OLAND AND GOTHLAND 117 



within which grow thickets of oak and birch; then 

 come some higher mountains and small copses, then 

 some still loftier, and beyond these the highest moun- 

 tains of all. These are all craggy cliffs of red sparry 

 stone overgrown with a pitch-black moss. 1 This 

 clothes the precipices and gives them a black colour, 

 causing Bl&kulla to look from the sea (at a distance) 

 quite blue/ [This gives the island its name of ' Blue 

 hill.'] ( The densely foliaged woods stand like small 

 enclosures or gardens in the shelves, or undercliffs of 

 the hills, although the stems of many of the oaks are 

 as thick as a man's body. We looked right across the 

 island from its central hill. To the north and south we 

 saw the far sea ; eastward, Oland, with several churches 

 and Borgholm Castle ; westward, SmSland, with several 

 small islets called " Foro." On the north side of the 

 island there was but little wood ; at the southern end 

 we found in the cliffs a cavern resembling a room. There 

 were, however, no signs of the island having been in- 

 habited, and we saw no living creatures besides a wild 

 goat, and several black "velvet ducks" 2 flying round 

 the coast. A dead Coitus quadricornis, which had 

 lost its horns, lay on the beach ; its sharp prong-like 

 spur was still at the back of its head.' As no actual 

 dimensions are given, this reads in the original long 

 description as if it were the carcase of the leviathan 

 itself. The terrible creature is really no bigger than 

 a herring; but science takes little or no account 

 1 Lichen stygius. 2 Avasfusca. 



