CHAP. III. by Fahrenheit's thermometer, and found it 46°. It had been our intention, at starting this morning, to proceed as far as Bracken, twenty-eight English miles; but this we found to be impracticable. Fortunately, we met a couple of vagrants, a man and a woman, passing from Norway into Sweden; the former of whom could speak a little German. As our interpreter had not yet arrived with the baggage, we inquired of this man where we might halt for the night; who advised us to go to Malmagen, or we should have passed the night upon the mountains. We hired these vagrants to conduct us thither; and sent the guide back, to tell our servants what route we had taken. When we arrived at Malmagen, it was about four o'clock P. M. The Malmagen. hovel was so wretched, that the room in which the whole party, including the two vagrants, guides, servants, peasants, &c. were to sleep, was scarcely large enough to stand upright in, and only half roofed, so that the keen mountain air had free entrance. It was, besides, filled with all sorts of lumber, which it was necessary to remove in order to find places for our beds. (2) Upon entering the hovel at Malmagen, in which we had been advised to pass the night, we were shewn into a room where our heads touched the roof; and this being half open and full of holes, gave to the VOL. X. M wind III. Here CHAP. As soon, however, as the rest of our party arrived, "calling all hands," we fell to work, and managed to make it hold ten of us. we kindled a fire; and, our stock of provisions being exhausted, were preparing to make a meal upon some warm milk, without bread, or even Swedish biscuit. At this moment, a fisherman, from the neighbouring lake, entered the hut, and asked if we would buy any fish. Being answered in the affirmative, we invited him in, and took possession of all his stock, which consisted of a kind of fish called Röe, pronounced Rua, looking very like Mackarel, but having three vertical stripes on each side between the first dorsal fin and the gills. When boiled, the bellyfins, &c. became of a bright orange, and the flesh of a pale-pink colour. The flavour of this kind of fish is delicious. The peasants said that they are found only in the Alpine lakes. Curious wind a free entrance. The furniture of this room afforded curious evidence of the manner of life of its owners. From the roof were suspended guns and cheese; from the sides, fishing-nets and tackle, tow, bladders, hemp, yarn, spinning-wheels, jackets, petticoats, shifts, rein-deer skins and hay, socks, caps, garters, baskets, sheeps-hides, boat-paddles and greasy leather bottles, ladles, saucepans, and kettles. In the corners were sledges and millstones. The floor consisted of loose trunks of trees, which, being rotten, were full of holes. In this place, where there was hardly room to turn, we were to set up our beds, and lodge, besides eight or ten other persons. The young woman of this wretched hovel was extremely handsome. She brought us milk. They had a number of cows, some goats, and sheep."-Cripps's MS. Journal. We had little reason, from his appearance, to suspect how great an individual stood before us, in the person of this fisherman. He was in the garb of the common peasants, with an aspect venerable from his age and grey hairs. It turned out, that in this poor fisherman, and in this remote corner of Sweden, we beheld the cause of the prohibition of Coffee, of which the whole kingdom, at this time, rang from one extremity to the other. It was this man who gave the information to the King, in person, at Stockholm, respecting the affair of the gunpowder before alluded to. Having failed in his first journey, owing to the intrigues or negligence of his Majesty's Ministers, he set out the second time from the frontier of Norway, and, demanding an audience, delivered his memorial into the King's own hands. The case was this: A contraband traffic had long been carried on, unknown to the Swedish Government, of conveying gunpowder by this route into Norway, and bringing back, in lieu of it, smuggled coffee: the Governor of Herjeådalen, as it is supposed, and the proprietor of the iron-foundry in Ljusnadalen, being the principal persons concerned in conducting the trade. The fisherman whom we have now mentioned, and who did us the honour of a visit, probably to see what was CHAP. III. Extraor dinary Rencontre. Cause of the Prohi bition of Coffee. III. CHAP. going on, took down an accurate account of the number of the barrels, with their several marks, and the names of the persons to whom they belonged. This memorial he presented to the King, who, having received him very graciously, promised to reward him; and within three weeks from the day of its presentation, an order was issued by the Government, prohibiting the use of coffee, under very severe penalties, throughout the Swedish dominions. Whether the old peasant ever received any reward or not, we did not learn. The particulars were related to us by those who knew him well, and were intimately acquainted with all the circumstances of the transaction. They regarded him with a degree of respect bordering on reverence, and not in the slightest degree with that feeling which would be excited towards an informer in England; believing, as was probably the case, that, in his conduct, he had been actuated only by motives of the purest patriotism; which had twice instigated him to undertake the immense journey from these mountains to the metropolis, and ultimately to penetrate the chambers of the royal palace, even to the presence of his sovereign. Having finished our supper, and stopped several holes in the sides of the hut, we set up The our beds, and betook ourselves to rest. somewhat singular. The stars glimmered |