August 10.

Stayed at the house of the principal clergyman in Kemi till the 11th. This day I gathered a sort of Pink, Caryophyllus, with refiexed petals of a purplish colour, divided into many segments almost to their base. The claws, not contracted at the summit, bear on the upper side, at the bend, a tuft of dull-coloured hairs. (This was the beautiful and fragrant Dianthus superbus.) Also a Salix with appendages at the base of its leaves. (What species this was, does not appear.) At the shore of the great river grew Alsine repens, foliis gramineis, (Stellaria uliginosa, Fl. Brit. 476. Engl. Bot. t.1074.)

Lying-in women at this place are accustomed to drink brandy seasoned with pepper, partly for the sake of its intoxicating quality, by way of a narcotic, and partly to bring on the labour pains. The clergyman's wife told me an infallible method, as she said, to prevent the pains which often follow childbirth. When the woman's first child is born, and the umbilical cord divided, a spoonful of the blood is given her to swallow. This is to be practised at every succeeding labour, and I was assured that each would be rendered more easy, without any after-pains.

In Österbotten, as well as in Medelpad, it is customary to have the dairy superintended by a superior female servant, called the fäbodar, who receives for each cow one pound of butter and one of cheese, besides a pound of mesosmör.

To obtain a greater quantity of butter, the milk is set by, either in a cellar or in a double-walled house, to be kept as cold as possible, for at least two days, or so long as that it will not stick to the finger. The milk will not turn sour, but will become very thin and blue, while the cream collects on the top, of considerable thickness and in great perfection. The cream being taken off, and put into the churn, often proves so rich, that after it has been churned but a short time, if the churn be laid on one side nothing will run out. It is no small labour to churn such cream.

Of the remaining milk cheese is made, being warmed before it is coagulated. If the milk has begun to turn sour, it will not do for this purpose. Such thin milk as this is not very fit for eating, but the whey which separates from it in the making of cheese, is by some people made into syra. This is done merely by putting it, when cool, into a vessel or cask, when, if set by for a considerable time, it will become extremely tough. Most usually however it is boiled, and then kept for two or three days, when, some new milk being added, it is boiled up again to the consistency of flummery, and then set by in some kind of vessel. If it remains for a long while without being touched, it grows hard, and becomes mesosmör. The blue milk above mentioned may be boiled like fresh milk, and does not readily turn sour.

Gos-mjölk, or rather Gäs-mjölk, (from the Swedish verb gäsa, to work or ferment,) is made as follows. The butter-milk is set by in a tub till it begins to ferment, when about a third or fourth part of the quantity of fresh milk is added, the whole being allowed to work once more. A serum by this time is formed at the bottom, which is drawn off by means of a cock or tap, in the bottom of the tub, and used immediately for food. A similar portion of fresh milk is then put to the remainder, when more whey is, in due time, deposited. This practice is repeated from time to time for the space of a fortnight, at the end of which the milk in the tub becomes of a thick consistency, and is excellent eating.

Servet-mjölk (Napkin Milk) is made by taking a quantity of sour milk just beginning to ferment, when bubbles, like hydatids as it were, are formed between the cream and the milk. This is cut across in various directions, and the thicker substance taken off and hung up in a napkin, that the liquid part may drain away. What remains in the napkin acquires a firm consistency, and is eaten along with fresh sweet cream.

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