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3c6 OUTHIER’S JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO THE NORTH.
In the meadows is feen a kind of narciffus, very pretty ; the leaf is thick, and like
that of clover ; it is called Sceptrum Carolinum, and known to the French botanifts by
the fame name. - We fawa {mall lily of the valley, much lefs than ours, whofe leaf was
heart-fhaped. They have alfo pirola, golden rod, cudweed, or goldy locks, and a plant
with long leaves, whofe root has two bulbs; it bears, ona lofty ftem, a bunch of hood-
fhaped flowers ; they are not handfome, but have exactly the fame {mell as honeyfuckle.
There is befides, a fort of ferpent’s tongue, or herb without partition, a great quantity
of fmall fhrubs, which they call fmall broom ; moft of the marfhes are full of them.
Monday, and ‘Tuefday, the twenty-ninth, after our arrival at Torneo, were employed
in putting the obfervatory in order, where the fextant was to be placed. M. Hellander,
the hoft of Meffrs. Le Monnier and Celfius, and at whofe houfe we dined, had a room,
like the cotta before defcribed, which was very fit for our purpofe. We dug into the
ground beneath it to fix the more firmly fome large ftones, on which, as a bafe, we were
to place the fextant: we opened the cieling of this room, as we had before done with
that of Pello ; and M. Stenols, a Swede, fent into that country to vifit the mines, made
a pull, of very ingenious contrivance, to lift with eafe, and quickly, the covering of the
opening of the roof, when it was neceflary to make an obfervation.
Wednefday, the thirtieth, the fky being clear, we haftened to place the fextant.
Mefirs. Le Monnier and Celfius had already marked the direction of the meridian in
our new obfervatory : we verified it anew ; and in the evening the fextant was ready,
fo that we made an obfervation on the {tar d of the Dragon, which we had obferved at
Pello. We moved the fextant, but in the flighteft manner imaginable, to place it more
exactly in the line of the meridian; and we continued taking obfervations every day,
the fair weather continuing to the feventh of the next month.
The weather was fine, but very cold, and Thurfday, the firft of November, the river
was entirely frozen over between the town and Hapa Niemi: no one however paffed
over as yet upon the ice; but the waters having fomewhat fubfided, people paffed from
{tone to ftone to the ifthmus of Nara.
We faw ourfelves now eftablifhed in the town for all the winter; each was obliged
to make his own individual arrangements, and at the fame time to attend to whatever
concerned the operations and object of our voyage. From the obfervatory, where the
fextant was, we could not fee the horizon, nor make any other obfervations than with
the fextant. We caufed another fmall obfervatory to be built on the fide of the water,
entirely feparated from the houfes of the town : the little Englifh inftrument was placed
here, which ferved to take the dire€tion of the meridian, with a pendulum, and a qua-
drant. Meffrs. Le Monnier and Celfius took their correfponding heights, regulated
the pendulum, determined the fouth, and a point at the horizon, by the means of which,
with the little Englifh inftrument, we always found again the paffage of the ftars over
the meridian. We made new barometers: M. de Maupertuis was very careful
throughout the winter in noticing their variations, as well as thofe of the thermometers,
whether filled with fpirits of wine or mercury, conftructed upon the principles of M. de
Reaumur.
Saturday, the third, the ice of the river was ftrong enough to allow of pafling from
the town to Hapa Niemi. Sunday, the fourth, M. Sommereux and myfelf croffed it
to go to fee M. Viguelius at his houfe of Granwik : we were obliged to make ufe of a
boat to go from the fhore to the ice, and again from the ice to land ; a fouth wind had
{welled the river, by driving up the waters of the gulph, which caufed the ice to break
along the fides. ‘The water notwithftanding was much lower than on the twenty-eighth
of October, when we paffed in a boat over the ifthmus of Nara; we croffed it on foot,
5 returning
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