190 VISIT TO DENMARK [1799- 



pretty equally divided in the cultivation of wheat, 

 barley, peas. c., nearly as in England. But it is 

 remarkable that the plough which they use, and have 

 used for two hundred years called the Helsingland 

 plough is the very same which the Agricultural 

 Society lately introduced into England. They chiefly 

 used yoked oxen, which work through land lately 

 cleared of wood and studded with large stones and 

 roots, in a surprising manner. They raise their fur- 

 rows very imperfectly in the middle, making cross 

 cuts and sweeps to carry off the moisture, which docs 

 it very imperfectly. The climate is well adapted for 

 reindeer. One of these we saw at Ekolsund, where 

 he has been kept some time, being bought from 

 some Laps, who sometimes come as far south as 

 Stockholm. It is a dark brownish -grey, the horns 

 pointed, two fiat lying back, and two forward ; he is 

 the size of a fallow-deer, and stretches up his head 

 when he runs in a singular manner. His pace is a 

 rough trot, and his hoofs almost as large as those of 

 an ox, with dew-claws, spreading when he runs, to 

 prevent him from sinking in the snow. The accounts 

 of his speed are much exaggerated. He can go 

 seA T cnty miles a-day for three or four days, but is 

 sure to be killed by it. After three or four hours 

 they tire; the least weight annoys them. The sledge 

 is more properly a boat in every respect, and the 

 common rate is about/or/?/ miles. In the woods here, 

 besides game of all sorts, except wild boar, there are 

 bears and abundance of wolves. While we were 



