46 A SPRING AND SUMMER IN LAPLAND, 



the great Angerman river, which is here nearly 

 two English miles broad. On crossing this, next 

 morning a new scene broke upon our view ; the 

 country became wilder and wilder, and, in the 

 summer, must be as beautiful as any in Europe, 

 Mountains, clothed with forests, overtopped each 

 other, and the deep gullies which lay between 

 them forcibly reminded me of Australia. I was 

 struck with the fine gentlemen's houses which we 

 saw by the roadside ; while furnaces and water- 

 mills denoted the mineral and timber . wealth of 

 this part of Sweden. Sweden is, indeed, a grand 

 country, and there must be some great misman- 

 agement that a land with such internal wealth 

 should be so poor. 



Although the country around seemed little 

 adapted to agriculture, they do manage to grow 

 some wheat and rye, both of which must be sown 

 by the middle of June. I saw sheep at nearly 

 every place where we stopped, and at one observed 

 a primitive and curious mode of threshing. The 

 corn is spread out on the floor of a long, narrow 

 shed, and a horse draws a kind of machine, very 

 much resembling a patent clod- crusher, backwards 

 and forwards, which knocks out the grain. A 

 great deal of linseed is sown here, which, when 

 cut, is not carried into the house, but hung up to 

 dry on the cross-bars of what appears to be a 



