Lachesis Lapponica,

OR A

TOUR IN LAPLAND,

NOW FIRST PUBLISHED
from the
ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT JOURNAL
OF THE CELEBRATED

LINNÆUS;

by

JAMES EDWARD SMITH, M.D. F.R.S. ETC.
PRESIDENT OF THE LINNÆAN SOCIETY.

IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.

"Ulterius nihil est, nisi non habitabile frigus."
Ovid.

LONDON:
PRINTED FOR WHITE AND COCHRANE, HORACE'S HEAD,
FLEET-STREET,
BY RICHARD TAYLOR AND CO., SHOE-LANE.

1811.

JOURNEY
TO
LAPLAND.

In the latter part of this day, July 15th, I set out on my return from the low grounds of Norway. The heat was very powerful as we began to ascend the mountains. When we reached what had seemed to us from below the summit of a hill, we saw just as lofty an eminence before us, and this was the case nine or ten successive times. I had no idea of such mountains before. The elevation of this hill cannot be taken by any geometrical instrument, as the summit is not visible, even at some miles distance. I believe its height must exceed a Swedish mile, but to climb it was

worse than going two miles any other way. Had we not frequently met with such abundance of water, we should have been overcome with fatigue. In this ascent I found the little Astragalus (alpinus) with a white flower, and the Little Gentian (Gentiana nivalis).

Our clothes, which were wet quite through with perspiration, in consequence of the heat we had encountered in the beginning of our journey, were now frozen stiff upon our backs by the cold. We determined to seek for a Laplander's hut. In order to get at one, we were obliged to descend so steep a hill, that, being unable to walk down it, I lay down on my back and slid along, with the rapidity of an arrow from a bow. I avoided with difficulty the large snow torrents that every now and then came in my way, and which were sometimes within an ell of me.

On reaching this hut, I noticed some of the reindeer whose horns were not above half an inch long, the Brom-fly (Oestrus Tarandi)

having bitten them while quite tender; for these insects are, in the Norwegian alps, worse than the gnats of Swedish Lapland.

I here obtained a curious piece of information respecting the mode of castrating the reindeer. When the animal is two years and a half old, its owner, about a fortnight before Michaelmas, getting a person to assist him by holding it fast by the horns, places himself betwixt its hind legs. He then applies his teeth to the scrotum, so as to bruise its contents, but not so as to break the skin, for in that case the reindeer would die. He afterwards bruises the part still more effectually between his fingers. The same operation is performed on both sides, if the reindeer remains quiet long enough for the purpose at one time. The animal is in consequence rather indisposed for a while, so that he can hardly keep up with the rest of the herd, but he usually recovers perfectly in a week's time. This is certainly an art, no less curious than remarkable, and merits further consideration.

The girls here, especially when they wish to appear to advantage, divide their hair into two braids, one above each ear, which braids are tied together, at the hind part of the head, so as to hang down the back. A tuft of ribands is appended to the extremity of each braid.

July 16.

We undertook to cross the ice-mountain. Having proceeded some way on our journey, we observed a dense cloud to the north-east. It was visible both above and below us, and at length approached us in the form of a thick mist, which moistened our clothes, and rendered even our hair thoroughly wet. It so completely obliterated our horizon, that we could neither see sun nor moon, nor the summits of the neighbouring hills. We knew not whither to turn our steps, fearing on the one hand to fall down a precipice and lose our lives, as actually happened, a few years ago, to a Laplander under the same circumstances; or on the

other to be plunged into the alpine torrent, which had worn so deep a channel through the snow, as to make any one giddy, looking upon it from above. We could now not distinguish any thing a couple of ells before us. Our situation was like that of an unskilful mariner at sea without a compass, out of sight of land, and surrounded by hidden rocks on every side. The Laplanders themselves consider the situation we were in as one of the worst accidents that can ever befall them. We, however, though destitute of a guide, were fortunate enough to discover the track of a reindeer, and of some kind of carriage in which goods had probably been lately conveyed towards Norway. This track directed us safely to one of the Lapland moveable tents.

All the Laplanders are usually blear-eyed, so that one would think the word Lappi (Laplanders) was derived from lippi (blear-eyed). The causes of this inconvenience are various, but chiefly the following.