Mr. Mickley set sail on the 5th of June, 1869, being at that time a few
months past his seventieth year. He remained abroad for three years,
visiting every country in Europe, ascending the Nile to the first cataract,
passing through the Suez Canal, and across a portion of Asia Minor and
Palestine. He made two trips to Northern Sweden to behold the spectacle of
the midnight sun. Being a week too late on the first season, he tried it
again the following year. Passing through the entire length of the Gulf of
Bothnia, and ascending the Tornea River, he entered Lapland, crossing the
Arctic circle and penetrating the Arctic zone in a sledge-journey of
seventy miles. The indomitable old traveller pushed on until he reached a
small lumber-village named Pajala. On the night of June 23, 1871, crossing
the river with a small party of Swedes and Finns, he ascended Mount
Avasaxa, in Finland. At this altitude, he says, "the sky happened to be
clear in the direction of the sun, and he shone in all his glory as the
clock struck twelve."
