his mind by the study of Puffendorf
can here find the original. Linnaeus, Berzelius, and others will
materially assist him in grasping at the mysteries of animated
creation; and if he be of a poetical turn, he can enjoy Belman in the
unadulterated Scandinavian metre. For me, however, the public museums
and libraries possessed only an external interest. I would gladly have
devoted the remainder of my life to Scandinavian researches, but,
having several other important matters to attend to, I was reluctantly
forced to give up the idea. The main object at present was to escape
from "an eternal lethargy of woe," which seemed to grow worse and
worse every day. I really had nothing particular to afflict me, yet I
both felt and looked like "a man sore acquaint with grief." Day after
day I wandered about the streets in search of excitement. All in vain;
such a luxury is unknown to strangers in Stockholm. I visited the
fruit-markets, jostled about among the simple and kind-hearted
peasants, bought bunches of cherries and baskets of raspberries from
the pretty peasant-girls, and then stood eating my way into their
acquaintance, while they laughed, and talked, and wondered where in
the world such a strange man came from, and when I told them I came
from California they looked incredulous, having probably never of such
a country. Then I strolled down through the fish-market, where there
were a great many queer fish exposed for sale by ancient and slimy old
men and women, whose hands and aprons were covered with fish-scales,
and whose faces had a very fishy expression. They offered me fish in
every shape--skinned, gutted, chopped up, or whole, just as I pleased
to buy them. One wrinkled old woman, with a voice much broken by
shouting against the Gulf storms from high rocks, or some such cause,
called my attention to a monster fish that must have weighed at least
sixty pounds, and insisted upon letting me have it at a reduced price.
I shook my head and smiled. In that smile I suppose the sagacious old
fishwoman discovered the pliancy of my disposition, for she
immediately commenced a wild harangue on the merits of the fish,
scarcely a word of which I understood. Two or three times I started to
leave, but each time she made a motion to detain me. The fact is, I
was afraid she would get hold of me with her fishy hands, and was
considerably embarrassed what to do. The price of the fish was
reasonable enough--only two marks (about forty