The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

112 SCANDINAVIA.mining district. But, like those of Cornwall, these deposits have greatly fallen off,and can no longer compete with those of South America and Australia. On arocky headland projecting into Lake Runnen, near Falun, stands the house, greatlyvenerated by the Swedes, in which Gustavus Erichson, afterwards Gustavus I.,took refuge from the Danes in 1520.Farther north-west the Dalecarlian hamlets of Leksand, Orsa, Rattvik,Yamhus, and Mora, dotted round Lake Siljan, are the centres of extensivecommunes, where on feast days the peasantry gather in thousands at the campmeetings. Ostersund, on Lake Storsjon, still farther north, is the last placedeserving the name of town. It is an important station between Trondhjem andFig. 72. House of Gi'stavus Vasa.the Gulf of Bothnia, and its port is much frequented by the boats and littlesteamers plying on the lake. Beyond it are nothing hut hamlets and Lappcamping grounds, the most noteworthy of which is the Qvikkjokk dale, the" Paradise of Lapland," overlooked on the west by the snowy crests of Sulitelma.The seaports at the river mouths north of Gefle all resemble each other intheir general appearance and in the nature of their trade. Soderhamn,Iludiksvall, Sundsvall, Ilernosand, Umea, Skelleftea, Pitca, Lulea, Ranea, NederKalix, all ship tar and lumber in logs, beams, or planks, and have regular steamcommunication with Stockholm. The northernmost of these ports is Haparanda,or " Aspcnville," founded in 1800, when Tornca was ceded to Russia. According