travellers. Thus, in spite of
the rigorous winter, communication is never interrupted, and the
snow-road, at last, from frequent plowing, becomes the finest sleighing
track in the world.

The wind blew so violently, however, that the furrows were soon filled
up, and even the track of the baggage-sled, fifty yards in advance, was
covered. There was one hollow where the drifts of loose snow were five
or six feet deep, and here we were obliged to get out and struggle
across, sinking to our loins at every step. It is astonishing how soon
one becomes hardened to the cold. Although the mercury stood at zero,
with a violent storm, we rode with our faces fully exposed, frost-bites
and all, and even drove with bare hands, without the least discomfort.
But of the scenery we saw this day, I can give no description. There was
nothing but long drifts and waves of spotless snow, some dim, dark,
spectral fir-trees on either hand, and beyond that a wild chaos of
storm. The snow came fast and blinding, beating full in our teeth. It
was impossible to see; the fine particles so stung our eyeballs, that we
could not look ahead. My eyelashes were loaded with snow, which
immediately turned to ice and froze the lids together, unless I kept
them in constant motion. The storm hummed and buzzed through the black
forests; we were all alone on the road, or even the pious Swedes would
not turn out to church on such a day. It was terribly sublime and
desolate, and I enjoyed it amazingly. We kept warm, although there was a
crust of ice a quarter of an inch thick on our cheeks, and the ice in
our beards prevented us from opening our mouths. At one o'clock, we
reached the second station, Gefre, unrecognisable by our nearest
friends. Our eyelashes were weighed down with heavy fringes of frozen
snow, there were icicles an inch long hanging to the eaves of our
moustaches, and the handkerchiefs which wrapped our faces were frozen
fast to the flesh. The skin was rather improved by this treatment, but
it took us a great while to thaw out.

At Gefre, we got some salt meat and hot milk, and then started on our
long stage of fifteen miles to Pitea. The wind had moderated somewhat,
but the snow still fell fast and thick. We were again blinded and
frozen up more firmly than ever, cheeks and all, so that our eyes and
lips were the only features to be seen. After plunging along for more
than two hours through dreary woods, we came upon the estuary of the
Pitea R