[9] So I interpret Linnæus's cypher in this and another place, which is _ovum_ [square with dot] _sum_, (ovum maculosum). If I am wrong, the candid reader will rather compassionate than condemn me; yet Linnæus says, a little further on, that the egg was white.
Here and there among the rocks small patches of vegetation were to be seen, full of variety of herbaceous plants, among others the Heart's Ease, _Viola tricolor_[10], of which some of the flowers were white; others blue and white; others with the upper petals blue and yellow, the lateral and lower ones blue; while others again had a mixture of yellow in the side petals. All these were found within a foot of each other; sometimes even on the same stalk different colours were observable: a plain proof that such diversities do not constitute a specific distinction, and that the action of the sun may probably cause them all. There could scarcely be a more favourable place for vegetation than this, exposed to the sun, sheltered from the cold, and moderately watered by little rills which trickled down the mountain.
[10] More probably, from the place of growth, as well as the description, _Viola lutea_ of _Fl. Britannica_, and _English Botany, vol. 11. t. 721_.
Leaving this mountain, and proceeding further on my journey, I observed by the road a large reddish stone, full of glittering portions of talc. The greater part of my way lay near the sea shore, which was bespread with the wrecks of vessels. How many prayers, sighs and tears, vows and lamentations, all alas in vain! arose to my imagination at this melancholy spectacle! It brought to my mind the student[11], who in going by sea from Stockholm to Abo had experienced so severely the terrors of the deep, that he rather chose to walk back to Stockholm through East Bothnia, Tornea, West Bothnia, &c., than trust himself again to so cruel and treacherous a deity as Neptune.
[11] This was Tillands, afterwards Professor at Abo, who hence assumed this surname, expressive of his attachment to land, and Linnæus named in honour of him a plant which cannot bear wet. See his _Ord. Nat. 291_.
Towards evening I reached Sundswall, a town situated in a small spot between two high hills. On one side is the sea, into which a river discharges itself at this place.