CHAPTER XIV.
JOURNEY THROUGH SODERMANLAND.
Hire a third Servant—Procure Passports—Mob of British Sailors—Detained at Kittle_
Geognostic Constitution of Sodermanland—Stages to Nykoping—Carriage breaks down
—Lilia Oby—Olof Essen—Vein of Granite—Rivers little attended to in Sweden
-Nykoping—Account of Tunaberg—Of Uto—Of Handvid.
O n the thirtieth o f September I was ready to leave Stockholm. I
hired a third servant in place of the Swede who had gone with me to
Fahlun; for his refusal to accompany me down into the mines made
him quite unfit for my purpose. My third servant was a black, a native
o f North America; English being his native language he spoke it
well, and he was fluent in Swedish; hut little as I myself understood
o f the language, I could perceive that he pronounced it very badly.
He could not read, and his knowledge o f the language was very
limited, for I found him quite unable to explain to me the meaning of
a variety o f words that I met with in the Swedish hooks which I
had with me, and which I was anxious to undertand, because they referred
to regulations concerning posting, which I thought it incumbent
on me to know. I made them out myself by help of a Dictionary
which I had with me. This man, however, was by far the best of the
three whom I had had while-in Sweden. He was veiy honest, active
and sober; and had no other fault than an uncommon degree of
timidity, which made him unfit for taking charge o f the carriage in the
dark; and the days had now become so short that it was impossible to
accomplish the journey in any reasonable time without encroaching
upon the night.
It was necessary to procure passports, as from the nature o f the
Swedish police, which is an exact imitation of the French, you cannot
venture to travel without being provided with one. There is no difficulty
in procuring one; nothing more is necessary than to pay the
fees, which amount to rather less than six shillings. For two rooms,
up two pair of stairs, which I had in Stora Ny Gatan, in Stockholm,
I was charged at the rate of thirty shillings sterling a-week, and two
shillings every morning for coffee. These prices, considering the situation
and the country, I thought unreasonably high. I could have had
better lodgings in London at the same rate, though not indeed in the
most fashionable part of the town. I agreed with my servant at the
rate of four shillings a-day during the journey, finding him food and
lodgings at the same time; and when we reached Gottenburg I agreed
to give him 21. 12s. to carry him hack again to Stockholm. These
terms may appear high; but they are not more so than those usually
given. Had I travelled rapidly indeed, it would have been cheaper to
have given six shillings a-day, which is the common fee; but as my
object was to travel slowly, and to see the country, I was not more
out of pocket by the 21. 12s. at the end of the journey, and the man
was better pleased.
Just before I left Stockholm I observed a sight which struck me very
forcibly. No English vessels had been there for some years before;
hut the peace having been proclaimed about the 7 th o f September,
one or two merchantmen had come up to the key at Skepsbruk before
I left the city. On Sunday the sailors, belonging to one o f these
vessels, had obtained leave to come ashore. They had all got quite
drunk, and had fallen together by the ears, to the number of ten or
twelve, in the middle of the street, and raised a clamour that was quite
diabolical. A mob immediately collected round them; but none of
the Swedes interfered with the British sailors; nor did the sailors take
the least notice of the Swedes. I was mortified at such indeeorous