136 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINNAEUS 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE NORTH SWEDISH PROVINCES. 



Spring clothes the fields and decks the flowery grove, 

 And all creation glows with life and lore. 



From the Latin of LINN JBUS. 



THE account of Linngeus's Lapland journey was written 

 by himself in a diary called c Lachesis Lapponica ' ; this 

 MS. was purchased from the widow of Linnaeus, with 

 the rest of the great botanist's writings and collections, 

 by Sir J. E. Smith. It became his duty and wish to 

 render them useful. Great was his disappointment 

 to find the ' Lachesis Lapponica ' written in Swedish. 

 For a long time it remained undeciphered. At length 

 Mr. C. Troilus undertook the translation. It proved to 

 be the identical journal written on the spot during the 

 tour ; but the difficulty of interpreting it proved unex- 

 pectedly great. The bulk of the composition is Swedish, 

 but so intermixed with Latin, even in half sentences, 

 that the translator, not being much acquainted with 

 this language, found it necessary to leave frequent 

 blanks. The translation is in two volumes, octavo. 



It is such a journal as a man would write for his 

 own use, without a thought of its ever being seen by 



