ITER DALECARLIbM 245 



and grasping. ' Bread with eyes and cheese without 

 eyes,' quoth Nasman. He recommended his companions 

 to 'be ready with the hat, but slow with the purse.' 

 * A small sum,' said he, i will pay a short reckoning.' 

 He tried it in vain. 



The sturdy Norwegian laughed at his civilities and 

 held stoutly to his bargain. < Take it or leave it, but 

 1 won't take an ore less.' Yet a minute afterwards he 

 good-naturedly offered the whole hospitality of his house 

 to Faldstedt, the metallist, limping beneath the weight 

 of his specimens. The party remained four days at 

 Roma's, examining the ores and mining-works, and 

 after making an expedition of one Swedish mile to 

 Grufum, they began their homeward route. The birds, 

 too, were all preparing a farewell to RoraSs. The expe- 

 dition, however, did not follow the swallows' flight due 

 south, but, re-entering Sweden at Sverige, they followed 

 the rough uneasy tracks of the West Dal, so difficult 

 to find one's way in. They rejoiced when the evenings 

 drawing in enabled them to travel by the polar star, 

 called by the nomad Turcomans the Iron Peg, because 

 it holds so firm. On August 4 the botanist Sohlberg 

 speaks with some surprise of the large potatoes : an ex- 

 ception to the general rule here, where ' potatoes usually 

 grow so fast that the tubers are small, all the strength 

 going into the stem.' l On the 5th he rejoiced to find the 

 stately plant (Pedicula/rls) called the Sceptrum Carolinum. 

 Linnaeus had already met with it in Lapland. 

 1 Du Chaillu. 



