THROUGH SWEDEN. 
*97 
of their neighbours. They catch vaft numbers of pilchards, of 
which they make great profit, it being the chief traffic of thefe 
iflands. 
It has been long in agitation to build a city in the ifle of Aland, 
but the project has not hitherto been carried into execution, ow¬ 
ing, it is laid, to the difficulty of chufing a proper fpot for it. 
The ufual route from Sweden to Finland is from the poft office 
of Griflehamn in Upland, which is eleven and a half Swediffi 
miles, to Eckero in Aland; and from that place acrofs the ifiand 
to Abo, which is five miles more. A Swediffi mile makes be¬ 
tween fix and feven Engliffi miles. 
In the year 1792 the number of inhabitants upon the ifiand 
of Aland amounted to eleven thoufand two hundred and fixty, 
which is upwards of a thoufand to every fquare Swediffi mile ; a 
very great number when it is confidered how mountainous the 
ifiand is. The inhabitants of thefe iflands live to very great ages* 
From the year 1692 to the prefent time, nine perfons are recorded 
to have died at the great age of one hundred years; and perhaps 
the number had been found greater, had it been thought worth 
while to notice this particular. In 1/03 there died a woman 
named Anna Berg, who was one hundred and nine years old: 
and at Kumblinge, in the year 1766, another perfon of the fame fex 
died at an age of upwards of one hundred and twenty years. One 
fixth part of the inhabitants are above fifty years old; a circum- 
ftance which affords a convincing proof of the healthinefs of the 
place. 
The 
