mixed spar, and extends a good way to the right, being in one part very lofty, and perpendicular, like a vast wall, towards the shore. Some islands, rather considerable in size, are seen in the river as we approach this waterfall.
At eight o'clock in the evening I arrived at the hospitable dwelling of Mr. Oladron, the curate of Lycksele, who, as well as his wife, received me with great kindness. They at first advised me to stay with them till the next fast day, the Laplanders not being implicitly to be trusted, and presenting their fire-arms at any stranger who comes upon them unawares, or without some recommendation.
[23] The manuscript mentions both Erica and Tetralix, yet the latter is not in the Flora Lapponica, nor is it common in Sweden.
[24] This name occurs here for the first time in the manuscript.
[25] The original is Daphne as above; [see p. 23].
May 30.
In the morning however my hosts changed their opinion, being apprehensive of my journey being impeded by floods if I delayed it.
I here learned the manner in which the Laplanders prepare a kind of cheese or curd, from the milk of the reindeer and the leaves of Sorrel (Rumex Acetosa). They gather a large quantity of these leaves, which they boil in a copper vessel, adding one third part water, stirring it continually with a ladle that it may not burn, and adding fresh leaves from time to time, till the whole acquires the consistence of a syrup. This takes place in six or seven hours, after which it is set by to cool, and is then mixed with the milk, and preserved for use from autumn till the ensuing summer, in wooden vessels, or in the first stomach of the reindeer. It is kept either in the caves of the mountains, or in holes dug in the ground, lest it should be attacked by the mountain mice (Mus Lemmus).
Near the shore at Lycksele I observed vast shoals of those small fishes called the Glirr (Cyprinus Aphya), each about an inch and half long, and two lines broad.