THE NORTH SWEDISH PROVINCES 147 



* In every river a wheel is placed, contrived to lift 

 up a hammer for the purpose of bruising flax. When 

 it is not wanted, a trap-door is raised to turn the stream 

 aside, 



c Several butterflies were to be seen in the forest, as 

 the common black, and the large black and white. 

 Between the post-house of Tygsund and Hudviksvall 

 a violet-coloured clay is found in abundance, forming a 

 regular stratum. I observed it likewise in a hill, which 

 was nine ells in height, near the water, a span-width 

 of violet clay between two layers of barren sand. The 

 clay contained small and delicately smooth white bivalve 

 shells, quite entire, as well as some larger brown ones, 

 of which great quantities are to be found near the water 

 side. At this spot grows the Anemone hepatica with a 

 purple flower a variety so very rare in other places that 

 I should almost be of the opinion of the gardeners who 

 believe that colours of particular earths may be commu- 

 nicated to flowers. 



The produce of the arable land here being but 

 scanty, the inhabitants mix herbs with their corn, and 

 form it into cakes two feet broad, but only a line in 

 thickness, by which means the taste of the herbs is 

 rendered less perceptible. Hudviksvall is a little town 

 situated between a small lake and the sea. Near this 

 place the arctic bramble was beginning to shoot forth, 

 while Lychnis dioica and Arabis Thaliana were in flower. 

 The larger fields here are sown with flax, which is 

 performed every third year. The soil is turned up by 



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