CHAP. II. Female Peasants. the island. We visited all the inclosures; and found the corn, chiefly rye, in good order. The harvest was getting in, and, consequently, all hands were employed. The men wear the sort Male and of fur caps which are often exposed for sale in London as travelling-caps: the same sort of cap is frequently worn in other parts of Sweden and Finland. The women wear their hair tressed à la Grecque, and bind a handkerchief about the temples. The rest of their apparel, in summer, consists only of a short cloth jacket, generally of a green colour, and a short petticoat; the feet and legs being bare. In going to labour, or returning home, they employ themselves, as in all their leisure hours, in knitting hose for winter wear: when thus engaged, they often carry burdens on their heads, like the women in Wales. Their jacket in winter is changed from cloth to sheep-skin, which is worn with the wool inwards. The number of cows on the whole island amounted to 315; and hence the population may be estimated; because, to use a Population. saying of their own, they have "a cow for every mouth." There are also sixty-five horses upon the island. The number of children in every family was astonishing: many had twelve, and in some families there were more. When we expressed our surprise at this, they said CHAP. 11. 66 Aye, this comes of eating so much fish:" an opinion everywhere prevalent among the lower order of people in the maritime parts of Europe, whether true or false. The church resorted to by the inhabitants of Björkö is upon the neighbouring isle of Replot, which we passed in our way hither from Ishmo. If a person die, he is carried to that island for interment. Owing to this custom, we fell in with a very singular rencontre in the forest: two men, pacing as fast as they could, met us, with the dead body of an islander, in a coffin suspended lengthways between them from a pole: this they were to convey to the church, that it might be ready for the clergyman on Sunday, the day following. Their most favourite article of food is a kind of hastypudding, made of barley-meal and water: this is portioned out, hot, in large wooden bowls, and a lump of butter is placed in a hole in the middle of each mess. They all sit down together to this meal, each having his bowl and wooden spoon; and the quantity they devour is very great. The portion allotted to each man was as much as would fill a large hand-bason. This is the harvest pudding of the year, and it is considered as a feast. Their ordinary diet consists of hard rye biscuit, with butter, sour milk, and pickled Strumming (small fishes like ancho II. Produc vies, the principal article of the Björkö fishery, CHAP. and of their traffic with Finland). The same fish constitutes a main article of the food of the inhabitants on each side of the Gulph, both north and south of the Quarken. The vegetable Vegetable productions of the Isle of Björkö, besides the tions. fir and birch, which almost cover it, are, rye, barley, potatoes, wild raspberry and red-currant bushes, wood strawberries, and a variety of plants mentioned in a note, some of which are rare'. On the following morning, September the first, Voyage to the wind being fair, we were summoned to embark in the public barge of the island. This, with difficulty, contained our little waggon, ourselves, and a large hog which the natives were desirous of conveying to Umeå for sale'. Umed. (1) We shall enumerate them alphabetically, without any regard to (2) It was full grown; and, when fattened, might weigh from thirty to thirty-five stone: yet the sum they hoped to receive for it was not equivalent to fifteen shillings of our money. II. HAP. We lay-to at a small uninhabited island, entirely covered with red-currant bushes and raspberry trees, to take in stone for ballast; and then, hoisting sail, bore away for Umeå. We made the Islands of Malskär and Walsörarne, which we passed with a prosperous wind. There is a light-house upon one of them. Soon afterwards, we were entirely out of sight of any land, in the midst of the open Gulph. Here we were becalmed; and not quite easy as to our situation, in such an open boat, managed by unskilful pilots. Presently a breeze sprung up, and quickened apace, until it blew fresh, and we made the islands and coast of Westero-Bothniå. Passed the Isle of Gadden, which we left upon our right, and then entered more placid waters, among beautiful islets lying off the embouchure of the Umeå river. As we entered this river, the views were very pleasing. It rained hard; but upon either side of this broad river we saw sloping forests of fir, mingled with weepingbirch, extending to the water's edge. Higher up, the banks of the Umeå are much cultivated, and appear covered with farms the whole way to the town: every one of these farms has its own boat, and boat-house, by the side of the river. The town, with all the surrounding buildings, reaches to a considerable distance II. along the river. The men who had accompanied CHAP. us from Björkö told us that the inhabitants of their island, and of all the districts on each side of the Quarken, make this passage, in sledges, upon the ice, during winter. We landed on Sunday Evening, and went to our former quarters at the inn. The accommodations were bad; the house being dirty, and its owners cheats; having literally nothing to sell, and yet making a high charge. The next morning, waiting upon Dr. Nazën', we made an agreement with him for a complete collection of all the plants found in Lapland; and purchased of him, for three hundred rix-dollars, his own valuable Herbarium, with a view to offer it to the University of Cambridge, upon our return. We also bought some curious books and papers which had belonged to Linnæus ; and the exposition of his sexual system, in sheets, as it was published at the Hague. A Gentleman mentioned in Coxe's Travels, who has published a Dictionary of the Lapland Tongue, with a Latin explanation of the words, Antient gave us here a very antient Song used by the Rhune. Finnish (1) Dr. Nazën was physician of the province; for which he had a salary allowed him by the Crown, of 300 rix-dollars per annum. |