June 1.
We pursued our journey by water with considerable labour and difficulty all night long, if it might be called night, which was as light as the day, the sun disappearing for about half an hour only, and the temperature of the air being rather cold. The
colonist who was my companion was obliged sometimes to wade along in the river, dragging the boat after him, for half a mile together. His feet and legs were protected by shoes made of birch bark. In the morning we went on shore, in order to inquire for a native Laplander, who would undertake to be my guide further on. Finding only an empty hut at the spot where we landed, we proceeded as fast as we could to the next hut, a quarter of a mile distant, which likewise proved unoccupied. At length we arrived at a third hut, half a mile further, but met with as little success as at the two former, it being quite empty. Upon which I dispatched my fellow-traveller to a fourth hut, at some distance, to see if he could find any person fit for my purpose, and I betook myself to the contemplation of the wild scenes of Nature around me.
The soil here was extremely sterile, consisting of barren sand (Arena Glarea) without any large stones or rocks, which
are only seen near the shores of the waters. Fir trees were rather thinly scattered, but they were extremely lofty, towering up to the clouds. Here were spacious tracts producing the finest timber I ever beheld. The ground was clothed with Ling, Red Whortle-berries (Vaccinium Vitis Idæa), and mosses. In such parts as were rather low grew smaller firs, amongst abundance of birch, the ground there also producing Red Whortle-berries, as well as the common black kind (Vaccinium Myrtillus), with Polytrichum (commune). On the dry hills, which most abounded with large pines, the finest timber was strewed around, felled by the force of the tempests, lying in all directions, so as to render the country in some places almost impenetrable. I seemed to have reached the residence of Pan himself, and shall now describe the huts in which his subjects the Laplanders contrive to resist the rigours of their native climate.
The Kodda, or hut, is formed of double timbers, lying one upon another, and has mostly six sides, rarely but four. It is supported within by four inclining posts, [fig. 2]. a, as thick as one's arm, crossing each other in pairs at the top, b, upon which is laid a transverse beam, c, four ells in length. On each side lower down is another cross piece of wood, d, serving to hang pipes on. The walls are formed of beams of a similar
thickness, but differing in length, leaving a hole at the top to serve as a chimney, and a door at the side, see [fig. 3], a and b. These are covered with a layer of bark, either of Spruce Fir or Birch, and over that is another layer of wood like the first. In the centre, [fig. 1], the fire is made on the ground, and the inhabitants lie round it. In the middle of the chimney at fig. 2, c, hangs a pole, on which the pot is suspended over the fire.