below the shoulders. [No. 4] is fixed upon the neck, and fastened with f f over the chest, forming the saddle, the hairy part serving to keep it from galling the animal. The ends, c c, pass between the hind legs, and to them is fixed, as before mentioned, the leather which draws the sledge.
I understood that the water, along part of which I had pursued my route, was divided into broad navigable spaces, interrupted frequently by narrow or precipitous passes, called by the name of a forss, force, of which a long enumeration was given me.
The pasture ground near the parsonage of Lycksele was very poor, but quite the reverse about a quarter of a mile distant. Here the butter was extremely remarkable for its fine yellow colour, approaching almost to a reddish or saffron hue. On my inquiring what kind of herbs most abounded in these pastures, the people gave me a description of one which I judged to be a Melampyrum, and on my drawing a sketch
of that kind of plant, they assured me it was what they meant, which is very plentiful in their forests, and is called Kowall[26].
In the school here were only eight scholars.
I procured at Lycksele a Laplander's snuff-box, which is of a round figure, turned out of the horn of a reindeer.
The church of Lycksele, built of timber, was in a very miserable state, so that whenever it rained the congregation were as wet as if they had been in the open air. It had altogether the appearance of a barn. The seats were so narrow that those who sat on them were drawn neck and heels together.
Here was a woman supposed to labour under the misfortune of a brood of frogs in her stomach, owing to her having, in the course of the preceding spring, drunk water which contained the spawn of these ani
mals. She thought she could feel three of them, and that herself, as well as persons who sat near her, could hear them croak. Her uneasiness was in some degree alleviated by drinking brandy. Salt had no effect in destroying the frogs. Another person, who for some years had had the same complaint, took doses of Nux Vomica, and was cured; but even this powerful remedy had been tried on this woman in vain. I advised her to try tar, but that she had already taken without success, having been obliged to throw it up again[27].
[26] Linnæus has mentioned this circumstance in his Flora Lapponica, n. 240, where he confounds Melampyrum pratense and sylvaticum together as one species.