summit of the hills, descend with equal
facility towards the coast and sea-level, this great triumph of
engineering skill is fully appreciated. The vessels navigating the canal
rise in all, three hundred and eighty feet above the level of the Baltic
during the passage across country. At the little town of Berg the locks
are sixteen in number, and form a gigantic staircase by means of which
vessels are raised at this point one hundred and twenty feet.

On the line of the Gotha Canal is situated the famous Troellhatta Falls,
which are so remarkable as to attract visitors from all parts of Europe.
These 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. This angry water-way is
interspersed by some well-wooded islands, on either side of which the
waters rush with a wild, resistless power, tossed here and there by the
many under-currents. The whole 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, forty-four feet in height, which
is 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.

The marine shells which are found in the bottom of some of the inland
lakes of both Norway and Sweden, show that the land which forms their
bed was once covered by the sea. This is clearly apparent in Lake Wener
and Lake Welter, which are situated nearly three hundred feet above the
present ocean level. Complete skeletons of whales have been found inland
at considerable elevations during the present century. The oldest
shell-banks discovered by scientists in Scandinavia are situated five
hundred feet above the level of the sea.

Sweden has comparatively few mountains, but many ranges of hills. Norway
monopolizes almost entirely the mountain system of the great northern
peninsula, but the large forests of pine, fir, and birch, which cover so
much of the country, are common to both. Though iron is found in large
deposit