H 
TRAVELS 
4 • 
thing to live upon, they refolved to emigrate, mutually to fupport 
eaeh other, and to fix their abode in a remote corner of the coun¬ 
try, where they might acquire fome property. Whoever is dif- 
pofed to eftablifh himfelf in Lapland has only to chufe his fitua- 
tion, but it mull be at the diftance of fix miles from the bounds of 
the neareft village ; and the moment he has built his hut, all the 
land for fix miles round him is his own by right of poffeffion. 
The traveller, who in his excurfions vifits this country in fum- 
mer, will be enchanted, at every ftep he takes, with the fmiling 
afpedt of thofe hills and lakes, and with the variety and foftnefs of 
the pictures which prefent themfelves in fucceffion to his eye. If 
that traveller fhould have been the vidlim of thofe vices and paf- 
fions which riot in great towns, and countries highly civilifed 
and refined ; fhould he have narrowly efcaped being fhipwrecked 
on the tempeftuous fea of ambition; or fhould he have fuffer- 
ed the mortification of a difappointed felf-love, and all the in¬ 
quietude of an overweening conceit of his own merit; fhould this 
miferable man have never found one with whom he might fhare 
his pains and his pleafures; fhould he, in fhort, have never tafted 
the fweets of genuine friendfhip—ah ! how ought fuch a difturbed 
and afflidted mind to covet «the innocence and fimplicity of this 
country ! How fortunate would it be for him, could he exchange 
this, with its artlefs joys, for the high blown luxuries in which he 
had hitherto lived. But alas! there is nothing on earth perfedt; 
no human enjoyment is without alloy. Even that fpot, which I 
have defcribed as fo peaceful and charming, has its fhare of mifery, 
which 
