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COXE*S TRAVELS -IN DENMARK.

348

watermen belonging to fome barges carrying corn and planks, told me, that they hademployed eight days in coming from Lubec to Moellen, which is only thirty-fix milesby land, and did not expedt to reach Lauenburgh in lefs than eight days more. Se-venteen locks mud be pafled between Lubec and the Elbe at Lauenburgh ; yet, nof-withftanding this inconvenience, about four hundred and forty veflTels annually navigatethe canal. The environs of Moellen are agreeably diverfified with fine woods of oak,beech, and birch.

During my progrefs through Sweden and Denmark , I remarked, with attentive cu-riofity, many of thofe regular circles of ftones which are fo frequently fcattered over theface, not only of thefe countries, but of our own. According to the plan I have ge-nerally followed in the courfe of this work, I fhall firft defcribe thofe which fell undermy immediate obfervation, and then throw together a few remarks on their probableorigin and deftination.

In the province of Weft Gothland, between Kalange and Lidkioping, I obferved onthe top of an hill two rude mafies of red granite, placed upright on each fide of the highroad. The talleft meafured fifteen feet in height, five fpans and a half in breadth ; theother was about twelve feet high, fix fpans broad, and both were no more than fourinches thick. In a plain near Runneby, in the province of Blekinge, I noted manyranges of ftones fet up endways, and forming various circles, all of which plainly re-ferred to one general difpofition. I counted at lcaft ten of thefe circles, and among themoft perfect, one of eight ftones, whofe diameter meafured five paces,, and another often, whofe diameter was feven ; the ftones were from two to four feet in height, andthe higheft did not exceed ten.

Again, clofe to Skillinge, the neareft poft to Carlfcrona, are feveral fimilar remainson a rocky eminence, confiding of many oval or circular ranges; the greater part werein the rough ftate; fome were hewn flat and broad, and others fomewhat refembledpillars pointed at top in the rudeft manner. A. t the fummit of the rock feveral concen-tric ranges inclofed a fpace of about ten feet diameter, in the centre of which flood twoHalftones, fcarcely three feet in height, placed edgeways, and between them was thelower part of a withered trunk, the remains of a tree, which had once flourifhed inthat fpot. It appeared to me like an oak ; and a perfon attached to the hypothefls,that fuch circles are druidical relics, might, with a frnall degree of enthufiafm, have con-fidered this very tree as the central oak; could he fuppofe that the religion of theDruids was ever eftablifhed in thefe northern kingdoms. The largeft of thefe ftones■was about twelve feet in height. On the fouthern fide of the village were fimilar mo-numents of antiquity, the higheft of which meafured eighteen feet, and we continuallyobferved remains of the fame in our route through Sweden .

In the Danifh ifles, as well as in Slefwic and Holftein, thefe circles occurred no lefsfrequently than in Sweden , but none of the ftones were large; few which fell undermy obfervation exceeding fix or feven feet in height, and the greater part were not morethan two or three. In fome places I noticed two laid edgeways, and upon them an un-formed mafs of ftone in an horizontal pofition, which is exa&ly fimilar to the BritifhCromlech. One of thefe monuments is thus defcribed in Colonel Floyd’s Journal :

“ About three or four Englilh miles from Corfoer, at the extremity of a wood, Hand-ing on a promontory, I found one of the moft perfedl of thefe ancient monuments. Iobferved a large mound of earth, on the fummit of which large conical granite ftones,Handing at fmall intervals from each other, enclofed an oval fpace of a very confiderableextent. In the center and higheft point, a huge, lhapelefs mafs of granite was laid ho-rizontally on four other ftones, almolt buried beneath the furface of the ground. Near

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