14 
TRAVELS 
an uniform fcene of fmall eminences of black rock, where nature 
cannot by any pow er of art be forced to produce vegetation. The 
harbour exhibits a fimilar confufion of rocks not more pleafmg to 
the eye, and fome little craggy illes of a rugged and forbidding 
afpecR. As to the interior of the town, it refembles in fome re- 
fpects the towns of Holland, having canals, with rows of trees 
along their margins, regularly cut or clipped in the Dutch fafhion. 
The inhabitants of this place are in a Rate of conRant emulation 
with thofe of the capital, in commerce as well as in their mode 
of life, their fafhions, and every fpecies of luxury. I have been 
allured by feveral perfons that one may live more agreeably at 
Gothenburg than at Stockholm. To a Rranger who delights in 
fociety, it certainly affords opportunities of following his incli¬ 
nation without formality or reRraint. The ladies of Gothen¬ 
burg are celebrated for their amiable difpofitions, their beauty, 
their fociability, and their accomplifhments. They employ much 
of their time in the cultivation of languages and the arts, parti¬ 
cularly that of mufic. They poffefs in a very high degree all 
the qualifications that form an amiable, accompliflied, and inte- 
refiing woman. The population of this town is about fifteen 
thoufand. The fuburbs are fituated on rifing ground, and are 
occupied principally by feafaring people belonging to merchant¬ 
men, the EaR India Company, and feveral fhips of w T ar Rationed 
in the harbour. There is an hofpital at Gothenburg, founded by 
an individual, Mr. Sahlgren, the annual revenue of wdiich amounts 
to fifteen hundred rix dollars. It contains thirty beds, of which 
two 
