82 
LINNAEUS 
Further, the tree-trunks, forming the raft, began to 
work loose, and it was with difficulty they avoided the 
force; but luckily, in the end they reached the island 
where the fishery was established. 
The fishers used rafts of five long balks each ten 
to twelve feet long, and fastened with birch withes, 
a stone being used as an anchor. The mussels lay 
in clear water near the force, and standing on the 
forepart of the raft, the fisher used a wooden twelve- 
foot pair of tongs to drag up the pearl-mussels. Few 
pearls rewarded the search, most of the animals being 
without any, and these were thrown away. 
Resuming the march, a new adventure occurred. 
Coming to a place where a forest fire had raged some 
days before, they found the tree stumps and ant-heaps 
still smouldering. Without foreseeing danger they 
went on, but a breeze sprang up, and the burnt trees 
began to fall. It was impossible to stand still be¬ 
cause of the smoke; once, a tree fell between Linnaeus 
and his guide, but at last they passed the dangerous 
place. The next trouble which followed immediately, 
was a plague of small, blood-thirsty flies, fiercely 
stinging, and not to be blown away; they swarmed on 
their clothes like a black covering, and could not be 
beaten off. Finally on the evening of the 30th they 
reached Lulea, intending to go on at once to Tornea, 
but the whole of the next day they had to remain 
indoors, as a violent thunderstorm with heavy rain 
prevented their starting. It was not till the 3rd 
August that they reached Tornea, where Linnaeus was 
hospitably received in his house by Rural Dean 
Abraham Fougt. 
In these comfortable quarters Linnaeus stayed till 
the gth, resting after his exertions, but also investi¬ 
gating the vegetation round the town. He particu¬ 
larly tried to discover the source of the epidemic 
disease of cattle, by which fifty to a hundred were 
lost annually, doubting whether it arose from some 
peculiar water or grass. He found that it came from 
