UPSALA 95 



enters the Fyrisa" through a drawbridge and by a chain 

 of low islets with wind-tost and water-washed fir-trees 

 growing on them. The river, shallow, muddy, and rush- 

 banked, is rich in water-lilies and marsh plants. The 

 green slopes shelve gently upward to the Scotch fir" 

 spruce, and pine trees, which feather down to the grass : 

 the banks are so rotten that they are worn away by every 

 wavelet. The fine modern agricultural school here has 

 not devoted its attention to the first principle of riverine 

 agriculture, the solidifying of the land-banks. The 

 mud dissolves like sugar behind the passing steamers, 

 and is swept down in rich liquid form, to settle at the 

 bottom of the Malar. 



The boat sweeps by the famous ' King's Meadow,' 

 which Linnaeus afterwards so loved, which in spring is 

 one carpet of fritillary, chiefly purple, mingled with the 

 white and red sorts. High above this historical scene 

 rises the round red tower of the Slott, or Castle of 

 Gustavus Vasa, with the Dutch-looking town of Upsala 

 lying at its foot, and the long stretch of canal- like 

 river is closed in by the lofty brick cathedral re- 

 flected in the pools between the five bridges. 



Carl, free from care or anxiety respecting his bodily 

 support, worked with all possible zeal. He had one 

 great disappointment, however. The greatest adept in 

 natural history, and especially in botany, in Sweden, 

 was Olaus Celsius, 1 the first professor of Divinity, and 

 dean of the chapter of Upsala. Linnaeus described him 

 1 Olof in the Diary. 



