It is worthy of notice that the Laplanders use no almanack, but in its stead only a kind of instrument like the ancient runic calendar of the Goths, composed of seven small splinters or boards. They have indeed names to mark some periods, as already mentioned p. 62; but they do not, like us, compute time by the month, but by the course of their various holidays. They have also a name for every week. They are unable to tell when an eclipse of the sun or moon is to be expected. The year begins, by their reckoning, on the Friday before Christmas day. The people in the part of the country where I was now travelling wear, in summertime, either a coat of walmal cloth next the skin, or no coat at all, only a _lappmudd_ as they call it, (or garment of reindeer-skin,) stripped of its hair. At sun-set we reached Purkijaur, where we in vain attempted to procure a boat. We had no resource but to make ourselves a float or raft, on which we committed our persons and all our property to the guidance of the current of the river. The night proved very dark in consequence of a thick fog, insomuch that we could not see before us to the distance of three fathoms. After a while we found ourselves in the middle of the stream, and it was not long before the force of the water separated the timbers of our raft, and we were in imminent danger of our lives. At length however, with the greatest difficulty, we reached a house situated on an island, after a voyage of half a mile from where we embarked[6]. At Purkijaur I hired a man to show me the manner of fishing for pearls, for which I agreed to pay him six dollars. He made a raft of five timbers as thick as my body, and two fathoms in length. At each end was a staple to which the anchor was attached. This anchor was nothing more than a stone, tied round with twigs of birch that it might not be lost, to which he fastened a cord, about two fathoms in length, made of birch twigs. He was likewise furnished with a pole of the same length, which served him to steer his raft, as it floated along the strong current. The bottom of the river is not easily seen at any great depth; but when he could distinctly perceive it, he dropped his stone anchor, fixing the upper end of the rope to the staple on the raft, by which it became stationary. Whenever he wished to examine another spot, he weighed anchor, and resigned himself to the force of the current. Where the water was shallow, he stood upright on his raft; but where the depth was considerable, he lay at full length, with his face downwards, looking over the edge of the raft.