Madame Pfeiffer embarked on board the steamer which plies
on the Gotha Canal, the great water-way, linking streams and lakes, which
affords access to the Swedish capital. She found herself before long on
the River Gotha, and at Lilla Edet came to the first of the five locks
which occur there. While the boat was passing through them she had an
opportunity of seeing the Gotha Falls, which, though of no great height,
pour down a considerable volume of water.

Through fir woods, brown with shadows, the canal winds onward to the
magnificent locks of Trollhatten--an engineering achievement of which any
nation might be justly proud. They are eleven in number, and rise by
gradations to a height of 112 feet in a distance of 3550 feet. The wide,
deep channel excavated in the rock is literally paved with flagstones;
and these locks mount one above the other like the solitary steps of a
majestic stairway, and almost lay claim to be ranked among the world's
wonders.

While the steamer passes through the successive barriers the passengers
have time to make an excursion to the falls of Trollhatten, which are
less remarkable for their elevation than for their flood of waters and
the picturesqueness of the surrounding scenery.

Beyond Trollhatten the stream expands to the proportions of a lake, while
a number of green and wooded islands divide it into several channels.
Thence it traverses the Lake of Wenner, which is ten or twelve miles
long, and proceeds onward through a country of no great interest, until
at Sjotorp it passes into the river again. A few miles further, and it
crosses the Vilkensoc, which, like all the other Swedish lakes, is
charmingly studded with islands. It lies three hundred and six feet
above the level of the North Sea, and is the culminating point of the
canal, which thence descends through about seventy locks, traversing the
Bottensee and Lake Wetter.

After a tedious journey of five days, Madame Pfeiffer reached the shores
of the Baltic, which are finely indented by bays and rivers, with long
stretches of lofty cliff, and, inland, dense masses of fir woods. Leaving
the sea again, a short canal conducts the voyager into Lake Malar,
celebrated for its cluster of islands. The lake at first resembles a
broad river, but soon widens to a great extent; the beauty of the scenery
never fails to excite the traveller's admiration. It is said that a
thousand isles besprinkle its surface; they are crowded togeth