Page:Three Years in Europe.djvu/227

Rh life and habits and industries of the people of the different portions of Sweden and Norway, from the Lapps in the North to the people living near the Baltic Sea. We also saw the new National Library of Stockholm recently completed, and the fine statue of Charles Linnæus in front of it. After exploring these and other places in the northern part of the town, and visiting the church which contains the tomb and monument of Descartes the philosopher, we went by steamer to the summer place of the King at Drotningholm. We were as usual led through the different rooms of the palace, but the furniture and paintings looked rather tame and poor in comparison with the gorgeous furniture of the Stockholm palace. A Chinese Pagoda in the Park is a still poorer affair, but the park itself is fine and extensive, and the gardens in front of the palace well laid out.

8th August. This morning we visited the Swedish parliament, the upper house and the lower house, and then left Stockholm for Gottenburg. We went by steamer through the famous Gota canal which runs east and west right through Sweden, and so connects the Baltic Sea with the North Sea at Gottenburg.

Leaving Stockholm we entered the Malaren lake, and after a voyage of some hours due west, we suddenly turned to the south, passed through a lock and a bit of artificial canal and came out to the Baltic Sea. It is not open sea here, but quite an archipelago of small rocky islands, uninhabited and unfit for cultivation or for any