When God divided the waters from the dry land, He is said to have forgotten Sweden. At least that is the explanation given by the Swedes for the extraordinary fact that one-twelfth of the entire area of their country is composed of lakes. It is probable that these sheets of water, like the hairs of our heads, are all numbered; but in both cases exact statistics are wanting. Glance at Baedeker's map of Sweden, and you will find it as thickly dotted with lakes as the midnight sky with stars; while the innumerable islands ■on its eastern coast look not unlike the roe of shad. Under these circumstances, one cannot be surprised to learn that he can sail directly across Sweden by a canal connecting the Catte-gat and the Baltic. The word "canal" suggests to an American .a scow, a mule and a tow-path; and traveling by that means is now as obsolete in the United States as reading by candle-light. The Gotha Canal, uniting Stock-holm and Gothenburg, is, however, a magnificent undertaking, reflecting honor on the nineteenth century which achieved it, and giving profit and pleasure to the twentieth century which still uses it. In 1890 I traversed Sweden in this manner. In 1900 I purposely made the same journey, in the same boat, the "Pallas," and with the same captain. The first voyage was delightful; the second was still more enjoyable; and if I could repeat the trip to-morrow, I would do so. A fast express train takes the traveler from Gothenburg to Stockholm in about ten hours; while the canal trip requires fifty-six, or practically three days and two nights. Tastes differ, of course, and what is pleasurable to one may prove extremely wearisome to another; but unless some very unusual circumstance occurs, I think that all who wish to have a thoroughly unique experience, and desire to see the country as no other mode of travel can reveal it, will be abundantly repaid for the extra time consumed in traveling by canal. The vessels in which the voyage is made are by no means "canal boats " in the common acceptation of the term. They are screw-propelling, iron-hulled steamers, about a hundred feet in length, and seaworthy enough to cross the Atlantic.

To one accustomed to ocean-liners they seem, indeed, like toys; but even toys are sometimes entertaining. Their tiny staterooms are like small compartments in a European railway carriage. In place of regular berths, such as most cabins have, we find in them two sofas, opposite each other, which are at night made up as beds. It is almost worth the price of the passage to learn in what an incredibly small area two human beings can sleep, dress and move about, without coming to blows; for the length of these diminutive bedrooms is but six feet and the width but five. It is especially necessary that those who desire to enjoy friendly relations at the end of the voyage should always recollect that in the narrow crevice between the couches there is room for only one pair of feet, and that while one occupant of the stateroom is moving about, the other should steadily cling to his perch. Nevertheless, for a few days, this Lilliputian life is quite amusing, and in any case the trifling discomforts are more than counterbalanced by the pleasures of the trip. Deck space of course is limited, when the full complement of passengers is carried; but there is plenty of room for seats, if not for promenading, and when the steamer is passing some of the locks, one has an opportunity to take long walks on shore. The dining-rooms on these boats are relatively as small as the cabins, the tables being so narrow that an absent-minded traveler, looking off at the scenery, has been known to help himself to soup from his opposite neighbor's plate.

Here a table d'hote dinner is served at two, and supper at eight, o'clock; but one can have a cold lunch, coffee and eggs, at any hour of the day. Moreover, the food is good and abundant, and unless the tourist is unreasonably exacting, he will have no cause to complain. A pretty feature of this life on the canal is that the waitresses who serve the meals present you with a book, in which they request you to open an account with yourself, and to note down under your own name whatever meals, drinks, or extras you may order. At the end of the journey you call a waitress and pay the amount that you have charged yourself with. Surely, if the Company is satisfied with this arrangement, the traveler ought to be. The Swedish system of the smorgasbord prevails upon these boats, as elsewhere in the country. At one end of the dining-room, as in most restaurants in Sweden, stands a side-board, covered with several kinds of cold meat, bread and butter, and smoked fish, beside s a number of bottles containing alcoholic " appetizers." Around this table, before the real repast begins, the passengers assemble informally, and help themselves to whatever pleases them, exactly as guests would do in the supper-room at a ball. For this preliminary lunch a small fixed charge is made, no matter what may be the quantity consumed. Personally, I never fancied this Swedish custom; as the smorgas, instead of stimulating my appetite, had precisely the opposite effect, and weakened my desire for the subsequent meal. The canal route across Sweden naturally takes advantage of all the intervening waterways, and thus one is continually changing from river to canal, and from canal to lake, while at the eastern end the steamer threads a perfect labyrinth of islands in a sheltered corner of the Baltic.