slender, and were laden with cones of three different stages of growth; some a year old, not larger than large peas, and of a globular figure; others two years old, ovate and pointed; and the remainder ripe, with their scales open and reflexed, having been four years on the tree.
In the marshes on the left the note of the Snipe (Scolopax Gallinago) was heard continually.
At the distance of a quarter of a mile before we come to Troye, on the right, are the mineral springs of Hille.
Troye post-house, which Professor Rudbeck the elder used to call Troy, is surrounded by a smooth hill.
The road from hence lay across a marsh called by the people the walls of Troy, a quarter of a mile in extent, destitute of large trees. The Sweet Gale (Myrica Gale), laden with catkins about its upper branches, was abundant every where, as well as the Dwarf Birch (Betula nana). These form a sort of low alley through
which the road leads. This Betula had also catkins upon it, which are sessile and erect, not pendulous as in the Common Birch, about half an inch long and as thick as a goose-quill, situated about the lower part of the branches. The female catkins are more slender than the male, erect, and sessile upon the upper branches. Their scales ovate and almost leafy, green, pointed, three-cleft, with three pair of purplish pistils. Here and there grew the Marsh Violet (Viola palustris), with its pale grey flowers, marked with five or seven black forked lines on the lower lip.
In the forest on the other side of this marsh were many kinds of Club-moss (Lycopodium clavatum, Selago, alpinum, and complanatum).
A quantity of large stones lay by the road side, which the governor of the province had caused to be dug up in order to mend the high-way. They looked like a mass of ruins, and were clothed with Campanula serpyllifolia (the plant afterwards
called Linnæa borealis), whose trailing shoots and verdant leaves were interwoven with those of the Ivy (Hedera Helix).
On the right is the lake Hamränge Fjärden, which adds greatly to the beauty of the road.