Hälsingland

I had travelled more or less exactly 1 3/4 miles into the province when I noticed red soil by the roadside. It might be suitable for use as a red dye if it exists in large enough quantities and proves to be of good quality.

At the next inn they told me that there was better to be had in Morboskogen.

In the forest there stood a number of large pines and spruces that the local people wanted to dry out, so they have peeled the bark round them in a 6 inch strip and the trees have quickly dried out.

By the highway farther along I saw a rock that was slightly burnt and which contained large fragments of mica.

At last I reached the great river Ljusnan, over which I was ferried.

Here and there in the forest I saw blood-red rocks or, to be more precise, some of the rocks were as if painted with blood, and I wanted to know whether or not it was a feature of the actual rock. When I loosened some of them, I found that it was merely a red ‘Byssus’ [lichen] and not a property of the rock itself.

From SKOG to SÖDERALA, 20 miles.

In SÖDERALA I saw many ancient burial places.

To NORRALA, 6 3/4 miles. A little before I got there, I saw a small burn that ran down the hill in a sandy ditch. It was depositing a thick layer of ochre.

In the lakes I saw traps made of wickerwork. These were mainly designed to catch bream.

In the same lake there was also an ‘avis Lumme Worm’. [Blackthroated Diver] that shrieked in a most mournful fashion especially just as it dived to the bottom.

I travelled from NORRALA to ENÅNGER and on the way there was a thick mist whereas earlier, while I was still in Norrala, it had rained horrendously. In the evening the lightning began to flash mightily and some thunder could be heard.

I observed throughout the day that this province was a sort of microcosm, for there are slopes, hills, outcrops, marshes, lakes, forests, clay, sand, sandy-clay and shingle etc.

There are very few meadows. Most of the country consists of rocky hills which are uninhabitable, and it is only in the valleys that farms with some pasture land are to be seen; nearly all marshy, however, with very few higher-lying meadows.

In general I found the people here to be bigger than in other places, especially the menfolk. I asked whether they are breastfed longer than folk elsewhere and they answered for two, often two and a half, years. Schnaps is not always available here. I believe Adam and Eve to have been giants, but bearing in mind heredity, the poverty of the Israelites, the physical size of the Ammonites, the physical structure of the Lapps etc.