Barley in some of the neighbouring fields was now beginning to spring up, but in others it was not yet sown.
The Governor informed me of a singular opinion prevalent here concerning the clay in the sand-hills, that it increases and decreases with the moon, so that by digging during the full moon clay may be obtained, but, on the contrary, when the moon is in the wane, sand only will be found in the same spot. The same gentleman remarked that cracks or chasms in the ground are observable in fine or dry weather, which close in cloudy or wet seasons, and may have given rise to the above idea.
Near the water side I caught an _Ephemera_, of which I made a drawing and description. It was however of a distinct genus from the proper _Ephemera_, having the wings inclining downwards, not erect, the tail with two bristles instead of three, and the _antennæ_ bent near the extremity. (This appears to have been a small specimen of the _Phryganea bicaudata_.)
From my first arrival in Westbothland, I had remarked that all the inhabitants used a peculiar kind of shoes or half-boots, called _Kängor_. These seemed at first sight very awkward, but I soon found they had many advantages over common shoes, being easier in wearing, and impenetrable to water. Those who wear them may walk in water up to the tops without wetting their feet; for the seams never give way as in our common shoes. Another advantage is that they require no buckles, and serve equally well for shoes or boots, so that those who follow the plough are not obliged to buy boots for that purpose. The lowest price of a pair of common boots is nine dollars, and of strong shoes five; but these cost only two dollars. They are cut so that not a morsel of leather is wasted. Thick soles, formed as usual of three or four layers of leather, are here needless, neither are heels wanted. Nature, whom no artist has yet been able to excel, has not given heels to mankind, and for this reason we see the people of Westbothland trip along as easily and nimbly in these shoes as if they went barefoot.
In the cornfields lay hundreds of Gulls (_Larus canus_) of a sky-blue colour.
I took leave of Umoea. The weather was rainy, and continued so during the whole day. I turned out of the main road to the left, my design being to visit Lycksele Lapmark. By this means I missed the advantage I had hitherto had at the regular post-houses, of commanding a horse whenever I pleased; which is no small convenience to a stranger travelling in Sweden. It now became necessary for me to entreat in the most submissive manner when I stood in need of this useful animal. The road grew more and more narrow and bad, so that my horse went stumbling along, at almost every step, among stones, at the hazard of my life. My path was so narrow and intricate, along so many by-ways, that nothing human could have followed my track. In this dreary wilderness I began to feel very solitary, and to long earnestly for a companion. The mere exercise of a trotting horse in a good road, to set the heart and spirits at liberty, would have been preferable to the slow and tedious mode of travelling which I was doomed to experience. The few inhabitants I met with had a foreign accent, and always concluded their sentences with an adjective. Throughout this whole day's journey nothing occurred to my observation worth notice, except a fine kind of sand by the rivulet at Gubbele near Brattby, which would be excellent for the purpose of making moulds for casting metal.