' LA CHE SIS LAP PO NIC A ' i g i 



did not afford me so many plants as those further south. 

 Their bottoms were quite clear and destitute of vege- 

 tation. The shores were no less barren. No water- 

 lilies, no water-docks, &c., grew about their borders, 

 but the surface of the water itself was covered with the 

 water ranunculus, bearing round as well as capillary 

 leaves, and whitening the whole with its blossoms. I 

 could not but marvel to see these broad patches of 

 white spread over the lakes, as when I passed up the 

 country only a fortnight before I had not perceived the 

 least appearance of even the herbage of the ranunculus 

 that composed them ; now its branches, an ell in length, 

 swam on the surface. The growth of the stem must be 

 very rapid, as it often proceeded from a depth of three 

 fathoms. 



'At sunset we reached Parkjaur, where we vainly 

 attempted to procure a boat. We had no resource but 

 to make ourselves a float or raft, on which we com- 

 mitted our persons and our property to the guidance 

 of the current of the river. The night proved very 

 dark in consequence of a thick fog, insomuch that we 

 could not see before us to the distance of three fathoms. 

 After a while we found ourselves in the middle of the 

 stream, and it was not long before the force of the 

 water separated the timbers of our raft, and we were 

 in imminent danger of our lives. At length, however, 

 with the greatest difficulty, we reached a house situated 

 on an island, after a voyage of half a mile ' [Swedish] 

 ' from where we had embarked. 



