MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



479 



continual diinger of being washed 

 away by the annual floods, to such 

 an extent, that a whole plantation, 

 situated on the border of the river, 

 has been known to have l>een 

 swept away during one flood. Fort 

 Chartres, erected at a vast expense 

 by the French government on the 

 border of the river, prioi- to the 

 cession of Louisiana in 1763, is 

 now almost entirely swept away. 

 The fur trade of the Mississippi 

 and the Mi?souii, together with 

 that of the tributary streams, al- 

 most wholly centers in this town ; 

 and after the return of Messrs. 

 Lewis and Clarke from the Pacific 

 Ocean, a fur company was formed 

 for the purpose of trading with 

 the nations on the head waters of 

 the Missouri, which, from a vaiiety 

 of untoward events, but princi- 

 pally from the hostile and bloody 

 disposition of the Indians, has mis- 

 carried." 



James's Journal of a Tour in Ger- 

 many, Sweden, Russia, and Po- 

 land ; during the Years 1813 and 

 1814. 



Early in the co^lrse of this 

 month tlie severity of the cold 

 began to be felt, and the natives 

 shrouded themselves in their first 

 surtouts for the winter. There 

 are certain pleasures, notwith- 

 standing, that accompany this 

 season. The preceding week had 

 been productive of a vast (piantity 

 of snow, and fortunately (being 

 the necessary conditions foi- good 

 trainage) it had fallen on a ground 

 already hardened by tlie frost. 

 The atmosphere, disburdened of 

 its load, iumiediatcly dears up, 

 giving place to a settled state of 



weather. The sledges are bjought 

 out, the horses harnessed, and all 

 tiie world, before sluggish and in- 

 active, at once is set in motion. 

 Figures innumerable are seen 

 gliding over the white carpet of 

 snow, with a pace so quick and 

 yet so silent, tliat it appears to a 

 stranger as an exhibition of en- 

 chantment. The cart of the 

 jieasant, the carriage of the noble, 

 shoot by as swift as lightning : 

 you hear nothing but the safety 

 bell, which tinkles in your ear as 

 it passes, and declines in the dis- 

 tance, before you have yet well re- 

 cognized its sound. Tlie gladden- 

 ing ray of a bright sun, and a 

 sky perpetually seiene, lend so 

 pleasing a variety of colours to the 

 view as to render a pictuie of 

 Stockholm, in the month of No- 

 veml)er, one of the liveliest pros- 

 pects in nature. 



The gay season now commences, 

 as the cliief families arrive from 

 the country to winter in the me- 

 tropolis. Early hours are still 

 ])reserved here in spite of Frencli 

 fashions, and a dinner at two 

 o'clock, or a profuse supper at 

 ten, are the usual otfers of Swed- 

 ish hosj)itality : but neither are the 

 jjrivate parties frequent, or yet the 

 public anuisements \eiy numeroup. 

 An Italian opera-house, and a 

 small Swedish theatre, alone, weie 

 open during our stay : for the 

 company of French comedians, 

 who had lately attracted so much 

 notice, had been dismissed, by 

 order of the Crown Prince. There 

 were, however, several clubs and 

 institutions. The first of these, 

 the Society, or Selskapet, was re- 

 gulated on a plan similar to that 

 of a club in London. The otiiers 

 were lodges, that held assemblies 



and 



