18. _Lapmj[:o]lk_, is milk mixed with sorrel leaves, (_R. Acetosa_,) and
preserved till winter in the stomach of a reindeer, or some other
animal.
19. The milk of the reindeer is placed in a cellar to prevent its
quickly turning sour, in order to obtain the more cream; if it
freezes, they thaw it again.
_June 24._
Midsummer day. Blessed be the Lord for the beauty of summer and of
spring, and for what is here in greater perfection than almost any where
else in the world,--the air, the water, the verdure of the herbage, and
the song of birds!
I walked out in the morning to botanize, but met with nothing curious,
except _Arisarum_ of Rivinus (_Calla palustris_), the flower of which is
described in my _Characteres Generici_; and the _Corallorrhiza_.
Here I was first informed of a disease which had made great ravages
amongst the cattle in this neighbourhood, and which was of so
pestilential a nature, that, though the animals were flayed even before
they were cold, wherever their blood had come in contact with the human
body, it had caused gangrenous spots and sores. Some persons had had
both their hands swelled, and one his face, in consequence of the blood
coming upon it. Many people had lost their lives by it, insomuch that
nobody would now venture to flay any more of the cattle, but they
contrived to bury them whole. As a preventative they had adopted the
practice of swimming their cattle once a day, which they believed
rendered the animals proof against the disorder.
I was told that the cattle grazing on a certain declivity at Tornoea
die to the number of two or three hundred in the course of the summer. I
must examine whether the cause of this may not be the Water Hemlock
(_Cicuta aquatica_).
Could not meadows be freed from their wart-like tumps by burning? These
swellings might be cut off with an oblique hatchet, in spring after the
frost ceases, and burnt in a heap; their ashes would serve as a valuable
manure for the corn-field. Sandy grounds are rendered fertile with
bog-earth; clay with sand. _Ledum_ (_palustre_) is laid among corn in
the barns, to drive away mice.
I here obtained some of Nasaphiel's silver ore, and the curious iron ore
of Lulean Lapmark, called _gubbsilfver_ (old man's silver). The mine is
not yet exhausted. The working of it had been for some time
discontinued, but it is now resumed. It yields sixty per cent. It is
situated a mile distant from Jockmock, and is called Rutawari. I
procured also from the parish of Pithoea some pencil lead, or lead-like
_mica_ (black lead) which blackens the fingers.
The weather continued extremely fine, which in the opinion of the common
people portended a good harvest.
_June 25._
Sunday.--After divine service, I took leave of Lulea, in order to
proceed to Lulean Lapmark, and arrived at the river of Lulea. I was
informed that the salmon, which remain all winter in the Western Ocean,
proceed gradually, as spring advances, up the river to this place to
spawn. They enter the river about the middle of May, and reach this part
of it by midsummer. Hooks have been found sticking in the side of some
of the fish, which proved their having been here before.
The _Subularia_, a new _Melampyrum_[53], and _Pedicularis_ (_sylvatica_)
with a white flower, occurred to me at Sunnerby. The white bog-moss
(_Sphagnum palustre_) powdered, is applied to excoriations in the skin
of young children. Towards evening I found in a sand-hill a loose kind
of sandstone containing three per cent of iron.
[53] What this was does not appear. _M. pratense_ and _sylvaticum_
only have been found in Lapland.
_June 26._
I gathered _Gramen paleaceum_ (_Juncus bufonius_), both kinds of
_Tetrahit_ (_Galeopsis Tetrahit_ and _G. versicolor_, _Fl. Brit._),
_Geranium_ (_sylvaticum_) with a pale white flower. At Bredacker I
noticed the _Conyza_ (_Erigeron uniflorum_ or _E. acre_), the
purple-flowered Millefoil (_Achillea Millefolium_), and the _Cirsium_
(_Carduus heterophyllus_.)
The Laplanders boil all their meat very thoroughly, and treat their
guests with grease, by way of dainty, which is eaten with a spoon. They
milk their reindeer twice a day. Each gives not more at a time than half
a pint, or at the utmost three quarters.
The natives of the country tan their leather with birch bark, buying
hides of the colonists for this purpose. The hides, after being plunged
into warm water, are buried in some out-of-the-way corner of the hut,
and taken up every day till the hair begins to separate, which is then
scraped off with a roundish knife. The recent inner bark of the birch,
cut into small pieces, is then boiled in common water for half an hour;
in which liquor, when partly cooled, the skin is immersed. On the two
following days it is taken out, the liquor warmed, and the skin
replaced. Afterwards it is dried in the open air in the shade. This
leather is much better and softer than what the colonists themselves
prepare, but these last-mentioned people are very tenacious of their own
modes and customs.
Near the margin of the river various species of Willow, which I had
already gathered and described, were growing in high beauty, and
contributed greatly to the ornament of its banks. The neighbouring
forests consist of pine trees intermixed with birch, but the latter tree
is much less abundant here than in Umoean Lapmark, especially in
Siodorne. Leaves of the Meal-berry (_Arbutus Uva-ursi_) are used in
tanning or dyeing; which saves a great deal of alum. Many barrels of
these leaves are sent for sale to Stockholm.
The Laplanders of Westbothnia give their young children the unripe
berries of this shrub boiled, by way of a laxative or purge. Ten or
twelve are the usual quantity, but the dose varies according to the age
of the patient.
Several kinds of Foxes are found in Lapmark. Their fur is more valuable
in proportion as they come further north.
1. The black is the dearest of all. From sixty to two hundred dollars
of copper money are paid for one of these skins. People of rank in
Russia use them for hoods or head-dresses. All their counsellors
have caps of black foxes skin.