An interesting and comfortable way of reaching Stockholm from Gothenburg is by canal. Between these two cities are many lakes, including Vener, Vetter, HjelmÄr, and Malar. These are so linked together by canals, that they form a waterway across Sweden through which fairly large passenger and cargo-boats can go from the North Sea to the Baltic.

Travelling by canal-boat is, as a rule, tedious. It is interesting in this case. The steamer passes through a country which has many towns, churches, and castles that make you think of long, long ago, and also many factories and workshops that speak of the present. You rarely lose sight of vast expanses of water and great stretches of forest. In the distance you can see a whitewashed parish church glistening in the sun, here and there farmhouses and woodmen’s huts nestling among the trees, and sometimes the castle where the nobleman of the district lives. How comfortable is the steamer, ever fresh-looking with its white paint, with its nice dining-room, clean and tidy cabins, food beautifully cooked, and well served by smart waitresses. Both mind and body have enough to make the time pass pleasantly.

To avoid the monotony of the first part of the journey, many join the steamer at Gothenburg about midnight, and arrive at TrollhÄttan early in the morning. After morning coffee with kringlor (ring-twisted) biscuits, you leave the steamer while it passes through the locks, eleven in number, and walk along the shaded paths until you come to the falls. They consist of a series of six rapids, and are noted not on account of their heights, but because of the volume of water. They are playing a large part in the industrial life of the country, and are destined to do much more.

In a very short distance the steamer has ascended 144 feet, and once more enters the GÖta River, along which it travels until it enters Lake Vener, the largest lake in Scandinavia. It is very picturesque and beautiful, with many houses and villages on its banks. More than thirty rivers run into it. You very often meet steamers and sailing-vessels, and for their safety a great many lighthouses have been erected. It is not till you have passed through this lake that you enter the GÖta Canal.

The canal owes its origin to a desire in the sixteenth century to connect Lake Vener with the Baltic. It was not until 1808 that Baltzar von Platen, with the assistance of the English engineer Telford, staked out the course, and the work was completed in 1820 at a cost of about £1,000,000. Very many soldiers were engaged on it. The whole distance is about 125 miles, which is a long distance to travel by canal steamer, especially as passing through locks is slow, but the beauty and variety of the scenery, as well as the sights, ancient and modern, always keep up the interest.

After entering the canal at SjÖtorp, the steamer proceeds very slowly, always ascending, until it reaches Lake Vetter, 308 feet above the Baltic. Next morning, when you come on deck, you find that you have entered the lake itself. Away to the south is Sweden’s greatest fortress. You can see it in the distance with the tower surmounted by the national flag. Lake Vetter is clear and blue and is beautiful to look upon, but every mariner dreads it, as, without any warning, violent storms arise. Sailing across in a south-easterly direction, you come to a famous old town—Vadstena. How times have changed! Before you rise the massive castle with its towers and spire. It was built by Gustavus Vasa, who when fifty-eight years of age brought here his third wife, Katarina Stenboch, who was only sixteen and a very unwilling bride. The lake comes up to the walls and fills the moat, which is used as a harbour.

There are here remains of two churches, which owed their origin, as the town did, to a convent founded by S. Brigitta in the sixteenth century. She was a splendid woman, and drew to her side ladies of noble birth from many countries. Life was very strict in the convent, no one could possess any wealth, no intercourse was allowed with old friends except on rare occasions. Every nun was driven out at the Reformation, and not much is left to tell of their having lived there, but in the town many women make beautiful lace of the old patterns the nuns used to work. Often on board the steamer a woman brings a basketful to sell. The steamer re-enters the canal at Motala, where there are very large engineering works, at which all the science of modern times is employed in turning out all sorts of engines and mechanical appliances.

When the steamer is entering Lake Roxen, we are again carried back to the old days. Here is Vreta Closter, where of old kings were buried, and here, too, can be seen several coffins in one of the chapels. These contain the remains of members of the Douglas family, who fought under Gustavus Adolphus. Their descendants have a high place among Swedish nobility at the present day.

Lake Roxen is a beautiful sheet of clear crystal water, with steep, rocky, and wooded shores on the one side, and fertile plains on the other. There are many old ruins that command our attention.

On the last morning of our trip, we wake up to find ourselves among those pretty islands that dot the Baltic Sea off the Swedish coast. We have, however, to pass through the Sodertelie Canal, which is entered at a village of that name. Of this you can make no mistake, for on board come women and children with baskets full of ring-twisted biscuits, which are known all over the world. At last we enter Lake Malar, surely one of the most beautiful of lakes, and with a warm sun and blue sky overhead, no one can but feel at peace and full of happiness. Soon the spires of Stockholm are visible, and the canal voyage is over when we moor at the Riddarholm quay.