The Argosy — page 388: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Under Northern Skies. 367 moors. But Shetland has hills and slopes and long-drawn undula- tions cleaving the sky, singularly attractive in their lonely charm. Gotland is flat, unfertile, with a great deal of barren, stony, un- romantic ground. It has its cultivated portions, and agriculture is one of its sources of industry; but the general impression of the island is not one of prosperity and abundance. ‘The fields of golden corn, the sweet clover and scented hay, the laughing, happy hay- makers, which had so charmed and gladdened one’s heart and eyes in Bornholm, were here conspicuous by their absence. | But how sing the charms of Wisby? What other country had such a capital? Such an accumulation of ruins, such wonderful and perfect old walls? It stands alone in the world. Wisby loudly proclaims its antiquity. Gotland was once the key of the Baltic, a centre of commerce and industry. It waxed rich and ereat. ‘The stream of industry between Asia and Western Europe flowed past Gotland, and made it prosperous and important. ‘This was about the eleventh century. ‘The earlier history of Wisby is unknown, but is supposed to date back to the eighth century. About the thirteenth century a good deal of the Eastern trade diverted to Southern Europe and began to find its way round the Cape of Good Hope. ‘This was before the time of the Crusades. The prosperity of Gotland was affected, but she was still to remain flourishing for a season. ‘Then she grew proud, forgetting that before Honour is Humility, separated from Sweden, declared her independence. Perhaps this, more than anything else, contributed to her downfall. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, she possessed many convents, eighteen churches, and was surrounded by massive walls, guarded by great gateways and numerous watch-towers. It is the wonderful ruins of these churches, and the wonderful walls and towers, that can yet scarcely be called ruins, that form to-day the unrivalled attraction of Wisby. After declaring its independence, it was attacked and plundered by Waldemar, King of Denmark. Nearly 2,000 of its people were slain and many of its treasures were carried off in shiploads. But the principal treasure boat was lost in a great storm, and went down to enrich the palaces of the mermaids at the bottom of the deep blue sea. If one could only dive and gather these bright glistening gems that lie there ‘“‘ unrecked of and in vain!” After this, Wisby went through vicissitudes and disturbances, and gradually declined. Trade and prosperity left her, wealth diminished, her influence ceased. She grew feeble and died out. But she has left standing this wealth of Gothic ruins which make her one of the most remarkable towns in the world, without a rival. Our first care that morning was to discover a means of breaking our fast, for we were ourselves rapidly qualifying for ruins. <A restaurant was discovered near our rooms, and good, bad or indif- GOMIGD OO (C@) im