The Poles live in a cold, flat, marshy country, in the north of Europe. The peasantry are in a miserable state, very dirty and frequently drunken; and their land is in a wretched condition.
The Swedish and Danish people have made many things to be exhibited in the World's Fair. Sweden is in the north of Europe, and the climate is very disagreeable, for it is extremely cold in winter, and intolerably hot in summer. The people do not live very luxuriantly; their bread is not only black and coarse, but so hard that they are sometimes obliged to break it with a hatchet; and this, with dried fish, and salt meat, forms the chief part of their food. Yet they are very hardy and contented. At Michaelmas, they kill their cattle and salt them, for the winter and spring. Their favourite drink is beer, and they delight in malt spirits; some of them have tea and coffee. Their houses are generally built of wood, and their cottages are made of rough logs; the roofs are covered with turf, on which the goats browse. The Swedish women do everything that men are employed to do in other countries; they plough, sow, and thresh, and work with the bricklayers; the country women, as well as the ladies, wear veils to shade their faces from the glare of the snow in winter, and from the scorching rays of the sun reflected from the barren rocks in summer.
The iron mines of Sweden are exceedingly useful; they furnish great quantities of metal, to be exported to England, for the use of our steel manufactories. The extensive forests supply numerous pine trees, which are cut down and sent to foreign countries, for ship and house building; while pitch and tar are made from the sap,—a preparation which gives employment to many of the inhabitants.
The Swedes contrive to make things from materials we should throw away as good for nothing; they twist rope from hogs'-bristles, horses' manes, and the bark of trees; and form bridles of eel-skins. The coarse cloth they wear they make themselves, for the women are continually busy spinning or weaving. Sweden is the birth-place of the famous botanist, Linnæus, and the charming singer, Jenny Lind.
Norway is united to Sweden, but it is still colder in winter and hotter in summer. The people live very simply, mostly on milk, cheese, and dried fish; and sometimes they have slices of meat, sprinkled with salt and dried in the wind. In some parts of the country, the people make bread of the bark of the pine tree; and in winter, for want of hay, they are obliged to feed their cattle on dried fish. The houses are built of wood, and many of the roads are made of the same material; while wooden fences are used instead of hedges. The Norwegians send metals, minerals, salt, butter, dried fish, and furs, to other countries.
Denmark is a very fine country, perfectly level, except a single ridge of mountains. Its chief products are grain, tobacco, flax, madder, and hops. There are a great many mines, but few manufactures carried on; though the Danish gloves are much esteemed. The climate is generally rather warm, but very wet. The Danes are mostly well-educated; they are like the Swedes in their manners and customs. They have sent many specimens of their industry to the Great Exhibition.
