Carl von Linné

“ All along by the road side I remarked the curious manner in which the Fir blossoms. Its branches produce a fresh shoot every year from their extremity; by observing the series of which shoots the age of the tree can be accurately computed. They retain their original leaves, which are needle-shaped, for three years; but when these fall the same branch never acquires any more. The male flowers, each of which is a corymbus of stamens, grow from the side of the present year's shoot, near its base; but the female ones proceed from the extreme point, and are round and red. ”

“ The Laplanders drink the water in which the fish has been boiled, which I was unable to do,—though I could not but commend the practice, as favourable to digestion.
The reindeer are innumerable, like the forests they inhabit. The herds are driven home, night and morning, to be milked. It was amusing to observe the manner of driving them, performed by a maid-servant with a dog. If the reindeer proved refractory, the dog easily made them obey the word of command, particularly when seconded by the hissing of the woman, at which they were extremely terrified. ”

“ Ovid's description of the silver age is still applicable to the native inhabitants of [Pg 132] Lapland. Their soil is not wounded by the plough, nor is the iron din of arms to be heard; neither have mankind found their way to the bowels of the earth, nor do they engage in wars to define its boundaries. They perpetually change their abode, live in tents, and follow a pastoral life, just like the patriarchs of old. ”

“ Nature, whom no artist has yet been able to excel, has not given heels to mankind, and for this reason we see the people of Westbothland trip along as easily and nimbly in these shoes as if they went barefoot. ”

“ I witnessed with pleasure the supreme tranquillity enjoyed by the inhabitants of this sequestered country. After they have milked their reindeer, and the women have made their cheese, boiled their whey to the requisite consistence, and taken their simple repast, they lie down to enjoy that [Pg 315] sound sleep which is the reward and the proof of their innocent lives. There is rarely any contention among them. The inhabitants of the neighbouring moveable village had pitched their tents close together in lines, either from east to west, or otherwise. ”

“ I wondered that the Laplanders hereabouts had not built a score of small houses, lofty enough at least to be entered in an upright posture, as they have such abundance of wood at hand. On my expressing my surprise at this, they answered: "In summer we are in one spot, in winter at another, perhaps twenty miles distant, where we can find moss for our reindeer." ”

“ The banks of the river are composed of sand or small pebbles; on the latter the water had deposited a blackish stain. A little before we reached the church of Lycksele, the fourth waterfall presented itself. This is more considerable than any of the three preceding, falling over a rock. On its brink the curate had erected a mill, which in this mountainous spot wanted no artificial dam, as Nature had prepared one in the most complete manner. ”

“ Every kind of fish or meat is cooked by the men; and if the women happen not to be at hand, even the cheese and milk fall under their management.
The alps are destitute of human inhabitants in the winter season, because the Laplanders are then obliged to seek more woody parts of the country, where alone they are able to find a sufficient quantity of moss (Lichen rangiferinus) to feed their reindeer. On the alps there is not only a want of wood, but the snow is covered with too hard a frozen crust to be penetrated so as to come at any thing beneath it. ”

“ A contrary variety is observable, in Scania and other places, in the ram, which has sometimes four, six or eight horns, that part growing luxuriant to excess, like double flowers.
The forests chiefly consist of the Hoary-leaved Alder. Birch trees here also bear abundance of matted branches. To whatever side I cast my eyes, nothing but lofty mountains were to be seen. Not far from Æssja the little Strawberry-leaved Bramble [Pg 52] (Rubus arcticus) was in full bloom. The cold weather, however, had rendered the purple of its blossoms paler than usual. ”

“ All the Laplanders are of a small stature. I have never yet met with any of them so tall as myself. A large heavy body cannot move so nimbly as a small one, even though its organs are proportionably stronger and more durable. This is apparent in many similar cases. A little pony from the isle of Oeland, or one of a similar kind from Norway, runs with extreme velocity; for though a great trooper's horse may get before it, the little animal moves its legs with astonishing rapidity, and much quicker than the great horse. ”

“ On my return I observed that the basis of all the tufts of grass, which abound in mosses or marshy spots, was the little rushy plant with an entangled root (Scirpus cæspitosus) of which I have already spoken. The roots of this vegetable rise every year higher and higher above the soil, so that it seems to have a principal share in forming meadows out of bogs. It is also the basis of all the most remarkable floating islands [32] .
I heard the note of some Ptarmigans (Tetrao Lagopus) , which sounded like a kind of laughter. ”

“ The colonists who reside among the Laplanders are beloved by them, and treated with great kindness. These good people willingly point out to the strangers where they may fix their abode so as to have access to moist meadows affording good hay, which they themselves do not want, their herds of reindeer preferring the driest pastures. They expect in return that the colonists should supply them with milk and flour. ”

“ When he grows a little older, he learns to follow these animals, which are always quick-paced, insomuch that it is more laborious to keep up with them than with a herd of goats, and more difficult to run after them than to frisk about with a parcel of calves. If therefore a rope-dancer, or a running-footman, acquires great agility by perpetual practice, no wonder that a Laplander, who till he is married, and often all his life long, runs habitually after [Pg 328] the reindeer, should rival any of them in swiftness of foot. ”

“ In the course of this whole day's journey I observed a great variety in the face of the country as well as in the soil. Here are mountains, hills, marshes, lakes, forests, clay, sand, and pebbles.
Cultivated fields indeed are rare. The greater part of the country consists of uninhabitable mountainous tracts. In the valleys only are to be seen small dwelling-houses, to each of which adjoins a little field. ”

“ Clay and stone abound in this neighbourhood. The walls of the houses are never built perpendicularly, although timbered; for every beam is crooked, both withinside and without. The barns are small and low, furnished with threshing-floors.
It is impossible to traverse the Lapland alps in winter, for the following reasons. In the first place, the cold is so intense that nobody could endure it. Next, no reindeer are, at that season, on the alps, but in the forests, the only place where they can procure any food. Thirdly, no reindeer could pass the alps at a stretch, the distance being too great ”

“ The Laplanders are altogether carnivorous. They have no vegetable food brought to their tables. They now and then indeed eat a raw stalk of Angelica, as we would eat an apple, and occasionally a few leaves of Sorrel; but this, compared with the bulk of their food, is scarcely more than as one to a million. In spring they eat [Pg 330] fish, in winter nothing but meat, in summer milk and its various preparations. It may further be remarked, that salted food, which these people do not use, renders the body heavy. ”

“ They pay a certain tribute to the crown, and are thenceforth free of all extraordinary taxes, as well as the native Laplanders, being neither obliged to furnish a soldier for the army, nor a sailor for the navy. Whether it be time of peace or war it is all the same to them, as they are burthened with no taxes. These Finlanders are permitted to fix in any part of Lapland in which they find a probability of cultivating the ground to advantage, so that there is no doubt but most part of Lapmark will in time become colonized and filled with villages. ”

“ On the north side of the forest large pieces of ice still remained unmelted near the shore.
The bark of the birch is extremely useful to the inhabitants of Lapland. Of it they make their plates or trenchers, boat-scoops, shoes, tubs to salt fish in, and baskets.
Near the shore grew the Naked Horse-tail (Equisetum hyemale) , having a shoot springing from its root on each side. The sheathing cups of its stem are white, with both their upper and lower margins black. A more remarkable circumstance is, that the whole plant is perennial, not merely the root. ”

“ The Laplanders of this neighbourhood do not often take the diversion of shooting. They are seldom masters of a fowling-piece; and when not occupied in following or attending the reindeer, they remain in idleness for whole days together, feeding on nothing but milk, and the dishes prepared from it. ”

“ These people eat a great deal of flesh meat. A family of four persons consumes at least one reindeer every week, from the time when the preserved fish becomes too stale to be eatable, till the return of the fishing season. Surely they might manage better in this respect than they do. When the Laplander in summer catches no fish, he must either starve, or kill some of his reindeer. He has no other cattle or domestic animals than the reindeer and the dog: the latter cannot serve him for food in his rambling excursions ”

“ I have a notion that Adam and Eve were giants, and that mankind from one generation to another, owing to poverty and other causes, have diminished in size. Hence perhaps the diminutive stature of the Laplanders [6] .
Brandy is not always to be had here. The people are humane and civilized. Their houses are handsome externally, as well as neat and comfortable within; in which respects they have the advantage of most other places. [Pg 29]
The old tradition, that the inhabitants of Helsingland never have the ague, is without foundation. ”

“ There are numerous obstacles to the cultivation of this alpine tract. The intense cold of its winters, which exceeds that of any other country. From the snow lying so long on the ground, the parts exposed to the north are incapable of any culture. Frosts are frequent even in summer. The days are dark in winter. The weather is always moist. The soil is of a turfy kind, composed of mosses decayed by frost, impregnated with standing water. Good black vegetable mould is not to be met with. Lofty trees cannot be raised, on account of the excessive violence of the wind ”

“ The Laplanders boil all their meat very thoroughly, and treat their guests with grease, by way of dainty, which is eaten with a spoon. They milk their reindeer twice a day. Each gives not more at a time than half a pint, or at the utmost three quarters. [Pg 249]
The natives of the country tan their leather with birch bark, buying hides of the colonists for this purpose. The hides, after being plunged into warm water, are buried in some out-of-the-way corner of the hut, and taken up every day till the hair begins to separate, which is then scraped off with a roundish knife. ”

“ The cornfields hereabouts vary in soil, being sometimes clay or sand, sometimes a good mould, and often a mixture of all three. In general they yield some kind of a crop, whatever the weather may be, except it should prove severely cold, which is the ruin of the country.
The forests are beautiful, consisting of Spruce Fir, Common Fir, and plenty of Birch, so that no part of Sweden is more pleasant to travel through while the summer lasts.
The principal subsistence of the inhabitants is derived from selling deals. ”

“ I noticed the Agaric of the Spruce Fir (Agaricus Fl. Lapp. n. 517) , a flat sessile species, which is the chief remedy used by the Laplanders against gnats, by smoking themselves as well as their reindeer with it. When these insects become very numerous and troublesome, they force the reindeer from their pastures. Even those which have been a whole year away from home are obliged to return. The Laplanders lay small piles of this fungus, every morning and evening, upon the fire in their huts, by which means only they are enabled to sleep at their ease. ”

“ The milk of this animal affords at least twice as much cheese in proportion as any other milk. Butter is very seldom made by these people, nor is cream ever used for that purpose, as it scarcely rises in sufficient quantity. Milk only is used, being agitated in a wooden vessel with a whisk. The butter is of a white colour.
Candles are not in use among the Laplanders, though the tallow of the reindeer is very fit for that purpose, notwithstanding its consistence being less firm than that of ordinary tallow. These people preserve it in bladders, and boil it for food. ”

“ Within these scales or petals is a flat, or slightly convex, disk, composed of innumerable very slender whitish filaments with reddish tips, much shorter than the surrounding scales. Can these filaments be the stamens? They are by no means rudiments of leaves. One, two or three branches grow out at the base of this flower, the latter being for the most part perennial, and go through the same mode of growth and flowering as the parent plant. The calyx therefore, contrary to the nature of the common Polytrichum, is proliferous from its base. ”

“ In this part of Norway the fields are not enclosed, wood for stakes or pales being very scarce. There is no distinction between the meadow or pasture grounds and the forests, except that the latter are rather more bushy and besprinkled with a few trees, while the former are quite bare. The meadows, and even the roads, are mown, as well as fed, and yet both abound with tall grass. A woman always attends the cattle, which are not driven home at night, nor when milked, but enclosed within a moveable paling or pen. ”

“ He does not eat his fill at one meal, but takes food from time to time, as he feels inclined.
On the contrary, the peasants of Finland cram themselves with as many turnips, and those of Scania with as much flummery, as their stomachs can possibly receive. The inhabitants of Dalecarlia eat till the body is as tight as a drum. Such people are much better qualified to labour in the cultivation of the ground, than to run over the alps. The Laplanders are always of a thin slender make. I never saw one of them with a large belly. Milk diet also contributes to render them active. ”

“ I noticed on both sides of the river several summer huts of the Laplanders, in which they reside, for a short time together, during that season. A Laplander never remains more than a week on one [Pg 119] spot, not only because of seeking fresh pasture for his reindeer, but because he cannot bear to stay long in a place. He drives the whole herd together, young and old, into the river, to swim over to the opposite shore, which these animals easily perform, though the stream is more than eight gunshots wide. ”

“ Could not meadows be freed from their wart-like tumps by burning? These swellings might be cut off with an oblique hatchet, in spring after the frost ceases, and burnt in a heap; their ashes would serve as a valuable manure for the corn-field. Sandy grounds are rendered fertile with bog-earth; clay with sand. Ledum (palustre) is laid among corn in the barns, to drive away mice.
I here obtained some of Nasaphiel's silver ore, and the curious iron ore of Lulean Lapmark, called gubbsilfver (old man's silver) . ”

“ In the forests of this neighbourhood good pasturage is now and then to be found; but the corn-fields and meadows are poor, especially the former. After the marshes have been mowed one season, or at most two, they produce no more grass. The Bog-moss (Sphagnum) overruns them, and renders them barren. Surely this extensive country might be as well cultivated as Helsingland, which is equally mountainous, and in other respects less fit for improvement than this. ”