36 A SPRING AND SUMMER IN LAPLAND. 



having met some of these stalwart fine-looking 

 Dalecarlians, in their sheepskin coats, knee 

 breeches, and stockings ; and the cheerful, rosy- 

 cheeked, blue-eyed Dalecarlian girls, in their 

 Bloomer dress, with red or blue stockings, trotting 

 merrily along with their packs on their backs. 



The country was now magnificent. High 

 mountains covered with deep forests and but little 

 cultivated land, timber and iron being the prin- 

 cipal riches of this district. The next day we 

 started at daylight, and by dinner reached 

 Fahlun, certainly the very ugliest and dirtiest little 

 town I have ever seen in my life. It is, however, 

 the capital town in Dalecarlia, and famous for 

 being the site of the largest copper mines in 

 Sweden ; and as the traveller approaches the 

 town he needs little warning to tell him he is in 

 the vicinity of the copper mines. Every trace of 

 vegetation has been destroyed by the noxious 

 vapours of copper and brimstone. Large masses 

 of stone, the accumulation of ages, are scattered 

 over the plain in which the pits are sunk, and the 

 fumes from the piles of ore which were then being 

 calcined were most oppressive. I think I never 

 saw so complete a picture of desolation as this 

 district presented : we saw not a living creature, 

 the occupation of the men keeping them under 

 ground ; not a bird was to be seen, and the only 



