by one of the, saws. Ten planks, each ten feet long, were sawed in five minutes, one set of saws working through two feet of timber in a single minute.

The province of Dalecarlia, next entered by the travellers, is celebrated for its iron mines, and the purity of the ore, which sometimes yields from 80 to 90 per cent. It is still more celebrated for having been the theatre of the first exploits of the heroic Gustavus Vasa, who found in the miners of this district the foremost supporters of his title to the throne, and the first defenders of the independence of their country. Dr. Clarke's route subsequently led him to Geffle, a handsome seaport town, on the Gulf of Bothnia, containing 10,000 inhabitants, and carrying on an extensive trade in iron and naval stores. Throughout the north of Sweden the churches are distinguished by their comparative magnificence. These edifices are all built by the peasants, amongst whom no small emulation has been excited; their construction is very peculiar. The belfry is sometimes in the churchyard, standing apart from the church, at others, raised upon one of the sides of the building; it is all of wood, covered with shingles, carved and wrought in a fanciful manner into extraordinary shapes, like the scales of fishes, and painted of a deep red colour. Throughout the whole of this part of their journey the travellers bear the most unequivocal testimony to the honourable feelings and virtuous demeanour of the Swedish peasantry. In the most northerly part of Sweden the traveller is never charged for his refreshment or lodging. The quantum and mode of compensation is left entirely to his generosity. The Swedes are moreover a religious people. What a striking contrast to the dark, resentful, perfidious, and cowardly dispositions of the majority of the lower classes in the south of Europe! In traversing the woods, one of the most extraordinary spectacles is afforded by the ant-hills, consisting of cones formed by heaping together the small leaves and fibres of pines to the height of four feet.

The process of making bread is peculiar to the north part of Sweden, and affords a sensible proof of the severity of the climate; it is baked only twice in the course of the year, and sometimes once; it is manufactured in the form of biscuit; the constituent parts are rye-flour, seasoned with aniseed; it has an acid flavour, and to strangers is generally unpleasant. These biscuits are spitted upon rods, and placed underneath the roofs of the houses, whence they are taken as they are wanted.

The total absence of any thing like night was felt by the strangers as a material inconvenience. Darkness, with the image of which we are accustomed to associate impressions of terror, uncertainty, and ennui, would have been hailed by them as a blessing, as it would have brought with it an aptitude for repose. The peasants and horses are alike unshod; the former, remarkable for their athletic size and prodigious strength; the latter, for their speed and exquisite beauty. In this part of his excursion Dr. Clarke nearly paid the forfeiture of his life for the indulgence of an indiscreet curiosity. He was tempted to visit a cavern celebrated by Linnæus, almost upon the summit of a perpendicular rock, 1000 feet high, and thinly covered towards the top by fir-trees; in the most dangerous parts, and in places, the very aspect of which would congeal the blood of a stranger unaccustomed to such scenes, his guide carried him in his arms like a child, suspending him in this manner, over the dreadful gulf beneath, and abutments of rock, which scarcely afforded any footing. The roads from thence to Umea, a town upon the Gulf of Bothnia, are excellent; they are made and kept in repair by the peasants; throughout Sweden there are no turnpikes. Umea presents a whimsical appearance to a stranger; it resembles a number of large boxes on deal cases, some of which are painted red, standing by the water side, as if ready for exportation. The church is of wood, and painted red. In the vicinity of Umea, tar is manufactured and exported in great quantities.

Dr. Clarke thus describes the appearance of the horizon in this high latitude, between the setting and rising of the sun, in the beginning of July, premising that the sun set at half

past ten and rose at half-past one. The horizon was literally in a blaze throughout the whole intervening space between the point where the sun went down and that whence he was about to re-appear, clouds tinged by the setting sun with hues of a glowing red appearing at the same moment with other clouds tinged by his rising. In the parallel of sixty-four degrees the travellers were astonished to find a church of the most elegant proportions of Grecian architecture; a Parthenon, in the wilderness of the antient territory of the Goths. On enquiry they found it had been constructed by the peasants, after designs furnished by artists from Stockholm. The country is so thinly inhabited, that some of the peasants travel one hundred miles to attend divine worship; on these occasions they carry provisions, and remain on the spot three or four days. Happy people, on whom the God they so fervently adore has bestowed the choicest of his blessings pure hearts and contented minds! A variation now took place in the costume of the peasants. The prevailing hue was scarlet, the women appearing in scarlet vests, and the men in scarlet bonnets and buskins, with scarlet bandages edged with black and scarlet, and black tassels. The shepherdesses in this part of the country have a peculiar instrument for calling the cattle from remote pastures; it consists of a hollow tube about six feet long, the notes of which are so shrill and clear as to be heard for miles.

At Gamlo Lulca, the travellers for the first time beheld a Lapland family, consisting of a man, woman, and child; their appearance is thus described by Dr. Clarke: "The singular machine in which the woman carried her infant first attracted our attention; it was like a musical instrument, shaped like a fiddle-case, with strings, but made of splinters, cloth, and rein-deer skin; the child being put into the case, and the strings protecting its face from the pressure of the coverlid; all the inside of it was covered with the hair of the rein-deer. For her own dress this woman had a sheep-skin, the wool being worn inside next to her body, the leather outward, bound round her waist with a blue sash. The man had a blue bonnet with a loose grey surtout, bound also with a sash; and both of them wore the sort of buskins with which the Turks cover their feet, and over which they wear slippers, but made of coarser leather, and fastened round the small of the leg with a band and tassel: in their features, they differed much from the Swedes, being round-visaged, with wide mouths and swarthy complexions.

At length, after a long but very agreeable journey, the travellers arrived at Tornea, at the head of the Gulf of Bothnia, a place possessing an extensive trade; from whence the peltry, iron, timber, and naval stores, so abundant in its immediate neighbourhood, or which are brought to it from the remotest parts of Lapland, are exported by Swedish merchants. Formerly Great Britain was the best customer of Sweden for these productions, some of which are so precious and so necessary to her; but the preference shown in later times to the timber trade of our American colonies has narrowed, indeed almost extinguished, this commerce; which, whilst it lasted, was not only a source of profit to both countries, but cemented, by a sense of the combination of mutual interest, the antient amity subsisting between the two countries. The style of building in Tornea is more embellished than could be expected in so high a latitude, and in so remote a situation. Some of the houses occupied by traders are two stories in height, with painted palisades in front: large boats, and some vessels with two and three masts, enlivened the scene. At one season of the year (July) the streets of the town are covered with long grass, which gave to it an appearance of desolation; but it was explained that this grass was reserved for mowing.

Tornea consists of two principal streets nearly half an English mile in length; the houses universally of wood. We have before said that the merchants of Tornea carry on an extensive trade with the Laplander, which is chiefly conducted in the winter. The great caravan, if it can be so called, leaves Tornea in the month of February; on this occasion the spectacle is extraordinary. Each merchant has in his service five or six hundred rein-deer, besides thirty Laplanders and other servants; one person is able to guide and manage about fifteen rein-deer with their sledges. They take with them merchandize to the amount of 3000 rix-dollars. This consists of silver plate, such as drinking-vessels, spoons, &c. They also carry cloth, linen, butter, brandy, and tobacco, all of which they take to Norway. Upon this occasion they display all possible magnificence; the rein-deer are set off with bells, embroidered collars, and costly trappings. The procession formed by a single merchant's train will extend two or three English miles. All their provisions are carried with them, including their own candles. Their commerce with the Laplanders is carried on by means of barter; the Laplander, on his side, prepares for the interview in the latter end of the autumn, when the first snow has fallen, by commencing hostilities against the bears. Parties of these merchants penetrate into the remotest parts of Lapland, some of them proceeding to the North Cape. The chief article they import is rein-deer skins. The whole population of Tornea amounts to about six or seven hundred.

The shortness of the summer, warm and beautiful as it is in the northern parts of Sweden and the confines of Lapland, obliges the inhabitants to have recourse occasionally to a substitute for bread, made of the rind of pine and fir trees, in the following manner; viz. the rough crusty outside of the rind is scraped clean off the peel of that part of it which is soft and white: this is dried, and ground with water or hand mills, and with the meal bread is made, in the same way as we manufacture wheaten flour. All things being ready for the Lapland excursion, the travellers, accompanied by Swedish and Lapland interpreters, proceeded in a boat to explore the Muonio river, which falls into the Gulf of Bothnia, defending themselves against the scourge of the country, the mosquitos, by thick gloves, and veils which covered every part of the face. The method employed to clear a room of these odious insects is remarkable. Every person is made to lie down on his stomach on the floor; then dried birch boughs being kindled, the whole room is kept full of a dense smoke, until the mosquitos have escaped; when, every aperture being closed, the inmates who can respire in such an atmosphere may remain undisturbed