pink
lilacs, and a great variety of beautiful trees challenge admiration
on entering these grounds. Among many familiar flowers a species of
dwarf lobelia of azure blue and the Alpine forget-me-not, with
pale-blue flowers and yellow eyes, were particularly observable,
mingled with pansies in a confused variety of mammoth proportions.
The golden-leaved verbena and a large, tall, pearly-white
tiger-flower were both abundant, the latter speckled with
ruby-colored spots. The horse-chestnut trees were in great variety
and the largest we had ever seen. There were many grand old oaks and
fine Lombardy poplars in stately ranks, as upright as soldiers at a
review. Inland excursions showed the pine and the fir to be the
prevailing trees, the birch becoming more abundant farther north.
Fully one third of the country, as we were assured, is covered with
woods, some of which seemed almost endless in extent. The immediate
environs of Gottenburg are very attractive, well wooded, and adorned
with picturesque cottages and some large villas. Among others which
we visited was that of Oscar Dickson, famous for his interest in
Arctic expeditions. No private gardens in England or America are more
admirably kept, and the grape-houses we have never seen surpassed in
the varieties or perfection of the fruit. The low-lands were found
occasionally bright with the golden petals of the marsh-marigold,
which fairly blazed under the direct rays of the sun. There is a
saying here, that when it blooms the cuckoo comes and the roach
spawns. A fine old bit of mouldering, ivy-grown ruins in the shape of
a Martello tower, situated upon rising ground and overlooking the
entrance to the inland waters, is sure to attract the traveller's
admiring eye.

The kindness of the common people and their pleasant manners are most
captivating, being characterized by quiet self-possession and
thoughtfulness for a stranger's well-being. In more than one instance
a casual inquiry was not only promptly responded to, but we were
taken pleasantly in hand, and other welcome though unsought guidance
and information were voluntarily offered. Education is far more
general and culture is of a higher grade in Sweden than is common
with the people of Southern Europe, while music seems to be as
universal an accomplishment here as it is in Italy. The population is
frugal, honest, self-helping, and in many respects resembles that of
Switzerland.

The system of inland communication