E o oK chofe to favour him with our company. By this time it was
u— ---- ’ near five, and we, were extremely hungry, But as we ' well
knew that the family hour o f dining in this country is twelve,
we were preparing privately to fatisfy our appetites with fome
hread and cheefe, which we had fortunately brought with us,
when Mr. Bedouar himfelf announced to us that dinner was
ready ; one among many inftances of the polite attentions we received
from our worthy hoft.
Having made a hearty meal, we accompanied Mr. Bedouar
about the environs. His houfe is pleafantly iituated near a ca-
-taradt of the river, and commands a fine' view -of the fmall lake
of Frangen, agreeably Ikirted with trees, of the adjacent villages
of Udnass and Tagerita, and of the Stora Afpen; the fpire of
the church of Vafftandfbrs painted-of a deep red, and fome cottages
Handing on a gentle eminence, forming pifturefque objefts
on the oppofite fide of the cataraft. The evening having already
fet in, the beams of the moon gliftened in the foam of thè
■deft-ending eataraft, and on the agitated furface of the lakes.
The next morning our obliging hoft prepared a boat, and re-
-quefted Mr. Lofgren, infpedtor o f the works in thofe parts, to
accompany us to the iluices. We firft examined the cut and
fluice of Vaeftanfors, which is 600 feet long, and excavated near
the banks o f the cataradh The fluice-was finiihed, except the
gates. We then embarked, rowed up the lake Frangen, admired
its banks, gently waving, and covered with trees, pafture,
and arable land, the fouthern extremity bounded by the church
and
and village of Vaeftanfors, the northern by the village of Udnaes,
■We landed on the fouth fide of the cut forming at Udnaes,
which is 320 feet long, again took boat above the cataradl,
and rowed through the Fagerfta river, which has been deepened
by lpringing the rocky bed under the water for above 1,600
feet. Fagerfta cut is 1,400 feet long, and the greateft depth of
the excavation 23. On the fide of the cataradl is a forge, and a
country houfe of wood painted white belonging to Mr. Bankasus,
the proprietor of the iron works.. We walked through Mr..
Bankasus’s garden, and again embarked on the northern extremity
of the Fagerfta cut, rowed up the river Simla, landed on the
fouthern extremity of the Simla canal, and examined the fuperb
works which are almoft' finiihed. The Simla cut is 3,000 feet
in length, of which 630 have been hollowed in the rock. The
depth of the excavation is 24 feet.
The river in this fpot forms a fueceffion of catara&s; and its
fhores are ornamented with a villa placed in a moil romantic
fituation. In all thefe parts an iron forge, a country houfe belonging
to the proprietor of the iron' works, and a finall clufter
of houfes inhabited by the workmen, hang fuipended over each
cataraft. The roaring of the waters, the beating of the hammers,,
and the bellowing of the furnaces,, feem to ftrive for maftery.
The northern fluice at Simla is the firft fluice of this canal of
Stroemfholm; from thence the navigation is open to the Sodra
Barken on the confines of Dalecarlia,.
No