172 LYCKSELE LAPLAND. 



which they cut a surface as large as they 

 please for a bed or bolster, separating it 

 from the earth beneath ; and although the 

 shoots are scarcely branched, they are ne- 

 vertheless so entangled at the roots as not 

 to be separable from each other. This 

 mossy cushion is very soft and elastic, not 

 growing hard by pressure; and if a similar 

 portion of it be made to serve as a coverlet, 

 nothing can be more warm and comforta- 

 ble. I have often made use of it with ad- 

 miration ; and if any writer had published 

 a description of this simple contrivance, 

 which necessity has taught the Laplanders, 

 I should almost imagine that our counter- 

 panes were but an imitation of it. They 

 fold this bed together, tying it up into a 

 roll that may be grasped by a man^s arms, 

 which if necessary they carry with them to 

 the place where they mean to sleep the 

 night following. If it becomes too dry 

 and compressed, its former elasticity is re- 

 stored by a little moisture. 



