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CHAP.

IX.

a little stiff lace; the hair being drawn as tight and straight as possible beneath the cap, from all parts of the head, as if to start from the roots: add to this, a handkerchief, thrown over the cap only when they go out; a jacket; short petticoats; stockings of coloured or white woollen; and high-heeled shoes ;-this is the general costume of the Swedish women. Then, for the landscape-one unbroken boundless forest; varied only in the uniformity of its aspect by little Enclosures. patches of cultivated land, enclosed by fences

formed everywhere in the same manner, by sloping splinters of deal fastened by withys against upright poles'. In fact, there is no other kind of fence used for enclosures over all Sweden, Lapland, Finland, and Norway.

Philipstad is supported entirely by the mines in its neighbourhood: its commerce is consequently the same as that of Carlstad. It has been often destroyed by fire. The Church is a handsome white building, and looks well in the approach to the town. The environs are well wooded with fir, birch, and alder. There are here some good houses, but they are all painted of a red colour. The streets are paved. Most of the houses are covered with masses of iron

(1) See the Vignette to this Chapter.

slag, laid on to keep down the birch-bark upon the roofs.

СНАР.

IX.

Trees.

The next day, Monday, Nov. 4, our servants arrived at twelve o'clock with the carriage, which had been well repaired, and, as they said, rendered fit for any journey: but they had lost our bundle of fine juniper-sticks, which we had Juniper cut in the woods as we passed, and prized very much, as curious memorials of our journey, on account of their straight tapering shape, and the beauty of the bark which covered them. Although this loss, it might seem, would be easily repaired amidst the Scandinavian forests, we never afterwards saw the juniper flourishing in such perfection as upon the frontiers dividing the south of Sweden from Norway; where it rises, in a sandy soil, to the height of twelve, sixteen, and even eighteen feet. Its branches are more erect than those of the common juniper, the leaves narrower and in more acute points, and are placed farther asunder on the branches: the berries also are larger. This Swedish or Treejuniper was considered by Miller as a distinct species from the Juniperus communis; but they are only varieties of the same species'.

We left Philipstad about four o'clock P. M.;

(1) Martyn's Edit. of Miller's Dict. Vol. I. Part 2. Lond. 1807.

IX.

Onshytta.

CHAP. and proceeded one stage, to Onshytta. Near this place are the celebrated Iron-mines of PERSBERG, which it was our object to visit. For this purpose we waited on an officer of the mines, called the Brûks Patron, or Intendant; and also upon the Director of the works; begging also to see any collection of the Persberg minerals which might be in the place. We were not surprised at being told that no one interested himself in making collections; but that we might collect them ourselves, if we thought proper, at the mines. Having obtained also permission to descend into the principal mine, and to inspect the works, we fixed upon nine o'clock of the following day for making this visit; when the Intendant volunteered his services, and offered to accompany us. We then returned to the inn, where we found a very comfortable room; and spent the rest of the evening in writing our journals from the notes we had made, and in making preparation for our subterraneous expedition. Here we saw that remarkable bird, which, in Norway, is called, by those who speak the English language, the Wild Turkey: being, however, not much like a turkey; but properly ranking at the head of the whole genus Tetrao, which is seen in such perfection among all the forests of Sweden and Norway. It

CHAP.

IX.

Two spe

cies of

or Black

is the largest of the two kinds of Tetrao, commonly known by the name of Black-cock, and is called Tjader by the Swedes. The male is called simply Tader; but the female, Tjader héna, or Tetran the Tjader Hen. This magnificent bird, of which cock. we saw the cock in full feather, is the Tetrao Urogallus of Brünnichius'. The Norwegians call it Tiur, Teer, and Tedder. We saw also with it the other kind of Black-cock found in Norway, which enabled us to compare the two together. This last is the common Black-cock. The male is called by the Norwegians, Orre, and Orr-fugl; and the female Orre héna. It is the Tetrao Tetrix of ornithologists". Both one and the other are found in tolerable abundance in the woods. Of this beautiful genus Tetrao, so valuable as an article of food, and so much esteemed by epicures, no less than eight species. are common upon the Scandinavian mountains.

On Tuesday, Nov. 5, we visited Persberg, dis- Persberg tant a quarter of a Swedish mile from Onshytta. There are here not less than thirteen different mines, all worked for iron, which have no communication with each other. To inspect the whole of them would require at least three days

(1) Ornithologia Borealis, Brünnichii, p. 59. Hafniæ, 1764. (2) Ibid. The author has seen the Tetrao Tetriz served at a London dinner-table: it had been sent as a present from Norway.

CHAP.

IX.

of active exertion. The hill, or mountain, in
which these mines are situate, is itself entirely
composed of veins and beds of iron-ore. A
careful examination of one of them may, there-
fore, serve to afford a tolerably accurate know-
ledge of the whole. The Intendant who had so
politely offered his services upon this occasion,
as politely withdrew from the appointment; not
being desirous to follow us into the depths of
the mine, which he saw we were resolved to ex-
plore. However, he left us some stout miners
to be of the party; men much better suited for
the undertaking, and likely to be much more
serviceable. For some time after our arrival,
we were employed in collecting minerals from
the vast heaps of excavated matter, and from the
labourers in the works. The list of these will
be found in a Note'; being calculated only to
interest the chemical or mineralogical reader.
Afterwards, we set out to examine the oldest
and the largest of these mines. They are all of

(1) Octahedral crystals of iron-oxide in chlorite.
Foliated sulphuret of bismuth.

Sulphuret of iron, crystallized in the octahedral and cubic form.
Asbestus and amianthus, imbedded in green serpentine.

Steatite and pot-stone.

Crystallized carbonate of lime.

Globular fibrous carbonate of lime.

Dark green foliated mica.

Leelite-sometimes called flesh-coloured horn-stone.

[blocks in formation]
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