v i PREFACE.
dinavia, when once fully known in this country, may have a tendency
to prevent our geologists from explaining the structure of the earth
from what appears in Great Britain alone; or from denouncing a rock
as rare and insignificant, because it may happen to occur but sparingly
in Great Britain.
In the account which I have given of the late King o f Sweden, and
o f the revolution which deprived him of the throne, I am sensible
that I have differed in opinion from a very great majority o f the natives
of Great Britain. My own opinion was at first the same with that
■of the rest o f my countrymen. But I was at considerable pains in
procuring information on the subject, and put questions to a great
variety of people, Swedes and foreigners, nobility, merchants, and
manufacturers, and never met with any diversity o f opinion on the
subject. All were unanimous in condemning the policy of Gustavus
IV., and in acknowledging the necessity of the revolution.
In the account of the manners and customs of the Swedes, I have
confined myself entirely to the observations which I had an opportunity
myself of making. Hence my details are scanty; but to compensate
for that, they may be always depended on. My information
respecting the population, agriculture, manufactures, trade, revenue,
mines, &c. o f Sweden, is derived from very accurate tables relating
to these particulars, which I partly procured while at Stockholm, and
■partly translated from the Memoirs o f the Swedish Academy o f Sciences.
These tables, most o f which will be found in the subsequent
work, I consider as o f considerable value, and as throwing a new light
•upon the power and resources of this northern nation, which, in the
present state of the continent, may perhaps play a conspicuous part in
restoring that balance o f po wer, the loss of which has been productive
o f so much misery to the greatest part o f Europe.
CHAPTER I.
Object in View—Voyage from Leith to Gottenburg—Colour of the Sea—Its
Temperature—Becalmed in the Sleeve—Coast of Sweden—The Victory—Go
ashore—Want of Inns—description of Gottenburg—Its Population—Swedish
Houses—Swedish Dinners—Swedish Currency—Mr. Lorent—Dr. Lampert—
British Merchants settled in Gottenburg—Herring Fishery—Our Carriage—
Charges at the Hotel—Rocks round Gottenburg ................... ...............................
CHAPTER II.
Ancient Division of South Sweden—Method of Posting in that Kingdom—Nature'
of the Country—Trees—Roads—Hedges—Agriculture—Plants on the Heaths
—Swedish Beds—Swedish Peasantry; selfish, contrasted with the Scotch—Falls
of Trollhatte—Swedish Canals—Hunneberg—Kinnekiille—Alum-Work—Glass
Work ............................................. '......................... .......................................
CHAPTER III.
Boundaries—Rivers—Lakes—South and West composed of Gneiss—Twelve Hills
in the Interior—Their Heights—Account of Hunneberg and Halleberg—Of
Kinnekulle—Of Billingen, and the Seven Hills near it—Of Lugnos—These
Hills all composed of Floetz Rocks—Striking Similarity in their Structure—Inquiry
into the Cause of this Similarity—Rest of West Gothland alluvial—Immense
Blocks of Gneiss scattered through it—List of the Animals found in Gothland—
Description of £he Falco Umbrinus ....................'.......................................