and their agents are busy all along the coast. Twice or thrice a week their packets sail from Christiansand.* The merchant of Bergen supplies Spain and Italy with that immense quantity of fish which are there consumed during lent. During the winter the Norwegian feeds even his cattle with the entrails of fish. By the sale of his iron, he purchases in the ports of the Baltic Sea the quantity of wheat necessary for his consumption; the British merchant buys up the masts and planks of Christiana; the pines of Drontheim, less esteemed, are carried off by the Irish. With these principal articles, and many others of less importance, the inhabitant of Norway procures to himself not only the comforts of life, but also the enjoyments of luxury: the women of the most retired vallies wear around their necks the hankerchiefs of Masulipatnam; in the Dovrefield mountains the hospitals are always abundantly supplied with tea, sugar and coffee; the rich cover their tables with the wines of Bourdeaux and Cyprus, with oranges from Malta, and raisins from Corinth. In fine, in this country, which is regarded as so poor, mahogany furniture, valuable porcelain, and curious eatables, are not more rare under the hospitable roof of the merchant of Bergen and Christiana, than in the house of the rich merchant of London, or the magnificent banker of Paris.

* Rev. Robert Everest, Journey through Norway, &c. Lond. 1829.

BOOK

CXLVII.

536

BOOK CXLVIII.

EUROPE.

BOOK

Europe Continued.-Description of the Scandinavian Peninsula. Description of Sweden.

THE character of the inhabitants of Sweden, and the phyCXLVIII. sical constitution of the country, present more than one trait of resemblance to the people and climate of Norway. Lapland The Laplanders, who inhabit the northern parts of the

ers.

Swedish monarchy, have been represented as men of short stature, with a swarthy or yellowish complexion, and a disagreeable physiognomy; but the view thus given of them is far from being correct. In the northern parts of Norwegian and Swedish Lapland, the people are much taller than in the south, yet their height does not exceed five feet two or three inches: their copper complexion is rather the result of a habitual residence in smoky huts than the character of a race. The Lapland mountaineers, who live almost always in the open air, have a skin slightly dark; the greater part of the females are even tolerably fair; and among both sexes there are seen figures as agreeable as among other nations. Their good temper is never failing; never does their cheerfulness forsake them. Their honesty is proof against every thing: amongst the Laplanders, robbery and murder are crimes almost unknown. They are laborious and naturally temperate; but cannot stand before the temptation of drinking strong liquors.* Travel-.

*Reise durh das nordliche Schweden und Lapland, &c, von F. W. von Schubert. Leips. 1823.

lars tell us, that in Westro-Bothnia, physical strength and BOOK beauty distinguish the sexes; while an unbounded hospi- CXLVIII. tality towards strangers, a cheerful temper, and an enter- Westroprising disposition, are qualities common to the whole Bothnia. population, which extends to the polar circle. The people Jemtia or of Joemtland have the light shape, the agility of body, and Joemtland. the fair hair of the Norwegians. The Helsingian is brave: Helsingia. in attacking the bear, he displays as much intrepidity as the mountaineer of Norway; and even the young shepherdess has been frequently known to defend her flock with success against one of these animals. It is true that, according to an old superstition, the bear can do nothing against a virgin. The people of Nericia have a melan- Nericia. choly and taciturn air: their disposition is a mixture of honesty and pride, distrust and obstinacy. In the provinces of Upland, of Westmania, and Dalecarlia, the popula- Dalecarlia tion, renowned for its bravery, still preserves the physical characters of the most northern tribes; dark hair, sunk eyes, a look somewhat fierce, but full of expression and vivacity, muscles strongly marked, prominent bones, a stature almost gigantic. In Westro-Gothia, and above all, Gothia or in Gothia, fair hair, blue eyes, a middle stature light and slim, a physiognomy indicating frankness, gentleness, and a certain sentimental elevation of mind, especially among the fair sex, are predominant. The people in the other provinces partake of these different physical and moral qualities.* .*

Gothland.

Sweden is separated from Norway by the mountains Koelen, Svuku, and Seveberg. The distance between these mountains and the sea being much greater than in Norway, the ground has less declivity, the rivers are considerably Rivers. larger, and the lakes more numerous and of greater extent; yet none of the Swedish rivers surpass in length the Norwegian river, the Glommen; and the largest scarcely run a course of 100 leagues. One of the most considerable is the Tornea, which issues from the lake of that name, situated at the foot of the Koelen mountains, and among the rivers received by it, reckons the Muonio, the natural

* See Melanges Scientifiques et Literaires, tome i. VOL. VIII.

68

BOOK barrier that separates Sweden from Russia, as far as its CXLVIII. junction with the Thornea, after which the Thornea forms

Lakes.

Canals.

the boundary of the two states. The Lulea and the Umea do not yield in length to the preceding. All these rivers, and many others that we do not name, cross the lakes with a great breadth of water, and throw themselves into the gulf of Bothnia. The most important lakes of the Scandinavian peninsula are, in the order of their size, the Wener. 35 leagues long by 20 broad; the Moelar, 25 leagues in length, and from 9 to 18 in breadth; the Wetter, 24 leagues in length, and from 6 to 7 in breadth; and the Hielmar, 16 leagues in length by 4 in breadth. All four are situated in southern Sweden; and the first (the Wener) is, after lakes Ladoga and Onega in the Russian empire, the largest lake in Europe. It gives rise to the Goeta, a small river, which, after making its way through steep rocks, forming frightful cataracts, throws itself into the Cattegat.

There is no country in which it is more easy to form canals than Sweden; and, since the reign of Charles XI, the Swedish government has profited by the disposition of the ground, to multiply the means of water communication. The canal, which bears the name of the river Arboga, conducts its waters from lake Hielmar to lake Moelar; the canal of Soedertlegen, finished since 1819, unites the waters of the Moelar with those of the Baltic; the canal of Woedden shortens the navigation from the Gulf of Bothnia to the Baltic, by avoiding the dangerous arm of the sea situated between Sweden and the Aland Isles; that of Almare-Stoek, finished in 1823, establishes a ready communication between Upsal and Stockholm.* Other canals have been executed, or commenced, with a view of making several rivers navigable, and rendering more valuable the immense forests situated in the northern provinces; but the most important of these works is the canal of Goeta, now almost completed, which, assisted by several small lakes, will open an easy passage between lake Wetter and the Baltic Sea.

Consult the Summary of the Reports made to the king of Sweden and Norway upon the public works executed in 1823. Revue Encyclopedique de 1824.

It may be noticed here, that the roads in Sweden are BOOK admitted by travellers to be excellent, and inferior to none CXLVIII. in Europe.

Roads.

In the Baltic sea Sweden possesses two important islands; Oeland and Gothland. The first is separated from the main Oeland. land by the strait of Calmar. It is in length thirty leagues by from three to five in breadth. Its soil is composed of schistous, silicious, and calcareous rocks. Its valleys are pleasant and well watered. It is rich in pasturage and meadow-ground; and supports much cattle. Its population is numerous. Gothland, much more considerable than Gothland. the other, being 25 leagues in length and 10 in breadth, is a calcareous and sandy platform from 150 to 200 feet in height, from which there arise hills, whose bare and dry summits have nearly the same elevation; one of these hills, called Hoborg, contains a great number of caverns. Gothland is watered by several lakes and rivers; one of which, called the Lummelund, issues from the small lake of Marteboen, flows for some time in a subterranean canal, and by a mouth of 12 feet in breadth, throws itself into the sea. The climate is much milder than that of those parts of Sweden lying in the same latitude. The island is rich in forests and in game, in arable land and in cattle; merinos are there. perfectly naturalized, and goats attain a great height. Agriculture is susceptible of great improvements; but as the island possesses no noble families, and is divided into many small properties, the inhabitants live at ease and procure colonial merchandise, wine and other objects of primary necessity, in exchange for their wood, tar, marble, fish, cattle, and the excellent turnips which it raises. Huen, a Huen. small island at the entrance of the Sound, is remarkable on other accounts; let us only notice, however, that here lived the celebrated Tycho-Brahé, and here he constructed. the observatory, to which he gave the name of Uranienbourg.

The physical constitution of Sweden has been the sub- Geology. ject of the observations of several distinguished naturalists; one of whom, in a work drawn up with much precision and distinctness, gives so just a view of it, that we can in a few