Lachesis Lapponica; Or, A Tour in Lapland, Volume 1Linné, Carl von
History
Lachesis Lapponica; Or, A Tour in Lapland, Volume 1
Linné, Carl von
Lapland -- Description and travel; Natural history -- Lapland
At Flaskesele I found _Rubus alpinus repens_ (_R. saxatilis_),
_Trientalis_, _Aconitum lycoctonum_, _Ulmaria_ (_Spiræa_), _Podagraria
tenuifolia sterilis_ (probably _Angelica sylvestris_), _Polypodium
Dryopteris_, _Thymelæa_ of the old writers (_Daphne Mezereum_), Herb
Christopher (_Actæa spicata_), and Juniper (_Juniperus communis_); also
_Lichenoides_ with a greyish white crust and flesh-coloured tubercles,
growing in watery places (_Lichen ericetorum_), and another on stones
with black tubercles. A yellow species with a leafy crust grew on the
Juniper (_L. juniperinus_).
I remarked here water abounding with a red ochraceous sediment like
arnotto (_Bixa Orellana_), such as I had before seen further south. It
was chiefly in the bogs near Flaskesele water-fall that this ochre was
to be found, and it stained the footsteps of passengers who passed over
it. The colonists use it to paint their window-frames red.
The eatable moss of Norway (_Lichen islandicus_) was here of two kinds,
the one broad and scattered, the other in thick tufts about three inches
high. Both of them are reddish towards the root, and are certainly only
varieties of each other.
Near the water side I met with the nest of a Sandpiper (_Tringa
Hypoleucos_), which is one of the smallest of its genus. The nest was
made of straw, and contained four eggs. The parent bird had flown away
at my approach.
In the neighbouring forest grew a rare little leafy _Lichenoides_, of a
fine saffron colour beneath, and bearing on the upper side flat oblong
shields (_Lichen croceus_). Also the _Boletus perennis_ (described in
_Fl. Lapp._), and a small white Agaric with gills alternately forked and
undivided.
Adjoining to the cataract of Gransele the strata in the left-hand bank
appeared as follows. Under the soil a brown sand, next to it some
fathoms depth of white, below which were two fathoms of a purple sand,
which lay upon small stones, and those upon larger ones on a level with
the water.
The Little Eared Grebe (_Colymbus auritus_) was here occasionally quite
black, or black with white spots under the wings. There was great
abundance of Wild Ducks, those birds abounding as much on this side of
Lycksele as on the other.
This part of the country is beautifully diversified with hills and
valleys, clothed with forests of birch intermixed with fir, which were
now reflected by the calm surface of the water.
In the _force_ or water-fall of Gransele are thirteen small islands.
I noticed on both sides of the river several summer huts of the
Laplanders, in which they reside, for a short time together, during that
season. A Laplander never remains more than a week on one spot, not
only because of seeking fresh pasture for his reindeer, but because he
cannot bear to stay long in a place. He drives the whole herd together,
young and old, into the river, to swim over to the opposite shore, which
these animals easily perform, though the stream is more than eight
gunshots wide.
[Illustration]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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