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$40 TRAVELS OF EHRENMALM.
ages, on their foundations. Holland, China, the commerce of the whole world, the
fifbermen of the north and of all the favage iflands, every thing demonftrates that the
fea, notwithftanding its deluges, inundations, and fhipwrecks, is yet an element more
bountiful than terrible.
All the country is fandy from Elfcarleby to Ghefle: at that place Upland ends, and
Gheftri-Keland commences. It is impoflible too much to admire the road leading ta
that province acrofs marfhes ; or to be weary of beholding the manner in which hu-
man indu(try has furnifhed it on both fides with a rampart of flints, which proteé& and
border it like walls ; at the price of what labours the inhabitant of an inacceflible country
has been able to open thefe means of communication, which compenfate for the avarice
and the ruggednefs of nature!
Ghefle is of no great compafs: moft of the houfes are built of ftone and wood toge-
ther: the ftreets are narrow, and fometimes crooked ; the market therefore, for want
of outlets and openings, has no fixed place; it is even held in the ftreets, which it in-
cumbers; an inconvenience ftill more grievous in great cities, where carriages and
equipages are multiplied by luxury. But Ghefle is recompenfed for this inconvenience,
infeparable from it fmallnefs and conftruction, by innumerable advantages, for which it
is indebted partly to nature and partly to induftry. It is fituated at the extremity of a
gulph, which the fea has formed half a mile in the land : the veffels are fheltered there
from the rocks and breakers, which befet the coafts of Sweden with dangers: large vef-
fels, it is true, cannot anchor in the harbour; but as the town is traverfed by a river, this
eftablifhes a continual intercourfe between the magazines built on its banks, and the
merchandife unloaded or embarked at the port. A crowd of fmall boats carry on this
communication. A machine, which ferves to carry off the mud, never ceafes clearing
this channel of navigation and commerce. Ghefle is a commercial and manufacturing
town, rich and populous: all the mechanics profit, all the inhabitants labour. This
town, happily fituated between the fea and the mountains, ferves as a magazine to the
whole country, {tamps a great value on its mines, and fcatters abundance throughout
its lands. By the mediation of this port, the copper attracts provifions, and the provi-
fions occafion the exportation of the copper : the manufactures ferve as vehicles for this:
commerce. Under a heaven which only yields fnow, is feen a bakehoufe of fugar, a
production which only thrives under a burning fky; this manufacture is without the
town: within isa manufacture of tobacco, another production of the torrid zone. But
what occafions one of the fmalleft cities of the north to flourifh in an extraordinary manner,
is a {chool for the thread and linen trade. ‘The principal citizens fend their children
there, as well for their own advantage, as for an example to the people, who find in this:
fchool a certain refource for the maintenance of their families.
Icannot conceal the fentiment of joy with which my foul was affected at behold-.
ing an eftablifhment fo patriotic, fo founded on humanity. The great quantity of flax
which grows in this country, and the laborious and careful character of the women,
united with the moderate price of provifions, cannot fail rendering the manufacture of
cloth very advantageous, by increafing the cultivation of flax, fo natural to lands which
produce little elfe. ‘he manufactures of which the materials are foreign are not near in
fo great a proportion; yet the bake-houfe of fugar, eftablifhed at Ghefle, is of great be-
nefit. ‘Ihe proprietor, who prepares five thoufand pounds of fugar weekly, fupports
many men by thislabour. ‘he firft who opened this branch of induftry was compelled
to buy of foreigners fugar-loaf moulds, for the value of twenty-four or thirty thoufand
copper crowns. But the love of gain has occafioned the difcovery in the country itfelf
of an earth fufficiently fine for thefe brick moulds; and the inventors are enriched, -
2 well
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