Names of

common in Swedish maps, it is called Umeå Elv, CHAP. as the Torneå is called Torneå Elv, which implies more than is necessary; the terminating diph- Rivers. thong å, pronounced o, in the words Umeå, Piteå, Luleå, Torneå, Uleå, &c. of itself signifies a river: thus Umeå means the river Ume. In Swedish, the word Beck signifies a brook, or small river; å signifies a middling river, neither very large nor very small; afterwards, Elv means a large river: but no accurate writer of the Swedish language, when the termination å has been added to the name of a river, would add the word Elu; because this is so evidently a pleonasm.

Sundswall.

From Umeå we returned to Sundswall, by the Return to road we had before travelled; that is to say, through Angermannland, and part of Medelpad; countries which may be called the Switzerland of Sweden. In Angermannland, the road is not shut up in forests, but passes along the sides of mountains, or through valleys, overlooking lakes and fertile planes, or beautiful scenes exhibited by inlets of the Gulph, surrounded by bold and lofty forests sweeping from the heights towards

dicular; where the river was three hundred feet wide: and higher up. there was a much more considerable Cataract. The Umeå ccases to be navigable two English miles above the town.

III.

General
Remarks

mannland.

CHAP. the margin of the waters. A painter pleased with the style of Gaspar Poussin might here find an endless variety of subjects for his pencil. But Angermannland, the grandest in picturesque on Anger beauty of all the provinces of Sweden, is also one of the richest. Its farmers are all Its farmers are all yeomen, who cultivate their own estates, and will suffer no powerful lord, nor monopolizing autocrat, to reside among them. They are all in league together, to prevent any encroachment upon their little republic; refusing to sell any portion of their land, however exorbitant the sum may be which is offered for it. Bears and wolves are numerous here: we saw a wolf bold enough to cross the road, one evening, in sight of our carriage, in its way back to the forest, from a lake to which it had descended for water. They are prevented attacking the cattle, by the frequent blasts from the lures, or long wooden trumpets before described, which are in the hands of all the girls who attend upon the herds browsing in the forests. We frequently heard the sound of these trumpets; but chiefly towards evening, when the cattle were called home. Gentlemen travelling through this part of Sweden, during the summer, generally use a one-horse cart, made capable of containing a great deal of luggage, which is conveyed with great expedition.

The machines for stacking corn' were now everywhere filling, or full. The corn, being always cut before it ripens, remains suspended upon these machines until it becomes dry, when it is immediately thrashed. The business of thrashing is performed by spreading the sheaves upon boards, and driving a horse, and a cart with many wheels, to and fro over them. In this manner, according to their own mode of reckoning, a week's labour is requisite in thrashing about twenty tons of corn. Sometimes the cart, or thrashing-carriage, is made of cast-iron: but this is a late improvement. If made of wood, it is filled with stones, to increase the pressure. The iron carts have twenty wheels, and sometimes more. We were surprised to find the harvest so much later than in Lapland. From all that we had seen of the manners of the lower order of people north of Stockholm, we considered cleanliness as a universal characteristic of the Swedish poor. The cottages, generally speaking, are much cleaner than those of the poor in England. The language so nearly resembled our own, that they often understood what we said to each other, and we on this account found it easier to comprehend them. Some of the

(1) See the Vignette to Chap. VI. of the former Volume. VOL. X.

1

CHAP.

III.

CHAP. Customs reminded us of our own country, as

HI:

Sundswall.

did also the nature and form of their domestic
utensils. At this time, new churches were
building, in almost every parish, at the volun-
of the peasants.
Between Lefvar

tary expense of the
and Afva, we dined with Mr. Pauli, whose iron-
works we have before described'. This gentle-
man has introduced the use of poultry among
the peasants. The low price of charcoal in this
part of Sweden is the cause of the iron ore of
Utoën being conveyed to such a distance from
the mine. Just before we arrived at Lefvar, we
saw, in the road, several ptarmigans, the most
beautiful and delicious birds of Sweden and
Norway: they are called Sno-Ripa by the inha-
bitants. An American gentleman, settled at
Lefvar, passed the evening with us. He told
us, that the use of the steam-bath, which we
had found so general in Lapland, is common also
to Finland, and prevails over all Russia. He
had a Finnish servant, who became unhappy
because he could not have the weekly steaming
to which he had been accustomed from his
infancy; and at last he quitted his service,
owing to this circumstance.

Sundswall is a thriving little town, and the

(1) See Chap. VII. of our preceding Volume.

III.

capital of MEDELPAD: it contains about fifteen CHAP. hundred inhabitants. The native inhabitants know so little of their own resources, that bold adventurers from other countries make rapid fortunes here. Many articles of commerce from Holland, England, &c. may be bought of the merchants, which cannot be had in Stockholm. Wood, charcoal, and other necessaries, are so cheap, that perhaps Sundswall is in many respects better suited for trade than the Swedish metropolis. A person possessing a small capital, with the smallest degree of commercial knowledge, might soon double it. Mr. Mutzell, to whom we were recommended, had established a sugar manufactory, a malt-house, and a warehouse for the tobacco trade, all in one building: this was formerly a distillery belonging to the Crown. Gustavus the Third sold it for 300 rix-dollars: it had cost, at the least, 1000. Loaf-sugar sold more reasonably here than in any other part of Sweden. Mr. Mutzell's refining-house was capable of manufacturing one thousand tons, annually, of this single article, if there had been a sufficient demand for it. Sundswall sends out twenty-two ships of its own; whereas Hernosand, the capital of ANGERMANNLAND, with a greater number of inhabitants, has only twelve. The Sundswall ships sail to America, Holland, &c. In one year's