MEMOIR OF LINNEUS. 
77 
pole could scarcely fathom it. "We had no resource 
but to lay a pole across it, on which we passed over 
at the hazard of our lives; and, indeed, when I 
reached the other side, I congratulated myself in 
having had a very narrow escape. 
“We had next to pass a marshy tract, almost en- 
tirely under water for the course of a mile ; nor is 
it easy to conceive the difficulties of the under- 
taking. At every step we were knee-deep ; and if 
we thought to find a sure footing on some grassy 
tuft, it proved treacherous, and only sunk us lower. 
Sometimes we came where no bottom was to be 
felt, and were obliged to measure hack our weary 
steps ; our half-boots were filled with the coldest 
water, as the frost in some places still remained in 
the ground. Had our sufferings been inflicted as a 
capital punishment, they would even in that case 
have been cruel. What then had we to complain 
of? I wished I had never undertaken the journey, 
for all the elements seemed adverse ; it rained and 
blew hard upon us. I wondered I escaped with my 
life, though certainly not without excessive fatigue 
and loss of strength. 
“ By four o’clock in the morning we had con- 
quered all our difficulties, still we could not meet 
with any Laplander ; I was so exhausted that I 
could proceed no farther without some repose. We 
therefore struck up a fire, and having wrung the 
water out of my clothes, I lay down by the side of 
it in the hopes of taking a little rest ; but in this I 
