196 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINNAEUS 



the springs, animals, &c. ; and on the 20th he travelled 

 by Trollhatta to Hunheberg, which interested him more 

 than Trollhatta itself. I expected to read an outburst 

 of rapture over the cascades of Trollhatta, as he gene- 

 rally finds out and loves the waterfalls ; but he is calm, 

 quite calm a geography book, or an American who 

 knows Niagara, could not be more self-restrained. He 

 merely says, i Trollhatta is a part of the Gothic Elbe ; 

 Gullo Fall is the strongest. This may be compared 

 with Elf-Carleby, which is not much bigger. Whoever 

 has viewed the Lapland waterpowers looks on these as 

 toys.' Perhaps he had not fitted his eye in focus after 

 viewing the vastness of the sea. He was interested in 

 the works in progress for the canal, the parent of the 

 present Gotha Canal ; Svendenborg and Polhem were 

 then constructing locks at Trollhatta. 



At that time the power of the picturesque was un- 

 recognised in Sweden. There were then no troops of 

 persons pressing forward with proffers of service of all 

 kinds ; guides, 'buses, bunches of flowers, views of the 

 place, &c., reminding one of the bakshish-hunters of 

 Switzerland and elsewhere. There is really no need of 

 other assistance than Nature has supplied us with 

 limbs, eyes, and ears by-and-by to discover the rush 

 of the distant cataract. The wild scenery of the neigh- 

 bourhood prepares one for what is about to happen, 

 and the slowness of the i cargo ' train coming from 

 Lidkoping allows one time to see this scenery well be- 

 fore reaching Trollhattan Station. The precipitous hill 





