I was told that the peasants had in the winter preceding foretold an unusual rise of the river, and a great flood, in the course of this summer, which when it happens is a considerable detriment to those whose pasture grounds are overflowed by it. Their mode of judging is by the swelling of the stream in winter, to which they
observe that in the ensuing summer always to bear a proportion.
The colonists settled in Lapmark sow a great deal of turnip seed, which frequently succeeds very well and produces a plentiful crop. The native Laplanders are so fond of this root, that they will often give a cheese in exchange for a turnip; than which nothing can be more foolish.
At Gräno I met with perfectly white flowers of the Dog's Violet (Viola canina): also Bistorta alpina sobolifera, or more properly perhaps vivipara (Polygonum viviparum), as the bulbs had grown out into small leaves.
Rain fell in the night, accompanied with thunder and lightning.
June 7.
Early in the morning I left Gräno, and in passing through the forest observed on the Juniper magnificent specimens of that gelatinous substance, about which and its
heroic virtues in curing the jaundice so much has been said[37]. I picked up a curious insect which I then named Cantharis niger maculatus et undulatus (Cicindela sylvatica), and which I afterwards met with in great abundance throughout the pine forests of this province, though rare elsewhere, flying or running with great celerity along the roads and paths. Here also it was my fortune to see a rare bird not hitherto described. If I am not mistaken, it is what Professor Rudbeck called Pica Lapponum. I could only examine it through my spying-glass, but I perceived
all the characters of a Turdus, so that I do not scruple to define it Turdus caudâ, rubrâ medio cinereâ. It had moreover the flight and voice of a Turdus, screaming in the same manner. Towards evening I noticed a black sort of Plover, with legs of a yellowish green, and had also an opportunity of killing a Lomm (Colymbus arcticus), which I stuffed, and of which I made a description in my ornithological manuscript. The bill was not toothed.