I already felt ill from my hardships, from so many long portages, from carrying my own things (for the Lapp had the boat to carry), from sleepless nights, from not having had any cooked food for some time, from drinking too much water – for other than fish, often unsalted and full of maggots, and water we had nothing for sustenance. I would indeed have perished had not the parson’s wife provided me with a piece of reindeer meat to bring with me, though it proved very painful to my stomach and passed through undigested. At this moment I longed to meet people again and to be able to eat cooked food, and I did not dare continue on up-river to my doom like the salmon. I asked whether she had any food for me. “Not unless you want fish!” I looked at the raw fish, whose mouth was full of maggots, and the mere sight of it appeased my hunger but did nothing to give me strength. I asked about reindeer tongue, which they commonly dry and which even better-class people value for its pleasant fattiness. “No”, came the answer. “Reindeer cheese, then?” ‘Yes, but none closer than 6 miles.” “If I can get there, could I buy some?” “I would not want you to die of hunger in my country”, she answered. When I walked past their hut, there were 3 cheeses under a roof without walls and I took the smallest, not intending, however, to take it without permission or without paying for it. So I bought it from her.