The Sun.
London, England, 1856-05-19 00:00:00

s
hold his memory in affectionate veneration ;
name, she says, is a touchstone to Swedish enthly

slastn.
m aT
ihne following
h the san
hospitableank usin
anecdoteignhabi t tso f
ofa ad ililietr
country post station were found on the arriva
the authoress and her companion :
" mere was an air of excitement abeue the quiet,
out-ofthe-world little place, which was evidentbeir,
i
lessened by the report that an English traveller 1304
rived. The ho,te s, in particular, seemed to be
retiuve,
tress, ae o d discvering that my companion WAS !3
she appr ached her cetifi ,entiary, and begged her t°
ask me to tell them the Swedish for keek.
" I naturally thouget of the English kick, but ItllierT;
nothing of keek ; however, the reason of the ingt`o
was soon made known. Some hours previouslyriirl
English gentlemen had arrived there, as usuallotfeer
change eof herses4leFrom the time that their to
het,
ekjuite departel, they had, the still wonder-strickeo!eveit,
declared, continued to move about, crying
keek and saying no other word.
" In vain they tried to satisfy the unintelligible 7
all that the house could afford was presented in ,e'so
and at every renewed offer the word keek, keek
repeated. Whoever they met, whoever came to Uri,
heard only this word. At last a man who had beee_edii
Norway, and had heard the word chicken,' ellr 50
guessed it was the English for that creature, called,'
in Swedish. Forthwith, the good-hearted hostess,
'On hospitable thoughts intent,' e
rushed nett and sacrificed her only hen, cooked it'll 4
mode n•,t most calculated to render its masticatioo;nt
laborious, and offered it up to the hungry and inlPa !riel
travelers. Alas ! they left it uneaten, and only
keek, keek !' more tban ever.
" It certainly was a chick they wanted, however,
said Friherrinan.
" And when did they cease to cry keek?' I asked
" Never,' said the afflicted host and hostess,
,1;;8
fixedly in my face with profound gravity— 1:4 Bor,
ose
They were saying it here for three hours while the Pee
horses were being brought, and when they got into said,
carriage and were driving off, the last word they 'Ol
when skjuit-bonden was getting into his seat,
keek, keek
" I burst into an uncontrollable laugh. dis:
Well,' said Friherrinan, 'your countrymen sot
tress arouses you, yet you cannot tell what they toe, the
' 'be
" 0 yes, they said quick ! quick ! They wants
horses ; when they got them at last they wanterleet_.° to
dievengeickLquick ! Travellers sometimes s Toes
even It a 6
number are not.' "
The feeling towards the English was °rie
friendly, but many were disposed to regard,,tb'he
Russians with a less favourable sentiment. 1'
annexation of Finland to the Russian empire 3,1)e;
pears to have given little satisfaction. The read
will not be sorry to learn, however, that Ruselo
and the Russians occupy a very small space in tob,
volumes—indeed they are only casually Ine
tioned. Neither does the war present itself to on
notice, with the exception of a few incidental re'
marks in the description of the Biltic islands.
Among the most formidable of our authoress'
undertakings was the descent of the Falun Mine.
She was induced to make this adventurous exr
,lition by the representations of her travelling 0°131,i
panion, who declared she was not afraid, an
would encourage her. However,when equipped for
°r
0
the exploit, she found her leader had come to t
conclusion to remain on the surface of the sort
instead of venturing below it. Our traveller, Who
ff
ppears by no means deficient in spirit, Set o,
r She had previously read Dr. Cla,rke's ,
~ousts of his descent into two mines in Sweden
ene a very clang•rous and difficult one, into t"
iron mine of Persherg, and another, a compare'
.;ively easy one, into the copper mine of Fait
However, she soon found her hopes and expee.
riot's di-4,ippoiuted, as the following description
will show :
" The de-cent of this latter mine was easy virbel;
Clarke visited it fifty years ago, and continued to be ea°
until about two years previous to our visit, when an e";
tenisive run t sec place which destroyed the winding easy
flight o' steps, which I had understood led all the wag'
for two hundred fathoms, down to the bottom. it
descent, ther-fore, was, after all, to be made almost a'
icily as Dr. Clarke describes the terrible descent int) the
iron mine of Pereberg.
"This was by means of perpendicular ladders, pia',
in a series of very salad platforms, which serve".
anding-places ; but each platform borders on a prey
dice, where you hear the s ,und of water gurgling
lerkness ; the etaves of the ladders are cold, slippery'
ivered with Mack mud and soft ice. Imagine an
:9',l';
emp; to g ) down these in thick tiarknese, with a gal
,tandi .g ou the platform above you. holding a torebt
vilich casts its light over your head only to bewilder d:
04' it you turn that head to look where your steps lead
you only . see profound glo en beneath, and, for auge,
sou know, you are to step off that ladder into—veht
That inquiry the men seems to think unnecessary--"'",
'ells you to go on.
had
" h e
was in such a position that the extract I t",
.bad from Dr. C arke, and which had beeeo mistakineel
applied to this mine' unfortunately occurred to me ee"
' In addition to the danger to be apprehended from the
elate of tee ladders, the staves were covered with ice
au l, an I rend-ire iso slippery that we could have ee
iependence on our hands if our fees failed us. Then, to
;otnplete our fears, as we mention this to the miners,
they said, Have a care; it was just so one of our
women fell as she was descending to her work.' And
hat became of her r 'Became of her ?—she became
partkaka !
"Here. indeed, another observation of his was alse'
tpdlicable As the lab ,urere are not accustomed
receive strangers they never use precautions, nor effer,
the assistance usually afforded in more frequented mines.
Che weight of a great pea-coat was a rather unfortunate
equipment to choose for such a descent.
A miner fame up the ascending ladder ; as the
torch-light flashed on his face it appeared to me very
like one of those that used to frighten my childhood,
when seen in the reflection of blazirse spirits and sulphur
eurned on a pewter dish. He looked at me as vie
sassed, and his look seemed to say, am glad to g°
up, and you are foolish to go down.'
"At length we came to the chamber where all the
Kings of S weden, from time immemorial up to sing
Oscar, have eaten a dinner ; for by an ancient usage
ties is one of the many penalties inflicted on the Swedish
Kings. To dance in the town-hall on New_year's
right, to drive through the Djurgard in procession 00
the lst of May, to descend into Store Kopparbergen on
their accissien to the throne—these, and many similar
ittle performances, are entailed on the possession 'of
hat crown."
" Not many visitors to this mine go further than this
royal cha eb,r. And indeed the vision, to one who
does so fer only once in a lifetime—lie first and only
iine—may haunt him afterwards. Tne glare of fitful
'got, the eulpeuroue fame's of those who seem to have
parted for ever hoe' the tireght sun and the light of
earth—the sound of u see,' water—the horrid depths
yawning so close that a single step aside would send one
own as the mine-master's son sent a large block of
wood for my instruction, teaching me bf action what he
lid not say in words. All this, and more than this, yon
sill see, and hear the sounds of the block as it rebounds
From ledge to ledge, falling, falling, and bear the sound
coming fainter, fainter, till after the lapse, 'should
think, of nearly a minute, it is hear! no more.
"It was the discovery that, on landing on one of the
very small platforms, I had stepped back within half a
foot of one of thee gulfs, that totally freed me from any
desire to see more of the copper mine of Falun. After
that my courage failed, and I only recollect clinging to
et, upright ladder, and crying to my stolid guide, 'I
will go up ! I will go up !'
"He said afterwards that be feared then the chance of
my ever going up was small, for he believed I should be
physically deprived of the power of movement, and re'
•Ilain there, encumbering, I suppose, the mine descent
for ever."

irtunately she "made an effort," and pre-
sently emerged into the light of day ; " but not
for half the mines of Golcanda," she exclaims,
"do I think I would again go into the copper
mine of Falun." We think the reader will hardly
be surprised at her arriving at this conclusion,
especially when he learns that, in addition to her
alarm and risk during the descent itself, that she
was crippled from fatigue, as she pathetically de-
scribes it. Certainly her picture of Stora Kop-
parbergen, as the Swedes term it, is less attractive
than her other northern scenes, and few of her
readers aro likely to be tempted to make its de-
scent, even though it claims to have been worked
in the time of Solomon's Temple. To all who wish
for a gay and varied panorama of Northern life
and scenery, and for a work full of information,
conveyed through an entertaining medium, we
commend these volumes, as among the most lively
and generally attractive travels that have appeared
for some time.

CRYSTAL PALACE—FIVE SHILLING DAY, MAY 17.—
Admissions on payment, 357; do. by season tickets,
1,333 ; total visitors, 1,740.
THE AMERICAN MAILS.—The royal mail steam ship
Africa, Capt. Stone, sailed from the Mersey, on Satur-
day, about 10 a.m., for New York, wil h the usual weekly
mails for the North American Continent, ninety-three
passengers, and a fair cargo of merchandise.
An audacious robbery was committed ten days ago in
Spain. A picture of the Assumption, generally ascribed
to Murillo, or at least to one of his best pupils, was taken
from the high altar of the church of Mendigaren, near
Vittoria
A VERY HIGH WIND—SERIOUS DAMAGE.—During
yesterday a very high wind prevailed in London, and
considerable damage was done in several parts in con-
-equence. In Hyde•park at least twenty.five trees were
ini,re or less irjured, some of them being actually torn
up by the roots. Two of them were blown down, while
many people were taking shelter under them from the
rain, ann it is very remarkable no serious injuries were
,ustaiiied. As it was, however, several of the bystanders
received brun.es on various parts of the body and had
their clothes spoiled. In the Green-park also some o
the trees were torn up by the roots, and huge branches
of others were hurled to a considerable distance. The
preparations for the forthcoming peace fireworks, which
oad been erected opposite Berkley-street, Piccadilly,
were for the most part .blown down, and other portions
of the different structures were likewise injured. Many
chimney-pots, &c., were blown into the streets, and
some damage was done to the shipping in the Down
but although severs laccidonts of a minor character ha V
oczurrecl, we have heard of no lives being lot.