THE NORTH SWEDISH PROVINCES 163 



seldom attend Divine service, except on fast days, and 

 Whitsunday, Easter, and Christmas days. Timber for 

 the purpose of building a church here was brought so 

 long ago as the time of the late Abraham Lindelius ; l 

 but it has lain till it is rotten. 



' May 28. I left Texnas and proceeded to Genom, 

 where I was obliged to stay till next day, as there is no 

 conveyance but by water to Lycksele, and the wind blew 

 very hard.' Here he saw a beaver, which he describes. 



' May 29. Very early in the morning I quitted 

 Genom in a haep, or small boat, proceeding along the 

 western branch of the UmeS River. When the sun 

 rose nothing could be more pleasant than the view of 

 this clear unruffled stream, neither contaminated by 

 floods nor disturbed by the breath of ^Eolus. All along 

 its translucent margin the forests which dotted its banks 

 were reflected like another landscape in the water. On 

 both sides were large level heaths guarded by steep 

 ramparts towards the river, and these were embellished 

 with plants and bushes, the whole reversed in the water, 

 appearing to great advantage. The huge pines, which 

 had hitherto braved Neptune's power, smiled with a 

 fictitious shadow in the stream. Neptune, however, in 

 alliance with ^Eolus, had already triumphed over many 

 of their companions : the former by attacking their 

 roots, while the latter had demolished their branches. 



' Close to the shore were many ringed plovers and 

 sandpipers.' [He saw also owls, white swans, and 

 1 Was this an ancestor of Linnaeus ? 



M 2 



