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.

    620/684 page 548
    Very large reviews are intended in Scania, and in Finland ; great military ftores are continually laid up, and every thing lias the appearance of forecaft and defign. Unable to reward thole officers who ad¬ hered particularly to him at the revolution, with penfions or pecuniary emoluments, he has found means to attach them by ribbons and ftars; which he cliflributed without parlimony, and which are equally effectual, without draining an exhaufted treafury. He has likewife founded a new order of knighthood, knoiJvn by the name of Vafa, deflgned fer men of merit in every ffation, and which is conferred, with¬ out the leal! attention to birth or diftindtion, on every man who deferves well of his country. He is adtive on all occafions, more commonly on horfeback than in a carriage, and has rarely any the parade of royalty. In his perfon he is rather low, and inclined to thin- nefs. His face is not handfome, and what is lingular, one fide of it does not refemble the other, his features being a little diftorted : an accident which probably happened in the birth. “ The Swedes univerfally lament that he has no children by the queen ; and it is on this account that his next brother Prince Charles is now married, in hopes of an heir to the throne. The king is faid not to be of anamourous complexion, or attached to wo¬ men.” Notvvithftanding the cold climate in which Sweden [1774- is fituate, as fome improvements have been brouohi to bear, fo likewife many others might vet be made*in agriculture, as well as in commerce! There are ccr~* tainJy vaft tradts of wafte land capable of improve¬ ment. But the greateff rnifchief is that in many places the land, which was drained of its inhabitants to fup ply Charles XH. with foldiers, fti 11 remain defolate to the great difadvantage of the Pate. coPPer money of that prince conftitutes the chief currency; His fifiitious dollars how pafs for fomewhat more than half a farthing each. Silver is fcarce, and gold hardly to be fecn in common circula¬ tion. Paper money is the only fubftitute for this de- fedt; and they have bank notes paffingin many parts of Sweden, not exceeding one Lulling and fix-pence value. r All thefe however, are defedts, which it may not beimpoffible for a wife government to remedy. The Swedes are a people not devoid of emulation ; nor is this emulation confined only to military atchievments. 1 ho there is not a country where the finer arts can be expedted to flourifh, as in the more genial climate c 5 Pucb as.are neceflary to the well-bein'? of a it ate, would thrive with proper cultivation. It remains to be feen whether Guftayus III, and his fuc- ceflors will render this nation of heroes happy within themfelves, and refpedtable in the eyes of Eu- rope. J TRAVELS THROUGH NORWAY. With a Delcriptisnof the Country, by Erick Pontoppidon, Bilhop of Bergen. T^TORWAY is now an appendage to the crown , . o Denmark ; but being confidered as a feparate domain, and its natural hiftory furnifhing many ob- jedfs worthy the attention of the curious reader, we have judged it neceffary to give a particular defcrip- tion of the country, as felefted from the belt autho- ' rities. ofTl d^or^thf^ S’ Ilke the Swedes, were famous of old for their valour; and from thefe rugged regions proceeded the Nordmans, (i. e. North-Men8 or ho.th Men who over-ran fo great a part of Eu¬ rope They have had their heroic chiefs and princes bS t7o rV PJetyuand arms> 0f whom they fceign doming: 8 beC°me fub>fls t0 a Norway ftrctcheS along a fen coaft, to the weft- ? “ d ;V ‘|IC ’ are 'numerab|e little iflands and rocks ome indeed are no lets than trine leagues over but’ he greater part are fo Email as to be only inhabited by filhermen or pilots } fo that Norway I,^defended by a rampart which conftfts perhaps of more than a bo'ttomof theTa^^dTh!-“ haVe,their bafa a' the only above the h i Capita,s a fcw fathoms C^,oVev“rlyd t0 ’arge ftiPS Wi'b-' the government h-iTT''' as much as poffible, iron rings to be fiied tnth It14r.1lreds of large thips, where there is nor ^ ^ r?c^s> as moorings for Jefides J :rof^Z^t0:fSk ^m.CUS ftreamydCa'd Mal^ -S koe, an ifland lying between^8 ^ name frDlT1 Maf- jn Lofoden, and the ifland Ve^ HffleSSen> league dillant, and the flream^akes Us ivay between the ifland and coaft on each fide. Between Lofoden and Motkoe it is near 400 fathoms deep ; but between Ver and Mofkoe it is fo thaljow, that not even a lmall fhip can pafs it. - * When it is flood the ftream runs up the country between Mofkoe and Lofoden, with prodigious rapi¬ dity ; and when the tide ebbs, returns to the fea with more none and violence than that of the louclcft ca¬ taracts. it is heard at the diftance of many leagues, and forms a vortex or whirlpool of great extent* and depth fo violent, that if a fhip comes near it, it is inftantly, and irrefiftably drawn into the whirl, and 01 (appears, being in a moment carried to the bottom,, where it is dafhed to pieces againft the rocks ; and juft at the turn of ebb and flood, when the water becomes till for about a quarter of an hour, it rifes a^ain in icattered fragments, fcarcely to be known for the parts of aflup. When agitated by a ftorm, it has reached vcfiels at the diftance of more than five miles, where the^ crews have thought themfelves in perfect fecu- Even animals, when they have come too near the vortex, have exprefTed the utmoft terror on finding the ftream irreflftable. Whales are frequently car- water i7* n** ^ m°ment the7 f«f the force of the a ter, they ftruggle againft it with all their mio'ht, howlmg and bellowing in a frightful manner. The the -naPaenS °Ften t0 bcars’ who attempt to fwim to the ifland to prey upon the ffieep. he large Items of firs and pines, rife again fo fhiveped and fplinte'red, that the pieces look aslf co- vered with bridles. The whole phenomena are the cffnS°/hhe:i0lenCeaf thedni]yeEb and flood, oc- between the ISaT*®0 °f ** ^ - i» court* la the fitmmer nights the horrifon, when unclouded.
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