Volume 1

A new and complete collection of voyages and travels / [John Hamilton Moore].

  • John Hamilton Moore
Date:
[1785?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A new and complete collection of voyages and travels / [John Hamilton Moore]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    me ; aild I cohld not help telling him, that I thought the univerfity would not do amil's to fend thefe preci¬ ous relics to St. Januarius, or my Lady of Loretto, who, if they are not already provided with others, might probably be highly obliged by fo valuable an acquifition. “ As to the cathedral, it is built of brick, and as the two towers at the weft end, lately wanted repair, they have with great talte added a doric architrave to thefe gothic walls, and placed two great domes of cop¬ per on the top. It muft notwithftanding, be for ever venerable, while the remains of Guftavus Vafta, and Chancellor Oxenftiern repofe in it. The laft of thefe great men, whole virtue and wifdom Sweden yet reveres, refts in an obfeure chapel, beneath a com¬ mon ftone. He has no monument eredfed, or epitaph infcribed to his memory; while a St. Eric, who was a king and a devotee in fome barbarous age, is pre¬ served in a Ihrine of filvergilt, and placed on the right hand of the high altar. — “ 1 here are at this time, as I am a flu red, near 1500 ftudents in the univerfity of Upfal. They are not however, young men of family and condition as with us, but for the 1110ft part milerable poor, and lodge five or fix together in wretched hovels amidft dirt and penury. I he profelfors in different branches of literature are about twenty-two, the largeft of whofe falaries does not exceed one hundred and thirty or forty pounds per annum, and are in general not half that fum. “ °n firff arrival, the gentleman who accom¬ panied me, and who was intimately acquainted with Linnaeus, lent his compliments to fay, that he would do him fell the honour to wait on him if agreeable immediately, and would introduce at the fame time an Englifti gentleman, who had been induced to vifit Upfal from the fame of Co great a man. He fent us word in return., that he would pay us a vifit in the afternoon, at thiee o clock, when he had done dinner. He came punctually at the hour marked, and after Laying fome time, conduded us to the botanical ^ar- ,den, where he.fhewed us all his collection of plants Ilmibs and flowers, which are very numerous, and have been prefented to him from every part of the S °ref- Af *;he d°0r’ he took his ]eave> and quitted us. 1 his celebrated botanift is now in the fixty-ninth year of his age. He is of a middle fize, inclining to Ihort which is ftili increafed by his Looping prodi- gjoufly when he walks. He was drefTed m a plain bJue uit °f deaths and booted, which is common with the Swedes. At his button-hole hung the white crofs or the order of the Pole Star, which was con- ferred on him by the late king Adolphus, who admired ftaf hT0Url m He e3ni°ysaveiT eafy indepen- ance from hw falary, and pupils in the univerfity; befides which, he is laid to be pofl’efl'ed of a confider- able fortune acquired by his profeiflon. He has a country houfe about five miles out of town, and keens Ins chariot. He has one fon and four daughters alive • - 0 ‘hp P°« any of JL • At p.lefent he very rarely attends the botani¬ cal parties which are made twice a week round Upfal fefTorre ?;nnduaed,by bls fon> who is botanical pro- (JerLnv v bn, EnS,and- France, and and Swedilh fn° 'anSuaSes «“P' Latin with perfeA’f ‘ !l>e fo™er,ot which, he converfes is bv no mein. ' gs knowledge, I am aiTured, lut'elyToTam al h'Vf ’ LCO,lfined ai”oft abfo- H s flcul esa el which is unbounded. haSouMhaat1dmLaflrf' T ^ Baltic’ and has a >et there veflel comes for a load Vf timl i neW and then a From thence to Hudwickfwald* ^thro'8 country, pretty well cultivated and tht ^V fiat much more induftrious. Here are tJl lllhabltants houfes, furrounded by confiderahllf ^ argC gentleman’s feats and the^ c$ [iy6H on a hufbandry equal to any in Sweden. 7'heir crops are generally good; and the produds rife, upon a medium of all forts, to three or four quarters per acre r their dwarf beans are a favourite crop here, they do not grow more than a foot high. Artificial graffes are very rarely feen in this kingdom, and there is certainly a reafon for it; the great plenty of wild ground and marfhes, on which the peaiants depend for the fubfiftence of their cattle. Hudwicklwald is extremely well fituated for the Baltic trade ; the harbour is fpacious, fafe, and ad¬ mits fhips of any burthen : there are a few merchants in the town that are rich. They have a tolerable quay ; mod of the ftreets are regular and clean, and fome of them neatly built. Tuna is about thirty-fix miles from Hudwickfwald. The country is various; parts of it marfhy, and parts dry: a good deal of the latter is cultivated. Many of the peafants here pay their rent with part of the produds of their land, and their landlord's ftewards come in Hoops from Stockholm at a certain time of the year, to receive thefe produds; this is reckoned here very advantageous to the landlords* for they have the corn* &c. at a much lefs calculated value than what they fell it for at Stockholm, all ex¬ pends reckoned ; but at the fame time, the peafants like it better than being forced to find the money* which is very fcarce li re. They cultivate large quantities of corn* and many turnips and- carrots, and have the art of fattening oxen with thefe roots in Winter, by boiling and marlhing them, and then mixing fome meal of barley or oats with them ; with this food their oxen and their hogs fatten very quickly* and they reckon, if the crop of roots is good, it proves in their way of ufing it, one of the belt a farmer can cultivate. Una is one.of the moft confiderable towns in Weft: Bothnia. It is fituate on a very fine large river, which falls into- the Gulf: there is a good harbour for imps, and the place has a pretty briik trade in timber* non, pitch, tar, &c. and having two or three mer¬ chants of large property, to whom fev?ral Ihips belong they carry on a trade here with Holland and- England, loading out with the produces of the coun¬ tries around the Gulf, and bringing home a great variety of commodities, which they fell in all the ports around the Baltic, in Sweden, Ruftia, Livonia, Poland* 1 ruftia and Germany. It is of very great advantage to a town to be inhabited by a few fuch extenfive traders, for the profits centre in it; they employ their townfmen in their {flipping, and export much more produds than would be done if it were mot for them.. Thefe merchants alio much enrich the place by their Ihip building ; for they have never lefs than three or four upon the ftocks at a time; thefe {hips they fell wherever they can get a market, cargo and all, which they often do to good advantage. From hence palling through a wild country, we came to.Torneo. Here they have fome appearance of cultivation around their cottages; but it is only for their own fubfiftence; there is enough however, to mew, that high as the latitude of this country is, (it is about fixty-fix degrees) it would produce plenti- inhabit d ** numerous PeoPlei it is very thinly “ 1 hrough all the provinces of Sweden flays our autnor) that I have travelled, I am convinced that the principal caufe of the country being fo thinly in- mb 1 ted, is the final! number of farmers ; there being omy peafants, with land enough round their cottages*! or the fubfiftence of the people within them. Many of thefe little fpots belong to them; and none of the children of one will ever brook living in a worie manner than their fathers did ; which leans to be a prevalent idea amongft them : fo that a family in this - ltuation are fure to leave but one reprefentative, un- els tome gentleman builds cottages, and gives away . .jS ,around them, which it may eafily be imagined is not very common. This prevents marriages among the fons 3 for, as they cannot have their
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