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Lachesis Lapponica; Or, A Tour In Lapland

Carl von Linné

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Lachesis Lapponica, OR A TOUR IN LAPLAND,

Lachesis Lapponica, OR A TOUR IN LAPLAND,

NOW FIRST PUBLISHED FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT JOURNAL OF THE CELEBRATED LINNÆUS; BY JAMES EDWARD SMITH, M. D. F. R. S. etc. PRESIDENT OF THE LINNÆAN SOCIETY . IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. "Ulterius nihil est, nisi non habitabile frigus." Ovid. LONDON : PRINTED FOR WHITE AND COCHRANE, HORACE'S HEAD, FLEET-STREET, BY RICHARD TAYLOR AND CO., SHOE-LANE. 1811. TO THOMAS FURLY FORSTER, Esq. FELLOW OF THE LINNÆAN SOCIETY. My dear Sir, Among the various consultations and communications which have t

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PREFACE

PREFACE

The biographers of Linnæus have often mentioned the Journal of his Lapland Tour, to which he himself has frequently adverted, in various parts of his voluminous works, under the title of Lachesis Lapponica . The publication of this Journal has been anxiously desired; and so valuable was the manuscript considered, that on his whole collection and library being sold, after the death of his son, it was remarked that these papers at least ought to have been retained in Sweden, as a national pro pert

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May 12, 1732, old style.

May 12, 1732, old style.

I set out alone from the city of Upsal on Friday May 12, 1732, at eleven o'clock, being at that time within half a day of twenty-five years of age. At this season Nature wore her most cheerful and delightful aspect, and Flora celebrated her nuptials with Phœbus. Now the winter corn was half a foot in height, and the barley had just shot out its blade. The birch, the elm, and the aspen-tree began to put forth their leaves. Upsal is the ancient seat of government. Its palace was destroyed by fire

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May 13.

May 13.

Here the Yew ( Taxus baccata ) grows wild. The inhabitants call it Id or Idegran. The forest abounded with the Yellow Anemone ( Anemone ranunculoides ), which many people consider as differing from that genus. One would suppose they had never seen an Anemone at all. Here also grew Hepatica ( Anemone Hepatica ) and Wood Sorrel ( Oxalis Acetosella ). Their blossoms were all closed. Who has endowed plants with intelligence, to shut themselves up at the approach of rain? Even when the weather change

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May 14.

May 14.

I left Gefle after divine service, having previously obtained a proper passport from the governor of the province and his secretary. I was well received and entertained by the Comptroller of the Customs, Lönbom. At this town is the last apothecary's shop and the last physician in the province, neither the one nor the other being to be met with in any place further north. The river is navigable through the town. The surrounding country abounds with large red stones. At the distance of three quart

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May 15.

May 15.

Next morning I arose with the sun in order to examine this wonderful tree, which was pointed out to me from a distance. It proved nothing more than a common Elm. Hence however we learn that the Elm is not a common tree in this part of the country. I observed that in these forests plants of the natural family of bicornes (with two-horned antheras) predominated over all others, so that the Heath, Erica , in the woods, and Andromeda [5] , in the marshes, were more abundant than any thing else. Inde

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May 16.

May 16.

Between Eksund post-house and Spange is the capital iron forge of Eksund, which has two hammers and one blast furnace. The sons of Vulcan were working in their shirts, and seemed masters of their business. The ore used here is of three or four kinds. First, from Dannemora; second, from Soderom; third, from Grusone, which contains beautiful cubical pyrites; fourth, a black ore from the parish of Arbro, which lies at the bottom of the sea, but in stormy weather is thrown upon the shore. At this pl

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May 17.

May 17.

Continuing my journey at sunrise, I saw some sepulchral mounds near the church of Jättedahl. As soon as I had passed the forest, I overtook seven Laplanders driving their reindeer, which were about sixty or seventy in number followed by their young ones. Most of the herd had lost their horns, and new ones were sprouting forth. I asked the drivers what could have brought them so far down into the country. They replied that they were born here near the sea coast, and intended to end their lives he

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May 18.

May 18.

Being Ascension day, I spent it at this place, partly on account of the holiday, partly to rest my weary limbs and recruit my strength. The country bears a great resemblance to Helsingland, but is rather a more pleasant residence. I took a walk about the neighbourhood to amuse myself with the beauties of Flora, which were here but in their earliest spring. I found an aquatic Violet with a white flower, which very much resembled the large wild Violet ( Viola canina ), of which I should have taken

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May 19.

May 19.

On the following morning I arose with the sun, and took leave of Fjähl. Having proceeded about a quarter of a mile, I came within sight of the next church, called Hasjö. Here I turned to the left out of the main road, to examine a hill where copper ore was said to be found. The stones indeed had a glittering appearance, like copper ore; but the pyrites to which that was owing were of a yellowish white, a certain indication of their containing chiefly iron. Some stones of a blackish colour lay ab

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May 20.

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 Scania and other places, in the ram, which has sometimes four, six or eight horns, that part growing luxuriant to excess, like double flowers. The forest

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May 21.

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

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May 22.

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

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May 23.

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 [17] , 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 s

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May 24.

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 Umoea, 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 bäck a rivulet. Not far from this town is another mineral spring, by drinking of which several person

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May 26.

May 26.

I took leave of Umoea. 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 Lapmark. 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 an

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May 27.

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, amo

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May 28.

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 di

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May 29.

May 29.

Very early in the morning I quitted Genom in a haœ9;p or small boat, such as shall be hereafter described, proceeding along the western branch of the river of Umoea; for the river which takes its name from that place divides into two branches near Gresele, two miles from Umoea. One branch comes from Lycksele, the other, as I was told, from Sorsele. By the western branch, as I have just mentioned, we pro ceeded to Lycksele. When the sun rose, nothing could be more pleasant than the view of this c

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May 30.

May 30.

In the morning however my hosts changed their opinion, being apprehensive of my journey being impeded by floods if I delayed it. I here learned the manner in which the Laplanders prepare a kind of cheese or curd, from the milk of the reindeer and the leaves of Sorrel ( Rumex Acetosa ). They gather a large quantity of these leaves, which they boil in a copper vessel, adding one third part water, stirring it continually with a ladle that it may not burn, and adding fresh leaves from time to time,

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May 31.

May 31.

Divine service being over, I left Lycksele in order to proceed towards Sorsele. The riches of the Laplanders consist in the number of their reindeer, and in the extent of the ground in which they feed. The poorest people have from fifty to two hundred of these animals; the middle class from three hundred to seven hundred, and the rich possess about a thousand. The lands are from three to five miles in extent. Wild reindeer are seldom met with in Lapmark. They chiefly occur on the common between

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June 1.

June 1.

We pursued our journey by water with considerable labour and difficulty all night long, if it might be called night, which was as light as the day, the sun disappearing for about half an hour only, and the temperature of the air being rather cold. The colonist who was my companion was obliged sometimes to wade along in the river, dragging the boat after him, for half a mile together. His feet and legs were protected by shoes made of birch bark. In the morning we went on shore, in order to inquir

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June 2.

June 2.

The forest here was full of the noblest pine trees, growing to no purpose with respect to the inhabitants, as the wood is not used even for building huts, nor the bark for food, as it is in some other parts. I wonder they have not contrived to turn these trees to some account, by burning them for tar or pitch. The colonists who reside among the Laplanders are beloved by them, and treated with great kindness. These good people willingly point out to the strangers where they may fix their abode so

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June 3.

June 3.

We waited till about two o'clock in the afternoon for the Laplander I had sent on the expedition above mentioned, who at length returned quite spent with fatigue. He had made the requisite inquiries at many of the huts, but in vain. He was accompanied by a person whose appearance was such that at first I did not know whether I beheld a man or a woman. I scarcely believe that any poetical description of a fury could come up to the idea, which this Lapland fair-one excited. It might well be imagin

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June 4.

June 4.

Adjoining to a hut I remarked some round pieces, apparently of a sort of napped cloth, as black as pitch. Not being able to imagine what they could be, I was informed they were the stomachs or rennet-bags of the reindeer turned inside out, for the purpose of preserving the milk of that animal in a dry state till winter. Before the milk thus preserved can be used, it is soaked in warm water. Some use bladders for the same purpose. In the more mountainous parts they boil sorrel ( Rumex Acetosa ) w

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June 5.

June 5.

On the mountainous ground adjoining to the river I met with an herbaceous plant never before observed in Sweden. The flowers were not yet blown, but appeared within a few days of coming to perfection. I opened some, and found them of a papilionaceous structure. The tip of the standard, as well as of the keel, which was cloven, had a purplish hue. The whole habit of the plant showed it to be an Astragalus ( A. alpinus Fl. Lapp. n. 267. t. 9. f. 1. ), which was confirmed by the last-year's pods, r

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June 6.

June 6.

In order to observe how fast the water rose in the river, which was increasing daily, I had fixed a perpendicular stick the preceding evening at eight o'clock close to the margin of the stream. This morning at five it had gained a foot in depth and two feet in breadth. Near the bank, which is continually undermining in some part or other by the current, stones are found incrusted with sand, coagulated as it were about them by means of iron. Some of them seem as if they had been blown to pieces w

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June 7.

June 7.

Early in the morning I left Gräno, and in passing through the forest observed on the Juniper magnificent specimens of that gelatinous substance, about which and its heroic virtues in curing the jaundice so much has been said [37] . I picked up a curious insect which I then named Cantharis niger maculatus et undulatus ( Cicindela sylvatica ), and which I afterwards met with in great abundance throughout the pine forests of this province, though rare elsewhere, flying or running with great celerit

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June 8.

June 8.

Very early in the morning I set out again on my journey, and in my way examined the Palmated Orchis with a green or pale flower, differing from all others in the shape of its nectary, which is like a bag and not a spur. Hence I have referred it to Satyrium ( S. viride ). It connects that genus with the real Orchides with palmate bulbs [38] . I remarked that all the women hereabouts feed their infants by means of a horn, nor do they take the trouble of boiling the milk which they thus administer,

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June 9.

June 9.

Near the town of Umoea, in a springy spot on the side of a hill, I met with three or four curious species of moss. 1. A kind of Hypnum or Polytrichum , with a branched stem bearing flowers in the form of shields. ( Mnium fontanum Sp. Pl. Bartramia fontana Fl. Brit. The male plant.) From the root arises an oblique stem (a) about half an inch long, entirely clothed with very sharp-pointed leaves. From thence the main stem (b) grows perpendicularly to the height of an inch, of a purple colour, clot

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June 10.

June 10.

(Here occur in the manuscript long Latin descriptions of Rubus arcticus and Betula nana , which are printed in a more finished state in the Flora Lapponica , ed. 2. 170 and 274.)...

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June 11.

June 11.

Being Sunday, and a day of continued rain, I remained at Umoea....

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June 12.

June 12.

I took my departure very early in the morning. The weather was so hazy I could not see the distance of half a gun-shot before me. I wandered along in a perpetual mist, which made the grass as wet as if it had rained. The sun appeared quite dim, wading as it were through the clouds. By nine o'clock the mists began to disperse, and the sun shone forth. The Spruce Fir ( Pinus Abies ), hitherto of an uniform dark green, now began to put forth its lighter-coloured buds, a welcome sign of advancing su

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June 13.

June 13.

A very bright and calm day. The great Myrgiolingen [43] was flying in the marshes. The country here is rather flat, yet now and then considerable hills present themselves, not very high indeed, but abounding in steep declivities. The stones about these hills were variegated, and as if inlaid, glittering with talc; many of them rusty, and spontaneously corroded. On one spot, in the road itself, is produced a brown pale-purplish earth, which is very likely to be useful for painting. The hill where

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June 14.

June 14.

It rained very hard in the course of this day, as well as in the preceding night. The cornfields hereabouts vary in soil, being sometimes clay or sand, sometimes a good mould, and often a mixture of all three. In general they yield some kind of a crop, whatever the weather may be, except it should prove severely cold, which is the ruin of the country. The forests are beautiful, consisting of Spruce Fir, Common Fir, and plenty of Birch, so that no part of Sweden is more pleasant to travel through

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June 15.

June 15.

This day afforded me nothing much worthy of notice. The sea in many places came very near the road, lashing the stony crags with its formidable waves. In some parts it gradually separated small islands here and there from the main land, and in others manured the sandy beach with mud. The weather was fine. In one marshy spot grew what is proba bly a variety of the Cranberry ( Vaccinium Oxycoccus ), differing only in having extremely narrow leaves, with smaller flowers and fruit than usual. The co

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June 16.

June 16.

This morning I made an excursion to the northward, in order to examine a well, reported to be of a mineral nature. It is situated about half a quarter of a mile from Old Pithoea, and seemed to me only a common cold spring, having no taste, nor could I perceive any ochre about it, nor any silvery film on its surface. In the road to this spring stands a steep hill called Brevikberget , which I climbed with great difficulty. In the clefts of the rock lay several wings of young ravens and crows, wit

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June 17.

June 17.

Although I walked about a good deal, and was not inattentive to what came in my way, I met with nothing peculiarly worthy of notice. On the grass I frequently observed that substance like saliva, which the common people call Frog-spittle, and which envelops a little pale flesh-coloured insect like a small Grasshopper. This insect, though not arrived at maturity, moved in some degree, and showed sufficient signs of the family to which it belonged, though it was not yet old enough to cut capers. I

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June 18. Sunday.

June 18. Sunday.

The people brought me a peasant's daughter, a year and half old, who was deprived of sight, requesting me to say whether her complaint was a cataract. Finding the eyes well formed, without any unusual appearance, and quite free from specks or clouds, I was rather inclined to say the child had a gutta serena , but was soon convinced that this could not be the case, as she evidently enjoyed being in the light near the window. But at the same time I remarked curious convulsive motions in the eyes,

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June 19.

June 19.

I set out very early in the morning on a sea voyage to explore the natural productions of the tract called Skargarden and the islands belonging to it. The water a mile out at sea was scarcely salt, on account of the numerous rivers which here discharge themselves into the bay. No plants worth notice were to be found, though I searched carefully every place likely to afford any. Near the beach, where the tide often rises in winter ten or twelve fathoms, I observed an Alder thicket now white with

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June 20.

June 20.

This day I examined two nondescript species of fish, belonging to the genus Cyprinus . The first is called Stemma ( Cyprinus Grislagine ). Its head is oblong and obtuse, black on the top, silvery at the sides, and white beneath. The back of the fish is also blackish; its sides of a shining silvery hue; the belly white. Eyes round and white, their irides dotted, especially the upper part, which is moreover marked with a large verdigrise-green spot just above the black pupil. Nostrils round, accom

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June 21.

June 21.

I took my leave of the old town of Pithoea, and arrived at the more modern one of Lulea. All along by the road side I remarked the curious manner in which the Fir blossoms. Its branches produce a fresh shoot every year from their extremity; by observing the series of which shoots the age of the tree can be accurately computed. They retain their original leaves, which are needle-shaped, for three years; but when these fall the same branch never acquires any more. The male flowers, each of which i

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June 22.

June 22.

I gathered a shrubby Willow, with lanceolate downy leaves like those of Elæagnus . (This was Salix arenaria .) It is rather a large shrub, but rarely rises to the size of a tree. The leaves are furrowed along the course of the veins, and convex between them, slightly downy and of a greyish green on the upper side; clothed with snowy woolliness beneath. The lower scales of the bud nearly smooth above, and very green. Stem smooth, almost flesh-coloured, or pale brown; the young branches reddish, c

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June 23.

June 23.

I went to see the old church of Lulea. Close by the door I was shown a hole which the monks had formerly caused to be made in the stone wall. It was perfectly circular, sixteen lines in diameter, and terminated in an obtuse oval cavity. It was intended as a measure to decide in some cases occasionally brought before the ecclesiastical court. Within the church is a magnificent altar-piece, adorned with old statues of martyrs, in the heads of which are cavities to hold water, with outlets at the e

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June 24.

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 ravag

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June 25.

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 Mel

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June 26.

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 reind

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June 27.

June 27.

Near Harns is found a fine handsome blue clay, in some measure fire-proof; also a rare kind of iron ore. The corn-fields here produce Echioides ( Lycopsis arvensis ), and the woods the most slender kind of Equisetum ( sylvaticum ). On the river's bank near Laxeden grew the Sorrel whose leaf is cut away in the middle, called Acetosa folio in medio deliquium patiente , ( Rumex digynus ,) but it was not now in flower. On the other side of the river stands a Pine tree marked with the yearly elevatio

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June 28.

June 28.

In the morning we continued our voyage to Storbacken a mile and half distant, from whence we were afterwards obliged to walk five miles to Jockmock. This day indeed we only reached Pajarim [54] , where we slept all night in a smoky hut, ventilated merely by holes in the roof. I found in the woods the ( Erysimum ) Barbarea , with a stem four feet high, but its leaves were neither so broad, nor so much auricled, as in the garden plant. Crooked pine trees were to be seen in several places, the unde

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June 29.

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 Re

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June 30.

June 30.

The clergyman of Jockmock, Mr. Malming, who is the schoolmaster, and Mr. Högling 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

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July 1.

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 a

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July 2.

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 , coronâ 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 ( o

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July 3.

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

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July 4.

July 4.

I met with an Andromeda with leaves like Empetrum ( A. cærulea ). 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

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July 5.

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

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July 6.

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 i

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July 7.

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 th

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July 8.

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 sti

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July 9.

July 9.

Fatigued with my late journey, I re mained 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 myself 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 Lap

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July 10.

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 consistence, 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

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July 11.

July 11.

We rose early this morning, and after walking a quarter of a mile arrived at the lofty icy mountain. This is indeed of a very great elevation, and covered with perpetual snow, the surface of which was, for the most part, frozen quite hard. Sometimes we walked firmly over it, but it occasionally gave way, crumbling under our feet like sand. Every now and then we came to a river taking its course under the snowy crust, which in some parts had yielded to the force of the currents, and the sides of

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July 12.

July 12.

The next day it blew so very hard that I did not venture to leave this place by sea. I took a walk in the morning on the beach, it being low water, and noticed various marine productions. Several species of Fucus were attached either to stones or shells, as well as Ulvæ and Confervæ . Barnacles ( Lepas Balanus and L. Balanoides ) were seen sticking to large stones, at present left by the tide. I noticed also several univalve and bivalve shells of various sizes. The Strombus ( Pes pelecani ) with

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July 14.

July 14.

In the morning I took leave of Mr. Rask, and returned with the master of the boat to Torfjorden. I had now before me the whole of this western Archipelago, and was told that, if we were to steer our course directly westward, we should arrive at Greenland. The conversation on our passage turned much upon a certain West Gothlander, who had been guilty of some treacherous conduct, and told various falsehoods. (To this the above conversation of Mr. Rask probably alluded). Tun-bread, as it is called

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July 15.

July 15.

In this part of Norway the fields are not enclosed, wood for stakes or pales being very scarce. There is no distinction between the meadow or pasture grounds and the forests, except that the latter are rather more bushy and besprinkled with a few trees, while the former are quite bare. The meadows, and even the roads, are mown, as well as fed, and yet both abound with tall grass. A woman always attends the cattle, which are not driven home at night, nor when milked, but enclosed within a moveabl

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Lachesis Lapponica,

Lachesis Lapponica,

OR A NOW FIRST PUBLISHED from the ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT JOURNAL OF THE CELEBRATED LINNÆUS; by JAMES EDWARD SMITH, M.D. F.R.S. ETC. PRESIDENT OF THE LINNÆAN SOCIETY. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. "Ulterius nihil est, nisi non habitabile frigus." Ovid. LONDON : PRINTED FOR WHITE AND COCHRANE, HORACE'S HEAD, FLEET-STREET, BY RICHARD TAYLOR AND CO., SHOE-LANE. 1811....

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JOURNEY TO LAPLAND.

JOURNEY TO LAPLAND.

In the latter part of this day, July 15th , I set out on my return from the low grounds of Norway. The heat was very powerful as we began to ascend the mountains. When we reached what had seemed to us from below the summit of a hill, we saw just as lofty an eminence before us, and this was the case nine or ten successive times. I had no idea of such mountains before. The elevation of this hill cannot be taken by any geometrical instrument, as the summit is not visible, even at some miles distanc

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APPENDIX. No I. A BRIEF NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY TO LAPLAND,

APPENDIX. No I. A BRIEF NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY TO LAPLAND,

Undertaken with a View to Natural History, in the Year 1732, at the Expense of the Royal Academy (of Upsal); by Charles Linnæus , Student of Physic and of Natural History, as drawn up by Himself to lay before the said Academy. The Royal Academy of Sciences having, last Spring, permitted my humble memorial to be laid before them, respecting the project of a journey to Lapland, with a view to the improvement of natural history, and having honoured the same with their approbation, appointing me to

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APPENDIX. No II.

APPENDIX. No II.

The following extract, from Dr. Wahlenberg's "Observations made with a view to determine the height of the Lapland Alps," p. 45, &amp;c., was translated from the Swedish by the late Mr. Dryander, who kindly communicated it to the editor, expressing a wish that it might accompany the present publication. To fulfil this desire is now become a duty. It is with a melancholy satisfaction I here subjoin the last communication I ever received from this excellent and learned pupil of Linnæus, to the

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ERRATA.

ERRATA.

Vol i. p 134, line 11, read set in . 206, line 3 from the bottom, for Dean read principal clergyman . 246, line 16, read some of the Nasaphiel silver ore . Printed by Richard Taylor and Co., Shoe-Lane, London. 1. Plantarum Icones hactenus ineditæ , plerumque ad Plantas in Herbario Linnæano conservatas delineatæ. Fascic. I. II. III. Small Folio, each containing 25 Plates, Price Three Guineas in Boards. 1789, &amp;c. 2. Caroli Linnæi Flora Lapponica , exhibens Plantas per Lapponiam crescentes,

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