80 TRAVELS IN THE EIGHTIES. 



tained by a Swedish settler and his family living 

 twenty miles from anywhere in a clearing in the 

 forest. Their possessions consisted of a house and 

 out-house, four cows, a pony, and a boat and nets on 

 the river. 



When the men arrived at these oases in the desert 

 of Lapland there was always a difficulty in getting 

 them away. Coffee had to be drunk several times, 

 which meant roasting, grinding, and boiling it in 

 a brass pot, each time requiring half an hour. Salt 

 and sugar were added, and it was certainly very ex- 

 cellent. I was congratulating the farmer on the 

 fact that coffee took the place apparently of alcoholic 

 drinks, on which he immediately left the room and 

 presently returned with a cup of very strong and 

 nasty brandevin, which I was obliged to drink. When 

 we had drunk more than enough coffee he took us 

 down the river to his boat, and I commenced fishing 

 "by special request," in order to supply the settler 

 with some fish which his nets had lately, he said, 

 been unable to procure for him. He had heard long 

 tales of sport from Olaf, and rowed me up and down 

 and across the stream where he thought the best fish 

 lay, while I used a phantom minnow for a bait, in 

 the middle of a long stretch of deep still water, with 

 a rapid below and one above, and tall pines growing 

 at the water's edge. We rowed down stream first, 

 and I let out the phantom (a small blue one) just 

 where the lower rapid commenced, and was soon fast 

 in a good trout. Not having a landing-net or a gaff 



