de adds zest to imagination, and we see the
beauties and marvels which we come prepared to see. The falls consist
of a series of tremendous rapids extending over a distance of about
two hundred yards; and producing an uproar almost equal to the
ceaseless oratorio of Niagara. The rapids are intersected by two or
three rocky but well-wooded islands, on either side of which the
angry waters rush with a wild, resistless power, tossed by the many
sub-currents. The whole array of rapids forms a succession of falls
of which the first is called Gulloefallet, where on both sides of an
inaccessible little island the waters make a leap of twenty-six feet
in height, the rebound creating a constant cloud of feathery spray.
Then follows the highest of the falls, the Toppoefallet, of forty-four
feet in height, likewise divided by a cliff into two parts, against
which the frantic waters chafe angrily. The next fall measures less
than ten feet in height, followed a little way down the rapids by
what is called the Flottbergstroem,--all together making a fall of
foaming eddies and whirls equal to about one hundred and twelve feet.
While near to these roaring waters amid the general chaos,
conversation is impossible. As at all extensive falls, rainbows
constantly hang over and about the wild surging waters reflected in
the gauze-clouds of transparent mist.

While strolling through the wood-paths and over the rocky ways which
line this sleepless disorder of the waters, the grounds in many
places were seen to be gorgeously decked with flowers of Nature's
planting,--many-colored, sunshine-loving things. Among those more
particularly abundant was the pretty violet-purple flower of the
butterwort, each circle of pale-yellow leaves, with the stalk rising
from the centre crowned with its peculiar bloom. "Beautiful objects
of the wild-bee's love." But for the glutinous exudation one would be
tempted to gather them by handfuls. The town of Trollhaetta is a
village of three thousand inhabitants, and contains a graceful little
Gothic church. The people are mostly manufacturers, who manage to
utilize profitably a portion of the enormous water-power afforded by
the falls. The word Trollhaetta, we were told, signifies "the home of
the water-witches." The local legends with which the traveller is
freely regaled by the guides would fill a good-sized volume in print,
but we feel disinclined to inflict them second-hand and wholesale
upon the patient reader