Ångermanland

SKULEBERGET is a fearsomely steep and high hill beside the road one and three quarter miles beyond DOCKSTA. I wanted to visit a cave in this hill but the local people said it was impossible. With great difficulty I found a couple of men to accompany me and show me the way, and we climbed up cliffs, crawled, slithered and dragged ourselves forward – and then back down again, since there was no way on. We clung on to bushes or to small stones with one hand and if they had come away it would have put an end to our lives. I followed one of the men for a short way as he crept up a steep cliff but then I saw that the other man was having better luck so I tried to move across a little. No sooner had I moved 2 feet than a rock broke away below the first man and, with an eruption of sparks and smoke, struck right where I would have been following. Had I not altered course exactly where I did – under the guidance of the Eternal Creator – that would have been the last that was heard from me. Another fragment fell there immediately after and I am still not certain whether the man was doing it on purpose. Finally, utterly exhausted, we reached the hole that lay right in the middle of the mountainside. Here, where I had hoped to find something of interest, I found nothing more than a circular or vault-shaped chamber in the hill. It was 14 feet high, 18 wide and 22 long.

The rock, which contained spar, consisted of solid bedrock and the walls were for the most part as smooth as if they had been constructed of cut or faced stone, though some strata – particularly in the roof – projected farther than others. There was a hole in the roof that was said to be the chimney, but I do not know whether it had been drilled out by man. The rock could be split lengthwise into stones, all of which were rectangular. Large pebbles or rectangular fragments lay on the floor. I am quite certain that nature itself created this cave but that man has cleared out the stones. The cave-mouth was fairly large and so even the smallest objects within were visible. Drips fell from the roof close to the inner wall. ‘Polypodium’ [Common Polypody], ‘Trichomanes’ [Maidenhair Spleenwort] and some other ferns were growing out of the rock. The roof was concave like a vault. Outside the mouth, which was so big that it accounted for one eighth of the wall area of the cave, there had earlier been a ‘Salix’ [willow] growing but it was chopped down when King Charles XI was travelling past. It had grown back but the people have cut it off again.

On travelling 1 3/4 miles into the forest in this neighbourhood, I saw that the ground was half-covered in snow to the depth of 6 inches. I missed all the pleasing spring flowers, for they had gradually become fewer during the course of the day, and the birches here – unlike those yesterday – had not yet opened their leaves to adorn the forest. Only the evergreen plants such as ‘Erica’ [Heather] and ‘Vaccinium’ [cowberry and cranberry] were visible through the snow. The reason why the snow was still lying here was that terribly high hills lay all around and the forest cloaked everything. The hills prevented the pleasant west wind from playing here and the trees excluded the south wind. And all the warm rain was captured by the trees of the vast forest. Almost the whole province consists of hills, hence the numerous channels that run down to the valleys between each and every hill. Since rainwater cannot remain on a steep slope, it runs off the side and finds its escape via these channels. The same is true in Hälsingland and Medelpad.

The fields carry a crop for 2 years in succession and lie fallow the 3rd. Rye is rarely or never sown here since it ripens so late that the soil, which has to take barley immediately afterwards, is exhausted. The ploughs are fitted with a thin board on one side so that the turf is turned the first time the field is ploughed.

21st. After attending church I set off from NӒTRA but as I left the temple I happened to see some fields that the parson had been cultivating in a very unusual way. He sows a field that has been lying fallow for 3 or 4 years with 1 part rye and 2 parts barley mixed together. He sows this in spring at the time when barley is usually sown, ie. as soon as the field can possibly be worked. The barley grows up luxuriantly, forms its ears, ripens then is cut; the rye, on the other hand, runs to leaf but does not form stalk since the barley has the upper hand and is shading it and forcing it to wait. After the barley has been cut, the rye grows ready for the 2nd year, ripens and produces a rich crop without the field having to be worked twice. This system is called “competitive cultivation”.

I saw no flowers today except a single ‘Oxys’ [Wood Sorrel], the first flower of spring here. ‘Unifolium’ [May Lily] and ‘Rubus fragariae’ [Arctic Bramble] showed off their leaves in great numbers.

The rocks were generally whitish, though the side turned upwards was darker because of moss and other damage. People here usually use the large sort of thin unleavened bread. The flour is ground from 1 measure of barley to 3 measures of husks though, when they want it to be especially good and barley is abundant in the district, they only take 2 measures of husks.

The loaves are baked in the oven for a very short time, being turned while in, which is worth noting. They never put in more than one at a time and fire is scraped back against one wall. The loaves are pricked evenly on both sides with a bundle of largish quill feathers from a hen.

In the summer here they use “tough milk” which they make in the following way. When they are making cheese and the cheese has been removed, they pour the whey into a container and let it stand and ferment for a while. When they next make cheese, they pour the new lukewarm whey onto the whey that has already fermented, and so it goes on. It must not be poured on when hot, only when lukewarm. The longer this stands the better, and eventually it becomes so tough that it can be stretched like a string from one wall to the other. Indeed, if a container is filled to the top and put in a cellar with as little as a single drop overflowing, the whole container will empty itself, so great is the the cohesion of the particles. This is then stored for winter.

The country folk reckoned this to be one of the greatest delicacies for, they claim, it is refreshing and thirst quenching and can also be mixed with other things. When eaten, it runs or is drawn back into the dish unless it is trapped against the edge of a spoon with a knife, or, more usually, a finger. And yet the ague seems to be quite rare in these districts, which ought not to be the case if it was caused by sourmilk. So sourmilk does not cause anything very pernicious. When a little of this sort of milk is mixed into the bread mentioned above, the latter becomes much chewier.

I also had the opportunity here of examining a fish that is not found everywhere. It was called a grayling and seems to be familiar in form to a salmon.

The bedcovers or furs on beds were made of hare skins.

22nd. The cows I saw here were completely hornless and thus farmers could neither count how many calves the cow had from the rings in the horns, nor – as can be done with goats – reckon out the age in years from the newly growing horns each spring. Some of the animals grew horns but they were only an inch long and curved back from the base right to the skin so that they hardly showed above the hair.

Apples grow between Veda and HORNÖN but I saw none after that.

I was told that willow does not grow anywhere in the whole of Ångermanland, nor was there any Hazel there. Cherries do not always ripen, potatoes grow well, ‘Tabacum’ [tobacco] and ‘Lupulus’ [hop] grow slowly and are rare.

I saw a cuckoo standing on the road being fed by a ‘Motacilla’ [wagtail] – I know that this is the truth and that I am not mistaken.