WASTGOTA RESA ROUND LAKE VENERN 189 



police is a mere ruinous driving inward of the disease.' 

 Sweden has those blessings of good government and 

 internal peace a moderate poor-rate and small police 

 force ; blessings mainly due to the virtue of her people. 

 The Swede controverts our idea that to be polite is 

 necessarily to be slippery. 



From Gothenburg Linnaeus took a tour, by way of 

 Fargestad, round the Bohuslaner Skar, or skirt, the 

 island fringe of the land, formerly a part of Norway ; 

 the seat of the fisheries, anchovy and cod (KlipfisJc), 

 herrings, lobsters, and oysters. This wild and peculiar 

 region is called Bohusliin, from the large ruined castle 

 of Bonus, a strong fortress as late as Linnseus's time, 

 where he examined the stalactites, lichens, &c. Its 

 principal tower is called i Fars Hat,' the father's hat. 

 The inhabitants of these parts are fishermen, descen- 

 dants of the ancient vikings l of whose history traces 

 are still numerously visible at Tanum, near Greblerstad, 

 Brastad near Lysekil, &c. ; whose travels and dis- 

 coveries ranged from Constantinople to Iceland, Green- 

 land, and Vinland (America) five hundred years before 

 Columbus was born, 



Linnaeus stopped at Kongelf, or Konghall, a small 

 town at the foot of the hill by the castle of Bohus. 

 The curate here had rhubarb in his garden it is 

 curious to think how late in the day rhubarb became 

 common in England, seeing that in Sweden, even in this 

 out-of-the-way place, they cultivated it one hundred 

 1 Inhabitants of viltar or creeks. 



