SWEDEN. Respecting the origin of this word, there have been several conjectures. The inhabi tants of the country which it denotes are supposed to have been the Sitones mentioned by Tacitus, an appellation probably derived from the chief town Sietuna. (De IiTor. German. cap. This hypothesis is not fanciful; but the more probable opinion is, that the term in question is derived from Suitheod or Sweireke according to the more modern orthography, a Scandinavian word signify ing a country whose woods have been burned or destroyed. From this term, softened by its con version into the Latin speech, the Sitones of Taci tus may without any impropriety be supposed to have been derived.
The country of Sweden has at various times been of very different extent. And even within the present century, it has undergone great changes in this respect. In 1809, it lost Finland, a province which has since belonged to Russia, and which in superficial extent is equal to England, and contains a population of upwards of a million; and in 1814 it added Norway to its territories in return for ceding to Prussia the island of Rugen, and the province of Swedish Pomerania. This exchange, so favourable to the country under review, was guaranteed and confirmed by the Congress of Vien na in 1815. Sweden, exclusive of Norivay and Finland, but including Swedish Lapland, extends from south to north 1150 miles, namely, from 55° 20' to 71° 10' north latitude; and from east to west, it averages nearly 300 miles. From its sloping situation, its breadth cannot be known from the degrees of longitude within which it lies; at its ex treme diagonal points it measures from 11° 10' to 23° 30' east longitude. The area which it embraces has been calculated at 168,802 square miles. It is bounded on the east by the Baltic, gulf of Finland, and Russia; on the north by Norwegian Lapland; west by Norway; south by the Sound and the Bal tic.
This country has been divided into three prov inces, namely, Gothland on the south, Sweden Proper in the middle, and on the north Norrland, including Swedish Lapland.% These provinces have been recently subdivided into districts called Lams or Stadholderships, of which the following is a list, together with the ancient division:— The climate of this extensive country varies much in different places. The southern provinces may be compared to Scotland, which lies under the same parallel. In the middle and northern dis tricts it becomes proportionally rigid and severe; so that in Swedish Lapland, which extends beyond the 71° of latitude, the cold is as intense as in the northern parts of Russia. The Gulf of Both
nia is frozen during several months in winter, and affords a communication by ice between the people on the opposite shores. In the southern latitudes, flowers and fruits are produced in great variety and abundance; but these productions become extreme ly rare beyond Gefle, a town a hundred miles be yond Stockholm. Oats are not to be found beyond that town; but forests of pine and fir extend to the 66th degree. In more distant latitudes the beech disappears: in Swedish Lapland, the oak draws out a dwarfish and sickly existence, and is at length succeeded by the birch; a tree which seems the most capable of enduring cold, and which, even under the Polar circle, is known to grow at an ele vation of 1483 feet. Barley and oats arc cultivated in Sweden at the 70th degree, while in North Ame rica they are not yet known beyond the 52d. Some plants, indeed, the lichen for example, though not unknown in central Europe, are regarded as indi genous in Lapland. Other particulars connected with the climate of this country, cannot be better given than in the words of Voltaire. " Winter reigns here nine months in the year. There is neither spring nor autumn: the heats of summer succeed all at once to an excessive cold; and it freezes from the month of October, without any of those insensible gradations which elsewhere bring on the seasons, and which render the change more agreeable. Nature, in recompence, has given to this rude climate a serene sky, and a pure air. A very short interval elapses between the disappear ance of the snow and frost of winter, and the rich verdure and luxuriant vegetation of summer: a cir cumstance owing to the rapidly increasing length of the clay, and the strength of the heat of summer. In the extreme north, indeed, the sun is visible for several weeks in succession. The long nights of winter, in like manner, are rendered comparatively mild, by the aurora borealis, by the extreme length of twilight, and by the light of the moon, which is there obscured by no cloud, augmented still by the reflection of the snow which covers the earth; inso much that travelling in winter takes place in Swe den by night as well as by day. (Hisloire de Charles XII. liv.