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The scenery is most beautiful, varied with mountains, woods and towns. About two miles from Leith	is the harbor, which	is built with locks	so	that
there will be	water for the	ships even when the ebb is on. I have not	seen any
town more beautiful than Edinburgh. It is built on a high rocky hill, and way above the city stands out Edinburgh Castle. The city lies two miles from Leith, and every quarter hour post chaises start between the two towns. What makes the city so beautiful is the many gardens and flowers. The streets are wide, and the	sidewalks are	covered with concrete	on the main streets,	and	with
brick on the	others. The	stores and shops are	the most elegant I have	ever
seen. All the houses, especially in the new part of town, are gray in color and all are five stories high. The streets are perfectly straight. The old town is parted from the new by a deep ravine. There the houses are often eight stories high, but there are also many very small ones.
The castle, which is situated on a very high rock, is a very strong fort which is manned entirely by Highlanders in their native kilts, and they give it a very romantic look. But I think it must be confounded cold to have to go the whole winter without breeches! Here is a most beautiful view. The whole town lies below and you can see far to all sides. I saw here a cannon, which they called "Old Charley", with a mouth three feet in diameter. Over the ravine between the new and old towns is a long bridge. Under it there is a meat and vegetable market, and it amused me to see all the people as busy down below the bridge.
From Leith I went as passenger on a German vessel sailing to somewhere in the Baltic Sea. The captain promised to let me off at Elsinore. We had a good wind across the North Sea, and it was with greatest joy I again saw Skagens light-house. But the wind	was from the south	and	the captain was afraid	to
sail by the reef at Skagen.	The	ship was behaving	badly in a hard sea, so	we
kept under the land where the water was more quiet. We must have advanced quicker than we thought, for in the night the ship went aground on the point of the reef. It refused to turn off, so there we sat. We were obliged to thrown off part of the load, which was coal, by which we soon got off the ground, as the wind was blowing from land. If it had been blowing landward it would have been impossible to save the	ship.	Next morning	the	wind was from the west,	so
we sailed around Skagens reef. We	kept as close	to	Jutland as possible, but	we
got in too far, for in the night they called me up, and the vessel was grounded again!
They didn't at all know where we were, but it was now calm so they hoped to get the ship loose by warping. An anchor was carried to the stern, but we were not able to move it. Some more coal was cast overboard, and at last it swung around. But now it began to blow hard, so the vessel was pounding hard. The captain cried and most of the sailors looked very downhearted. They got up their clothes to bring to the big yawl as soon as it was light enough to see. I realized that	even	if	the worst happened we	would all be able to save
ourselves, and I	tried	to	persuade the captain to	stay on board and offered to
stay with him if	they would let the yawl stay beside the ship. But I could not
do anything with	him -	he	was quite desperate, and	I could hardly keep him from
cutting loose at once. They began to flock into the yawl, but then we saw boats coming out toward us, so they decided to stay until they came. One of the boats had a pilot on board who said he could get the ship out if it could be warped out into deeper waters. So the captain had to pay some of them from the boats to bring out a warp. In the meantime the pilot put sails on the ship where it lay and tried to clear it from the ground. He succeeded, and the warp was not used. We anchored in four fathoms of water and next morning, with the wind from the south we sailed out. After lying in the Kattegat a couple of
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