56 GAEL LINNAEUS. 



works, which were not completed for seven years, 

 " Bibliotheca Botanica," " Classes Plantarum," 

 " Critica Botanica," and " Genera Plantarum," let- 

 ting," as he said, "not a minute pass unoccupied 

 during his residence at Upsala. For the latter 

 work he examined the characters of eight thousand 

 flowers." 



Scarcely had he begun this valuable labor, when 

 the envy of one of the professors became as hard 

 to bear as his previous poverty, and, through 

 friends, he obtained an appointment to study the 

 natural history of Lapland. It was a hazardous ex- 

 pedition for a young man of twenty-five. Now he 

 climbed steep rocks, " which." he says, " broke loose 

 from a spot which my late guide had just passed, 

 and fell exactly where I had been, with such force 

 that it struck fire as it went." Once, when float- 

 ing down a river, the raft parted in the middle, and 

 he narrowly escaped drowning. " All my food," he 

 says, "in those fatiguing excursions, consisted, for 

 the most part, of fish and reindeer's milk. Bread, 

 salt, and what is found everywhere else, did but 

 seldom recreate my palate." He travelled nearly 

 four thousand miles, mostly on foot, often through 

 bogs and marshes, with the water to his knees, yet 

 always cheerful, always enthusiastic. On present- 

 ing his report to the University, on his return 

 home, they gave him about fifty dollars for his 

 travelling expenses for five months ! 



A single incident shows the tender heart of the 

 young explorer. Very few birds were visible ex- 



