A kind of boats used here to navigate rapid and dangerous parts of the rivers, are made of thin planks of spruce fir, and are four or five fathoms long, and about one broad in their middle. The sides are five or six quarters of an ell deep; the extremities compressed. The middle of the boat is nearly semicylindrical, the keel being raised up, or hollowed as it were by the dilatation of the sides, in which all the importance and peculiarity of the contrivance consists, for without this the vessel would be much more easily overset in rapid and shelvy places. Some of these boats have no prominent keel at all; others are furnished with a slight one, chiefly in their forepart, which is a little the highest, in order to bear the better any shocks from striking against stones; so that if this part be able to pass, the rest of the vessel may go in safety.
One sort of nets used for catching Sijk-fish, (Salmo Lavaretus, or Gwiniad, before mentioned) are five spans high, and of a
considerable length, the meshes very small. There are loop-holes at the top, large enough to admit two fingers, bordered with birch bark, whose edges are sewn together. (See 1, 2, 3, 4 in the figure.) The stones (5, 6, 7) at the bottom are but small, covered with birch bark. The nets are set near the sandy shore.
Another kind of net, used for catching the same fish, is placed in the strongest part of a current or water-fall. It resembles a receiving net, except being not so deep. The length is three ells, breadth two, and depth one. This is fixed very steadily, by means of poles, in the middle of the very strongest and most confined current, against the stream, so that when the fish attempts to pass upwards, by the narrow passages on
each side the net, he finds it impracticable, and is thrown back by the force of the water, generally into the net, out of which he can never escape, but is taken out at leisure.
Near Ulaborg is a mineral spring, not yet made any use of. The taste of the water seemed good. This spring is situated close to the town, on a small island, where there is a sawing-mill.
In the church I noticed the monument of Messenius, with his effigy made to the
life. He is actually buried here[14]. This church is one of the longest I ever saw built of wood, but its height is not correspondent. The arms of the town are displayed on the pulpit. Ulaborg is almost as large as Lund.