, to protect them from rats or mice.
Another boy came in with as much as he could carry in his arms of the stalks of Angelica (sylvestris) which had not yet flowered. The people stripped off the leaves, and by means of a knife peeled the stalks, the skin of which came off like hemp. They ate the remainder as they would an apple, thinking it a great delicacy. I partook of it with them. The broad sheathing footstalks of the leaves, which enfold the young umbels, not being esteemed good to eat fresh, were peeled, and added to the syra, which was destined, to make jumomjölk.

In the hut where I was a guest, an infant lay in its leather cradle. Its head was protected by a screen of leather, and at the sides two longitudinal pieces of cloth, folding one over the other, were drawn together by a cord, over the child's body, which was besides covered with reindeer skins underneath. The head, breast, and shoulders were bare. It lay in this state all night long in the cold tent, and was exposed to the open air at other times, though the weather was very cold; yet the child did not suffer any inconvenience
I slept every night between two reindeer skins.
I was treated with östamus, or milk turned to curd by rennet, which, together with a great proportion of cheese that I had eaten of late, disagreed violently- with me, and almost brought on a tenesmus.
The women here, as well as the men, smoke tobacco, and indeed do almost everything but actually wear breeches. The men dress the meat, while the women employ themselves only in making cheese, and other various preparations of milk. Every kind of fish or meat is cooked by the men; and if the women happen not to be at hand, even the cheese and milk fall under their management.
The alps are destitute of human inhabitants in the winter season, because the Laplanders are then obliged to seek more woody parts of the country, where alone they are able to find a sufficient quantity of moss (Lichen rangiferinus) to feed their reindeer. On the alps there is hot only a want of wood, but the snow is covered with too bard a frozen crust to be penetrated so as to come at anything beneath it.
The poorest people only remain here as long as possible, for the sake of catching Ptarmigans (Tetrao lagopus); which is done in the following manner.
They take a little forked birch twig, about a span long, which is stuck into the snow perpendicularly by its divided end, forming a sort of arch. A snare or noose, made of pack-thread or horsehair, is then fixed to the twig by one end, and placed in the open space between the forks. The thin curling bark of the twig, being carefully slit down at the outer side, curls inward, and serves both to confine and conceal the snare, by drawing it close to the branch on the inner side. Such traps as these are ranged in a line, about a fathom from each other, in the birch thickets, brush wood being laid from one to another, so as to form a low fence. Now as the Ptarmigans come running along, for they seldom fly, they have no way to go but through these snares, and forty or fifty of them are frequently caught at a time.
This day I both heard and saw the Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), which the Laplanders call Geecka; and also the great fishing Gull with a grey back (Larus canus), to which they give the name of Staule; (not Straule, as in the Fauna Suecica.)
The Andromeda (hypnoides) with leaves like moss, or needle-shaped, was here in flower. The petal is bell-shaped, white tipped with purple, divided half way down into five semi-ovate segments. Calyx five-cleft, erect, acute. Anthers orange, very short, furnished with white bristles. Pistil one, obtuse. In walking over the snow, I once sunk up to my middle, the floods having undermined it to a great depth. Two men drew me out with a rope, and I received no damage except a blow on my thigh and being very wet. Soon afterwards I met with a Laplander who was both a Danish and Swedish subject. He offered me brandy, which I would have declined; but he insisted on my taking a glass, and some tobacco.
The water of the lake of Virijaur (perhaps Wire-jaur) was of a whitish green colour; exactly like water poured into a vessel previously used for milk. This appearance arose merely from its extreme purity, levity, and consequent transparency. It was cooler than the water flowing from the snow.
Not far from this lake, on the left, upon the side of the mountain called Kaitsoniunni, near a rivulet, I picked up a curious stone or radiated fluor; of a bluish colour, composed of square parts (probably zeolite). In the evening it rained, but I observed the Papilionoides with purple spots (Sphinx filipendulæ).
The stones hereabouts were mostly fissile, horny; some black and aluminous, but generally horny and spontaneously decomposing, with silvery talc, rarely any quartz.