e soon exhausted his enthusiasm. Braisted lost
the whip, and the zealous boy ahead stopped every now and then to hurry
us on. The aurora gleamed but faintly through the clouds; we were nearly
overcome with sleep and fatigue, but took turns in arousing and amusing
each other. The sled vibrated continually from side to side, and finally
went over, spilling ourselves and our guns into a snow-bank. The horse
stopped and waited for us, and then went on until the shafts came off.
Toward ten o'clock, the lights of Sundsvall appeared, and we soon
afterwards drove into the yard of the inn, having made one hundred and
fifty-five miles in two days. We were wretchedly tired, and hungry as
bears, but found room in an adjoining house, and succeeded in getting a
supper of reindeer steak. I fell asleep in my chair, before my pipe was
half-finished, and awoke the next morning to a sense of real fatigue. I
had had enough of travelling by _forbud_.

CHAPTER IV.

A SLEIGH RIDE THROUGH NORRLAND.

Sundsvall is a pretty little town of two or three thousand inhabitants,
situated at the head of a broad and magnificent bay. It is the eastern
terminus of the only post-road across the mountains to Trondhjem
(Drontheim) in Norway, which passes through the extensive province of
Jemteland. It is, consequently, a lively and bustling place, and has a
considerable coasting trade. The day after our arrival was market-day,
and hundreds of the Norrlanders thronged the streets and public square.
They were all fresh, strong, coarse, honest, healthy people--the men
with long yellow hair, large noses and blue eyes, the women with the
rosiest of checks and the fullest development of body and limb. Many of
the latter wore basques or jackets of sheepskin with the wool inside,
striped petticoats and bright red stockings. The men were dressed in
shaggy sheepskin coats, or garments of reindeer skin, with the hair
outward. There was a vast collection of low Norrland sleds, laden with
butter, cheese, hay, and wild game, and drawn by the rough and tough
little horses of the country. Here was still plenty of life and
animation, although we were already so far north that the sun did not
shine upon Sundsvall the whole day, being hidden by a low hill to the
south. The snowy ridges on the north, however, wore a bright roseate
blush from his rays, from ten until two.

We called upon a merchant of the place, to whom I had a letter of
introduction. He was almost th