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98 LETTERS ON SWEDEN,
strangers, with sorrow and care pressing hard on me
buffeting nie .about from clime to clime I felt
" Like the lone shrub at random cast,
That sighs and trembles at each blast !
"
On some of the largest rocks there were actually
groves, the retreat of foxes and hares, which, I sup-
pose, had tripped over the ice during the winter,
without thinking to regain the main land before the
thaw.
Several of the islands were inhabited by pilots ;
and
the Norwegian pilots are allowed to be the best in the
world perfectly acquainted with their coast, and ever
at hand to observe the first signal or sail. They pay
a small tax to the king and to the regulating officer,
and enjoy the fruit of their indefatigable industry.
One of the islands, called Virgin Land, is a flat,
with some depth of earth, extending for half a Nor-
wegian mile, with three farms on it, tolerably well
cultivated.
On some of the bare rocks I saw straggling houses ;
they rose above the denomination of huts inhabited by
fishermen. My companions assured me that they were
very comfortable dwellings, and that they have not
only the necessaries, but even what might be reckoned
the superfluities of life. It was too late for me to go
on shore, if you will allow me to give that name to
shivering rocks, to ascertain the fact.
But rain coming on, and the night growing dark,
the pilot declared that it would be dangerous for us to
attempt to go to the place of our destination East
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