452 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



whole community, is made unpopular by a charge extorted from the 

 persons whose ready and voluntary acceptance of the service is the 

 object desired. They argue that the state, as a whole, is bound 

 to secure to all its citizens the opportunity of acquiring at least the 

 elementary knowledge which is requisite for its security and general 

 well-being, and that it is the function of the state to offer this 

 instruction free of charge before it attempts to compel any individual 

 to avail himself of it. They attribute the almost universal prevalence 

 of primary instruction in their country to the existence of these free 

 schools, and point to their wide popularity as sufficient evidence of 

 the fallacy of the proposition, so often taken for granted in England, 

 that the poor do not value education which is paid for out of the 

 general taxation of the community. 



Steamers leave Stockholm for Haparanda, at the head of the gulf 

 of Bothnia, two or three times a week, calling on the way at the 

 ports on the west coast. Against a head-wind these boats roll and 

 pitch in an extremely provoking fashion ; but, during the summer 

 months, the voyage is generally a smooth one. The boats carry stores 

 to the towns on the route, and bring back tar, which, with wood, and 

 iron from the mines of the great Gellivara Company now the sole 

 property of an English merchant constitute the chief trade of the 

 gulf. The coast navigation is extremely intricate and difficult, the 

 steamer winding its way for hours through the fiords and among 

 innumerable rocky islets. On one occasion we bumped over a sunken 

 rock, and, if one may judge by the composure of the captain, this 

 must be no infrequent occurrence, though it smashed all the crockery 

 laid out in the saloon and greatly alarmed the passengers. At night, 

 and on the occasion of a fog, progress is impossible, and the steamer 

 is brought-to and anchored till daylight or clear weather. 



Our destination was Lulea, which is reached in about seventy-two 

 hours from Stockholm, and is a town of some 2,000 inhabitants, 

 situated at the mouth of the great river of the same name. The 

 harbor, after the difficulties of the entrance are surmounted, is a fine 

 one, and many English and other ships lie here, loading timber; it is 

 floated down the river from the forests, and cut into planks or made 

 up into frames for doors and windows at the saw-mills in the town 

 and neighborhood. 



The houses are almost entirely built of wood, and are in many 

 cases shops and warehouses, as well as dwelling-houses, although 

 there is little display of goods in the windows. There is a large 

 school, attended by the youths from all the surrounding district, as 

 well as by those resident in the town itself. Lulea. is the seat of the 

 government of the province of Norbotten, which includes the whole 

 of Lapland, and has a population of 80,000, scattered over 1,932 

 square miles of country. The governor, who has no sinecure, being 

 required to visit personally his immense district several times a year, 



