i;o THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINNAEUS 



about. Its cucumbers are famous as far as Stockholm. 

 It has another still more important market. A custom 

 that otherwise only exists in the opera of Marta still 

 survives in Westmanland. The annual Pigmarknad 

 (girl market Piga is Swedish for l girl ') is held for three 

 successive Sundays in July in the square at Westerns ; 

 the servant girls, holding their certificate books, stand 

 in rows to be hired out by the month or year. The 

 custom of employing female servants almost exclusively 

 is said to date from the time of Charles XII., when his 

 wars took away the male population. 1 



They talk of Hjo, on Lake Vettern, as being the 

 calmest, most soothing place in the world a perfect 

 asylum for overworked brains. It would be curious to 

 see anything more peaceful than Westerns on a Sunday. 

 Luckily there are few carriages, for the noise of two at 

 once over the pebble pavement would be distracting. 

 Riding down the hill by the plain square white barn- 

 like castle which replaces the favourite palace of Queen 

 Christina, Linnseus took the high-road to Kolback and 

 Koping (only this and nothing more simply a Jcoping, 

 a borough), arriving at Arboga in Nerike on June 14. 

 He skims swiftly over this part of his journey, only 

 noting in his diary that Linncea borealis grows at 

 Fallingsbro, just mentioning Glantshammer by name, 

 and stating that he rested from his long fatiguing ride 

 at Orebro on Sunday, June 15. 



He rode into the town, one of the most ancient in 

 1 Du Chaillu. 



