WEXIO 29 



SmSland is one huge moraine which has poured itself 

 upon a lake, filling it, except where a few pools are left 

 so mingled with the stones that it is hard to say where 

 dry land begins and ends. It is said of Soderman- 

 land (Sudermania), which is likewise a confused mixture 

 of lake and forest, that here the Creator omitted to 

 separate the land from the water. This is still more 

 aptly applicable to Smaland, which is the superlative of 

 this. Solitary it is, yet full of life that never allows 

 the country to feel gloomy the early heron fishing in 

 the lake ; the young trees springing all about ; happy 

 families of fir-trees, thick as grass 



Those delicious self-sown firs, whispering, 

 What has been shall be. 



How vivid is the verdure of the spruce in spring, 

 enhanced by that blue low distance to the northward, 

 where the ground has been partially cleared ; elsewhere, 

 the hoary limbs of patriarchal trees harmonising with 

 the primeval boulders, make all one grey mystery, into 

 which the sharp eyes of our young Linnaeus can pierce 

 and he can find out treasures for his collections, where 

 perhaps only a pair of kites are visible above the 

 slanting splinter fences to a more ordinary observer 

 where some, perhaps, can merely see the gates which 

 so often cross the Swedish roads to keep the cattle 

 within bounds, and others see only the vast chaos of 

 the land ! 



The ground somewhat changes character on ap- 

 proaching Alfvesta on Lake Salen, where the marsh 



