ede, as we entered
Gefle. We drove across a broad bridge, looked over vessels frozen into
the inlet of the Gulf, passed a large public square, and entered the
yard of the diligence office. A boy in waiting conducted us to a private
house, where furnished rooms were to be had, and here we obtained tea,
comfortable beds, and the attendance of a rosy servant-girl, who spoke
intelligible Swedish.

My first care the next morning, was to engage horses and send off my
_forbud_ papers. We were now to travel by "_skjuts_" (pronounced shoos),
or post, taking new horses at each station on the road. The _forbud_
tickets are simply orders for horses to be ready at an appointed time,
and are sent in advance to all the stations on the road, either by mail
or by a special messenger. Without this precaution, I was told, we might
be subjected to considerable delay. This mode of travelling is peculiar
to Sweden and Norway. It has been in existence for three or four
centuries, and though gradually improved and systematized with the lapse
of time, it is still sufficiently complex and inconvenient to a
traveller coming from the railroad world.

Professor Retzius had referred me to the botanist Hartman, in case of
need, but I determined to commence by helping myself. I had a little
difficulty at first: the people are unused to speaking with foreigners,
and if you ask them to talk slowly, they invariably rattle away twice as
fast as before. I went into a variety shop on the public square, and
asked where I could engage horses for Sundsvall. After making myself
understood, as I supposed, the clerk handed me some new bridles. By dint
of blundering, I gradually circumscribed the range of my inquiries, and
finally came to a focus at the right place. Having ordered horses at six
the next morning, and despatched the _forbud_ tickets by the afternoon's
mail, I felt that I had made a good beginning, and we set out to make
the tour of Gefle.

This is a town of eight or ten thousand inhabitants, with a considerable
shipping interest, and a naval school. It is a pretty place, well built,
and with a neat, substantial air. The houses are mostly two stories
high, white, and with spacious courts in the rear. The country around is
low but rolling, and finely clothed with dark forests of fir and pine.
It was a superb day--gloriously clear, with a south wind, bracing, and
not too cold, and a soft, pale lustre from the cloudless sun. But such a
day! Sunrise m