Västerbotten [2]

I was amazed at how much had happened in no more than a fortnight. When I had departed from here the aspen, which was now in full foliage, had not yet opened its leaves, and the grass, now six inches long, had still been very short etc.

They set traps for capercaillie on the small side roads all over Lappmark in the autumn. I had noticed them but had not been able to understand properly the workings of these contraptions until now, when there was a farmer on my route who had one. It was made of 6 logs split at both ends and fixed together with a crosspiece; between them there was a stake fixed into the ground. A prop, held up by a willow wand that runs down into a loop, is then placed under the front end. A hook is attached to the rod and the point of the hook rests on a long stick. When the capercaillie comes and settles under it or touches the stick, it knocks it away, the hook disengages and the prop springs out. Thus the weight, which had been supported at an angle as a trap, falls and suffocates the bird.

8th June. Day of Obligation. Umeå. Whereas the ague is fairly rare up here, St Anthony’s Fire is so common that everyone complains of being afflicted by it. In Uppsala and Stockholm they have the ague, in Lund severe fevers that end in the ague.

9th. In Lycksele Lappmark there are no domesticated animals except reindeer and dogs, the latter usually greyish white and medium sized.

There is no artificially made drink among the Lapps.

Close to the town of Umeå, on a slope on the sides of which there were springs, I found 3 unusual kinds of moss.

11th. I was delayed by rain the whole day; also by the fact that it was Sunday.

12th. I departed from the town of Umeå early in the morning and the weather was so thick that I could not see more than half a gunshot in the mist. It was actually cloud that I was walking in and the grass became as wet as if it were actually raining. The sun seemed to be wading palely in cloud. This had passed by 9 o’clock and the sun began to shine.

The spruces were all dark green but were beginning to show off their light green buds – a heartfelt pleasure to my eyes.

‘Chamaedaphne Buxb.’ or ‘Erica palustris pendula, fl. petiolo purp.’ [Bog Rosemary] was at the height of her beauty and adorned the bogs with her splendour. I noticed that before she opens she is as red as blood but, when she flowers, the petals become flesh-pink. I doubt whether any painter could put such comeliness into a maiden’s portrait or adorn her cheeks with such beauty. There is no rouge that yet can match it. When I saw her I thought of Andromeda as the poets portray her.3 The more I thought, the more she seemed to accord with this plant, so that if a poet had set himself the task of describing her enchanting nature there could have been no better likeness. Andromeda is described as being an extraordinary maiden, as a woman whose cheeks attain great beauty. It is a beauty she only retains as long as she is a maiden (as also happens with women) – that is, until she has conceived, which will not be long now as she is already a bride. Standing on a tussock surrounded by water in a wet bog, she is chained as if on a rock in the sea. The water reaches her knees, that is to say, above the roots. She is forever surrounded by poisonous dragons and animals, that is, nasty toads and frogs that blow water on her in spring when they mate. She stands and bows her head in sorrow. Her head of flowers with its rosy cheeks bends low, her cheeks grow ever paler; her head becomes ever paler, and so I named her Andromeda, with the pointed leaves. She is half lying, her neck is bare, so I called her flesh-coloured.

Various types of cradle are used for children in different places and they differ considerably.

The cradles in Småland hang on a flexible pole and bounce up and down. The Lapps in their hide “kåtor” rock their children on the branch of a tree. Finer folk use a cradle that rocks from side to side, but the people up here use a cradle in which the child rocks from head to foot.

Hanging by the road was the lower jawbone of a horse; it had 6 blunt and worn-down incisors, 2 canines and, after a distinct gap, 12 molars with 6 on each side.

If, in the case of every animal, I knew how many teeth it had and how they were arranged, also the number of teats and where they were, I think I should be able to construct the most natural system of all for quadrupeds.

I observed the callosities on the shins of horses, four on each; these are worthy of description.

In the best meadows, where there were as many as 6 to 10 barns, I saw how the whole meadow was often covered in hummocks on which nothing but ‘Polytrichum’ [moss] grew, and even that was dry.4 Some of the barns were not in use and I concluded from this that these hummocks were of recent origin. They were often so close together that no grass could grow between them. What could be the cause and what the cure? It would be very useful for the farmers to know. I noted that wherever there were hummocks the soil was loose and either sludgy or clayey and that when I stepped on the hummocks they gave way. When I dug deep into them there was a sort of space beneath them and, when I stamped with my foot, it sank in a long way. I think that frost is the cause of it and that when the frost leaves the ground it leaves great holes behind and lifts the layer of turf.