This location is mentioned in the following paragraphs:
(§209) 24th. Close to Rödbäck there lies a fine big meadow, completely flat were it not for the hundreds of tree-covered grassy banks. All along the road and by the river, which shortly arrives at the town of Umeå, there are mineral springs full of ochre and covered with a silvery scum. I believe that Rödbäck has taken its name from their red sediment. There is a mineral spring flowing from a hill close to Rödbäck that several people have died from drinking (see Rudbeck the Elder, who has given the number of inhabitants as 82 instead of 28).
(§210) UMEÅ, quite a little town now, is situated on this river, which provides access for vessels from the sea and has to be crossed by ferry. Umeå has not yet fully recovered from the damage it suffered when it was totally burnt down as a result of enemy bombardment.
(§211) The Umeå ferryman - a Charon, grey-haired, bald, muscular etc., in an old grey coat, just as described by Rudbeck.
(§226) 26th. I departed from Umeå in rainy weather that lasted all day, and I turned off west from the high road aiming for Lycksele Lappmark. I now lost the convenience I had had earlier of being able to requisition horses at the posthouses - a system that has to be reckoned as no small advantage to the travelling stranger here in Sweden. I was compelled to coax and beg for horses. The road became more and more horrible and I rode in mortal danger on a horse that stumbled over stones at every second step. I was travelling along by-ways where the devil himself could not have located me. I began to wish that I had a companion or, at least, had been on an ordinary highway, where the horse would have been welcome to bounce the heart out of my body. The people spoke a distinctly broken dialect and always dropped something off the adjective with which they ended their speech.
(§248) I arrived at TEGSNӒSET in the evening. It belongs to the parish of Umeå, so the people have a considerable journey of 45 miles to get to church. To get there, they have to set off on Friday morning and are thus unable to attend except on the days of obligation and sometimes at Whitsun, Christmas and Easter. What would it cost to build a small church? The authorities have a responsibility before God in this matter! Timber for the purpose was provided in the days of the late Abraham Lidelius but has now rotted, for the clergy sometimes have their difficulties - not that they are particularly great.
(§253) 29th. I left Granön very early in a "håp", that is, a small boat, which I shall describe below, on the western branch of the Ume river, for the Ume river is composed of two branches which join up at GRESILE 13 miles from Umeå. One branch comes from Lycksele and the other from Sorsele (NB. so they claim). We travelled on the western branch to Lycksele.
(§402) I arrived in the town of Umeå at 4 o'clock in the afternoon.
(§406) 8th June. Day of Obligation. Umeå. Whereas the ague is fairly rare up here, St Anthony's Fire is so common that everyone complains of being afflicted by it. In Uppsala and Stockholm they have the ague, in Lund severe fevers that end in the ague.
(§409) Close to the town of Umeå, on a slope on the sides of which there were springs, I found 3 unusual kinds of moss.
(§411) 12th. I departed from the town of Umeå early in the morning and the weather was so thick that I could not see more than half a gunshot in the mist. It was actually cloud that I was walking in and the grass became as wet as if it were actually raining. The sun seemed to be wading palely in cloud. This had passed by 9 o'clock and the sun began to shine.
(§425) At the inns at GRIMSMARK and SELET I was told of a hill 14 miles away which is supposed to contain copper. Someone from the College of Mines was sent there to examine it 3 years ago but, since the farmers' suspicions had been aroused by the townsfolk of Umeå, they gave him false directions to a different group of hills.
(§506) Various species of willow that I have already described were growing on the banks of the river and ornamenting it most beautifully. The forests were of pine and birch, smaller here than in Umeå Lappmark and mixed together, particularly in the hollows.
(§512) Just as in Umeä Lappmark, I saw here high sandy heaths sloping steeply down to the river. They were divided into sections, so to speak, by ditches that cut across them. The river had eaten away the sides so that the edge was often vertical and revealed strata of light-coloured sandy soil which, since it lies horizontally, I assume to have been scoured from the rocks in the mountains during the Flood. Now that the water has begun to subside, the main stream is following its usual course and the water in the secondary channel has dried up leaving small residual streams with gaps between them.
(§549) 2nd. Tjåmotis. I spent Sunday resting here. I saw how splendid the beautiful shoots of barley looked among the snowy mountains. The stalks were so tall that they were leaning over. This barley was sown on the 25th or 26th May, just as in Umeå.
(§571) 5th. We travelled to KVIKKJOKK and on the way there we had to make a portage (called "mörker" by the people of Umeå, "murki" by the Lapps), during which I saw an abundance of 'Thalactrum minimum' [Alpine Meadow-rue] on the shore. 'Sceptrum Carolinum' [Moor-king] was in flower on the bank, as was 'Aconitum luridum' [Northern Wolfsbane], 'Juncus palustris calamo trifido' [Three-leaved Rush] and 'Viola lutea florens' [Yellow Wood-violet].
(§922) What had been in flower at Umeå was now bearing fruit: in particular, 'Mesomora' [Dwarf Cornel], 'Vaccinium' [blaeberry etc.], 'Chamaemorus' [Cloudberry] and 'Chamaerubus' [Stone Bramble] were competing in profusion of fruit. Not much heather.
(§1052) The road was reddish-brown from the red soil that lay both on and in it; it is the sort they use for painting with in Umeå Lappmark. It is said to produce a better colour than red dye. I arrived at Sangis at last.
(§1137) 28th. I put behind me the exceedingly difficult road (it cannot be called a highway since it is just like the road between the town of Umeå and Granön) which runs all the way from LAPPFJӒRD near Christina to HVISBOFJӒRD near BJÖRNEBORG.
Practical data about this location:
- Written: SÖRMJÖLE
- GPS (lat,lon): [63.82842, 20.25972]
- Geoname: 602150