The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

SWEDISH TOWNS. 135tance those of Falun ; and on the north-west is the famous Finspang cannon foundry,situated in a romantic district, remarkable for its steep cliffs rising abruptly abovethe Norrkciping plain.MotaJa, at the outlet of the river from Lake "Wetter, is also a manufacturingtown, and in the same district are the two famous towns of Linkoping andJdnkoping, the former, near which Berzelius was born, now communicating withthe sea through a canal, the latter an industrial place lying between Lakes Abetterand Munksjon. Farther east, near the Husgvarna falls, is one of the principalmetallurgic centres of Sweden, where are manufactured fire-arms, sewingmachines, and instruments of all kinds ; south-east several blast furnaces fed byFig. 68. Norrkoi'Ing and Finspang.Scale 1 : 300,000.LoFG.the famous ores of the Taberg ; lastly, on the shores of Lake Munksjon, the largestmatch factory in the world,* whose produce has penetrated to the South SeaIslands and the interior of China. In 1876 there were here employed 1,800hands, who produced 200,000,000 of boxes, or about twenty billions of matches,valued at about £160,000, and using up entire forests. In an island of LakeWetter is the old royal residence of Wising, and to the north-west, betweenthe two great lakes, lies Skara, which boasts of being the oldest town inSweden.* Now exceeded by that of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, U.S., which paid (1879) a duty of £60,000, andconsumed 2,u00,000 cubic feet of timber the same year.L 2