of the scenery. In the
afternoon we passed the frontier of Norrland, and entered the province
of West Bothnia. There are fewer horses at the stations, as we go north,
but also fewer travellers, and we were not often detained. Thus far, we
had no difficulty: my scanty stock of Swedish went a great way, and I
began to understand with more facility, even the broad Norrland dialect.

The people of this region are noble specimens of the physical man--tall,
broad-shouldered, large-limbed, ruddy and powerful; and they are mated
with women who, I venture to say, do not even suspect the existence of a
nervous system. The natural consequences of such health are: morality
and honesty--to say nothing of the quantities of rosy and robust
children which bless every household. If health and virtue cannot secure
happiness, nothing can, and these Norrlanders appear to be a thoroughly
happy and contented race. We had occasional reason to complain of their
slowness; but, then, why should they be fast? It is rather we who should
moderate our speed. Braisted, however, did not accept such a philosophy.
"Charles XII. was the boy to manage the Swedes," said he to me one day;
"he always kept them in a hurry."

We reached Lefwar, our resting-place for the night, in good condition,
notwithstanding the 22 deg. below, and felt much colder in the house, after
stripping off our furs, than out of doors with them on. They gave us a
supper consisting of _smorgas_ ("butter-goose"--the Swedish prelude to a
meal, consisting usually of bread, butter, pickled anchovies, and caviar
flavored with garlic), sausages, potatoes, and milk, and made for us
sumptuous beds of the snowiest and sweetest linen. When we rose next
morning it was snowing. About an inch had fallen during the night, and
the mercury had risen to 6 deg. below zero. We drove along in the dusky
half-twilight toward Angesjo, over low, broad hills, covered with
forests of stunted birch and fir. The scenery continued the same, and
there is no use in repeating the description, except to say that the
land became more cold and barren, and there seemed to be few things
cultivated except flax, barley and potatoes. Still the same ridges
sweeping down to the Gulf, on one hand, the same frozen bays and inlets
on the other, and villages at intervals of eight or ten miles, each with
its great solid church, low red belfry and deserted encampment of red
frame stables. Before reaching the second station, we loo