There was a great deal of ochre in the marsh and it formed a skin that covered one’s fingers with a silver colour: a sign of iron ore but not of a mineral spring.
‘Stellaria’ [Water Starwort] with its long oval leaves was growing in the pools. Those who make a distinction between it and ‘Stellaria foliis ovalibus’ are very much mistaken for the only difference is one of age. The lower leaves, produced last year and still quite healthy with ripe seen in the axils, were ovate.
The rocks here were whitish-grey with white flecks as big as thumbs.
There was driftsand by the sea and it is caused, both here and in Skåne, by the loss of the topsoil, after which the wind picks up the fine sand and deposits it all round, thus spoiling the grass.
In some places the sea lay right by the road.
23rd. After resting for the night in NORDMALING I went out to look round and chanced upon the mineral spring reported by Master Peter Artedi as being close to his place of birth. It carried a large quantity of ochre and, from its taste, it seemed to be rather too astringent. It is situated to the south-west, down by the skerries but only a short way from the church.
On the shore I noted how the sea throws up more and more sand every year as though building fortifications for itself; it is, indeed, constantly adding a little to the land.
An island called Bonden lies 7 or more miles out to sea here and a bird called the razorbill nests there every year.
The farmers filch its eggs. They say that it does not lay more than one egg at a time and, if that one is taken, it lays again and again. It seems to me rather strange – indeed, quite impossible – that the annual increase of the species is not more than one and one alone. Some people said that it lays 2 eggs. What is certain, however, is that its eggs are very large in relation to its body. I saw some fragments of one and I think I can be fairly sure that it is ‘Anas Arctica’ [Razorbill].
As I approached Västerbotten the high hills, stony areas and alder woods began to get fewer and ‘Pinus’ [pine], of which there had been a great lack, began to become more common.
Before I reached SÖRMJÖLE 11 miles away, there was a river called ÅNGERÅN separating Ångermanland from Västerbotten.
Västerbotten
The country is fairly flat, composed of sand with some clay, and great worthless mosses cover various parts of it. Because of the sand and the sandy heaths, the country is rather unproductive, though it does produce a fair quantity of milk. Barley is the only cereal; rye is seldom sown and, when it is, it is summer rye.
Before I reached SÖRMJÖLE 2 unruly horses came up from behind – I was riding a mare – and it was nearly the end of me.
I did not see any flowers here, not even a single ‘Oxys’ [Wood Sorrel], my sole cornfort in Ångermanland. There was nothing but ‘Caltha’ [Marsh Marigold], which is the first flower of spring here, and ‘Linagrastis monostachya’ [Hare’s-tail Cotton Grass] and ‘Polystachya’ [Common Cotton Grass] which were beginning to open. ‘Betula nana’ [Dwarf Birch] grew here in great quantities but there was still no sign of catkins or leaves. There was no ‘Fraxinus’ [ash], ‘Acer’ [maple], ‘Tilia’ [lime], ‘Ulmus’ [elm] nor willow in the whole province, far less hazel, oak and beech.
I reached RÖDBӒCK in the evening and spent the night there. There was a strong wind blowing from the north-east and it turned cold towards evening.