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348 TRAVELS OF EHRENMALM.
again. Where the earth is fordid, man is the creator; where the earth yields eve
thing, man alone is nothing. "y
On the road leading from Ghefle to Sund{wal, I obferved fome hop plantations
on hillocks expofed to the fun. Beyond Sundfwal, the only plantation I’faw was by a
fmall houfe fituated on the Niouronda. Perhaps, thefe are the laft efforts ofa land
which removing from the fun, finks into the obfcurity and folitude of the frozen Zone.
When we pafled through Gnarp, there was a little fair. We faw merchants enou h,
but little merchandife. This parifh is the mart of the towns of Nordland. All come
merce is carried on there by reciprocal exchange. The peafants come to pay for the
merchandife they have taken on credit; they acquit themfelves by provifions,. This
fpecies of commerce by exchange, is univerfal throughout Nordland, although the
merchandife is not every where the fame.
The peafants who in winter have occafion for corn, tobacco, or clothes ; in fprin
and fummer for falt, iron, and even money, to pay the taxes, borrow what they mien
of the citizens. When their fortune and credit warrant their folvency, they lend them
what they require, on condition of repayment at the firft fair, at the current price of
the place, in butter, cheefe, meat, fith, flax, cloth, ftockings, pitch, and tar, and fome-
times in planks. But if they are little known, the price of what they lend is fixed be-
forehand. ‘The opulent people, who repair to the fair to fell, proportion the price of
their merchandifes to the want the purchafer has for them. ‘Thofe who pay read
money for the commodities they purchafe for the maintainence of the whole aor
might fell thefe for a greater price, which they would not be obliged to give in yerarn..
But the citizens never buy of a peafant, who fells to any other but his confidential mer-
chant. ‘The latter on his fide, never buys any more of the peafant who does not con-
fine to him alone, the whole of his commerce, and endeavours to injure the merchant
who fucceeds him. :
It isa fpecies of monopoly; but it arifes from the Nordlanders ‘being compelled to
bring the produce of their land to Stockholm, and to derive all their confumption from
that city. ‘Thegovernment will no doubt correct thefe abufes, and render the com-
merce of the capital more favourable to the peafant. ‘The higher clafs whofe intereft
‘it is to participate in every kind of riches, will be enabled to trade in proportion, as
the population increafing in the countries will ftock the towns with real dealers “and
particularly mechanics. f
Example ‘has more effect than rule. The inferior claffes imitate the higher; and
villages are modelled after cities. Let manufactures be eftablifhed ‘at Stockholm: and
the provincial towns, will bring their induftry and: commerce to perfeétion in intitation
of the capital. \
From Helfingheland we pafs into Medelpad. ‘The ‘firft obje& which meets the
attention of the traveller, is the river of Niouronda. ~It defeends from ‘Heriedale, de-
riving its fource from the mountains; it is large and’navigable, Its fhores are ‘bordered
with large woods and rocks; few fields which admit of cultivation, and yet fewer which
are tilled. Towards Sundfwal, the land is fandy, ufelefs to the inhabitants, and incom-
modious to travellers. Sundfwal is fituated in the midft of a plain, covered with ‘barren
fand, and furrounded by high mountains. A {mall gulf extending for halfa mile to
the fea, renders this town extremely ‘fit for commerce, affording to vellels the facility of
coming there, and taking in their cargo.almoft entire. The exports from Sundfwal con-
fift in chairs, pitch and tar, planks, the bark of trees to make bread, works of wood, linen
cloth, meat, and milk food. ‘Lhe imports given in:exchange, confilt of corn ‘falt to-
bacco, woollen cloth, {pices, wine, and brandy. t i 3
A dock
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