Several kinds of Willows grew every where near the water, but had not yet displayed their leaves.
I came to a hut, consisting of eighteen posts, covered with walmal, or coarse cloth, ten feet long and eight broad. Also some winter huts, the poles of which the Laplanders remove with them from place to place. Each hut is formed with three poles, forked at the top. Under the shelter of
these huts or tents were suspended dried fish, cheese, clothes, pots and various utensils. There were neither walls nor doors, consequently no locks to protect them.
At length meeting with a very long shelvy contraction in the river, we were obliged to quit our boat, and go by land in search of a Laplander to serve as my guide further on, whom we expected to find at a place a mile distant. But it appeared to me full a mile and half, over hills and valleys, rivulets and stones. The hills were clad with Ling and with Empetrum, which entangled our feet at every step; not to mention the trees lying in all directions in our way, and over which we were obliged to climb. The marshy spots were not less difficult to pass over. The Bog-moss (Sphagnum) afforded but a treacherous support for our feet, and the Dwarf Birch (Betula nana) entangled our legs.
I could not help remarking that all the fibres of the full-grown pine trees seemed
to be obliquely twisted, and in a contrary direction to the diurnal motion of the sun. I leave this to the consideration of the curious physiologist; whether it may arise from any thing in the soil or air, or from any polar attraction[31].
Some of these pines bore tufted or fasciculated branches near their summits, like those before mentioned, p. [7].
At length we came to a sort of bay or creek of the river, which we were under the necessity of wading through. The water reached above our waists, and was very cold. In the midst of this creek was so deep a hole that the longest pole could scarcely fathom it. We had no resource but to lay a pole across it, on which we passed over at the hazard of our lives; and
indeed when I reached the other side, I congratulated myself on having had a very narrow escape. A neighbouring mountain affords grey slate, but of a loose and brittle kind.
We had next to pass a marshy tract, almost entirely under water, for the course of a mile, nor is it easy to conceive the difficulties of the undertaking. At every step we were knee-deep in water; and if we thought to find a sure footing on some grassy tuft, it proved treacherous, and only sunk us lower. Sometimes we came where no bottom was to be felt, and were obliged to measure back our weary steps. Our half boots were filled with the coldest water, as the frost, in some places, still remained in the ground. Had our sufferings been inflicted as a capital punishment, they would, even in that case, have been cruel, what then had we to complain of? I wished I had never undertaken my journey, for all the elements seemed adverse. It rained and blowed hard upon us. I wondered