in N. lat. 54°, and the north cape of Lapland, in lat. 71° 10'; the extent from north to south on a meridian, is about 1030 geographic, or 1200 English miles; that of Denmark alone being 250: but the breadths are very unequal; that of Denmark being about 150 English miles; the southern parts of Norway 240; but in the northern parts

not 40.

The population of these countries is estimated at about 2,500,000. The capital of Denmark, and of the whole dominions, is Copenhagen, a handsome town, containing 90,000 inhabitants, with an excellent harbour on the east side of the island of Zeland. Bergen is the chief town of Norway, contaming about 20,000 inhabitants. Altona on the north shore of the Elbe, contiguous to Hamburgh, is a thriving modern town, inhabited by 25,000 people. Other considerable towns are, Christiana, a seaport in the south of Norway, exporting great quantities o timber, iron, and copper. Drontheim, another port in the north, contains 8,000 inhabitants.

In countries stretching so far towards the pole, great variety and great severity of climate must be expected. Even in Denmark, the Sound and other straits between the islands. are covered with ice in winter, so as to preclude all navigation. In Holstein and the southern parts of Jutland, as well as in Zealand, and some other isles of Denmark Proper, which are all low and flat, the soil is generally fertile in grain and in pasturage but Norway, a very mountainous country, produces very little grain, with some good pastures; and vast forests of fir and pine. Denmark affords but a few streams of little importance; but in the south of Norway, are several rivers, particularly the Glom, which although, on account of the precipices in its channel, it is not navigable, yet contains a great body of water, and serves to float down multitudes of trees to the coast for exportation. Norway presents a number of lakes, some of considerable

size, and the vast chains of mountains dividing it from Sweden, rise in many places to the height of 9,000 feet.

Holstein, and the southern parts of Jutland, produce many large and excellent horses and cattle, and in Lapland is found the rein-deer, a most useful animal to the inhabitants of that remote and inhospitable region.

Norway possesses valuable mines of silver, sufficient for the supply of the Danish mint; copper and iron are also found there in great abundance.

The whole coast of Norway is covered with multitudes of small, rocky, and in general uninhabited islands: but to the Crown of Denmark belongs the great island of Iceland, situated in the Arctic ocean between lat. 63° 30′ and 66° 45', and between long. 16° and 25' west from Greenwich. The inhabitants are computed to be 50,000. Iceland possesses the celebrated volcanoe, Hecla, besides some very extraordinary fountains, which discharge prodigious columns of boiling water to a considerable height. The climate of this remote island, although cold, is not unwholesome. The country is thus described by some travellers from Britain who visited Iceland in August 1772-" Imagine to yourself a country which, from the one end to the other, presents to your view only barren mountains, whose summits are covered with eternal snow, and between them fields divided by vitrified cliffs, whose high and sharp points seem to vie with each other to deprive you of the sight of a little grass which scantily grows up among them. These same dreary rocks likewise conceal the few scattered habitations of the natives; and no where a single tree appears which might afford shelter to friendship and innocence. The prospect before us though not pleasing was uncommon and surprising: whatever presented itself to our view bore the marks of devastation; and our eyes accustomed to behold the pleasing coast of England, now saw nothing but the vestiges of a fire, heaven knows how ancient."

The

The Feroe Islands, a cluster of small lofty isles situated nearly half way from the Shetland islands to Iceland, also belong to Denmark; they contain about 5,000 inhabitants. The dominions of the King of Denmark profess the Lutheran system of the Protestant religion; and the government, ever since the revolution of 1660, has been considered. as an absolute monarchy.

III.

SWEDEN.

SWEDEN is situated between 55° 20', and 70° of north latitude, and between 12° and 29° of longitude east from Greenwich, being about 1,150 English miles in length, and about 550 in its greatest breadth, including the gulf of Bothnia. The population has been computed to amount to about three millions.

Great varieties of climate are found in Sweden, according as districts are situated more or less towards the pole; but even in the southern provinces, the winters are severe and tedious. It was already observed that the strait dividing Denmark from Sweden is usually closed by the ice in winter; and the gulf of Bothnia, forming a vast bason in the heart of the kingdom, is frozen over even at the entrance, so that travellers cross from Sweden to Finland by the isles of Aland on the ice. In the northern regions, where the sun is visible at midnight for some weeks in summer, the heats are often considerable.

Sweden Proper is greatly diversified by mountains, rocks, lakes, rivers, and forests: and Finland abounds in marshes, lakes, and woods, of vast extent. The soil of Sweden, not naturally

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naturally of the best quality, is cultivated with such care and skill, as to make very liberal returus for the pains bestowed on it.

The loftiest mountains are found in the long chain separating Sweden from Norway; and in those tracts, particularly in Dalecarlia, are found the vast forests of pine and fir, whence supplies are drawn to many parts of Europe.

Sweden presents many rivers, of which the most considerable is the Dahl, which, rising on the Norwegian frontiers, runs south and east for above 250 miles, and precipitating itself over a ledge of rocks above 30 feet high, soon after falls into the gulf of Bothnia. The Tornea, rising in the Lapland mountains, runs southerly, and discharges itself into the bottom of the gulf of Bothnia, below the town of Tornea.

The lakes are both numerous and of a great size: the Wener is about 100 English miles long by 50 broad: the Weter is about as long, but not half the breadth: the Meler is 60 miles long by 18 broad, communicating with the Baltic by a channel full of islands and rocks, on which is built Stockholm, the capital of the kingdom. Finland presents many lakes, of which Pejend is said to be 80 miles in length by 15 in breadth. Other vast expanses of water form the boundary between Finland and Russia.

Sweden is rich in mineral productions: gold has long been extracted, as also some silver: but the treasures of the country consist in its mines of copper and lead, and above all in those of iron, which, in certain districts is found in vast abundance, and of the first quality. Swedish, steel has long been celebrated, which, with iron in its rough state, timber, tar, hemp, copper, and herrings, forms the exportation of the kingdom, in return for which other necessary. articles, particularly grain, are imported.

The capital of the Swedish dominions is Stockholm, already noticed, containing 80,000 inhabitants, with an ex

cellent

cellent harbour, but of difficult access. Upsal was once more considerable, but now contains only about 3,000 inhabitants, without the students of the university, where the father of modern botanical science, Linnæus, divulged to the world the knowledge he had acquired, in the various regions of the history of nature. Gottenburg contains 30,000 people, a handsome sea-port, noted for its commerce, and the share it possesses in the herring fishery. Carlscrona, at the southern extremity of Sweden, is a modern town, of 11,000 inhabitants, where very extensive works have for some time been carrying on, to form a complete station for the Swedish navy.

To the crown of Sweden belong several islands lying in the Baltic: the isles of Aland, situated in the entrance of the gulf of Bothnia, are a cluster of which the largest is in extent about 40 miles by 15, containing 9,000 inhabitants. Gothland is in length 70 miles, and in its greatest breadth 24, fertile in corn and sheep pasture. Eland, a long narrow island, in extent 70 miles by 6, contains about 8,000 people, and produces timber and corn. The fertile isle of Bornholm, although situated near to the south coast of Sweden, has for many years been a part of the Danish dominions.

On the south shore of the Baltic, Sweden possesses a share of the province of Pomerania, together with Rugen, an island lying out before it. These districts are fertile in corn and cattle, maintaining a population of above 100,000 inhabitants: the capital of Swedish Pomerania is Stralsund, a considerable sea-port and fortified town: Bergen is the chief town of Rugen.

Lutheranism is the established religious profession of the Swedish dominions; and the constitution since the year 1759, is in fact an absolute monarchy; for although the diets or assemblies of the states are not abrogated, the administration of justice, and even the imposition of taxes, are in a manner solely in the hands of the king.

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IV.