SECTION II.

Journey to Lapland.

Linnæus, chosen by the Royal Society of Upsal to travel in Lapland, sets out in May 1732-Enters Lycksele Lapland—A Lapland Beauty-Beds made of Hair-moss-Conversation of a Curate and a Schoolmaster-The Lapland Alps-Their Vegetation -Brief Account of the Rein-deer-Passing over the alpine Region, he enters Norway-Again visits the mountainous Region -Difficulties of the Journey-Pearl-fishery-Forests set on Fire by Lightning-At Lulea he discovers the Cause of an epidemic Distemper among the Cattle-Returns through East Bothland -Concluding Remarks.

HAVING received this appointment, he visited his friend Stobæus at Lund, as also his parents, who were now reconciled to him, and returned to Upsal to prepare for his perilous enterprise.

On the 12th May 1732, he set out alone, equipped as follows:-" My clothes," says he, in his Lachesis Lapponica, "consisted of a light coat of West Gothland linsey-woolsey cloth without folds, lined with red shalloon, having small cuffs and collar of shag; leather breeches; a round wig; a green leather сар, and a pair of half-boots. I carried a small leather bag, half an ell in length, but somewhat less in breadth, furnished on one side with hooks and eyes, so that it could be opened and shut at pleasure. This bag contained one shirt ; two pair of false sleeves; two half-shirts; an inkstand, pencase, microscope, and spying-glass; a gauze. cap to protect me occasionally from the gnats; a comb; my journal, and a parcel of paper stitched

together for drying plants, both in folio; my manuscript Ornithology, Flora Uplandica, and Characteres Generici. I wore a hanger at my side, and carried a small fowling-piece, as well as an octangular stick, graduated for the purpose of measuring. My pocketbook contained a passport from the Governor of Upsal, and a recommendation from the Academy."

Nature wore her most delightful aspect; the dandelion, the violet, and the primrose, unfolded their blossoms to the sun; the sky-lark chanted its lively song as it soared aloft in the clear sky; and the redwing warbled its love-notes from the lofty pines. How delightful must have been the feelings of the young naturalist, as he advanced toward the scene of those anticipated discoveries, which were to immortalize his name, or at least to increase the sphere of his ideas, and perhaps form the basis of his fortune! As he advanced, "the redwing, the cuckoo, the black-grous, and the mountain-finch, with their various notes, made a concert in the forest, to which the lowing herds of cattle under the shade of the trees formed a bass."

He proceeded through Helsingland, Angermanland, and West Bothland, to Lycksele Lapland, where he embarked on a large river, during his voyage on which he was gratified by the sight of numerous birds. But a succession of cataracts occurring soon after, the owner of the boat, inverting its position, placed it on his head, and "scampered away over hills and valleys, so that the devil himself could not have overtaken him."

By the beginning of June he found himself among swamps, torrents, and woods, occasionally accompanied by a Laplander as guide, and now and

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then incurring dangers which would have damped the ardour of a less enthusiastic traveller. On one of these occasions, after wandering a long time in a labyrinth of marshes, he was met by a woman, whom he describes as presenting a very extraordinary appearance: "Her stature was very diminutive; her face of the darkest brown, from the effects of smoke; her eyes dark and sparkling; her eyebrows black; her pitchy-coloured hair hung loose about her head, and on it she wore a flat red cap. O thou poor man!' quoth she, what hard destiny can have brought thee hither, to a place never visited by any one before? This is the first time I ever beheld a stranger. Thou miserable creature! how didst thou come, and whither wilt thou go?' Linnæus entreated her to point out some way by which he might continue his journey. « « Nay, man,' said she, 'thou hast only to go the same way back again; for the river overflows so much, it is not possible for thee to proceed further in this direction. From us thou hast no assistance to expect in the prosecution of thy journey, as my husband, who might have helped thee, is ill." The traveller begged of her something to eat, and after much difficulty procured a small cheese. He was obliged to retrace his steps through the marshes; and, when almost exhausted by hunger and fatigue, at length reached the house of a poor curate, where his wants were supplied.

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The bountiful provision of nature, he remarks, is evinced in providing mankind with bed and bedding, even in this savage wilderness. The great hair-moss (Polytrichum commune), called by the Laplanders romsi, grows copiously in their damp

forests, and is used for this purpose. They choose the starry-headed plants, out of the tufts of which they cut a surface as large as they please for a bed or bolster, separating it from the earth beneath; and, although the shoots are scarcely branched, they are, nevertheless, so entangled at the roots as not to be separable from each other. This mossy cushion is very soft and elastic, not growing hard by pressure; and if a similar portion of it be made to serve as a coverlet, nothing can be more warm and comfortable. They fold this bed together, tying it up into a roll that may be grasped by a man's arms, which, if necessary, they carry with them to the place where they mean to sleep the following night. If it becomes too dry and compressed, its former elasticity is restored by a little moisture.

Leaving the town of Lulea, on the 25th June, he embarked on the river, which he continued to navigate for several days and nights in a comfortable boat. At a place called Quickjock he was presented by the "famous wife of the curate, Mr Grot," with provisions sufficient to last a week. At Jockmock, the schoolmaster and the priest tormented him "with their consummate and most pertinacious ignorance." The latter began his conversation with remarks on the clouds, showing how they strike the mountains in their passage over the country, carrying off stones, trees, and cattle. "I ventured," says Linnæus, "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. 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. To all such reasoning, being above his comprehension, he only returned 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.

"The other, the pedagogue, lamented that people should bestow so much attention upon temporal vanities, and consequently, alas! neglect their spiritual good; and he remarked that many a one had been ruined by too great application to study. Both these wise men concurred in one thing: They could not conceal their wonder that the Royal Academy should have expressly appointed a mere student for the purposes on which I was sent, without considering that there were already as competent individuals resident in the country, who would have undertaken the business. They declared they would either of them have been ready to accept the charge. In my opinion, however, they would but have exhibited a fresh illustration of the proverb of the ass and the lyre."

On the 1st July, the traveller obtained a glimpse of the Lapland Alps, which resembled a range