Lament II

When you leave Umeå, the weather is rainy, and continues to be so the whole day. The

road grows more and more narrow, so that your horse goes stumbling along, among stones,

at the hazard of your life. Your path is so narrow and intricate, along so many byways, that

nothing human could have followed your track. In this dreary wilderness, you begin to feel

very

solitary

and to long for a companion. The mere exercise of a trotting horse on a good road, to set

the heart and spirits at liberty, would be preferable to this slow and tedious mode of

traveling, which you are doomed to experience. The few inhabitants you meet have a

foreign accent. Through this day’s journey, nothing occurs to your observation worth notice.