240 LULEÅ. 



be made in the stone wall. It was per- 

 fectly circular, sixteen lines in diameter, 

 and terminated in an obtuse oval cavity. 

 It was intended as a measure to decide in 

 some cases occasionally brought before the 

 ecclesiastical court. Within the church is 

 a magnificent altar-piece, adorned with old 

 statues of martyrs, in the heads of which 

 are cavities to hold water, with outlets at 

 the eyes, so that these figures could, at 

 the pleasure of the priests, be made to 

 weep. There are two pedestals, with an 

 image upon each, whose hands are so con- 

 trived that, by means of a cord, they could 

 be lifted up in adoration, as the people 

 passed by them in entering the church*. 



* In Tuneld's Geography, I am told, is the follow- 

 ing account of this church : " The parish church of 

 Luleå is regarded as the oldest in Westbothnia, having 

 been built in the very earliest ages of Christianity, and 

 was very famous while the catholic religion prevailed 

 in Sweden. It contains a remarkable old altar-piece, 

 the gilding of which cost 2408 ducats. In the vestry 

 a copy of the canonical law, in seven volumes folio, 

 is still preserved." 



