Northern Husbandry
7. As long as the farmer agrees to remain with the same trader, he receives credit and is given any necessary cash advances even if the produce he supplies annually does not even amount to the value of the interest – even if it mounts up to some thousands of daler. But if he takes his produce to someone else, then he has to pay up immediately or suffer sequestration.
8. The farmer never specifically takes his produce to market but just takes it along with him when the opportunity arises or when he has to go to town anyway. Otherwise, the trader calls on him at his home.
9. When the towns were first founded, certain parishes were allotted to each town as what were known as its trading districts, and no one apart from people from that town was allowed to trade there. These districts were later abolished by royal decree so that free markets could be held where local people and outsiders could trade with one another. But this has not been put into practice here, partly because this area is so isolated and partly because the traders here think that the introduction of a cash economy would lead to their ruination.
10. There are thus no free markets here, there are merely settlement meetings where the trader and the farmer get together at what are called “meeting places”. Such as: “In Kalix, the 19th Aug., annually” or “In Torne in Feb.”.
Disadvantages.
- Trader:
- Pays out, and thus ties up, a great deal of money with which he could otherwise have been carrying on his trade.
- Has to transport things out to the farmer in the country and then bring the goods back into the town from the meeting.
- The situation is that many a trader has as much as 100,000 daler outstanding, and much of it will certainly not be repaid.
- Farmer:
- He accumulates more debt than he can pay back.
- The trader names the price for his produce.
- He is not allowed to try to get the best price.
The shirts worn by the Finns and Västerbotten men are like shirts at the neck and like shifts at the arms. The girls wear loose tops and go about in shifts that are gathered in like skirts.
Most of the settlement in Västerbotten is along the coasts and rivers.
The ‘aurora borealis’ was visible on the night of the 18th to 19th; it starts so early up here that it was even seen a week ago.
Oarsmen, when they have got blisters on their fingers from excessive rowing, take cooking spoons that are very hot after being used for stirring boiling fish in the pot and hold them against their blistered fingers. This makes the blisters go away.
‘Taim’ [Sea Trout], a species of salmon, 16 inches long (which was big), tail scarcely forked, unbarbed mouth, otherwise very like the salmon.
As soon as the barley is taken in, it is threshed just enough for the heaviest and fullest grains to come away. Thus nothing is lost in the bam at the same time as the best quality grain is separated from the worst.
The flail is long – up to my chest – and slim. The paddle is thicker than usual, 2 feet long and fixed to the handle by a strap 8 inches long.
The roofs in Västerbotten are made of birch bark, on top of which they do not lay turfs but round poles as thick as an arm. These rest against the roof ridge from opposite sides and are pegged together with about 8 inches standing clear in a crossshape at the top. At the bottom, where the poles are thick, they almost touch each other. There is a sort of ceiling made of moss and earth inside that, but only over the parts of the house that they want to keep warm.
The district judge in Kalix had 3 swans that were as tame as geese. They had been caught as cygnets.
A stotting is a sort of sledge on which timber is transported during winter. Made of birch.
At Kalix I found 1. ‘Hippuris ramis bifurcatis’ [Mare’s-tail], 2. ‘Pentaphylloides facies fragariae’ [Norwegian Cinquefoil], 3. ‘Eruca foliis Sinapi’ [Treacle Mustard].