Lachesis Lapponica; Or, A Tour in Lapland, Volume 1

by Carl von Linné

Some persons hereabouts use stoves made of lapis ollaris, (Talcum Ollaris,) as well as boiling-pots of the same material. The stoves are without chimneys, like a small flue with an oven. The fire is always kindled in the oven, when the intention is to make the room warm, and the people make use of burning coals when they are going to bake; but they never bake in the oven. All the smoke mounts to the cieling, and finds its way out by a hole made for the purpose in the centre; but this renders the cieling perfectly black. When the smoke does not escape readily, it is necessary to make a draught by opening the door of the house. The reason given for this contrivance is, that if there were a regular chimney, too much heat would escape that way. But surely such an excuse is very lame, for much more heat must escape by opening the door. The

hole in the roof is closed at pleasure, by means of a square cover, fixed transversely to the end of a pole, which is lifted up from within.

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; and lastly, it would not be possible for a traveller to carry with him the requisite supplies of clothes and provisions. For these reasons it is generally the custom to

travel over this country either in summer or autumn.

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; hence there is a great scarcity of wood.

It is customary for those in our part of Sweden who fancy themselves indisposed, to frequent watering-places, or mineral springs, during the heat of summer. For my own part, I have, thank God! for several years enjoyed tolerable health,

except a slight languor, or other trifling indisposition. But as soon as I got upon the alps, I seemed to have acquired a new existence. I felt as if relieved from a heavy burthen; and after having spent a few days in the low country of Norway, though without having committed the least excess, I found my languor or heaviness return. When I again ascended the alps, I revived as before, to which the pure and well ventilated atmosphere did not a little contribute. It is a prevailing opinion that, at a great elevation, the air is so much thinner, as to render it necessary to breathe through wet sponges held to the nose and mouth. I can aver that the difficulty of breathing is only caused by the exertion of climbing the mountains, as a person who runs fast, or uses any other violent exercise, oppresses his lungs by accelerating the circulation of the blood.[64]

Did not the barometer show the pressure of the air to be less in such elevated places, it would seem contrary to reason that it should be so, upon the following principles. We know these alps to be higher than any other hills, as no current runs across them. The streams on the western side take their course down to the western ocean, while those on the east run into the sea on that side. If we take into consideration the abundance of cascades formed by these alpine torrents, in their way to the sea, the stupendous elevation of the hills will be the more evident, not only on that side but on the opposite one also. When therefore the wind blows over this country, whether from the sea or the land, the air, having to pass such great heights, must of course be more condensed by meeting with such an obstruction. Thus moreover its force is increased, as well as the sensation of cold which it gives. The air being rendered, by whatever cause, more compact

or dense, will account for its frequently freezing in these places, during the hottest summer. Cold consists in the compression, and heat in the rarefaction of the air[65], hence it seems to follow that the air is not more rare upon mountains.