Next morning I arose with the sun in order to examine this wonderful tree, which was pointed out to me from a distance. It proved nothing more than a common Elm. Hence however we learn that the Elm is not a common tree in this part of the country.
I observed that in these forests plants of the natural family of _bicornes_ (with two-horned antheras) predominated over all others, so that the Heath, _Erica_, in the woods, and _Andromeda_[5], in the marshes, were more abundant than any thing else. Indeed we meet with few other plants than _Vaccinium Myrtillus_ and _Vitis-Idæa_, _Arbutus Uva-Ursi_, _Ledum palustre_, &c. The same may be said of the upper part of Lapland.
[5] It is a curious circumstance that Linnæus in his MS. here has the word _Daphne_; but his remark is not in any respect applicable to that genus, and he evidently can mean only _Andromeda polifolia_. He had not as yet named either of these genera in print. The origin of _Andromeda_ will be explained hereafter, and the fanciful idea which gave rise to it had not perhaps at this time occurred. He therefore now either intended to call this plant _Daphne_, or he accidentally wrote one name by mistake for the other, having both in his mind.
The spiders had now spread their curious mathematical webs over the pales and fences, and they were rendered conspicuous by the moisture with which the fog had besprinkled them.
The Red-wing (_Turdus iliacus_), the Cuckoo (_Cuculus canorus_), the Black Grous (_Tetrao Tetrix_), and the Mountain Finch (_Fringilla Montifringilla_), with their various notes made a concert in the forest, to which the lowing herds of cattle under the shade of the trees formed a base. The weather this morning was delightfully pleasant.
_Lichen islandicus_ grows abundantly in this forest.
After travelling about a mile and half from Hamränge I arrived at the river Tonna, which divides Gestrickland from Helsingland, and empties itself into the bay of Tonna. The abovementioned lake, called by the inhabitants Hamränge Fjärden, extends almost to the sea. I was told it did actually communicate with the ocean. At least there is a ditch in the mountain itself, whether the work of art or nature is uncertain, called the North Sound, hardly wide enough to admit a boat to pass. This is dammed up as soon as the hot weather in summer sets in, to prevent the lake losing too much water by that channel, as the iron from several founderies is conveyed by the navigation through this lake.