Near Storbacken, at the confluence of the great and small rivers of
Lulea, is the boundary mark between Lapmark and Westbothnia.
As soon as I entered Lapmark, the hill which forms a promontory betwixt
the two rivers afforded me the following plants.
The Sorrel lately mentioned (_Rumex digynus_) was here in blossom. The
calyx is of two leaves; the petals two, perfectly like the calyx.
Stamens six. Pistils two, in the same flower with the stamens, reflexed.
Fruit compressed, with two, not three, angles. Some of its flowers were
infected with smut, as in barley.
The Small Liquorice (_Astragalus alpinus_, see _p_. 159). Some plants
had white flowers, tipped with a blueish hue; the others bore entirely
purple blossoms.
On the hill named Wollerim I met with a very rare little species of
Asphodel, with white flowers in a roundish spike (_Anthericum
calyculatum_, _Sp. Pl. Tofieldia palustris, Engl. Bot. t. 536_). The
leaves are ranged on each other's back (equitant) as in the Marsh
Asphodel (_Narthecium ossifragum, t. 535_). At a small distance in the
marshes I found the small flowering rush of Bauhin, _Juncoidi affinis_
of Scheuchzer, (_Scheuchzeria palustris_). The calyx is of six oblong
sharpish leaves, reflexed and permanent. Petals none. Stamens six,
capillary, very short, pendulous, with upright, very long, obtuse,
compressed _apices_ (anthers). Embryos (germens) three, often four,
rarely five, ovate, compressed. Pistils (styles) none. Stigmas attached
to the outer part of the embryos, not elevated. Capsules of two valves,
with one seed in each capsule. Leaves concave, sheathing the lower part
of the stem.
In the evening I observed Red Currants (_Ribes rubrum_), and a kind of
panicled grass with blue leaves, (perhaps an _Aira_, but it cannot now
be determined).
Here was the black biting spider (_Aranea palustris_), but not the
_littoralis_ (_A. riparia_).
_June 29._
The Pine trees are observed to be more barren of branches on their north
sides; hence the common people know by these trees which way the north
lies. The timber lay here in abundance, entirely useless. Brandy is made
from the fir, as well as from the berries of mountain ash.
About a mile from Pajarim I came to the mountain of Koskesvari, which is
very lofty, insomuch that the snowy summits of the Lapland alps are
visible from it, though at a very great distance. In this elevated
situation the Red Whortle-berry (_Vaccinium Vitis idaea_) assumes a quite
different appearance from what is usual, its stems being twice as long,
perfectly erect, and not branched. The extremities of the branches of
the Spruce-fir bear small yellow cones, which however are nothing else
than the leaves deformed, being thicker and shorter than when in their
proper state, and of a pale yellow, marked on their inside with two
prominent orange-coloured lines. When arrived at maturity, they burst
asunder, and discharge an orange-coloured powder, which stains the
clothes of those who approach the tree. I conceive these excrescences to
be caused by some minute insects. The common people eat them raw as a
dainty, like berries. Here also I met with a narrow-leaved _Cirsium_
(_Serratula alpina_), which I had previously noticed in Umoean Lapmark,
but it was not then in bloom. Likewise (_Rhamnus_) _Frangula_,
_Pinguicula_, Unbranched Quaking-grass (this must have been _Melica
nutans_), _Corallorrhiza_, the Narrow-leaved Spotted _Orchis_
(_maculata_), _Geranium_ (_sylvaticum_) with a white flower veined with
purple, a purple pistil and blue anthers. The leaves of this last plant
were variously divided, the lower in seven lobes, the middle ones in
five, the uppermost opposite and sessile, with only three lobes. Two
flowers grow on each stalk.
Here also I gathered a _Pinguicula_, the fore-part of whose petal was
white, the hind-part blue, which is certainly a beautiful as well as
singular variety. (See _Fl. Lapp. n. 11._ _P. vulgaris_.)
The trees here produce _Usnea arborea_ (_Lichen plicatus_), which the
Laplanders apply to excoriations of the feet caused by excessive
walking. They line their shoes with this moss, a practice which might
with advantage be adopted by soldiers on a march. The Laplanders also
line their shoes with grass, consisting of various species of _Carex_,
(especially _C. sylvatica_, _Fl. Brit._). This grass they comb with iron
or horn combs, bruising it between their hands till it becomes soft and
pliable. When dried they cram it into their shoes, and it answers
instead of stockings for defending the feet from cold. (See _Fl. Lapp.
n. 328_.)
After much trouble and fatigue, I at length reached Jockmock, where
stands the principal church of this northern district, and where its
pastor resides.
_June 30._
The clergyman of Jockmock, Mr. Malming, who is the schoolmaster, and Mr.
H[:o]gling the curate, tormented me with their consummate and most
pertinacious ignorance. I could not but wonder how so much pride and
ambition, such scandalous want of information, with such incorrigible
stupidity, could exist in persons of their profession, who are commonly
expected to be men of knowledge; yet any school-boy twelve years of age
might be better informed. No man will deny the propriety of such people
as these, at least, being placed as far as possible from civilized
society.
The learned curate began his conversation with remarks on the clouds in
this country, setting forth how they strike the mountains as they pass,
carrying away stones, trees and cattle. I ventured to suggest that such
accidents were rather to be attributed to the force of the wind, for
that the clouds could not of themselves lift, or carry away, any thing.
He laughed at me, saying surely I had never seen any clouds. For my
part, it seemed to me that he could have never been any where but in the
clouds. I replied, that whenever the weather is foggy I walk in clouds,
and when the fog is condensed, and no longer supported in the air, it
immediately rains beneath my feet. At all such reasoning, being above
his comprehension, he only laughed with a sardonic smile. Still less was
he satisfied with my explanation how watery bubbles may be lifted up
into the air, as he told me the clouds were solid bodies. On my denying
this, he reinforced his assertion with a text of scripture, silencing me
by authority, and then laughing at my ignorance. He next condescended to
inform me that after rain a phlegm is always to be found on the
mountains, where the clouds have touched them. Upon my replying that
this phlegm is a vegetable called _Nostoc_, I was, like St. Paul, judged
to be mad, and that too much learning had turned my brain. This
philosopher, who was as fully persuaded of his own complete knowledge of
nature, as Sturmius was of being able to fly by means of hollow globes,
was pleased to be very facetious at my expense. At length he graciously
advised me to pay some regard to the opinions of people skilled in these
abstruse matters, and not, at my return home, to expose myself by
publishing such absurd and preposterous opinions as I had now advanced.
The other, the pedagogue, lamented that people should bestow so much
attention upon temporal vanities, and consequently, alas! neglect their
spiritual good[55]; and he remarked that many a man had been ruined by
too great application to study.
[55] I have known one instance of such bigotry, or rather hypocrisy,
out of Lapland.
Both these wise men concurred in one thing. They could not conceal their
wonder that the Royal Academy should expressly have appointed a mere
student for the purposes for which I was sent, without considering that
there were already as competent men resident in the country, who would
have undertaken the business. They declared they would either of them
have been ready to accept of the charge. In my opinion, however, they
would but have exhibited a fresh illustration of the proverb of the ass
and the lyre.
The number of pupils under the care of the gentleman above mentioned at
this time amounted to four only. The church is but a small one.
It is a practice here with some persons who have the headache, from
excessive drinking or any other cause, to hold their foreheads before
the fire till they smart violently. Others apply to the temples young
shoots of spruce fir bruised.
Half a mile from the church I gathered the _Cirsium minus_ (_Serratula
alpina_), the _Cacalia_ (_Tussilago frigida_), the latter not in flower,
and one kind of Botsko of the Laplanders, called Bi[oe]rnstut in
Westbothnia (_Angelica sylvestris_), which is the narrow-leaved species
of _Angelica_, and resembles the larger kind. Its general umbel is
destitute of an involucrum. My Lapland companion seized it immediately,
and peeling the stalk, which had not yet flowered, ate it like a turnip,
as a great delicacy. Indeed it tasted not unpleasantly, especially the
upper part, which is the most tender. This dainty is in great request
amongst the Laplanders.
We arrived at length at Purkijau, a small island, the northern side of
which is planted with forests of spruce fir, and the others with woods
of birch, by way of protection to the corn. The colonist who resides
here informed me that the corn never suffered from cold, as, besides the
shelter afforded by these plantations, the circumjacent water moderated
the degree of frost. The situation of this island is pleasant. I found
in some bushy parts of it the _Sceptrum Carolinum_, and another species
of _Pedicularis_, with narrow leaves and a tuft of purple flowers (this
seems to have been _P. sylvatica_ only).
The river Karax, where is a pearl fishery, runs not far from hence. On
its banks I remarked the _Sceptrum Carolinum_, which became very common
as I advanced further on my journey.
Another mile brought us to the lake of Randiau; on approaching which we
saw nothing before us but lofty mountains of an oblong obtuse form,
lifting their summits one above another, and on the most distant of
these snow was to be seen, though half melted away like snow in the
spring.
_July 1._
Parkajaur, the first lake I reached after leaving the place where I
slept, is a short mile in length. At its opposite shore rises the lofty
peaked mountain of Achiekoivi, or Tornberget, upon whose summit the
Laplanders used, in ancient times, to offer sacrifice, for the success
of their herds of reindeer. The mountain still shows traces of fire. At
the western end of this lake a Laplander resided, and from thence it was
scarcely a quarter of a mile by land to the next lake, called Skalk,
where as I passed near a waterfall, I found the _Barbarea_ and
_Pedicularis_, both already mentioned, also the Asphodel (_Tofieldia
palustris, Fl. Brit._) and the little _Astragalus_, see _p. 159_.
[Illustration]
When I came to the lake Skalk in the way towards Kiomitis, about a mile
short of the last-mentioned place, I was much struck with an opening
between the hills to the north-west, through which appeared a range of
mountains, from ten to twenty miles distant, as white as the clouds, and
seeming not above a mile from the spot where I stood. Their summits
reached the clouds, and indeed they resembled a range of white clouds
rising from the horizon. They recalled to my mind the frontispiece of
Rudbeck's _Lapponia Illustrata_. Mountains upon mountains rose before me
in every direction. In a word, I now beheld the Lapland alps.
Arriving in the evening at Kiomitis, I saw the sun set apparently on the
summit of a high mountain called Harrevarto, situated over against the
house of the parish clerk. This spectacle I considered as not one of the
least of Nature's miracles, for what inhabitant of other countries would
not wish to behold it? O Lord, how wonderful are thy works!
_July 2._
At Kiomitis I rested during the whole of this day, Sunday.
Here the beautiful corn was growing in great perfection in valleys
between the snowy mountains. It had shot up so high as to be laid in
some places by the rain. It had been sown on the 25th or 26th of May, as
at Umoea.
I found in abundance _Tripolium pratense_, _coron[^a] calyce breviori_, or
_Aster folio non acri_, _flore purpureo_; (_Erigeron uniflorum_, _Fl.
Lapp. n. 307. t. 9. f. 3_.) The same occurred with a white flower. Also
_Euphrasia_ (_officinalis_) about its usual size, but with very small
flowers; (a variety mentioned in the _Flora Lapponica, n. 247_, found
likewise in Switzerland.) In the same neighbourhood grew the _Tetrahit_,
both with small and large flowers, (_Galeopsis Tetrahit_, and _G.
versicolor_, _Fl. Brit_.)
_July 3._
Early this morning I went with Mr. Joachim Koch, quarter-master of the
regiment stationed here, and Mr. Segar Swanberg, master of the mines, to
the Kiuriwari, a high mountain half a mile from Kiomitis, where a silver
mine had just been opened. The ore showed itself only in one cleft,
whose sides it seemed to cement together.
All over this mountain I observed a kind of _Uva Ursi_ with black fruit,
which I do not know that any author has described. The flower was
exactly like that of the Mealy-berry (_Arbutus Uva-ursi_); each stood on
a simple stalk, and had five teeth at its orifice. The fruit was of five
cells, globose, enclosed in the petal. (_Arbutus alpina._)
I likewise found here a Catch-fly with ten stamens and five styles
(_Lychnis alpina_), exactly similar to the common Catch-fly (_Lychnis
Viscaria_), except that the flowers were smaller and not so much
scattered, neither was the stem at all viscid.
Birch trees were to be found even on the highest part of this hill, but
of a very diminutive stature. Their trunks were thick but low, and their
highest shoots seemed to have been killed by frost, so that the young
leaves looked as if they were growing out of branches that had been
burnt. I was told that these trees afford every year but a very small
portion of sap, and that the wood is much harder than the common kind.
Such diminutive trees grow to a great age. The further I proceeded up
the country, the smaller I still found them.
Some of the people hereabouts clean their half-boots and harness with
the fat of fish; others purchase blacking from Norway.
_July 4._
I met with an _Andromeda_ with leaves like _Empetrum_ (_A. caerulea_).
The stem and foliage were exactly like that plant, but somewhat larger.
The calyx rough, short, with five teeth. Corolla of one petal, blue,
ovate, with five spreading notched segments at its orifice. Stamens ten,
very short, with horned anthers. Pistil one, the length of the corolla,
with a blunt pentagonal stigma.
The following food is prepared by the Laplanders from milk.
The _messen_ or whey, after the cheese is made, is boiled to a thick
consistence, and a small quantity of cream from the milk of the
reindeer is added. The whole is afterwards dried in the maw or
rennet-bag of the reindeer, and tastes very well.
_Kappa_ is the scum which rises while the whey is boiling. This being
skimmed off, is also kept in rennet-bags for use.
The milk is not turned, in order to make cheese, with rennet, but with
the maws of pike (_Esox Lucius_), of charr (_Salmo alpinus_), or of the
grayling (_Salmo Thymallus_). These are previously dried, and preserved
for use in a little keg of milk. When any of this is taken out for use,
they are careful to fill up the vessel with fresh milk, that they may
always have a supply at hand.
_Jumomj[:o]lk_ is prepared by boiling half a pint of _syra_ (see _p. 243_)
in a small quantity of water, which must be kept stirring till the whole
is perfectly dissolved. It is then mixed with milk of the reindeer, and
poured either into rennet-bags of that animal, or some kind of pot or
tub, in which it is preserved for future use, if not immediately eaten.
Rennet is also made by taking the maws of such reindeer fawns as die in
the spring, putting milk into them, and hanging it up to dry for use.
I here made the following observations relative to the remedies used by
the Laplanders.
Their _Moxa_, as the Japanese call it, but which they term _Toule_, is
made of a fine fungus found on the birch, and always chosen from the
south side of the tree. Of this they apply a piece as large as a pea,
upon the afflicted part, setting fire to it with a twig of birch, and
letting it burn gradually away. This is repeated two or three times. It
produces a sore that will often keep open for six months afterwards, nor
must it be closed till it heals spontaneously. This remedy is used for
all aches and pains; as the headache, toothache, pleurisy, pain in the
stomach, lumbago, &c. It is the universal medicine of the Laplanders,
and may be called their little physician.
_Kattie_ is a kind of drawing or ripening plaister made in the following
manner. The fine loose scaly bark of birch is set on fire, and
immediately quenched in water. It is then chewed, in the same manner as
when wanted for cementing earthen-ware together, and afterwards mixed
with fresh turpentine from the spruce fir, both being kneaded together
by the hands, till the mass becomes a black uniform plaister. This has a
very emollient quality, and is successfully applied to hard imposthumes,
&c., which it brings to maturity without pain in a short time, and
promotes their discharge.
The common method of the Laplanders for joining broken earthen-ware, is
to tie the fragments together with a thread, and boil the whole in fresh
milk, by which they are cemented to each other.
The grass used for lining shoes is a _Carex pseudo-cyperus_, with
many slender pendulous spikes. (_Carex sylvatica_, _Fl. Brit._)
An ointment for burns is made of fresh cream boiled to a thick
consistence, with which the sore is anointed. It removes the pain, and
admirably promotes the healing of the ulcer.
For chilblains, the oil or fat which exudes from toasted reindeer
cheese, rubbed upon the part affected, is a sovereign cure. Some persons
use dog's fat for the same purpose. The latter is also used for pains in
the back, being rubbed in before a fire.
The Laplanders make use of no razor, but cut their beards with scissars.
They never cut the hair of the head, and only occasionally employ a comb
or any similar instrument. They have no laundress or washerwoman.
The drug called castor is one of their great remedies for every disease,
and the gall of the bear is another.
When a wedding is to be celebrated, the lover takes all his relations
along with him, each carrying meat and brandy. Being arrived at--(this
sentence is left unfinished in the manuscript.)
_July 5._
I continued my journey to Hyttan, and in my way passed a marshy place,
such as the Laplanders call _murki_. Close to the borders of it grew the
least _Thalictrum_ (_T. alpinum_), with four pale petals, and twelve
stamens with long anthers, their filaments purple. In another part grew
an _Androsace_ with two drooping flowers. It had five stamens; one
capitate pistil; an ovate fruit of one cell; a five-cleft calyx, and a
swelling (corolla of one) petal. It is therefore not a good _Androsace_.
(This was unquestionably _Primula integrifolia_, see _Fl. Lapp. ed. 2.
52_, which Linnaeus, in that work, seems to have confounded with _P.
farinosa_. Speaking of the latter he says, "This _Primula_, the splendid
crimson of whose flowers attracts the eyes of all who traverse the
fields of Scania and the meadows of Upland in the early spring, did not
occur during my whole journey till after I had ascended the Lapland
Alps, where it grew very sparingly, furnished with only two or three
flowers, and those of a very pale hue, so that in the mountains of
Lapland it deserves neither the name of Caesar nor of Regulus[56]. The
stem of the plant, however, in these regions was a span or more in
height, which is hardly the case in any other part of Sweden." _Fl.
Lapp. ed. 2. 51._ Hence it appears that the real _P. farinosa_ ought to
be struck out of the Lapland Flora, provided no botanist has found it
there since Linnaeus made the above remarks.)
[56] See Simler, who calls the _Primula farinosa_ "Caesar or Regulus
among herbs."
_Sceptrum Carolinum_ was in blossom near the water, as well as the
gloomy _Aconitum_ (_lycoctonum_), "whose flowers with us are not yellow,
as the synonyms of authors assert, but every where of a blueish
ash-colour[57]."
[57] This remark of Linnaeus I have borrowed from Fl. Lapp. n. 221.
Here also grew _Juncus palustris_, _calamo trifido_ (_J. trifidus_); the
Violet with a yellow flower (_Viola biflora_); and the Wood Stitchwort
with heart-shaped leaves (_Stellaria nemorum_, which Linnaeus, in Flora
Lapp. n. 186, confounds with his _Alsine media_, or _Stellaria media_,
_Fl. Brit._ a mistake he corrected in his _Species Plantarum_).
Shortly afterwards I came within sight of an oblong and very lofty
mountain, situated on the right-hand, called Carsavari, composed of a
coarse kind of fissile stone, upon which pure native alum is found; see
Bromell (in the _Acta Suecica_ from the year 1726 to 1730).
Very near the last-mentioned mountain is situated another, called
Tavevari, remarkable for two rivulets running down from its summit, and
falling over a rock in the middle of their course.
Concerning the spots or imperfections in the skins of reindeer, it is
certain that they originate in the perforations made by insects,
probably a species of _Tabanus_, through which those insects introduce
their eggs. When the young ones arrive at maturity, they come forth by
the same passage, and the wound is closed by a scar. On this subject,
lest any person should be misled by authority, or by the writings or
reports of others, I shall quote the learned work of Linder on
_Syphilis_, _p. 11_. "Reindeer in Lapland are subject to the small-pox,
which in Norland is termed Kormsiuka, as I was informed at
Wicksbergensbrun by Zachary Plantin, master of arts." In this the able
writer has been totally misled, by a person usually esteemed no less
honest than profoundly learned. I cannot however conceive how a man, who
values himself upon such a character, should willingly and deliberately
propagate a falsehood. He ought, on the contrary, rather to aim at
correcting it. If the reindeer should even have the small-pox every
year, this supposed disease will prove on examination nothing else than
the sting of the Gad-fly (_Oestrus Tarandi_). Did any man ever advance
such an absurdity! Even the Laplanders themselves call the disease
_Kurbma_ (which is the name of the fly that actually causes it).
One of the Laplanders' dishes, called _Kappi_, or _Kappa-tialmas_, is
prepared in the following manner. While the milk of the reindeer,
intended for making cheese, is warm, before the rennet is added to it, a
film rises to the top, which is taken off carefully with a spoon, and
put into the bladder of a reindeer. This is hung up against the side of
the hut to dry; after which it is eaten, being esteemed a great
delicacy. They frequently mix some kind of berries with it when used.
The fruit called _Hjortron_, (Cloud-berry, or _Rubus Chamaemorus_,)
bruised and eaten with milk of the reindeer, is also a very palatable
Lapland dish. The milk of this animal affords at least twice as much
cheese in proportion as any other milk. Butter is very seldom made by
these people, nor is cream ever used for that purpose, as it scarcely
rises in sufficient quantity. Milk only is used, being agitated in a
wooden vessel with a whisk. The butter is of a white colour.
Candles are not in use among the Laplanders, though the tallow of the
reindeer is very fit for that purpose, notwithstanding its consistence
being less firm than that of ordinary tallow. These people preserve it
in bladders, and boil it for food. Each reindeer yields but a small
quantity of tallow in proportion to its size, not more than a sheep;
having none between the muscles, like oxen and other cattle, but only
round them.
Viviparous Bistort (_Polygonum viviparum_) grew hereabouts two spans in
height. The _Trientalis_ in moist situations had obtuse petals (see
_Fl. Lapp. n. 139, [epsilon]_). The Water _Epilobium_ in this place had
very broad leaves. (_E. palustre [beta]. Sp. Pl. 495._ _Fl. Lapp. n.
148._) _Geranium_ (_sylvaticum_) had sometimes a white flower with
purple veins, and blue anthers; sometimes the petals, as well as
anthers, were white.