d of a very long pair of shafts. In these sleds one may travel with
much comfort, and less danger of overturning, though not so great speed
as in the short, light, open frames we bought in Sundsvall. The latter
are seldom seen so far north, and were a frequent object of curiosity to
the peasants at the stations. There is also a sled with a body something
like a Hansom cab, entirely closed, with a window in front, but they are
heavy, easily overturned, and only fit for luxurious travellers.

We approached Pitea at sunset. The view over the broad embouchure of the
river, studded with islands, was quite picturesque, and the town itself,
scattered along the shore and over the slopes of the hills made a fair
appearance. It reminded me somewhat of a small New-England country town,
with its square frame houses and an occasional garden. Here I was
rejoiced by the sight of a cherry-tree, the most northern fruit-tree
which I saw. On our way up, we thought Pitea, at night and in a
snow-storm, next door to the North Pole. Now, coming from the north,
seeing its snowy hills and house-roofs rosy with the glow of sunset, it
was warm and southern by contrast. The four principal towns of West and
North Bothnia are thus characterised in an old verse of Swedish
doggerel: Umea, _the fine_; Pitea, _the needle-making_; Lulea, _the
lazy_; and in Tornea, _everybody gets drunk_.

We took some refreshment, pushed on and reached Abyn between nine and
ten o'clock, having travelled seventy miles since morning. The sleighing
was superb. How I longed for a dashing American cutter, with a span of
fast horses, a dozen strings of bells and an ebony driver! Such a
turnout would rather astonish the northern solitudes, and the slow,
quaint northern population. The next day we had a temperature of 2 deg.
above zero, with snow falling, but succeeded in reaching Skelleftea for
breakfast. For the last two or three miles we travelled along a
hill-side overlooking a broad, beautiful valley, cleared and divided
into cultivated fields, and thickly sprinkled with villages and
farm-houses. Skelleftea itself made an imposing appearance, as the lofty
dome of its Grecian church came in sight around the shoulder of the
hill. We took the wrong road, and in turning about split one of our
shafts, but Braisted served it with some spare rope, using the
hatchet-handle as a marlingspike, so that it held stoutly all the rest
of the way to Stockholm.

We went on to Burea that n