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]. [26] Linnæus has mentioned this circumstance in his _Flora Lapponica, n. 240_, where he confounds _Melampyrum pratense_ and _sylvaticum_ together as one species. 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 animals. 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]. [27] Linnæus writes as if he did not absolutely disbelieve the existence of these frogs, which were as much out of their place as Jonah in the whale's belly. The patient probably laboured under a debility of the stomach and bowels, not uncommon in a more luxurious state of society, which is attended with frequent internal noise from wind, especially when the mind is occasionally agitated. Yet the idea of frogs or toads in the stomach has often been credited. Not many years ago a story appeared in the Norwich paper, of a gentleman's servant having eaten toad-spawn with water cresses, which being hatched, occasioned dreadful uneasiness, till he brought up a large toad by means of an emetic; and this story was said to have been sworn before the mayor of Lynn, as if it had been really true. _May 31._ Divine service being over, I left Lycksele in order to proceed towards Sorsele.