man happened to be a spot like this which led him to adore a sun so
seldom seen; for this worship, which probably preceded that of
demons or demigods, certainly never began in a southern climate,
where the continual presence of the sun prevented its being
considered as a good; or rather the want of it never being felt,
this glorious luminary would carelessly have diffused its blessings
without being hailed as a benefactor. Man must therefore have been
placed in the north, to tempt him to run after the sun, in order
that the different parts of the earth might be peopled. Nor do I
wonder that hordes of barbarians always poured out of these regions
to seek for milder climes, when nothing like cultivation attached
them to the soil, especially when we take into the view that the
adventuring spirit, common to man, is naturally stronger and more
general during the infancy of society. The conduct of the followers
of Mahomet, and the crusaders, will sufficiently corroborate my
assertion.

Approaching nearer to Stromstad, the appearance of the town proved
to be quite in character with the country we had just passed
through. I hesitated to use the word country, yet could not find
another; still it would sound absurd to talk of fields of rocks.

The town was built on and under them. Three or four weather-beaten
trees were shrinking from the wind, and the grass grew so sparingly
that I could not avoid thinking Dr. Johnson's hyperbolical assertion
"that the man merited well of his country who made a few blades of
grass grow where they never grew before," might here have been
uttered with strict propriety. The steeple likewise towered aloft,
for what is a church, even amongst the Lutherans, without a steeple?
But to prevent mischief in such an exposed situation, it is wisely