dreaded, on account o f the flownefs o f their motions, and the inaptitude
o f their members to a folid element.
After eonfiderable fatigue, and many adventures, having re-
freihed our horfes about half way on the high fea, we at length
touched at the fmall ifland o f Signilfkar. This illand prefents to
the view neither wood nor lawn, and is inhabited only by fome
peasants,, and the officer o f the telegraph which is ftationed here
for keeping up a correfpondence with that o f Griilehamn. It
is one o f thofe little iflands fcattered in this part o f the gulf,
which colleitiyely bear the name o f Aland. T he diftance
from Griilehamn to Signillkar, in a ftrait line, is, five Swedifh
miles, which are nearly equal to thirty-five Engliih; but the
turnings we were obliged to make, in order to find out the molt
practicable places, could not be left than ten Engliih miles more.
A ll this while we were kept in anxious fufpence concerning- the
fate o f our fugitive horfe,, and entertained the molt uneafy appre-
henfions* that he was either loft in the immenfity o f the icy defert,
or buried perhaps in the watery abyfs. W e were preparing to.
continue our journey through the iiles on the ice, and had already
put new horfes to our fledge, when- we fpied, with inexprelfible
pleafure, the two fledges returning^ with the fugitive. The animal
was in the moft deplorable condition imaginable: his body
was covered all over with fweat and foam, and was enveloped in
a cloud o f fmoke. Still we did not dare to come near h im ; the
exceffive fatigue o f his violent courfe had not abated his ferocity
he was as much alarmed a t the fight o f our pelices as before; he
ihorted
fnorted, bounded, and beat the fnow and ice with his feet; nor
could the utmoft exertions o f the peafents to bold him. fall: have
prevented him from once more making his efcape, if we had not
retired to fome diftance, and removed the fight and the fcent of
our pelices. From Signillka we purfued our journey through the
whole o f the ifles o f Aland. In different parts o f Aland you meet
with poft-horrfes, that is to fay with places where you may get
horfes. You travel partly by land and partly over the ice of the
fea. T h e diftance between fome o f thefe iflands amounts to nô
lefs than eight or ten miles. On the fea, the natives have ufed
the precaution o f fixing branches o f trees, or putting fmall pines
along the whole route, for the guidance o f travellers in the nighttime,
or directing them-how to find out the right way after falls
o f fnow.
Between the tw o ftstions o f Heraldfby and Skorpas is fituated
on a rock the famous fbrtrefc o f Caltelholmcn, every where en-
compaffed b y water, except on- one fide, where it communicates
with an- ifland by means« o f a narrow- tongue o f land. This câftle is
now in a ftate o f ruin, and will perhaps never be reftored. It was
built by Mnger Jat-b adminiftrator o f Sweden, and father o f king.
Weldeman. It' became afterwards the refidence o f the governors o f
Aland,and continued fo till the year 1<034. During the reign o f
Eric o f Pomerania!, this caftle was inhabited by a foreign lady o f
the name o f Yda.. Under Eric Puke it was, in confequence o f his
orders, reduced by. John Folkénfên. I t was given in 1505 by the
regent Suante Sture to the Chevalier Eric ,fon to John Vafâ, and
father«