WASTGOTA RESA-ROUND LAKE VENERN 181 



fortress here : there is no town to protect, no invading 

 army wants to come to gather wild flowers, and if it 

 did there are plenty for all. An old barge or so, run 

 aground on the rocks, is really all that can cause the 

 garrison to tremble. A sentry marches up and down, 

 in biting cold, through the winter too, to guard a fort 

 which no one dreams of threatening. Even in June, 

 the temperature was five (Celsius) in the night, and 

 eight, in sunshine, at ten o'clock A.M. The ground here 

 lies so high that the wind is searching. Between the two 

 great lakes, the basin reservoirs of the great waterfalls, 

 is the highest part of the Gotha Canal, which is better 

 defended by dredging and repairs than by all the 

 soldiery at Karlsborg. 



The chief employment for the military is to practise 

 lively brass music while marching up and down : this is 

 very pleasant to listen to while walking in the horse- 

 chestnut avenue within the ramparts. 



The high grass rampart surrounding Karlsborg, 

 commands a fine view of the Vettern and the delight- 

 ful woods that girdle the fortress in most unmilitary 

 fashion. 



They have replaced the wooden hotel (which was 

 burnt down) within the fortress by a fine new stone 

 hotel, where you can get cold lamb for lunch some- 

 times, and at any time of year what all will agree with 

 them in calling cold * hen.' ' Shikken, you call him,' 

 says a visitor, rubbing up his English. The game in 

 question tastes suspiciously like a large sort of the genus 



