392 A SPRING AND SUMMER IN LAPLAND. 



whole night, each one taking his turn, and reached 

 Lulea on the Tuesday afternoon, the journey of 

 thirty-two Swedish miles having occupied six days. 

 We had to wait in Lulea three days for the Stock- 

 holm steamer, which came up on Friday, and 

 reached that place on the afternoon of September 

 4th, having been about a week on the road from 

 Lulea, for the autumn had now set in, and the 

 steamers are obliged to make short days' runs. 

 In the summer the steamers run up to Lulea in 

 three or four days ; and one boat, the Volontaire, 

 which goes through without calling at any station, 

 does it in less. 



During our journey down from Quickiock, I 

 had an opportunity of seeing Lapland in her 

 summer dress, and more lovely scenery on both 

 sides, as we floated down this magnificent river, 

 I never wish to see. I was surprised at the rich- 

 ness of the vegetation by the river-side, and the 

 crops of barley were really astonishing, although 

 I feared, this year, they would never ripen. As I 

 lay upon the baggage in the boat, I mused on 

 the past, the present, and the future. I wondered 

 how many centuries had elapsed since this rocky, 

 iron-bound land was thrown together, and what 

 changes it had undergone. Then, as I gazed upon 

 the clear unclouded sky above my head ; the 

 placid, waveless river on whose bosom we were 



