10 Sweden. 



gradually changed; the wild bull tossed his mane in these then 

 secluded forests, the wild sow farrowed in security in regions un- 

 trodden by the foot of man, and thousands of gigantic elk and red 

 deer roamed at will over the oak forests and wide prairies of 

 southern Sweden. 



''Whatever," obser\^es Dr. Johnson — ''whatever withdraws 

 us from the power of our senses, whatever makes the past, the 

 distant, or the future predominate over the present, advances 

 us in the dignity of thinking beings;" and whoever takes an 

 interest in the history of the early ages of mankind, \\\\\ here 

 find much to occupy his attention and his thoughts. The 

 rude implements of the chase, and the barbarous weapons 

 of war, carry the mind back to ages when the battle and the 

 chase formed man's constant and only employments. Huge 

 barrows and cairns, and rude but stupendous monuments of stone, 

 mark the site of many an ancient battle-field, or the last resting- 

 place of the old Scandinavian warrior and king; and the rude 

 hieroglyphics cut in the rocks on many parts of the coast, are 

 rnementoes at the present day of those savage barbarians who, in 

 the early days of Christianity, spread fire and desolation over so 

 great a portion of Europe; when the "viking's" bark spread her 

 sails before the wind, and bore the dreaded sea-pirate to the 

 opposite shores of Britain. 



Our task, however, is with the present, and not with the past ; 

 and it only remains for us to add that, let his taste be what it may, 

 whetlier he be a sportsman, naturalist, or merely a traveller in 

 search of the beauties of nature, the wanderer here will find full 

 employment; and perhaps there is scarcely another country in 

 Europe where a stranger, during the summer months, can travel 

 with so much cheapness, security, and freedom, as in this. 



But to return to our more immediate subject. As regards the 

 mammalia of Sweden, two hypotheses will hold good as to their 

 introduction into this land. It is supposed, and with good grounds, 

 that this continent at an early period was landlocked with the rest 

 of Europe, before the Baltic and the Bothnia formed a dividing line 



