236' LULEÅ. 



I quitted this new town at one o'clock, 

 there being nothing to be got; and as no 

 horse was to be procured in the whole 

 place, I proceeded by sea to old Lulea, 

 half a mile distant. Here I met with a cu- 

 rious kind of grass, which in Smoland is 

 called KafFa skiaegg, or Old-man's beard : 

 at Pithoea its name is Svinborst, Hog's 

 bristles : and at this place it is known by 

 the denomination of Lapp-har, Lapland 

 hair. (Nardus stricta, Engl. Bot. t. 290.) 

 It was now in blossom. The root seems 

 half bulbous, or as it were an aggregation 

 of numerous bulbs. The leaves are bristly 

 like a beard, and rough to the touch. The 

 spike is unilateral, and scarcely thicker 

 than the stem, composed of equally narrow 

 alternate oblong scales. 



The presence of this grass, as well as the 

 whole aspect of the forests, marshes, corn- 

 fields, meadows, waters and herbage, 

 evinced a great conformity betwixt this 

 country and Smoland. Many herbaceous 

 plants grow here which are not to be found 



