already cited in a note. There is a square here, as at Wenersborg, surrounded by wooden houses, with a very neat appearance. CHAP. We left Carlstad, on Sunday, November the third, passing the north-eastern branch of the Clara, by some called the Carls Elf, by a large River stone bridge with iron rails, erected in a light and elegant style of architecture. It was a Clara, very foggy morning, which prevented our having some fine views of the Lake Wener. The Governor had sent for us, demanding a sight of our passport: we therefore called at his house, as we were leaving this wooden city. The road leading to Brästegård lies, for the most part, by the side of lakes, which discharge their waters into the Wener, by means of a small river. From Brästegård we came to Molkem; Brästegard near which place there is a large lake, the village being prettily situate at the end of it. The church service had just ended; and a vast throng of the peasants filled the post-house, impatient to get their drams, according to custom, as a morning-whet after prayers. We saw no symptoms of intoxication: but this is the Swedish Molkem. (2) "Urbs hic unica Carolostadium, à Rege Carolo IX. denominata, occupat insulam, ab ingenti flumine Carls Elff, ubi lacui Wener miscetur, factam, in quo ipso Wermiæ meditullio sitam."-Amanit. Regn. Suec. tom. I. p. 442. L. Bat. 1706. IX. the dress of the Peasants. CHAP. custom. Many of them came from a great distance; and a little brandy, as one of them jocularly told us, helped to digest the sermon, and to sharpen their appetites for dinner. The road was crowded with little carts, each drawn by one horse, conveying the different families to their several homes; and with the youth of both sexes, who were pacing on foot, by the side of Change in their parents. Here a change was again visible in the costume. In the north of Wermeland, as we have described it, the dress of the peasants was uniformly black. It was also very uniform here but the colours were grey or blue; all blue, or all grey, as the parties were from different districts. From Molkem to Brättefors, the distance is fourteen English, or two Swedish miles; the roads being of that incomparable nature which we have so often described in Sweden; but to which frequent allusion may be made, that the Reader may bear in his mind the actual state of the country, and the industry of its inhabitants. Incessant rain had fallen for some time before, without effecting the smallest change in the excellent condition of these roads. The material for making them is always the same; a fine gravel, covering the broad and flat way. We did not consider the perfect state of the Swedish highways as owing so much to the CHAP. Manner of keeping the repair. material used, as to the manner adopted in making them. There is nothing of promiscuous work carried on, by way of keeping them in order; nor any thing like a proposal set on foot for mending them by contract; enabling adventurers to enrich themselves, by jobbing, at the public expense. Each peasant has a portion of the road assigned, by measure, to his peculiar care and these portions are marked out by little boards, bearing the names of the peasants to whose management they have been entrusted: by which means emulation is excited among them; every peasant being stimulated, by a degree of pride, to surpass, if possible, in his allotment, the work of his neighbour. We have known them, when they have attended us with their horses, point with exultation to the condition of that part of the road which has been under their care. At Molkem we dined in a neat new-built house, upon the game we had brought with us, and, as usual, upon our bread and cheese. Near Brättefors, our fore-axle broke we therefore left the servants behind, to take care of the phaeton, and to have it mended; and went forward, in a peasant's cart, to the inn: where we hired two more carts to convey us to PHILIPSTAD. Brättefors is black with Brättefors. iron forges; and the houses, some of which are IX. CHAP. good, are painted red. The road to Philipstad from Brättefors1 passes many iron-foundries, and leads the traveller through finer scenery than the south of Sweden usually exhibits. The soil, if it may bear the name of soil, is altogether incorrigible: it consists of enormous loose fragments of bare granite, piled together till they become mountains, and form steep precipices. Boulders. Upon these boulders there appears hardly a trace of any vegetable earth, or even of any kind of covering; yet they are thickly planted with forests of tall pines, birch, and juniper trees, which, in a marvellous manner, have found nourishment for their roots in the interstices between the boulders. Wolves are very numerous here: bears not so frequent. But of all quadrupeds, the most abundant is the beautiful grey squirrel, which is seen skipping in the trees, and continually crossing the road. Sometimes, regardless of the traveller, these playful Trees. Animals. (1) For the curious minerals produced in the whole of this mining district, but which did not occur in this route, the reader is particularly referred to Engeström's Guide du Voyageur aux Carrières et Mines de Svède; Stockholm, 1796. Also to Thomson's Travels in Sweden, c. 20. p. 374. Lond. 1813. According to Engeström, Journée III. p. 48. there was found in Brüttefors Mine, about the middle of the eighteenth century, a small vein of ferruginous clay, crossing the vein of iron, very rich in native silver, partly massive globular and ramified, and partly mixed in fine grains in the clay; which, moreover, contained a good deal of kupfer-nickel, and a little ore of cobalt. little animals, being perched upon a bough near the road, will tumble into all sorts of attitudes, as if purposely to invite his notice, and to entertain him with their gambols. CHAP. IX. It was nearly dark before we arrived at PHI- Philipstad. We could perceive some country LIPSTAD. appearance Swedish towns. seats most delightfully situate upon the shores of the little lake, at the northern extremity of which the town is placed. Although not so large as Carlstad, it seemed neater in its appearance. The view of it across a part of the lake, in the approach to the town, affords a most pleasing prospect; and except in such circumstances of situation, there is little variety in the Uniform aspect of any of the Swedish towns. Having of the once figured to the imagination a number of low red houses, of a single story, each covered with turf and weeds, a picture is presented to the mind which will serve to give a correct idea of all the oppidan scenery of Sweden. There is no other country in the world, excepting perhaps Russia, that exhibits, over an equal extent of territory, such unvaried uniformity; and this, not only in the appearance of its buildings, but also of its inhabitants and landscapes. The dress of the women, from one extremity of the Dress of kingdom to the other, is nearly the same-a tives. scull-cap, sitting close to the crown, edged with the Na |