Letters of a Prussian Traveller; descriptive of a tour through Sweden, Prussia, Austria, Hungary, Istria, the Ionian Islands, Egypt, Syria, Cyprus, Rhodes, the Morea, Greece, Calabria, Italy, the Tyrol, the Banks of the Rhine, Hanover, Holstein, Denmark, Westphalia, and Holland. Interspersed...

Front matter

LETTERS OF A PRUSSIAN TRAVELLER; DESCRIPTIVE OF A TOUR THROUGH SWEDEN, PRUSSIA, AUSTRIA, HUNGARY, ISTRIA, THE IONIAN ISLANDS, EGYPT, SYRIA, CYPRUS, RHODES THE MOREA, GREECE, CALABRIA, ITALY, THE TYROL, THE BANKS OF THE RHINE, HANOVER, HOLSTEIN, DENMARK, WESTPHALIA, AND HOLLAND. INTERSPERSED WITH anecooteg of Distinguigfieti Characters, AND ILLUSTRATIONS OF POLITIC/^. OCCURRENCES. BY JOHN BRAMSEN. >jf IN TWO VOLUMES. Ordine gentis Mores, et studia, etpopulos, et prælia dicam. — Virgil. VOL. I. LONDON: PRINTED FOR HENRY COLBURN, CONDUIT STREET. 1818. Printed by Cox and Baylis, Great Queen Streei, Lincoln's Inn-Fields. TO THE MOST NOBLE THE MARQUIS OF SLIGO, EARL OF ALTAMONT, VISCOUNT WESTPORT, fye. Stc. fye. MY LORD, Permit me to dedicate the following work to your Lordship, as a small tribute of gra titude for the numerous acts of kindness with which I have been favoured by your Lordship, both during the progress of the journey here described, and since my return DEDICATION. to England ; and I trust that your Lordship will not deem me presumptuous in indulging the hope that, in addition, you will allow me to embrace this opportunity of subscribing myself with profound sentiments of esteem and respect, Your Lordship's Most obliged and most obedient Humble servant, JOHN BRAMSEN. London, April 1818.

Preface

. 1 HE following letters contain remarks made during a tour performed in company with the eldest son of Sir John Maxwell, Bart. The period they embrace is from July 1813 to September 1815. When the reader considers the immense extent of the route, and the importance of many of the places visited, he will not expect that an equally minute des cription of all should be given. The journey through Sweden was perform ed with so much celerity, that I should have omitted the mention of it altogether, had I not considered it as forming a necessary link to the descriptions of more remote countries, and as in some measure likely to prove a guide to others taking the same route. Itineraries composed merely as specula tions, at a distance, being generally incorvol. i. b VI

PREFACE.

. rect, and rather apt to mislead than to assist the traveller, I have been the more minute in describing the posts and accommodations to be met with on the road. In the account of Berlin, my native city, it might naturally have been expected that I should have entered more largely into the state of its society, manners, &c. but the situation of the Continent, harassed by contending armies, and uncertain of the events which a day might produce, prevented me from mixing in its domestic circles. At the moment of my arrival, Berlin was menaced by the French, and its inhabitants were in the utmost confusion, so that little opportunity was afforded for investigation or curiosity, and to have described it, as it was when I formerly resided there, would have excited little or no interest. At Vienna, I was enabled to carry my observations further, and have therefore described it more minutely. But in no part of my work have I drawn upon

PREFACE.

. VII the fertility osinvention to make up for the barrenness of facts. The reader is therefore solicited to excuse occasional deficiencies, with the reflection that wherever his curiosity may be awakened, it is excited and gratified by truth alone. I am not without hope that this may be the case in my account both of the Hungarian peasants and of the Mainotte pirates, a race but little known to travellers, and whose ferocity keeps at a distance those who are anxious to inquire into their habits and manner of life. In my account of Athens I am particularly indebted to the kindness of our learned Cice rone Signior Lusieri, whose refined taste* added to a long residence there, enabled me* in his company, to view and describe those treasures of antiquity which it presents. In my accounts of Greece, Syria, Palestine and the Holy Land, it cannot be expected that after the indefatigable researches of Spon, Wheeler, and others of ancient, and Chateaub

PREFACE.

. briand, Clarke, &c. of modern times, that any extensive discoveries should be made. But the spirit of enterprise in man, added to the increa sing facilities afforded for its gratification, have put forth new objects of inquiry, which have enabled me to speak with certainty upon mat ters on which they only hazarded conjectures. I therefore feel confident that even in this often-explored region, the reader will find some curious and useful information to repay his labour. It may not be improper here to remark, once for all, that although I have been compelled occasionally to differ from former travellers who have visited the same places and described the same objects, I have not been actuated by any motives of hostility, but by a love of truth. As I have occasionally animadverted with some degree of severity upon certain recent traits in theFrench character, it may be permit ted'me to state that in doing thislhave not been influenced by any want of respect towards that

PREFACE.

. IX nation generally, but that my sole design has been to place in a prominent point of view those calamities which most European nations have sustained during the late war, and to depict the evils which an implicit obedience to the dictates of lawless ambition have pro duced in civilized society. I cannot close these prefatory observations without requesting indulgence for the many errors of style that I am conscious are to be met with in the ensuing pages : and, as an apology, I would beg leave to remind the reader that the composition was undertaken in a language not my own, but which is al most equally dear to me, as being that of a country whose character I venerate, and in which I have received kindnesses, the remem brance of which no vicissitudes I may here after be subject to, can ever efface from my mind. I trust that the public will pardon me for yielding in this place to the feelings of grab X

PREFACE.

. titude which are peculiarly excited by recollections of the past, and that those friends whose names occur in my narrative will ac cept the assurance that their services and their own estimable qualities will never cease to preserve a place in my memory. Above all, to my much respected friends, Sir John and Lady Maxwell, to whose kindness 1 owe the gratification of accomplishing the tour I have here described, and to their amiable son, in whose society it became a source of additional pleasure and instruction, I beg leave to offer my warmest acknowledgments, for all the obligations they have laid me under by their kind and hospitable intentions, both in this and every other instance, since I first had the honour of their acquaintance. CONTENTS VOLUME I. Page

Letter IV

Stralsund.— Awkward Dilemma in which the Author was placed. — General Account of the Place.— Griefswalde. — Berlin. — Vanity of Buonaparte.— •■ b CONTENTS. XII Page Anecdotes of two celebrated Generals. — Public Buildings.— Hatred to the French. — Society. — Patriotism, &c -. 21

Letter X

Hungary. — Devastations of the Danube. — Costume and Manners of the Hungarians. — Peasantry. — Character. — Privileges. — Produce. — Inns. — Antiquities. — Raab. — Picturesque Scenery. — Pest. — Buda. -Gratz — Its Castle. — Contest between the Austrians and French.— Bruck. — Schottwien. — Neustadt 106

Letter XVII

Convent at Cairo. — Description of the Town and its Inhabitants. — Opthalmia. — Old Cairo — Arabian Funeral.— Island of Raoda. — Nilometer. — Gizeh. — Mahomed Bey.— Bedouin Arabs. — Pyramids. — Sphinx. — Mamelukes. — Eastern Nile. — Damietta 215

Letter XXX

Road from Tripolizza to Argos. — Description of that Town. — Its Citadel and Antiquities. — Tomb of Agamemnon. — Mountain Scenery. — Corinth. — Aero-Corinth 51 LETTER -XXXI. Athens. — Turkish Kan. — Guard-House. — View of Megara. — Signior Lusieri. — Temple of Theseus. — Grave of Tweddell. — Areopagus. — Pnyx. — Acropolis. — Parthenon. — Lord Elgin. — Erectheum. — Theatre of Bacchus. — Monument of Lysicrates.— Temple of Jupiter-Olympus.- — Mount Anchesmus. — Climate, &c 57

Letter XXXV

Lecce. — Sketch of the Town. — Bari. — Ponte di Borino. — Banditti. — Naples. — Hotels. — Rouge et Noir Tables. — Illustrious Stranger.— Theatre of Don Carlos. — ■ The Chiaja. — Ball given by the English ,. 136

Letter XXXVI

Description of Naples. — Churches. — Studio Nuovo. — Mount Vesuvius. — Pompeii. — Portici, &c 173

Letter XXXVII

Departure for Rome — Mola di Gaeta. — Terracina. — Veletri. — Rome. — Inhabitants. — Hotels. — > Fashionable Circles. — Roman Ladies. — Louis Buonaparte. — The Prince Piombino. — Balls. — Theatres. — Carnival. — The Corso.— Horse Races.— The Pope. — Roman Execution 185

Letter XLII

Road to Venice. — Bergamo. — Verona. — Sketch of the Place. — Amphitheatre. — Vincenza — Works of Palladio.— Padua.— Outline of the Town. — Mestre — Gondola Packet. — Venice — Santo Marco.— Churches. — Palaces. — Public Buildings. — Rialto. — Arsenal. — Opera. — Society 293

Letter XLIII

Departure from Venice. —Mestre. — Treviso. — Bassano. -Trent. — Mountain Scenery. — The Tyrol. — Patriotism of its Inhabitants. — Bautzen. — Brixen. — Joseph Nagel .......... 316 LETTER XL1V. Munich.— Augsburgh. — Description ofthe Town. — Gallery of Paintings. — Arrival at Dettingen. — Account of the Battle of Hoechstadt. — Ulm. — Delightful Scenery.— General Mack.— Geisslingen — Arrival at Stutgard — Town and Environs. CONTENTS. XIX Page

Letter XLV

Departure for Hamburgh. — Manheim. — Heidelburg. — Frankfort on the Main. —Walks and Environs. — Wabern. — Adventure of Jerome Buonaparte. — Cassel. — Description of the Palace of Withelmshohe. — Elector of Hesse-Cassel. — Munden. — Bustle among the Fashionables. — Gottingen. — University. — Brugge. — Hanover and Environs. — Hamburg. —Climate. — Commerce. — Society. — Anecdotes, &c : 341

Letter XLVI

Departure from Munster. — The Hague.— Description ofthe Town. —Inhabitants. — Dutch Dress. — Journey to Helvoetsluys. — Packets. —Voyage to Harwich. — Grateful Sentiments of beholding again the British Shore - 383 Appendix Copy of a Turkish Passport ERRATA. VOL I. Page line 4 — 8, for when an officer, read when a noncommissioned officer. 12 f_» ■ 12, — we jmt up, read we alighted. 34 22, — four noble statues, read five noble statues. 34 23, — of Ziethen, read of Ziethen and Keith. 65 — — 9, — river Hanack, read Hauna. 6* 9, — Hanakers, read Haunacker*. 94 i( now French ambassador ought to be in a note. 88 1, the anecdote ofthe Prince of Parma should be in a note, 90 — I, for in conjunction, read at the head. 90, 25. — obtained at Leipsig, read at Bar-sur-Aube. 97, 8, — not much, read scarcely. 1 19, — — 26, — /fire (Jnaden, read Ihro Gnaden. 184, 2, _ against the Mohabit Arabs, read Wahabite Arabs. 431, — — 22, — which leads to Alexandria, read which leads to Rosett* 2IS, 15, — the bed on the hill, read the bed on the Nile. 456, — — is, — strawberries, read a kind of berries. 456, 21, —stood the identical, read stand* the identical tree. 471f — — 8, — Kedion, read Kedron. VOL. II. 78, — 2, — Hidias, read Phidias. 374, — to, —Count de Donau, read Doling LETTERS, 8sc.

Letter I

Departure for Gothenburg. — Description of the Town. — Necessary Precautions for Travellers in Sweden. — Money of the Country. — Want of Specie. — Departure for Trolhœtta. Gothenburg, August 1813. Yo u it repeated solicitations drew from me a promise to give you an exact and unvarnished account of my tour to the Continent. I have not forgotten that promise ; and to prove how faithfully I am disposed to keep it, I write to you from the very first town we touch at on our landing. A voyage of eight days has brought us from the port of Leith to that of Gothenburg, or Gotheburg. Our passage was VOL. I. B HARBOUR AND TOWN fair, but afforded no adventures worthy of notice. The entrance of the harbour is rough, and requires some attention in the mariner to clear it without danger ; the port itself is very spacious, and well secured by a strong fort.

We had scarcely dropped anchor, when an officer came on board to demand the names of the captain and passengers, and to examine our passports. His dress was not the most remarkable for cleanliness ; and had he seen the same long service as his uniform, we should have had no difficulty in pronouncing him a veteran. His behaviour, however, was polite, and instead of making an exorbitant demand upon our purses, he very modestly contented himself with requesting a little to bacco for his pipe : this moderate demand was granted, and he left us perfectly contented. The captain went on shore to obtain permission for us to land, but we were detained full five hours on board before the order came. We then procured a boat, and after an hour's rowing reached the canal, which passes through the town, and which has a very gay and pleasant appearance, being bordered by a row of trees on each side.

We took up OF GOTHENBURG. 3 our quarters at Blomm's, one of the best inns in the place. Gothenburg is a fine large town, the second in rank in the kingdom, situated at the mouth of the Gotha, on the Categat. The main street, which runs from east to west, and nearly divides the town into two equal portions, is remarkable for its regular and well-built houses ; but the other streets consist chiefly of low wooden build ings, and are besides narrow, and badly paved. The frequency of fires, and particularly that which happened in 1803, which reduced the greater part of the town to ashes, had, we understood, induced the Government to issue an order, that no wooden houses should for the future be built within the walls : this is a laudable regulation, and well worthy the imitation of other continental towns.

Several canals pass through the place, and tend greatly to promote the objects of com merce. The Custom-House stands fronting the town, and does not exercise any very se vere scrutiny upon the traveller ; for the con sideration of a few shillings, his trunks, baggage, &c. are allowed to pass without exa mination. The objects most worthy of the visitant's b NECESSARY PRECAUTIONS. notice, are the Swedish and German churches,. the college,, the town-house, the East-India house, and the hospital ; most of these build ings, however, are of inferior architecture. Besides the inn above-mentioned, there is another good inn, kept by Segeline ; the ac commodations at both are tolerably good, but not very remarkable for cleanliness. The population is estimated at about 18,000. A considerable trade is carried on with England, and the East and West Indies.

The climate is considered as healthy, but the winters are very severe. As I know it is your intention to visit Sweden, permit me, Sir, as one who has gained some knowledge by experience, to give you the following advice. It is abso lutely necessary for you to have a servant who speaks the language of the country, otherwise you will experience the greatest difficulties, and be liable to much imposition. Should you engage a servant in Sweden, you must be careful to get one from the country, as those from the capital are by no means the most desirable. My friend Mr. Maxwell, and my self, have to acknowledge our obligations to Messrs. Kenedy and Aberg, tlie heads of an STATE OF THE INNS. 5 eminent commercial house in Gothenburg, for their kindness in endeavouring to obtain a servant for us, and we have only to regret, that the individual, whose name is Nostram, rendered himself, by his inattention and abuse of confidence, unworthy of their kind recommendation, of which we have already reason to complain.

We are told the inns of the smaller towns in Sweden are generally! bad, and the accommodations miserable; it will, therefore, be necessary to furnish your self with your own linen. I would also recommend you to lay in a store of bread at the larger towns for your use on the road ; as, we are assured, that in thevillage is black and bad : imitate Horace in his journey to Brundusium : a utra, " Callidus ut soleat humeris portare viator." I also advise the traveller to take his own harness, as the horses are generally very iri accoutred. These animals are here very small, and the peasants who drive them al most as stupid as their beasts. It requires very resolute efforts to induce the drivers to get on ; but should they prove insolent or untractable, SWEDISH MONEY. there is a book kept at every post-house, in which travelers may enter their names, for the purpose of having them brought before the proper magistrates to answer for their conduct.

If the journey requires expedition, it is necessary to send an express to order the horses, as otherwise they will keep the traveller waiting for many hours at every post. It is usual to pay eight skillings (Swedish moneys per mile to the express, the present — trinkgeld — included. It may be useful to give you the following estimate of the Swedish money ; Silver. — 12 runstycks are equal to 1 skil ling; 48 skillings, 1 silver dollar or banco dollar ; 1 silver dollar is worth at par 5 shillings English. Paper. The notes of Government are in plotes, ricksgalds, and banco dollars ; a plote is equal to 10 skillings, or Is. 8rf. English ; a ricksgald dollar bears a discount of 50 per cent., so that our silver dollar is equal to one and a half of a ricksgald dollar ; a banco dol lar is worth the same as the silver dollar.

The post in Sweden is paid at the rate of eight skillings per mile for each horse ; not less POST-HOUSES AND PASSPORTS. 7 than sixteen in Stockholm, and at some towns twelve. The fee to the postilions is quite optional, and not required by law ; two skil lings at every relay will satisfy them. A great convenience to travellers is the printed tarif, which is kept at every post-house for their information, and which enables them to avoid imposition. I must not omit mention ing the necessity of having the passport exa mined at the police office of the first town travellers reach, as otherwise they are liable to be stopped in the journey to the capital. There is in Sweden a great deficiency, ot rather a total want of specie. No coins of gold and silver, and but few of copper, are seen in the ordinary transactions of life.

The paper-money, which properly speaking is the only currency of this country, consists of bills or notes banco of ten, twelve, fourteen, or sixteen skillings : the twelve and sixteen are the most in use. However, with a little small coin and this paper money travellers may make their way through the whole kingdom ; but it is necessary to be provided with small notes, as the peasants will not change the larser ones, and care must be taken not to tear these notes, as, unless in a sound state, b INHABITANTS. the postmasters refuse to take them without considerable reduction. But, you will naturally ask me, what are the manners and habits of the people ; what is the society of Gothenburg ? I candidly answer, that as I write plain matter of fact, and have no views of entertaining or more properly speaking, of deluding your judgment by exaggerated descriptions and a parade of information I never obtained, I cannot reply to this question satisfactorily.

Our journey through Sweden will be too rapid, and our stay in her towns too short to form just ideas of these particulars. This, however, I can with truth say, that so far as my means of observing reaches, I have found the Swedes civil and attentive to travellers, and in no respect deficient in the duties of hospitality,

Letter II

Arrival at Trolhœtta. — Description of the Town. — Canal and Sluices. — Town of Wennersburg and Lake of the same name. — Cultivation of the Country. — Stockholm. — Description of this Town. — Miserable State of the Inns. — Environs. — Politics. Stockholm, August 1813. The first place at which we stopped, after quitting Gothenburg, was Trolhœtta, a small town miserably built of low wooden houses, and with very irregular streets. It is romanti cally situated on the river Gotha, and surround ed by picturesque and diversified scenery. We found but one inn in the place, which is remarkable for nothing but its uncleanli ness and the wretchedness of its accommodations : the inmates too were rude and inattentive. We paid a visit to the canal, which is a stupendous piece of workmanship, hollowed out through an immense pile of rock one hundred and fifty feet high, which operation was mostly effected by gunpowder ; altogether TROLHŒTTA, ITS CANAL it presents an object of vast and persevering industry.

The sluices also merit the attention of the traveller. This canal with its sluices, forms part of a plan long projected by the Swedes, to unite the Baltic and the German ocean by means of an inland naviga tion. Had this design been fully carried into execution, it would not only have improved the interests of their internal trade, but also have tended to prevent the interruption of their foreign commerce, which is sure to be the case when there is a war with Denmark. The course of the river Gotha held out the hopes of rendering this great national plan practicable. It issues from the northern ex tremity of the lake Wenner, and after a varied course of nearly seventy miles, falls into the sea near Gothenburg. A number of shoals and cataracts, however, render a considerable portion of the stream unnavigable ; and par ticularly at this place all further navigation would, by less enterprising minds, have been deemed naturally impossible.

But perseverance has in a great measure succeeded in overcoming the obstacles which nature seemed to have interposed. We were informed by our conductor, that the canal cost 380,000 thalers AND SLUICES. WOLVES. 11 banco, equal to about a£90,000 sterling ; it produces the company about 30,000 thalers banco a year. The Crown Prince of Sweden (_Bernadotte) visited this place, in 1812, on which occasion he was presented by the Com pany with a handsome barge. Our guide was careful to point our attention to a rock on which was inscribed the date of a visit paid here by the Royal Family. By the way, I must not neglect to point out our friend the conductor to your notice. He is a schoolmaster of the town, who for some small consideration will be happy to accompany you, and communicate his little stock of knowledge.

He speaks German and French, and I recommend him to the notice of such of your friends as may visit this place. From the canal we went to see the two old sluices, and the five waterfalls ; they are low, but surrounded by a variety of grand and beautiful scenery : the rocks of granite are tossed about in a thousand rude and fantastic forms, yet pleasingly diversified by tufts of underwood, junipers and stunted firs. Our friend the schoolmaster told us that in winter this place is much infested withwolves, and that WENNERSBURG. WILD SCENERYT. for their security the inhabitants are obliged to hunt them in parties of four or five hun dred. The bear too is frequently found prowling in the fir woods ; hares and other game also appeared to be very numerous. On quitting Trolhœtta, we took a little cir cuit from the main road to see Wennersburg.

This town is small and built of wooden houses; but pleasingly situated on the Wenner lake, at the north of the Gotha ; the shores are picturesque, and the waters remarkably clear and full offish. We put up at the post-house, and found the accommodations tolerably good. The road from Gothenburg to Trol hœtta, and from thence to Wennersburg, is excellent, the country wild and romantic, but the soil poor and the state of cultivation rather backward, owing more to the incle mency of the season than to any apparent neglect of industry in the inhabitants. On passing the bridge of Ronnam, on the road from Trolhœtta, we had a noble view of the river Gotha and a fine burst of wild scenery. The rest of the country on our way to the capital was not deficient in picturesque beauty. Hills and dales, rocks and retiring vallies, spreading plains with their numerous STOCKHOLM.

POPULATION. 13 lakes, forests, meadows and arable land, lay blended together in pleasing contrast and delightful variety. After Wennersburg we passed through no other place of any considerable interest, till we reached Stockholm. There are few towns whose situation is more striking and romantic than that of the capital of Sweden. It occupies two peninsulas, a larger and a smaller one, between a bay of the Baltic and the waters of lake Mælar, besides seven small rocky islands. The town is large and regularly built; the houses are chiefly of stone, or of brick stuccoed, and roofed with tiles ; the streets are rather narrow and badly paved. Its population is estimated at about 70,000. Among the buildings chiefly worthy of notice is the palace, which is a large triangular edifice, uniting elegance with grandeur.

It rises from the centre of the city, and com mands an extensive prospect in every direction. The Museum, though not a very con siderable building, is enriched with many fine specimens of sculpture, and some good paint ings by Rubens, Raphael, Vandyke, &c. The bridge before the palace is a conspicuous ornament to that part of the town. The HARBOUR. INNS. opera, the theatre, the palace of the Princess, and the Bank, are, however, by no means re markable either for the elegance of their design or the taste displayed in the architecture. The Riddezholm, in which are the tombs of the Kings of Sweden, is, properly speaking, the only handsome church in the town. The harbour is an inlet of the Baltic, and affords a noble anchorage for ships of the largest burthen, which are enabled to lie close to the quay.

The merchants' houses, which run parallel with this quay and front the ship ping, and the Admiralty Isle, are lofty, and in a pleasing and graceful style of architecture. At the extremity of the harbour, several streets rise one above another in the form of an amphitheatre, and exhibit a very striking outline to the view. It will surprise you to hear, that in so large a trading town there are no good inns ; yet such is the case, as they are generally very deficient in cleanliness, and on the whole but poorly conducted, Those kept by Robin son and Frieze are generally reckoned the best ; but we found thev hotel kept by a Scotch woman, of the name of Jones, the cleanest in town, and provided with the best THE CROWN PRINCE. 15 accommodations. I would recommend the traveller who visits this capital to hire furnished rooms, and to dine at this hotel.

Cul tivation thrives but ill in the neighbourhood of the town ; indeed the climate is little cal culated to bring vegetation to any state of perfection. The winters are severe, but the climate generally esteemed salubrious. It is not our intention to make any stay in this place, and therefore you must not expect that I am to introduce you into the societies of Stockholm. With men of science we have had no opportunities of becoming intimate, and with the scandalous chronicle of the place I have neither leisure nor inclination to become acquainted. The Crown Prince appears to be a great favourite with the people of Sweden. It is to his prudence that they attribute the peace with England, and the consequent revival of trade ; indeed it is but justice to state, that this prince has maintained the honour, and watched over the interests of his country with a very commendable zeal, and that the excellence of his character well entitles him BERNADOTTE. to the esteem and affection which he enjoys among a people, whom he is one day destined to govern.* * The prince has since obtained this exalted station, and, from the character he has hitherto maintained, it is anticipated that he will pursue those maxims which alone can tend to make his people great and happy, by extending the interest of commerce and agriculture and promoting the reign of peaceful arts.

Letter III

Departure for Orebro. — An Account of the Town. — Ys tad t ; Description of this place and its Environs.— Departure for Stral- SUND. Ystadt, August 1813. From Stockholm we took an excursion to Orebro, a. small town, the houses of which are very low and constructed of wood ; yet its general appearance is by no means so gloomy as many of the towns we passed. Upon a small island in the middle of the town, formed by two branches of the river Swart, stands the castle, formerly a royal residence, and now remarkable for being the place of the assembly of the Diet. We saw the king's apartments, which are very plainly furnished. At the entrance of this building stand two lofty towers, adapted for defence in case of necessity. The inn is kept by a Frenchman, and is tolerably good. From this place we had a long and dreary journey down the country to Ystadt.