36 RURAL DENMARK 



show by their shape that the prevailing wind is from 

 the north-west. 



In this district the soil is very light and sandy, 

 but some corn is grown here, for in places the oats 

 still stood on the fields. Peat seemed to be the 

 common fuel, as piles of it were stacked beside each 

 farm. Here and there on the flat landscape appeared 

 the tall chimney of a butter-factory, and around it the 

 cottages of small-holders where the " housemen," as 

 they are called, and their womenfolk could be seen 

 labouring on their strips of ground, for the most part 

 at the digging of potatoes. Also I saw a man plough- 

 ing with three horses, and as he did so smoking an 

 enormous china pipe. 



After passing Brovst the soil grows more peaty 

 and undulating. Here vast flocks of seagulls were 

 feeding on the ploughs, which are intersected with 

 heathland. Bulrushes grow in the numerous pools, 

 but they are much shorter than those we see in Eng- 

 land. I observed that the people at the stations were 

 extraordinarily like those who may be met with on 

 any country railroad in East Anglia. 



Near Bonderup, or Peasant's Town, about twenty- 

 seven miles from Aalborg, some afforestation is in 

 progress. Here, too, many tumuli are to be seen, 

 dating, I believe, from the Bronze Age or earlier, 

 and in certain of these the central stone chamber 

 where the remains of the deceased chief were de- 

 posited is exposed either by excavation or the wash- 

 ing of the rains for thousands of years. 



The house at Aagaard, which means the Place of 

 a Stream, is situated near the little town of Fjerritslev. 

 It is an ancient place on a wide, wind-swept plain. 

 In the wood hard by, encircled by the remains of a 



