Holland, were present there. Linen was the principal commodity sold and bought in this fair. We saw the beautiful horticultural garden in this town and also walked through the pleasant avenue which goes all round south and east of the town. We visited also the Lorensburg Park where music and entertainments of various kinds delight the Gottenburgers every evening, and they assemble in large numbers.
12th August. We left Gottenburg by steamer for Christiania this morning, and came down the Gota river to the sea, (5 miles). We then turned northwards and went along the western coast of Sweden. The coast here is lined with clusters of small rocky islands, but unlike the islands in the Baltic Sea on the east coast of Sweden those of the west are almost destitute of all vegetation, and are bleak and perfectly bare. Large masses of rocks rise abruptly from the sea in every conceivable form, and we winded our way through these bleak islets. It is this bleak coast between Gottenburg and Christiania which was one of the principal resorts of the Vikings of old, and the present inhabitants of this coast are, my guide book tells me, "descendants of the ancient Vikings who have left representations of their exploits. * * At many points on the coast there are still remains of ancient castles, tombs, stone-chamber (valar), and monuments (buatastenar) so that this region (Bohuslan) is justly regarded as one of the cradles of the early Sagas of the North."
Besides fishing villages, towns have been erected on this coast, as people come here from all parts of Sweden
