F0RTIA 5 S TRAVELS IN SWEDEN.
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obliged to furniffi a feparate apartment with one or two beds for travellers. We found,indeed, at fome of the poft-houfes in the interior, that this law was but indifferently ob-ferved, yet fuch inftances were very rare. Provided with a fervant who may fpeak theSwedifh language you will avoid much inconvenience. In Sweden you may travel with-•out any apprehenfion, in perfect fafety, either by night or day. Unlefs the froft be wellfet in, efpecial care fhould be taken to prevent the poftillions quitting the high road 5they are conftantly difpofed to take the fhorteft cut, to fave a quarter of a mile or lefs,-driving over lakes not fufficiently frozen, or which begin to thaw. As thefe are fre-quently covered with fnow, you fometimes fink into, without perceiving, them. Accidentsof this defcription are fo common in Sweden that the number of perfons annually drown--ed thus by imprudence, is rated at two thouland.
All the houfes out of the towns are built of wood, and this even in Sania, notwith--ffanding the contrary affertion of Le Voyageur Hollandais. Many confift of the ground-floor alone. A houfe of this defcription, of a good fize, cofts a hundred rix-dollars.building.
Helfinburg is an extremely fmall town, fuch as elfewhere would rank as a village ; itcontains at mod but twelve hundred inhabitants. On arriving at the poft office at Hel-finburg, you fhew your paflfport. They are not very Ariel at the cuftom houfe ; if yougive a note of 24 (killings to the officer, he will be fatisfied without examining yourtrunks.
From Helfinburg to Carlfcroon is twenty-three miles and a half. Chrijlianftadt is a•fmall town tolerably well fortified ; the King’s regiment is there in garrifon. In 1772-the revolution began in this town, owing to which, Colonel Hellicius, who commandedthere, obtained the name of * Gujtafajkiold (Guftavus’s fliield). Chrifiianjladt is famousfor its manufafture of gloves. As you leave the town you pafs over a raifed caufyof fome length, made over the marfhes, which on this fide render the town difficult ofaccefs, from the facility with which they may be inundated. Carljham is a fmall town,badly paved, yet pretty regularly built of wood. You pafs the limits of Scania, which-you will have traverfed, before you arrive at Nory, and enter Bleking. The divifion of-the two provinces is denoted by two boundaries of granite, on which the arms of eachare engraven, and by a fmall ftream which runs a few paces from the fpot.
Scania is the mildeft of all the provinces in Sweden , the horfes, oxen, and all ani-mals are larger and ftronger in this part than in any other. Many gentlemen pafs theYummer, and fome live here all the year ; but a ridiculous pride diminiffies the pleafureAvhich otherwife might be enjoyed from refiding in the province. The vifits of gentle-men are always vifits of ceremony, in which they are accompanied by a number of fer-•vants, and horfes, that are ail maintained by their hod for feveral days. After makinga tour in this manner, they return to their homes, and live in feclufion during the reftof the year. Their nobility is fo ftrongly grafted on their minds that they pay no regardto women of the fecond clafs, even though they Ihould be married to men of the high-eft rank. The fea coaft is extremely pleafant owing to the different profpects it affords,.which are fuperior to thofe on the ihores of Zeeland. Here is fituated the greater partof the houfes of the nobility; yet along the high road we did not diftinguifli a fingleone worthy of remark. On every fide, as you proceed, are blocks of granite laying onthe ground, or in rocks, and trees which have fplit the ftone in working themfelves a
* Ki ll in Swedifh, found Yikzchicbi in Englifh j as fchi.
pafiage