ooks down upon an immense valley, covered with
the most beautiful woods and rocks, and upon the broad lake, whose arm
flows far in land. The evening sun shed its last rays over a little town
on the lake-shore, and its newly-painted tiles shone brightly in its
light beams.

While the ship descended through the many locks, we visited the
neighbouring church of the village of Vretakloster, which contains the
skeletons of several kings in beautifully-made metal coffins.

We then crossed the lake, which is from four to five miles broad, and
remained all night before the entrance of the canal leading into a bay of
the Baltic.

September 8th.

This canal is one of the longest; its environs are very pretty, and the
valley through which it runs is one of the largest we had passed. The
town of Soderkoping is situated at the foot of high, picturesque groups
of rocks, which extend to a considerable distance.

Every valley and every spot of soil in Sweden are carefully cultivated.

The people in general are well dressed, and inhabit small but very pretty
houses, whose windows are frequently decorated with clean white
draperies. I visited several of these houses, as we had abundance of
time for such excursions while the ship was going through the locks. I
think one might walk the whole distance from Gottenburg to Stockholm in
the same time that the ship takes for the journey. We lose some hours
daily with the locks, and are obliged to lie still at night on their
account. The distance is calculated at from 180 to 250 miles, and the
journey takes five days.

In the evening we approached the Baltic, which has the same character as
the Scheren of the North Sea. The ship threads its way through a shoal
of islands and islets, of rocks and cliffs; and it is as difficult to
imagine here as there how it is possible to avoid all the projecting
cliffs, and guide the ship so safely through them. The sea divides
itself into innumerable arms and bays, into small and large lakes, which
are formed between the islands and rocks, and are hemmed in by beautiful
hills. But nothing can exceed the beauty of the view of the castle
Storry Husby, which lies on a high mountain, in a bay. In front of the
mountain a beautiful meadow-lawn reaches to the shores of the sea, while
the back is surrounded in the distance by a splendid pine-forest. Near
this picturesque castle a steeple rise