BOOK brick cottages, inhabited by the infpeitors and workmen o f the
.— , / forges, architeits, fmiths, and carpenters, refemble a fmall town.
Here are four foundries, at which not lefs than 1,500 men are
employed. The iron is brought from the mine of Danemora,
of which the third part is the property of the baron. I The
ore is firft calcined, then reduced to powder, next melted, and
poured upon the fand in large quantities, weighing each from
120 to 160 pounds. In this ftate it is alternately heated and
hammered five or fix times, until it is made into bars of iron
fit for exportation. Each bar is from 12 to 18 feet in length,
from three-fourths of an inch to eight inches broad, and from
one-half to three-fourths of an inch thick. Thefe forges of Loeffta
prepare annually from 6,000 to 8,000 lhippund, or from 800
to 1,066 ton. It is iold at eight rix-dollars, or £ . 2, per 20
pound, and exported to England for our Heel manufactures, the
Danemora iron being efteemed the fined: in the world. As it
is exported from Oregrund, an adjacent port in the Baltic,
it is ufually known in England by the name of the Oregrund
iron.
Upon our arrival at Loeffta, we carried a letter of recommendation
from Mr. Arwefon to Baron Geer, and, as the baron was
ihooting, received an immediate invitation to dine with his
lady; for fuch is the hofpitality of the Swedes, that any traveller
who brings a letter of recommendation is immediately
invited to dinner, and is almoft deemed guilty of incivility if
he does not accept the invitation.
After
After a fumptuous dinner, we continued our journey towards c H A P.
Danemora, which fupplies the iron for the forges of Loeffta, . _
and arrived the fame evening at Ofterby, the adjacent village,
where we took up our abode in a very comfortable inn. The
next morning we carried a letter of recommendation to Mr.
Grill, who has a large property in the mine of Danemora, an
excellent houfe, and three forges. Mr. Grill kindly reproved us
for not coming to his houfe the preceding evening; and, though
he was that inftant fetting off for Stockholm, infifted upon our
dining at his houfe with his niece, and a feleit company who
were there upon a vifit.
After dinner we walked to the mines, which feem to differ
from all other mines, inafmuch as’ they have no fubterraneous
galleries, but are worked in the open air.
The pits are deep excavations, like gravel pits, and form fa
many abyfles or gulphs. The defcent is not, therefore, as is
ufual in mines, down a narrow fubterraneous ihaft. Here I
ftepped into a bucket, and hung fufpended in the open air,
in the fame manner as if a perfon was placed in a baiket at the
top of .Salifbury fpire,.and gradually let down to the ground by a
rope and pully. The infpebtor accompanied me to the bottom;
and while I was placed at my eafe in the infide upon a chair;
feated himfelf on the rim of the bucket with his legs extended
to maintain the equilibrium. He had in his hand a ftick, with
which he gently touched the fides of the rock and the rope of the
afcending