spot will be struck with the great resemblance which it exhibits to the
floetz hills in West Gothland described in the last chapter.
After passing by the Svarton, a small river that' runs through
Orebro and falls into the lake Hjelmar a little below it, the primitive
rocks again make their appearance. They are partly gneiss; but
near the church of Glanshammar I observed a bed of mica-slate;
which, as far as 1 could trace it, appeared to run south-east, and to
lose itself in the lake Hjelmar not far from Lillkyrka. These
primitive rocks continue quite through Nerike, which terminates at
Arboga ; and indeed,. with a few slight exceptions, they may be said
to continue all the way to Stockholm.
I got specimens o f cobalt ore at Stockholm, which I have reason to
believe came from Nerike; but I am ignorant of the particular spot
where this cobalt mine exists. The owners o f it are in the habit of
selling their ore as Tunaberg cobalt, and on that account are shy
about giving any information respecting it. Hence this mine is not
mentioned in any of the mineralogical accounts o f Nerike that I
have seen.
The greatest part of Nerike is covered with forests of pine and
birch. The roads are in general sandy, and nothing is more common
than to see sand and gravel pits along their sides. So that i f you
merely travel along the road without making occasional excursions to interesting
spots, you in reality see nothing, and would be apt to conclude,
that the whole country was a bed of loose sand thickly scattered with
blocks of gneiss. But nothing would be more inaccurate than this
idea, as will be obvious to any one who will cast his eye upon the
geological map of the province which accompanies this chapter.
We travelled through the first part o f Nerike with considerable
rapidity. But through the last part o f it, which is by far the most
beautiful and picturesque, our progress was slow, so that we had sufficient
leisure to take a survey of every thing which seemed worthy
o f attention.
During this part o f our journey, though it was only the beginning
of September, we had four days of as cold weather as usually occurs
in Sweden at the end of November. The frost in the night was
strong, and all the fields of potatoes, which had been in blossom a day
or two before, were quite withered and destroyed ; the same change ,
was produced upon the tobacco fields. This plant is cultivated to a
considerable extent in Sweden, where every body smokes with
.scarcely a single exception, and where the pipe is as constant a companion
on a; journey as a staff or a great coat in this country.
Nothing was more common than for our post boys to smoke their
pipes: during the whole time of the stage ; and not unfrequently,
when the day happened to be a liltly windy, they chosè, o f their own
accord, to'sit behind the; carriage, that they might riot incommode us
with the srrioke.
These four cold days, produced by the blowing o f a keèn north east
wind,- totally altered the face o f the country, and made the fields all
at once put on the appearance o f winter. The rye and the big were
mostly ripe; but a great proportion o f the oats were still g;reen. They
acquired a white colour, indeed, in consequence o f the action of the
frost, but they would neither ripèn nor even bé completely filled; so
that the crop o f oats, at least in the parts o f Sweden about the
latitude of 6o?, would be iri a great measure lost. This was not only
an injury to Sweden, but an injury likewise by reflection on Great
Britain ; for a considerable proportion of Swedish oats used to be
transported to’ Great Britain. The Want o f such a supply at a time
like the present, when our supplies- from other quarters are in some
measure cut off) must be more severely felt than usual.
The loss of the potatoe crops in Sweden is not of so great consequence
as may at first sight be imagined. The quantity of potatoes
planted is not very Considerable, nor is this admirable root so much
relished by the Swedes as it ought to be. The potatoes in Sweden,
owing, I presume, to the kind planted and to the mode o f cultivation,
are all very small, scarcely larger than the usual size o f the potatoe
apple in this country; they are never mealy, but always waxy,
because that is the kind of potatoe most relished by the Swedes.
Though the smallness of their size and their waxy appearance rather
K