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II.
THE SWEDISH PEOPLE.
1. SURVEY OF ITS HISTORY.
The people which at the present day inhabits the kingdom of Sweden is
believed to have had its dwelling-place there for an unbroken period
of at least five thousand years — a longer period than any other European
nation, whith the exception of the kindred race in Denmark, can boast of
having dwelt within its present boundaries.
There are traces of an earlier population than the present — a
population that perhaps goes ten thousand years back; but it is not possible to
determine whether those tribes of hunters and fishers belonged to the
present race or to another. Since the beginning of the later Stone Age
at any rate, Sweden has been uninterruptedly inhabited by its present race,
the Swedes, belonging to the Germanic branch of the great Aryan family.
It is still a matter of debate whether these Aryans entered the country from
the south-east, perhaps from Asia, or whether the race originated along the
southernmost shores of the Baltic. In the latter case. Teutons must have
inhabited southern Scandinavia from time immemorial, or, at all events, the earliest
settlers must have arrived by the path pointed out to them by nature, across
the Great and Little Belts and the Sound, into Skåne. From the name Skåne
the whole of the North afterwards came to be called Scandinavia. Subsequent
colonization first followed the west coast, attracted perhaps by the rich salmon
fishery of the rivers. By way of the Göta älv it reached the level country of
Västergötland; from thence, by way of Lake Vättern, to Östergötland; and from
the northern end of that lake to the foremost district of Svealand, around Lake
Mälaren. It would seem that the east coast did not become peopled until
somewhat later, its occupation being due perhaps to the fishery of the Baltic
herring.
For fishing has, from ancient times, been a surer and a more plentiful source
of food than hunting. In consequence of this, and because of the easy means
of communication, the population of Sweden first settled around the navigable
waters of the country. But even during the Stone Age it went through the
ordinary development from fishing and hunting to the rearing of cattle and the
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