OLAND AND GOTHLAND 103 



lofty cairn with the inscribed runic stone, above the 

 refreshment chalet that is just being put in repair for 

 the tourist season. He takes out his watch, times his en- 

 thusiasm, studies another (Swedish) inscription relating 

 to lager-bier a German is always so very thorough 

 rises in rapture during fifteen seconds over the view, 

 carefully copies down in his note-book an English ad- 

 vertisement recommending him to ' Smoke Richmond 

 Gems,' and trots on to the castle, after catechising us 

 with business-like directness and abruptness, leaving us 

 with a superior sneer at our lolling on the grass when 

 there is so much to be done in life. He forgets that 

 Swedish summer days are long, and one has time to 

 enjoy oneself therein. Like a true German, he will 

 take his full pennyworth out of the landscape to nourish 

 his Geist therewith. The German Geist requires a regular 

 solid meal each day, corresponding to the heavy midday 

 corporeal meal of the nation. 



How lovely it is up here on the turf! What 

 multitudinous flowers there are all round, and what 

 tones and chords and choruses of colour in the land- 

 scape ! It is a high table-land region up here with fine 

 grazing-ground for sheep, &c. There are numerous 

 flocks with lambs. 



The sap-juices seem to rise, like champagne-beads 

 in a bottle, and swell the oak trees' golden tufts as 

 one watches them quiver in the azure sky. The pale 

 green blossoms of the elm attract the winged things, as 

 do the light catkins of the acacia-like shrubs ; and 



