nd
surrounding gardens, villas, temples, and pavilions, can entitle it to
that distinction, Stockholm well deserves to rank with the Queen City
of the Adriatic.

The landing for the Baltic steamers is at the head quay called the
Skepsbron, which in summer is well lined with shipping, and presents
rather an animated appearance. Very little formality is observed in
regard to the baggage of passengers, and passports are not required, or
at least no demand was made upon me for mine. All I had to do was to
show my knapsack to the custom-house officer, who put a chalk-mark upon
it, signifying, no doubt, that it contained nothing contraband; after
which I stepped ashore, and, aided by a friendly fellow-passenger,
found lodgings at a dirty little hotel close by, called the "Stadt
Frankfort." If there is any worse place to be found in Stockholm, it
must be the very worst on the face of the earth, for the "Stadt
Frankfort" is next thing to it. Being dirty and foul of smell, and
abounding in vermin, of course the charges are, as usual in such cases,
proportionally high, for which reason I recommend it to any gentleman
traveling in this direction whose main object is to get rid of his
money for an equivalent of filth, fleas, bugs, bad bread, and worse
coffee. The main part of the city, embracing the King's Palace, the
Bourse, the Church of St. Nicholas, the Barracks and public buildings,
is built upon an island fronting the Baltic on the one side and the
Malar Lake on the other. This is the most populous and interesting
part, though the streets are narrow and irregular, and the houses
generally old and dilapidated, with dark, gloomy fronts, and a very
fishy and primitive expression of countenance. The new parts of the
city, called the Normalm to the north and the Sodmalm to the south,
which are connected with the island by bridges, have some fine streets
and handsome rows of buildings in the modern style, especially the
Normalm, which contains the King's Garden, the Arsenal, the
Opera-house, and the principal hotels and residences of the foreign
ministers. This part of Stockholm will compare favorably with second or
third-rate cities in Germany; for it must be borne in mind that,
striking as the external aspect of Stockholm is, the interior is very
far from sustaining the illusion of grandeur cast around it by the
scenic beauties of its position. In nothing is the traveler more
disappointed than the almost total absence of busines