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 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
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 DATE DUE 
 
 
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 3 1924 028 464 471 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028464471 
 

 ^ — -i^^-^c-lZ-t^^- 
 
 ■ Z>~^!'?C- , 
 
THROUGH NORWAY 
 
 WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 BY W. lATTIEU WILLIAMS. 
 
 CARVED WOODKX HOT IN THE TELLEMABK. 
 ■WITH SIX TINTED VIEWS AND MAP. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 SMITH, ELDER AND CO., 65, COENHILL. 
 
 M.DCCC.LIX. 
 

 ^ y. -^ 
 
 
 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 The- title of this volume indicates its contents with 
 sufBcient accuracy, and therefore I have very little to 
 say in the way of preface. I walked, or rather climbed, 
 through Norway, kept a diary of the details of all my 
 doings and seeings, besides jotting down some of the 
 many thoughts thereby suggested; and the following 
 pages contain a transcript of the principal part of that 
 diary. 
 
 Such a work, of course, can have no pretensions to 
 learned research or elaborate literary structure; it is 
 simply a narrative of what I saw and experienced, with 
 a few of the reflections that occurred to me. The 
 narrative of such tour would not be faithftd or com- 
 plete if some account of these mental wanderings were 
 not included, for the solitary pedestrian finds compa- 
 nionship in thought, the succession of objects in his 
 path being sufficiently slow to give time for reflection 
 
 6 
 
upon 0!U>li; jHui oftontiiuos liis tlionjjhts will l>i>v<' 
 j;'ii\llod Iho wholo oiirlli whilo his t'oobK'ps Imvc soiiivolv 
 mo«>svux>d hide a milo. 
 
 Suiuo iiiioliijiy iiinv lio i\<miiiHHl ("of Iho V4i»lisiu llml 
 porvmlos Mio wlmlo of this l>ook, pit^tiioo iiioliuiod. 1 
 mijiht luvvo iivoidod llio riv(Hioiit iiso of llio porsonal 
 piviiomi. l>y iuloplinu; t.lio ustml dovioos ; and 1 did 
 mako tho iiltompt. luil found it. so ut.torlv inoonsisloi\t 
 wilJi liomoiy wavs. liolmailod liools, plain faolM. muddy 
 (nuisors, and my iiuliit ol' miiui, tiiat 1 I'osolvod to sliok 
 to lionosti Miiglisli. and laki* tlio ooiisoipioi\oos. 
 
 If any apoloii'v l>o uoodod for writio); a liook at 
 all, jniiio is sii\iply this: that no aooount of snoi; a 
 podostvian tour in Norway lias yot hoon puMishod, tJiat 
 I travollcd uvi>r uiuoh ffroinid hithorto unoKplorivd by 
 tourist*), and that ai\y addition to our knowlodgi* of 
 Norway is, or oujfhd to lav, tlooply intoroslinj^ t.v> ftll 
 .l*;n^'lisluuou. 
 
 W. MATTIKU WILLIAMS. 
 
 DiHMINOaAM AND Mini.ANO iNNTII'tlTltl, 
 
 Amjusl, 18(111. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter I. 
 
 PAOE 
 
 The Scandinavian coast — Christiansand — Norwegian architec- 
 ture—Night in the North — The Christiania Fiord— Chris- 
 tiania ; its streets, houses, and shops — The Klinkenberg, or 
 Vauxhall of Christiania — Popular amusements and indica- 
 tions of character — Absence of police and passport inter- 
 ference — Independence of Norwegian hotel-Iceepers — Interest 
 in English affairs exhibited by the Norwegians — Norwegian 
 Lutheran churches — ^Botanical gardens and popular museums 
 — Necessity of popular instruction in science and natural 
 history — Absence of extreme poverty and squalor in Chris- 
 tiania — Politeness of the Norwegians — English physiognomy l 
 
 Chaptbe n. 
 
 The Norwegian Railway — Continental railway management com- 
 pared with English — Treatment of third-class passengers and 
 its effect upon the dividends — Eidsvold — A Norwegian 
 " Station " — The Miosen Lake — My friend the cook — The 
 Scandinavian origin of Englishmen — ^Knapsacks in general 
 and my own in particular — A pedestrian's outfit and laundry 
 — Lillehammer — The Gnldbrandsdal — The Norwegian car- 
 riole — Fladbrbd — Attendance at a Norwegian farmhouse sta- 
 tion — Eccentric Englishmen in Norway — Traces of ancient 
 glaciers 23 
 
 Cbaptek m. 
 
 First taste of Norwegian hardships — The peasants' supper and 
 bed-room at Laurgaard station — A misunderstanding, a re- 
 conciliation, a supper, bed, and breakfast, all for flvepence 
 halfpenny — Irrigation in the Gnldbrandsdal — A sandy region 
 and its probable origin — Bilious hospitality — Cheating the 
 hostess — The Dovre Fjeld — The naturalist and the sports- 
 
44 
 
 Till CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 man — Science versus the Classics — The kitchen at Jerkin 
 Schneehoetten — The ravine of the Driv— Norwegian beer 
 —Some etymologies — Luxurious wild flowers — Porridge 
 etiquette 
 
 Chaptee rv. 
 
 Domestic economy — ^Farmhouse stations — English salmon fishers 
 —Rental of rivers— Norwegian notions of English sportsmen 
 —The Valley of the Gular-Different kinds of vaUeys— The 
 industry of rivers— Terraced valleys — The upheaval of Scan- 
 dinavia— Wedding festivities—" Tak for mad "—Costume— 
 The approach to Trondbjem — Universality of politeness and 
 good breeding in Norway — Influence of an aristocracy . 62 
 
 Chapter V. 
 
 The Cathedral of Trondhjem — Origin of Gothic architecture — 
 Frost mummies — Start for Hammerfest — The Trondhjem and 
 Namsen fiords — A marine omnibus — Torghatten, and its 
 mysterious tunnel — The Seven Sisters — The Hestmann — ^A 
 lovesome Giant's mournful story — Grand scenery of the coast 
 — Glaciers of the J'ondalen — The natural history of the Great 
 Sea-serpent 74 
 
 Chaptek VI. 
 
 The Loffoden Islands — The fish harvest — Cod-liver oil — Con- 
 tinuous and growing grandeur of the coast scenery — The 
 Maelstrom a myth — Cowardice of the Ancient Greeks and 
 Bomans — The arctic summer — Rapidity of vegetation — 
 Ttomso — Her Majesty's representative — An encampment of 
 Laplanders — ^Excessive heat — ^Physiognomy and general ap- 
 pearance of the Lapps — Construction and interior economy 
 of a Lapp hut — Love of home and domestic snugness — The 
 midnight sun — Lapps in their Sunday clothes — Moral and 
 religious character of the Lapps — Drunkenness no longer 
 prevalent — A Lapp aristocrat — Adaptation of the eye to cold 
 climates 96 
 
 Chapter VII. 
 Anomaly of climate — Alten — ^Fashion and gaiety in the arctic 
 regions-^Hammeifest — ^Ahint for railway directors — ^Floating 
 colony of Fisher Lapps — Open-air bedrooms — ^Live dolls 
 
CONTENTS. IX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Capital of the I^eld Lapp — The Thief Mountain — ^Wine in 
 the far north — The great meridian line from the Danube to 
 the Arctic Ocean — A cruel defeat and humiliation — Improve- 
 ment in travelling Englishmen — ^FoUy of ostentatious lavish- 
 ness — The return jovirney — Glaciers of the Nus Fiord — ^A 
 public breakfast at Tromso 117 
 
 Chapter VHI. 
 
 A second visit to the Lapp encampment — ^Moral and religious 
 savages — Condition of the Laplanders a proof of the high 
 character of the Norwegians — Snow and sunshine — The Eng- 
 lish language a dialect of the Scandinavian — ^Eew, if any, 
 English words derived from the German — When to see Arctic 
 Norway at its best — Bodo — The Threnen Islands — The ships 
 of the old Sea-kings — Curious change in the tone and colour 
 of the light at midnight — ^Etiquette of the dinner-table in 
 Norway — ^Post-ofilces — The Leer Foss 134 
 
 Chapter IX. 
 
 On foot again — The pedestrian's advantages — Terraced valleys 
 again — Importance of eggs to the tourist — How to converse 
 in a language you do not understand — The Orkedal — Pro- 
 bable centre of the great Scandinavian upheaval — Another 
 explanation of the Torghatten tunnel — Ely-catchers — Tariff 
 of refreshment for man and beast — A battle-field — Physiog- 
 nomy of the Norwegians — Mercenary tenderness of the Sur- 
 rendal cows — Norwegian beds and sheep -skin coverlids — I 
 succeed in living within my income at the Quaraen Station — 
 The beard provocative of refinement — Female despotism . 151 
 
 Chapter X. 
 The rich man's debt of courtesy to the poor man — Boating on 
 the fiords — ^A storm — Luxurious quarters — ^Haymakiug — ^An 
 attempt at extortion — Outside piety and its usual accompani- 
 ments — The farmers' carts — A startled nightingale — The 
 Norwegian Ranz de vaches — ^A corner of the earth unvisited 
 by Englishmen — The Eomsda,ls Fiord — Veblnngsnaesset — 
 Preparations for royalty— The glories of the Eomsdal — The 
 Mongefoss — Model glaciers and avalanches — The traces of 
 ancient glaciers and avalanches probably confounded by 
 
 170 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Chapter XI. 
 
 " Gammel Ost" a new sensation for epicures— A royal cortege- 
 Lost on the fjeld— False alarm— The " Cock of the moun- 
 tain "—Risks of solitary mountaineering— Out for the night 
 —Hard work on an empty stomach— Difficulty, delusion, and 
 disappointment— Semi-starvation and its effects— The pastor 
 of Lom — The social position and influence of the Norwegian 
 clergy— The "pocket-pistol" a dangerous weapon . .191 
 
 Chapter XII. 
 
 A proud Norwegian beauty — Household charity a substitute for 
 poor-rates in Norway — The good people at Mork — The family 
 big box of the Norwegian farmer — The Lia Vand — Former 
 extent of the Nord Fiords glacier — Saeter life — A damsel at 
 bay — Collecting of the goats and cows — Cheese-making — The 
 supremacy of woman and the inferiority of the male sex at 
 the saeter — The'head of the valley and the snow-fields — ^Diffi- 
 culty in selecting the pass — Climbing powers of Norwegian 
 horses — The Stiggevand and ice cascades of the Justedals 
 Sneefond — Grand and desolate scenery — Head of the Justedal 
 —Evils of dining 209 
 
 Chaptbe xm. 
 
 The Trangedal and Lodal Glaciers— Outline of the natural his- 
 tory of avalanches and glaciers — Advance and recession of 
 the Justedal Glaciers— The "Bear's Path" Glacier— Fer- 
 mented milk — A -human candlestick — An interior — Scandi- 
 navian fleas — Scenery of the Justedal — More starvation — The 
 Nygaard and Krondal Glaciers — Luxurious quarters and 
 Englishmen — How to enjoy dissipation — Centre ornament for 
 a dinner-table — An evening concert in Norway — The trail of 
 the travelling snob — Drunkenness and extortion — A mutinous 
 boat's crew — A walk in the dark — Startling the natives with 
 portable lightning — Domestic revelations . . .226 
 
 Chapter XIV. 
 
 The Naero Fiord— Gudvangen and the Naerodal— Out for the 
 night again — Mountains safer than plains for out-of-door 
 sleeping — Keturning from church by water — Sunday costume 
 — A jolly boatman— Night on -the fiord—The Voring Foss 
 
CONTENTS. xi 
 
 PAQG 
 
 A project for Barnum — Sailing before the wind — The station 
 at TJtne — A wonderful cup — The origin of corrugated zinc 
 and iron — Deference to Englishmen — The cost of boats in 
 Norway — How to make an economical yachting tour in Nor- 
 way — The Folgefond — Varying saltness of the fiords, and its 
 possible effects on animal and vegetable life, a subject for 
 investigation 247 
 
 Chaptee XV. 
 
 The Tyssedal and Skieggedal — Glacier ruins on a grand scale — 
 An unvisited region and neglected waterfalls — A singular 
 glacier and its mode of formation — Influence of the amount 
 of rainfall in determining the height of the snow-line — Odde 
 — On the practice of maintaining footmen and other male 
 domestics — Evidences of general honesty — A recently arrived 
 pastor — ^Position of the Norwegian pastor — Importance of 
 practical education to the clergy — A hunt for a lodging — The 
 Haukelid Fjelde — A wet bed — How to pass a wet night on 
 the fjeld — Norwegian mode of preparing coffee — A hint for 
 English cottagers — A returned emigrant .... 265 
 
 Chapter XVI. 
 
 The silver brooches,. &o., of the peasantry of the Tellemark — A 
 commercial suggestion — Painted chambers — The Tellemark 
 as regarded by Norwegians — The Totak Vand — Horse-racing 
 — The " houseman," or farm-labourer, of Norway and his 
 relations to the " bonder," or peasant proprietor — Social 
 equality of farmer and labourer — The merry-makings of 
 Jule time — The poor relations of our Norman aristocracy 
 and the royal families of Europe — Carved cottages — A region 
 of soft bogs — ^How to escape smothering in a bog — Presence 
 of mind attainable as an art — The " eng," or detached hay- 
 farm — A mud poultice 282 
 
 : Chapter XVII. 
 
 A Tellemark interior — "Juno" and " Vesta" — ^Romance and dirt 
 — Sleeping in the hay — Many bedfellows of the human species 
 and many more of the lower animals — The irritating powers 
 of ants — Characteristic scenery of the Tellemark — Facilities 
 for extensive and profitable drainage — An old man and his 
 old boat— The legend of the Marie Stige — Crossing the 
 
xu CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Marie Stige— The Riukan Foss from the Marie Stige— The 
 height of the Riukan Poss— An imaginary rescue— The Dale 
 Station 296 
 
 Chapter XVIII. 
 The Tin Sjoen— Tellemark costume— A sociable squirrel— Pine 
 forests— Dirt, rags, and finery— A few facts brought forward 
 to indicate that tourists with weak stomachs should not visit 
 the Tellemark— Solid chairs— Breakfast with the bonder— 
 An investigation of the contents of my knapsack — Sudden 
 change in the social aspect of the country — Wine-shops, 
 commerce, and mining — ^Kongsberg — A public-house and 
 Sunday amusement — The long town of Drammen — My re- 
 ceptiou by the hotel-keepers of Drammen — Home-like 
 scenery and its associations — Gaiety of Christiania — Family 
 affinity between ourselves and the Norwegians and Danes — 
 Back to London 314 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 The Midnight Sun to face Title. 
 
 Carved Hut in the Tellemark . . . Vignette on Title-page. 
 
 Map of Norway to face page 1 
 
 Midnight on Christiania Fiord 5 
 
 Torghatten 80 
 
 The Seven Sisters 81 
 
 The Hestmann 82 
 
 Lapp Hut 106 
 
 Vermedals Fossen 192 
 
 Naero Fiord ,248 
 
 The Skieggedals Foss 266 
 
HEOUaH NORWAY WITH A 
 K1SFAP8ACK. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 le Scandinavian coast — Christiansand — Norwegian architecture — 
 Niglit in the North — The Christiania Piord — Christiania ; its 
 streets, houses, and shops — The Klinkenberg, or Vauxhall of 
 Christiania — Popular amusements and indications of character — 
 Absence of police and passport interference — Independence of 
 Norwegian hotel-keepers — Interest in English affairs exhibited 
 by the Norwegians — Norwegian Lutheran churches — Botanical 
 gardens and popular museums — Necessity of popular instruction 
 in science and natural history — Absence of extreme poverty 
 and squalor in Christiania — Politeness of the Norwegians — 
 English physiognomy. 
 
 ^FTEE a rough passage of about fortj^-eiglit hours from 
 iull, by a screw steam-packet of extraordinary rolling 
 md pitching capabihties, vre come in sight of the Nor- 
 ivegian coast, presenting a wild broken shore of gray, 
 rounded, rocky ridges, with smooth, shppery-looking 
 surfaces near the sea-edge, where the waves run up the 
 slopes and sHde over the points of the low promontories 
 as though they were greasy. There are no sands, no 
 pebble beach; the brealdng waves make no roar and rattle 
 here, as they do among our chalk-flint pebbles; they 
 
 B 
 
2 THKOUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 only slap and splash upon the hard, unwearing rocks, 
 which are composed of a sort of mineralogical mongrelj 
 called gneiss, a cross between the fire-born granite and 
 the water-laid, stratified rocks. These promontories are 
 evidently the points of spur ridges, the outermost extre- 
 mities, the fingers and toes, of mountain giants further 
 inland. 
 
 We have cargo to discharge at Christiansand, which 
 occupies a few hours. By this time, the aristocracy 
 and the proud democracy of our small community have 
 fraternized, and the saloon and fore-cabin passengers 
 form a united company of eight persons, who go ashore 
 for breakfast with strong anticipations relative to salmon. 
 We are guided by my fellow-passenger of the fore- 
 cabin, a Norwegian stone-mason, to the principal hotel. 
 Here, after some negotiation, the proprietor consents to 
 supply us with breakfast, which, in the course of time, 
 makes its appearance. The Norwegians are a deHberate 
 and phlegmatic people, and do nothing in a hurry. 
 
 The breakfast consisted of several plates distributed 
 irregularly over a large table, each plate containing thin 
 shavings of something. No. 1, thin shavings of raw 
 dried salmon, of which there were repetition plates; 
 No. 2, thin shavings of cold veal, also repeated ; No. 3, 
 tongue shavings; and No. 4, ham ditto. In addition 
 to these, there were cold boiled salmon and hot eggs, 
 with bread, black and white. The coffee was mar'- 
 vellous, strong enough for a Turk to sip vnth his 
 chiboult, and well flavoured ; the cream, worthy of 
 Devonshire, both in quality and quantity. The charge 
 
NOEWEQIAN AECHITECTUKE. 3 
 
 was 2s. each, stated aiid paid in English money. Our 
 breakfast-party was brightened by the presence of a 
 lady, one of the saloon passengers, the wife of an 
 American clergyman, who has since published an inter- 
 esting work upon Norway and Sweden. 
 
 Two hours strollins about the town enabled us to 
 form some preliminary notions of Norwegian archi- 
 tecture. Christiansand has a very colonial appearance ; 
 it looks like a place where emigrants have newly settled. 
 All the houses are built of logs, and are at some distance 
 apart from each other, though in lines forming streets. 
 This separation is probably a precaution against fire. 
 Some houses were being built and in different stages 
 of progress, affording us an opportunity of observing 
 the mode of construction, which is the same here as 
 throughout Norway. Four large stones, commonly 
 rounded boulders or glacier moraine blocks, form the 
 foundation. These are placed at the angles of the 
 ground-plan of the building ; then the trunks of fir or 
 pine trees, rudely squared, are laid, with their ends 
 resting on these stones, and thus the wall begins. At 
 about one foot from the end of these logs broad notches 
 are cut to a depth equal to one-fourth the thickness of 
 the log, and a width equal to its whole thickness. 
 Other logs are similarly prepared ; these are laid with 
 ends crossing, the notch of one log sinking into the 
 notch of the other, so that the lower face of the upper 
 is level with the mid thickness of the lower. This is 
 continued all round, till a thick, firmly-dovetailed 
 wooden wall is built. The crevices between the logs 
 
 B '2 
 
4 THEOUGI-I NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 are stuffed tightly with moss or lichen. The roof is a 
 framework of heavy beams, covered with planks, over- 
 laid with sheets of birch-bark, called " naver." Moss| 
 or peaty soil is spread upon these to a depth of several 
 inches. A rich vegetation is common upon such roofsj 
 and occasionally a goat may be seen grazing luxuriantly 
 upon the house-top. This is the usual roofing, but at 
 Christiansand tile roofs abound. 
 
 We sail again at about mid-day, and towards mid- 
 night approach the mouth of the great estuary, which, 
 broken up by hundreds of islands and inlets, finally 
 closes at Christiania. It is midsummer eve, and many 
 fires are lighted on the hills, rendering it difficult to 
 distinguish from them the " Faerder,^^ or farther light- 
 house, which marks the outer point of the Christiania; 
 Fiord. But lighthouses are little needed on such a 
 night as this, when there is no darkness, though the day 
 has gone. • 
 
 \ We are all on deck to-night, passengers and sailors,, 
 leaning on the bulwarks and looking towards the North. 
 It is eleven o'clock, and the sun has but lately set. We 
 can see exactly where he is . below that line of distant 
 hills upon the shore. They were dull gray two hours 
 ago, but now they have a tint of deepest- purple, and 
 their outlines are wondrously sharp. There is a thifl 
 film— a mere transparent veil of halo-cloud out there, 
 the kind of cloud called cirro-stratus— a sheet of what 
 would 'be thin fog but that it is some two or three miles 
 high. The colours of the sunset cling to this, and the 
 sun below the horizon throws a clear and definite light, 
 
THE NORTHEKN MIDNIGHT. 5 
 
 upon it, as upon a screen. It marks distinctly the 
 position of the sun, and thus we are able to watch him 
 gKding on slowly from the west to north, sinking in 
 the meanwhile a little more. Now it is midnight, and 
 the subterranean sun due north. There is light enough 
 to read a newspaper if it face the north. Just over 
 the sun is a vanishing semicircle of buff light : west- 
 ward it grows to orange, and from this orange zone 
 broad bands of browning red stretch upwards and out- 
 wards. On the eastern side the buff tint melts and 
 darkens into a fresh cool gray. Further on, in a 
 widening circle, extending upwards, and eastwards, and 
 westwards, to the south horizon, all these colours melt 
 away gradually to neutral gloominess. There, at the 
 southern meeting-place of sea and sky, both are 
 mingled in one heavy leaden semi-darkness. This is 
 the region of night. Farther on over the bending sea, 
 men have been burning gas and candles for the last 
 three hours or more. We have all learned book-wise 
 that it is so, but here the southward darkness is visible. 
 So are the sunny midnights of the further north. 
 There is the sun, obvious though unseen: his body 
 hidden by the earth's rotundity ; but the lighted atmo- 
 sphere, visible beyond the distant mountain-tops, shows 
 both his presence and position in the region of con- 
 tinuous summer day. 
 
 Thus visible all at once from the ship's deck are 
 evening and morning, night and day ; sunrise and sun- 
 set seen together, though definitely separated by the 
 north midnight glow; the character of each marked 
 
THE CHRISTIANIA FIORD. 7 
 
 valuable study of the characteristics of evening and 
 morning light. 
 
 We all linger on deck long after midnight, then one 
 by one descend, myself the last of the passengers. I 
 have scarcely reached the cabin floor, when I hear the 
 mate call to the captain to look over the starboard bow 
 at a ship on fire. Of course I hasten upon deck again, 
 and look over the starboard bow forthwith. We soon 
 perceive that it is not a ship on fire, but the moon, 
 reddened by the veil of misty cloud, rising behind a 
 ship on the horizon, and looking like a dull lurid 
 flame over the deck and between the masts and sails. 
 It is the half-moon, of huge apparent size, rising 
 point upwards out of the eastern leaden-gray part of 
 the sea. She has a dull, scowling visage, as though 
 angry with the sun for cheating her of her nocturnal 
 supremacy. The form of the moon is curiously dis- 
 torted by the unequally refractive power of the strata 
 of air through which her different parts are seen, the 
 lower limb being unusually hfted and flattened upwards, 
 as though it were soft, and had been dubbed against the 
 hard metallic horizon. 
 
 We wake up in the Christiania Fiord next morning, 
 which hereabouts is studded with islands, and bounded 
 by a gray rocky coast that grows more fertile and 
 beautiful as we approach the city. In the immediate 
 neighbourhood of Christiania the scenery of the fiord 
 has a varied and bright summer aspect of much beauty, 
 such as an Englishman is little prepared to find in the 
 latitude of 60° north. I had written it down the Como 
 
8 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 of the north, but have deleted the passage, as the sky 
 of Norway may not always be so bright and blue as 
 this morning. 
 
 Depositing my knapsack at the H6tel du Nord, after 
 a breakfast similar to that at Christiansand, I make 
 exploration of the city in company with Andersen the 
 stonemason, and one of the other passengers, an English 
 gentleman who has come to Norway to kill time and 
 salmon. Andersen kindly offers to act as guide: he 
 is proud of his native city, even after New York and 
 Liverpool, to say nothing of a week's residence at 
 Kingston-upon-HuU ; and he has fair reason to be 
 proud of Christiania. I have never seen a town of its 
 size* so free from indications of squalor and vice. I 
 seldom visit a city without paying special attention to 
 the slums, more even than to the palaces ; and as I 
 -cannot afford to hire cabs, am compelled, even in doing 
 the guide-book, to see some of the realities. Christiania " 
 is a remarkably white looking city, with wide, clean, 
 bright-looking streets ; the householders clean their 
 windows scrupulously, and keep the frames well painted. 
 Just as the greatness of a nation depends upon the 
 virtues and energy of the individuals composing it, 
 more than upon the wisdom of its monarch and states- 
 men, so is the embellishment of a town more effectually 
 promoted by each citizen cleaning his own windows 
 and house-fronts, than upon the erection of half-a-dozen 
 public buildings of great architectural pretensions. The 
 houses here are large and comfortable-looking — not 
 * About 40,000 inhabitants. 
 
THE SHOPS OF CHRISTIA^snA. 9 
 
 pretentious and aristocratic, but, on the contrary, they 
 look like the residences of well-to-do, careful people, 
 who live within their means and pay their tailor's bills. 
 Opposite the Hotel du Nord is a baker's shop, which 
 may be taken as a type of some of the peculiarities 
 of the shops in Christiania. It appears like a private 
 house — a mansion, I might almost say, from its dimen- 
 sions. There is no shop-front, merely the common 
 dwelling-house windows, which are decorated with 
 growing flowers in pots ; but the flowers are not 
 floury, nor does the shop-keeper look whiter than other 
 Norwegians. I should never have guessed that bread 
 was made or sold there, but that swinging over the 
 door is a wooden efiigy of a convoluted loaf — the 
 usual true-lovers' knot done in bread, common here 
 and in North Germany. Most of the food-vendors 
 have shops of this kind. There are a few with shop- 
 fronts, but these are chiefly devoted to the sale of 
 fancy articles; other shop-keepers place a few samples 
 of their wares in plain parlour windows. 
 
 On making some purchases of books, maps, and 
 minor matters of clothing, I find in every shop some 
 one who can speak English, and that generally it is 
 well spoken. Enghsh articles prevail at the drapery 
 and haberdashery establishments; the latest devices in 
 shirt-collars and similar articles are there, stamped with 
 the names of the best-known London houses, and 
 retailed at the same price as in London. 
 
 The regular lions of Christiania, such as the Palace, 
 the University, a picture-gallery, &c. — for which, see 
 
10 THEOUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 Murray's Handbook— contain little that is characteristic, 
 beyond some of the landscapes and interiors of what 
 is called the Dusseldorf school, and is too commonly 
 regarded in England as really German. The artists 
 of the so-called Dusseldorf school are Norwegians ; but 
 why they should adopt a German name, and call the 
 exhibition they had in Bond Street "The German 
 Gallery," and allow their pictures in the Crystal Palace 
 to be classed as German, I do not understand. They 
 stand alone ; there never was a " school " of art more 
 definitely characterized. As landscape-painters they are 
 pre-eminent : the German artists do not approach them. 
 Their pictures have not been fairly appreciated in 
 England, and have found few purchasers. The artists 
 sank their patriotism for the market sake, and failed in 
 their object ; for they were thus swamped in the wide 
 sea of German art, while they might have stood alone 
 high and dry and conspicuous had they frankly called 
 themselves the Norwegian painters. 
 
 In the evening, we — that is, the salmon-fisher and 
 myself — visit the Klinkenberg, which is the Vauxhall 
 or Cremorne of Christiania. The chief entertainment 
 is the merry-go-round, an extensive affair of the kind, 
 elaborately constructed and placed under cover of a 
 special building. The fee is one skilling — about a half- 
 penny — per ride; the apparatus accommodates some 
 sixty or eighty people. The merry-go-round evidently 
 holds a higher position in the social scale here than 
 in England: fathers and mothers, comfortable-looking 
 middle-aged citizens, sit seriously on the wooden horses, 
 
THE CREMORNE OF CHEISTIANIA. 11 
 
 and in the mock railway cars, enjoying tlieir halfpenny 
 ride with all the simple happiness of little children. 
 There are also a camera obscura, several peep-shows, 
 and a theatre of some magnitude, in which a com- 
 pany of English acrobats — "Professor" Milner and his 
 infant sons (all full grown) — go through the usual 
 performances; the father playing at football with his 
 sons, walking about with a quantity of them on his 
 head, and standing in the attitude of Ajax defying 
 the lightning, while they make trussed fowls and 
 '^spread-eagles" of themselves, in flat controversion of 
 all that anatomists have written and demonstrated 
 concerning the structm'e and functions of the hip- 
 joint and its ligaments. These are followed by the 
 performances of the Chinese knife-thrower and straw- 
 balancer, who astonished the Londoners some few 
 years before. He is now accompanied by a fire-eating 
 brother. At the conclusion of the Chinese performances, 
 two English dancers appear. Their chief effort is the 
 " Highland fling," which evidently enjoys the same 
 popularity here as at the Surrey Theatre and Grecian 
 Saloon. The price of admission to the gardens is 
 6 shillings (pronoimced shillings). The extra charge 
 for the theatre is, front seats 36 skillings, second class 
 24 skillings, back standing-places 12 skillings. The 
 mysteries of the camera obscura and peep-shows — 
 cosmoramic views, in poHter Enghsh — like the delights 
 of the merry-go-round, are purchasable by a special 
 extra payment. There are convoluted walks about the 
 gardens, with seats and tables for refreshments, after 
 
12 THROUGH NOBWAY WITH A ICNAPSACK. 
 
 the manner of old English tea-gardens ; and among the 
 trees and bushes are sprinkled a few coloured lamps, 
 looking dull and sickly for want of darkness. 
 
 All classes of people are here, excepting the class 
 most numerous at our Cremorne. Servant-girls and 
 their mistresses, workmen and their masters, mer- 
 chants and their clerks, students and professors, meet 
 on common ground, and enjoy the merry-go-round 
 together. Among other caterers of refreshment is an 
 old woman with a basket of oranges. I inqtiire the 
 price, in the best Norsk I can muster, and understand 
 her to reply that they are 12 shillings each — about 
 fivepence halfpenny. In order to be satisfied, I take 
 one, and give a 24 skilling piece ; receiving 12 skillings 
 change. My companion protests that he shall return 
 by the next steamer ; for his " governor " only allows 
 him 8001. a year for pocket-money, and such an income 
 is absurdly inadequate in a country where 'a penny 
 orange sells for sixpence. We carefully watch the old 
 woman's proceedings, in order to ascertain what class 
 of persons are her customers, and our astonishment is 
 by no means diminished on finding that they are chiefly 
 working-men, who pay from 8 to 12 skillings for the 
 exotic luxury, according to its size. In every case that 
 we observed, the luxurious swain was accompanied By 
 a damsel, with whom the orange was shared ; and from 
 the expression of aristocratic suavity assumed by the 
 features of the orange suckers, and maintained as long 
 as the orange lasted, it was evident that half an orange 
 is " the thing" in Christiania. 
 
EVIDENCES OE HONESTY. 13 
 
 There are no policemen, gens d'armes, or any other 
 official order-keepers here ; we have seen none in any 
 part of Christiania all day. There are some six or 
 seven hundred people in the gardens and theatre, and 
 not one questionable woman or riotous man is visible. 
 The Norwegians are sometimes spoken of in England 
 as a drmaken people, but there is no indication here 
 of even the earliest preliminary stages of intoxication. 
 
 After leaving the gardens, we walk about the city, 
 in semi-daylight, between eleven and twelve o'clock. 
 A few people are yet moving, but none of the " unfor- 
 tunates," who have possession of our streets at this 
 hour, are visible here. In some parts of the city, we 
 walk for nearly half a mile and see no one : no police, 
 no watchman ; and we hear uo sound. A city sleeping 
 in the midst of so much light has a strange effect on 
 the imagination ; the charmed palace of the sleeping 
 beauty seems to be somewhere in the neighbourhood. 
 
 The honesty of the Norwegians is strikingly demon- 
 strated by the condition of the shop-windows. Many 
 of them containing articles of hardware, books, and 
 other portable goods of some value, are without shutters, 
 the wares exposed behind common crown glass panes ; 
 and this in a capital city where we saw but one watch- 
 man in the course of a three-quarters of an hour walk 
 through the streets. 
 
 When I landed in the morning, I felt for the first 
 hour or two impressed with a vague sense of embar- 
 rassment, arising from a sensation of having forgotten 
 or missed an unknown something. Had I left my stick 
 
14 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 on boarf? No. Money all right? Yes. Passport 
 vise? Ay, that was it? I knew there was something 
 omitted: it was the passport botheration.* To land 
 in a foreign country, and be subject to no annoyance 
 from gens d'armes, and not even to have one's luggage 
 searched (for I carried my knapsack ashore with no 
 other hindrance than a look and a nod from an 
 Enghsh-looking custom-house officer), is a new sensa- 
 tion, and, on the whole, rather a disappointment. To 
 the true travelling Englishman, his passport is a source 
 of intense enjoyment : it works off all his bile ; it sup- 
 plies him with an inexhaustible grumble-mine : it 
 affords him an opportunity of applying uncomplimen- 
 tary epithets to men in office wearing uniform, who 
 don't understand English ; it is a perpetual reminder 
 — a glaring, material demonstration — of the superiority 
 of English institutions, and of the personal liberty which 
 is the birthright of a free-bom Briton. While he carries 
 a passport, he has always something to be disgusted 
 with ; something that he can denounce as un-English. 
 
 The absence of passport interference is not the only 
 peculiarity of a landing at Christiania, for there is an 
 equally remarkable absence of hotel-touters — there are 
 no " commissionaires " threatening to tear the sea- 
 sick traveller limb from limb. Although the arrival 
 of the Enghsh packet is quite an event in Chris- 
 tiania, the hotel-keepers take no outward notice of it; 
 
 » I carried my passport, which had been vise hy the Norwegian 
 Minister in London. It was merely looked at on landing, and returned 
 to me without delay. 
 
A NORWEGIAN INNIOIEPEE. 15 
 
 the tourist finds his way unmolested to tlie hotel he 
 chooses. When he arrives, he has to wait upon the 
 hotel-keeper, in the hotel-keeper's special apartment, 
 and request the favour of being supplied with board 
 and lodging. There is no obsequious greeting on the 
 threshold, no bowing of waiters, or luggage-bearing 
 enthusiasm on the part of boots, and yet there is no 
 ground for complaint of incivility, the reception being 
 characterized by calm politeness. When we waited, 
 hat in hand, upon our host of the H6tel du Nord, he 
 received us blandly in his little room. He consented 
 to let us have a bedroom, and even indicated the 
 direction in which it existed ; he referred to the fact 
 that a bell might be found connected witli some part 
 of its walls, and suggested the possibility of some one 
 coming to wait upon us if we rang that bell. 
 
 This was evidently a Httle preliminary fencing of 
 dignity : he had probably encountered some stray speci- 
 mens of those wretched libels upon true EngHshmen, — 
 the vulgar rich, — who give their orders, always be- 
 lieving that " the waiter's in the room ; " and who are so 
 utterly void of true gentlemanly feeling as to believe 
 that lavish expenditure can justify insolence. Some of 
 these, common enough " up the Rhine " and at Cha- 
 mouni, may have found their way to Christiania; but 
 be that as it may, our host gave us at once to under- 
 stand that he was a gentleman and expected to be treated 
 accordingly, and would on such conditions reciprocate. 
 I was delighted to meet with such a landlord, and my 
 companion, the salmon-fisher, equally so. We came to 
 
16 THEOXJGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 an understanding speedily, and then we found liim a 
 most polite and attentive host. 
 
 On our return from the gardens at about midnight, 
 we found a large party just dispersing, and on inquiry, 
 we were informed that a meeting had been held to 
 listen to a reading of the EngHsh newspapers brought 
 by the ship that carried us. Such meetings are held 
 periodically here, when our host, who speaks English 
 purely and fluently, reads the English papers, trans- 
 lating as he proceeds. English politics, and all the 
 incidents of our social progress are carefully and intel- 
 ligently studied by the Norwegians, who seem to be 
 quite as familiar with the names and proceedings of our 
 leading statesmen, as they are with those of the members 
 of their own Storthing, or parliament. 
 
 On the morning of the following day I visit some 
 more of the regular guide-book lions, which a con- 
 scientious tourist who knows his duty towards his 
 Murray feels bound to do exhaustively. There are 
 two or three churches of importance, besides a markets 
 place and a bronze foimtain, as well as the other matters 
 before mentioned. The Norwegian Church is Lutheran, 
 and the churches in their internal arrangements indi- 
 cate Luther's courage. Here, as in so many parts of 
 Germany, — especially in old, fighting, Protestant Nu- 
 remberg, — they have not thought it necessary to muti- 
 late the artistic remains of the old church : the 
 pictures, statues, and gilding are allowed to remain ; for 
 these reformers were evidently in no fekr of being 
 converted by the sight of a Madonna or a candlestick. 
 
THE FIRE-WATCHMAi; OP CHUISTIANIA. 17 
 
 The ornamentation of the Christiania churches is not 
 very remarkable, but there is enough to show that the 
 Northmen here have not rushed into that barbaric re- 
 action which in Scotland led to the wanton destruction 
 of glorious old cathedrals, the anathematizing of organs 
 and stained glass, and the sepulchral fashion of eccle- 
 siastical whitewashing. 
 
 The chief characteristic of the principal church here 
 is the bright gilding of the wooden beams of the roof; 
 wliich I should admire, but for the fear of correct 
 and classical people, who might denomice my taste as 
 barbaric. There is a very fine painting of Christ in 
 the Garden, by Tiedmann. 
 
 They have a convenient way of giving out the psalms 
 here : black boards are hung in different parts of the 
 church, and on these are chalked the number of the 
 psalm or hymn to be sung before and after the sermon. 
 In the tower above the belfry a fire guardian is con- 
 stantly posted, whose station commands a splendid view 
 of the city and the fiord. To prove his vigilance, he 
 has to call every quarter-hour from each of the four 
 sides of the tower. In a city built so largely of wood, 
 where a conflagration once started may become so dis- 
 astrous, such a precaution is fully needed.* The sound 
 
 * The recent fire was curiously reported in our newspapers. It 
 was stated that "nearly three-fourths" of the city was entirely 
 destroyed. The fire, though most serious, was not so extensive as 
 this. Nearly three quarters of the city were destroyed ; but three 
 quarters, when applied to a city, do not necessarily mean three- 
 fourths, for it may be divided into a dozen quarters, corresponding 
 to our parishes. This is the case with Christiania, and about twe 
 and a half of these quarters were destroyed. 
 
 C 
 
18 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 of the man's voice over tlie house-tops awakens remi- 
 niscences of the East, of the Muezzims calling the 
 faithful to prayer from the minarets of Constantinople. 
 
 The botanical gardens, situated a little way out of 
 the town, are really what they pretend to be. They 
 contain specimens of the common wild plants of the 
 country, growing in the open air, and arranged in the 
 natural orders. We have plenty of horticultural gar- 
 dens in England, wliere showy flowers are exhibited ; 
 but we are sadly in want of gardens where a student 
 may see examples of common plants so grouped to- 
 gether as to afford him a general view of the physiog- 
 nomy of the orders and genera, such as can scarcely be 
 obtained by any other means. We call ourselves a 
 practical people; but in such matters I suspect that our 
 neighbours generally are far more practical than our- 
 selves. Our university museums, and even those con- 
 nected with the most popidar educational institutions, 
 are almost destitute of educational value; they are for 
 the most part mere collectors' and professors' museums : 
 collections of rarities and monsters, instead of micro- 
 cosms, presenting us with a model of natiire as it really 
 is.* Where, for example, have we a geological museum 
 
 * An exception to tlie above remarks must be made in favour of 
 the recently opened museums of South Kensington, where the educa- 
 tional objects I have referred to are kept in view, and in some parts 
 — sucli as the trade museum — admirably carried out. Still we have 
 no museum for the elementary illustration of science, and such a 
 thing seems to have been scarcely thougjit of j yet how valuable to 
 the student of chemistry would be a collection of specimens of all 
 the elements and all their known compounds: and of some portion, at 
 least, of the multitude of natural and artificial organic compounds, 
 
EDUCATIONAL MUSEUMS. 19 
 
 in which the student can find that which is essential at 
 the very outset of his study — a series of rocks, arranged 
 and clearly catalogued in the order of natural super- 
 position ; the specimens selected to exhibit the most 
 common mineralogical and palseontological characteristics 
 — the fossils in as fragmentary and imperfect a condition 
 as the student will actually find them when he goes 
 abroad with his hammer ? A few visits, of two or three 
 hours each, to such a museum, would afford an amount 
 of real information not attainable in as many months 
 otherwise. After such a course, he might be let loose 
 among the hills, where he could then work profitably. 
 Natural history can never become popular until every 
 branch of it is illustrated by such elementary museums ; 
 the cost of which, from the abundance of the required 
 materials, would be so trifling, that every town with ten 
 thousand inhabitants might have a good one. Museums 
 for rarities and choice specimens might, of course, be 
 adjoined to them where practicable. 
 
 That natural history should be popular, that a general 
 knowledge of its great facts, and of the physical and 
 
 many of -vrhich are so exquisitely beautiful, regarded as mere crystal- 
 line forms. I have often thought that the wilderness of untenanted 
 galleries of the Crystal Palace might he cheaply and easily turned to 
 account, by draping their sides with pictures and diagrams repre- 
 senting experiments and natural phenomena, illustrating a popular 
 course on natural pliUosophy and its application to meteorology, 
 physical geography, &c. &c. If such diagrams were accompanied 
 with descriptive matter written beneath in letters so large that those 
 who run might read, they would be Ijighly attractive and most valu- 
 able. The success of the Kensington Museum shows that tliis sort 
 of demonstrative instruction through the sense of sight is very 
 popular. 
 
 C 2 
 
20 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPS ACIv. 
 
 ■physiological sciences which it illustrates on the large 
 scale, should be possessed by everybody of every station 
 and degree, is simply a matter of human necessity. 
 Man cannot exist without it: a digesting, blood-circu- 
 lating biped may; but a human being cannot exercise, 
 his noblest faculties if the image of his Creator be not 
 stamped upon his soul with the impress made by a 
 knowledge of his Creator's works. We see design^ 
 and we argue intention, from the fitness of the tiger's 
 claws to seize upon his prey ; the hoof and teeth and 
 stomach of the cow show that the green herbage is 
 her destined food ; and so in the universal and exquisite 
 adaptation of all the harmonious forces and phenomena 
 of creation to the mental faculties of man, do we wit- 
 ness the proof that we are specially designed to study 
 them, as surely as a watch is designed to indicate the 
 time ; and, therefore, to neglect such a study is to op-* 
 pose the will of God in rebellious indolence. 
 
 Besides following the guidance of Murray's Handr 
 hook, I walked through most of the smaller streets of 
 the town, and did not find any low squalid slums, such 
 as exist in all our large towns and most of those on the 
 Continent. The poorest streets are composed of clean, 
 comfortable-looking, wooden houses ; and the poorest 
 people have a well-conducted, respectable manner and 
 appearance. There are no blackguards visible: no 
 people that any reasonable person of any rank could 
 object to sit amongst in a railway carriage. The win- 
 dows of the humblest houses are scrupulously clean, 
 and filled with bright flowers in earthen pots, carefully 
 
POLITENESS OF THE NOir.VEGIANS. 21 
 
 coloured with red oclire. Flowers in a poor man's 
 dwelling are- the outward symbols of most of the 
 domestic virtues : I have had much experience in 
 seeking lodgings in strange places, and always make 
 first application at those houses which have well-tended 
 flowers in the windows. 
 
 I once believed in the theory that a soft, southern 
 climate, bright skies, and out-of-door existence, had 
 much to do with the general diffusion of politeness and 
 external refinement among the poorer classes ; and by 
 this theory accounted for the superiority of continental 
 poor people over our own countrymen ; but what I have 
 already seen in Christiania has altered that opinion, for 
 the Norwegians are remarkably polite : ceremoniously so 
 in the matter of bowing ; and the best feature of this 
 bowing is, that the gentleman bows to the poor man in 
 just the same way as the poor man to the gentleman. I 
 saw to-day a man, who appeared to be a rich merchant, 
 alighting from his carriage; a servant opened a broad 
 gate that led to the house he was visithig ; the owner of 
 the carriage took off his five-guinea Panama hat, and 
 described with it a large semicircle, terminating at the 
 knee, as is the custom here; the servant did the like, 
 neither more nor less respectfully than did the gentle- 
 man — ergo, both were gentlemen. 
 
 The physiognomy of the Norwegians is peculiarly 
 EngHsh — more so than that of Englishmen ; the special 
 characteristics of the " wooden-faced" Englishman are 
 seen more strongly marked here than in London. The 
 Norwegians shave the hair off their faces with razors. 
 
22 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 as most Englishmen do, and having very pale and 
 rather thin whiskers, their faces exhibit very strikingly 
 the injurious effects of this practice of daily domestic 
 surgery. 
 
 The costume here presents very few peculiarities, 
 being nearly the same as in London or a large German 
 city ; but white Panama hats, with broad black bands, 
 prevail among the men. 
 
 The hotel charges are rather high in Christiania, being 
 nearly the same as at our best hotels in England, while 
 the accommodation is far inferior. I paid for breakfast 
 2 marks, or about Is. 9^d. ; dinner, 4 marks, or 3s. 7d.; 
 Christiania ale, 6 skillings, or 2^d., per pint bottle ; 
 supper of bread and cheese and claret, 1 mark 20 skil- 
 lings, about Is. 7d. ; lodging, per night, 2 marks, or 
 Is. 9^d. ; attendance for two days, 15 skillings, or about 
 Gd., which our host told us was quite sufficient, as he 
 did not wish his servants to be spoiled by English 
 lavishness. My companion had some soda-water, which 
 cost 1 mark, or 10|c?., per bottle, though made in 
 Christiania. 
 
23 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Norvregian Railway — Continental railway management compared 
 ■with English — Treatment of third-class passengers and its eflFect 
 upon the dividends — Eidsvold — A Norwegian "Station" — Tlie 
 Miosen Lake — My friend the cook — The Scandinavian origin 
 of Englishmen — Knapsacks in general and my own in particular 
 — A pedestrian's outfit and laundry — Lillehammer — The Guld- 
 hrandsdal — The Norwegian carriole — Eladbrod — Attendance at 
 a Norwegian farm-house station — Eccentric Englishmen in Nor- 
 way — Traces of ancient glaciers. 
 
 In the afternoon I took the railway to Eidsvold, a 
 distance of about forty miles Enghsh; fare by tliii-d 
 class, 2 marks 18 skillings — about 2s. 5d. There are 
 four classes : the fourth-class carriages are open, the 
 third class the same as our second, and the second 
 nearly equal to our first class. The first class, on this, 
 as on most continental lines, is a sort of fancy article, 
 maintained chiefly for the purpose of obtaining an extra 
 price from Englishmen, the natives rarely using it. 
 Here also, as on other continental lines, the directors 
 know something of the elementary principles upon 
 which commercial success depends, and therefore pay 
 most attention to their best customers, the mass of the 
 people; while the heads of which our railway boards 
 are made, treat their third-class customers — who should 
 
24 THROUGH NOEWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 be their best customers— with every practical indignity 
 and annoyance that is not specially prohibited by Act of 
 Parliament. The Act of Parliament compels them to 
 run one third-class train per day at one penny per mile, 
 and they run exactly one and no more ; — the Act of 
 Parliament compels them to cover the carriages, and on 
 that account they do so ; — the Act of Parliament com- 
 pels them to have some land of windows to these human 
 cattle-boxes, and they do put in panes, like the peep- 
 holes of a show-box ; — the Act of Parliament compels 
 them to run at fifteen miles per hour, and they take 
 scrupulous care not to exceed that pace; or, if the 
 fear of collision compels them to do so on part of the 
 journey, they shunt their third-class victims off the 
 line, and wait an hour or so until the express and the 
 ordinary train, which started two hours later, shall pass 
 them. 
 
 On continental lines, third-class and, where they exist, 
 fourth-class carriages are attached to every train except 
 the express, and the passengers by these have the same 
 advantages in speed, day tickets, &c., as the other ordi- 
 nary passengers ; consequently, the shareholders in conti- 
 nental lines get good dividends, while those who have 
 invested largely in ^English lines are for the most part 
 nearly ruined. Our directors tell sad stories of parlia- 
 mentary expenses, great original outlay in permanent 
 works, and actually make that a plea for contracting their 
 traffic, and preventing their best paying customers (a 
 third-class carriage of equal size holds more money than 
 a first-class) from travelling at all ; for the mass of the 
 
A KAIL>yAT THA'T PAYS. 25 
 
 people must either travel cheaply and speedily or stay 
 at home. 
 
 There are some special peculiarities in this little line. 
 It is, to a great extent, the property of a few English 
 engineers and contractors ; and Englishmen are astonished 
 at the amount of traffic that is done on a single line of 
 rails, and at the total absence of engineering and archi- 
 tectural triumphs for the world to admire and the share- 
 holders to pay for. I am told that it is a most profitable 
 speculation, as may be expected; for this is the great 
 highway of Norway ; and where people can travel at a 
 halfpemiy per mile, at convenient hours, the whole popu- 
 lation become habitual railway travellers. What might 
 not the profits upon our railways be if a corresponding 
 proportion of our dense population made use of them ? 
 
 This railway passes through a rich fertile valley with a 
 pretty river winding along it, and then plunges through 
 some dense forests of tall pines, with stems so straight 
 and uniformly taper that they appear like huge fishing- 
 rods. Their bark has a fine red colour, which reflects 
 the sunlight and fills the whole atmosphere between the 
 labyrinth of bare poles with a warm tinge, similar to 
 that produced by stained-glass windows in the aisles 
 of a Gothic cathedral. 
 
 Eidsvold, the northern terminal station, is beautifully 
 situated on the river which flows from the Miosen Lake 
 to the Glommen. After some inquiry, I found the inn, 
 or station : it consists of a number of wooden houses, 
 some containing hay, others adapted for the entertain- 
 ment of cattle, and one being a store well stocked with 
 
26 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 earthenware, hardware, drapery, and haberdashery. I 
 was shown to a wooden room in which was a wooden 
 box with a bed in it, and other wooden objects ; and 
 had a satisfactory supper of trout, with potatoes, ale, 
 and good brown bread ; a comfortable clean bed, with- 
 out fleas, and with sheets of wholesome rough unbleached 
 linen. In the morning I had breakfast of strong coffee, 
 bread, cheese, butter, and fresh-water herrings from 
 the Miosen, pickled with oil like sardines ; paying two- 
 and-a-half marks, or 2s. 3d., for all : the bottle of ale 
 cost 3d., the rest 2s. 
 
 Steamed up the Miosen Lake in a boat belonging to 
 the clever Englishmen, or rather Scotchmen, who made 
 the railway. The Miosen is a long narrow lake not 
 unlike our Windermere, but on a larger scale.; it being 
 some seventy miles in length. The mountains that 
 form its basin rise to a height of about 2,000 feet at 
 their visible summits ; their form is not remarkable, 
 but their sides, sloping down to the lake, are covered 
 with rich emerald verdure, rivalling, if not excelling, 
 our own green fields, and even those of Ireland. These 
 slopes are backed by fine woods of birch and mountain 
 ash, and dotted about them are the wooden farmhouses. 
 Altogether the Miosen is a beautiful lake, but not 
 exciting raptures. About half way on the lake is the 
 site of the ancient town of Stbr Hammer — stor signi- 
 fying large, and hammer the same as our ham or 
 hamlet. The ruins of its old cathedral remain, and 
 near it, or I believe including it, is the farm of George 
 Bidder, once the famous calculating boy, and now one 
 
MY FRIEND THE COOK. 27 
 
 of the great English lords of Norway, with a very 
 eligible interest in that snug little railway, and the 
 Miosen navigation. 
 
 The land hereabouts is the richest in Norway, and 
 the general aspect of the country very different from 
 what one might expect in the midst of the Scandinavian 
 mountains, lat. 61°, the same as the ice-bound coast of 
 Greenland. 
 
 I took a deck passage, and found among the natives 
 there assembled many who spoke English very well. 
 I had long gossips with several, but the most interesting 
 of all was that with the cook, a healthy energetic 
 maiden, who had quite captivated me during the day 
 by the business-like manner with which she did her 
 work in the little galley on deck. In the evening when 
 her work was done, as we talked together for a couple 
 of hours or so, she was overflowing with loving remi- 
 niscences of an English family whom she had formerly 
 served ; especially of her kind mistress : the tears rolled 
 down her round ruddy cheeks as she told me how her 
 mistress tended her with motherly care during a long 
 illness. Many ladies believe that servants are all un- 
 grateful ; these ladies would be wiser were they to 
 reflect on the fact that the compact with a domestic 
 involves obligations on both sides, — that gratitude is due 
 to a good servant as well as to a good mistress. 
 
 My friend the cook was eloquent on the identity of 
 English and Norwegian customs, telling me how old- 
 fashioned people in Norway burn the Yule log at Yule 
 time just as old-fashioned folks in England do, and how 
 
28 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 they have in Norway a rhyme precisely the same as 
 ours — 
 
 " A merry ChTistmas and a happy New Year; 
 A pocket full of money and a cellar full of beer." 
 
 She had instinctively come to the conclusion that the 
 English and Norwegians are of the same stock, and 
 listened most attentively to an exposition of my opinion 
 that the aboriginal inhabitants of the greater part of 
 Britain were the same as those of Norway, and that 
 the same race inhabited both countries long before the 
 Danish invasion of which we have historical records, 
 and centuries before Caesar set foot on British ground ; 
 though historians have hastily and fallaciously concluded 
 that Britain was peopled with a Celtic race, simply from 
 Caesar's description of the inhabitants of the Kentish, 
 coast, where a local colony of Gauls might be expected 
 to have settled by invasion from the neighbouring con- 
 tinent. The descendants of the old Kentish families 
 of the coast are stiU distinguishable by their dark eyes 
 and hair, and Gallic physiognomy ; they are by no 
 means of the characteristic English type. The prisoners, 
 in the Roman slave market, whom the punning Pope 
 converted from Angles to Angels, could not have been 
 dark-haired and dark-eyed beauties; for Italian angels 
 (unless they be portraits of the painter's mistress) all 
 have blue eyes, and red, auburn, or flaxen hair. Italian 
 girls are liable to fall desperately in love at first sight 
 with flaming red-headed Scotchmen, or Englishmen 
 with straw-coloured hair : the " bella barba bianca " is 
 
THE ABOEIGINES OF BRITAIN. 29 
 
 their ideal of manly beauty. The young Romans of 
 our day, who risk their souls and do dreadful penances 
 for visiting the English church outside the Porta del 
 Popolo, go there to enjoy the felicity of brealcing their 
 hearts for the most flaxen-haired, grey-eyed Scandi- 
 navian specimens of English beauty : they scarcely look 
 at the flashing, dark-eyed beauties whom the light- 
 haired EnglisBmen admire. This is no matter of mere 
 habit, but of original human instinct, that was the same 
 in ancient as in modem Rome : had the British cap- 
 tives been dark-haired, black-eyed Celts, the great 
 Gregorian pun would never have been uttered. 
 
 The first drunken man I have yet seen in Norway was 
 on board the steamer to-day. I am told that great im- 
 provement is taking place in this respect ; drunkenness, 
 which was once rather prevalent, is now almost extinct 
 in Norway. 
 
 Another, gorgeous northern sunset; the combined 
 evening and morning effects were not visible on account 
 of the hills, but the lighting up of the hills themselves 
 was most magnificent. 
 
 I landed near Lillehammer, and walked up the hill 
 to Hammer's hotel. Meeting the steward on the way, 
 who introduced me to his friend Mr. Fk. Hammer, 
 we supped together. The hotel, built of wood, is a 
 large one, of considerable pretensions as to style and 
 ornament; the handsome lace curtains at the windows, 
 and a magnificent door-mat of fir and juniper branches, 
 are its most striking features. This fir-branch door- 
 mat is peculiarly effective, and its odour very agreeable 
 
30 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 when bi'uised by the feet; the fashion is worthy of 
 adoption in EngUsh country mansions that have a 
 spacious entrance-hall. 
 
 There were many Swedes with leathern caps and 
 aprons on board. They come here for work, and after a 
 while return ; wages being higher in this part of Nor- 
 way than in Sweden. 
 
 After a supper of cold trout, cheese, butter, and ale, 
 I retired to a good bed in a detached building, the win- 
 dow close to the road and level with it, but without 
 shutters or anything more than the lace curtains. It 
 was the same at Eidsvold. 
 
 The fare by the steamer, second class, was 3 marks 
 20 skillings, or 3s. 5d. ; dinner on board, of maccaroni 
 soup and good roast beef, 18 skillings, or 8d : this was 
 rather under the usual charge, as I dined in the cook's 
 galley. 
 
 The next morning I hooked on my knapsack, and 
 made a fair start. I pity the unhappy tourist who carries 
 a portmanteau, or even a carpet-bag, and can make no 
 progress without a " conveyance ;" who is perpetually 
 waiting or hurrying for post-horses, or the starting of 
 trains and diligences ; who is dependent upon a laun- 
 dress for the washing of his shirt ; and who goes about 
 groaning for " comfort " while travelling. A man to 
 whom comfort is necessary, and who cannot find 
 enjoyment in discomfort, should never venture beyond 
 Heme Bay or Margate, and only stay a fortnight at 
 either of these places: by no means should he go to 
 Norway. 
 
ABOUT KNAPSACKS. 31 
 
 Before advancing on the journey I must describe my 
 knapsack. I have had much experience in knapsacks, 
 and made many improvements and inventions in them ; 
 my last invention, previous to the present one, being 
 a knapsack of zinc, suggested by a botanical vasculum, 
 and somewhat resembling one. I vs^alked through 
 Wales and the Lake district with it, and found it had 
 many advantages ; but that for which it was mainly 
 constructed was not among them, viz., relief from the 
 heat and perspiration at that part of the back upon 
 which the knapsack rests, and which are the chief 
 objections to carrying a knapsack. Besides this, the 
 country people were continually inquiring the price of 
 candles ; assuming, from the shape and material of the 
 box on my back, that I was travelling for a house in 
 the tallowchandlery line. 
 
 My present knap39,ck is made of strong open wjcker- 
 work, curved, like an angler's basket, to the shape of the 
 back, and lined on the inside with waterproof cloth, so 
 that the bare wicker rests upon the back. A free 
 ventilation is thus secured, which effectually carries off 
 the perspiration. The top is closed by a leathern flap 
 with straps. The attachment of the shoulder-straps is 
 the same as in the Swiss and German knapsacks, viz., 
 from the middle of the upper part of the back of the 
 knapsack ; so that the straps cross the shoulders diago- 
 nally, and require no breast-straps : which last are 
 abominable inventions, most uncomfortable and injurious 
 to health by pressing upon the ribs and contracting the 
 chest. This wicker knapsack combines lightness and 
 
32 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A IvNArSACK. 
 
 coolness in the highest degree; it is strong, and keeps 
 its shape firmly, and is altogether the best I have seen.* 
 It is a great mistake to make a knapsack of pliable mate- 
 rial, such as waterproof cloth ; such a knapsack becomes 
 a mere unmanageable dangling bag upon the back. 
 
 As regards the contents of the knapsack, the great 
 art is to reduce them to the minimum. I have met 
 many a pedestrian in various parts of Europe, and 
 have generally entered into conversation on this point, 
 and I found that almost every Englishman carried too 
 much: I never met one who carried too little. The 
 common illusion at the outset is, that three or four 
 shirts are necessary. This is altogether a mistake ; 
 one on and one off only are required : both should be 
 flannel, of large measurement, and of the best and 
 softest quality obtainable ; such as are made for rowing 
 and cricketing. But how about a night-shirt? the 
 reader will exclaim. The shirt off is the answer. But, 
 it may be objected, they will both be dirty. Nothing 
 of the kind ! With proper management, you may have 
 a clean shirt every day. It must be managed thus : — 
 
 Suppose the hour to be 10 a.m. You have walked 
 some distance, are getting hot, and disposed for a halt. 
 You make for the river, lake, or the first brook or 
 mountain torrent that crosses your path ; and such are 
 always to be found in the sort of country that pedes- 
 trians travel. Call the shirt on. A, and the shirt off, B. 
 
 * Should any trunk-maker or other tradesman undertake to manu- 
 facture such knapsacks for sale, I will gladly aid him in constructing 
 his first model. 
 
THE PEDESTKIAN'S LAUNDllY. 33 
 
 Unhook your knapsack at a cosy nook by tlie water- 
 side, take out shirt B, and wash it in the stream. At 
 first, the washing of one's own shirt appears a great 
 undertaking, but the difficulty soon vanishes, A flannel 
 shirt that has only been worn one day and one night, 
 merely requires a little soaping under the armpits, at 
 the neck, and wristbands; a little scrubbing, beating, 
 rinsing, and wringing in the pure water, is sufficient 
 for the rest. When this is done, spread out the shirt 
 on the grass, and take your bath. If merely a shallow 
 brook or torrent is available, lie down flat upon the 
 pebbles or between the boulders, and let the water flow 
 over you for a quarter of an hour or so. By the 
 time that you are dressed, your shirt will be half dry 
 if you wrung it out skilfully. To complete the drying, 
 tie it to your knapsack, and let it dangle and wave 
 behind you for an hour or so as you walk on. 
 
 Now let it be 5 p.m. of the same day. You are hot, 
 and just sufficiently tired to enjoy the luxury of repose; 
 you retire to the adjoining field, or into the forest, 
 to dress for dinner, by taking off" shirt A and pulling 
 on shirt B. You revel in its freshness, for it savours 
 to the skin of the sweet clear water it was washed in ; 
 you spread out shirt A, to ventilate till the perspiration 
 it has absorbed has passed away, make up your diary, 
 lie flat upon your back, and look through the branches 
 of the trees into the blue infinity above, build castles 
 in that region for half an hour or so, then pack up 
 shirt A, and do the last stage of your journey at a 
 rattling pace in the cool evenmg. Shirt A is changed 
 
34 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 to do duty as a night-shirt, B is resumed in the 
 morning, in order that A may go to the wash as B did 
 the day before. 
 
 Many suppose than an overcoat is necessary when 
 travelling in a mountainous country; this is another 
 popular fallacy. The shirt off is always at hand to do 
 duty when extra warmth is required. Every article, 
 and every part of every article, of clothing should be 
 woollen: coat, vest, and trowsers, of flannel-cloth, the 
 linings of thin Welsh flannel. This may appear warm 
 for summer costume, but is less so than it seems. In 
 hot weather, the waistcoat should not be worn, but 
 kept in the knapsack as a reserve for the cool morning 
 and evening, or the mountain heights ; the extra shirt 
 is invaluable when benighted on a mountain, and com- 
 pelled to sleep upon a rock. Three pairs of Shetland- 
 wool socks are required under these circumstances; 
 two pairs on the feet for extra warmth, and one pair 
 on the hands as mittens. One pair on and two pairs off, 
 is therefore the requisite supply of socks, which, of 
 course, are to be washed at the same laundry as the 
 shirts. 
 
 I have tried the arrangement above recommended, 
 and also that of carrying three or four shirts and 
 depending upon laundresses ; in every respect, including 
 the saving of time, the one-on-and-one-off principle is 
 the best. A whole day may often be wasted in waiting 
 for the washing of shirts. Collars are not quite so 
 easily " got up." I have managed by first washing 
 the collar, then doubling it with two or three lavers 
 
A tbdesteian's outfit. 35 
 
 of white blotting-paper between, and the same outside, 
 and then putting it in a book and sitting on it. Such 
 a collar is not quite up to the Pail-Mall standard, but 
 may pass. It, however, is not worth while to carry 
 blotting-paper for this purpose, as a half-dozen collars 
 weigh so little, and collars are not required at all on 
 the road. A pedestrian should always carry a pair 
 of forceps for the extraction of thorns, some lint and 
 plaster, and a few yards of broad tape for bandage 
 in case of mishap, such as a sprained ancle or the like. 
 These are not the only surgical instruments required, 
 for needles, thread, and buttons, are necessary for 
 healing the wounds to which clothing is especially 
 liable from rough climbing. A light thin oiled silk 
 cape, to be worn over the knapsack, is very useful in 
 wet weather; it protects the shoulders and the upper 
 half of the arms, which are liable to chronic rheu- 
 matism if long exposed to the contact of wet clothes. 
 
 These, with soap, towel, comb, tooth-brush, a strong 
 knife, scissors, maps, guide-books, and a stout stick, 
 with a long iron spike at the end, a note-book, and 
 sketching materials, are nearly all that the pedestrian 
 requires. In Norway his walldng-stick may be a 
 fishing-rod, and he will do well to carry some artificial 
 flies for presents to the farmers : but of this hereafter. 
 
 Walked through Lillehammer (or little ham), which is 
 a large village or small town, with broad and reir.arkably 
 clean streets, large wooden houses, bright windows, with 
 white frames and lace curtains. There is scarcely a 
 window in the main street that is not filled with fiowers 
 
 D 2 
 
36 THEOUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 in bright red pots. Everybody appears to be indus- 
 trious and well-to-do, and nobody rich and useless. 
 
 Beyond the town the road ascends, and commands 
 some fine views of the lake and river ; seats are placed 
 on the most picturesque points. By the side of the 
 road I passed a mass of charcoal and ashes, the remains 
 of a log house, recently burned down, showing the risks 
 to which this kind of building is too liable. The road 
 is a new one; the date of its construction, from 1851 to 
 1855, is inscribed upon it. 
 
 There is a fine cascade here, the Hunefoss, with a 
 gate leading to it, but nobody to pay for opening it. 
 As civilization advances, this and other waterfalls will, 
 I suppose, be capitalized as in England, and sixpence 
 charged to see the show. There are huge sawmills 
 here, doing a vast amount of . work by water power. 
 
 Dined at Mosshuus station on brown bread, fish, and 
 cheese, the charge for which was 12 skDlings, or 5^d. 
 Stopped for the night at Holmen station, supper of eggs 
 and cold raw ham. There appear to be no establish- 
 ments in Norway corresponding to our public-house, 
 the French auberge, the German gasthaus, or the 
 Itahan osteria : everybody appears to live at home. 
 These posting stations are farmhouses. The distance 
 from LiUehammer to this place is rather less than 
 twenty English miles, through the entrance of the 
 Guldbransdal, which extends nearly up to the Dovre 
 Fjeld. It is one of the richest valleys in Norway, and 
 the most frequented by tourists ; for whether they pro- 
 ceed northwards to Trondhjem and the midnight sun, or 
 
THE NORWEGIAN CARRIOLE. 37 
 
 take the western country about Bergen and the Har- 
 danger, this is the usual route from Christiania. 
 
 My bedroom was without curtains, level with the road, 
 and looking on to it as before. Breakfast of bread and 
 cheese, with wonderfully strong coffee and rich cream, 
 as usual. Supper, bed, and breakfast cost 1 mark 12 
 skilHngs, or Is. 4d. Walked up the hill to Throtten, 
 where the river spreads out again and forms a narrow 
 lake, on which a steam-packet plies. Like that upon 
 the Miosen, it is well filled ; the fares being low, people 
 contrive to find occasions for travelling. I was over- 
 taken here by my friend the salmon-fisher, who drove 
 up in company with Mr. Gould, the ornithologist, and 
 Wolff, the great bird-painter. The two latter had com- 
 menced their experience of Scandinavian hardships by 
 a sojourn with Mr. Bidder at his farm, before referred 
 to ; and doubtless had suffered such privations as Eng- 
 lishmen, especially naturalists, generally do when they 
 meet together under such circumstances. 
 
 At Christiania I had been led to believe that tlie 
 roads were so bad, that only the light carrioles made on 
 purpose, and sold to Englishmen at Christiania, could 
 travel on them; but here was a four-wheeled con- 
 trivance, drawn by two horses, and carrying four people 
 besides the driver and a quantity of luggage. An 
 English stage-coach, with fuU complement of passengers, 
 might travel aU the way from Christiania to Trondhjem ; 
 the road is very hilly, but not more so than some parts 
 of North Devon, where stage-coaches are still running. 
 The chief advantage of the carriole is its lightness ; 
 
38 THROUGH NOKWAY WITH A IQfAPSACIC 
 
 where there are many fiords to cross, it is the most con- 
 venient vehicle, as it can be easily put into a boat. It 
 is simply a light car, the body shaped rather gracefully, 
 like the bow of a boat with the keel planed off, or a 
 college-cap with the square trencher cut off, then in- 
 verted and cut in half cross-wise by the ears. There are 
 two long, thia shafts, with two wheels at one end and a 
 pony at the other. The prow-shaped car is placed upon 
 the shafts (with its bows backwards, of course), between 
 the wheels and the pony. One person can just sit 
 m the half-bowl; he disposes of his legs as he may, 
 either arranging them horizontally on the shafts, or 
 dangling them in the small space between his seat and 
 the pony's tail, or otherwise, as his ingenuity may sug- 
 gest. His centre of gravity is situated over a point 
 about one-third the distance between the axle and the 
 bearing of the harness ; and therefore the pony sup- 
 ports about one-third of Ms weight on horizontal 
 ground, the elasticity of the shafts serving as a 
 spring. His luggage is placed on a flat board, nailed 
 to the shafts over or a little behind the wheels. A 
 small boy, who has to take the horse back to the 
 station, usually stands upon this board, or the luggage, 
 and these to some extent counterpoise the weight of the 
 traveller and diminish the pressure on the pony's back. 
 
 Enthusiastic Englishmen usually purchase a carriole 
 at Christiania, and add considerably to their travelling 
 griefs thereby. Carrioles, ox something of the sort, 
 may be hired wherever there are roads for them to run 
 upon, at the rate of one farthing per English mile. 
 
PLADBROD. 39 
 
 including harness. As there is so much water travel- 
 ling either on lakes or fiords in all parts of Norway, the 
 carrying of his own carriole on the water usually costs 
 the tourist more than would the hire of carrioles for the 
 whole of his land journey, although the charge for 
 carrioles by boat is very small. The only advantage of 
 a private carriole is, that the trouble of strapping and 
 unstrapping the luggage at every station is saved. 
 
 The sail up the lake of Losna is very beautiful. 
 The lake is an expansion of the river Logen, and about 
 the same width as the Rhine ; the scenery is not unlike 
 the grandest part of the latter, where the hills are too 
 steep to be disfigured by the ugly vine -sticks and ter- 
 races. The charge for a carriole to Elstadt by the steamer 
 is 15 skillings ; for a passenger, 36 skillings. 
 
 Having neither luggage, horses, nor carriage, to look 
 after, I started some time before the rest, and was not 
 overtaken by the four-wheeler until about half way to 
 the next station, which is twelve or thirteen miles on. I 
 arrived there before they left, and dined on raw ham, 
 ale, and " fladbrod." This fladbrod is a remarkable sub- 
 stance, composed of bruised oats cemented together by 
 some means, and flattened out wonderfully. It differs 
 considerably from Scotch oatcake, being very much 
 thinner, darker coloured, and more chippy ; and is more 
 like the material of which hat-boxes are made than any- 
 thing else I am acquainted with : if you strip the paper 
 off a hat-box you will find that it is not made of card- 
 board, as it appears to be, but of a thin veneer of wood ; 
 eat a small quantity of this veneer, and you will be able 
 
40 THROUGH NORWAY "WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 to form a very fair idea of the flavour of fladbrod ; only 
 the fladbrod is rather more crisp and a little less 
 resinous. It is made into circular discs from 18 inches 
 to 2 feet in diameter ; and a hungry man, who is fond 
 of it, can consume several square yards at a meal. 
 
 The view from the upper windows of the Oden station 
 is most magnificent. The station is a large and good one, 
 but rather embarrassing to an Englishman who brings 
 •lis hotel notions with him, for there are no bells, no 
 waiters, no servants. Like such stations generally, it is 
 composed of several wooden buildings : the dining-room 
 is oYie of these, and the kitchen is over the way; therefore 
 if you want food or drink, you walk across the road and 
 fetch it. You may hammer on the table if you please, 
 but having the whole building to yourself, nobody hears 
 you, or if any of the natives do they take no notice, for 
 they suppose that you are playing a tune for your own 
 amusement. And yet they ai'e not uncivil — no, nor 
 inattentive; they appear to have a theory that people 
 with arms and legs can help themselves, and they allow 
 them to do so. 
 
 Englishmen are objects of great wonderment to the 
 Norwegians. The steward of the steamer told me of an 
 English lady who has a farm hereabouts, who rides bare- 
 backed horses, and cuts her o^vn timber in a silk gown ; 
 and of a Sir Something Somebody, who hired a special 
 steam-packet in order to avoid meeting five people he 
 had travelled with ; also of another Englishman who for 
 some years past has lived in a lonely hut with no other 
 associate than an old woman, his housekeeper ; and who 
 
THE LAKE TROUT. 41 
 
 spends all his time in hunting wolves and bears, and 
 does not catch any. 
 
 Arrive at Vik station rather late. The distance is 
 about twenty-three miles from the landing-place, and 
 the scenery very fine all the way : vast cultivated slopes, 
 of the same rich verdure as the banks of the Miosen, 
 with wooded knolls and islands on the winding river. 
 Near to Vik the hills form a magnificent amphi- 
 theatre, a fitting council-chamber for a conclave of 
 giants, the mountain opposite representing the speaker's 
 rostrum. 
 
 I found the salmon-fisher and the rest of the party 
 here, and was rather inclined to crow at having done as 
 much on foot as they had with post-horses. 
 
 Breakfasted next morning on fried slices of trout of 
 extraordinary size, as large as our lai-gest sized salmon, 
 of deeper colour than salmon, and remarkably full- 
 flavoured. The trout are, I believe, caught in a neigh- 
 bouring lake. Paid 1 mark 12 skillings, or Is. M., 
 for supper, bed, and breakfast. 
 
 Walked on through a straight valley, into which 
 several lateral valleys open, each contributing a stream 
 to the main river, which at one place, near the battle- 
 ground of Kringelen, forms a small lake. It was here 
 that Colonel Sinclair and his band of Scotchmen were 
 killed while marching on their way to Sweden in 1612. 
 He was buried in the church of Quam close by, and 
 a monument erected to his memory stands by the road- 
 side : it is a small stone pillax', with a carved top, and 
 no visible inscription. 
 
42 THROUGH NOEWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 Near to Laurgaard, just before reaching the bridge, 
 the road passes over the lower part of a huge heap of 
 great masses of stone, some of them blasted for road- 
 maliingi They are for the most part angular, and pre- 
 sent every appearance of a terminal moraine. This is 
 especially the case to the left of the spot where the road 
 passes over it ; the heap comes abruptly upon the green- 
 sward, with a rounded swelling outline, just as though 
 pushed forward by some force from behind. Had the 
 stones fallen from above there must have been an 
 abundance of stray boulders of the same kind beyond 
 it. Farther up the western brancli of the valley there 
 are long heaps high on the hill-side, forming a ridge; 
 these heaps, like that by the roadside, are too abrupt 
 at the sides to have fallen from above, for had they come 
 down with a falling impetus they could not possibly 
 have rested there. Professor Forbes does not appear to 
 have observed them.* 
 
 * Speaking of the Dovre Fjeld, which is some 2,000 feet higher 
 than this, Professor Porbes says : " I looked with attention for any 
 traces of glaciers, either by wearing and polishing the rocks where 
 they came into view, or in the depositation of moraines, but I saw 
 nothing very decisive of either kind. The friable and slaty rock is 
 not favourable to the preservation of impressions of the former class, 
 which are rare and ill-defined ; nor are the mounds of stones, which 
 are abundant enough, sufiSciently characteristic to deserve the appel- 
 lation of moraines. They are, indeed, sometimes disposed in elou-» 
 gated flat-topped ridges ; but this is due, if I mistake not, to the 
 eroding action of torrents which have gradually undermined them, 
 leaving abrupt talus, which at first sight resemble moraines, but 
 which, in their present form, it is difficult or impossible to identify. 
 Tiie surprise which I at first felt at observing no more distinct traces 
 of ancient glaciers diminished afterwards, upon reflection that had 
 such glaciers existed they must have covered contemporaneously the 
 
GLACIER TRACES. 43 
 
 whole of the vast extent of the Dovre Fjeld; that if they could have 
 moved over such inconsiderable slopes, the motion must have been 
 nearly insensible ; — that the traces of such ancient ice-formations (if 
 they existed) must be sought in the deep valleys or outlets of the 
 fjeld, where the true glaciers must have protruded themselves from 
 under the snow line with a considerable declivity," &c. ("Norway 
 and its Glaciers," pp. 24 and 25.) These remarks apply to the Dovre 
 Fjeld, the great plateau about 2,000 feet above Laurgaard. The 
 heaps I have referred to may be the moraines of such true glacier 
 outlets, the valley above Laurgaard being an outlet to the Dovre 
 Fjeld ; or they may be moraines of a glacial outlet of a similar ice- 
 field on the Sugne Fjeld, the glaciers from which may have flowed 
 down the valley to the west of Laurgaard. I regret now that I did 
 not devote a little time to the careful examination of these heaps. 
 It will be worth the while of a future tourist who is interested in 
 this subject to do so ; to ascertain accurately the extent and course 
 of the ridge of blocks, and their mineralogical character, and to 
 ascertain whether they correspond with the mountains immediately 
 above them, or with those nearer to the Dovre Fjeld or the Sogne 
 Fjeld. K these be true moraines, and others of a similar kind be 
 found, and traced to the Sogne and Dovre Fjelds, these great plateaus 
 must at one time have been similar to the present Jostedal and 
 Fulgefond snow-fields, which thrust their icy torrents down lateral 
 gorges into the valleys below. 
 
44 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNArSACK. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 First taste of Norwegian hardships — The peasants' supper and bed- 
 room at Laurgaard station — A misunderstanding, a reconcilia- 
 tion, a supper, bed, and breakfast, all for fivepence halfpenny — 
 Irrigation in the Guldbrandsdal — A sandy region and its pro- 
 bable origin — Bilious hospitality — Cheating the hostess — The 
 Dovre rjeld — The naturalist and the sportsman — Science versus 
 the Classics — The kitchen at Jerkin — Schneehoetten — The 
 ravine of the Driv — Norwegian beer — Some etymologies — Luxu- 
 rious wild flowers — Porridge etiquette. 
 
 I STOPPED at Laurgaard station, and was shown into a 
 rough sort of kitchen, with tables, benches, loom, and 
 a fireplace under a canopy of brick or plaster. An old 
 woman was sitting coiled up at the fireside, hybernating 
 apparently. At one of the benches were some young 
 women and a dirty man eating what looked like Roman 
 cement, out of a wooden bowl, with wooden spoons, 
 each digging a spoon into the composition by turns. 
 Along with the cement they were eating some yellow, 
 crisp, corrugated pancakes. 
 
 On my entrance they all stared and stopped feeding, 
 the old woman micoiled, and discontinued hybernation. 
 They then consulted together, and presently brought me 
 fladbrod and rusty raw bacon. The dirty man having 
 just finished his meal gave me his knife, first sucking it 
 clean, and making a bow as he presented it. The girl 
 
THE PEASANTS' SUPPEE AND BEDROOM. 45 
 
 sucked anotlier knife, and put it away ready for the next 
 comer. I ate a few square feet of the fladbrod and 
 left the bacon. A Scandinavian piece of antiquity 
 was then handed to me ; it was a wooden tankard, or 
 rather bucket, capable of holding about three quarts, 
 having a carved cover, the sides plain, and about three 
 quarters of an inch thick. It contamed beei', but 
 as the dirty man had just been drinkmg out of it, and 
 sucking the thick wooden edge as he did the blade of 
 the knife, I refused the antiquity and asked for water. 
 This was brought in a basin, the same sort as is usually 
 supplied in these parts for washing. 
 
 After supper I was shown into a dirty double-bedded 
 room, the dirty man lying on his back smoking in the 
 best bed of the two. The bed left for me was a kind of 
 stout coffin, or egg-chest, with some straw covered with 
 canvas for the mattress, and a dirty rug for the cover- 
 ing. The bed was placed close by a window and exactly 
 over the head of the bed, and about eighteen inches 
 above it was a broken pane of glass ; a piece of paper 
 was pasted over the hole, but it only adliered by the 
 upper part, the rest forming a flap which accurately 
 directed a jet of air upon the place to be occupied by 
 the head of the sleeper. The window faced due north, 
 and the wind was blowing from the north with occa- 
 sional showers. I laid down with my clothes on, to " 
 avoid contact with the earth-coloured canvas, and dirty 
 ruo-. I tried to move the bed, but could not ; tried to 
 
 to 
 
 stop up the window and failed. The prospect of ear- 
 ache, stiff neck, and rheumatism in the shoulder, being 
 
46 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 imminent, I reluctantly gave it up, and determined' 
 rather to sleep out of doors altogether. Accordingly I 
 returned to the kitchen, inquired how much to pay, and 
 asked the distance to the next station. This produced 
 a general turmoil throughout the establishment. The 
 old woman uncoiled again, and entered into a state of 
 complete consciousness ; the dirty man got out of bed, 
 pipe and all, to see what was the matter ; the girl dis- 
 appeared, and presently returned with a comparatively 
 clean male, who appeared seriously concerned at my 
 discontent, and said something in a scolding tone to the 
 old woman; he then showed me to a state bedroom, 
 where all was clean and comfortable enough. I accepted 
 this accommodation, and slept soundly. 
 
 At about six in the morning the old woman, com- 
 pletely roused from hybernation, entered my room with 
 a bewildered aspect and suggested coffee, which the 
 young woman btought immediately. At every place 
 where I had slept since leaving Christiania a small 
 table stood by the bedside, and early in the morning 
 a young woman entered without any of the prelimi- 
 naries of knocking, and placed upon the table a bowl or 
 cup of strong coffee, and a bowl of cream; both of 
 which I dutifully consumed before getting up, though I 
 dislike breakfasting in bed. This, however, is not con- 
 sidered breakfast, but merely an awakener ; breakfast, 
 or frokost, being provided afterwards. 
 
 I am doubtful whether to regard this as a Norwegian 
 custom, or to suppose that the first English tourist who 
 visited Norway was a luxurious animal and insisted 
 
UNSOPHISTICATED POLITENESS. 47 
 
 upon coffee in bed, and that the natives have concluded 
 thereafter that such is the common high-life habit of 
 Englishmen, and indulge every Enghshman accordingly. 
 With the exception of myself, all Englishmen who 
 travel in Norway are regarded either as lords or mem- 
 bers of Parhament ; and it was evidently because I was 
 not supposed to be either of these, but rather a travel- 
 ling- tinker, that I was located in the peasant's lodging- 
 room last night. The regular tariff for that sort of 
 lodging is two skillings — rather less than one pemiy per 
 night. 
 
 I had fladbrod after the coffee, and received very 
 anxious attention from all parties : being evidently con- 
 'sidered an M.P. this morning, the people of the house 
 were most desirous to conciliate, supposing me to have 
 been much offended the night before. This, of course, 
 was not the case ; for, in spite of the dirt, the knife- 
 licking, and the rheumatic window, kindness and good- 
 will were evident throughout. If a traveller enters an 
 inn with muddy hobnailed boots, incomprehensible 
 rough flannel clothes, and a pack on his back, he must 
 expect to be taken for a tinker; and if he is treated 
 with kindness under those circumstances, he has 
 stronger reason to be grateful than if he had been 
 preceded by a courier with a bag of money. There 
 was more true politeness in the act of the dirty 
 man when he licked the knife so careftJly and pre- 
 sented it with a bow to the poor tinker, than in the 
 smirking obsequiousness of the smartest waiter at 
 Mivart's when receiving a newly arrived prince. He 
 
48 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 knew that I should pay hun nothing for licking the;- 
 knife ; hut in doing so he did his best, according to his 
 notions, to make it luxuriously clean and agreeable to 
 me. I paid for supper, bed, and breakfast twelve skil- 
 lings, or about 5^d. ; then walked on through a wild 
 alpine gorge with a roaring torrent far in the depth 
 below. After passing this gorge, which terminates at 
 the next station, the valley widens again and the scenery 
 changes entirely. 
 
 Below Laurgaard the rich verdant slopes form the 
 leading characteristic. This verdure is sustained by 
 very careful irrigation, which is one of the most re- 
 markable features of the farming operations hereabouts. 
 Long troughs are made by scooping a hollow in the 
 stem of a pine-tree ; one of these is laid with its thicker 
 end close to a mountain stream, and the water directed 
 into it. This trough is laid along the ground with a 
 slight inclination towards its thinner end, which rests 
 in the hollow at the thick end of the next trough, so 
 that the water flows over from the first into the secondiS, 
 This arrangement is continued, and a little aqueduct 
 formed : one of these aqueducts runs along the upper 
 part of every field, or range of fields. To use it, the 
 farmer, or one of his housemen, brings a wooden troughs 
 not channelled through as the aqueduct logs are, but 
 with a ledge all round, so that it can form a little pool 
 of water. He places this just above the part he is about 
 to irrigate, breaks the aqueduct by lifting the channelled 
 log nearest to his pool trough, and directs the stream 
 into it. Usually he has to shift several logs in order 
 
CURIOUS SAND-BANKS. 49 
 
 to bend the aqueduct down to the required spot, but lie 
 does this very speedily by lifting each log at one end 
 and giving it the required inclination. The water now 
 fills his wooden pool, and with a long wooden scoop he 
 flings a refreshing shower far and wide upon the rye, 
 oats, barley, pasture grass, or potatoes. Every foot of 
 the field is scrupulously watered thus, and when a 
 ntimber of the waterers are at work, the bright semi- 
 circles of sparkling drops flying through the air in 
 every direction make a cheerful and pleasing sight for 
 the pedestrian. 
 
 Beyond the station above Laurgaard, where the 
 valley widens again, there are curious sand-banks 
 extending on both sides of the valley. These are cut 
 through by the lateral streams, and have the appear- 
 ance of the earthworks of a huge fortification. A head 
 wind was blowing, which carried dense dust-clouds with 
 it, and I pitied those travellers who are riding in 
 carrioles, seated so low, and at just the right distance 
 behind the horse to catch the main body of dust that 
 he kicks up. 
 
 The river must formerly have spread over tlais 
 valley, depositing the sand where its waters were 
 (jiuiescent. At the same time, it was cutting its way 
 down the gorge above Laurgaard, till it drained the 
 lake its widened waters formed, and reduced itself to 
 its present channel. 
 
 I examined the sand, but found no shells in it. It is 
 very fine and uniform, in all respects resembling the 
 sand that is commonly seen to whiten the streams that 
 
 E 
 
50 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 issue from the foot of glaciers, and is deposited as soon 
 as the torrent meets with a quiet spreading place below. 
 Shells are not likely to occur in such a deposit, the 
 waters being too newly thawed and cold to suit that 
 kind of animal life. 
 
 Stopping at the new station of Dombaas, I met 
 an English lady and gentleman with a " tolk" or inter- 
 preter. The hostess was the perfect embodiment of 
 womanly goodness: just, the sort of woman that every 
 man must instinctively liken to his own mother. 
 The English lady was in delicate health, and had 
 but a small appetite. This was desolation to the soul 
 of our good hostess, who had exhausted nearly all the 
 resources of Norwegian cookery, and was almost broken- 
 hearted at finding that her fair guest did not consume 
 every dish. She evidently supposed that the lady 
 was dissatisfied with the delicacies she had prepared, 
 and that the plea of illness was only an excuse. 
 We were all amused and concerned at the good woman's 
 anxiety; but the most amused of all was the tolk, for 
 he devoured all the nice things the lady and her 
 husband were unable to grapple with. At last, came 
 the crowning effort of the kitchen; some porridge 
 made of fine meal, boiled in milk, coated with sugar, 
 and over that a pool of oily butter, all boiling hot. 
 This was brought in triumphantly; and I foresaw 
 plainly that if this failed, the good woman would have 
 no sleep that night. The fair patient, with the amiability 
 of a woman, and the self-denial of a martyr, ate two 
 or three little spoonfuls; but human nature could no 
 
THE DOVKE EJELD. 51 
 
 further go. What was to be done ? for the hostess, thus 
 encouraged, had now evidently determined that her 
 guest should eat the whole, though there was a good- 
 sized Staffordshire-ware willow-pattern pie-dish full. 
 Suddenly we hit upon an expedient which our un- 
 known tongue enabled us to organise and carry out. 
 It was that the tolh should stand behind the lady's 
 chair, so that he could reach the pie-dish over her 
 shoulder, and while I diverted the attention of the 
 hostess by asking for something, he hastily, and with 
 great glee, helped himself to piled-up spoonfuls of 
 the porridge. Thus every time the good old lady 
 returned, she found the porridge diminished, and 
 was delighted with her success ; manifesting her 
 glee by patting her guest on the back, and exclaim- 
 ing, " ikke sick ! ikke sick ! " (not sick ! not sick !) 
 Thus all parties were gratified; especially the tolh, 
 who was grinnmg with delight for the rest of the 
 evening. 
 
 Reached the Dovre Fjeld next day. It is a vast undu- 
 lating moorland between three and four thousand feet 
 above the sea level. It has no particular claims to the 
 picturesque, and the absence of great rocky masses 
 deprives it of any savage grandeur, though it is suffi- 
 ciently desolate. The tints of the reindeer moss, or 
 rather lichen, which abounds, are in many parts very 
 beautiful; especially where a rounded heap of earth- 
 covered boulders is overgrown with it. It is dry and 
 crisp, forming a luxurious mountain couch ; its colours 
 vary from straw colour, through a pale buff, to a bright 
 
 E z 
 
52 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 orange and warm red brown. Its habit is to grow 
 on the dry well-drained spots, while peat moss occupies 
 the swampy localities. 
 
 Though early, I halted at the Jerkin station, which 
 is the largest and most famous on this highway from 
 the modern to the ancient capital of Norway, and found 
 it a bustling, rather business-like place : a Norwegian 
 modification of a Swiss hospice. Most sporting tourists 
 make it a resting-place for some days, game being 
 rather abundant on the Fjelde. 
 
 I found Mr. Gould hard at work, skinning and pre- 
 paring his day's spoil, which was very considerable ; a 
 young bird I had caught on the way was added to the 
 collection. I was surprised at the variety of birds 
 Mr. Gould had killed ; he had, in mere numbers, more 
 than double the amount of what an ordinary sports- 
 man, accounted a crack shot, would consider a good 
 day's sport hereabouts. The skilful naturalist, without 
 any of the paraphernalia of sporting — no pointers or 
 setters with wonderful instincts, nothing but a very 
 old-fashioned looking gun, and the bare requisites for 
 making it go ofP — comes to the place for the first time 
 in his life with a predetermination to shoot particular 
 kinds of birds only, and those of particular ages ; he 
 "walks straight to their haunts, and shoots nearly all 
 he seeks, and beats the mere bird-skyer who bangs at 
 everything he sees. How any man can be a sportsman 
 without being a naturalist, I cannot understand. Such 
 a phenomenon would, I suspect, be unknown, if in the 
 curriculum of our great Universities science and natural 
 
LIVING XATUmO v. DEAD LANGUAGES. 53 
 
 history, the laws and phenomena of creation, were 
 made the leading objects of study, instead of the 
 obscenities of Jupiter and Co. and the poetic laudations 
 of Roman rapine and Greek treachery: all of which 
 jnight with much advantage be buried in the darkness 
 of popular oblivion, and the keys of their sepulchre 
 left in charge of a few special antiquarians. The 
 languages in whicli they are written — or, at any rate, 
 the stilted, pompous Latin that has been so long dead, 
 might now be buried also ; and the mental health 
 of our modern youth would be much benefited by 
 such disposal of the carcass. The fact that a language, 
 spread by conquest to such an unprecedented extent,' 
 should so soon have died, and died so hopelessly, in 
 spite of popes, and priests, and pedants, is a proof of 
 its inherent unfitness for human speech. The sweet 
 and vigorous Italian, and the gorgeous Spanish, whicli 
 have risen from its ashes, are as much superior to the 
 dead parent as modern social institutions are to those of 
 ancient Rome. 
 
 Among the birds Mr. Gould had shot, were some 
 that live in England during the winter, and come to 
 Norway for their summer vacation. Like our own 
 species, who visit the fashionable holiday-places, these 
 birds adopt bright varied colours for their summer 
 dress ; and to secure and preserve them in their summer 
 costume, was, I believe, one of- ISlv. Gould's special 
 objects in visiting Norway. 
 
 At this place I had an actual dinner, off a joint 
 of roast veal, with rich sauce and potatoes, besides 
 
54 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 several kinds of bread and pancakes, and concluded 
 luxuriously with cafd noir, arm-chair, and slippers. 
 
 The night is perceptibly lighter here than at Chris- 
 tiania, and very cold. 
 
 At Jerkin I had a most extravagant southern break- 
 fast of coffee, fried eggs, dried salmon, a kind of pol- 
 pette, that Pietro, the reno-wned waiter of the Lepre 
 in Rome, would be proud of serving, and some of 
 those yellow, cross-bar, wafer-like cakes that are cooked 
 by squeezing batter in a hot iron mould, and then 
 sprinkled with white sugar from a pepper-box; such 
 as are sold in large quantities on Sundays at the 
 barri^re wineshops of Paris, and are made at the penny 
 ice establishment in Hungerford Market. 
 
 The kitchen at Jerkin is justly celebrated. It is a 
 large wooden hall, a log saloon, whose rich brown 
 smoke-tinted timbers and its blazing fire, where 
 something is always frying, forms a most enjoy- 
 able contrast with the bleak waste outside. Every 
 experienced tourist of good taste prefers to do all 
 his feeding in this kitchen, and leaves the fine room 
 over the way to the inexperienced visitors. It is 
 exceedingly difficult to leave off eating in such a 
 place, prepared as the appetite is by such an atmo- 
 sphere, and incited continuously by the hostess, whose 
 sole happiness evidently consists in feeding people. 
 She oscillates perpetually between the fire and the 
 guests, aided by a couple of sweet satellites, the 
 most rosy-cheeked of kitchen-maids. Never a driver 
 leaves the door, but the black bottle is brought 
 
THE KITCHEN AT JERKIN. 55 
 
 from its lurking-place, and a toss of tlie head, a 
 smack of the lips, and the Norwegian grasp of 
 thanks follows. Even after this, two or three deep 
 inspirations may be heard, showing further how the 
 drinker appreciates the liquor by making the most of 
 the vapour that still lingers in his throat. I felt strongly 
 tempted to stay another day here; but the midnight 
 sun in the far north will not wait for me, so I reso- 
 lutely pushed on ; bidding a temporary farewell to my 
 English friends, and a long one to the model hostess 
 and her memorable kitchen. 
 
 I had almost forgotten to mention the beautiful 
 flowers that decorated that kitchen : every window was 
 filled with them, and all were in full blooming condi- 
 tion. They were not mere Alpine plants from the Fjeld 
 outside, but bright southern exotics, that must have 
 been brought here with considerable care and expense, 
 and cannot be retained in such a climate without 
 much attention. There were flowers at several of 
 the other stations, but not equal to. these. My bill 
 for dinner, bed, and breakfast amounted to 2 marks, 
 or Is. 9d. 
 
 Walking on over the Fjeld, the view of Schnee- 
 hoetten is rather fine from its highest ridge. This 
 mountain, long regarded the highest in Norway, is 
 not so imposing as might be expected from its 
 height, 7,620 feet above the sea ; but it is only 
 4,500 feet above Jerkin, and 3,520 above this point, 
 which is 4,100 feet above the sea level, and said to be 
 the highest carriage-road in North Europe. The ascent 
 
56 THROUGH NOllWAY WITH A KNAl'SACK. 
 
 appears very easy from here, a long ridge stretclnng 
 gradually down from the summit, like Goatfell in 
 Arran. But appearances from such a distance are little 
 to be relied on, especially about the regioii of the snow- 
 line. Professor Forbes, who is no novice in momi- 
 taineering, describes the ascent as very troublesome, on 
 account of the deep sludgy snow-pits between the 
 boulders. 
 
 The road now plunges into a deep valley, in company 
 with the river Driv, which roars and foams among the 
 rocky masses that restrain its course. The amount of 
 water at this elevation gives evidence of the extent of 
 the Fjeld, and the quantity of snow that is thawing 
 around Schneehoetten. Many small lateral streams 
 pour into the valley, cutting deep gullies in the 
 rocks over which they fall. Several of these flow 
 directly from the patches of snow that fill, the hollows 
 above. There is a curious and very pretty effect pro- 
 duced by a peculiar conformation of the mountains on 
 the other side of the river. Each ridge of rock runs 
 down nearly parallel with the valley, and forms a long, 
 slender-pointed, high-backed promontory ; one , side of 
 these promontory ridges is nearly perpendicular, and 
 thus a little blind glen is formed, into which the rocky 
 promontory would about fit if it were reversed. These 
 glens are evenly curved and smooth, covered with rich 
 grass, and dotted with shrvibs and Lilliputian birch-trees. 
 They are very numerous, much alike, and' occur at 
 rather regular intervals, giving quite a character to the 
 valley, and contrasting beautifully with its general 
 
PRIMITIVE BEER. 57 
 
 wildness: any one of tliem would form a subject for 
 a charming little picture. The scenery is very grand 
 all the way down this ravine to Drivstuen. The river 
 makes some fine cascades, and several minor ones are 
 formed by the streamlets that tumble from the snow- 
 patches. 
 
 The character of the scenery changes below Driv- 
 stuen; where, instead of wild, broken rocks, the road 
 passes over an almost park-like greensward. 
 
 I dined at Drivstuen on eggs, ham, German-sausage,, 
 and. milk, for which I paid 8 skillings, about S^d. 
 
 The new road referred to in Murray's Guide, and by 
 Professor Forbes, as being commenced, is now com- 
 plete,' and is a very excellent one ; entirely avoiding the 
 tremendous ascent of the old road, which still remains, 
 and is quite a curiosity in its way. 
 
 I was overtaken by two English toxirists, and over- 
 took them again at Drivstuen. One of them was a fine 
 specimen of a sturdy old traveller ; the other a young 
 man, with a green veil, which was evidently a relic of the 
 last Derby day. I should advise other tourists, who 
 intend travellmg by carriole, to provide themselves with 
 similar veils, for the dust in some parts of these roads 
 must be choking when sitting so near to the horses' 
 heels. 
 
 Stopping at Rise, a neat and rather smart station, I 
 asked for some " ol " (ale) with my supper, which was 
 brouo-ht to me. It was a turbid liquid, of a reddish 
 o-reen colour, and from its flavour appeared to be an 
 infusion of hay, flavoured with a bitter decoction of pine 
 
58 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 knots. Possibly it was the beverage made from the 
 molte leer, a large red three-lobed berry, that grows 
 wild upon the hills. The ale made from malt and hops, 
 which is so commonly drunk on the other side of the 
 Fjeld, appears to be a modern innovation ; it is called 
 Baiersk, the Norsk for Bavarian, and is remarkably 
 good. Beer made from berries is as old as history, and 
 I suspect that the beer of our own country was of this 
 kind, before the process of malting was discovered, and 
 that the name is derived from " heer" a berry ; probably 
 the word malt is derived from molte ; for the sweetened 
 barley, being used as a substitute for the sweet tasting 
 " molte beer, " would naturally receive its name. 
 
 Brealifasted on eggs and ham, which to-day I had 
 " steaked," i. e., fried. The learned in words tell us 
 that our word steak is derived from the German " stuk,^ 
 a lump or slice; that a beef-steak therefore means a 
 slice of beef. Nothing of the kind: a beef-steak 
 originally means beef fried or broiled, or to be fried or 
 broiled. The continual use of the verb to steak here 
 forces this etymology upon one ; and the use of the word 
 steak in the north-east parts of Scotland — where a slice 
 of salmon, if broiled, is called a salmon-steak, but a 
 similar slice boiled is no steak at all — confirms this 
 view. Lax, the Norwegian and Danish name for 
 salmon, is still used occasionally in that part of Scot- 
 land. The Norsk verb to boil is " Koge" — anything 
 boiled is " Kogt^' pronounced cooked: the g being 
 generally hard, like k. Scholars refer us to cuoeere for 
 the origin of our word. 
 
A LUXURIOUS PLOWER-COUCH. 59 
 
 The coiFee and thick cream was brought, as usual, to 
 the bedside, and with it some wafer-cakes. Now, know- 
 ing sufficient Norsk to make myself understood, I 
 had the coffee carried back, to be taken with breakfast. 
 I did not venture to ask for this until quite satisfied 
 that I had got up the requisite phrase with intelligible 
 pronunciation, lest I should be misunderstood, and the 
 coffee taken away altogether. 
 
 My next day's walk was through a rich cultivated 
 valley, with snowy mountain peaks ahead. Murray 
 says that Schneehoetten is visible here, but unless my 
 map and compass deceive me considerably, this must be 
 a mistake. 
 
 A little before reaching Ovne or Aune station, there 
 were some of the most magnificent banks of pansies I 
 ever beheld. Several patches of above a hundred 
 square yards were covered with an unbroken carpet of 
 these beautiful little flowers ; the variety, richness, and 
 harmony of their colours was most exquisite ; they satu- 
 rated the atmosphere far around with a delicious aroma, 
 which was almost intoxicating in its concentration when 
 I laid down upon them and slept for an hour or two ; 
 the sunbeams poured upon me with a roasting heat, the 
 rooks were cawing above, and the river rumbling below ; 
 though yesterday and this morning it was freezing, and 
 the snow patches were still visible in all the hollows of 
 the craggy rocks above. I dreamed of oriental vapour 
 baths, otto of roses, and beautiful princesses just im- 
 ported from the snowy Caucasus, and selling by auction 
 in Covent Garden Market at a few skillings per dozen. 
 
60 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A EuSTAPSACK. 
 
 Sclmeehoetten is visible near Stuen, about fifteen 
 miles below the place where Murray speaks of it. It is 
 a more picturesque object from this point than from the 
 Dovre FJeld. A number of other snowy peaks are also 
 visible. 
 
 The women hereabouts wear a sort of cuirass of 
 printed cotton, the black silk cap or lue, that has pre- 
 vailed all the way from Christiania, and short white 
 sleeves. The boys have strange skull-caps, with 
 immense, straight, square peaks, which, projecting stiffly 
 forward, just balance the long, straight, tow-coloured 
 hair that hangs correspondingly behind. The men wear 
 red nightcaps when at work in the fields, but on great 
 occasions they are surmounted by beaver hats, evidently 
 inherited with the farms, and having the large crown, 
 hollow walls, and brim turned-up at the sides, of the 
 days of Beau Brummel and the Prince Regent. 
 
 I dined at Stuen in the kitchen, where four girls were 
 dining at the same time. Between each two was a 
 wooden bowl containing a sort of thin porridge or broth ; 
 they sat at arm's length from the bowl, and breaking oif a 
 chip of fladbrod, which they broke again and made into 
 a bunch of several layers, they stretched out their arms 
 and dipped the fladbrod into the curd ; then describing a 
 long sweeping curve with the hand, put the bunch of 
 fladbrod into the mouth, where it disappeared. They all 
 made precisely the same movements; yet I saw no reason 
 why they should sit so very far from the bowl, or why 
 the hand should not be brought straight to the mouth : 
 probably it is a matter of etiquette and good-breeding ;. 
 
TABLE ETIQUETTE. 61 
 
 the sweep of tlie arm certainly is ratlier graceful, though 
 somewhat pompous and bombastic. The short S-shaped 
 wooden spoon, common hereabouts, is used with the 
 same action. Perhaps the custom may have originated 
 from one of their forefathers having, at a remote period, 
 dined at a German table d'hote, and sat next to a fat 
 burgomaster, who commenced proceedings by tucking 
 his napkin into his cravat to form an apron, then placed 
 his face horizontally over his plate like a pig at a trough, 
 and shovelled the viands into his mouth, which retained 
 one-half and let the rest fall into the plate again. A 
 simple-minded man, who had witnessed such a spectacle, 
 would go straight home and teach his children ever 
 after to keep their platters at arm's length, and practise 
 the virtue of self-denial by making their food take' a 
 long deliberate journey on its way to the mouth. 
 
 My dinner of eggs, milk, and cheese, cost 8 shillings, 
 or 3^d. 
 
62 THROUGH NOEWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 Domestic economy— Farmhouse stations— English salmon-fishers— 
 Eental of rivers — Norwegian notions of English sportsmen— 
 The Valley of the Gula — Different kinds of valleys— The 
 industry of rivers— Terraced valleys— The upheaval of Scandi- 
 navia—Wedding festivities— " Tak for mad "—Costume— The 
 approach to Trondhj em— Universality of politeness and good- 
 breeding in Norway — Influence of an aristocracy. 
 
 The scenery is very fine in the neighbourhood of Siind- 
 seth station, a deep alpine valley, with rounded wooded 
 hills in the distance, forming huge billows of pine tops. 
 On crossing the bridge near Bierkager I found that my 
 map* is quite incorrect, the road there being laid down 
 as continuing straight on northward, while there are 
 actually two roads of equal width ; one bearing N.E., 
 the other N. W., and a sign-post, inscribed " til 
 Trondhjem," pointing indefinitely midway between the 
 two roads, but rather leaning to the left ; therefore I 
 took the left road. It was late, and I had walked about 
 thirty miles already. After going some two or three 
 miles farther and not reaching the station, I took the 
 bearings, and found that the road trended far too much 
 to the westward ; for, instead of making N.N.E., I was 
 
 * Waligorski's road map — " Veikart over Norge af J. WaligdrsM 
 og N. Wergeland." 
 
SLEEPING AEEANGEMENTS. 63 
 
 going W.N.W., evidently down the Olkedal, which 
 leads to Trondhjem by a more circuitous route. 
 
 Turning back, I made inquiries at the first house, by 
 knocking at the window. Though nearly eleven o'clock 
 it was not dark, and a bed was visible close to the window ; 
 and it rather surprised me to see three heads start up out 
 of this bed, two belonging to men and one to a woman. 
 Whether this sort of sleeping arrangement is the 
 custom of the country, or of the district, or was a special 
 peculiarity in this case, I am not able to decide ; but it 
 does not accord with Laing's statement relative to the 
 careful separation of the sleeping apartments of the 
 sexes in the rm-al districts of Norway. That they were 
 sleeping thus in all innocence, without any idea of im- 
 propriety, was evident from the manner in which one of 
 the men reached to the window and opened it ; all of 
 them joining very kindly in telling me the way and the 
 distance to the station. As the Norwegian bedstead is 
 an oblong wooden box, this might possibly have been a 
 double bed, a box with a partition down it ; the two men 
 lying on one side and the woman on the other, or two 
 boxes side by side : but I did not see any partition. 
 
 Arriving at Bjerkager station at about midnight, 
 after some difficulty I awakened an old woman, who led 
 me first to an air-tight room, where several men were 
 sleeping in a frightful atmosphere; then to another, 
 where she aroused a young woman, who prepared my 
 bed, and gave me some supper of bread and butter, 
 milk, and pancakes. In most places people would be 
 sulky and ill-tempered at being roused at such unseason- 
 
64 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A IvNAPSACK. 
 
 able liours, but it is not the case here ; I was served with 
 as much alacrity and good-will as though I had arrived 
 at the usual time. 
 
 All these stations are farmhouses, composed of several 
 wooden buildings; and it is sometimes a perplexing 
 task to find out which is intended for travellers. Ojie is 
 usually a kitchen, another a lodging-house for peasants ; 
 some are filled with hay, others are furnished for the 
 accommodation of cows, &c., while externally there is 
 but little difference between them. In this case I found 
 the doors of all unfastened, and walked into two or three 
 before finding anybody. I should have helped myself 
 to a bed I found in one of the buildings, but being into- 
 lerably thirsty, and unable to find the well or any vessel 
 containing water, was compelled to awaken the establish- 
 ment, which could only be done by dint of a terrible 
 amount of rapping and rattling. 
 
 The main object of thus building a farm in detached 
 fragments is that, in case of fire, the whole may not be 
 destroyed: a wise precaution with such building materials. 
 According to Mr. Laing, the cost of a house, " with two 
 rooms below and two above, does not usually exceed 
 fifty dollars, wood and workmanship included."* They 
 are built in manner before described, p. 3. 
 
 The road beyond the station commands fine views 
 of the valley, a deep ravine thickly wooded with fir- 
 trees, and the river dotted with pine-covered islands. 
 There are many indications of glacier action hereabouts 
 
 * "Residence in Norway in the Years I834-35-3G:" by Samuel 
 Laing, p. 29. 
 
SALMON FISIIENG. 65 
 
 similar to those in the valley of the Driva, mentioned 
 by Professor Forbes, but more extensive and decided. 
 
 The rich verdure of the Guldbrandsdal prevails over 
 the greater part of the country through which I have 
 walked to-day, and the fields are carpeted with sweet 
 flowers as those of yesterday. I little expected to find 
 this element of beauty so generally prevalent here in 
 the far north. 
 
 On arriving at Soknaes station, I was surrounded 
 by a group of inquirers, who, on ascertaining that I 
 am an Englishman, told me that two Englishmen are 
 residing here ; one of whom came forward and invited 
 me to his room. He is a devoted angler from Oxford, 
 who has spent several summers in Norway, and is 
 well acquainted with the language and the country. 
 He and a friend had rough apartments here, the rental 
 of which included the privilege of angling in the river. 
 Before coming to Norway I was under the impression 
 that any one might cast a line where he pleased in 
 the rivers of so wild and primitive a country, but this 
 is not the case ; the Englishman's insatiable desire to 
 kill something that can struggle, or is difficult to get 
 at, has brought all the great rivers of Norway into the 
 market: not excepting those within the arctic circle. 
 They are rented by English anglers, sometimes on long 
 leases ; and for the best portions of the most celebrated 
 rivers, considerable sums are paid ; the usual stipulation 
 being that the angler, besides paying the rent, shall 
 give all the fish he catches, beyond those required for 
 his own consumption, to the farmer. 
 
 F 
 
66 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 This amuses the Norwegians mightily, fisliing in 
 Norway being one of the vulgar occupations by which 
 men obtain a livelihood. Our laundresses would be 
 similarly amused if Chinese mandarins were to migi-ate 
 annually to England and pay large sums of money for 
 the privilege of turning their mangles. 
 
 I spent a pleasant evening with these anglers, who 
 gaA'e me much information on many matters connected 
 with the social condition of the people. It appears that 
 fly-fishing was quite unknown in Norway until it was 
 introduced by English anglers, and that the Norwegians 
 are now trying to persuade themselves that there is 
 some fun in it ; though, as this unusually candid angler 
 confessed, he has sometimes whipped the stream most 
 scientifically all day long, aided with every appliance 
 of gaudy-feathered flies and the most complicated tackle, 
 and has caught nothing ; while a little boy, with a 
 common stick, a piece of string, and a hook little better 
 than a bent pin, lias filled a basket. 
 
 The road now enters the Guldalen, or valley of the 
 Gula, the view down which is very beautiful. It is 
 a rich cultivated valley, the river winding through a 
 fine wooded plain, and round about green knolls and 
 mounds, that have a very complicated appearance seen 
 from above. On descending the valley, and walking 
 a few miles down it, the structure upon which this 
 peculiar appearance depends becomes evident. 
 
 There are two very distinct kinds of valleys com- 
 monly met with in mountainous countries.: one, the 
 long narrow ravine, a mere stone trough, ibrmed by 
 
EIVEKS AND THEIR DEPOSITS. 67 
 
 the rocky slopes of the mountain sides meeting each 
 other at an angle ; this angle being more or less choked 
 with fragments of fallen rock, among which a torrent 
 roars. These valleys vary considerably in their features, 
 according to their elevation, the steepness of their sides, 
 and the character of the rock composing them. Some 
 are deep gorges, with barren and almost perpendicular 
 walls ; others have a more gradual incline, and their 
 sides are covered with woods or cultivated ledges and 
 slopes. The other is the open basin-shaped valley. 
 This, like all valleys of any considerable extent, gives 
 path to a river or small stream ; but if the wide basin- 
 shaped valley be deepest in the middle, as is usually 
 the case, the river fills this hollow and forms a lake, 
 spreading itself out in calm repose after its fretfiil 
 journey among the rocks above. Thus the Lake of 
 Geneva is the sleeping Rhone ; that of Constance, the 
 Rhine reposing in like manner. The Mediterranean 
 is a larger valley filled with waters where many rivers 
 sleep, and the ocean is the main valley of the world, 
 the final resting-place of all the rivers. 
 
 There is another modification of this open basin- 
 shaped valley, where a lake of earth, generally fertile 
 soil, takes the place of the oiitspread river. This is 
 easily accounted for. The toifing river brings a 
 burden with it, which it lays down at its resting-place. 
 So lon^ as it continues in rapid motion, stirred and 
 eddied by the resisting rockj it is turbid and milky 
 with the suspended particles it has abraded fi-om the 
 moimtain sides. As soon as it becomes quiescent, these 
 
 F 2 
 
68 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 sink to the tottom, the larger first, and so on ; and 
 the river issues from the other end clear and refreshed, 
 ready to resume its levelling lahours lower down. 
 
 By such a process of deposition are these wide valleys 
 gradually filled up, and then the river flows gently in 
 a long winding course through the rich territory of its 
 own depositing; like an old man calmly enjoying the 
 fruits of his early toil, and contemplating the good 
 deeds of his youth : for the youthful river, in the 
 brawling early days of its mountain life, is doing mighty 
 service to the world in thus converting desolation into 
 fertility. Nearly all the fertile plains of the earth 
 have been created thus by the industry of rivers. 
 
 There is yet another kind of valley, partaking of the 
 characters of both of the above : a long trough-like 
 valley formed by the mountain sides, but which widens 
 as it proceeds downwards, and branches into the great 
 valley of the sea. The waters of the sea fill its lower 
 part, and an estuary, firth, or fiord, is formed. These, 
 in like manner, are continually being filled up by the 
 rivers which come to rest in the waters of the sea, 
 and deposit their burdens there. Thus Holland, the 
 masterpiece and last labour of the Ehine, has been 
 formed. 
 
 The Gula, into whose valley I now descend, presents 
 some interesting illustrations of these river agencies, 
 and a problem to boot. The mounds and knolls, that 
 appeared so complex from above, are seen from below 
 to be formed by the river cutting its way down to 
 a great depth through the alluvium it has deposited. 
 
PARALLEL KOADS. 69 
 
 This may have been effected m two ways : the deposit 
 may have been made in a lake filling a basin-shaped 
 valley, and the river may have cut down and lowered 
 the channel of its outlet considerably beyond its original 
 depth, and thus have not only drained the waters of the 
 lake, but have given sufficient inclination and velocity to 
 the river, to enable it to carry with it much of the soft 
 earthy matter over which it was flowing; or, it may 
 be, that this was an estuary valley, an ancient fiord, 
 up which the sea stretched an arm, the alluvium being 
 deposited by the river when it entered the sea ; and 
 after this was done, the whole valley, mountains, river, 
 and its deposit, were all uplifted by the fiery forces 
 within the earth which battle against the working of 
 the waters outside, raising new mountains while the 
 waters wear the old ones down. Such an uplifting 
 would lengthen the journey of the river, as the sea 
 rolled back from the uplifted land. In its new course, 
 the river would cut through the soft plain over the 
 bottom of the ancient fiord, and continue cutting down 
 till it reached nearly the level of the sea; and thus 
 the depth of the cutting would measure the amount 
 of uplifting. 
 
 Throughout nearly the whole of to-day's walk — 
 about twenty-five miles — terraces formed of alluvium 
 were visible. In some parts the river flows at the foot 
 of a steep bank of even slope above three hundred feet 
 high, the top of which is a cultivated or wooded level ; 
 at other parts there are several step-like terraces, 
 " parallel roads," as they are called in Scotland. Near 
 
70 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 to Meelhaus station I counted five of these, one above 
 the other, and perfectly parallel. From the coittse of 
 the river and configuration of the valley, as shown ia 
 the map, I suspect that these terraces have been formed 
 in an estuary which has been rendered high and dry by 
 an uplifting of the land. If so, all the neighbouring 
 valleys that carry considerable rivers into the sea 
 should present similar phenomena more or less decidedly 
 marked. That this is the case with some of them, I 
 know from reading the accounts of other travellers. It 
 is the general opinion of geologists, more particulady: 
 of the local geologists, that the whole of Scandinavia 
 has been uplifted at a geologically recent period. The 
 reader should bear this in mind, and we will look out 
 for any additional indications of the kind that may 
 present themselves in our future wanderings together. 
 
 I dined to-day at Leer station. Some excellent ale 
 was brought in a kind of pail the shape of a truncated 
 cone, and capable of holding about a gallon and a half. 
 There had been a wedding some days before, and the 
 festivities had not fairly ceased ; this ale I suspect, 
 was specially provided for the feast, for the pail was 
 handed about freely to all comers, who were numerous, 
 as there are many farms hereabouts. 
 
 Among the many visitors was a party of old folks, 
 chiefly women, who were making a substantial repast,, 
 and for the first time I witnessed the old Norwegian 
 custom of shaking, or rather grasping, hands all round. 
 It is done very deliberately, almost solemnly, like a 
 grace after meat. Every one grasps the hand of every 
 
TEONDHJEM. 71 
 
 one else, and repeats, " Tak for mad " — " Thanks for 
 food." There were sixteen at dinner, and as every one 
 shook hands with fifteen, and repeated "Tak for mad" 
 fifteen times, there were 16 x 15 = 240 repetitions of 
 " Tak for mad," and 1 20 graspings of hands. 
 
 There was a great display of the Beau Brummel 
 heaver hats to-day, among the men coming from church. 
 They wear frock-coats and hats on Sundays, and dress- 
 coats during the week. Both men and women dress 
 very neatly on all occasions, and the material seems 
 good and substantial home-spun woollen cloth. The 
 men wear dark gray and black, the working-dress 
 being in fact very nearly what we should call evening 
 costume, with the addition of a red nightcap. 
 
 I stopped at Oust, a station which has some amount of 
 hotel pretensions, where I had a good supper and bed. 
 
 The road now ascends the hills, and commands fine 
 views of the city and fiord of Trondhjem. The city 
 is approached by a line of wooden warehouses very 
 much like the Noah's-ark toys of our childhood made 
 on a. large scale : they are close to the water's edge, 
 and appear ready to float off should the water rise. 
 The streets of Trondhjem are wide and clean, witli 
 water tanks at the corners, and only a small number of 
 shops, but those very good. It is the universal custom 
 here, as in Christiania, to uncover on entering a shop, 
 and continue so while making a purchase. The idea 
 of treating a shopman as an inferior does not appear 
 to be entertained by any class in Norway. Tiie people 
 here are nearly all well dressed, the ladies very gaily. 
 
72 THEOUGH NORWAY WITH A KNArSACK. 
 
 with round hats and the latest London — not Paris — 
 fashions. I have seen but one puppy in Norway, 
 and he was one of the passengers in the steam-packet 
 from Hull. He affected aristocratic English airs, 
 and treated his modest fellow-countryman the stone- 
 mason so rudely that the salmon-fisher and I cut him 
 altogether. We found on landing that he was a 
 commercial traveller. 
 
 The different classes of society in Norway are not 
 distinguishable by their conduct; for all are quiet, 
 courteous, unassuming, and dignified. An English puppy, 
 as we are all aware, is the most contemptible of the 
 brutes, and a true English gentleman the most dignified 
 of human beings. The Norwegians of all classes exhibit 
 the peculiar external attributes of high English breed- 
 ing in a very remarkable degree. They are, as far as 
 I have yet seen, the best behaved people in Europe: 
 haughtiness and cringing seem equally unknown among 
 them. It is often argued that an aristocracy is neces- 
 sary to give by example a high tone to society, but 
 Norway is almost the only country in Europe without 
 an aristocracy or any pretensions to such ; unless it be 
 the aristocracy of timber-merchants and fish-salters. 
 
 In one sense, it is true, the great bulk of the Nor- 
 wegian people may be regarded as an aristocracy, 
 seeing that they are the owners by inheritance of the 
 land they live upon.* This, doubtless, contributes 
 
 ' In Norway, according to Mr. Laing, there is one estate for every 
 twenty-two of tlie population; wliile in Scotland, there is but one for 
 every seven hundred. 
 
ABSENCE OE SNOBBISHNESS. 73 
 
 largely to their quiet sense of dignity and independence ; 
 and, coupled with the fact that the nation has never 
 passed through the degrading stage of feudal tyranny 
 and serfdom, may go far to account for these charac- 
 teristics. It must be borne in mind that while an 
 aristocracy, by its example, diffuses refinement and 
 elegance in society, it also inevitably engenders more 
 or less of snobbishness and flunkeyism among the na- 
 turally vulgar-minded and incapable imitators of true 
 dignity and refinement. The peculiar absence of these 
 pitiful vices in Norway is, I suspect, largely attributable 
 to the fact that aristocratic influences — the aping of 
 style, and our prevalent ideas of "station" and "social 
 position " — are so little known. 
 
74 THROUGH NOEWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Catliedral of Trondlij era— Origin of Gothic architecture— Frost 
 mummies— Start for Hammerfest— The Trondhjem and Namsen 
 fiords- A marine omnibus — Torghatten, and its mysterious 
 tunnel— The Seven Sisters— The Hestmann— A lovesome Giant's 
 mournful story — Grand scenery of tlie coast^Glaciers of the 
 Pondalen — The natural history of the Great Sea-serpent. 
 
 Stopping at the Belle Vue Hotel, I found my old friend 
 the salmon-fisher there. Mr. Gould and Mr. Wolff 
 were at a private house in the same street, the hotel 
 being full ; but we all meet at the table d'hote, where 
 a good domestic sort of dinner is provided. The 
 house is but little like an hotel; for when I arrived 
 I was shown into a small drawing-room, , where the 
 mistress of the house, a graceful and elegant lady, 
 received me just as any lady would receive a visitor 
 coming to her house with a letter of introduction : and 
 such is the tone of the whole establishment. 
 
 On my way to visit the cathedral I overtook a mili- 
 tary funeral, conducted with much pomp and solemnity, 
 and entered the cathedral with the funeral procession ; 
 a circumstance which added very much to the effective- 
 ness of my first view of this curious old building. The 
 exterior has a very odd, irregular, and quaint appear- 
 ance. It cannot be called imposing or beautiful, but 
 there is an air of originality and genuine antiquity 
 
THE OEIGIN OF GOTHIC AKCHITECTUEE. 75 
 
 about it that is very interesting. It is true that 
 some of tlie most quaint and antique-looking portions 
 are the most modern; having been rebuilt after fires, 
 and the old materials put together without any par- 
 ticular reference to what they were intended for : 
 columns being let into walls for mere ornament, 
 or placed on niches as though they were statues. I 
 should like to bring an archaeologist who knows all 
 about the symboHsm of Gothic ornament, and can fix 
 the date of an edifice by the shape of its arches, to this 
 building, and set him to read it without any knowledge 
 of its recorded history : he would make some magni- 
 ficent blunders. I suspect that Mr. Laing is quite 
 right in stating that " it shakes the theory of Saxon 
 and Norman, the round and pointed arch having been 
 used exclusively in particular and different centuries, 
 and affording ground for determining the comparative 
 antiquity of Gothic edifices. The Norman arch in its 
 most florid style is connected with the Saxon in its most 
 simple and massive form, in a building where the known 
 date of the portion containing this admixture is more 
 ancient than the ascertained date of those English 
 edifices from which the theory is derived." 
 
 Were I an archaeologist, I should regard this build- 
 ing as worthy of a special pilgrimage and the most 
 minute and careful study. If the original design could 
 be fully made out (and the materials for working it out 
 are in existence), I suspect that it would throw more 
 light upon the real origin and history of Gothic archi- 
 tecture than any other edifice in Europe. It appears to 
 
76 THROUGH NOEWAY WITH A ICNAPSACK. 
 
 me to form a connecting link between the Mosque of 
 St. Sophia and our more recent Gothic edifices. The 
 idea of deriving the pointed Gothic arch and nave from 
 the old Scandinavian shrine, or sarcophagus of the sea- 
 kings — a ship hauled ashore and placed keel uppermost — 
 is most feasible ; for if instead of placing the inverted 
 ship upon natural pillars of the craggy coast-rocks of 
 Norway, a wooden roof with beams, ribs, &c., shaped 
 like a ship's hull, were placed on a Byzantine colonnade 
 and arches, with a rude Byzantine cupola at the stern 
 end, we should have exactly what appears to have been 
 the original form of this shrine and sarcophagus of the 
 converted and canonized old Scandinavian king, St. 
 Olaf. The date of its construction extends from about 
 1033 to 1248. 
 
 It may be thought presumptuous on my part to 
 express an opinion, having only read the stone records, 
 and none whatever of the many printed treatises on the 
 subject; but still I caimot refrain from protesting 
 against the practice of applying the name of either 
 Saxon or Norman to the roiuided arch with the zig-zag 
 ornaments and squat columns, with capitals that all 
 differ from each other in everything but the common 
 attribute of ugliness. These in all their varieties are 
 unmitigated Byzantine barbarisms: the architectural 
 refuse of the decaying Roman empire, they are but bad 
 copies of what we may see yet remaining in Constanti- 
 nople, in the subterranean temple, or rather reservoir, 
 of the thousand and one columns, and in the Mosque 
 of St. Sopliia. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. 77 
 
 Every tyro in the history of art is aware that up to 
 the thirteenth or fourteenth century — the era of Cima- 
 bue, Giotto, Van Eyck, &c. — tlie art of Europe was 
 almost exclusively in the hands of a few wandering 
 Greeks ; the little that was done in painting, sculp- 
 ture, and architecture was done by them. Cimabue, 
 Giotto, and their contemporaries, copied the Greek 
 artists, with their gilded backgroimds and Guy Fawkes 
 attitudes, and other Byzantine absurdities and begin- 
 nings of beauty. The original gilded mosaic ceiling of 
 the St. Sophia, now covered with whitewash, and 
 falling in fragments upon the thick bed of pigeons' 
 dung on the floor,* may be taken as the prototype of 
 the painting and mosaics of that period; and the archi- 
 tecture of the m.osque is as obviously the prototype of 
 everything in both Saxon and Norman architecture, 
 excepting the nave and its ship-shaped adjuncts : the 
 pointed arch and doorway being but a transverse sec- 
 tion of a boat or ship, keel uppermost. 
 
 The early Christian missionaries adopted the dates 
 and many of the ceremonies of pagan festivities, as well 
 as the forms and symbols of their worship, but gave 
 
 * Pigeons are cultivated in the vicinity of all the mosques. When 
 I visited the St. Sophia, the pigeons were flying about the interior, and 
 some of the galleries were yielding beneath the weight of the pigeons- 
 dung deposited upon them. I picked up a handful of fragments of 
 mosaic that had fallen from the ceilmg. They are pieces of glass 
 gilded or silvered on the face, and with a thin layer of glass over the 
 leaf of gold or silver. The figures of some of the seraphims were 
 distinguishable in spite of the whitewash, and are precisely in the 
 style of the specimens of Byzantine art in the gallery of Florence, 
 which are so obviously the sources of Cimabue's earliest inspirations. 
 
78 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 them a Christian signification ; and in like manner they 
 adopted the architecture of pagan temples for their 
 churches : first those of Greece and Kome, and after- 
 wards, when modifications of these came to be asso- 
 ciated with Christianity, they carried some of these 
 elements to Scandinavia, and amidst the conquering 
 Vikings who had settled on almost every coast of 
 Europe. Then, by combining the Scandinavian ship- 
 temple with the columns and arcades of the decaying 
 Homan or Byzantine architecture, they produced the 
 beginnings of what we call Gothic, Such, at least, 
 appears to me the true theory of the origin of Gothic 
 architecture ; and this cathedral of Trondhjem is one of 
 the most interesting illustrations of it. 
 
 The family pews are very curious ; they are tiers 
 of boxes made of deal wood, like rabbit hutches piled 
 one above another. A colossal figure of Christ, after 
 Thorwaldsen, is well placed in the choir, and is very 
 impressive ; the most effective and appropriate statue 
 I have ever seen in any church. Standing alone, and 
 visible from every part of the building as the dominant 
 object, its presence and infiuence are felt to be diffused 
 throughout, and are finely suggestive of the living in- 
 fluence that should be similarly felt; and really is in 
 a Norwegian church, if anywhere. 
 
 I paid another visit to the cathedral in the afternoon, 
 
 and in a kind of vault or cellar saw a large number of 
 
 mummies, said to be the bodies of Norwegian kings,; 
 
 which I doubt, for kings can scarcely be so che^.* 
 
 * Unless they are the Vikings, or Sea-kings. 
 
THE NAMSEN FIORD. 79 
 
 They are in rough -wooden hoxes, or coffins, very rudely 
 and disrespectfully heaped upon each other, warehouse 
 fashion ; most of the boxes are broken, and the bodies 
 visible. They are in an excellent state of preserva- 
 tion, the features being distinct, and the hair remaining 
 attached ; the skin is hard and dry to the touch. They 
 appear to have been simply frozen and desiccated, like 
 the bodies in the Morgue at St. Bernard. 
 
 At eleven o'clock p.m., in the still lingering daylight, 
 I went on board the Constitutone steam-packet, bound fpr 
 Hammerfest. We started at midnight ; and on rising 
 next morning, I found that we were still in the Tron- 
 dhjem fiord. The scenery of this portion of the fiord 
 and the neighbouring coast is not very striking. In the 
 Namsen fiord, which we reached late in the day, the 
 scenery is much finer. Here the steamer winds about 
 through narrow channels, some less than a quarter of a 
 mile wide, and breaks into a succession of land-locked 
 basins, forming beautiful lakes, with richly wooded 
 banks, and hills, and islands. Several of these are very 
 much like Loch Katrine, but that the water is visibly 
 salt. The well-grown forests, the rich green fields, 
 and substantial farms, all under a scorching sun, are 
 totally at variance with one's preconcseived notions of 
 lat. 64J° — ^but two degrees from the -apstic circle. 
 
 The sunset at night was m:ast glorious. Nothing can 
 exceeds and no description give any idea of, the pro- 
 tracted loveliness rf :&e»e nor&em sunsets. The 
 glowing beauty lingers for ilsHaJS — ^all the evening, 
 through midnight, and on to the next morning. 
 The veteran tourist, and the officer with the Epsom 
 
80 
 
 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 veil, were on board ; these, together with the salmon- 
 fisher, a thorough, true-hearted Englishman, and an 
 Oxonian we met at the Belle Vue, made a jovial Eng- 
 lish party. There were many native passengers on 
 board, especially on deck ; for the steam-packet is a 
 sort of water omnibus, picking up passengers con- 
 tinually at the different stations, where it stops about 
 once every hour or two, night and day. 
 
 I was awakened at an early hour the next morning by 
 the captain (who, as well as the lieutenant, spoke English 
 fluently), to see the mountain of Torghatten, so named 
 
 TOItGHATTEN. 
 
THE SEVEN SISTERS. 81 
 
 from its resemblance in shape to a " wide-awake " or 
 " sou'-wester " hat. As we passed, close to it, this 
 peculiar shape was not very evident, though at a greater 
 distance it is. It is an insular granite rock, rising to 
 about 1,200 feet above the sea level.* At the upper 
 part, some 600 or 700 feet above the sea, is a huge 
 tunnel, which, from the position of the steamer, we had 
 an excellent opportunity of seeing. The daylight was 
 visible clear through the body of the mountain. It is 
 difBctdt to form an accurate idea of the size of such an 
 opening, but at a guess I should say about 70 or 80 feet 
 high and about 40 broad. Pontopiddan states that it is 
 6,000 feet long and 300 feet high; but he was in the 
 habit of measuring sea-serpents, and this is evidently 
 sea-serpent measure. Sir Arthur Brooke, who inspected 
 it, does not give its size, beyond stating that its height 
 exceeds that of a lofty cathedral. The tunnel passes 
 directly under the peak of the mountain. I am not 
 aware of the existence of any other cavern of a similar 
 kind to this, at such an elevation, and in a granitic rock. 
 No approach to an explanation of its formation has yet 
 been given. 
 
 Beyond this the scenery of the coast is magnificent ; 
 being composed of great chains of mountains with 
 craegy peaks and. snowy sides. The Seven Sisters is 
 a short range of mountains rising directly out of the 
 
 * This is the height according to Professor Forbes' estimate as 
 the mean of the very different statements that have been made 
 concerning it. I had set it down in my note-book at about 
 1,000. 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 THROUGH NOEWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 sea to a height of 3,000 or 4,000 feet, and forming an 
 island. They make a glorious panorama as the steamer 
 sweeps along their feet. Then the Hestmann, or 
 horseman, rears his head from the sea, and marks 
 the crossing of the Arctic circle. 
 
 This Hestmann is another mountain island, shaped 
 like a horse with a mantled rider. The head and ears 
 of the horse from one point are quite ludicrous, in their 
 resemblance. 
 
 THE HESTMA2<!f. 
 
THE SEVEN SISTERS. 83 
 
 When I stated that no explanation had been given 
 of the origin of the Torghatten tunnel, I had not seen 
 the Hestmann, nor heard his story as narrated by a 
 sailor : now the whole matter becomes quite clear. The 
 story is as follows : — 
 
 One of the younger brothers or cousins of the devil, 
 a " Jutul," residing in this neighbourhood, went, as he 
 was wont to go, on a visit to his Seven Sisters. There 
 he met a female cousin, many degrees removed, who 
 was likewise a visitor, her residence when at home being 
 on an island some distance further south. As is usual 
 on such occasions, the two young people fell desperately 
 in love with each other ; and, as is also usual, they 
 vowed eternal fidelity. Business of importance called 
 the giant home, and his fair cousin also had to return to 
 attend on a sick brother ; so, with tears, and vows, and 
 protestations, they mutually tore themselves asimder, 
 and the Seven Sisters found the Jutula swooning on the 
 shore from which her lover had departed. She went 
 home to her sick brother, put his feet in hot water, 
 apphed a mustard poultice to his chest, and by the aid of 
 these and a little aperient medicine he soon recovered. 
 During his illness his sister made him her confidant, and 
 he agreed that she should marry the Jutul of her choice ; 
 but on his recovery his perverse nature returned, and he 
 determined that his sister should wed a dissolute com- 
 panion of his, whom she had always objected to on 
 account of his smelling so strongly of tobacco-smoke. 
 
 Every Jutul family has some special power or malig- 
 nant charm by which to battle with its enemies; the 
 
 a 2 
 
84 THROUGH NOEWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 specialty of this family was petrifaction. The cruel 
 brother exercised that power on the messengers from his 
 sister's lover, and turned them all into rocks. Now the 
 lover was not aware of the brother's existence, for the 
 fair giantess had very improperly concealed the fact, on 
 account of his extravagant habits having imperilled her 
 dowry. Believing thus that his plighted one was the 
 last of her race, and who alone possessed the power of 
 petrifaction, he of course concluded that she had put the 
 stony insxilt on him ; so mounting his steed, and 
 shouldering his crossbow, he shot a heavy bolt at the 
 dwelling of the Jutuless : his specialty being the power 
 of unerring aim. 
 
 Her brother was batliing at the time, and it being a 
 very wet morning he wore his sou'-wester. The bolt 
 sped through seventy miles of air, passed through the 
 hat of the treacherous Jutul, and carried away a portion 
 of his skull ; but then, impeded by this resistance, failed 
 to make the ricochet the archer had relied upon, and 
 simply sldmmed the water and fell at the fair one's feet. 
 She knew the bolt, and that none but he could have shot 
 it. She saw her brother (who with all his faults she 
 dearly loved) sinking beneath the wave never to rise 
 again, and all that remained of him for her loving eyes 
 to gaze upon was his perforated sou'-wester floating on 
 the waters. She thought of the perfidy, of the lover she 
 had believed so true, and her heart was broken ; but as 
 she died she exercised her power of petrifaction ; and her- 
 self, the floating perforated sou'-wester, her lover, and the 
 horse he rode, were all converted to fast-rooted rocks. 
 
A GIGANTIC TRAGEDY. 85 
 
 The Seven Sisters who witnessed the consummation 
 of tliis doleftil tragedy were petrified with horror. 
 
 Those who doubt the authenticity of the foregoing 
 narrative should go to the spot and examine the evidences 
 for themselves. There is the mounted Hestmann with 
 his martial cloak i3ung over his shoulders ; there is the 
 perforated sou'-wester, and beyond it the drooping fair 
 one, all turned to stone ; there are the messengers, a long 
 procession of low rocky islands, reaching from the Hest- 
 mann to his love, and there are the Seven Sisters in 
 stony stillness looking on. 
 
 We are told by many very eminent men that we are 
 not to judge a narrative relating to times long past by 
 what would be probable or improbable, possible or im- 
 possible, at the present day ; but that if the narrative is 
 minutely circumstantial, and the circumstances are self- 
 consistent, they afford internal evidence of its truth ; 
 and if, in addition to this internal evidence, we have the 
 external evidence of monuments and localities that per- 
 fectly correspond with the narrative, these together are 
 sufficient, and the modern current notions of inherent 
 probability or improbability, possibility or impossibility, 
 are not to interfere with our belief. As all these con- 
 ditions are fulfilled by the above legend and its monu- 
 ments, we are, according to this theory, bound to believe 
 in the sad story of the Hestmann and his love. 
 
 As we sail along the coast, fresh scenes of savage 
 grandeur continually unfold themselves. The great 
 inland chain of snowy mountains is well seen about 
 Rodo, latitude 66^° to 70°. The valleys descending 
 
86 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK, 
 
 from these are filled witli magnificent glaciers, the great 
 crevices of which and the blue ice being visible from 
 the steamer with telescopes. These glaciers appear as 
 extensive as the glaciers of the Alps : Von Buch states 
 that some of them touch the sea ; but he speaks from 
 hearsay: there is no record of any traveller having 
 visited and examined them. The whole region — ^the 
 Fondalen — is uninhabited; a snowy waste, extending 
 away to the Swedish frontier. 
 
 At about eight in the evening, as we approached the 
 Satten fiord, lat. 67°, I observed a curiously-shaped 
 ship, and tried to define it with the telescope. Presently 
 it diminished to half its former size, then rose again, 
 but was then seemingly undermined by a sort of notch, 
 or open angle formed by one portion of it with the sur- 
 face of the horizon. Further examination showed that 
 it could not be a ship, and many opinions were expressed 
 concerning it; but at last I discovered its real nature. 
 It was the head of the veritable " Kraken," the great 
 Scandinavian sea-serpent ; the angle being the monster's 
 mouth, his upper jaw only being above water. The 
 folds of his enormously long body were seen stretching 
 along the horizon, now rising, now sinking, all in con- 
 tinuous motion. At the most moderate calculation, its 
 length must have been three or four miles, from the up- 
 lifted head to the last visible fold ; and how far the point 
 of its tail might be from that I will not venture to con- 
 jecture. It continued moving, and sometimes the greater 
 part of it disappeared all at once : at one momeait ihe 
 head disappeared almost entirely, at another time only 4e 
 
THE GREAT SEA-SERPENT. 87 
 
 head and the extreme folds were visible, then more than 
 half of the tail end had gone. Why, then, have neither 
 geologists nor fishermen found any fossil or recent re- 
 mains of this creature ? Simply because they have not 
 properly sought for them : the petrifactions exist abun- 
 dantly. They may be found hereabouts — in the form of 
 low rocky ridges, stretching in long lines, with spaces 
 of sea between them, like the Hestmann's messengers. 
 Some start abruptly out of the water, and rise to fifty, 
 a hundred, or more feet in height ; these are the heads, 
 the low ridges are the coils of the body, of the Kraken. 
 Towards the end of a long, clear, glaring summer's day, 
 after the sun's rays (which here are powerful to a degree 
 incredible to those who have not felt them) have been for 
 eighteen or twenty hours continually pouring upon these 
 rocks, which from the nature of their surface are excel- 
 lent absorbers of heat, they become considerably hotter 
 than the surrounding sea, and are covered with a 
 layer of rarefied air, continually ascending and waving 
 about, and refracting the light very difiBrently from 
 the denser air over the intermediate sea. Now let us 
 suppose a hne of these low rocks just visible above 
 the horizon, and between them and the spectator's eye 
 a number of other low rocks, which he, raised on a 
 ship's deck, looks over. It is evident that as he moves 
 along he will see a particular point on the horizon some- 
 times over an unbroken hne of sea, or sometimes over 
 one or more of these low, warm rocks, with a rarefied 
 atmosphere above them. Any one who is acquainted 
 with the rudimentary principles of optics will perceive 
 
88 THROUGH NOEWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 that, under these drcumstances, an apparent undulating 
 motion would be given to objects on the horizon ; they 
 would appear to rise or fall, according as he viewed 
 them through a denser or a rarer atmosphere; and thus 
 the waving of the coils of the serpent's body is ac- 
 coxmted for. This may be illustrated by holding a hot 
 poker between the eye and a distant object 'which is 
 seen just over the poker. 
 
 But how about the undermining of the head-rock 
 forming the serpent's uplifted jaw? This is as easily 
 accounted for, though the principles upon which it 
 depends are not so popularly understood. One of 
 the most beautiful illustrations of the mathematical 
 consistency — so to speak — of Nature's laws, is a curious 
 consequence of the law, that in a given body the 
 sine of the angle of ordinary refraction bears a fixed 
 ratio to that of the angle of incidence. I will not 
 enter into the mathematics of this, but merely state the 
 fact ; which is, that light cannot pass at all from a dense 
 into a rare m.edium at angles exceeding a certain degree 
 of obliquity, as the law of refraction could not, under 
 such circumstances, be fulfilled; thus all the light is 
 turned back, for if it cannot go tlurough in its own way 
 it won't go through at all. Hence under certain cir- 
 cumstances the thinnest fi[lm of air is absolutely opaque : 
 more opaque than a dense metaJ, for gold leaf allows 
 some light to pass through it. Such a film of air ad- 
 mitting the passage of no light whatever, but reflecting 
 all that falls vipon it, shines like the brightest polished 
 silver. 
 
ErPLANATION OP THE ICRAICEN. 89 
 
 By taking advantage of the remarkable power which 
 carbon in some of its forms possesses, of cHnging 
 tenaciously to a film of air, I have devised a simple 
 experiment which illustrates this in a striking manner. 
 Take a piece of sheet metal, as copper, brass, iron, or 
 any other, and hold it over the flame of a candle or 
 lamp until its surface is uniformly blackened ; then let 
 it cool, taking care not to touch the blackened surface 
 with the fingers. Now plunge this in a tumbler, or 
 other convenient vessel of water, and look at it obliquely 
 through the water : the dull black carbon surface dis- 
 appears, and a bright, glistening, silvery mirror takes its 
 place. Then take the plate out of the water, and (if the 
 experiment has been carefully conducted) the blackened 
 surface will be quite dry: the water has not touched 
 the carbon, for it carried down a thin adhering film 
 of air ; and it was that which shone like silver, and by 
 its opacity concealed so completely the black surface 
 beneath. It is because you looked through a dense 
 medium, the water, very obliquely upon the surface of a 
 rare one, the film of air, that this effect was produced. 
 If you take a tumbler of water, and look up obHquely 
 through the water to its surface, the surface appears 
 mirror-like, and reflects objects that are in the water; 
 but your finger, held just above the surface of the water, 
 is invisible, on account of the perfect opacity of the 
 air under these conditions. Many water-beetles and 
 water-spiders have the power of carrying under water a 
 film of air adhering to their bodies, which appears like 
 a coat of polished mail. If the blackened plate be laid 
 
90 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 horizontally at the bottom of a glass vessel — ^^such as 
 an axjuarium tank — and viewed through the sides, an 
 explanation of the mirage of the desert is at once 
 'exhibited: the black surface disappears, and a mirror 
 takes its place; such a mirror as the thirsty traveller 
 sees upon the distant sands, and mistakes for a sheet 
 of water. The hot sand rarefies the film of air in 
 contact with it; the spectator's head is immersed in a 
 denser stratum of air, and looking from that, very 
 obliquely to the rarer fihn upon the sand, he sees the 
 mirror just as you may see it on the air-film of the 
 blackened plate ; but he sees it only afer off, near 
 the horizon, and not at his feet: and as he advances, 
 the bright illusion advances also; the reason of this 
 being, that the difference is so small between the density 
 of the film upon the sands and the stratum envelop- 
 ing his head, that a very great obliquity is necessary 
 for this total reflection to take place. Many other 
 explanations of the mirage have been given, but this 
 I beheve to be the true one. The common explanation 
 that it is reflection firom vapour wUl not bear exami- 
 nation. 
 
 The reader, however, may still be at a loss to see how 
 this bears upon our sea-serpent and his uplifted jaw. It 
 is thus : let us suppose one of these island rodss to have 
 a sloping shore, or that there is a reef of low rocks 
 close to it ; these, being heated, wiU be covered with 
 a film of rarefied air clinging to them for a while before 
 ascending. Such rocks, or sloping coast, when near 
 4he horizon, will be seen at an obliquity sufficient to 
 
EXPLANATION OF THE KRAKEN. 91 
 
 produce a mirage ; this, the necessary obliquity, will be 
 maintained up to a certain height of the slope, and, 
 so far, the dark rock will be invisible, and its place 
 occupied by a bright reflecting surface. The light, 
 thus reflected, will be scarcely distinguishable from the 
 transmitted light of the horizon, and hence it appears 
 (unless careftdly observed) that the bright part of the 
 rock or shore is transparent, or that the rock is cut off 
 from below : hence the gaping jaw. 
 
 This apparent uplifting of low islands and coasts, 
 and more particularly of the long promontory slopes 
 of islands or coasts, is a very common illusion, that 
 may be witnessed without going to Norway. The 
 Londoner may see it very strikingly displayed on any 
 fine summer afternoon, from the deck of a steam- 
 packet going to Margate, or the More, or Heme Bay, 
 when the sun has been shining brightly all day, on the 
 Essex coast at the mouth of the Thames. The Essex 
 coast is very low, and there are trees upon it ; under 
 the conditions I have mentioned, the land becomes 
 invisible, and the trees appear suspended in the air. 
 Sometimes the lower half of the trees are also invisible, 
 and only their tops are seen, cut off from the earth, and 
 standing apparently tinsupported considerably above the 
 line of tlie horizon. Any one who will carefully observe 
 these phenomena, on this or any similar coast, wUl, I 
 think, be satisfied that my explanation is correct ; for 
 it only occurs under the conditions I have named, viz., 
 when the land is warmer than the air over the sea: 
 it only extends to those parts seen at a great obliquity. 
 
92 THKOUGH NOEWAT "WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 and by attentively comparing the horizon over the 
 invisible land with that over the sea, it will be seen 
 to be much more luminous, and to resemble the film 
 of air upon the blackened plate. 
 
 I have seen it most strikingly in the Greek Archi- 
 pelago, and along the Mediterranean coast of Africa. 
 The Greek islands were fantastically distorted ; and at 
 Algiers the effect was very curious ; the palm-trees upon 
 the coast seemed like balloons or parachutes flying over 
 the sea. But, as I have said before, it may be seen 
 on almost every coast on any afternoon of a hot 
 summer's day ; and I have been surprised to find how 
 many people — even sailors — ^have seen it for the first 
 time only when I have pointed it out to them. 
 
 The moving rocks and islands above described, were 
 seen at about 8 P.M., near the Satten Fiord, lat. 67°, 
 and I have a very strong suspicion, almost amounting 
 to a conviction, that this optical illusion has given rise 
 to the marvellous stories of the Kraken, or great sea- 
 serpent, which the Norsk mariners so often see, and 
 Pontoppidan describes. The following extracts afford 
 strong confirmation of this opinion. Pontoppidan tells 
 us that "the Kraken is the largest creature in the 
 world ; its back, or upper part, which seems to be in 
 appearance about an English mile and a half in circum- 
 ference (some say more, but I choose the least for 
 the greater certainty), looks at first like a number of 
 small islands surrounded with something that floats and 
 fiuctuates like sea-weeds. It is said that if the creature's 
 arms (tentacula) were to lay hold of the largest man- 
 
EXPLANATION OF THE KRAKEN. 93 
 
 of-war, they would pull it down to the bottom," &c. 
 He then proceeds to say, " If I were an admirer of 
 uncertain reports and fabulous stories, I might add much 
 more concerning this and other Norwegian sea-monsters, 
 whose existence I will not take upon me to deny; but 
 I do not choose by a mixture of uncertam relations to 
 make such accounts appear doubtful as I myself believe 
 to be true and well attested."* 
 
 Mr. Milford gives the following extract from the 
 letter of "an intelligent friend at Bergen," who had 
 made some inquiries on the subject : — 
 
 " I have consulted a gentleman of much learning, and 
 intimate knowledge of everj-thing belonging to Norway, 
 Stiftamund Christie, whose name is so much connected 
 with the pohtical institutions of Norway from the year 
 1814. I especially asked his opinion about the sea- 
 serpent, and he assm'ed me that not only do the peasants 
 feel convinced of its existence, but that he himself be- 
 lieves that it exists ; that the Bishop of Bergen, a few 
 years ago, published an article in an antiquarian paper, 
 which comes out occasionally, by the directors of the 
 Bergen Museum, containing information in corrobora- 
 tion of this belief; that the inhabitants of the island 
 Herroe at Sondmor see the serpent every year for a couple 
 of months, in summer, whenever the iveather is fine and 
 the sea calm" &c.\ 
 
 I might add many othei- extracts of a similar kind. 
 All agree in describing the undulating motion of the 
 
 * Pontoppidan, "Natural History of Norway," 1751. 
 
 ■j- Milford's "Norway, and Iior Laplanders in 1841," p. 197. 
 
94 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 monster and the " fluctuating " appearance about him. 
 Such undulation and fluctuation are the invariable con- 
 comitants of the illusion described, and are produced by 
 the rising of the heated air. The experiment of holding 
 a red-hot poker before a printed paper wiU illustrate 
 this. 
 
 The time of year, the state of the weather, and the 
 locality of the monster's appearance are similarly con- 
 firmatory. He is usually seen in these low, rocky, 
 island-spotted coasts. I allude to the real kraken with 
 his " mile and a half" of circumference and some miles 
 of length, not the puny sea-serpents of a few hundred 
 yards' length. The only part of these accounts that I 
 find difiicult to reconcile with my explanation are those 
 describing how boats have been chased by the monster ; 
 but it is rather curious that such an immense beast 
 should never have succeeded in catching these boats: 
 if the rapidity of its movements bore any proportion to 
 its magnitude, a rower should stand but a poor chance. 
 I suspect the truth is that the fear of the kraken has 
 been sufficient to convince the boatmen that the monster 
 was after him, but not strong enough to swamp the 
 boat or kill the rower in calm weather and in presence 
 of spectators on shore. 
 
 We were now fairly in the region of the midnight smi,, 
 and according to our calculations, taking the declination, 
 and refraction into account, the sun should just touch 
 the horizon or dip a little below it. We watched it 
 anxiously tiU about half-past eleven o'clock, when its 
 lower limit is still considerably above, but we lost it 
 
THE NORTHEEN MIDNIGHTS. 95 
 
 behind the mountains which the progress of the steamer 
 placed to the northward. The dayhght, warmed with 
 the beautiful sunset glow, continued all night, lighting 
 up with indescribable beauty the rugged summits and 
 snow hollows of the wild mountains that start up from 
 all points of this majestic coast. 
 
96 THEOUGII NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Loffoden Islands— The fish harvest — Cod-liver oil— Continuous 
 and growing grandeur of the coast scenery — The Maelstrom a 
 myth — Cowardice of the Ancient Greeks and Eomans — The 
 arctic summer — ^Rapidity of vegetation — Tromso — Her Majesty's 
 representative — An encampment of Laplanders — Excessive heat 
 — Physiognomy and general appearance of the Lapps — Con- 
 struction and interior economy of a Lapp hut — Love of home 
 and domestic snugness — The midnight sun — Lapps in their 
 Sunday clothes — Moral and religious character of the Lapps — 
 Drunkenness no longer prevalent — A Lapp aristocrat — Adapt- 
 ation of the eye to cold climates. 
 
 Leaving the mainland and its fiords the next day, we 
 crossed over to the Loffoden Islands. These are, if 
 possible, still wilder and grander than the mainland: 
 sharp granite pyramids springing from the sea to a height 
 of 3,000 or 4,000 feet, and breaking at their summits 
 into a countless multitude of jagged points, thoroughly 
 justifying Mr. Everest's comparison with a shark's jaw. 
 The snow lies thickly in the hollows of these teeth and 
 spines, but there are rich green pasture patches even 
 here, and sheep, cattle, and goats are to be seen occa- 
 sionally ; but the chief harvest of this region is a sort of 
 codfish,* and this harvest was now in course of reaping. 
 We could smell the land as we approached it, where acres 
 and acres of rock were covered with the split fish lying 
 * Called Haik, or coal-fish, by our fishermen. 
 
THE NORTHERN PIORDS. 97 
 
 out to dry in the sim. Like the bodies in the vaults at 
 Trondhjem Cathedral, the mummification of the fish is 
 efiected by simple drying, and "stock fish" so much 
 demanded for fast days in inland Catholic countries is 
 the result. When the drying is complete, they are 
 stacked into heaps, wliich may easily be. mistaken at a 
 distance for hayricks. Near to these stacks and drying 
 acres — generally close upon the shore — are huge boilers, 
 where the cod-livers were stewing most odoriferously. 
 We stopped at many of these reeking stations, and 
 steamed between wild granite mountains starting so ab- 
 ruptly from the sea that in some parts we passed through 
 walled-up channels not wider than the windings of the 
 Thames about Richmond, and winding as much or more 
 than that river winds, but with sharp angular bends. 
 On approaching these the vessel appears to be ruiming 
 hopelessly aground, and not until the bowsprit seems 
 almost crashing upon tall rocks ahead, does the helms- 
 man puU furiously at the wheel ; when the ship swings 
 round into tlie suddenly discovered opening. 
 
 It must be remembered that during tliis jom-ney we 
 were not always progressing to the northward, but 
 sometimes sailing westward, eastward, or even due 
 southward ; through channels, up and down fiords and 
 branches of fiords ; stopping at coast and island stations 
 to pick up and set down passengers and goods ; and 
 landlocked apparently at every turn by fresh islands 
 and promontories and shores of fiords ; so that the 
 whole journey is like sailing through a tortuous chain 
 of ten thousand glorious lakes. 
 
98 THROUGH NORWAY TflTH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 These lakes of the Loffodens resemble the Lake of 
 Lucerne in its wildest parts, but they are still grander ; 
 for though the mountains are not so high, they are 
 much more rugged, harsh, and savage, and the great 
 snow patches filling the hollows at the foot of each of 
 the spiky pyramids, add vastly to their sublimity. The 
 wailing and screaming of the sea-fowl among the bare 
 granite crags and right overhead, as they were startled 
 by the steamer rounding the abrupt bends and breaking 
 suddenly upon their solitudes, was in fine harmony with 
 the wild desolation of the whole scene, and heightened 
 its eifect prodigiously. 
 
 Towards midnight a mist came gradually down, first 
 hiding the peaks and magnifying the visible sides of 
 the hills, then hanging about the masthead, and finally 
 for a short time enveloping us altogether. It broke as 
 we approached a station; or it may be that we sailed 
 through it. The effect was glorious. Out of the misty 
 chaos there suddenly started one of the grandest clusters 
 of these rugged granite peaks. The vessel was near to 
 the shore when the cloudy curtain rose, and the mouii- 
 tains sprang upon us instantaneously like a range of 
 phantoms, and by the suddenness of their apparition 
 seemed quite close overhead and almost falling on 
 us. The hemisphere of gray mist that for a while 
 had bounded our vision, reddened as we reached 
 its boundaries, and all the panorama which its open- 
 ing disclosed was glowing in the ruddy glories of 
 these incomparable midnights of the north. I had sat 
 up on deck all the night before, and only went to bed 
 
THE MAELSTROM A MYTH. • 99 
 
 in the morning during our stay at Bodo and part of the 
 crossing of the channel ; yet here I was again on this 
 bright sunny night, drowsy and giddy witli perpetual 
 staring and excitement, and yet incapable of sleep. I 
 have seen many a grand sea-coast, all the best that 
 the Mediterranean can show, but nothing to equal this. 
 My fellow passenger, the veteran tourist, who had sailed 
 all the world over, can remember no rival, unless it be 
 the Straits of Magellan. From the Seven Sisters to 
 this, the north extremity of the Loffodens, the panorama 
 maintained this um-ivalled magnificence. 
 
 ■ In the early part of the day we passed close to the 
 channel against which the terrible word Maelstrom is 
 marked on most of our English maps. Ever since my 
 first school lessons in geography, I have pictured this 
 place to my mind as a great, whirling, conical hollow in 
 the waters, like the den of the ant-lion, near to which 
 no ship dare approach, not even within many miles. 
 I looked for it on my Norwegian map, but it is not 
 marked there ; the rest of the English passengers were 
 equally diligent, but with no better success, though 
 there were three different maps among us, and all on a 
 large scale, giving minute details. We peeped at the 
 ship's charts, and could not find it there in the portions 
 that we examined. We then inquired of the captain, a 
 man of much experience in these seas, who told us that 
 all he knew about the Maelstrom had been communi- 
 cated to him by his English passengers. He was very 
 satirical, and cruelly hard upon us : he told us that the 
 Enghsh had imported a great deal of useful knowledge 
 
 H 2 
 
100 THROUGJl :;OEWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 into Norway, amongst which was this information con- 
 cerning the Maelstrom ; also, that the English patronized 
 the Norwegians very kindly, and showed them how to 
 improve their political institutions, their agricultural 
 operations, and the build of their ships and boats : and 
 among these practical hints and suggestions he classed 
 the sailing directions for avoiding the Maelstrom, which 
 had been drawn up by Enghsh hydrographers for the 
 benefit of Scandinavian mariners. We had much diffi- 
 culty in getting at him at all on the matter, he was so 
 impermeably ironical ; but the lieutenant was more 
 communicative. 
 
 It appears that the Maelstrom, which we read about, 
 is an unmitigated myth. There are many mael stroms, 
 or bad currents, hereabouts. Several of the channels 
 between the islands are, in certain concurrent states of 
 the wind and tide, rather dangerous for small craft ; and 
 even larger vessels, if not skilfully handled, may be 
 drifted against the rocks. The channel where we mark 
 the Maelstrom is one of these, but by- no means the 
 worst of them ; in ordinary states of wind and tide, it 
 may be navigated safely in a cock-boat. There is no 
 huge gulfing eddy anywhere hereabouts, and I believe 
 not in any other part of the world. The ancient Greeks 
 and Romans talk of Scylla and Charybdis, but they 
 were a set of lubberly mariners, as the narrative of the 
 voyages of ^neas and others suflSciently show. No 
 true sailors could have invented such a catalogue of 
 mythical terrors as those feeble old coast crawlers 
 believed iii. They made more fiiss about the small bit 
 
THE ARCTIC SUMMER. 101 
 
 of their petty Mediterranean lake which they attempted 
 to navigate, than did the Phcenicians and old Scandina- 
 vians about the whole Atlantic. The passage between 
 Scylla and Charybdis is not more perilous than going 
 through the middle arch of Putney Bridge against tide : 
 it is just possible to get upset at Putney ; but the other 
 channel is so wide and currentless, that the idea of any 
 danger is simply absurd. I have bathed there several 
 times, and, though I swam about in every direction, 
 never found an eddy that could whirl me round. Of 
 course the travels of ^neas, &c., are only the dreams 
 of the poet ; but they describe the traditions and terrors 
 of the mariners of the time : otherwise they would 
 have been laughed at when written. 
 
 On returning to the mainland next day, we seemed to 
 come upon a southern climate, though still proceeding 
 farther north. Here we saw rich verdure, well-culti- 
 vated, comfortable-looking farms, and bright, smiling, 
 sunny landscapes, backed with luxuriant woods and 
 frowning crags. The channel from Havnvyk to Dypo, 
 and onward for several miles, presents as fine a 
 combination of luxuriance and grandeur as any of the 
 lakes of Switzerland. This, and the oppressive heat, 
 are quite subversive of one's ordinary notions of the 
 arctic regions : for we were now above two degrees 
 north of the Arctic Circle. We passed several waterfalls, 
 coming from the snow-fields down to the sea : some of 
 them having evidently only a few weeks' existence 
 during the hot summer, which lasts about a month. 
 
 The rapidity of arctic vegetation is here exhibited 
 
102 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 most wonderfully. The captain and lieutenant assured 
 us that all this luxuriance had come into existence 
 during the last fortnight: that the birch- trees now in 
 full leaf were quite bare only two weeks ago, when 
 they made their last voyage. In a few weeks hence 
 their boughs will be bending under a burthen of new- 
 fallen snow. There is no closing of the blossoms at 
 nightfall here — no vegetable repose — ^no halting of the 
 upward movement of the sap — but one unceasing de- 
 velopment, stimulated throughout by the continuous 
 sunbeams; and then comes the long, long winter's 
 sleep and darkness, when all the vegetable world lies 
 torpid beneath its coverlid of snow, until the next short 
 one-day summer awakens it again to a wild revelry of 
 life and growth. 
 
 We passed several fine glaciers to-day, especially in 
 the neighbourhood of Kastnehaven. The summer was 
 late this year, and the quantity of snow greater than 
 usual at this date ; but the weather had been very fine 
 ever since I arrived at Christiania: two or three 
 showers, and one wet night, were all I had seen of bad 
 weather in Norway. 
 
 We were disappointed of the midnight sun again to- 
 night : there are high mountains to the northward ; but 
 the midnight glow was beautiful as ever. 
 
 We reached Tromso, and went ashore. It is a little 
 trading-town on an island: " o" is the Norsk for island, 
 and all places with that termination to their names are 
 islands. It is only by this, or reference to the map, 
 that one can distinguish, when on the spot, the islands 
 
THE BRITISH CONSUL AT TROMSO. 103 
 
 from tlie mainland ; all being so cut up witli fiords and 
 channels. There is an English consul here; and it 
 is a matter of etiquette to call upon the consul at 
 such places. This custom, as tourists become more 
 numerous, the consuls will doubtless regard as " more 
 honoured in the breach than in the observance : " it 
 must be already somewhat of a bore ; though Mr. Hoist 
 was as polite and cordial as though we were the only 
 Englishreien of the season. 
 
 Some of my readers may possibly imagine that her 
 Majesty's representative at Tromso is a stately idler, 
 lounging in a magnificent mahogany office, duly enve- 
 loped in brass rails and red tape, and perpetually 
 reading a very large newspaper. Not so, by any 
 means ; the Norwegians are no such fools ; nor are the 
 Englishmen who settle among them. Dignity and use- 
 fulness go together here, as they should all the world 
 through. The royal standard of Great Britain waves 
 over the door of a homely wooden shop in the general 
 line, where the inhabitants buy halfpenny candles and 
 nips of brandy, and where you may be suited with a pair 
 of shoes, a Dutch cheese, or a pocket-knife, and you 
 may buy a horse, a bottle of claret, a bearskin, or any- 
 thing in reason, from a full-rigged ship down to a box 
 of matches. The representative of Great Britain repre- 
 sents the greatness of Great Britain fairly and truth- 
 fully, by driving a flourishing trade, and thereby 
 benefiting himself and his fellow-creatures around 
 him. 
 
 Tromso consists partly of the Noah's-arks I spoke of 
 
104 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 at Trondhjem, and partly of some streets of well- 
 separated log houses. These Noah's-arks, common at 
 all the coast and island stations in the north, are fish 
 warehouses — not for fishmonger's fish, but dry-fish; 
 they are barns, where the harvest of stock-fish is stored 
 ready for exportation. Tromso, I believe, does a con- 
 siderable trade with Russia. "We — that is, the English 
 passengers — crossed the water, and walked up a valley 
 opposite the town to a Lapp encampment^ distant about 
 four miles. I have scarcely ever felt the heat more 
 oppressive than during {his short walk. The mus- 
 quitoes were very troublesome : I say musquitoes, 
 because it is the fashion to give that name to every kind 
 of troublesome gnat one encounters out of England, 
 and to no kind of gnat at home. They are very 
 abundant here, but I do not think they are the same 
 species as are Common in southern countries. 
 
 We finally reached the Lapp camp, which consisted 
 of two huts, one containing some goats, the other 
 being occupied by families of the human species. 
 Besides these huts, or wigwams, there were some 
 skeleton huts made of sticks, from the ribs of which 
 various unintelligible articles were suspended. One 
 was a baby's cradle, or shell, a kind 6f elongated egg, 
 with a hole near one end ; inside of this egg the infant 
 is deposited and closely packed with moss. There were 
 sldn packets, containing snow skates, and some pulhs, 
 or reindeer sledges, and other winter utilities, now 
 packed up and out of use. 
 
 As we approached the huts, a small man, with a 
 
A LAPP ENCAMPMENT. 105 
 
 large supply of ragged red hair, stepped forward a few 
 yards, and then stood still in the sun and perspired. 
 His complexion was of a yellow-ochre tint, and his 
 features exhibited very decidedly the leading charac- 
 teristics of the Mongolian type. 
 
 In the hut was another man with dark eyes and hair, 
 and featm'es less decidedly Mongolian. There were also 
 some women and children, all sitting down on the ground 
 and perspiring. It was evident, at a first glance, that 
 hot weather does not suit these people. They are small- 
 boned, with little muscle, and much fat equally distributed 
 over the body like the blubber of the cetacea. It doubt- 
 lessly serves the same purpose, that of protection against 
 the cold, and a reserve of respiratory food ; but in this 
 hot weather it is a "greasy burthen, in a perpetual state of 
 oily ftision, visible to tlie eye and sensible to the nose. 
 My first impressions of these Laplanders were very dis- 
 agreeable, and I confess that my courage almost failed 
 in the matter of entering the hut : the od»ur of greasy 
 perspiration, the gloom and squalor of the place, and 
 the certainty of many fleas about the floor, made me 
 hesitate upon the threshold, and rather peep through 
 the low door than boldly walk in. 
 
 The inmates had no notion 6f bidding us welcome, 
 and seemed equally free frota any sense of intrusion, 
 nor did their faces express any kind of activity beyond 
 that of perspiring ; and yet I never felt so strongly im- 
 pressed with the idea of being impertinently intrusive 
 in thus peeping in and trying to venture upon enter- 
 ing. Perhaps the sinallness of the place produced that 
 
106 THROUGH NORWAY T>riTH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 feeling, for I always feel more diffidence about walking 
 unbidden into a little cottage than into a grand hall or 
 palace: the latter seem, like taverns, too big for any 
 one family to be able or entitled to occupy exclusively. 
 Some of us did finally venture in, and myself among 
 them. 
 
 A LAPP HUT. 
 
 The hut, which at a distance looks like a stack or 
 mound of peat, is circular, supported by a framework 
 of wooden ribs, all bearing towards each other in the 
 centre, and leaving an open space at the top for the 
 smoke to issue. A rude door closes it ; which is so low 
 
THE LAPLANDERS' LOVE OE HOME. 107 
 
 that one has to bend considerably to enter. The height 
 at the centre is about eight feet, and the diameter of the 
 whole edifice about fifteen feet. The floor is made of 
 twigs of fir and juniper. The fire is on the ground 
 in the centre of the hut, and some arrangements for 
 hanging a pot over it were visible. 
 
 The women had their hair parted in the middle, and 
 tied in a knot behind as is common in England. Some 
 wore skin dresses with the fur inside, others a thick 
 woollen material, with red and yellow stripes about it. 
 Men and women both seemed to have but a single gar- 
 ment on their bodies, without any under-clothing ; and 
 it has somewhat the shape of our overcoats. The legs 
 are protected with a kind of gaiter, and the shoe, or 
 " comargo," is a large and rather a handsome affair 
 made of the reindeer skin. 
 
 After a while, on becoming familiar with their faces, 
 they appeared less repulsive, and when they awakened 
 into a little animation there was something pleasing in 
 the innocent simplicity of their manner. One woman 
 was almost pretty, and might have been quite so, had she 
 been clean, or at all nearly so ; she had fine black eyes 
 and hau', and when she laughed looked somewhat like an 
 Irish peasant girl. 
 
 After being a short time in the hut, and accustomed 
 to its gloom and odour, I could easily understand how, 
 amid the snows of an arctic winter, such a hovel might 
 be an object of strong home affections to its inhabitants ; 
 how a sense of warm, dirty, loving snugness might exist 
 among a heap of these little people, when all are huddled 
 
108 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 together on the floor round the centre fire during the long 
 darkness of their bitter winter-time ; and how the Lajjp 
 girl, who was married to a Frenchman and lived for 
 many years among the gaieties of Paris, returned to the 
 snows of the fjeld again when her husband died and 
 left her alone in the dreary solitude of a crowded city. 
 
 It reminded me of a story I heard some time since 
 from a celebrated Edinburgh publisher, who had pur- 
 chased a large estate, and was much shocked at the 
 manner in which some of the people upon it were living. 
 He found the family of a very intelligent working man 
 all living, sleeping, and feeding together in one apart- 
 ment, without regard to age or sex ; he remonstrated, 
 and did more : he built an extra room to their cottage, 
 and furnished it comfortably as a sleeping apartment. 
 Three months afterwards he paid them another visit, 
 and was surprised to find that the new room had not 
 been occupied, and on asking why, was answered that 
 it was " mair cheery-like to be a'thegither." 
 
 If a philanthropist were to erect improved dwelKngs 
 for the Laplanders, with more spacious apartments, 
 separated for the sexes, with ventilating shafts, and ma- 
 hogany chairs and tables, the little people would doubt- 
 less desert the commodious, well-ventilated, mahogany- 
 furnished dwelling, and erect one of their accustomed 
 hovels, where they would find it " mair cheery-like " to 
 pig together on the floor in their accustomed huddle of 
 warm domestic dirtiness. 
 
 There were several children about, who were much 
 better-looking tlian their parents ; they appeared more 
 
THE IIIDNIGIIT su]sr. 109 
 
 active and. intelligent. There were no reindeer visible ; 
 they were on the hills among the snows, where they 
 remain daring the hot weather to escape the gnats that 
 infest the valley. I saw no food of any kind in the 
 huts. This colony is evidently accustomed to receive 
 visitors, for they brought out for sale spoons made of the 
 reindeer horn ; they asked half a dollar or three marks 
 each for them, and sold some at one mark each. Their 
 bargaining, and all their proceedings, are singularly 
 apathetic : they seem to have neither cupidity, curiosity, 
 civility, nor incivility, nor any kind of activity whatever, 
 and they are the most expressionless people I have ever 
 seen. 
 
 We left Tromso at six in the evening. The scenery 
 of the coast is still very grand ; and many glaciers are 
 visible. At last we had open sea to the north, inter- 
 cepted only by the picturesque island of Fuglo, or 
 " Fowl Island," and we saw the midnight sun. It was 
 higher than I expected, about four times its apparent 
 diameter above the horizon. At twelve o'clock it stood 
 over the island, which is about 2,500 feet high : it is 
 excessively difficult to believe that it is midnight. The 
 heat of the sun's rays is very much diminished : we tried 
 to light cigars and paper with a lens, but failed, though 
 a few hours previously the experiment was successful 
 with the same lens. The band of golden glitter upon 
 the sea, stretching from the eye to the horizon beneath 
 the sun, is very beautiful ; but the general effect of the 
 warm subdued light upon the scenery is not so fine as 
 when the sun itself is behind a range of hills. 
 
110 THEOUGH NORWAY "WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 At the Oxfiord station is a capital example of a ter- 
 minal glacier moraine. It appears like an artificial pile 
 of stones set up to bear the flag-staff which is mounted 
 on its summit. Several Lapps, much better dressed 
 than those we saw at the encampment, were sitting 
 upon the moraine, awaiting the steam-packet, and two 
 of them came on board. During the day (Sunday) 
 several other Lapps came on board ; they all seemed to 
 be dressed in Sunday clothes made of coarse woollen 
 material, gaily trimmed with red and bright yellow: 
 they wore overcoats and leggings of the same shape as 
 those at the camp. These Lapps were lionized consi- 
 derably, not only by the English passengers, but also by 
 several of the Norwegian passengers who came from the 
 south. They showed some signs of bashfulness at being 
 thus observed, and were even blushing with confusion 
 when their clothes were examined ; this was probably 
 caused in a great measure by the fact that they wore 
 their very best clothes. The first timidity overcome, 
 they became more communicative, and showed us their 
 knives in wooden sheaths, which all of them wore 
 attached by a thong of reindeer skin round the waist. 
 They even submitted to be measured, blushing a good 
 deal, and laughing somewhat among themselves. The 
 sailors treated them with patronizing gentleness, patting 
 them on the cheeks and shoulders, and lifting them 
 about like dolls ; at which they smiled good-humouredly, 
 and blushed a little. They appear to be the gentlest of 
 human beings, child-like in mind as well as in stature. 
 The height of the man we selected as a specimen was 
 
A LAPP ARISTOCEAT. Ill 
 
 four feet six and a-half inclies Danish measure, wliicli 
 is equal to about four feet eight inches English. Most 
 of them were making short journeys ; some on their way 
 to church. They are a strictly religious people ; not 
 merely a church-going people, but also highly moral 
 and well-conducted. We were told by the Norwegians 
 on board, who know them well, that the drunkenness 
 which was once common among them has now almost 
 totally disappeared. Most of them can read and write. 
 There was one wjio spoke a little English, and 
 seemed to be a man of station among his people. He 
 was five feet high, and rather proud, objecting decidedly 
 to being made an object of popular curiosity. He 
 came on board at Kaafiord, on his way to Bosekop, 
 and was the best dressed of them all, and his wife and 
 daughter were almost handsomely dressed : their caps, 
 or bonnets, were quite elegant artistic affairs, fitting 
 close on the top and sides of the head, and rising at the 
 back to a point which bends forward with a graceful 
 curve; this was gaily and tastefully embroidered in 
 many colours. The women's dress is a kind of tunic 
 tied loosely at the waist, and reaching a little below the 
 knees, edged round with a bright yellow or red band, 
 or with a double band of both colours. The trowsers, 
 of the same drab or buff colour as the tunic, are tied 
 rudely about the ankle with reindeer thongs ; the same 
 thongs tie the " comargo," or shoe, which is as pic- 
 turesque as the headdress. These shoes, or boots, are 
 made of reindeer skin, with the fur outside, very loose, 
 reaching to the ankles, where, being thus tied up with 
 
112 THSOUGH , XOnWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 the trowsers, they must effectually keep out the snow. 
 The toes are turned up like Turkish slippers, but in 
 a greater degree; and they are ornamented with red 
 and yellow bindings. 
 
 A Quain also came on board. He was about five 
 feet two inches in height, and had a much larger head 
 than the Lapps ; he had a thick- set figure, with much 
 bone and muscle, a sturdy sailor-like bearing, and was 
 evidently a more energetic but less amiable man than 
 the Lapps. His complexion had, somewhat of an olive 
 tint, and his features were quite Tartar-like. He 
 sturdily avoided us, and compelled us to feel conscious 
 of our impertinence. 
 
 The peculiar obliquity of the eye — or rather of the 
 lower outline of the upper eyelid, which slopes down- 
 ward to the nose and forms the strongest typical 
 characteristic of the Mongolian race or variety — was 
 more decided in the Quain than in the Lapps. This 
 peculiarity results from the adaptation of the eyelid to 
 the requirements of an intensely cold climate. The 
 gland, or " tear-pit," in the inner corner of the eye is 
 completely overlapped by the eyelid in the Esquimaux 
 and others of the Mongolian variety of mankind. This 
 arrangement for the protection of the gland is found 
 in many of the ruminant animals that inhabit high 
 latitudes. 
 
 Among the infinity of illustrations of beneficent de- 
 sign which the structure of animals presents, there is 
 one which has always struck me as the most remark- 
 able of any, though it seems to have escaped the 
 
SENSIBILITY OF THE EYES AND T^ETH. 113 
 
 notice of writers on this subject : it is the peculiar 
 sensibility of the eye as contrasted with that of the 
 teeth. The eye being necessarily, from its function, 
 one of the most exposed, and from its structure one of 
 the most delicate, organs of the animal frame, requires 
 most vigilant guardianship. It cannot be cased all 
 round in close-fitting bone as the brain is, for that 
 would shut it from its object — the radiant light. That 
 portion, however, which may be thus protected is so, by 
 the bony orbit ; but the front, which must be exposed, 
 has for a substitute the hard transparent cornea; and 
 as this alone is not sufficient, it is covered with a thin 
 membrane of excessive sensibility, so sensitive that it 
 calls to instant service not only the wondrously smooth- 
 lined eyelid, but every milscle, and all the energies 
 of the body ; as shown in the sudden start and upraised 
 hands that immediately follow the slightest threatening 
 of injury to the eye. This guardian sensibility is only 
 on the surface of the eye, where alone it is required ; 
 the interior of the eye is quite insensible. The benefi- 
 cent end of the institution of pain is served, when it 
 has done its utmost to protect from external injury; if 
 once the mischief is done, and the eye is pierced, it 
 would be but useless torture for the pain to extend 
 within. Thus, when the operation of couching is per- 
 formed, the patient only suffers the pain of the perfora- 
 tion ; the stirring about of the needle within, to break 
 up the opaque lens, is unaccompanied with further pain. 
 The teeth, on the contrary, with their almost mine- 
 ral structure, need no such protection from mechanical 
 
 I 
 
114 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 injury, and are therefore almost insensible to all but 
 the most violent mechanical attacks. 
 
 If we compare the eyes and the teeth, in their rela- 
 tions to heat and cold, we shall find that the conditions 
 are reversed. The eye is the most hardyj while the 
 teeth are the most delicately sensitive organs of the 
 body. For what end is this ordained ? The teeth are 
 bad conductors of heat, and are coated with a glossy 
 enamel ; therefore, if they are suddenly heated or cooled, 
 the surface will expand or contract before the heat is 
 communicated throughout the substance of the tooth; 
 and thus the enamel will be cracked, just as thick glass 
 will crack, or as the enamel of thick porcelain will crack, 
 if similarly treated: we have all seen old mugs, and 
 thick cups and saucers, with a network of fine cracks 
 upon the enamel. Many of us persist in drinking 
 scalding tea and coffee out of such cups, in spite of 
 the double warning of the cracked enamel and aching 
 teeth ; and by constant repetition of this folly the sensi- 
 bility of the teeth becomes destroyed, and their sub- 
 stance soon follows their sensibility. 
 
 Now let us examine the eye in its relation to heat 
 and cold. When, in spite of wrappers and overcoats, 
 we are chilled to the skin — when the fingers and toes 
 are numbed, and the nose with all the warm breath 
 that passes through it, is threatening most painfully to 
 freeze and mortify — the wet, uncovered eyes remain 
 almost insensible to the freezing air : the cold can do 
 them no injury, and therefore exposure to it inflicts no 
 pain. The advantages of this are obvious. We may 
 
THE QUAINS. 115 
 
 cover up our bodies, our hands, our feet, and even our 
 noses, with furs and wool ; but the eyes must be exposed, 
 or their necessary work canpot be done. They are the 
 only organs that must not be covered, and they alone 
 may bear with impunity continuous exposure to the 
 most intense cold to which our earth is subject. I said 
 may bear with impunity such exposure, but it is not 
 all eyes that can. There is one part that is somewhat 
 sensitive to cold : the little red prominence in the inner 
 corner. The natives of the icy regions of the globe 
 have this small corner covered by a special growth of 
 the eyelid, and thus the adaptation is complete. 
 
 Suppose the case reversed — the teeth to be covered 
 with a membrane perfectly sensitive to the slightest 
 mechanical violence, and the eyes to be of all parts 
 of the body the most sensitive to variations of heat 
 and cold; the sense of pain would then be a malig- 
 nant infliction : but as it is, we see in it a beneficent 
 ordinance, an ever-watchful guardian warning us to> 
 protect and to abstain from injuring that exquisite 
 mechanism, that life-evolving laboratory entrusted to- 
 our charge, but which in our ignorance, wilfulness, and 
 sensuality we abuse so frequently, and therefore pay 
 the penalty. 
 
 The Quains are natives of Finland ; although many of 
 them have settled in Norway, especially in the vicinity 
 of the Kaafiord and the Alten valley. Both Quains 
 and Laplanders are called Finns by the Norwegians : 
 they are sometimes distinguished as Lapp-Finns and 
 Quain-Finns. These Quains, or Esthonians, are usually 
 
 I 2 
 
116 THUOITGn NORWAY WITPI A KNAPSACK. 
 
 described as having less of the Tartar countenance than 
 the Lapps ; but this was not the case with the one on 
 board, whose physiognomy was more decidedly Tartaric 
 than any Lapp I have seen while in Norway. The 
 Quains are usually taller and more energetic and 
 athletic than the Lapps. Though their dress is similar, 
 their habits are very different; the Quain being an 
 agriculturist, and having a fixed habitation. 
 
11] 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Anomaly of climate — Alien — Fashion and gaiety in the arctic regions 
 — Hammerfest — A hint for railway directors — Floating colony 
 of Fisher Lapps — Open-air bedrooms — ^Live dolls — Capital of the 
 !Pjeld Lapp — The Thief Mountain — Wine in the far north — The 
 great meridian line from the Danube to the Arctic Ocean — A 
 cruel defeat and humiliation — Improvement in travelling English- 
 men — Folly of ostentatious lavishness — The return journey — 
 Glaciers of the Nus Fiord — A public breakfast at Tromsb. 
 
 The scenery of the banks of the Alten Fiord is 
 curiously summer-lilie, and verdant in many parts; 
 especially upon the Kaafiord, which is the inmost 
 portion of the Alten Fiord. This, combined with a 
 bright sky, a scorching sun, and an atmosphere of a 
 softness suitable for a consumptive patient, renders it 
 difficult to believe oneself in latitude 70°, and nearly 
 400 miles due north of Tornea. The journey from Alten 
 to Tornea (430 miles by the track), during the whole 
 of which the traveller is proceeding nearly due south, 
 presents the remarkable anomaly of a climate of con- 
 tinually increasing severity as he proceeds southwards. 
 In the winter he travels from the open sea of the Nor- 
 wegian coast to the head of the frozen Gulf of Bothnia. 
 In the summer the thermometer sometimes rises to 
 87° in the shade, and in the winter it rarely, if ever, falls 
 below zero ; when, in other parts of the globe with the 
 same latitude, mercury freezes. This village of Alten, 
 
118 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 with its rich pasturages, its high civilization, where 
 young ladies play the airs of Verdi's last opera, and 
 expand their skirts to Parisian dimensions, is in about 
 the same latitude as that in which Franklin and his 
 comrades are probably frozen. 
 
 Alten has been specially gay of late. Mr. Thomas, 
 an Englishman connected with the Alten copper-mines, 
 has been recently elected a member of the Storthing, 
 or Parliament. We are told that he is the first Eng- 
 lishman who has been made a member of the Storthing, 
 and that the event was celebrated with much festivity, 
 and great consumption of champagne. 
 
 We saw the midnight sun again, and an hour after 
 arrived at Hammerfest, the northernmost town in the 
 world. After leaving the Kaafiord the grandeur of 
 the scenery begins to decline ; about Hammerfest it is 
 comparatively monotonous and uninteresting. 
 
 In order to afford the reader full information of the 
 cost of everything, I append a copy of the steward's 
 account against me for provisions consumed on the 
 way:— 
 
 1 frokost 
 1 the . 
 1 caflee 
 1 middag 
 1 kal flk. vin 
 
 1 aften 
 
 2 the ■ . 
 1 middag 
 1 fl. vin 
 
 1 aften 
 
 2 the . 
 
 1 frokost 
 
 2 the . 
 1 middag 
 1 aften 
 
 Han med yardl bortes. 
 
 D. 
 
 M. S. 
 
 
 
 
 1 8 
 
 2 the . 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 1 frokost 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 2 caffee 
 
 
 
 2 12 
 
 1 middag 
 
 
 
 1 12 
 
 1 aften 
 
 
 
 1 6 
 
 2 the . 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 1 fli. 31 . 
 
 
 
 2 12 
 
 1 frokost 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 2 the . 
 
 
 
 1 6 
 
 1 middag 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 1 aften 
 
 
 
 1 8 
 
 2 the . 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 1 middag 
 
 
 
 2 12 
 
 4 fl. Yin 
 
 
 
 1 6 
 
 
 D. 
 
 M. S. 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 1 8 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 2 12 
 
 
 
 1 6 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 1 8 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 2 12 
 
 
 
 1 6 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 2 12 
 
 
 
 1 12 
 
 7 4 
 
NOEWEGIAN STEWARD'S BILL. 
 
 119 
 
 The following is a literal translation of the above, 
 in English words and English money : — 
 
 " He with the large beard." 
 
 1 breakfast 
 1 tea . 
 1 coffee 
 1 dinner 
 \ bottle wine 
 
 1 supper . 
 
 2 teas 
 
 1 dinner . 
 1 bottle wine 
 
 1 supper . 
 
 2 teas 
 
 1 breakfast 
 
 2 teas 
 
 1 dinner . 
 1 supper . 
 
 £ s. 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 d. 
 
 2 
 
 3i 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 1 
 
 Carried forward . 18 
 
 Brought forward 
 2 teas 
 
 1 breakfast 
 
 2 coffees . 
 1 dinner 
 
 1 supper . 
 
 2 teas 
 1 bottle of ale 
 
 1 breakfast 
 
 2 teas 
 1 dinner 
 
 1 supper 
 
 2 teas 
 1 dinner 
 i bottle wine 
 
 £ s. d. 
 18 9J 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 1 
 
 7 
 1 2 
 9i 
 
 £1 14 H 
 
 This account requires some explanation. First, as to 
 the title of the debtor, " He with the large beard." 
 The steward, not knowing our names, gave us descrip- 
 tive designations in his ledger. There were five 
 Englishmen on board who were thus described : " He 
 with the red beard," " He with the white beard," " He 
 with the large beard," "He without a beard," and 
 " He with a veil." The two teas which occur so fre- 
 quently must not be understood as two meals, but as 
 two cups of tea, or of " the vand," tea-water, as the 
 Norwegians call it. We considered ourselves as 
 "done," or thereabouts, in this matter; for all the 
 charges were made in' accordance with a printed 
 "tariff" suspended on the cabin wall. This tariff 
 stated that the charge for breakfast was 1 mark 
 8 skillings ; and tea and coffee being offered as part of 
 the breakfast, we supposed that it was included in that 
 
120 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 charge, but we found on paying our account that an 
 extra charge was made for each cup of tea or coffee ; 
 — thus a breakfast, with two cups of coffee, cost 2s. 
 English : an exorbitant charge for Norway, especially 
 as the tea and coffee were mere slops compared with 
 what I got at the poorest station on the road. But the 
 reader must not judge all the Norwegian packets on 
 this service by the Constitutione, which I am informed 
 is in every respect the worst. It is the oldest steam- 
 packet in Norway, and is said to be condemned and 
 now making its last voyage, having nearly foundered 
 on the previous one. 
 
 The fare from Trondhjem to Hammerfest, by best 
 cabin, was 15 specie-dollars 32 shillings, about 3^. 8«. 2d. 
 English. The passage occupied exactly six days, in- 
 cluding stoppages. The fare for the return journey by 
 the same boat was 15 specie-dollars 27 sk., or 5 sk. less. 
 This difference is for the ticket or booking of the pas- 
 senger. The charge for any journey is made according 
 to the mileage, with an additional charge for the ticket 
 This is an equitable arrangement, that our railway 
 companies might imitate ; supposing that they should 
 ever regulate their charges according to the amount of 
 accommodation afforded. At present, if I ride from 
 London to Birmingham by second-class, I am charged 
 15s. — from London to Boxmoor, 3s., and from Boxmoor 
 to Birmingham, lis. 6d. ; thus, if I have to travel from 
 London to Birmingham I save 6d. by taking, first, a 
 ticket to Boxmoor, and then another ticket on to Bir- 
 mingham, — on the principle that the more trouble I 
 give the company, and the more tickets I use, the less 
 
A HINT TO RAILWAY DIRECTORS. 121 
 
 I pay. Of course I always do save the Qd. and trouble 
 the company, and advise everybody else to do the same, 
 as the best means of putting an end to sucli absurd 
 anomalies. It is a common practice to charge more for 
 what is called a "through journey" than for the same 
 journey broken into several stages : thus a passenger 
 Tvho makes a given distance in a dozen stages, thereby 
 employing a dozen porters for his luggage, a dozen 
 ticket clerks and collectors, and using a dozen tickets, 
 pays no more — sometimes less — than he who makes the 
 same journey in one stage, and employs only one porter, 
 one clerk, one collector, and uses only one ticket : and 
 this by a mode of travelling where the mere conveyance 
 or traction cost is ridiculously small ; for when a pas- 
 senger is once in a train, and the train started, the 
 difference of cost for carrying him ten miles or a 
 hundred miles scarcely exceeds one penny. The pre- 
 sent system of railway charges has all the anomalies, 
 exorbitance, and absurdities of the old postage system, 
 and of course both the public and the shareholders 
 suffer. If a much lower charge were made for mile- 
 age, and a charge on each ticket for station expenses, 
 there would be some relation between the amount of 
 work done and the charge made for it. 
 
 Hammerfest, situated in lat. 70° 49', is a small town 
 of one street, composed of the usual straggling wooden 
 houses, some of them, however, of considerable size. 
 There appear to be about as many Lapp inhabitants as 
 Norwegians ; or, at any rate, quite as many out of 
 doors. 
 
122 THEOUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 There are two classes of Lapps — the Fjeld Lapp, 
 and the Fisher Lapp ; the former I have spoken of at 
 Tromso. The Lapps at Hammerfest are all fishers. 
 Their boats are not larger than the smallest rowing- 
 boats we have on our coast, and far less strongly built. 
 These are not only their fishing-smacks, but also their 
 family residences ; serving them " for kitchen and par- 
 lour and all." They live for the most part afloat, the 
 boats moored to the rude quay ; and it is an odd sight 
 to see a row of these floating families going to bed 
 publicly, in the open air, on a fine sunny midnight. 
 After a supper of dried fish, which they pull to threads 
 with their fingers, they say their prayers, and then the 
 husband and wife tuck themselves up together under 
 a reindeer skin at one end of the boat; the baby, in 
 its " egg," is deposited near to them, and the elder 
 children are concealed somewhere at the other end. 
 An hour after, as I walked along the shore, when the 
 pairs of sleeping faces alone were visible, and the 
 silence was complete, the scene wakened in my mind 
 quaint reminiscences of childish fancies of doUs'-houses, 
 toy-boats, Noah's-arks, and the little old woman that 
 lived in a shoe. The next day, as the little people 
 walked about in couples, hand-in-hand, all so silently 
 and gently, speaking in a soft murmur if they spoke at 
 all, and with an expression both in face and gait of 
 such utter harmlessness and amiability, the idea of a 
 colony of living dolls was still more strongly suggested. 
 From a little distance their dress has a becoming and 
 rather gay appearance ; the cap, or bonnet, of the 
 
FJELD LAPPS AND PISIIER LAPPS. 123 
 
 women is quite elegant in form, and embroidered in 
 many colonrs, sometimes being interwoven with gold 
 and silver thread. 
 
 It must be bitter cold in the winter-time to live in these 
 little boats, and sleep out on the water in the long dark 
 nights, when the s^ow is falling heavilj' ; but the Lapps 
 are a healthy, hardy people, and these fishers, though 
 poorer than the fjeld Lapps, have the advantage of 
 breathing a better atmosphere in the summer-time : yet 
 liow they contrive to cover themselves in the winter I 
 do not know. The reindeer skins, which the fisher 
 Lapps use as bed covering and for clothing, are obtained 
 from the fjeld Lapps in exchange for dried fish. 
 
 The fjeld Lapp is a considerable capitalist, a flock of 
 400 reindeer being only sufficient to support a family; 
 and such a flock is estimated by Mr. Laing to be 
 worth about 1201. It is said that many of them possess 
 hoards of buried treasure in the shape of silver coins, 
 cups, spoons, &c. The captain of the steamer showed 
 us some silver spoons and small silver drinking-cups he 
 bought of a Lapp. The spoons had a very large bowl 
 and a short twisted handle ; the cups were ornamented 
 with a rather elaborate, pricked pattern ; the workman- 
 ship of both was very rude, but the metal contained 
 very little alloy. Still they are practically in a state of 
 extreme poverty, and sometimes suffer great privations : 
 those who have not enough reindeer to subsist upon, 
 combine the avocations of both fjeld and fisher Lapp. 
 The number of Lapps in Norway, according to the 
 census of 1847, was 14,464. 
 
124 THKOUGH NOKWAY WITH A ItNAPSACK. 
 
 There is considerable variety in the expression of 
 features of the Lapps here : some are very like idiots 
 in feature, and, from the size and form of the head, 
 cannot be far removed from idiotcy in mental capacity ; 
 others express considerable intelligence; but with the 
 exception of the proud five-feet aristocrat on board the 
 steamer, I have seen none who exhibit any considerable 
 amount of energy. They all have small brains, even 
 in proportion to the body ; and an expression of ex- 
 treme gentleness and amiability is common to them all.: 
 they appeal to one's sympathies most powerfully. 
 
 After visiting the consul, as in duty bound, some 
 of the party making sundry purchases of skins of white 
 bears, silver foxes, &c., we, at the consul's recommen- 
 dation, ascended a hill called the Thief Mountain. It 
 is about 1,500 feet high, with a good deal of snow 
 upon its sides, which has to be scrambled over with 
 that sort of hard labour usual in ascending steep snow 
 inclines. The heat was most oppressive even on the 
 snow. The mountain commands a good view of the 
 low hills and bluff headlands of the coast ; which, how- 
 ever, are not very striking: we were told that the 
 North Cape is to be seen from it, but this I doubt. 
 The island of Mageroe is just visible on the horizon; 
 but as the North Cape forms its northern extremity, it 
 does not seem possible to see it from the south. 
 Tourists who are excessively anxious to say that they 
 have seen the North Cape may, perhaps, satisfy a 
 pliable conscience, and save the week's delay by ascend- 
 ing this hill and looking over the place where the North 
 
HOTEL BILL IN THE FAR KOETH. 125 
 
 Cape undoubtedly is, but seeing only the dim outline of 
 the island on which the North Cape resides. The 
 ascent of this hill affords a very interesting opportunity 
 of witnessing the effect of altitude on the growth of the 
 birch. The trees at the foot of the hill are in some 
 instances eight or ten feet high ; but on ascending they 
 gradually diminish to Lilliputian plants of six or eight 
 inches, though still having the form of mature trees. 
 
 We — that is, " He with the white beard," " He with 
 the red beard," " He with the large beard," " He with- 
 out a beard," and " He with a veil," — breakfast and 
 dine at the chief hotel. Breakfast of tea, salmon, eggs, 
 and cold roast reindeer, for ] mark 12 skillings, or 
 Is. 4d. Dinner of salmon, hot roast reindeer, and 
 sweetmeats : the dinner cost 1 mark 15 skillings, or 
 Is. 6d., each — the wine 1 mark 12 skillings, or Is. id. 
 The reindeer makes a very good dish ; it is something 
 like beef, but of shorter flavour, and bears about the 
 same relation to beef that our park venison does to 
 mutton. The wine was excellent, and the variety 
 rather astonished us. Tor the instruction of those who 
 are curious in epicurean statistics, I append a faithful 
 copy of the carte, which for a rude wooden inn within 
 the Arctic Circle, appears rather luxurious : — 
 
 Ffiis courant over OlhaUens Vine, 
 Per flok. 
 
 *D. M. s. 
 
 Champagner . .13 
 
 Tokayer . . .13 
 
 Laoryma Christi . .110 
 
 Cap. Constautia . .220 
 
 Per flok. 
 
 Musak Liinel . .0312 
 Ditto Picardin . . — 
 PortTin gammel fliti 
 (fine old Port) .110 
 
 * A specie-dollar is -worth about 4s, 6d.; a mark, lO^d.-, a skllling, 
 rather less than one halfpenny. 
 
126 THROUGH NORWAY 
 
 WITH A KNAPSACK 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 Per flok. 
 
 
 Per floi, 
 
 Portvin gammel fiia 
 
 D. M. s. 
 
 Chateau Lafitte . 
 
 D. 
 1 
 
 M. 8. 
 
 
 
 (fine old Port) 
 
 4 
 
 Chateau Leaville 
 
 
 
 3 8 
 
 Madeira, gammel drey- 
 
 
 St. JuUien . 
 
 
 
 1 16 
 
 Cold dry Madeira) . 
 
 1 1 
 
 Rihnsh viin 
 
 1 
 
 1 12 
 
 Ditto .... 
 
 4 
 
 Haut Sauterne . 
 
 
 
 2 12 
 
 Portvin hvid (white 
 
 
 Cherry Cordial . 
 
 
 
 3 8 
 
 Port) 
 
 4 
 
 Sherry, god 
 
 
 
 1 16 
 
 Sherry, old . 
 
 3 
 
 London Brown Stout . 
 
 
 
 1 12 
 
 Tennerif 
 
 2 
 
 Ditto half 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 Malaga 
 
 2 
 
 Ale, Edinburgher 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 Chateau Larose . 
 
 4 8 
 
 01 ... . 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 "We met some Englishmen here, and a German artist, 
 Professor Hildebrandt, who had just returned from an 
 excursion to the North Cape. We fraternized, of course, 
 and our party was thereby enlarged. 
 
 The heat was surprisingly great, and the musquitoes 
 most annoying. An odour of hot cod-liver pervaded 
 the whole of Hammerfest ; and if there be any virtue 
 in cod-liver oil, this must be a paradise for consumptive 
 patients. This odour from the cauldrons of stewing 
 liver, which is common to all the northern stations, is 
 very disagreeable at first, until the nose becomes edu- 
 cated to it. Wsdking along' the sea-shore, I was struck 
 with the smallness of the shells ; of which there is a 
 considerable quantity, including several species of Gas- 
 teropods : the common periwinkle, for example, is very 
 abundant, but about one-third the average size of those 
 on our coast. I saw an abundance of the shells of small 
 Echini, but no Actiniae, either here or at Tromso or Bodo. 
 
 On the outskirts of the town is the termination of 
 the great meridian line of 25° 20', drawn from the 
 Danube, near Rustchuk, to the Arctic Ocean. This is, 
 I beUeve, the longest meridian-line that has been care- 
 
TERMINATION OF THE MERIDIAN LINE. 127 
 
 fully determined. An obelisk marks it, and bears the 
 following inscription : — 
 
 Det Noedlige Endepunt 
 
 AF DEN MeEIDIANEUE PAA 25° 20' 
 
 EEA dex Noedlige Ocean til Donau Eloden 
 
 IGJENNEN 
 
 NORGE SVERIGE OF RTJSLAND 
 
 Efter Foeanstaltning op 
 
 Hans Majestat Kong 
 
 OSCAR I. 
 
 OG 
 
 Kaisekne 
 
 ALEXANDER L 
 
 NICHOLAS I. 
 
 TED TJAFBEUDT AeBEIDB 
 
 ERA 1816 TIL 1852 
 
 TJDMAALT AP 
 
 DE TEE Nations Geometer. 
 Beede 70» 40' n"-3. 
 
 The which signifies that here is " the northern termina- 
 tion of the meridian-line of 25° 20' from the Arctic 
 Ocean to the River Danube, through Norway, Sweden, 
 and Russia, which after the ordination of His Majesty 
 King Oscar I. and the Emperors Alexander I. and 
 Nicholas I., by uninterrupted labour from 1816 to 1852, 
 was measured by the geometers of the three nations — • 
 Latitude, 70° 40' ll"-3." 
 
 The Constitutione, after two days' stay at Hammerfest, 
 started to return, and our English party was augmented 
 by Professor Hildebrandt (who speaks English so well 
 that I at first mistook him for a Scotchman) and the 
 three Englishmen who went to the North Cape: they 
 were students from Oxford, and immediately on going 
 on board subjected me to a severe humiliation. I should 
 
128 THKOUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 here confess that it has hitherto been my habit to crow- 
 over every English tourist I meet, on the matter of 
 travelling economically ; and I had never before found 
 a successful competitor in tliis respect. During a six- 
 months' tour in Italy, my whole expenses, board, 
 lodging, and shoes, including theatres, caf^s, and aU 
 other dissipations, besides fees to cicerone, &c., averaged 
 only 18s. per week; and yet I saw and did everything 
 that a conscientious tourist who obeys his Murray is 
 bound to see and to do. Last summer I made an 
 excursion, starting from London to Dunquerque and 
 Lille, through Belgium by raU; stopping at the prin- 
 cipal towns on the way, "doing" the hotels de villa, 
 the churches with their carved pulpits, &c., and the 
 picture-galleries ; then up the cockney portion of the 
 Rhine, ascending the proper quantity of " fels," castles, 
 and lateral valleys ; on from Mayence to Frankfort and 
 Nuremburg by rail ; and after doing the artistic oddities 
 of that old town, proceeded by rail to Munich, where 
 I spent four days; then by coach to the Tegern-see, 
 and on foot through the Tyrol to Conegliano ; by rail 
 to Venice; stayed four days there; and then on foot 
 through Lorabardy, visiting some of the principal citiesj 
 and the Lago di Garda, Lago d'Isea, the Lake of Como, 
 the Splugen, and Via Mala, Gorge of Pffefers, Lake 
 Wallenstadt, and Zurich, and by Basle to the source 
 of the Moselle; down the valley of that river to 
 Nancy ; then by rail to Paris and London. This trip 
 occupied six weeks. I started with 151. in my pocket, 
 and brought a few shillings back; yet I visited theatres, 
 
A SEVERE HUMILIATION, ]29 
 
 concerts, &c., and purchased maps and guide-books 
 besides. 
 
 After having performed such exploits, and boasted 
 of them considerably to my fellow-passengers all the 
 way from Trondhjem to Hammerfest, my disgust and 
 humiliation were most intense on finding that the three 
 Oxonians had taken deck passage at one-third the fare 
 I was paying: they rolled themselves hardily and 
 bravely under the tarpaulins, and slept among trunks, 
 baskets, and barrels — and Lapps and Norwegians. To 
 be looked down upon by my fellow-countrymen as an 
 effeminate, lounging aristocrat, an inliabitant of sofas, 
 a sensual sitter upon stuffed cushions, while there were 
 hard planks within reach, was more than I could 
 patiently bear. I, who banter every friend whom I can 
 catch in the fact of riding in a first-class railway car- 
 riage, upon the folly of paying three shillings per hour 
 for the hire of a cushion, to be utterly outdone in such 
 a matter by men from Oxford, where I had hitherto 
 believed none were to be found with sufficient mus- 
 cular energy to pronounce the letter "r" without drawl- 
 ing it into "aw!" This was the severest blow my 
 pride could have possibly received. It was a source 
 of great consolation, however, to find that the Oxonians 
 did not like their deck passage : they looked very un- 
 comfortable, and went ashore at Bodo, under pretence 
 of ascending a mountain on the Swedish frontier ; but, 
 as I firmly believe, really to wait for the next packet 
 and take saloon passage and claret without our know- 
 ing it. 
 
 K 
 
130 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 This incident reminded me of several facts I have 
 observed of late, tending to show that a change is 
 coming over the spirit of travelling Englishmen. That 
 stupid ostentation of expenditure, which was once a 
 recognised characteristic of Englishmen, is now much 
 less frequent ; and all experienced tourists that I have 
 recently met condemn it most heartily. It is well 
 known that in Switzerland, or any other country where 
 English swarm, the track of their wanderings is indi- 
 cated by a trail of corruption. The character of hotel- 
 keepers, waiters, guides, and all with whom they come 
 in contact, is lowered. A people originally simple- 
 minded, dignified, honest, and truly obliging, become 
 servile, greedy, and extortionate, through the folly of 
 some of our countrymen, who are mean enough to fling 
 their money about in exchange for a flunkeyish adula- 
 tion, which any man endowed with wholesome pride can 
 only regard as despicable and insulting ! The number 
 of these essentially vulgar-minded people is decidedly 
 diminishing ; and this form of folly is now chiefly con- 
 fined to very youthful puppies, or very raw tourists, 
 who have just made their first escape from behind 
 the counter, and are intoxicated with their own enter- 
 prise in venturing beyond Gravesend. A few of the 
 modern French fops who wear light Newmarket coats, 
 with vest and trousers of the same pattern, and keep a 
 " bouledogue," a cab, and an English groom whom they 
 call " Tom," do the same. These melancholy examples 
 are very useful to us, for nothing is better calculated to 
 make Englishmen disgusted with their own foUies, than 
 
EEMAEKABLE GLACIERS. 131 
 
 the sight of a Frenchman caricaturing, by attempting 
 to imitate them. 
 
 The great point to be achieved on the return journey 
 from Hammerfest, is so to divide the sleeping and 
 waking hours as to see that part of the coast ■wHch 
 was missed during the sleeping time of the last passage. 
 The grand scenery commences again from the en- 
 trance to the Oxfiord; where, as before, a party of 
 Lapps were perched on the moraine which supports the 
 flagstaffs. All the stations at which the steamer halts 
 have the Norwegian flag flying. There is, however, 
 no necessity for any such distinguishing mark. Even 
 in a thick mist, a sailor with a keen nose can steer 
 directly to one of these stations at this season of the 
 year; the odour of stewing cod-Kvers is so decided, 
 and so far diffused from the centre at which it is 
 concentrated. 
 
 At about four o'clock on the second morning of our 
 return journey we passed some remarkable glaciers 
 near to the Havnes station : one of them very nearly 
 reached the sea. We were- near enough to examine 
 them pretty fully, and with the aid of telescopes, or 
 opera-glasses, to look down the blue crevasses which rib 
 the lower parts. They exhibit the whole phenomena 
 of glaciers at one glance : there is the snow field, or 
 neve, above, the source from which the true glacier is 
 derived; the deep lateral valley narrowing downwards 
 — one of the essential conditions of glacier formation ; — 
 then the ice torrent with its sharp billows and blue 
 chasms, filling this valley and carrying with it in its 
 
 K 2 
 
132 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A liNAPSACK. 
 
 slow descent the blocks of rock forming the moraine ; 
 whicli when deposited at its boundaries will remain to 
 mark its place, though the climate of the whole region 
 should change and the ice and snow all melt away. 
 
 "We made another halt at Tromso, and all went 
 ashore, proceeding as a matter of course to the prin- 
 cipal hotel, the Belle Vue. The house was full— not 
 of provisions — ^but of guests. We asked for breakfast, 
 and were told by the host that he was very busy and 
 could not give us any. We petitioned for dinner a few 
 iours afterwards ; but this was refused. We sued for 
 "wine or beer, and biscuits or fladbrod, or anything 
 digestible or indigestible containing some amount of any 
 of, the protean compounds ; but all in vain. We were 
 made to understand that a Norwegian hotel-keeper 
 only proposes to do a limited amount of business, and 
 that nothing will tempt him to exceed that. We then 
 returned to the ship, but could get no breakfast there, 
 for it was washing-day — all were engaged in the swab- 
 bing of decks and scrubbing of cabins. A little bread 
 and some chips of cheese were at last reluctantly 
 brought, and which we very rashly refused on account 
 of the smallness of the quantity and the ill grace of 
 grudging with which it was served. We went ashore 
 again, emboldened by hunger, and determined to be- 
 siege the town and force the natives to submit and 
 supply our wants. We were eight in number, and 
 proceeded first to the consul's, where we armed our- 
 selves with bottles of ale and sauterne, and lumps of 
 cheese; then to the baker's shop, where we insisted 
 
AL FRESCO BEEAKFAST AT TEOMSO. 133 
 
 upon loaves of bread, which were brought in ample 
 quantity. We had, of course, neither glasses, plates, 
 knives and forks, nor seats ; but each man did his best, 
 with his bottle, and loaf, and lump of cheese; some 
 sitting on the baker's door-step, others standing at the 
 counter or in the street. Before our meal was finished 
 we had a large congregation of lookers on, consisting 
 of all the little boys of Tromso and a considerable pro- 
 portion of the adult population, who silently contem- 
 plated our proceedings from the opposite side of the 
 street until the performance concluded, when the little 
 boys expressed their approbation by rapturous applause. 
 
134 THROUGH :N0RWAY WITH A KNAPSACK, 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A second visit to the Lapp encampment — Moral and religious 
 savages — Condition of the Laplanders a proof of the high character 
 of the Norwegians — Snow and sunshine — The English language 
 a dialect of the Scandinavian — Few, if any, English words 
 derived from the German — ^When to see Arctic Norway at its 
 best — Bodb — The Threnen Islands — The ships of the old Sea- 
 kings — Curious change in the tone and colour of the light at 
 midnight — Etiquette of the dinner-table in Norway— Post- 
 offices — The Leer Eoss. 
 
 We paid another visit to the Lapp encampment, and 
 ascended the hills above it, in the hope of seeing the 
 reindeer, but did not find them. I observed many little 
 things in the hut this time which I did not see before, 
 for we were now received as old friends, with a sort of 
 rude welcome and a more communicative spirit. The 
 hone, or wife, had just gathered some wild herbs from 
 the mountain side, which she was cutting up for soup, 
 and storing in a bag of reindeer skin. Some comargos 
 and other articles of reindeer skin were in course of 
 tanning, being laid in a pan with strips of beech bark. 
 Among the domestic apparatus was a highly civilized 
 copper tea-kettlcj besides some other copper vessels, and 
 a pair of ornamental mahogany bellows. The pan in 
 which the shoes were tanning, being made of thick 
 copper, was of some considerable money value. What 
 
CHEISTIAN LAPLANDERS. 135 
 
 would an Englisli capitalist say of using copper for tlie 
 construction of tan-pits ? They showed us two vase- 
 shaped silver cups, like common egg-cups, but a little 
 larger, and some silver spoons with large bowls and short 
 twisted handles ; these were all of very antique pattern, 
 with ornamental designs rudely pricked upon them. 
 
 There was a decidedly pretty girl peeling bark. We 
 had read in many books that the inner bark of trees is 
 used by the Norwegians and the Laplanders for food ; 
 but when we asked her whether she was preparing this 
 for food, she seemed as much amused and surprised at 
 the question as any Englishwoman would be. The 
 idea of using such a material was quite new to her ; 
 but then she had never read any books of travel, poor 
 thing, and could not be expected to know so much of 
 the manners and customs of northern peoples as we 
 literary and scientific folk. I found similar ignorance 
 throughout Norway relative to the Scandinavian prac- 
 tice of eating horseflesh. 
 
 The more I see of these gentle savages the more 
 I become interested in them. They are quite an 
 anomalous race. Here they live in direct contact 
 with the high civiHzation of the Norwegians, in free- 
 communication and perfect harmony with them. 
 They are converted to Christianity, and from all I 
 can learn have a better claim to the title of Christian 
 than many of our own church and chapel goers ; for 
 besides attending to the outward forms of devotion, they 
 illustrate the reality of Christianity by their simple, 
 unostentatious humility, their loving gentleness to each' 
 
136 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 other and their neighbours, their contentment and dis- 
 regard of the ambitious struggles, the greed of wealth, 
 and all the pomps and vanities of the civilized ■world. 
 
 It is strange to see a people who can read and write, 
 and who have family prayers morning and evening, still 
 living as nomade pastoral savages ; clinging in aU parti- 
 culars to the old habits of their forefathers, clothed in 
 the skins of beasts, and with so much contempt for 
 Manchester, Birmingham, and Sheffield, as to still make 
 their own thread of the sinews of their own reindeer, 
 their needles and pins of the bones, and their spoons of 
 the horns. They are probably the only people in the 
 world who do not use Staffordshire ware, and have not 
 the willow-pattern plate among them. Whatever may 
 have been the moral effect of reading and writing, 
 Christianity, and the example of civilization, their influ- 
 ence on the industrial habits of these people is almost 
 nothing. The brass-nozzled mahogany bellows, and the 
 first-class copper tea-kettle, displayed as we should dis- 
 play a finely-carved Indian war-club or a Japanese 
 cabinet, tended only to heighten the contrast between 
 their habits and the modern usages around them : for it 
 must be remembered that, as far as the Norwegians are 
 concerned, this arctic portion of Norway contains some 
 of the most refined, wealthy, and aristocratic^ people of 
 the country; the traders in fish, who are in continual 
 communication as merchants with the rest of Europe, 
 especially with the southern Catholic portions, where 
 the stock fish is chiefly consumed. 
 
 The present condition of these Lapps, their peaceful. 
 
THE LAPPS AND NORWEGIANS. 137 
 
 undisturbed existence, their freedom at all periods from 
 persecution or oppression, is a grand evidence of the high 
 moral character of the Norwegians. I am not aware of 
 any other instance in the world's history of a people 
 so weak, so helpless for self-defence, remaining for 
 centuries in contact with an energetic, civilized, and 
 altogether stronger people, and never attacked, pillaged, 
 enslaved, or interfered with, except for the benevo- 
 lent purposes of education and moral and religious 
 improvement. 
 
 The Norwegians have recently converted them from 
 their strange old paganism, the worship of Thor, with 
 its conjurations, magical drums, and sacrifices to the 
 stone efBgy of the hammer-bearing god ; have taught 
 them to read and write, and when they fell into habits 
 of drunkenness sent apostles of temperance among 
 them. The efforts of these temperance missionaries 
 have been highly successfiil, ' and the drunkenness so 
 common among the Laplanders when Mr. Laing resided 
 in Norway in 1834-5-6, is now very rare. 
 
 Those who talk about a law of Nature enforcing with 
 unrelenting fatalism the subjugation and destruction of 
 an inferior race when a superior and more highly 
 civilized people come in contact with it, should visit this 
 part of Norway, and study the present relations of the 
 Norwegians to the Laplanders. They would then, I 
 think, modify their expression of this law, and rather 
 say that when a strong, brutal, selfish, and imscrupulous 
 people come in contact with another people weaker than 
 themselves, the self-styled civilized men endeavour to 
 
138 THROUGH NOKWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 rob, murder, enslave, or oppress those whom they please 
 to call the inferior race; and if the difference of strength 
 is sufficiently great, the " civilized " people succeed in 
 their efforts. It may be imagined that the Lapps have 
 remained unmolested by the Norwegians because they 
 are so poor as to be not worth robbing either by legal or 
 illegal processes. It is true that the fjeld they occupy 
 is quite valueless for tillage, and almost so for pasturage; 
 but this is not the case with the fishing ground. The 
 Fjeld Lapp, as before stated, is a considerable capitalist, 
 and, Hke all other capitalists, could not exist as such 
 unless protected either by morality, law, or fighting. A 
 full-grown reindeer sells for about three or four dollars. 
 A flock of 400 reindeer is the smallest upon which 
 a Lapp family can subsist; and a Laplander who has 
 fewer is obliged to eke out his existence by fishing and 
 shooting. The average value of the property of each 
 family of the pure Fjeld Lapps is probably not less than 
 2001. ; and this for the most part in a readily convertible 
 form. It is not an uncommon case for a single family 
 to possess as many as a thousand reindeer. If the Lapps 
 were a sensual, drunken, or in any way improvident peo- 
 ple, such a state of things could not continue, ia contact 
 with open markets, money, and civilization : they would 
 sell their reindeer to purchase the means of present 
 indulgence, and rapidly sink into abject poverty and 
 starvation.' If there were many sharpers among the 
 Norwegians — " 'cute traders," > addicted to " swapping," 
 these poor simple Lapps would long since have been 
 . tempted to their ruin. 
 
EXTREME HEAT AMONG SNOWS AND GLACIERS. 139 
 
 If I were a Norwegian I should point to tlie encamp- 
 ments of these peaceful, defenceless little people as the 
 noblest monu.ments of my country's honour : monuments 
 more worthy of the nation's pride than the trophies of a 
 thousand victories on the battle-field. 
 
 We started again about midnight. The weather was 
 excessively hot. During the hottest part of the day 
 the thermometer stood at 77° in the cabin, at 92° in 
 the roh lugar, or smoking-saloon, a little cabin built 
 on deck, and 108° in the sun : on shore, in the valleys, 
 it must doubtless have been much hotter. The contrast 
 of this glaring Italian, or, I might almost say, Brazilian 
 sky, with the snow-clad rocks and glaciers dipping 
 almost to the sea-edge, is very strildng. It was a con- 
 tinual source of fresh wonderment; one of the few 
 scenes which one does not become accustomed to, but 
 retains its novelty day after day. 
 
 Among the incidents on board, was a discussion on 
 the relative importance of the study of Latin and 
 Scandinavian as a key to English. My own opinion 
 of the matter is that the idea of studying any language 
 as a means of understanding another, is absurd. Every 
 languagie has its own special laws and characteristics, 
 and these are best studied in its own classics, and not 
 in those of any other language. It is true that there 
 are certain general laws common to all languages — the 
 laws of thought in their relations to the faculty of 
 speech ; but these are far better illustrated by English 
 than by either Latin or Greek, inasmuch as English is 
 compounded of so many other languages, and of the 
 
140 THEOUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 best elements of each. It is a language that grows 
 wherever it is planted, by virtue of its fitness to the 
 human mind and its ample fulfilment of the require- 
 ments of thought and feeling ; while the stilted Latin 
 has withered everywhere, even on its native soil. 
 
 The common plea for the study of the dead Ian-, 
 guages — that it affords fine mental discipline and eluci- 
 dates English — is merely an after-thought: a modern 
 invention for propping up the remnants of an old 
 barbarism. Everybody knows, and none better than 
 those who ply this poor apology the most vigorously, 
 that Latin was not originally introduced into our 
 universities for any such purpose, but that its study 
 is merely a remnant of the monkish effort to spread 
 the spiritual dominion- of Rome by making the lan- 
 guage of old Rome and of the Chm-ch the universal 
 medium of intellectual intercourse; an effort which, 
 in the dark ages, was successful, on account of the 
 great advantage of having any common medium of 
 communication between the learned few, then so 
 widely and sparsely diffused over the world. As 
 the Birmingham manufacturers of shoe-buckles and 
 gilt buttons made a loud clamour, and even petitioned 
 princes and parliaments in favour of retaining the 
 fashions which kept up the demand for their com- 
 modities; so, in like manner, it is quite natural, and 
 perhaps excusable, that men who have spent their 
 best days in the study of the classics, and earn 
 their livelihood by teaching them, should argue until 
 they at last convince themselves that the educational 
 
SCANDINAVIAN BASIS OF ENGLISH. 141 
 
 commodity they bring into the market is the best in 
 existence. 
 
 This matter was discussed on board with considerable 
 earnestness, and then came the question whether, 
 assuming that Englishmen require to learn some other 
 language as the basis of their own, this should be Latin 
 or old Norsk. The matter settled down into a con- 
 vivial wager of a bottle of claret; the proposition as- 
 serted on the one side being, that, taldng the vocabulary 
 of Norsk words in Murray's Handbook, above one- 
 third should prove to have common English words 
 obviously derived from them. On examination, it was 
 found that this was the case with about half the words, 
 and of course the affirmer of the proposition won the 
 wager. The loser, aiad some of the umpires, thought 
 it probable that the words in that vocabulary might be 
 selected on account of their similarity to English, and 
 another similar wager was made upon the affirmation 
 that if the Danish dictionary be opened at random sixty 
 times, and the first root-word in the page be taken, 
 above twenty of these root-words should have common 
 English words so obviously derived from them as to be 
 admissible by all the umpires : aU technical terms and 
 words derived from Latin or French being excluded. 
 This wager was also decided in favour of the affirmative, 
 though it was much closer run than the former. These 
 experiments, easily repeated, show how nearly our 
 language is allied to the Scandinavian ; especially if 
 attention be paid to the kind of words we get from 
 this source. They are our common vulgar words : those 
 
142 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 which convey the most familiar ideas in the most 
 forcible manner ; those which every good writer endea- 
 vours to use as much as possible, and which children 
 first learn to use and always prefer. Good old hearty 
 English is, ,in fact, a dialect of the old Norsk or 
 Icelandic, as it is sometimes called; the language in 
 which the Sagas are written. German is another, 
 dialect; Dutch, Swedish, Danish, and modern Norsk, 
 are others. 
 
 There can be no doubt that during the period between 
 the tenth and fourteenth centuries, England, Ireland, 
 Scotland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, had a com- 
 mon language ; for the Skalds or bards of Iceland 
 visited these countries and there recited or sung their 
 poems, many of whicli are stiU extant. Iceland at that 
 period was the literary focus of Europe; her poets 
 travelled from court to court, receiving high honom'S 
 and rich gifts from princes and warriors, and then retired 
 to their native land. It must be remembered that these 
 princes and warriors were not literary, book-reading 
 gentlemen, who could learn a classical language set 
 apart for poetry ; but rude fighters, whose enthusiasm 
 could only be roused by purely vernacular poetry. 
 The Danes and Saxons must have spoken the same 
 tongue, or how could Alfred have sung in the camp 
 of the Danes, or even have had the exploit put upon 
 him by tradition? Anything beyond a difference of 
 dialect would have been sufficient to disable even a 
 literary man like Alfred from extemporizing poetry. 
 
 Without professing to be a philologist, I cannot help 
 
GERMAN AND ENGLISH OF COMMON ORIGIN. 143 
 
 expressing rather a decided opinion upon the practice 
 of etymologists, who, finding that an EngHsh word 
 closely resembles a German word, state that the English 
 word is derived from the German. I do not believe 
 that in the whole vocabulary of English, twelve words 
 can be fomid (not of modern introduction) that have 
 been derived from the German. The multitude of 
 words resembling the German do so from havmg a 
 common origin with the German ; the Enghsh and 
 German being separate branches firom the same trunk, 
 that trunk being the old Norsk. I do not, of course, 
 affirm that German or old English is altogether derived 
 from the old Norsk ; for, of course, we had the Celtic, 
 and some of the Roman elements introduced at an 
 early period, while the German has, in like manner, 
 its other ancient elements. If I might venture upon 
 a theory, it would be that all we have in common 
 with the German has been derived from the same 
 source, but has passed through a different channel. 
 "We have 'received the Icelandic, or old Norsk, through 
 Norway and Denmark, while it has reached Germany 
 through Sweden ; our deviations from the old tongue 
 resemble the Danish, while those of the German are 
 like the Swedish: the Danish words stand midway 
 between ours and the old Norsk, while the Swedish 
 stand in like manner between the old Norsk and 
 German. 
 
 The grandeur of the Loffodens was considerably 
 diminished on our return to them. The greater part 
 of the snow had melted, and the rocky peaks appeared 
 
144 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 diminished in magnitude, illustrating the effect of snow 
 upon mountain scenery. I should advise those who 
 wish to see this splendid coast to full advantage, to 
 visit it at the beginning of July, or even a week 
 earlier. The midnight sun may be seen for a month 
 after the longest day, but every day considerably lessens 
 the quantity of snow. The middle of June is rather 
 too early, for then the weather is uncertain, and the 
 mists have not yet cleared. When time permits, the 
 best course would be to make the northward journey 
 about the middle of June, spend a fortnight about the 
 North Cape, Hammerfest, and Alten, and then return 
 early in July. By this means the wondrous rapidity 
 of vegetation, and something of the contrast between 
 the northern winter and summer, might be witnessed ; 
 for there is no spring or autumn here, and winter 
 changes at once to summer early in June. 
 
 The amphibious character of the Norwegians is seen 
 at the stations, where children seven or eight years of 
 age are paddling alone in boats around the steamer. 
 They manage their boats admirably, rowing with a pah 
 of oars, backing water with one hand and pulling with 
 another, in a manner calculated to excite the liveliest 
 envy in the breast of any of our amateurs of rowing. 
 Even our own fishermen would think it imsafe for such 
 young children to be out thus upon the sea. 
 
 We went ashore at Bodo, and the three Oxford 
 students remained. The Norwegians of the coast seem 
 to be but little addicted to hospitality ; for the Oxonians 
 had almost as much difficuity in procuring any sort of 
 
THE THEENEN ISLANDS—" YECHTS." 145 
 
 shelter or sleeping accommodation here as we had to 
 obtain food at Tromso. I accompanied them for above 
 an hour in ilieir search for lodging, and when obliged 
 to leave them to go on board they were still in some 
 difficulty about it. 
 
 The sky was remarkably clear during tliis part of the 
 return voyage, and the grand ranges of mountains far 
 inland on the Swedish frontier, with their glaciers and 
 snowy solitudes above, were seen stiU more finely than 
 when we passed them before. The active business-like 
 proceeding of the steam-packet, dropping and picking 
 up passengers and luggage at the various stations of 
 this busy coast thoroughfare in a country of classical 
 antiquity, renders it difficult to believe that within sight 
 are hundreds of square miles of ever-frozen solitudes 
 whose desolation has never been broken by human 
 footsteps. 
 
 The Tlu-enen Islands which stand upon the Arctic 
 circle are a range of barren rocks seen just upon the 
 horizon, where they stand like the fragments of broken 
 teeth, single and double. In the neighbourhood of these 
 we passed a fleet of " yechts : " not yachts by any means, 
 but quite of different build. They are vessels which 
 carry the stock-fish from the Loffodens and the coast to 
 Bergen, where they are shipped again for their southern 
 destinations. These vessels are the most quaint, antique- 
 looking craft I have ever seen, having immense breadth 
 of beam with abrupt flat stems, and prows standing half 
 as high as the mast. The fish, besides being stowed 
 below, are piled upon the deck in a square mass almost 
 
 L 
 
146 TI-rBOIJGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 as high as the prow itself. The odoTir of such a fleet is 
 most remarkable: I was sleeping as we approached 
 them, and the smell awakened me long before we 
 reached the outermost vessel. They are rigged with 
 one large square mainsail and a very dumpy topsail 
 over tliat They cannot be much addicted to high 
 speed, but appear quite indifferent to any amount of 
 sea; and if they struck upon a rock would probably 
 rebound and go on ahead as though nothing unusual 
 had happened. The vessels of the old searkings were 
 doubtless such as these: in ships of scarcely greater 
 tonnage, held together by wooden bolts, without chrono- 
 meters, quadrants, or even a compass, they crossed the 
 Atlantic, discovered and traded with America, and 
 colonized Greenland more than three hundred years 
 before Columbus was born. 
 
 On the fifth day of our return journey we passed 
 Torghatten, and saw the sunset at about eleven o'clpck, 
 with all the grandeurs before alluded to. These glow- 
 ing night effects are far finer when the sun sets at about 
 eleven or half-past, than when it remains above the 
 horizon altogether. 
 
 The daylight was the subject of a controversy almost 
 as animated as that on Scandinavian versus Latin. I 
 had observed that a perceptible change took place in the 
 character of the Hght after midnight ; that although the 
 altitude of the sun is the same ten minutes before twelve 
 as ten minutes after, and the amount of light probably 
 the same, there is a perceptible difference in its character 
 as regards tone and colour : the usual difference between 
 
SUNLIGHT BEFORE AND AFTER MIDNIGHT. 147 
 
 evening and morning, sunset and sunrise; the light 
 having a warmer tint before than after midnight. I 
 even ventured to affirm that a change tool?; place at the 
 moment of midnight. Professor Hildebrand, the artist, 
 agreed with me in this; while one of the English 
 passengers stoutly contested it, maintaining that we 
 were self-deluded : the rest were neutral. I offered to 
 test it by a " crucial " experiment, thus : — I was to 
 abstain from looking at any watch or clock for two or 
 three hours before midnight, and yet to tell by the 
 change of light the moment of midnight, within five 
 minutes one way or other; the sun being below the 
 horizon or behind the hills. The experiment was tried 
 on three successive nights, each time successfully ; this 
 success was most remarkable on the first night, when we 
 were ashore at Bodo. According to the united testimony 
 of our watches and the ship's clock, I was some twenty 
 minutes wrong; on farther inquiry, however, it ap- 
 peared that tiie ship's clock had not been set since we 
 left Tromso, which is nearly five degrees to the west of 
 Bodo, and as I had proclaimed it midnight twenty 
 minutes before the clock, I was not above two or three 
 minutes wide of the true time. 
 
 We afterwards found that our friend who so stoutly 
 denied any difierence of tint before and after midnight, 
 was colour-blind as regards the complementary colours 
 of red and green : though he had a keen, piercing sight, 
 he could not distinguish any difference of colour between 
 the red cover of Murray's " Handbook to Norway " and 
 the green cover of Bohn's edition of ''Forrester's 
 
 L 2 
 
148 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 Norway." As the point at issue was a distinction be- 
 tween delicate tints of red and grey in the atmosphere, 
 it was not surprising that he should have been quite 
 unable to perceive it. 
 
 Dm'ing this voyage many opportunities were afforded 
 of observing the habits of the Norwegians. We had of 
 course some of the upper classes in the cabin, and 
 there was a bishop and a member of the Storthing 
 among them. Spitting on the floor is evidently a 
 common practice in polite society. Butter, an impor- 
 tant article of food, is brought to table without a 
 separate kiaife. Each person requiring a slice cuts it 
 with his own knife, leaving a smear of gravy, or what- 
 ever may be upon his knife, as a contribution for the 
 benefit of the next comer. The same is the case with 
 the cheese. Saltspoons do not appear to have travelled 
 so far north. These peculiarities may be to some ex- 
 tent attributable to the fact that the Constitutione is 
 the worst appointed boat on the service. 
 
 We reach Trondhjem on the 21st of July, after an 
 absence of thirteen days. 
 
 Why is it that post-offices here, and in all other parts 
 of the world, communicate with the outer public through 
 a wooden window-pane ? Why have they not offices for 
 business, with comiters, such as bankers and other 
 business people have ? Is it a remnant of the old usages 
 which required secrecy within the post-office, while the 
 contents of the letters were being examined by the post- 
 master ? In most of our own provincial towns the 
 wooden-window system is still maintained, in spite pf 
 
VALLEY OF THE NID — THE LEERFOSS. 149 
 
 the great and obvious advantages of tlie counter 
 arrangement lately adopted in a few places. 
 
 I wallc up the valley of the Nid to the Leer Foss, some 
 three or four miles from the town. The terraces in this 
 valley are very remarkable, rising to a height of above 
 500 feet, and forming fertile flats on which are some large, 
 thriving farms ; their huge storehouses (called stbrhaus 
 here, from stor, large) have inchned planes from the 
 road, up which the cartloads of hay are wheeled to the 
 upper door near the roof, through which the hay is 
 pitched down to the floor below, and the whole bam 
 thus gradually filled. There is a lower door, nearly 
 level with the ground, from which I suppose the hay is 
 drawn as required in the winter time. Hay is of course 
 the most important produce of the Norwegian farmer, 
 as he subsists largely on the produce of his dairy, and 
 during the long winter time his cattle must be fed 
 entirely upon that which is gathered during the few 
 weeks of summer. They make no haystacks, but keep 
 all their hay thus loosely thrown into these wooden 
 bams. Their harvest time is too short, and the quantity 
 of hay too great, to permit of the careful stacking of 
 our farmers ; which is unnecessary here, as they scarcely 
 ever sell any. These wooden barns may be built dur- 
 ing the winter, when nothing can be done in the fields ; 
 ,the wood is at hand, and only costs the cutting, and this 
 is but a small matter on account of the superabundance 
 of water-power for saw-mUls. 
 
 The Leerfossen are splendid falls. There are two of 
 them: the upper one ninety-nine feet, and the lower 
 
150 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 eighty-two feet in height, according to Murray. The 
 river is about 400 feet broad, and of considerable depth. 
 These falls are rather like those of the Clyde, but much 
 finer. I think them equal to Schaffhausen, with the 
 exception of the effect from that gallery built right into 
 the falls of the Rhine. 
 
 There is a good point of view from a square stone 
 platform at the first fall, just where the river bends m a 
 glassy wave before the wild turmoil of the fall begins. 
 There is another natural platform at the second fall, 
 about two-thirds fi-om the top ; and from this point it is 
 magnificent. The quantity of water thrown up by the 
 rebound of this fall is remarkable; not merely spray, 
 but tons of shattered water rise nearly as high as the 
 point from which they fell, with a cloud of spray high 
 above them. There was, unfortunately, no sun to show 
 the iris. 
 
 The water of this fall is not all running to waste ; a 
 portion is doing the stamping, jigging, buddhng, kievingj 
 &c. of the copper-works close by, where aU the pro- 
 cesses from the crude ore to the sheet metal are 
 carried on. 
 
151 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 On foot again— The pedestrian's advantages — Terraced valleys again 
 — Importance of eggs to the tourist — How to converse in a, 
 language you do not understand — The Orkedal — trobable centre 
 of the great Scandinavian upheaval — Another explanation of the 
 Torghatten tunnel — ^Fly-catchers — Tariff of refreshment for man 
 and beast— A battle-field — ^Physiognomy of the Norwegians — 
 Mercenary tenderness of the Surrendal cows — Norwegian beds 
 and sheep-skin coverlids — ^I succeed in living within my income 
 at the Quamen Station — The beard provocative of refinement — 
 Female despotism. 
 
 On the day foUowing, Tuesday, the 22nd July, I started 
 again on foot, and bent my way westwards to the 
 Orkedal. Every time I start upon a pedestrian journey 
 I feel a sensation of escaping from imprisonment ; for, 
 no matter how free I may have been before, there is a 
 sense of vastly greater freedom, of utter self-reliance, 
 when fllone upon my own legs, with a knapsack behind 
 me and an unknown land before. Ttis feeling impels 
 one to step forward with long and eager strides, to 
 revel in the rude, vigorous enjoyment of wild nature. 
 It is under such circumstances that one feels the fact 
 that simple physical existence is a positive pleasure : the 
 mere contraction of the muscles, the inspiration of the 
 sweet mountain air, the circulation of the blood coursing 
 \tith strong vitality through every artery and vein, are 
 
152 THEOUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 all strong pleasurable sensations. It is at such, a time as 
 this one feels unutterable pity for the pallid debauchee, 
 who, by the aid of dainty cookery and costly wines, 
 and feeble in-door revelry, makes such painful efforts 
 to experience a wretched imitation of this genuine and 
 delicious sensuous enjoyment. 
 
 The fortnight on board the steamer and in Trondhjem 
 had been to me a period of effeminate, sloppy indulgence;, 
 but now I cast all this aside, and begin the true enjoy- 
 ment of travelling. My breakfast this morning was a 
 pennyworth of bread, bought in the town and carried 
 in my pocket till hunger drew it forth, when I sat 
 upon a stone and eat it : never was a banquet more 
 delicious. 
 
 The first few miles of the route was the same as that 
 by which I came to Trondhjem from the Dovre Fjeld ; 
 then the road bends over a hiU commanding a fine view' 
 of the Guldal (the reader should remember that " dal " 
 means valley, and all places with names thus ending are 
 valleys,) and the valley of the Nid. Both of these 
 rivers, the Gula and the -Nid, are seen winding through 
 the alluvium they have deposited in the form of the 
 terraced banks I have before described, with groups of 
 farms upon these small plains, churches here and there, 
 and rich wooded hills above. The waterfall I visited 
 yesterday was marked by the cloud of spray that hangs 
 above it, and the fall itself was seen from a still higher 
 point of the road. 
 
 The similarity of the terraces in both valleys is very 
 remarkable; it is pretty clear that these valleys were 
 
BEAUTIFUL SCEUJiBY O-b' VAUJiXb. 100 
 
 estuaries or fiords up whicli the sea penetrated, and that 
 subsequent upheaval of the whole country has driven 
 the sea back. If such be the case, all the valleys here- 
 abouts must present indications of such terraces more 
 or less distinctly marked, according to the quantity of 
 detritus their rivers have brought down into the quiet 
 waters of the ancient fiord. 
 
 The richness and beauty of these valleys contrast 
 most strikingly and pleasantly with the wild and desolate 
 scenery I had just left. 
 
 Several fine views of the Trondhjem fiord are obtained 
 from different parts of the road, which ascends many 
 hills, and crosses bright sunny valleys that bring down 
 to the fiord small rivers which spread out into beau- 
 tiful little lakes at several places; the banks of these 
 lakes being rich alluvial slopes, studded with thriving 
 farms. 
 
 I find that my note-book is quite enthusiastic over the 
 scenery of this day's walk, but on re-writing it I have 
 made some deductions ; for it is always the case when 
 coming upon scenery that contrasts strongly with what 
 has preceded it, or on emerging from town to coimtry, 
 that there is a tendency to overrate the beauties which 
 strike so freshly upon the mind. Had this been the 
 last day of a long walk instead of the first, I should 
 have thought much less of the scenery. Any one who 
 has sailed up the Rhine on the way to Switzerland, and 
 then returned by the same route, must have been struck 
 with the great difference in the impression which the 
 Uhine scenery made upon him on going and returning. 
 
154 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPgACK. 
 
 The enjoyment of the scenery was considerably 
 enhanced by a hnicheon of wild strawberries, which 
 grow abundantly on the bank by the road-side. 
 
 I stopped at Bye stationj where I had supper of ham 
 and eggs and milk. The manner of cooking the eggs 
 and ham ia worthy of record and imitation. The ham is 
 cut into small pieces, the eggs are beaten up and put into' 
 the pan, then the ham or bacon is added, and all are fried 
 together, and served as a sort of larded pancake. All 
 tourists who venture beyond the limits of hotels, who. 
 are not utterly dependent on "waiter, chambermaid, 
 and boots," should learn as much as possible concerning 
 the cooking of eggs; they should know how to make 
 omelets of eggs mixed with anything whatever, and 
 more especially with cheese. They should be aware of 
 the fact that albumen coagulates at a temperature of 
 about *80°, or 32° below the boiling-point, and be- 
 comes tough when heated above that; and therefore 
 that to boil eggs delicately, the best method is to put; 
 them in boiling water, and then set the saucepan by the 
 side of the fire for seven or eight minutes, that the eggs 
 may be heated through to about 180°, and not to 212°. 
 Eggs may be usually obtained where no other animal' 
 food is to be had, and they have the advantage of being 
 reliably clean inside, even under the most unfavourable 
 circumstances. 
 
 I was rather astonished at myself on finding that I 
 could hold quite a complicated conversation with mine 
 host, especially as I had failed to make myself under- 
 stood in the morning only when asking my way. This 
 
HOW TO SPEAK A FOREIGN LANGUAGE. 155 
 
 was something lilie progress in learning a language ; or 
 it would have teen if all the difference had depended 
 upon myself : but the host is an intelligent man, while 
 those I met in the morning were not so ; and the possi- 
 bihty of maldng a little knowledge of a language go a 
 long way, largely depends upon the intelligence of the 
 native who has to interpret the broken passages and put 
 his own sentences into the most intelligible form. 
 
 The art of conversing fluently ui a language which you 
 do not understand is a very valuable one to the tourist : 
 quite as valuable as that of cooking eggs ; and having 
 had as much experience in the one as the other, I may 
 venture to give the reader a few rules to be observed, 
 by attention to which this art may be easily acquired. 
 First of all, do not carry a grammar, or if you do, 
 never, look at it; for in order to speak the language 
 in a manner to be understood, utter ignorance of its 
 grammar is a primary essential. Secondly, never 
 attempt to ask for anything, or say anything, in the 
 form of sentence given for the purpose in any of the 
 "Familiar Conversation" books; and as a general rule 
 avoid as far as possible the use of any sentences what- 
 ever. Thus, suppose the subject to be eggs: — the 
 grammatical tourist looks to his "Conversations Lexi- 
 con " under that head, and finds a sentence such as this : 
 " Landlord, if your fowls are in a flourishing condition, 
 I shall be supremely obliged if you wiU do me the very 
 great favour of preparing a few recently deposited eggs 
 for my supper." He reads this from the book, pro- 
 nouncing every word most incorrectly, and laying the 
 
156 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 greatest emphasis on the adverbs and prepositions ; and 
 the poor host is in a state of desolation. The practical 
 traveller never attempts to speak any complimentary 
 phrases, but always looks compliments, shakes hands, 
 smiles, nods, &c., — sits down to the table, opens his 
 mouth, points down the middle of it, and exclaims, 
 "Eggs ! " and not another syllable tiU assured that that 
 one is understood. Instead of reading from the " Con- 
 versations Lexicon" such a sentence as, "Being rather 
 dyspeptic, and occasionally subject to flatulency, I find it 
 indispensable to my comfort to avoid eating hard-boiled 
 eggs : will you, therefore, be so kind as to boil my eggs 
 no more than is necessary to render them pulpy." — 
 he points to the eggs, and exclaims, " Soft ! " If the 
 subject be politics, instead of saymg, "In the present 
 aspect of European affiairs there is reason to beheve 
 that rupture of diplomatic relations, or even actual hos- 
 tilities, between France and Austria is imminent," — he 
 holds up his right fist, and says, " France," then his left, 
 and says, " Austria ;" then he thumps them together, 
 and says, " fight — to-morrow." If you can thus divest 
 your mind entirely of all prejudices concerning number, 
 gender, case, tense, person, mood, and all sentimentaHsm 
 relative to agreement with nominatives — using none but 
 the words necessary for expressing the main idoas, 
 omitting all the connecting words and those which 
 merely express the relations of words, and taking care 
 that each idea, before it is expressed, shall be mentally 
 clear and definite, with a sharp outline and no meta- 
 phorical blurr or shading, you may learn to converse 
 
WOEDS AND IDEAS. 157 
 
 intelligibly in any European language in the course of 
 two or three weeks. 
 
 Many highly educated persons may have some diffi- 
 culty in finding clear and definite ideas before express- 
 ing them; for having been educated on the false 
 principle of attaching ideas to words, instead of words 
 to ideas, their intellects are apt to run in a phraseolo- 
 gical groove : words are necessary to the development 
 of their ideas, and their thoughts are tuned to the jingle 
 of a sentence. 
 
 To such people a definite idea standing out clearly 
 before the mind in its simple nakedness has existed only 
 in the forgotten experiences of childhood ; and if many 
 of their most cherished notions were thus stripped of 
 the thickly padded clothing of words, in which alone 
 they have ever seen them, the proprietors might be 
 shocked at their deformity. To many persons, there- 
 fore, the speaking of a language before being able to 
 make it into sentences will be a valuable corrective 
 exercise in unchaining the mind from the slavish tram- 
 mels of phraseological despotism. 
 
 Mine host informs me that English tourists are not 
 in the habit of taking this route, and that none have 
 passed this way for twelve months before ; but that a 
 Scotch EngHshman who manages the copper-mines at 
 Orkedal resides there. 
 
 My next day's journey up the Orkedal was sinular to 
 that just described. The Orkla Elv winds through a 
 rich, terraced valley; the level of the upper terrace 
 remaining constant ; and therefore its height above the 
 
158 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 river diminishes as the valley is ascended. The walls 
 of these terraces are in some parts nearly perpendicular, 
 and are evidently the cuttings made by the river which 
 flows at the foot of these precipitous slopes. It appears 
 that all the valleys opening into the sea at this part of 
 Norway are alike in this respect, and thus afford 
 evidence of an upheaval of the whole of this region to 
 a height of some 500 to 600 feet. This liftmg of the 
 mountains and their sea-filled valleys has occurred at what 
 geologists call a recent period; probably at about the 
 time when Cheapside, St. Paul's Churchyard, Belgravia, 
 and aU the rest of the land on which the world's metro- 
 polis now stands, formed the bed of a quiet lake ; when 
 England, Scotland, and Wales were one cluster of small 
 islands, and Ireland another; and when the soil out of 
 which the plodding peasantry of France are now ex- 
 tracting the sweet juices that we sip in claret and 
 champagne, was being deposited under the waters of a 
 shallow sea. 
 
 Whether it was the same great heaving of the earth 
 that lifted the Alps from a moderate elevation to their 
 present towering heights^ — that raised sea-shells to the 
 summit of Mont Pilatus, and formed the Righi and the 
 Rossberg out of the cemented pebbles of a shingle beach 
 — that carried upwards with it all the sloping plains of 
 France, and united our scattered archipelago into the 
 two islands ; or whether there was another independent 
 centre of upheaval for the north, which exerted its 
 greatest energy at Iceland, and then lifted the sea- 
 bottom to the surface with such sharp and abrupt action 
 
THE GREAT SCANDINAVIAN tTPHEAVAL. 159 
 
 as to crack the eartli's crast and pom' out the volcanic 
 matter of which are formed the Snaefel Jokul, Hecla, 
 the Sulphur Mountains, &c. — in fact, the whole of 
 Iceland, — I cannot venture to say ; though it does appear 
 the most probable supposition that the north had its 
 independent centre of upheaval, and that was some- 
 where about Iceland; for the traces of Scandiuavian 
 upheaval are the most distinct at the north-western 
 portion of Norway; they are greatest at about that 
 part faciag Iceland, and the rising appears to come 
 from that direction. 
 
 It has appeared to me, while writing the above, that a 
 different theory from the one on page 84 may be given 
 in explanation of the formation of the mysterious Torg- 
 hatten tunnel. It is well known and easily understood 
 that when a rock is washed by the sea-waves it is liable 
 to be worn away ; that if the rock is of varying compo- 
 sition as regards hardness, the soft parts wear away the 
 most rapidly ; and thus when a hard rock is traversed 
 by a vein of softer rock, the sea washes out that vein 
 and thereby cuts a little cove or gully, or excavates a 
 cavern : or if the veiaed rock be lofty and surrounded 
 by water, the vein is washed out to the height of the 
 highest beating of the waves, and a tunnel or a natural 
 bridge is formed. 
 
 We have abundant examples of this sort of action on 
 our own coasts ; especially on the Cornish coast, about 
 the Lizard Point, where the rocks are composed of 
 serpentine, veined with soft soapstone and other magne- 
 sian rocks of similar character. That fairies' play- 
 
160 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 ground, Kynance Cove, is a most romantic example of 
 tliis kind. All who have visited Tenby, know St. Kathe- 
 rine's rock, which at high tide is St. Katherine's island, 
 and at low tide is beset by fair huntresses, armed, not 
 with Diana's bow, but with hammers and chisels and 
 india-rubber goloshes, intent upon dislodging the dian- 
 thus, niveas, venustas, roseas, and other aquarian trea- 
 sures. This island is perforated by a lofty cavern or 
 tunnel, partly washed out by the waves, and partly 
 formed by the falling of the undermined rock; a 
 tunnel which has a remarkable resemblance to that of 
 Torghatten, with the exception that it is not so large, 
 and its floor is the sea-beach; but if St. Katherine's 
 island were magnified, carried farther out to sea, and 
 then upraised some 600 feet, another Torghatten would 
 be formed. 
 
 My explanation of the Torghatten tunnel, therefore, 
 is, that when the whole northern coast of Scandinavia was 
 some 600 feet below its present level, Torghatten was of 
 course similarly lower ; that the floor of this tunnel was 
 then washed by the low-tide waves ; that waves of pre- 
 vious centuries had, aided by other agencies, such as 
 frost and the gravitation of over-hanging masses, formed 
 this tunnel as an ordinary sea cavern, and the great up- 
 heaval had raised it to its present place. If this supposi- 
 tion be correct, the beating waves will have left traces of 
 their action round about the islaiid at the tunnel's leveL 
 There may be traces of like action inside, or even some 
 remains of serpulse, markings of balanae, or other cal- 
 careous skeletons on the sides ; or even a few loose shells 
 
THE OmCEDAL. 161 
 
 and rounded pebbles in some of the hollows of the floor 
 of the tunnel or the crevices of the rock. Had I 
 thought of this when upon the spot, I should have 
 made an effort to go ashore and examine the tunnel, 
 of which we have only such vague descriptions ; and 
 which might thus aiFord the most direct and clenching 
 evidence, not only of the fact, but of the measure of 
 this Scandinavian upheaval. 
 
 The Orkedal is a warm and sunny valley in the 
 summer season, and by no means suggestive of the far 
 north. The little lake in which I took my bath to-day 
 was at one end quite carpeted with water-Hlies; its 
 beauty being suggestive of many a pattern for our 
 carpet makers. The blue dragon-flies were fluttering 
 over the sm'face of the water, laying their eggs, and 
 malcing the most of their short life in the air, while 
 their ferocious larvse below were devouring everything 
 within reach. On the banks there were growing in 
 great profusion two species* of those cm-ious plants, 
 the Droserm, or sun-dew, their leaves bristled over with 
 the gluey hairs, upon which small flies were struggling 
 or lying dead. Botanists are still puzzled to decide 
 whether these plants, and their southern relatives, the 
 DioncB, or Venus flytrap, really catch the flies to feed 
 on them, or whether they merely perform the functions 
 of the " catch-'em-alive " papers that abound in London 
 at the same season. 
 
 * One, the Drosera rotundifolia ; the other having a long oval or 
 nearly lanceolate leaf with a long footstalk, and whose specific name 
 I am not acquainted with, 
 
 K 
 
162 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 It has been suggested by some botanists that the 
 Droseraeede and the Dionce should be included in one 
 natural order. Should this be adopted, the name 
 *' catch-em-alivos," or, to Latinize the name, " catchem- 
 alivaceas," would be far preferable, and more descriptive 
 and intelligible for this natural order than any Latin 
 or Greek name that could possibly be coined. 
 
 At the stations hereabouts a printed placard is placed 
 upon the wall of the travellers' room, in which is stated 
 the regulation price of various requirements. As this 
 is rather interesting, I have made a copy of it, of 
 which the following is a literal translation : — 
 
 TARIFF 
 
 For Lodging, Provisions, Sfc, at the Inns (" giestgivergaard," literally 
 
 hdging-giver-farms') of the South Trondhjem District, 
 
 For a chamber with bed for one night or day " . 
 
 Ditto, with ditto for servant .... 
 "Warming-up" a chamber and lighting with 
 
 two candles per ditto 
 
 One portion of hot meat, with bread and butter . 
 
 Two portions ditto ditto 
 
 A portion — slice of bread and butter, with 
 
 cheese, meat, or a pair of eggs 
 A large cup of coffee, with cream and sugar 
 A small cup ditto ditto 
 
 A large cup of tea- water, with cream and sugar . 
 A small cup ditto ditto 
 
 A spolkom of ale (about a pint) .... 
 
 One ditto of sweet milk 
 
 One bottle of ale 
 
 One bog (a book or quire) of hay 
 
 * It must be borne in mind, that, during the summer-time, rooms 
 are often let on the "Box and Cox" principle; as some travellers 
 sleep during the heat of the day and travel through the light nights. 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 
 2f 
 
 
 
 
 
 ih 
 
 
 
 
 
 54 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 2f 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 2i 
 
 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 
 U 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 2i 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Oh 
 
BATTLE-FIELD OF ANTS. 163 
 
 £ ». d. 
 
 A"botte"of chaff li 
 
 A feed of hay , IJ 
 
 Stabling and attendance for one horse per night 
 
 or day 2i 
 
 SouDRE Teondhjems Amt, 
 
 •10th June, 1855. K. AENTZEN. 
 
 The Orkedal continues beaiitifi.il to the end, and the 
 road passes over a fjeld into the Surrendal. The wea- 
 ther was pamfuUy hot to-day; and I was rather sur- 
 prised at seeing a hzard: one of the small olive-coloured 
 species that are so abundant on the field boundary walls 
 and dusty roads in Italy. 
 
 I passed over a battle-field hereabouts where thou- 
 sands of the slain (ants) were stretched in death, some 
 headless, some bereft of limbs, and others cut in half. 
 This is the third time in the course of my pedestrian 
 experience (the other two were in Switzerland and 
 Italy) that I have found about a hundred yards of the 
 road strewn with bodies, and fragments of bodies, of 
 ants. I suspect that they resemble human beings, even 
 in the matter of making great wars ; for it is difficult 
 otherwise to account for such scenes, where the evidences 
 of violent death are so abundant and the victims have 
 not been eaten by their destroyers. In the Surrendal 
 there are terraces again ; and as this vaUey has its outlet 
 farther south, in the fiord on which is Christiansand, 
 it aflPords evidence of the extent of the upheaval. 
 
 , The people I have seen since leaving Trondhjem are 
 remarkable for their clear complexions, blue eyes, fine 
 square foreheads, and highly developed coronal region 
 
 M 2 
 
164 THKOUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 of the brain; all characteristics of the best type of 
 the northmen. There was less uniformity of phy- 
 siognomy on the way from Chrlstiania to Trondhjem 
 than in these valleys, and still less among those who 
 came on board the packet; where, indeed, the variety 
 was very considerable. I observed there on the coast 
 a considerable number of men of a very remarkable 
 type, liaving extremely large and low heads, indicating 
 great intellectual and animal energy, but only moderate 
 controlling moral power. Such men go on well when 
 they have pretty much their own way, and are not 
 surrounded with very strong temptations, but are terrible 
 when thwarted or tempted to evil enterprise : they are 
 like the grizzly bear, a heavy quiet beast when undis- 
 turbed, but horribly ferocious if wounded. I fancied 
 that these might be the descendants of the fierce sea- 
 kings, to whom danger was delight, and who helped 
 themselves so freely to whatever was left near the coast 
 by any of the other inhabitants of Europe. 
 
 Here in the Orkedal and Surrendal, not one of these 
 bull-headed men is visible; none but the mild, higli- 
 headed family. 
 
 The horses in the Orkedal and Surrendal are very 
 fine animals, larger than those of the Guldbrandsdal and 
 Dovre Fjeld. The cows are remarkably inquisitive ; they 
 followed me along the road, peeped into my knapsack, 
 and pockets, and licked my shoulders and back. The 
 horses exhibited a similar docility. This tameness and 
 absence of fear among the cattle is a safe indication of 
 a kindly disposition of the people. 
 
"CUPBOAED LOVE" OP CATTLE. IbO 
 
 In my original notes is a long paragraph overflowing 
 with sentimental tenderness relative to these affectionate 
 cows, that have followed and overwhelmed me with 
 such loving licks ; but I do not transcribe it, as upon 
 further reflection it is evident that the licking was mere 
 cupboard love ; for all cattle in inland and especially 
 mountainous districts, have a strong propensity for salt, 
 and they were merely licking the deposits from the sea 
 spray that had fallen on my clothes during the recent 
 voyage. The discovery of this explanation of their 
 licking was mortifying to my feeUngs : man wishes to be 
 loved for himself alone, and the spontaneous manifesta- 
 tions of these pastoral, unsophisticated cows seemed to 
 respond to the heart's fond yearnings ; but, alas ! even 
 the coAvs of Sm-rendal were licking me for the salt I 
 carried. 
 
 I stopped for the night at the Quamen station, where I 
 had supper of the fine deep-coloured trout fried in a; 
 lake of butter. Having finished the first bowl of milk 
 and called for another, the hostess brought me a bucket 
 of beer, very turbid and green, like the water of an ill- 
 conditioned aquarium. I tasted it, of course, and tried 
 to drink it, but failed. It may have been made from 
 the moltebeer, a red three-lobed berry that grows wild 
 upon the hills ; but it tasted like an infusion of hay, 
 salted. 
 
 At the other end of the bench on which I had my 
 supper, the farmer, or "bonder," and his "housemen" 
 were taking theirs ; it consisted of a dark-coloured stiff 
 porridge, made apparently of rye meal, dabbed on a 
 
166 THEOUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 board, and had the colour, consistence, and appearance 
 of Eoman cdment. The party were ranged around 
 the board, each having a bowl of milk, some fladbrbd, 
 and a wooden spoon, with which he dug out a lump of 
 cement. 
 
 My bed was of the genuine native Norwegian con- 
 struction, an oblong box fiUed with straw, and over the 
 straw a sort of blanket or rather rug, a canvas sheet 
 above this, and a sheepskin for covering. I have no 
 objection to this sort of bed when it is weU made, and 
 even prefer straw to feathers, if the straw be well laid 
 and fresh; rough sheets, also, are better than smooili; 
 and a sheepskin properly prepared, with the wool well 
 cleaned, is the most luxurious of coverlids ; but I have 
 a decided objection to recent sheepskms, that stiU retain 
 a considerable amount of animal moisture on the flesh 
 side: such was the case with my sheepskin here, and 
 its decided odour of butcher's shop was not provocative 
 of pleasant dreams. 
 
 The next morning I had the remains of my supper, 
 plus another bowl of milk, for breakfast. On calling 
 for the reckoning I was told that it amounted to five 
 skillings, about twopence farthing. Of course I was 
 bound to mquire into the particulars of such an ex- 
 orbitant bill, and found that the lodging was two 
 skillings, and the food three skiUings. I may mention 
 that Quamen is beyond the boundary of the South 
 Trondhjem district, and therefore the tariff above 
 quoted does not apply. 
 
 I have had many experiences in cheapness, but tliis 
 
CHEAP FARE FOR TRAVELLERS. 167 
 
 supper, bed, and breakfast for twopence farthing sur- 
 passes all. Once in Italy I had a supper of maccaroni, 
 stewed rabbit, salad, bread, cheese, and wine, and this 
 with my night's lodging cost fourpence halfpenny : the 
 lodging cost two soldi, or three farthings, the wine three 
 farthings more, and the banquet threepence. There 
 was abundance, and the charges were made on the most 
 equitable principle ; for the meat, the bread, and the 
 cheese were weighed in their dishes before they were 
 put on the table, and weighed afterwards ; the loss of 
 weight being charged to the consumer : a clean cloth 
 was laid, and a neatly folded napkin provided. 
 
 I may mention, for the information of refined and 
 fastidious people who regard the unshaven beard as a 
 coarse institution, that I have observed that the practice 
 of using table napkins among the poorer classes is ex- 
 clusively confined to countries where the beard or mou- 
 stache is worn. The table napkin is parent to many 
 other refinements : for example, the method before 
 alluded to of cleaning knives and spoons by sucking 
 them is less likely to be popular where napkins are at 
 hand and abundant ; neither is the hostess or the 
 servant so strongly tempted to wipe plates, &c., with the 
 corner of a dirty apron, or, failing that, with the skirt 
 of a dress or petticoat : practices by no means unknown 
 to the British Isles. As may be supposed, this ItaUan 
 hotel was not commonly frequented by English tourists. 
 It was on the way between Genoa and La Spezzia. I 
 had wandered from the main road, to keep along the 
 ridge of the mountains that slope down to the Mediter- 
 
168 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 ranean, and there on a bye-way, late at night, fell upon 
 a solitary osteria chiefly resorted to by charcoal carriers, 
 
 The people of Surrendal seem all of the same family, 
 they resemble each other so closely in feature. They 
 are evidently poor, and the farms are small and indif- 
 ferently cultivated. I am beginning to find that Mr, 
 Laing's description of the comforts and well-being of 
 the Norwegian peasantry is rather rose-coloured. 
 
 Smoked salmon is one of the commonest articles of 
 food in all the valleys through which large rivers flow ; 
 it is invariably eaten raw, and the difiiculty of breaking 
 through this custom and getting it cooked is immense. 
 At Honstadt, where I dined on the day following, raw 
 smoked salmon was brought to me, and I very diffi-r 
 dently suggested to the hostess that I should prefer it 
 fried a little. She would listen to nothing of the kind, 
 and told me many times over that it was rohd* (smoked), 
 that she liked it rohd without frying, and her husband 
 liked it the same ; and she intimated that if I did not 
 like what she and her husband and other people did, I 
 must be a disreputable character. This sort of despotism 
 is common to women of all nations, and its universal 
 existence is my main argument against strong-minded 
 women who advocate a female House of Commons. 
 
 The persecutions I have had to endure because I 
 usually drink cold water at breakfast, are too incredible 
 to narrate. I have heard a lady, otherwise gentle and 
 kind-hearted, assert to my face that a man who does not 
 love tea and coffee and drink it like other people is an 
 * Pronounced reehed : hence the Scottish word rsek. 
 
WATERFALLS IN THE SUEEENDAL. 169 
 
 domestic monster, deserving the dreadful doom of 
 'petual bachelorhood. If we had female legislators, 
 nmary laws would be enacted for the punishment of 
 such offences, and bachelors above thirty-five would 
 rish at the stake. 
 
 There are several pretty waterfalls in the Surrendal 
 med by the tributary torrents that pour into the 
 er. The trout and salmon are very abundant : I 
 V them darting about in the water and leaping at the 
 Is. This must be a very paradise for anglers ; but it 
 pears that anglers are spoiled in Norway. He who in 
 igland would be in ecstacies at catching (" killing," I 
 lieve, is the proper word) a score or two of trout, 
 eraging a pound weight each, looks with contempt on 
 ch small fry when here in Norway : anything under 
 20 lb. salmon is considered "slow" and cockneyish. 
 
170 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KXAPSACK. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The rich man's debt of courtesy to the poor man — Boating on the 
 fiords — A storm — Luxurious quarters — Haymaking — An 
 attempt at extortion — Outside piety and its usual accompani- 
 ments — The farmers' carts — A startled nightingale — The Nor- 
 wegian Ranz de vachea — ^A corner of -the earth unvisited by 
 Englishmen — The Eomsdals Piord — ^Veblungsnaesset — ^Prepa- 
 rations for royalty — The glories of the Romsdal — The Mongefoss 
 — Model glaciers and avalanches — The traces of ancient glaciers 
 and avalanches probably confounded by geologists. 
 
 At Surrendalsoeren I tasted some of the troubles to 
 which vulgar tourists are exposed, for this being the port 
 station of the fiord, my pedestrian independence ceased, 
 and I had to go up and down, begging and waiting 
 for a boat and a couple of boatmen ; for these, like hotel- 
 keepers and all other people in Norway whose services 
 are to be paid for, seem to make a principle of convincing 
 you that the obligation is on the side of the pei;son re- 
 ceiving the services, not of him who receives the wages: 
 and there can be no doubt they are in the right in most 
 cases, especially where the employer is much richer than 
 the servant. 
 
 Thus, let us suppose the case of a professional man 
 who has an income of 1,000Z. a year, or say 31. per day; 
 which is about 6s. per hour for a working day of ten 
 hours : he employs a labourer, and pays him 6s. for two 
 
LABOURER AND CAPITALIST. 171 
 
 days' work ; or, otherwise stated, he gives the produce 
 of his one hour's work in exchange for twenty hours' of 
 the labourers. It is, of course, true, that, owing to the 
 superior skill aiid intelligence of the professional man, 
 his one hour's work is equal in value to the twenty hours 
 of the unskilled labourer : that is, when we regard it, as 
 we must, from a commercial point of view ; but when 
 we look upon this bargain through the gentler senti- 
 ments of our moral nature, we must feel that the rich 
 man's great natural advantages call for a compensating 
 effort of courtesy and kindness to balance the account ; 
 for each man, if he is honest in his work, strives all the 
 while to do his best — the labourer strives for twenty 
 hours, the more fortunately educated but for one ; there 
 is, therefore, a balance of nineteen hours of moral effort, 
 or striving to benefit, in favour of the labourer, which 
 demands, at least, the payment of moral acknow- 
 ledgment. 
 
 All that we experience of class animosities and 
 democratic discontent is nothing more than the instinc- 
 tive effort of the labourer to obtain the settlement of 
 this balance, and if it were justly and universally paid 
 all such bitterness would soon be at an end. I have . 
 put the case of the professional man who earns his 31. 
 per day. How much more strongly must it apply 
 when the advantage comes by inheritance — when the 
 rich man receives, without any material effort on his 
 part, such showers of good offices from his fellow-men, 
 who feed, and clothe, and lodge him ; who till his land, 
 and devote their utmost skill to surround him with 
 
172 THEODGH NORWAY WITH A IQTAPSACK. 
 
 elegance and luxury ! Truly the rich man wLo is not kind 
 and courteous, and thoughtful of the feelings of his less 
 favoured fellow-men, is the most ungrateful animal that 
 lives ; for even the caged tiger is gentle to the attendant 
 "who brings his daily food. 
 
 The charge for boats is twenty shillings per man per 
 Norsk mile, and eight skillings for the boat. Two men 
 are always required for anything beyond a mere ferry 
 distance in rough weather; three are often necessary, 
 even when the tourist pulls in aid ; the minimum cost is, 
 therefore, about Is. 9d. per Norsk mile of seven English 
 miles, and to this must be added the " tilsigelse," or fee 
 to the station-master, for finding and engaging the boat- 
 men, as the whole payment they receive is their own: 
 the " tilsigelse " is four skillings, or about 2d., for each 
 journey. 
 
 I know of nothing more luxurious than a boat ride 
 after some days' walking. Any kind of riding is enjoy- 
 able then ; but to lie down in the stern of a boat that is 
 gliding over smooth water, and to revel in beautiful 
 scenery, without any effort, when the muscles are capable 
 of positively enjoying repose, is the most enjoyable of 
 all. My destination was the Bolsaet station, about two 
 Norsk miles from the starting point. The first half of the 
 journey is along the narrow arm of the fiord which runs 
 up into the Surrendal, then out into the main fiord, and 
 across another and wider branch. While in the Sur- 
 rendal Fiord we kept close to the precipitous rocks with 
 which the richly-wooded mountains that dip into the 
 fiord terminate. The scenery is fine throughout. I had 
 
BOATING ON THE MOEDS. ' 173 
 
 hesitated whether to walk along the shore for the first 
 Norsk mile to a small station marked on the map, and 
 did not regret taking the boat upon seeing the sort of 
 ground I must have gone over. It would have been, 
 not a walk, but a scramble and a struggle through a 
 pathless and precipitous pine forest : the seven English 
 miles would have cost at least seven hours of severe 
 toil. 
 
 The luxurious lounging before spoken of was only of 
 about two hours' duration, for a storm arose just as we 
 commenced crossing the wide part of the fiord; the rain 
 poured heavily, and the wind ahead rendered all our 
 best efforts at the oar necessary to make any headway 
 at all. I was surprised at the manner in which so small 
 and light a boat could weather such a sea ; the short 
 sharp waves were breaking continually, but she shipped 
 scarcely any. 
 
 These boats are cunningly built: the thin strip of 
 bulwark slopes outwards, instead of rising perpendi- 
 cularly, so that a breaking sea catches them underneath ; 
 they jump at it, but scarcely any water comes over. 
 Nevertheless, had I been alone in such a walnut-shell, I 
 should have prepared for swimming and run for the 
 nearest shore ; but seeing that the boatmen kept their 
 course without any uneasiness, I of course was satisfied 
 that all was safe. After some three hours more of hard 
 pulling, we got across, and landed at about midnight ; 
 then I found that Bolsaet is merely a boat-house and 
 some cowsheds, and thati'Kqekkan, the station for sleep- 
 ing, is four miles farther on. This was not altogether 
 
174 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 unwelcome news, for, the rain having ceased, such a 
 walk I knew by old experience to be about sufficient 
 for the purpose of clothes-drying. 
 
 The road passes across a wild and desolate moor, with 
 a few stumps of spectral trees that start up here and 
 there out of the misty semi-darkness ; for now the nights 
 are just beginning. At about one A.M. I reached quite 
 a charming villa, that I could not have ventured to 
 suppose a station but for the well-displayed sign. I 
 knocked, and waited awhile, when two young ladies — I 
 am using no hyperbole, no complimentary phrase of 
 mere formality, when I say two elegant young ladies — 
 bade me, with the best-bred politeness, to enter, aud 
 showed me to a well-furnished room. There was 
 nothing of the wooden, peasant farmhouse character 
 about anything ; and I rubbed my eyes to be sure that 
 I had not fallen asleep on the wild moor, or been 
 enchanted by the spectral stumps. A supper of veal 
 and milk, with real wheaten bread, served with courtly 
 politeness by the elegant ladies, was of so decidedly 
 material and sohd a character as to convince me that it 
 must be reality. 
 
 My bedroom was not a straw and sheepsldn affair, 
 but quite an elegant apartment, containing a tent bed 
 with lace curtains, with a stuffed eider-down tumhle-oif 
 cushion coverlid ; such as you have on your bed at night, 
 and pick off the floor in the morning, in Germany. 
 
 I felt the want of a few phrases on this occasion, in 
 order to apologize properly for disturbing these young 
 ladies at so late an hour ; for, to be candid, I must con- 
 
A LUXURIOUS INN AND LADY ATTENDANTS. 175 
 
 fess that my method of conversing in an unknown 
 tongiie works better in rural than in polite society. 
 
 In the morning I had coffee brought to my bedside, 
 as at the Guldbrandsdal, with the addition of white 
 biscuits ; and afterwards a breakfast of veal and tea, with 
 wheaten bread again, which I had not seen since leaving 
 Trondhjem. At breakfast the courtly attendance of the 
 two elegant young ladies was repeated ; there was a ser- 
 vant, but the ladies only waited at the table. It is the 
 old Norwegian custom, that the lady of the house, or her 
 daughters, of whatever rank, shall wait upon the guest : 
 this is the very climax and perfection of hospitality; 
 though rather embarrassing to an Englishman, who feels 
 it his duty to attend upon the ladies. The contrast of 
 the straw and sheepskin bed with the romancementivora 
 of the night before was very curious. 
 
 Crossing another branch of the fiord to Angvik, I 
 walked for some miles through the rain over a dreary 
 moor. The people here make hay, not only while the 
 sun shines, but in the midst of the rain : they place a 
 long rail on a series of legs about six feet high, a sort of 
 hay-horse, and throw the grass or hay across it; evi- 
 dently to keep it from soaking on the ground, which is 
 swampy hereabouts. 
 
 At the station of Haegheim I encountered the first 
 example I have met with in Norway of an attempt at 
 petty imposition. I called for a bowl of milk, for which 
 the hostess demanded four skilhngs, or nearly two- 
 pence ; the usual charge being two shillings, and some- 
 times only one. I threw two skillings on the table. 
 
176 THROUGH KORWAT WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 and looked fierce ; whereupon the woman picked up the 
 two skillings and slunk away to the adjoining room, 
 where a lazy-looking man was sitting ; a grumbling 
 dialogue followed, from which, and the physiognomy of 
 both, I inferred that the poor woman was honestly dis- 
 posed, but her husband forced her to overcharge the 
 guests. On leaving the house, I observed written over 
 the door in conspicuous letters some proverb or motto 
 about fearing God. I have unhappily found it a rule, 
 without any exception, and applicable in all countries, 
 that people who parade their religion outside, and set 
 up pious sign-posts in their actions or conversation, are 
 mean, selfish, and dishonest. 
 
 The carts used hereabouts are very simple and inge- 
 nious in construction, and might be copied by our coun- 
 try folks at home with advantage, where the usual 
 springs are found too expensive. The shafts are made 
 long, like those of the carriole, and the cart is balanced 
 on the same principle ; but in addition to the spring from 
 the elasticity of the shafts, another is provided by fixing 
 the seat upon two long thin strips of wood fastened to 
 the rail of the cart, and forming a sort of spring-board, 
 upon which the seat rests. 
 
 On reaching the Fanne Fiord grand scenery recom- 
 mences. The apparent uplifting of the coast into the 
 air, referred to at page 158, was very strikingly exhibited 
 about the promontory on which Molde stands. 
 
 At the Lonsaet station, where I stopped, I met a 
 very intelligent Norwegian who spoke English, and who 
 gave me many useful hints as to my future route. 
 
THE SiaGGEDAL FOSS— DAMSEL " YODLING." 177 
 
 Among other tilings he told me of a waterfall which 
 he considered the finest in Norway, hut of which no 
 mention is made hy Murray or in the Road-hook pub- 
 lished by Bohn : it is the Skiggedal Foss, which I 
 determined to visit if possible. At this station there 
 were German beds again, and in the morning caf^ au 
 lay, as a wretched punster calls it. 
 
 I started by boat again, and, crossing the Fanne Fiord, 
 walked over the isthmus from Dverssnaes to Sollesnaes. 
 It is a flat country, an alluvial deposit, partly moorland 
 and partly pastoral. At one part, the road, after an 
 abrupt turn, comes in a line with a broad grassy avenue 
 of remarkably park-like character. Far away in the 
 distance I heard a melody so wild and shrill that it 
 seemed scarcely possible to be produced by human voice; 
 but after walking about half a mile along the green 
 avenue, I came upon the singer, a girl, who, amidst a 
 community of happy ruminating cows, was lying down 
 and warbling most wonderfully. Her face was turned 
 away from me, and as my steps were noiseless upon 
 the soft grass, I came quite near to her, and lying 
 down, remained unheard and miseen, listening to her 
 singing. The old Greeks, who understood such matters 
 very well, represent the sirens with sweet voices as 
 well as pretty faces, and tell us that their voices were 
 the most potent with their victims. They were right: 
 there is a wonderful fascination in the tones of certain 
 voices, and this was one of them. I fell into a most 
 romantic and sentimental mood, without seeing the face 
 of the sweet warbler. She sang a kind of ranz de vaches ; 
 
 N 
 
178 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 but the " yodl" was much wilder, more slirill and rapid, 
 than any I have heard in Switzerland; the sudden 
 brealcing from the lightly-touched contralto notes into 
 the piercing liquid falsetto, was marvellous for sweetness 
 and rapidity : some of these falsetto notes seemed to 
 me higher than any I had ever heard produced by 
 the human voice. Unhappily, before ten minutes had 
 passed since I had laid me down to listen thiis at 
 leisure, she turned her head and saw me there. In an 
 instant, she sprang upon her feet, and bounded like a 
 staxtled hare into the wood hard by. She disappeared 
 quite out of sight, hidden by the tall stems of the pine- 
 trees. I waited for some time, hoping that she might 
 take courage and return ; for I felt that it would be 
 too impertinent to follow her. But she did not even 
 peep from her hiding-place ; so I waUced mournfully 
 away, and very slowly, looking back very often ; but the 
 cows were ruminating all alone, and no more " yodhng " 
 was heard. I wished for riches and leisure, that I 
 might linger hereabouts, and learn where she lived and 
 all about her, make her acquaintance, and then employ 
 great masters to cultivate her voice and teach her all 
 the mysteries of music. I cannot say whether she was 
 pretty, though I feel morally certain that she must have 
 been. I only saw that she had large bright eyes, which 
 seemed to flash with terror as she started up, and that 
 her figure was slight, as she bounded into the wood. 
 
 Soon after this, I arrived at the little cottage-station 
 of Sollesnaes, where the hostess, a simple woman, on 
 finding that I was an Englishman, stepped back a little 
 
FIKST SIGHT OF AS ENGLISHMAN. 179 
 
 distance to examine me at foil length, then fetched 
 her husband and two children to look at the " Engelsk ;" 
 and they examined my hat, boots, and knapsack, with 
 intense interest. It is really refreshing to find a comer 
 of the earth unvisited by Englishmen. I doubt whether 
 even a Scotchman has been here within the memory 
 of a generation ; for the very few visitors who come 
 down the Surrendal and over to the Fanne Fiord, 
 all go, of course, to Molde, the great town of the 
 district, and proceed from thence to the RomsdaJ. I 
 am no lover of great towns, and usually skip them, 
 Tmless'Murray is imperatively emphatic upon their 
 lions. 
 
 The little promontory I had just crossed is " nobody's 
 way to nowhere." With the host and his son, I rowed 
 across the fiord to Alfarnes. The boat was smaller and 
 slighter than any I have been in on the fiords before, 
 and a squall arose, more vigorous than the one I before 
 experienced. The water did come over the sloping 
 bulwark this time, and the little boy, who pulled bravely 
 for above an| hour, began to cry with fear ; not, how- 
 ever, until after catching a dozen or so of " crabs," 
 and tumbling [each time over the seat. It, is very diffi- 
 cult to row amongst these sharp short waves, and I 
 found my hands severely blistered and bleeding at the 
 journey's end. The poor man only demanded 16 skil- 
 lings for his two or tluree hours' hard work, and the 
 boat had to be taken back again. In such a case, the 
 value of the small stock of fish-hooks, artificial flies, 
 Beedles, steel pens, and cases I had brought with me, 
 
 n2 
 
180 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A IQiTAPSACK. 
 
 was proved; a present of a few of these things being 
 received with immense delight. I should advise all 
 tourists who propose penetrating to the less-frequented 
 parts of Norway to carry a few such portable trifles. 
 Artificial flies are specially acceptable. On the main 
 highways, the coin of the realm are the best; but in 
 such places as this, a little present, which is not a mere 
 business payment, but a friendly ofi"ering of gratitude 
 and good-will, is estimated far beyond its uttermost 
 value. 
 
 My dinner at the station where we landed was a 
 thorough Norwegian repast, consisting of the Roman 
 cement, with butter, and some sour curd. I now learnt 
 the reason of that strange sweeping motion of the hand 
 and the stretching out the spoon at arm's length, which 
 I have observed to be the universal habit of the people 
 when eating such a dish as this : it is because the curd, 
 being a sort of new cheese, draws out into strings, 
 which otherwise would fall upon one's clothes. No 
 charge was made for this, and when I offered 8 skil- 
 lings, about S^d., the woman of the house was amazed 
 at my prodigality, and thanked me most cordially in 
 the expressive Norwegian mode of shaking, or rather 
 squeezing, hands. 
 
 After this crossing of the water, came another cross- 
 ing of the land — an isthmus like the last; but the 
 road now sldrts a narrow branch of the fiord, studded 
 with rich wooded islands, and backed by the purple 
 and snow-patched mountains of the Romsdal. The 
 landlocked termination of the fiord forms one of the 
 
THE ROMSDALS FIORD— A GRAND HOTEL. 181 
 
 most beautiful lakes I have ever seen ; a splendid sub- 
 ject for a picture. Crossing the Romsdals Fiord, which 
 well deserves its fame for stern and rocky grandeur, I 
 found that Veblungsnaesset is not merely a single farm 
 station, but an actual wooden village of forty, or fifty 
 houses, with a real hotel. I made my way to the prin- 
 cipal apartment of this hotel, which was furnished in 
 a most reckless manner, with real mahogany chairs, 
 Prench-polished, big table, and little tables, and sofa 
 of the same, with horsehair cushions, and a carpet. 
 Peeling very much embarrassed, though nobody else 
 was there, I was obliged to leave the room, to rub my 
 boots again upon the great door-mat of pine and juniper 
 twigs, comb my hair, and put on a collar and a necker- 
 chief; for, besides the furniture I before mentioned, 
 there was a chandelier and a looking-glass. 
 
 But I was soon relieved of my embarrassment; for 
 just upon re-entering the state-chamber, the hostess 
 came forward in a state of evident alarm, and showed 
 me upstairs to a comfortable but unpretentious bed- 
 room, constructed as usual of native deal, and furnished 
 with the same natural material. 
 
 Respecting the origin of all this mahogany, horse- 
 hair, carpeting, and chandeliering, I cannot give the 
 reader any certain information : whether the house was 
 accustomed to that sort of thing, or whether it had 
 been thrown into a state of abnormal magnificence on 
 account of the expected arrival of the Crown Prince, 
 who was then making a tour through Norway, and 
 would shortly arrive here. But I was quite convinced 
 
182 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK, 
 
 that the room was specially set aside for royalty; for 
 nothing else could have induced the hostess to have 
 shown me to an inferior apartment, after I had put on 
 the shirt-collar. 
 
 Veblungsnaesset is the port of the Romsdal, which 
 valley is the "lion" of all Norway: the Norwegians 
 themselves travel long distances to see it. In the 
 " Christiania Illustrated News," there are numerous 
 woodcuts of its finest scenic features, and every Eng- 
 lishman who comes to Norway is told that he must 
 see it, and his expectations are raised to the highest. 
 This loud heraldry of scenic fame is a severe trial to 
 any place : it is like making a man mayor for the 
 third time; unless really great merits are possessed, 
 criticism is sure to he ruinously severe. 
 
 My next day's journey proved, however, that the 
 Romsdal can safely bear this terrible ordeal of much- 
 repeated praise. It throws its gauntlet of defiance even 
 at the feet of the mighty Alps themselves; for it com- 
 bines in one valley so many of the elements of savage 
 grandeur. It is more lilie Glencoe than any of the 
 valleys of Switzerland ; and is, in fact, remarkably like 
 Glencoe, but on a very much grander scale, with snow 
 and ice and countless waterfalls superadded. Not only 
 in the physical aspect of its dark, frowning rocks, but in 
 the gloomy record of slaughter does it resemble Glen- 
 coe ; being closely associated with the story of the 900 
 Scotchmen who landed at Veblungsnaesset, marched 
 up this valley, were surprised, and all but two slain. 
 When I started, the conical peaks of the moimtaiDS 
 
WATERFALLS AND ROCKS OF ROMSDAL. 183 
 
 were buried in threatening clouds ; then came a storm 
 of rain and hail, without thunder, and the body of 
 the clouds dissolved, leaving only some ragged frag- 
 ments of white mist, which clung about the torrent 
 gulleys of the mountain sides, and then slowly melted 
 into sunshine. All the torrents and cascades were at 
 work, and doing their utmost. Every kind of waterfall 
 is here — from the rapids and roaring leaps of the 
 Rauma, which runs through the bottom of the valley, 
 to Staubbachs innumerable, Giessbachs, Reichenbachs, 
 twin Handecks — representatives, in fact, of every type 
 of waterfall, and rivals to the grandest of some of 
 them. 
 
 On the right side of the valley as I ascended, the 
 Romsdals Horn, a mountain of extraordinary steepness, 
 springs out of the valley up to a height of 4,000 feet, 
 like a monstrous shattered steeple ; a labyrinth of 
 similar ragged cones surrounding it. On the left side a 
 mighty wall of rock rises directly from the road, till its 
 notched and rugged edge seems to scrape the blue sky. 
 This wall varies from one to two thousand feet in 
 height. In some parts of it great scars are visible, 
 where huge masses have scaled off and thundered 
 down ; these fragments may be seen below, cumbering 
 the river-bed, and forcing its waters to roar and foam 
 through the alleys between them. The course of the 
 road has been turned to wind round such blocks ; and 
 in some places the blocks themselves have been blasted, 
 and the road cut fairly through them. Above these 
 scars an overhanging cornice may usually be seen; 
 
184 THROUGH KOEWAT WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 which is the upper surface from which the fragment was 
 detached. The heap of massive ruins below, the scar 
 above, and the overhanging cornice over that, have a 
 tendency to prevent the pedestrian who observes such 
 things, from selecting these particular boulders for 
 resting-places, or points from which to take a sketch; 
 for, in spite of the doctrine of probabilities, the idea 
 that another crash is just about to occur is suggested 
 irresistibly. 
 
 To enumerate the waterfalls of the Romsdal would 
 be rather a serious task ; there are a dozen or two that 
 would each support half-a-dozen hotels, and be per- 
 petually sketched, photographed, and stereoscoped, if 
 they were anywhere up the Rhine. If they were in 
 Scotland, in addition to all this there would be lodges 
 built opposite to them, with mirrors to show the water- 
 fall overhead and all round the room at once, and 
 sliding panels to start open and disclose the view unex- 
 pectedly. In Ireland there would be a score of gates 
 on the roads leading to them, erected for the sole pur- 
 pose of supporting juvenile mendicants, who would 
 rush to shut them as the tourist loomed above the 
 horizon, in order to be paid for opening them when 
 he approached. But here they pour and dash down 
 their own chosen courses, the wild, unfettered creatures 
 of God's bounty. Here we may gaze upon them undis- 
 turbed, and revel in the wonder, gratitude, and venera- 
 tion that such a scene awakens, by reminding us that 
 He has so fitted our faculties to his works around, 
 that every object or action in the universe has in it 
 
THE MONGErOSS. 185 
 
 some element of grandeur or of beauty capable of 
 filling our souls with joy. There are those who tell us 
 that this world is but a festering heap of wickedness 
 and corruption ; but the man who would fit himself for 
 the reception of a higher manifestation of his Creator's 
 bounty in another world, must first train his soul to be 
 capable and worthy of fully enjoying the heavenly 
 elements of this. 
 
 The most abundant and characteristic waterfalls of 
 the Eomsdal are those which come from an unknown 
 source somewhere, and pour over the grand rock on 
 the left. The finest of these is situated about half 
 way between the Flatmark and Horgheim stations : it 
 is called the Mongefoss. Looking up, with an effort 
 that strains the neck, to the frowning wall of rock, a 
 torrent is seen, pouring apparently out of the blue ether. 
 It bends smoothly over the topmost edge, as blue as the 
 ether itself, lustrous and crystalline with the light that 
 shines clear through it ; then it is lost, having made a 
 first plunge of a himdred feet or so down into a boiling 
 cauldron, which it has potmded out of the rock by its 
 everlasting thumps; but again it reappears, shattered 
 to snowy fragments, and striking the rock once more, 
 spreads out and tears down a long, rugged slope, in 
 white fleeces of broken water. At every resisting ledge, 
 clouds of fine spray and mist are dashed forth; the 
 sunlicrht tinting them here and there with bands of the 
 glorious iris. Then a great ledge bars its path, and it 
 bounds upwards and forwards into the free air; and 
 thus bruised and battered to mere water-dust, so fine 
 
186 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 and light that it struggles even with the slight re- 
 sistance of the air, it descends with slow, unvarying 
 speed some four or five hundred feet more ; then it 
 showers upon another slope of rock, spreads into a 
 multitude of little rills, and disappears again, till at last 
 it rushes under the road to join the Rauma, and keep its 
 company to the all-absorbing sea. 
 
 This fall, to my taste, is far finer than the Staubbach : 
 it does not shoot forward, clear of the rock in one leap ; 
 but its beauty is rather increased by this. Both in 
 height and quantity of water it is far superior to the 
 Staubbach. Omitting the first fall into the upper basin, 
 and only, considering that portion which is seen falling 
 down the face of the rock in a continuous mass of 
 broken water, it must be somewhere about a thousand 
 feet in height. 
 
 I am aware of the difiiculty of judgmg the relative 
 merits of waterfalls — especially such falls as these — ^for 
 they depend so much upon the circumstances of the 
 weather. Doubtless, I saw the falls of the Romsdal 
 under their most favourable aspects, so much rain 
 having recently fallen ; but this is no rare case, for, 
 according to current report concerning the meteorology 
 of the mouth of the Romsdal, it rains on an average 
 somewhere about always. 
 
 In nearly all the breaks and hollows of the black 
 p recipitous rocks are patches of snow, some of them so 
 low as almost to touch the corn-fields ; for amidst all 
 this savage sublimity there are rich substantial farms. 
 These farms are due to the table-lands of the. terraces, 
 
GLACIERS OF EOMSDAL. 187 
 
 of which there are two very distinctly marked, but 
 not so lofty as those in the other valleys before 
 mentioned. 
 
 Beside the snow patches there are Lilliputian glaciers 
 in abundance, where the whole history of glacier forma- 
 tion is shown at a glance. There are the snow fields 
 above, filling a basin from which dark peaks arise ; the 
 basin has a downward opening, or notch, leading to a 
 little steep, trough-like valley, that closes in below. In 
 the upper basin, the snow surface is thawed by the sun, 
 the water sinks into the spongy moss below, freezes 
 again on its way, and binds it all together as a seeming 
 solid, but capable of yielding to the pressure of the mass 
 above and the expansion of re-freezing ; this pressure 
 forces it through the notch of the upper basin, into the 
 lower. As it passes over the bend from the lesser to 
 the greater declivity, it is split upon its surface by this 
 bending, and the blue crevices are formed. In squeez- 
 ing so forcibly through this openuag it polishes its 
 sides, aiad the fragments of stone that are torn away 
 or fall upon it become bedded into the ice, and 
 when they reach the portion that slides upon the 
 rock, they groove it with parallel lines that wiU mark 
 the places where these glaciers have been, if in future 
 ages they should cease to exist. 
 
 There are other snow basins which fail to form true 
 glaciers, owing to the want of the trough-like valley 
 below that closes in at its lower part. Yet in these there 
 is evidently a downward flow, or advancement of the ice 
 and snow, which is forced through the notch ; but this 
 
188 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 notch communicating with a long straight trough hke a 
 •water gulley, the foremost of the advancing mass bends 
 over till it becomes detached, and then forms an ava- 
 lanche instead of a glacier. Several of these small 
 avalanches came down during my walk : I mistook 
 the first for a water cascade, until its cessation, and 
 the thundering rumble which followed, undeceived 
 me. 
 
 In these I found an explanation of the snow patches 
 nearly level with the corn-fields ; for each of the ava- 
 lanches deposited itself as a sort of talus, or sloping 
 delta-shaped heap, at about that part of the terrace 
 deposit which must have been the shore of the ancient 
 fiord. All these avalanche tracks are smoothed by the 
 falling snow and ice and stones; they are probably 
 scratched and grooved likewise, but this I cannot posi- 
 tively affirm, as they were all on the opposite side of 
 the river. 
 
 I am not aware that the attention of geologists has 
 been directed to this sort of avalanche action, as distin- 
 guished from glacier action. In our own country, and 
 in almost every part of Europe, traces of ancient glacier 
 action are found, or supposed to be found. These traces 
 consist of smoothed rocks with parallel scratches, and 
 heaps of stones that have come from some distance, and 
 yet present no traces of being water-worn. The smooth- 
 ing and grooving are attributed to the slow-moving ice, 
 and the heaps are supposed to be the moraines, or the 
 stony accumulations commonly found at the sides and 
 terminations of glaciers. 
 
GLACIERS AND AVALANCHES. 189 
 
 Now here we have side by side with these small 
 model glaciers as many small model avalanches, each 
 ■with a regularly established track. If all the snows of 
 the Romsdal hills were melted, I have little doubt 
 that a modern geologist would confound the avalanche 
 with the glacier tracks ; he would find smoothed and 
 grooved rocks on both, and a heap of angular stones 
 at the termination of the smoothed rock. These 
 would, according to received views, be regarded as the 
 beds of former glaciers, and the remaining terminal 
 moraine. 
 
 In this valley the confusion would not lead to any 
 serious speculative error, for the difference in the causes 
 producing either a glacier or an avalanche in this par- 
 ticular locality is so small — merely the form of the 
 trough — that general conclusions respecting former 
 climate would not be affected by the mistake. But 
 there are cases where the distinction between the former 
 existence of glaciers or avalanches would materially 
 affect a grand hypothesis. It is inferred from the indi- 
 cations alluded to, that there existed what is called a 
 glacial epoch, when the greater part of Europe, or even 
 of this hemisphere, was subject to a much colder 
 climate ; and if all the observed smoothing, and groov- 
 ings, and heaps were produced by glaciers it must have 
 been so ; for in order to produce a glacier there must 
 be continuous snow throughout both winter and summer. 
 If, however, these markings are but the vestiges of 
 avalanches, a very small difference of climate may 
 account for them ; as regular periodical avalanches may 
 
190 THROUGH NOEWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 be produced by the winter snow of any hilly country, 
 thotigh that snow should be melted all away by the 
 heat of each returning summer. Among the causes 
 capable of bringing about such a result, surface con- 
 figuration is a more potent one than climate. 
 
191 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 " Gammel Ost" a new sensation for epicures — A royal cortege — Lost 
 on the fjeld — False alarm — The " Cock of the mountain " — 
 Risks of solitary mountaineering — Out for the night — Hard 
 work on an empty stomach — DiflSculty, delusion, and disap- 
 pointment — Semi-starvation and its effects — The pastor of 
 Lom — The social position and influence of the Norwegian 
 clergy — The " pocket-pistol " a dangerous weapon. 
 
 Mt dinner at the Horgheira station consisted of " smoe- 
 rogbrod " and " gammel ost," bread and butter and old 
 cheese : charge 8 skillings, or 3^d. The gammel ost is a 
 celebrated Norwegian dish, and this at Horgheim the 
 finest example of it I have met with. It is a peculiar 
 sort of cheese, made, I believe, with goats' milk mixed 
 with herbs and sugar. When new, it is very detestable, 
 but after many years' keeping it decomposes, and forms 
 a sort of condiment rather than food. It is sprinkled 
 in a moist powder, upon bread and butter. When in 
 perfection, it is neither mouldy, moist, nor mitey ; it is 
 of a uniform pale brick colour, just capable of crumb- 
 ling, and has a rich anchovy-pastish flavour with a faint 
 suggestion of parmesan. If Fortnum and Mason, or 
 Crosse and Blackwell, were to import some of this, put 
 it into eccentric jars, and charge a suflBciently high 
 price for it, our epicm'es would run into ecstacies about 
 
192 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KKAPSACK. 
 
 it, until tliey discovered that it is really a cheap and 
 vulgar article. 
 
 On arriving at Ormein station, where I stopped for 
 the night, I found all engaged in preparation for the 
 Crown Prince. The front of the house was decorated 
 with pine and birch trees — not branches, but whole 
 trees — stuck into the ground, and great scrubbings of 
 floors 'were in progress. Two officers were there pre- 
 paring for the royal reception; one of whom spoke 
 EngHsh, and gave me much information respecting 
 the various routes. I find it usually advantageous to 
 fix only the general outline of my route, and to settle 
 the details according to information gathered on the 
 way. 
 
 There is a remarkably fine triple fall opposite this 
 station ; it is pictured in the accompanying lithograph. 
 
 The next morning it rained again. The character 
 of the valley soon changes ; the road ascends and passes 
 along the slope of a hill ; and the river being far below 
 in a deep gorge, instead of being nearly level with the 
 road as at first, begins to malse cascades itself. One of 
 these, about a quarter of a mile from the station, was 
 sufficiently fine to tempt me down a path to see it 
 even here, where one becomes so dainty and critical 
 concerning waterfalls. 
 
 At the next station, Nystuen, there was a large 
 assemblage of the peasantry from all the country round 
 waiting to see the Prince, who was hourly expected. 
 They were dressed in all their best, the men with fresh 
 clean red nightcaps, and the women with bright ker- 
 
LOST ON THE PJELD. 193 
 
 chiefs round their heads: all along the road I found 
 family groups standing by the wayside. The horses 
 were waiting at this station, where the whole party was 
 to make a relay. A little beyond the station I met the 
 cortlge, which consisted of about a dozen carrioles and 
 one leather-looldng gig or chaise, in which the Prince 
 was driving. 
 
 On the following morning I proposed to cross the 
 fjeld to Skeaker, but it rained and drizzled, and the 
 mists hung upon the moors, and my host, an intelligent 
 man, spoke rather earnestly of the dangers of the fjeld 
 under such circumstances. He was an intelligent man, 
 who had read the saga of the old Scandinavian poets, 
 and seemed well acquainted with them. I walked on 
 in the afternoon to the next station through a widening 
 portion of the valley, which hereabouts presents no very 
 striking features. 
 
 From the Hoset station there is another track over the 
 Kjolen Fjeld, and I started upon this at about seven in 
 the morning. After passing over a plain of reindeer 
 moss, I walk up a long wild-wooded valley, and reached 
 some huts, or saeters, rather sooner than I anticipated, 
 from the position they have on the map, according to 
 which the track over the fjeld here turns off to the left. 
 I accordingly crossed a bridge just erected, and found a 
 track taking nearly the course required. The track 
 was but an ill-defined one, and after a while I lost it 
 completely out on the wild rolling moorland, over 
 which I then steered by compass alone. After a few 
 miles of this, I reached a ridge of mountains, and 
 
194 THROUGH JSfORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 ascended them to take a general survey, in the hope 
 of seeing on the other side a lake which is marked on 
 the map, and which would serve to verify my bearings. 
 The lake, or rather two lakes are there, but I was 
 beyond the western extremity, instead of being at the 
 east end or beyond it, as I had calculated. This was 
 very puzzling, and I lost confidence in my map — not in 
 myself of course. Only those who have wandered alone 
 over trackless moxmtains can nnderstand the painful 
 feeling of having relied upon a map, and theoi finding 
 it deceitful; it is like being jilted after a long and 
 confident courtship. The sense of doubt and con- 
 fusion, the hesitation as to whether to consult the map 
 any more, or, if consulting it, to look for details, or 
 only to rely on general bearings, is indescribably 
 perplexing amd vexatious. Then I had started with 
 such confidence, the track seeming so clear: the first 
 half of the distance it followed a little rivulet, at the 
 Loordalen saeters it turned at right angles, and over a 
 ridge to a lake, and then over another to the long valley 
 of the Vaage Vand. There seemed no possibflity of 
 mistake, so that I did not even take the common pre- 
 caution of filling my pockets with food, and on passing 
 the saeters made no halt for mHk; though my break- 
 fast was only a few chips of fladhrod and some " smoer," 
 pronounced " smear," a good expressive English name 
 
 or Norwegian butter. 
 
 Afber some halt, aaid hesitation between choostng the 
 east or the west end of the lakes, I determined upon 
 taking a middle course, and crossing the stream that 
 
FALSE ALARM. 195 
 
 unites them. Even this was some miles to the westward, 
 down a steep stony slope, then through a wilderness 
 of bog, and across a wide pool-hke stream about three 
 feet deep and soft at the bottom. After this I found, still 
 farther to the east, a little valley forming an outlet to 
 the easternmost of the two lakes. This, according to 
 my map, or the reading I then made of the map, should 
 lead at once to the Vaage Yand, and nearly to Skeaker. 
 I pushed on at a rapid pace, oyer rough boulders with 
 deep holes between, with the object not only of speed, 
 but of drying my clothes, which were wet to the 
 shoulders; for the crossing of the stream was half 
 wading, half swimming, and I had great difficulty in 
 keeping my knapsack aboye water. Aiiother motive to 
 exertion was the pang of hunger, for being now about 
 four o'clock in the afternoon the idea of dinner-time 
 was irresistibly suggested. 
 
 During tMs walk I had an adventure or two. At one 
 time, while admiring the utter desolation of the whole 
 district, and concluding that hereabouts must be the 
 summer home of the few remaioing bears and wolves 
 that occasionally visit the farmers of the Romsdal, a 
 huge beast sprung up at my feet so suddenly, and with 
 such fearfiil rustle, that all the bones of my skeleton 
 seemed loosened in their fleshy imbedment by the start 
 I made. It was not a bear, however, but merely a huge 
 capercailzie, or " cock of the mountain," or " horse of the 
 woods," as it is called. According to the usual accounts 
 of this bird, it is so wild and wary tliat the sportsman 
 has great difficulty in approaching it ; but this started so 
 
 2 
 
Ig6 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 close to me, that I must almost have trodden upon, it. 
 It appeared larger than a turkey, with huge wings and 
 tail ; and the noise it made in rising was tremendous i 
 a bear would have been far less startling at first 
 sight. These birds are, I believe, quite extinct in 
 Britain, though formerly abundant in the wilder regions 
 of the Scottish Highlands. 
 
 I should not advise other tourists to venture . alone 
 over a fjeld like this ; for, independently of the danger 
 of losing the way, and being overtaken by the mists, 
 there is a considerable risk of sprained ankles, when 
 the path is lost. The slopes of the hills are covered 
 with loose angular stones, heaped together several layers 
 thick, with deep holes between them. To cross such 
 ground as this, it is necessary to step carefully, but 
 firmly, upon the angular summits of these blocks ; 
 some, practice is required to keep one's balance, and to 
 do this safely, as the stones are often loose, and rock, 
 or even turn over, when trodden on. When they do 
 thus turn, a fall is almost inevitable; grazed knuckles 
 and bruised knees and shins follow as a matter of 
 course; but if the foot should slip down. one of these 
 crooked holes, and the whole weight of .the .body pitch 
 apon it, a sprained anlde or a broken leg is, quite to 
 be anticipated. Such a mishap, is ; bad. enough under 
 /jiy circumstances ; but here, . where ■ no human being 
 comes within hail for months, together j to have to crawl 
 for miles and miles over, broken rock and bog, dragging 
 a dangling limb, and, after hours of struggling agony, 
 to faint and die in the wilderness without one farewell; 
 
SOMETHING LIKE A SCRAPE. 197 
 
 word or glance of sympatlij, would be worse than being 
 sliot down and galloped over on a battle-field. 
 
 I know of how little avail are all these prudent 
 reflections : when the fresh mountain air is blowing 
 in one's face and the early day is waliening, a reckless 
 self-reUance is engendered, and all thoughts of possible 
 suffering and weakness are driven out by the sense of 
 iron strength that the purified blood carries with it to 
 every limb. These influences, and the prospect of a 
 vigorous battle with great obstacles, tempt one's footsteps 
 from the dusty road to the crisp springing heather and 
 the wild craggy mountain peaks. I never start upon 
 a walk in a mountainous country without making sage 
 resolutions to be most cautious ; but all these wise re- 
 solves are broken before half the journey is done. 
 
 On this occasion, I soon found that I had got into 
 something hke a scrape ; for, on reaching the end of the 
 little valley, or gorge, it was evident that it did not lead 
 to the Vaage Vand, with the church upon its banks, 
 as marked in my map, but to a long dreary valley with 
 a small stream winding through it, having no lake or 
 any traces of humanity. It was evident that I had 
 gone altogether wrong ; and the possibihty that it might 
 be myself, as well as the map, that made the mistake, 
 was suggested, but not without an inward struggle ; for 
 we all have our weaknesses and vanities, and one of 
 mine is that I am a skilfal mountaineer, and can find 
 my way without guides over the wildest and most 
 difficult of passable passes. I have done it often in the 
 Swiss and Tyrolese Alps, even where glaciers stand 
 
198 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A ICNAPSACK. 
 
 in the way, and the limits o£ the snow-line have to be 
 passed, and but seldom made any serious blunder. It 
 therefore wounded my pride most terribly to be almost 
 forced to the conclusion that I had gone about ten 
 miles too far east ; for at such a distance from the 
 proper track there are marked upon the map two lakes, 
 connected by a stream just corresponding to that with 
 the soft bottom that I had waded through ; the eastern- 
 most of these lakes having an outlet running down a 
 narrow valley just in the direction of that I was fol- 
 lowing; this stream is tributary to another, winding 
 through a long valley, that looks dreary even on the 
 map, though it ]\^s one farm marked at its eastern end, 
 some ten miles farther, and beyond the limits of my 
 vision. This farm is called Skardvangen. My theory 
 now is, that the saeters at which I arrived so much 
 sooner than I expected, were not the Loordalen saeters 
 marked in my map, but some others there omitted; 
 that, therefore, I turned off too soon, and aU. the easting 
 I made to get round the lakes was, so much additional 
 aberration.* 
 
 According to this, I was now, at five ' o'clock p.m:., 
 about as far from my destination as I supposed I was 
 when at the saeters at ten in the morning, wiiii the 
 disadvantage of having no track to foUow, and an 
 
 * This proved to be the fact, as I afterwards ascertained by in- 
 specting Miinck's map, where every farm and saeter is marked, and 
 the configuration of the hills and valleys carefully given. I could 
 not have made the blunder if I had had that map. Mine was only a 
 road map — very good of its kind, but not sufficient for such solitary 
 mountain wanderings. 
 
MISTAliEN FOR A MILKMAN. 199 
 
 unknown amount of difficulties and obstacles to over- 
 come ; for a range of mountains of considerable elevation 
 still lay between me and the Vaage Vand. I continued 
 southward, finding a faint track, then passed some cows, 
 which all followed me, and jostled each other for the 
 privilege of licking my hands, or my hat or shoulders. 
 They evidently mistook me for their mUkman, and 
 expected their evening treat of salt Finally, we — that 
 is, I and the cows — reached a little saeter, a wretched 
 hovel, filled with dirty men and a most abominable 
 odour, vile enough to annihilate a fourteen hours' appetite. 
 
 They told me that my way was along a lofty ridge, 
 which was visible in the far distance, running nearly 
 east and west. It was about nine o'clock, and the smi 
 just setting; for this being the 1st of August, the sunny 
 nights are past. 
 
 Just before meeting the cows, I was much surprised 
 at a bird of a light gray colour, and rather larger tlian 
 a grouse, which ran before at a few yards' distance 
 uttering a curious scream. At first, I thought I must 
 be near its nest, and this was a device to draw me 
 away, such as some birds wiU attempt ; but it continued 
 running before me, proving that it could not be so. 
 Being desperately hungry, and having no prospect of 
 supper, I took out my small revolver to shoot at it, and 
 when just about doing so, I saw the explanation of its 
 conduct. A large falcon, or small eagle, was wheeling 
 round heavily over my head, and the poor frightened 
 bird at my feet was seeking protection. To have shot 
 it would have been like murdering a child ; so I fired 
 
200 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A IvNAPSACK. 
 
 erery barrel at the dark enemy above, and succeeded 
 in frightening him away. 
 
 After ascending to the first ridge, I foimd the track, 
 which soon led to another valley, and from thence 
 up the side of another mountain to a higher ridge. 
 The night was now sufficiently dark to render it very 
 difficult to keep the track: as long as it continued on 
 rocky ground, it was easy enough, the angles of the 
 stones being white where the lichen had been woi'u away 
 by the feet ; but whenever it broke upon a patch of rein- 
 deer moss, it was so far obliterated as to be no longer 
 traceable. I had to cross such patches continually, and 
 then to zigzag to the] right and left till I came upon the 
 stony track. This added considerably to the distance, 
 which was computed by the men at the saeter as four or 
 five hours' walk. At one spot, where a large moor had 
 to be crossed, I wandered aside for above half an hour, 
 being misled by a heap of stones, which I supposed to be 
 a track-beacon ; such things being common hereabouts, 
 it was erected for this purpose, but it marks another 
 track, which led me quite away from my course.* Being 
 now in a prudent state of mind, I turned back to the 
 point at which I lost the track, and went on zigzag till I 
 again found it. I toiled on thus over angular blocks, 
 through bogs, and across small streams, with mist and 
 
 * The track I followed is on the south side of the lake,, or tarn, 
 from which the river running to Skardvangen originates. On Wah- 
 gorski's and Wergland's map the track from Skardrangen to Skeaker 
 is marked on the N. side of this lake. The heap of stones referred 
 to was at the head of this lake, and the path I came upon bent round 
 •the lake. It was prohably that marked on the map. 
 
HARD "WOKK AND NO POOD. 201 
 
 some rain, for about six hours ; when, a little after day- 
 break, I reached another ridge, from which the Vaage 
 Vand and the Otta were at last visible. 
 
 The lake is of considerable size, some twenty-five to 
 thirty miles long. I was at a gi'eat height above it, pro- 
 bably 2,000 feet, and the descent is very steep. Seen 
 through the morning mist and my expectations, the 
 lake appeared to terminate at the point directly below 
 me, and the river there to begin, and continue onwards 
 to the right through a long, flat, shingle valley. As the 
 church and the station where I hoped to find some food 
 are marked in the map at about the junction of the river 
 with the lake, I determined to make a direct descent 
 down the steep slope ; which, being thickly wooded, may 
 be safely done by clinging to the stems and branches 
 of the trees, and swinging down firom one to the other. 
 Having been twenty hours without food or rest, I 
 found the requisite exertion very severe; I was faint 
 and giddy, made false steps, and missed my hold 
 occasionally: every such slip brought out a bath of 
 cool perspiration on my forehead, and seemed to jolt 
 all the viscera of my system ; but the prospect of food 
 and lodging below urged me onward in my staggering 
 scramble. At last I emerged jfrom the wood upon an 
 open slope of loose shding drift, and saw below me a 
 good road, and, to my amazement, the lake continuing 
 to the right for many miles ; for what I had supposed to 
 be a valley of shingles, with the river in the middle, 
 was the body of the lake. I am at a loss whether to 
 attribute this illusion to the ripple of the lake reflecting 
 
202 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. , 
 
 the north-eastern daylight, and thus appearing like 
 pebbles, or to an uncertainty of vision resulting from 
 long fasting and fatigue. 
 
 I saw tile spire of the church far away to the 
 right, near where the valley seems to close, about iive 
 miles distant. This was a terrible shock to my empty 
 stomach; but gathering up the remnants of my 
 strength, I slid on my heels down the loose slope, 
 with a rattling accompaniment of the surrounding 
 stones, came upon the road at last, and walked on till 
 I reached the end of the lake, and the church. 
 
 There were some houses in the valley; at one of 
 which I made inquiries, and learnt that the station is 
 close by the ehurch. Feeling quite assured tliat food 
 and rest were at hand, I did not even ask for a bowl 
 of milk at the house where I inquired; but upon 
 reaching the church, with the station standing visibly 
 near it, as described, I found a broad and rapid river 
 between us, and the bridge a mile farther down, so that 
 there were two miles more to walk, and the bridge to 
 cross. This was the last straw upon the camel's back, 
 and almost broke me down. Although I had been 
 scrambling, and climbing, and struggling, rather than 
 walking, for nearly twenty-four hours, and had taken 
 neither food nor rest, I felt no sense of muscular fatigue, 
 but a terrible giddiness, that made me reel and stagger 
 along the road like a drunkard. When I reached the 
 bridgBj which was paved with planks having some 
 spaces between them, the running water seemed to 
 carry away with it all my remaining senses, and I fell 
 
THE PASTOR OF LOM. 203 
 
 down ; I remained for a short time, until some of the 
 giddiness passed away, and then got up, and pushed on 
 at a rapid pace to the station. It was a poor place, but 
 inhabited by kind people, who seemed rather surprised 
 and alarmed when I told them something about my 
 journey. They brought bacon, fladbrod, and milk. I 
 only proposed to eat very little, but I found myself 
 unable to eat any solid whatever ; so, after taking a 
 draught of milk, I went to bed, and slept soundly for 
 about four hours. 
 
 On awaking, I found a stout gentleman sitting at 
 my bedside. He was the pastor of Lorn. A Norwe- 
 gian pastor is not merely a preacher ; he is clergyman, 
 physician, magistrate, arbitrator, and general friend 
 and father, to whom all his scattered parishioners 
 appeal. In a country where there are none but 
 peasant farmers — no aristocracy, no gentry, no towns 
 or villages, no shopkeepers, no professional class — a 
 highly educated man must be strangely isolated, and, 
 unless endowed with the true spirit of Christian benevo- 
 lence, must be one of the most miserable of men ; but, if 
 suited to his work, he may be one of the happiest, for 
 his opportunities of doing xmmistakeable good, and of 
 witnessing the full fruits of his good deeds, are almost 
 unlimited. Most of these Norwegian pastors are^ I 
 believe, excellent men, and render great services to the 
 people around. 
 
 In the present instance, the paternal relations of the 
 good pastor of Lorn were illustrated in my case, for he 
 sat at my bedside, where he had evidently been watch- 
 
204 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 ing for some time, as though he feared that some fever, 
 or other ailment might result from the over-exertion, 
 excitement, and fasting ; for the farmer had told him 
 how far I had come, and how I staggered into the house, 
 and sat down greedily to eat, hut failed to swallow 
 a mouthful. I was somewhat uneasy myself before 
 going to sleep, not so much on account of the amount 
 of fatigue undergone — for I had done many foolish 
 things of the like kmd hefore, under the intoxicating 
 influence of the mountain air — but my alarm was sug- 
 gested by the peculiar symptoms, the utter absence of 
 any sensation of muscular fatigue, and the existence of 
 an odd desire to keep on walking or half runnmg. This, 
 of course, was unnatural, and a symptom of nervous 
 derangement; fatigue being the monitor appointed to 
 warn us from destroying our bodies by excess of labour, 
 and anything deranging that sense is a serious mischief. 
 I always have protested, and always will protest, most 
 urgently, against the insane folly, so prevalent among all 
 classes, educated and uneducated — medical men included 
 — of using stimulants as a remedy for fatigue, as means of 
 " refreshment " after labour, and as a whip to drive the 
 brain or body on to further exertion. Whatever may 
 be argued in favour of the use of such things at other 
 times, there cannot be a doubt that this most common 
 use is necessarily pernicious, for there is no other 
 remedy for fatigue than rest. That feeling, reverently 
 regarded — as it should be — is the voice of our Creator 
 calling upon us to stop: to cease in a course of action 
 that will damage the wondrous mechanism He has 
 
THE SriKIT-FLASK A DANGEROUS COMPANION. 205 
 
 entrusted to our care ; for no man who has studied the 
 structure of the human body, and has studied it with all 
 bis faculties, religioiis as well as intellectual, can fail to 
 see and feel that it is not only a matter of policy aiad 
 prudence, but also a solemn and holy duty, to guard 
 this gift of his Creator from violence or pollution. 
 What, then, can be more foolish and impious than wil- 
 fully to use a drug for the purpose of destroying that 
 warning sense of fatigue, and urging oneself on to the 
 direct violation of the solemn message of command that 
 it conveys ? There are no circumstances whatever, 
 actual or conceivable, under which its use for such a 
 purpose can be defended. We are sometimes forced to 
 make an effort beyond the ordinary and desirable limits 
 of our strength. If this be of short duration, an effort 
 of the will is sufficient to carry us through it, unless 
 the will has been made the perverted slave of drugs. 
 If the required period of effort exceed the sustaining 
 power of a healthy will, then it reaches the period at 
 which a stimulant will be followed by reaction; and 
 this reaction may in some cases be the bearer of death. 
 Let us suppose, for example, that the difficulty 
 I have just narrated had been a serious one — that 
 mists and snow had surrounded me, and another 
 twelve hours' work had been necessary — a brandy 
 flask, such as tourists commonly carry, if used in 
 the usual way, would have justified the title of pocket- 
 pistol by being an implement of suicide. I should 
 have taken a sip at the commencement of the diffi- 
 culty, and pushed on vigorously; then another sip a 
 
206 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 few hours after, wlien the first reaction commenced; 
 then another at a shorter interval, for the next reaction ; 
 and so on till the brandy would have heen exhausted. 
 I might have kept up in this manner somewhat beyond 
 the time at which I staggered and fell on the bridge ; 
 but, instead of rising after ten minutes of repose, I 
 should have sunk into utter prostration, from the reac- 
 tion which necessarily follows such morbid excitement. 
 Had the place been the wild mountain, with the snow 
 upon the ground, I should probably have fallen into that 
 sleep of death that comes over men under such circum- 
 stances. I have observed that in most cases where 
 travellers have been found dead in the snow, an empty 
 flask — a discharged pocket-pistol — ^has also been found 
 by their side. On the other hand, without the pocket- 
 pistol, I should have been forced to repose before the 
 vital energies had become exhausted beyond the possi- 
 bility of battling with the cold and hunger: I might 
 have slept a few hours, even on the snow, without 
 much serious mischief, and then have struggled on 
 with effort and halting, even for twelve hours more ; 
 for the powers of enduiaaice of the humam body are 
 immense, when exerted in harmony with their own 
 natural laws. 
 
 There is a time, however, when brandy or such like 
 stimulant may be of considerable service ; that is, when 
 the labour is over, and the nervous system is in such 
 a state of irritable excitement as to render sleep diffi- 
 cult to obtain. With some temperaments, this is apt 
 to be the case; then the brandy used for the opposite 
 
THE EIGHT USE OF STIMULANTS. 207 
 
 purpose to that of stimulating to further exertion — 
 viz., as a means of calling forth the only possible re- 
 medy for over-exertion, repose — may be of great value. 
 J£, therefore, the brandy-flask be carried at all, the 
 only safe time to use it ■would be at the journey's end, 
 when in some cases it might be useful; though, as a 
 general rule, I believe that it is better not to use it 
 even then, for the sleep obtained by its means is but a 
 feverish slumber, followed by headache and depression 
 on awakening. 
 
 The reader must not suppose that I am preaching a 
 teetotal homily; for while convinced that the habitual 
 use of any artificial stimulant, even of tea and coffee, 
 when used so regularly as to engender a craving for 
 it, is pernicious, I believe that the occasional moderate 
 enjoyment of wine, simply as a matter of indulgence 
 (sensual indulgence if you will, for we are sensual 
 animals as well as moral and intellectual beings, and 
 can gain nothing by denying it), is permissible, and, 
 perhaps, beneficial ; for the necessities of business and 
 the general competition for self-advancement are apt 
 to render us more cool and calculating than is healthful 
 for the mind, and a moderate amount of convivial 
 generosity may be an useful moral medicine; an 
 alterative much to be desired. 
 
 Instead of suffering any illness or serious lassitude, I 
 found upon awakening no worse symptoms than a rave- 
 nous appetite, the remedy for which was provided in the 
 homely fare remaining on the rough plank by the bed- 
 side. After disposing of this, and thanking the good 
 
208 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 pastor for his kindness, I started at about two o'clock 
 to walk on up the valley of the Otta to Mork, where 
 he told me I shall find comfortable quarters and " very- 
 good people." Mork is about twenty English miles dis- 
 tant from this, the Skeaker station. 
 
209 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A proud Norwegian beauty — Household charity a substitute for 
 poor-rates in Norway — The good people at Mork — The family 
 big box of the Norwegian farmer — The Lia Vand — Former 
 extent of the Nord Fjords glacier — Saeter life — A damsel at bay 
 — Collecting of the goats and cows — Cheese-making — The 
 supremacy of woman and the inferiority of the male sex at the 
 saeter — The head of the valley and the snow-fields — Difficulty 
 in selecting the pass — Climbing powers of Norwegian horses — 
 The Stiggevand and ice cascades of the Justedals Sneefond — 
 Grand and desolate scenery — Head of the Justedal — ^Evils ot 
 dining. 
 
 The valley of the Otta is very grand and desolate, 
 approaching iu some parts to the grandeur of the 
 Eomsdal. Much of the road passes through dark wild 
 woods of pine, with many fallen and shattered trunks 
 lying about at the feet of the living trees, giving to 
 the whole the primitive aspect of a new, unsettled 
 country. Hitherto, the valleys I have passed through 
 appear cultivated up to the limits of profitable fertility, 
 but here there appears to be much neglected land left 
 waste for want of population. 
 
 As I sat upon a boulder by the roadside, busily 
 occupied in making the diary of my last day's wan,- 
 dering, some people approached and passed, whom I 
 scarcely noticed ; then one of them stopped in front 
 
210 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 of me. On looking np, I was startled by a strange 
 apparition. A tall, elegant, and most beautiful girl, 
 about, eigbteen years of age, was standing before me; 
 she held in one hand the end of a long stick, a young 
 pine-tree stem stripped of its bark ; the other end being 
 held by an old blind man, curved almost to the ground. 
 His abundant hair was perfectly white, long and 
 straight, and wild; his eyehds and lashes were also 
 very long and white, and his forehead high and deeply 
 wrinkled. His dress was very coarse and poor ; and 
 Ms whole aspect was expressive of the deepest humility 
 and dependence, combined with a certain amount of 
 venerable gravity. She, on the contrary, was the 
 personification of absolute pride — of innate, unassuming 
 pride — a pride that is unconscious of its own existence, 
 that makes no efibrt at dignity, and has no thoughts 
 of dignity, but is instinctive dignity itself. I had 
 excited her curiosity ; and when I looked up, she was 
 examining me. I was so much amazed, that I must 
 have stared at her considerably; but that made no 
 difference : she continued her calm scrutiny, utterly 
 unmoved, as though I were a beast in a cage, or a 
 mineralogical specimen. One don't mind the scrutiny 
 of rude peasantry, especially when it is accompanied 
 with wonder and admiration; but to be examined so 
 very calmly — to be treated as a " specimen" by such 
 a beautiful cr^ture— stirred up the fragments of pride 
 that exist somewhere in my OTvn constitution; and it 
 may be that I looked almost fiercely at her, but still 
 made no impression of any kind. She was neither 
 
FAMILY PAUPEES. 211 
 
 confused nor indignant, but simply concluded her survey 
 of the inferior being, then spoke a word to the old 
 man, and walked calmly on. He tottered after her, 
 clinging to the other end of the white stick, which was 
 at least ten feet long. She was a perfect specimen 
 of what we regard in England as the high Norman 
 aristocratic type of beauty. Her face was a long oval, 
 of geometrical perfection ; her eyes were deep blue ; 
 her forehead was high and white ; her nose, long and 
 straight : every feature, in short, was unexceptional in 
 form and symmetry. Her hair was flaxen, and her com- 
 plexion clear, with very little colour. She was dressed 
 with much care and neatness : a clean handkerchief 
 smartly tied over her head, and a black cloth jacket 
 closely fitting her beautiful figtu-e. She was quite 
 difierent from any of the people I had seen hereabouts ; 
 her face and hands were utterly clean. She was pro- 
 bably the daughter of some farmer, and the old man 
 the family pauper. 
 
 In Norway there are no poor-rates, but the farmers 
 have to support the aged poor as inmates of their 
 houses. These old people generally do some light work, 
 such as gatheriag wood and the like. The custom is 
 primitive, and has many advantages. Charity thus 
 becomes an active virtue, dwelling at the fireside of 
 liome — " it blesseth him that gives, and him that 
 takes," for in kindly treating such a pensioner, a 
 happy influence is spread throughout the house, and 
 the little children are trained in the exercise of gentle 
 benevolence, by a course of instruction that no maxims 
 
 p 2 
 
212 THROUGH KOEWAY "WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 or sermons can substitute ; for moral training must be 
 a training in deed and feeling : mere ethics only inform 
 the intellect. 
 
 On arriving at Mork I found that the pastor's enco- 
 mium on the "good people" was well merited: the 
 hostess was overflowing with goodness. The arrival of 
 a guest threw her into a state of excitement quite un- 
 usual among Norwegians ; she brought out a vast array 
 of pans, containing cream, soft cheese, milk and por- 
 ridge, piles of fladbrod and crisp flour cake; a ham, 
 that seemed to have been smoked for years, was un- 
 hooked from the rafters, eggs were set a frying, and the 
 coffee-berries turned out and roasted forthwith. 
 
 She was one of those really kind women who love to 
 see people eat, who sincerely believe in the helplessness 
 of man, and that he must necessarily perish unless a 
 woman is near to minister to his comforts ; and she was 
 full of sympathy for a solitary wanderer whose mother 
 was so far away. She made many, inquiries, all of 
 which I answered as fully as my Norsk allowed ; then 
 she showed me the big box containing her Sunday 
 clothes and wedding dress, and a great stock of do- 
 mestic apparatus. Her name, " Thora Olsdatter," and 
 her husband's, or father's, " Live Olsen," was written 
 upon it in gay letters, and the inscription bordered with 
 brightly painted flowers. All the panels of the room 
 doors were also painted with vases bearing bright 
 flowers, in which the primary colours decidedly pre- 
 vailed. 
 
 The big box, emblazoned with t!ie family name, is a 
 
FAMILY CLOTHES-BOX. 213 
 
 common and prominent object of Norwegian farmhouse 
 furniture. It is usually eight or ten feet long, about 
 three feet -wide, and two feet high, and the treasures it 
 contains are most miscellaneous. Suspended from the 
 lid are caps and ribbons, a large watch, and other 
 trinkets ; at the bottom is a store of neatly folded bed- 
 clothes, and towels, table-cloths, &c. There are side 
 shelves and iittings for shoes and men's clothes, coffee- 
 berries and pepper, and the very few other exotic 
 luxuries used in a Norwegian household. 
 
 I am now becoming reconciled to sheepskin cover- 
 lids : when they are perfectly clean, as the one I have 
 here, they are most luxurious ; the soft wool in its 
 natural state of curliness and elasticity touching the skin 
 more tenderly than any woven fabric. 
 
 I had much difficulty in pressing upon the good 
 Thora Olsdatter any payment. She considered the 
 steel pens and paper of needles I had given her to be 
 an equivalent for the board and lodging, and when I 
 explained that they had nothing at all to do with it, she 
 refused to take more than one mark and a half. 
 
 My next day's walk was an ascent to the Sota and 
 Mysybytta saeters. The track passes up a wild valley, 
 where the walking over loose stones with water between 
 -reduces one's best pace to about two miles per hour. 
 The Lia Vand is a fine specimen of a wild mountain 
 lake. Beyond this lake the track passes over an ancient 
 -glacier moraine of great extent and unmistakeable cha- 
 racter. The river struggles among its boulders, and 
 -at other parts slides smoothly over the grooved and 
 
214 THEOtJGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 polished rocks of the ancient glacier bed. It is quite 
 evident that the great Nord Fiords glacier once extended 
 as far as this part of the valley, filing it with one of 
 its descending branches. This has gradually receded 
 to its present position at the head of the valley, leaving 
 at every stage of its retreat a ruin of rocks from its 
 deposited moraines. 
 
 I arrived at the Mysybytta saeters at about six 
 o'clock. The Norvregian saeter corresponds to the Swiss 
 chalet ; it is a little wooden hut, built upon the moun- 
 tain pasturages, that are only open from the snow 
 during a few weeks of the summer. At this period, the 
 cows and goats are driven up, and left to roam upon 
 the pastures during the day ; at evening-time they 
 are collected by an offering of salt, then milked, and 
 the cheeses made. They malie cheese while the sun 
 shines here. Every tourist who visits Norway, and 
 would study fihe Norwegians, should have some expe- 
 rience of saeter life. I gladly availed myself of this 
 opportunity of spending a night in the saeter attached 
 to the farm of my good hostess of Mork. There were 
 several of these wooden huts dotted about a dreary moor- 
 land, from around which high peaks of glacier-bearing 
 mountains rise. I found some men asleep in one of the 
 huts; and upon awakening them, they offered to pro- 
 vide me with food and lodgirag. As there appeared to be 
 many saeters, and these attached to different farms, I 
 inquired whether the one they proposed for my lodg- 
 ing belonged to Mork ; whereupon, the men looked 
 curiously at each other, and one of them, with a sig- 
 
A BLOOMING EUSTIC HOSTESS. 215 
 
 nificant grin, quite unintelligible to me, asked whether 
 I particularly wished to lodge in tlie Mork saeter. I 
 replied, "Yes," very decidedly; for these fellows were 
 a dirty-looking set, and I was certain that even a saeter, 
 if it belonged to Thora Olsdatter, would be clean. This 
 answer provoked a general laugh, and they escorted 
 me in procession to a hut at some distance from the 
 rest, knocked at the door and called to the inmate, who, 
 for some time, made no answer ; but at last a blooming 
 lass — a ruddy, muscular, rural beauty — opened the door, 
 and looked forth with a frown of stern maidenly 
 defiance. After a volley of banter, which she received 
 very contemptuously, I was introduced as a traveller 
 who had come all the way from England to visit her 
 saeter and lodge there for the night. I was received 
 very haughtily at first, until I frowned severely at 
 the scofier, and told her of my coming firom Mork as 
 the guest of Thora 01s, who had sent me hither. She 
 then bade me welcome, and immediately I entered, shut 
 the door unceremoniously upon the grinning swains 
 outside, who were seeking an excuse to come in like- 
 wise. She supplied me with supper of cheese and 
 fladbrod, and showed me the bed fi-om which she had 
 just risen, which was to be mine ; explaining that she 
 had slept during the day, and that her work was about 
 to commence, and would last through the night: she 
 then disappeared. 
 
 In the course of an hour, I heard a wild "yodl," 
 very loud, but not very melodious. The damsel was 
 returning with a flock of about thirty goats and some 
 
216 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 six or eight cows. She took a little bag of salt from 
 the hut, and, before she had fairly cleared the threshold, 
 was the axis of a pyramid of goats, who were crowding 
 round her and leaping over each other's backs, for the 
 privilege of licking her hand after each dip into the 
 salt-bag. She repelled the goats as energetically as she 
 had repelled the men, but more mercifully; for she 
 thrust the ends of her fingers into the mouth of each 
 before giving it the buffet of dismissal. The tact she 
 displayed in preventmg any of the obtrusive animals 
 from obtaining more than one lick of salt, was remark- 
 able ; a second application was met by a grasp of the 
 horns, and a thrust that drove the upreared aspirant 
 staggering backwards a yard ,or two : she must have 
 distinctly known the features of each individual goat 
 to pick them out so certainly. The cows were next 
 treated in like manner, then seized by the horns and 
 ears, as the goats were seized before, and each one 
 dragged to its proper stall in an adjoining building, not 
 distinguishable exteriorly from that designed for the 
 bipeds. 
 
 Tliis milking was a work of some time, for the brave 
 damsel was quite unaided in this scuffle with her flock, 
 and in all the subsequent operations of millcing and 
 cheese-making. She was queen and mistress of her 
 own domain and family, and her efforts seemed pretty 
 equally divided between the cares of internal adminis- 
 tration and the repelling of the external male invaders ; 
 whose gallantry seemed entirely confined to teasing her, 
 and led to no suggestion of aid in her really arduous 
 
THE MISTEESS OF MOEK SAETEE. 217 
 
 labours. The men seemed, in fact, to be merely a set 
 of idle, useless, inferior beings ; earnestness and energy- 
 being exclusively female attributes at this altitude. It 
 may be, that the men were idle because it was Sunday, 
 or that they had come up to the saeter-land on a visit to 
 their fair inferior ; it is, however, notorious, and acknow- 
 ledged throughout Norway, that in the saeter, woman 
 reigns supreme, and men can only exist there as 
 tolerated intruders: indeed, the social position of the 
 male in a Norwegian saeter is somewhat similar to 
 that which he holds in humble English Ufe on washing- 
 day. 
 
 While the milking was in progress, I laid me down 
 upon the bed: with my clothes on, of course, as the 
 cheese-making had to be done by my blooming hostess 
 in the same apartment. It was a wooden room, about 
 five yards long by four yards wide : the walls lined 
 with shelves, on which were cheeses already made, 
 and the materials for making more. The bed was 
 of the usual rustic Norwegian construction — an oblong 
 box made fast to the wall, and partly filled with straw, 
 over which were some coarse sheets, shawls, and a 
 sheepsldn : this one was about wide enough for a com- 
 fortable coffin. In the corner opposite to the head 
 of the bed, and almost within arm's reach, was the 
 great stone hearth, covered with a stone and plaster 
 dome. The other corners were occupied by benches 
 on which the vessels for standing and mixing the milk 
 with the other cheese materials were placed. There 
 was also a second small apartment, or rather cupboard. 
 
218 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 for the stowage of pans, pails, &c. All was scrupulously 
 clean in this particular saeter. 
 
 Soon after sunset the sovereign mistress of the place 
 came in, bearing heavy pails >of rich milk; from cows and 
 goats. Some lumps of wood were taken from their 
 store place under the bed, a crackling fire was soon 
 blazing on the hearth, and the iron cauldrcm, filled with 
 a mysterious mixture of goats' milk and other unknown 
 ingredients, from which the green cheese that ripens in 
 time to " gammel est " is made, was hooked to the black 
 chain over the middle of the fire. For some hours 
 after, every time I awoke the sticks were blazing, and 
 the busy lass was there stirring, mixing, and watching 
 till after midnight, or nearly to the dawn, when she 
 disappeaxed. 
 
 At five o'clock, when I started on my next day's 
 walk, she was at work again, making more cheese from 
 the morning's milking. 
 
 The ascent of the valley towards the snowy wilder- 
 ness of the Nord Fiord and Justedals Brseen is by an 
 abominable path over the wreck of glacier moraines, 
 and through thickets of low beech trees, or rather 
 bushes ; the elastic arms of which, emtangled with each 
 other, continually bar the way, and, springing back as 
 they are bent aside, pick off one's hat, flog one's face, and 
 take most tantalizing liberties with the knapsack behind. 
 
 This vegetation soon ceased, and I came upon a waste 
 of loose stones with soppy snow between, and every 
 vestige of the track obliteraited by the thawing. It 
 happened to be just the sort of place where a beaten 
 
VALLEY OF THE JUSTED AL. 219 
 
 track is specially needed. Over a rolling moor, or up 
 a definite valley, one may steer by compass ; but here I 
 arrived at the head of a valley terminating in three 
 peaks, the centre one being just in the direction which, 
 according to the map, I ought to take: only a mountain 
 pass is never over a peak, but always by the lowest 
 practicable way in the hollow between two peaks. 
 Which, then, must I take; the hollow to the right 
 or that to the left? The configuration of the hills not 
 being given accurately on my map, I had therefore to 
 go by guess. It was evident that these courses led 
 to very different places ; to valleys branching off ia 
 very different directions. They all led upwards to the 
 great snow deserts of the Justedal and Nord Fiord, or to 
 the dreary Sogne Ijeld, and downwards again to rocky 
 sohtades filled with the ruins that the recently receded 
 glaciers have left behind. My destination was the Jus- 
 tedal, the only one of these valleys that is inhabited; 
 but the upper end of this is as desolate as the rest, 
 the first farmhouse being so far down that I could only 
 expect to reach it at the end of my day's walk. It 
 was quite possible, therefore, that I might take the wrong 
 vaUey, and only detect my error after some hours' walk ; 
 thus having to spend another night in a region stUI 
 wilder than that where I had strayed aside before. 
 
 I ascended one of the peaks in hopes of making a 
 survey that would aid me, but found that the apparent 
 summit is surmounted by another far above and away, 
 and that probably by another, and perhaps another still ; 
 as is so often found to be the case in making such 
 
220 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 ascents. I saw little more than peaks of rock and plains 
 of snow, and a portion of the "fond^^ or mother-land 
 of glaciers ; the vast table-land of snow and ice, from 
 which the numerous glaciers of this region descend, 
 being visible from this point. I descended again and 
 made for the pass that seemed the most likely to be the 
 correct one, and in ascending towards it found upon the 
 snow the footmarks of a horse and two men; these 
 being, evidently recent, I determined to follow them, as 
 the Justedal is almost the only destination for anybody. 
 I could not have believed it possible for a horse to travel 
 over such ground had I not seen the footprints, and I 
 suspect that none but a Norwegian horse could do 
 it. It is a steep mountain side, covered with angular 
 boulders varying in size from a man's head to a church, 
 heaped together to an unknown depth, with crooked 
 crevasses between, some filled with snow and others 
 gaping open. Part of the climbing is to be done by 
 stepping on the angles of the smaller blocks, or along 
 the edges of the larger where they are wedged in with 
 an edge upwards, and partly over the sloping snow- 
 covered surfaces of the largest masses. Snow climbing 
 is always very laborious, but this sort of compound of 
 snow, and rock, and treacherous snow-covered holes, is 
 particularly so. 
 
 On reaching the summit a singular scene presented 
 itself. At the foot of a vast amphitheatre of snowy 
 mountain peaks is a gloomy basin of rock filled with 
 the waters of a half-frozen lake. The water comes 
 ■ directly from the snow above, and is of a peculiar blue- 
 
THE STIGGEVAND. 221 
 
 white, semi-opaque, London-milk coloui*, common to 
 such snow-water. This lake is called the Stiggevand, 
 which, I telieve, may be translated the Stygian pool ; 
 and a better name could scarcely be invented, for its 
 gloomy and desolate aspect would satisfy the imagination 
 of the most dyspeptic and bilious of poets. 
 
 The hollows, or basins, which occupy a higher level 
 than the lake, are filled with snow, and with ice formed 
 by the melting and re->freezing of the snow : thus filled 
 up, they form great plains, having a surface of virgin 
 snow without a footmark, or a scratch, or spot visible. 
 These apparent plains are, however, not quite level, but 
 slope towards the rocky precipice rising above the lalvC. 
 The icy sea, pressed forward by the mass above, flows 
 over these walls in great bending sheets, that reach a 
 short way down and then break off and drop in masses 
 into the lake, their broken edges forming a blue cornice 
 fringed with icicles. If these walls of the lake-shore 
 had sufficient slope to hold the icy cascade without 
 breaking, glaciers would be formed ; or if the supply of 
 breaking masses were sufBciently great to overpower 
 the thawing below, the basin of the lake would be filled 
 up and become continuous with the great ice and snow 
 fields above, and might extend onwards to the spot 
 where I was standing, or even overflow this and push 
 down the valley up which I had come to the saeters 
 below. That this was formerly the case is shown by 
 abundant evidences on every step of this day's walk, 
 and the latter part of yesterday's. 
 
 The soft though sharp outline of the virgin snow 
 
222 THEOUGH NOBWAT WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 standing against the blue sky just wkere it pours over 
 the precipice, is very beautiful. There are no birds up 
 here> no roaring torrent, no rustling of trees, or buzzing 
 of insects ; not even the ripple of a thin stream, as 
 heard on the Swiss glaciers; but a silence that is almost 
 absolute, and adds vastly to the effect of such a scene, 
 especially on the mind of the solitary pedestrian. A 
 guide is a positive nuisance under such circumstances : 
 the tourist is so dependent upon him that the chief ex- 
 citement of the walk is gone when there is no effort 
 required to find one's way and no possibiUty of losing 
 it ; then he interferes with the enjoyment of the scene by 
 hurrying one on with the sole motive of getting over 
 the ground. Even a congenial friend^ however desir- 
 able in general travelling, interferes with the feelings, 
 and reflections which such overwhelming soKtnde and 
 silence awaken. 
 
 The snow plains which are here seen bending over in 
 cascades above the lake, are terminations of the great 
 table-land of snow forming the "'fond " or " sneefond " 
 of the Justedal's Brasen; a great untrodden desert of 
 perpetual snow, extending for about fifty miles to the 
 S.W. with a varying width, and covering altogether a 
 space of about 400 square miles : it is one vast field of 
 ice and snow. Every valley of favourable configura- 
 tion that branches from this great reservoir of ice is 
 fiUed with a glacier, or ice-torrent, replacing the water- 
 torrent of the valleys that descend from the Dovre and 
 other fjelds that are not snow-covered. 
 
 I now descended over similar ground to that on the 
 
SOURCES OF THE STOKELV. 223 
 
 opposite side of the pass. The track on this side was well 
 marked by occasional heaps of stones. I always regard 
 it as a matter of imperative duty to contribute to such 
 heaps, by adding a stone to every one I pass : they are 
 almost necessary on this side, for in ascending it would be 
 very easy to miss the particular notch through which I 
 had passed, and by taking the wrong one, to wander 
 aside to the Stiggevand, or to other blind valleys lead- 
 ing to the upper desolation of ice and snow. A walk 
 under one of the overhanging cornices of ice must be 
 very dangerous, as masses are continually detaching 
 from them, 
 
 I walked on over a wide fjeld of glacier moraine 
 leading at last to the outlet of the Stiggevand ; a torrent 
 of respectable dimensions which, fed by a succession of 
 glaciers, grows to a river * as it flows down the Justedal. 
 At the point where the stony fjeld narrows and de- 
 scends to form the head of this valley, the torrent makes 
 a succession of falls over walls of piled-up boulders. 
 
 From this point a considerable length of the valley is 
 visible, and a few miles farther down I saw three men 
 and a horse reposing by the river-side; I found on 
 approaching that the men had been taking their dinner 
 and siesta. I followed their example, to the extent of 
 eating some fragments of fladbrod I had brought in my 
 pocket, but could not indulge in the luxury of a sleep 
 on account of the gnats and flies that swarmed about my 
 head, biting and stinging unmercifully; for within an 
 hour or so after leaving the Stiggevand and its over- 
 * T]ie " Storelv," or large river. 
 
224 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 hanging snows I was subject to these tropical annoy- 
 ances, and a burning sun to match them. The peasants 
 and the horse were proof against these annoyances, by 
 virtue of tougher skins, with an outer stratum of hair 
 on the one, and of dirt on the other. 
 
 I found that they started from the saeters about two 
 hours earlier than I did, and that it was their footsteps 
 I saw in the snow. I walked on with them for about 
 an hour ; they complained sorely of fatigue, and at last 
 gave up on reaching an empty saeter hut. They were 
 surprised at my freshness, especially when I told them 
 how far I wandered from the track by ascending to the 
 wrong ridge, which added some two hours of hard 
 climbing over and above their day's work. I was rather 
 surprised at it myself; for I had done some very heavy 
 work during the last few days, without any feeling of 
 fatigue worth notice. This, I suspect, is attributable to 
 two causes : first, to having prudently commenced with 
 easy stages ; and, secondly, to the total absence of hotels 
 and anything approaching to a dinner. 
 
 I have continually found that in countries where there 
 are hotels and good dinners, it is very difficult to do a 
 fair day's walk. If any attempt at dinner is made early 
 in the afternoon, the case is quite hopeless; and even 
 when dinner is taken late in the evening, at the end of 
 the day's walk, the fierce appetite thus engendered, if at ^ 
 all pandered to by tempting dishes, is almost certain to 
 give the stomach so much to digest, that a large amount 
 of vital energy is consumed in the process, and much 
 unnecessary weight added to the body. This, of course, 
 
HOW TO GET INTO CONDITION. 225 
 
 may be to a great extent constitutional ; a lean, spare 
 man would probably walk better on good dinners, but 
 one with decided tendencies to over-assimilation, and 
 naturally addicted to fattening, should feed on dry flad- 
 brod, bruised oats, or stale crusts and water, if he 
 wishes to be in the best possible physical condition. 
 The exercise will render these sufficiently palatable and 
 digestible to enable him to eat and assimilate sufficiently. 
 
226 THROtTGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Trangedal and Lodal Glaciers — Outline of the natural history of 
 avalanches and glaciers — Advance and recession of the Jnstedal 
 Glaciers — The "Bear's Path" Glacier — Permented milk — A 
 human candlestick — An interior — Scandinavian fleas — Scenery 
 of the Jnstedal — ^More starvation — The Nygaard and Krondal 
 Glaciers — Luxurious quarters and Englishmen — How to enjoy 
 dissipation — Centre ornament for a dinner-table — An evening 
 concert in Norway — The trail of the travelling snob — ^Drunken- 
 ness and extortion — A mutinous boat's crew — A walk in the 
 dark — Startling the natives with portable lightning — ^Domestic 
 revelations. 
 
 Neae to the saeter where my tired companions stopped 
 are two magnificent glaciers, descending from the 
 "fond" above the yaUey, down lateral openings into 
 the valley below. They are very near together, and 
 would join at the lower part if they extended a little 
 farther. The upper one comes down a straight valley, 
 and can be seen in its whole course from the " fond ; " 
 it spreads out at its lower part, and displays magnificent 
 blue crevasses : this is the Trangedal glacier. 
 ' The next below it is the glacier of Lodal, the largest 
 known glacier in Norway. I say known glacier; for. 
 there are many of those that flow fi-om the great snow- 
 land of the Fondalen, just within tlie Arctic Circle, and 
 are visible fi-om the steamer on the northward journey 
 
OEIGIN OF GLACIEES. 227 
 
 (see pp. 85, 86), which have never been explored or 
 even reached. 
 
 This glacier of Lodal presents at its lower part 
 decided evidences of being of great extent, though 
 from the valley only two or three miles of its length are 
 visible. It contrasts strikingly with its neighbour of 
 Trangedal, which is clean and white in the parts be- 
 tween the blue bands and crevasses : it looks, at its 
 termination, like a heap of dirt, with mere streaks of 
 snow between. Higher up are two long black streams 
 of medial moraine, besides the usual lateral or shore 
 moraines at each side; This term "moraine," though 
 I have used it so frequently, may still have to some of 
 my readers a rather indefinite meaning, and therefore a 
 short explanation may be acceptable. 
 
 It must be remembered, in the first place, that, as we 
 ascend a mountain, the temperature decreases until we 
 reach a height where the snow that falls during the 
 winter does not thaw in summer. This is called the 
 snow-line. The height of this liae varies with the lati- 
 tude, aspect, proximity to the sea, length of summer, &c. 
 Let us first of aU imagine a high mountain range, 
 forming a single, long, smooth, sloping, rounded back, 
 or an angular ridge like a house-roof, and perfectly un- 
 broken at its sides. The snow, in this case, would 
 begin thawiag in the spring at the lower part, and a 
 nearly even line would be formed by its lower boundary. 
 This line would rise during the advance of summer 
 until it reached the true snow-line, which would still 
 be nearly straight. -At this fine, then, the heat of the 
 
 Q a 
 
228 THEOUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 year would be just capable of melting the snows of the 
 year ; below it the heat would overpower the snow, and 
 above it the snow would prevail. Therefore, above this 
 line there must be continual accumulation of snow ; for 
 as the whole year's heat would be less than sufficient to 
 melt the whole year's snow-fall, there must be an amiual 
 increase of snow. What would become of this, under 
 these circumstances ? It is obvious that it would in- 
 crease in depth ; and the greater the height the greater 
 the rate of this increase : thus it would top up, till it 
 exceeded the angle of repose, and then slip down in 
 avalanches. 
 
 There would be two kinds of avalanches. In the 
 winter, when much snow had recently fallen, — and this 
 snow, from the absence of the sun to overpower the 
 continuous cold of both night and day, remained a dry, 
 incoherent powder, — it would accumulate till it slipped 
 down in great sweeping strata of dust, and thus form 
 the " dust avalanche " (the " staublauinen ") : too well 
 known as a winter visitor to some of the Swiss valleys. 
 In the summer time, even above the snow-line, the sun's 
 rays would be powerful enough to thaw the surface of 
 the snow ; and the water sinking into the snow would 
 partly freeze again below the surface, while that upon 
 the surface would freeze during the night : thus a half- 
 frozen, coherent mass of snow would form, and when 
 this gave way would slide down in lumps, lilce the well- 
 known summer avalanche of the Alps. 
 
 Now let us suppose this roof-shaped mountain to be 
 furrowed down its sides by the wear of descending 
 
FORMATION 01" GLACIERS. 229 
 
 waters, so as to present the form of a ridge-and-furrow 
 roof, something like the transept of the Crystal Palace. 
 The snow would, of course, accumulate in the furrows ; 
 and would he so deep that the melting power of the 
 summer heat would not clear it away to the same 
 height as before ; while on the ridges the snow would 
 lie so thinly, that it would be melted speedily, and the 
 visible snow-line there would be much above the 
 original height. Hence the apparent snow-line would 
 lose its regularity, and be a waving or zigzag line. If 
 these furrows were irregular, such as would be actually 
 formed by the running waters and sliding avalanches 
 wearing away the rock in some parts more than others, 
 this waving or zigzag line would have a corresponding 
 irregvdarity. The path of the avalanches would now 
 be down these furrows, and as the rock forming the 
 sides of the furrows or troughs became weather-worn, 
 disintegrated by frost, or otherwise rendered friable, its 
 loosened fragments would be torn and dragged down, 
 with the sliding avalanches, and deposited in heaps at 
 the bottom, like those in the Romsdal (page 186). 
 
 Now let our supposititious great mountain-ridge 
 assume a more complex form : let there be huge pyra- 
 mids and peaks of rock sprouting irregularly from its 
 sloping side, and toothing the edge of its summit 
 ridge. There would be a labyrinth of hollows be- 
 tween these peaks, valleys, and basins of the upper 
 2Tound above the snow-line. In these the snow would 
 rest and accumulate till they were filled to overflowing ; 
 it would fill up the communicating avenues between 
 
230 THROUGH NOEWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 these basinsj and connect them, as a great snow table- 
 land out of which the rock peaks would arise. Such is 
 Mont Blanc. It appears like a rounded camel-hack 
 mountain ; but I have no doubt that its actual structure 
 is a bunch of ragged granite peaks, like the "Aiguilles" 
 near to it : and the spaces between these acute pyramids, 
 from their bases up to the verge of their summits, and 
 even above the summits of some of the less elevated, 
 are filled with consolidated snow, reaching in some 
 parts to thousands of feet in depth. The summit, the 
 Mont Blanc de Tacul, the Rochers Rouge, the Grands 
 and Petits Mulcts, &c., which stand like rocky islands 
 amidst the vast plains and slopes of snow, are but the 
 summits of these tall, acute pyramids, thus buried 
 neck deep. The " snee fonds " of Norway, such as the 
 Pondalen, the Folgefond, Justedal, &c., differ from 
 this only in being great table-lands, or rolling fjelds, 
 edged with peaks. 
 
 Whether there be such a table-land or an entangle- 
 ment of rock basins and troughs above the snow-line, it 
 is evident that this growing accumulation of snow wiU 
 ultimately overtop the barriers, and must by some 
 means overflow. But how will this overflow be effected? 
 Will it all slide down as avalanches, or may not the 
 barriers formed by the rising peaks above and below the 
 snow-line interfere with this simple mode of outlet? 
 
 The Norwegian table-land of snow, or " sneefond," 
 notched at its edge with rising peaks of rock, presents the 
 simplest form, and the phenomena there presented may 
 be the most easily understood. It must .be remembered 
 
/ FORJIATIOK OF GLACIERS. 231 
 
 that such fjelds are not altogether level ; they are more 
 or less backed or elevated towards their centre, so that 
 there is a varying slope towards the great notches be- 
 tween their boundary peaks. These notches must 
 necessarily be the outlets of the accumulating snow. 
 Overhanging the Stiggevand, just described, is one 
 of the notches, which communicates by an almost per- 
 pendicular wall with the lake below. The ice of the 
 sneefond there bends over in the manner described, 
 and when the overhangiag mass exceeds in weight the 
 coherent power of the ice, huge fragments are detached, 
 which fall into the lake below the snow-line, where they 
 thaw and commence a river. 
 
 Here in the valley of the Justedal are several of such 
 notches. This valley is, in fact, formed on one side by 
 the slopes of a row of the fringing or boundary peaks 
 of the Justedal Sneefond. The notches between these 
 peaks do not, however, terminate in steep walls hke those 
 over the Stiggevand, but in sloping valleys which are 
 tributary to the larger valley of Justedal. If the fjeld 
 above were not snow-covered, simple tributary streams 
 of water would flow down these into the river of the 
 main valley ; but as it is, great streams of ice flow, or 
 are thrust, down far below the snow-hne, where they 
 thaw, and thus contribute to the stream. These ice 
 torrents are the true glaciers : the formation of the 
 Swiss and other glaciers is similar. 
 
 Some notion of the amount of thawing that thus 
 takes place, may be formed from the experiments of 
 M. Bohr, who compared the discharge of the Storelv in 
 
232 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 the morning and evening of a hot summer's day, and 
 found that in the evening there passed by the church of 
 Justedal 1,860 cubic feet, or 116,250 lbs., of water per 
 second more than passed in the morning. 
 
 Glaciers frequently descend in this manner so far 
 belovf the snow-line as to reach the boundaries of the 
 corn-fields ; and of course the lower they come the more 
 rapid must be the thawing. To compensate for this 
 thawing below there must be a continuous supply of ice 
 from above : the glacier must, in fact, be perpetually 
 advancing. Careful observation has proved that such 
 is the case : these great ice slopes move gradually 
 downwards, with a velocity varying with the slope of 
 the ground, the heat of the weather, &c. ; the middle 
 moving faster than the sides, as in the case of a river. 
 
 The Mer do Glace moves at an average rate of about 
 sixteen inches daily. This glacier with its tributaries is 
 about twenty miles long, and a block of stone would be 
 about 200 years travelling from the top of the glacier 
 to the end. Such a block now discharged at the bottom 
 would therefore have started at about the time of 
 Cromwell's death, and have been travelling ever since. 
 Such blocks are continually falling on the glaciers from 
 the precipitous walls of the sides of the valley through 
 which they flow ; and at the foot of such precipices, 
 where there is no glacier, there is usually a talus or 
 heap of stones, the accumulation of ages. When a 
 stone falls upon the glacier, it moves on ; the next 
 takes its place behind this one, and thus a line, instead 
 of a talus or heap, is formed. According to the nature of 
 
GLACIEK PHENOMENA, 233 
 
 the valley through which the glacier passes, the amount 
 of precipitous wall, the friability of the rock, &c. &c., 
 will the numter of such stones be greater or less. 
 These, as they are marshalled on each side or shore of 
 the glacier, form the " lateral moraines." It often hap- 
 pens that two confluent valleys are filled with glaciers, 
 and these meet like the meeting of waters, and swell 
 into a larger stream ; the lateral moraines of the inner 
 sides each unite, and thus a medial moraine is formed. 
 Pinally, these moraines, travelling always onwards, 
 reach, stone by stone, to the bottom of the glacier, 
 and there they are deposited; forming the terminal 
 moraine, which sometimes amounts to a huge accumu- 
 lation. 
 
 I am sorely tempted to continue this subject : to ex- 
 plain how great masses of rock float upon this icy sea, 
 and are upreared on crystal pedestals; how an errant 
 butterfly, chilled to death by the cold glacier blast, falls 
 upon the ice, and by the necessary laws of heat scoops 
 for itself a little grave, a water cup of oval shape, its 
 longer axis lying due north and south, and deepest at the 
 north, so accurately that the traveller without a compass 
 might safely find his bearings by placing a stick in such 
 a cup, and it would fall in a sloping line indicating the 
 meridian of the place ; how this little cup deepens and 
 grows to a large basin, and how that basin shallows 
 afterwards, is next obliterated, and a symmetrical cone 
 with an oval base rises exactly in its place — a temporary 
 monument of ice, marking the grave of the dead butter- 
 fly. But an explanation of these curious phenomena 
 
234 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 would carry me over too much space ; as would also a 
 discussion of the theories that have been propounded of 
 the causes of glacier motion. 
 
 The Lodal Glacier exhibits the phenomena of medial 
 moraines very distinctly and beautifully. It has tra- 
 velled a long way, and bears evidence of tributary 
 streams and much wearing away of mountains. It 
 spreads out at its lower part, affording, by its shape, 
 strong confirmation of the theory of Professor James 
 Forbes, according to which the ice of glaciers is a 
 viscous or partially fluid mass, that yields resistmgly 
 to gravitation and its resulting pressure, and flows as 
 water does, only very slowly. The dirty aspect of the 
 lower part of this glacier is due to the outspreading of 
 the two medial moraines, until they meet each other 
 and finally join the lateral moraine. This, I suspect, is 
 due to the rapid thawing of the lower part of the 
 glacier during the long summer days. The ice upon 
 which the moraine rests being protected by this rocky 
 covering, the moraine is apparently raised, and stands 
 on a ridge, which, becoming higher and higher and 
 more steep-sided, the blocks at last slide down its slope, 
 and are spread out on each side of their former position. 
 This action, continually repeated, would in time dis- 
 tribute them over the whole surface of the glacier and 
 obliterate the regular moraine bands that are visible 
 higher up. 
 
 I walked on down the valley, the wild grandeur of 
 which is most magnificent. At the foot of the glaciers 
 is a loner wnste shore of smootli rnck. wliirli tprminates 
 
ADVANCE AND EECESSION OF GLACIERS. 235 
 
 in a wild heap of boulder rocks, indicating the former 
 extent of these glaciers. One might imagine these 
 glaciers to be great waves from the sea of ice above, 
 that have rolled and broken on this shore, and heaped 
 up the shingle beach beyond, and are now retreating 
 over this smooth strand, and gathering up to curl over 
 and break again, and then rush up as far as their former 
 boundary. 
 
 Glaciers do thus advance and retreat ; only not quite 
 in the shape of breaking waves, nor so rapidly. For 
 about a hundred years the glaciers of the .Tustedal have 
 been retreating : this of Lodal is some 600 or 700 
 yards from its former moraine. In 1740, the damage 
 to farm property in this valley by the encroachment of 
 glaciers became a subject of judicial inquiry. Their 
 retreat has been subsequent to this. 
 
 A few miles farther down the valley there is another 
 fine glacier without any medial moraine, and scarcely 
 any at the sides. The blue crevasses and great ribs of 
 ice are very fine in this. It is called the " Biornestegs 
 Brae," or Bear's Path Glacier, and nearly opposite to it 
 are some more saeters. 
 
 Two or three miles farther down is the farm of 
 Mjelvor, which I had fixed upon as my destination. A 
 peasant I met on the way proved to be the proprietor of 
 this house and of all the country round. The farmhouse 
 is a gloomy, dirty place, but the host did his best to 
 accommodate me; there were some women about, but 
 there appeared to be no mistress, for he himself served 
 me with some sour milk or whey that was three or four 
 
236 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 weeks old— the cows being all at the saeters ahove — and 
 some very dry raw ham and fladbrod. This very stale 
 milk, which I have heard of on the way as one of the 
 Norwegian beverages, but have not tasted before, is 
 rather remarkable : it has a tart saline taste, more like 
 some kinds of ale than anything of milk, I suspect 
 that it is fermented and slightly intoxicating ; that by 
 means of the acid and casein, the sugar of milk has 
 been converted into grape sugar, and has then fer- 
 mented : it is evidently used as a substitute for 
 beei". On account of its excessive tartness, amount- 
 ing to acrid pungency, I was unable to take suiS- 
 cient to test its stimulating properties. My bed 
 was made specially for me of a couple of planks 
 across a bench, a bag of straw upon these, a sheep^ 
 skin over all, and a broken window above my head 
 for ventilation. 
 
 The family, which consisted of the master and six 
 or seven housemen and women, supped altogether on 
 . cement, spooned, as before described, out of a common 
 bowl. The bowl stood on a rude table or block, and 
 they stood around it, dipping by turns scrupulously spoon 
 and spoon about. It was dark, and the large timbered 
 room was lighted only by a blazing band of resinous 
 pine-bark, twisted together into a long stick or scroll, 
 which was held at arm's length overhead by an aged 
 man with long white beard and silver hair, who stood 
 so still and looked so withered that he seemed hke a 
 frozen mummy, fitted with gray glass eyes and glued 
 to the ground as a permanent candlestick. He was 
 
A RUSTIC SUPPER PARTY. 237 
 
 the family pauper, standing in humble servitude, and 
 waiting his turn when the general meal was done. 
 
 The red glare of the reeking brand lighted the faces 
 of the " cementivora" with a copper tinge ; who, as they 
 stood around the bowl, reaching by turns at arm's 
 length and returning their spoons with the long sweep- 
 ing curve before alluded to, seemed like demons doing 
 an incantation. The red light spread dimly throughout 
 the whole of the wooden room ; tinging with lurid and 
 fitful glare the rude logs that made the walls, the brown- 
 smoked heavy beams above, and all the dingy domestic 
 stores suspended from them, and making the great fire- 
 place built into the comer, and the two wooden-box 
 bedsteads and the dilapidated handloom dimly visible. 
 The whole scene would have made a fine subject for 
 such an artist as Gherardo della Notte. 
 
 Scandinavian fleas are very energetic, and on this 
 occasion were abundant also. The bag of straw was 
 very ancient, and many generations of fleas must have 
 lived in peace within it and passed away, since the straw 
 was last changed or the bag washed. 
 
 The next morning I started early, on account of my 
 bedfellows ; taking only a few mouthfuls of fladbrod, 
 and resolving to make amends at the first comfortable- 
 looking farm I should pass on my way down the valley. 
 This valley winds about amidst the wildest desolation 
 of black frowning crags and glacier ruins imaginable ; 
 it is quite equal in grandeur to the Romsdal, and 
 more desolate. There are no waterfalls of any magni- 
 tude ; but the icefalls — the glaciers — well supply their 
 
238 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 plaqe. I should recommend all tourists coming to 
 Norway to visit the Justedal if possible ; and, if at this 
 season, to bring some food with them. Being an inha- 
 bited vaUey, I was reckless in this respect; started 
 early, and hungry, walked on some miles before I- 
 reached a house, and passed that disdainfully in hope 
 of finding a better one ; but in this was disappointed. 
 Finally, on becoming more moderate in my expecta- 
 tions, I knocked at the next and tried tlie door, but 
 found it bolted ; all the people were away up at the 
 saeters or the distant " eng," or upper hay ground, on 
 which at this season the harvest is gathered. I tried 
 other houses with the same result all the day through, 
 and was thus compelled to make breakfast and dinner 
 on raw (stolen) turnips and wild bUberries, which last 
 grow in great abundance and are remarkably fine. 
 
 There are two other glaciers at this part of the 
 valley. The Nygaard glacier comes down a winding 
 valley, and spreads out finely below. Like that of 
 Lodal, its former shore of heaped-up moraine is most 
 distinctly marked; the strand between this and its 
 present limits is a desolate plain of rock, smoothed 
 and grooved by the, former glacier, and the stones 
 imbedded in it. Below this is the Krondal or Berset 
 glacier. There is a wonderfully fine amphitheatre of 
 rocks at the lower part of the valley. 
 
 I reached the mouth of the valley shortly after sunset, 
 and was surprised at finding a downright hotel there — 
 something absolutely luxurious — a place where cookery 
 is understood, and real bread may even be obtained, 
 
LUXURY AFTER STARVATION. 239 
 
 and wine in abundance. Such being the case, I, of 
 course, met some EngHshmen there: had it been a 
 region of nothing to eat, but plenty of copper ore, I 
 should have found a Scotchman or two, Tor my own 
 part, I was in a very decidedly Enghsh state of mind, 
 after starving more or less for the previous ten days. 
 Having already relieved my conscience by confessing 
 to the fact that I did steal some turnips, I may explain 
 that they were only two, and those very small ; my 
 principal food during the day being bilberries — very 
 delicious, but by no means solid and satisfactory. They 
 call them hlau, or blueberries, here ; their rich colour 
 justifies the name, and suggests the etymology of the 
 Scotch name " blaeberry." 
 
 I had a sumptuous banquet of ham and eggs, with 
 bread and a bottle of claret (St. Jullien, of very good 
 quality); the charge for which was about seventeen- 
 pence Enghsh. The duty on wine is twopence per 
 bottle. 
 
 The man who never had a hohday, and has none 
 to anticipate; who has no shop, no factory, no oiEce, 
 no farm, no studio — in short, no daily work to do ; but 
 has been cast upon the world by cruel parents with the 
 stultifying curse of a large inheritance and no fixed 
 ambition — the purposeless idler, to whom all the days 
 of life are of equal dreariness — is perhaps the most 
 miserable of all human beings. What would he give to 
 be capable of the sensations of a hard-worked London 
 apprentice on Easter Monday, or a shopman on Good 
 Friday! He never knew, nor ever can know, what 
 
240 THKOUGH NOEWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 Sunday means. I do not, of course, allude to the dreary,- 
 Sabbath of the modern puritan, but the bright, happy, 
 soul-refreshing Christian holiday. Those who talk so 
 much about the fourth commandment frequently forget 
 its first and fundamental injunction, " Six days shalt 
 thou labour ; " for without the six days' labour, there 
 can be no seventh day of rest. Daily labour is as 
 necessary to man's happiness as daily food is to his 
 physical health. I have never met a single example 
 of an idle man who was not a miserable man ; and one 
 of the greatest of aM our popular delusions is that of 
 considering a forced vocation an evil. The man who 
 spends his life merely in seeking enjoyment, soon finds 
 that enjoyment is an irksome labour — a labour without 
 holiday or any refreshing rest. So with the man who 
 has claret every day with dinner ; he can form no idea 
 whatever of the enjoyment I had of that particular 
 bottle of St Jullien, and the ham and eggs at the Ronnei 
 station, after the invigorating hardships of the previous 
 week or two. It was a mighty feast — a furious dissi- 
 pation — ^which I shall remember for a whole lifetime. 
 
 I determined to stop here a whole day, for rest, 
 luxury, and letter-writmg. There is something like a 
 village here; there are gardens and fruit-trees; and 
 niv dessert after last night's ham and eggs was a 
 branch of a cherry-tree served with the leaves and 
 fruit upon it. I resolved that if ever I have a 
 srarden and a wife, and give a dinner-party in the 
 summer, the dessert shall be served in this fashion — 
 well-laden branches of fruit-trees arranged as a centre 
 
A DOMESTIC CONCERT. 241 
 
 ornament for the table, in place of an electro-plated 
 epergne ; the fabric to be pulled down after dinner, 
 and the branches handed round among the guests to 
 pluck what they desire. If I may draw any conclusion 
 from the condition of the cherry-trees hereabouts, they 
 suffer no injury from this mode of gathering the fruit, 
 which seems to be customary ; for I have never seen 
 cherry-trees so abundantly laden with fruit as those 
 in the garden belonging to this inn : most fruit-trees 
 require lopping and pruning, and this appears a very 
 natural and desirable way of doing it. 
 
 In the evening there was much company at the hotel, 
 and some music ; the instrument, one of the orna- 
 ments of the chief drawing-room, being a jingle-jangle 
 organ, such as the Italian boys carry about our streets : 
 the handle was turned by the host, and the company 
 assembled to hear it were delighted with the concert. 
 The Englishmen who eclipsed me by taking a deck- 
 passage on the Constitutione, arrived here; but I had 
 the advantage of them, for they were too late for the 
 concert, while I had the privilege of hearing it all 
 through. This is a favourite station with yachting 
 parties, of which there are several every year from 
 England. 
 
 The river of the Justedal, the Storelv, brings down 
 an immense quantity of glacier-worn debris, which, being 
 deposited at its mouth, has made a fertile nook here- 
 abouts: the deposition is going on rapidly. I found, 
 when bathing, an extensive subaqueous plain, stretching 
 rio'ht across this branch of the fiord ; and in the course 
 
 E 
 
242 THBOCGH KOEWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 of a century or so, it ynR probably be high and dry, 
 and cultivated right across to Marif joeren on the opposite 
 side, 
 
 Mr next day's walk was over rich cnltiTated country 
 between MsmTjoexea and HaMo. There is a beautiM 
 lake bjr Ha^b, and a remarkaUe steep zigzag road 
 
 On arririi^ at Sogndal^jgeren, I fimnd a considerable 
 pocticn of die boam^ popoladon either drank or in a 
 stale of rea>T€rr from dmnkomess (which, of the two, 
 kiatlier the most disagreeaUe), and I spent two or three 
 lioais Tsitiy endeaTouring to engage a boat to take 
 ne down the fiocd: fiar tJ^re are no roads, or even 
 tndss, or scarcely poaabilities rf travelling on foot, 
 liaedioatB, where die rocks dip almost perpendicularly 
 Bito the watecs of the fiords. 
 
 The peofie here seem very different from any Nor- 
 w^iaiK I hsne met befiire : they have larger features, 
 Ivwet beads, and, many of them, dark hair and eyes, 
 wbH. alin«:<?; a liei^Iitan physiognomy. The boatmesij 
 are THy nnciTil, and, for the first time in Norway^ 
 I fomid tfa^n bent upon making an overcharge: 
 evidmfy calcolatiDg upon my beang an Englishma]} 
 and solmiitting to it. This, and the drunkenne^, ar@ 
 jardjf explained by the &ct that an English yacht 
 bad been there just before : English lavishness had left 
 its usual diranwalizing trail bdiind. After a great deal 
 of tronMe and altercation, I got a boat and two men, 
 one of them pmrdally sober, the other entirely drunk, 
 In order to obtain these, I was obliged to offer 1 mark 
 
DEUNICEN BOATMEN. 243 
 
 per man per mile, instead of 20 skillings, the regular 
 fare, and tliis was considerably below their demand : 
 indeed, they seemed quite unwilling to work at aU. 
 
 The drunken man commenced by pulling furiously, 
 then missed the water, catching crabs, and fell over 
 the seat. Then a head wind blowing, very moderately, 
 they struck altogether, tied the boat to a rock, and 
 refused to go on unless I paid them a doUar. I took 
 no notice of their demand, but laid myself down at the 
 bottom of the boat, and bade them good night. They 
 ate dried salmon and drunk "brandevin" for about 
 three-quarters of an hom', and then went on ; but the 
 drunken man was now quite useless ; he merely splashed 
 the water and roUed about, while the boat made a 
 very curious course. At one moment it was nearly 
 capsized, for they were running it ashore upon a sloping 
 piece of rock which would have uplifted the bow and 
 sent the stem under water ; but I took the oar from the 
 entirely drunken man and just pushed off in time. The 
 other looked over at the deep blue water, and the steep 
 rocks above, in a very uncomfortable manner : he was 
 evidently frightened, and when I strapped on my knap- 
 sack and made them understand that I was quite 
 prepared for swimming, and that I had only saved the 
 boat for the sake of my knapsack, which was lying 
 under the seat, he became quite civil and humble. His 
 drunken helpmate continued as random and stupid as 
 ever, but persisted in rowing ; and as they had to keep 
 close to shore to escape the wind, the boat was in con- 
 tinual danger of running into the rocks. I sat with my 
 
 E 2 
 
244 THROUGH NOEV/AY "WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 arms folded at the stern, and told them that they might 
 capsize the boat as soon as they pleased, when I should 
 swim to a landing-place and wallt back over the rocks; 
 showing my map and compass to prove that I could 
 find the way. The partially drunken man became 
 almost sober, and offered me some brandevin by way 
 of conciliation; this of course I refused, but I took 
 an oar and pulled, and we now made some progress, 
 imtil after rounding a projecting arm of the mountains, 
 when we became exposed to the full force of the wind. 
 The comparatively sober man pointed to a track over 
 the rocks which leads to Lunden, the station we were 
 bound for, and I gladly got ashore at the first practi- 
 cable landing-place, paid them the price agreed for the 
 whole journey, and walked on. 
 
 They had taken me about half way, and it was 
 growing dark and raining. At about ten o'clock I 
 reached a little village, and found that it was not Lunden, 
 but Norum, with its church close by. It grew very 
 dark, and I had much difficulty in keeping the track; 
 but I walked on till past midnight, passing many houses 
 and much cultivated land. I inquired at several of 
 these houses, but such inquiry is a more difficult matter 
 than might appear to any one who is unsophisticated 
 in matters of Norwegian domestic architecture; for 
 bells, knockers, locks, and bolts, are equally unknown, 
 and all the houses are in the utter darkness of a wet 
 cloudy night. I opened one door and called out, but 
 got no answer ; then I stepped forward and found it ftdl 
 of hay. Trying another', I found that the inhabitants 
 
IN SEARCH OF A LODGING. 245 
 
 were cows ; then another, which was a storehouse of 
 cheeses, pails, and agricultural implements. Walking 
 on farther, T opened another door, stepped forward into 
 a broad dark vacancy, and heard around me several 
 snorers ; - 1 called and coughed, but the snoring con- 
 tinued uninterrupted. After some little hesitation and 
 compunction on the score of impertinent intrusion, 
 disturbing the people, &c., I took out my box of wax 
 vesta matches and struck a light ; this flash of light 
 startled all the sleepers at once; they sat up in their 
 beds, and disclosed the fact that nightshirts are not 
 fashionable in these parts : but they were very civil, 
 in spite of being thus unceremoniously startled, and 
 told me that Lmiden was some distance farther. 
 
 At one of these places I was rather startled myself. 
 It was a hay-house partly filled, and being vacant 
 near the door where I stood, I struck a light, when 
 suddenly a man in the costume of Paradise arose 
 from out of the hay close by my feet. These 
 hay-houses in Norway correspond to the " spare 
 rooms " of English domestic economy, and are used 
 for sleeping apartments when there is a pressure of 
 visitors. 
 
 At last I reached a house, which, after waking the 
 host and hostess by means of my portable lightning, I 
 found to be the Lunden station. I was kindly and 
 hospitably received, and provided with a supper of 
 fladbrod, and " smoer," and sour milk. The house was 
 a poor one, but there was the old simplicity and 
 kindness I have become accustomed to associate with 
 
246 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A ICsTAPSACK. 
 
 Norway, and whicli more than compensates for defi- 
 ciencies of physical comfort. The altercations with the 
 boatmen of Sogndalsfjoeren, their general conduct, and 
 the feehngs they awakened, were a sad rupture of these 
 pleasing associations. 
 
247 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The Naero Piord — Gudvangen and the Naerodal — Out for the night 
 again — Mountains safer than plains for out-of-door sleeping — 
 Keturning from church by water — Sunday costume — A jolly 
 boatman — Night on the fiord — The Voring Foss — A project for 
 Barnum — Sailing before the wind — The station at Utne — A 
 wonderful cup — The origin of corrugated zinc and iron — Defer- 
 ence to Englishmen — The cost of boats in Norway — How to 
 make an economical yachting tour in Norway — The Folgefond — 
 Varying saltness of the fiords, and its possible effects on animal 
 and vegetable life, a subject for investigation. 
 
 In the morning I started by boat, with my host and 
 another man, for Gudvangen, distant 3f Norsk miles, 
 about 24 miles English; a good day's work. These men 
 were weU satisfied with the legal fare. 
 
 The assistant boatman might have been transported 
 direct to Venice, and if there upon the piazzetta, crying 
 " Barca, barca, vucol barca, Signore," would not have 
 been recognized as out of place, except by a large round 
 silver brooch he wore in his shirt-front. His phy- 
 siognomy is of the same type as I had observed for the 
 first time at Sogndalsfjoeren — dark hair and eyes, large 
 nose, muscular swarthy cheeks, and a rather lank bony 
 figure.* 
 
 * This physiognomy I have since found to be characteristic of the 
 peasants of the Tellemark and neighbouring districts. 
 
248 THROUGH NORVfAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 The scenery of this fiord is very grand ; very much , 
 like the lalie of Lucerne at its wildest portions, and 
 quite equal to it. At the distance, glimpses of the 
 Justedal snovs^-fields are obtained. 
 
 The Naero Fiord, a branch of the Sogne Fiord, is 
 grander than any part of the lake of Lucerne. It is the 
 grandest lake I have ever seen. The name of narrow 
 fiord well describes its chief characteristic. It is an 
 irregular sea-filled gorge between perpendicular rocks 
 rising to a height of 3,000 feet or more : Murray says 
 5,000 feet, but this, I think, is an excessive estimate. 
 The summits of the mountains are probably about that 
 height, but not the walls that dip into the salt lake. 
 
 It was curious to see porpoises and a grampus rolling 
 about in such an apparently inland lake as this. Eagles 
 are not uncommon hereabouts : I saw two in the course 
 of the day. The boatmen call them the " ornr pro- 
 nounced " earne," the same name, and apparently the 
 same species, as the Scottish eagle. 
 
 I landed at Gudvangen in the afternoon. This is the 
 port of the Naerodal, or narrow valley, a continuation 
 of the same rock-walled valley as the Naero Fiord, but 
 with a river at the bottom, instead of a branch of the 
 sea. The hostess of Gudvangen was not a pleasant 
 specimen : she brought me a very skinny allowance of 
 fish and bread, and charged a mark for it — the which 
 mark she clutched with a miserly expression that was 
 quite picturesque in its way. Murray's unfavom'able 
 criticism of this establishment appears to be quite 
 correct. { 
 
jr>.^#-'^"' 
 
 
 "-v 
 
 y 
 
 
 
 ■« 
 
 BBKSP'^^^^iSpfceAi 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 gj 
 
 
 i:?^ 
 
 ■<.'. ^-^•■. 
 
 ilif' 
 
 
THE NAERODAL. 249 
 
 There is a sort of Staubbach waterfall here, which 
 comes over a precipice nearly opposite the station. It 
 is called the Keel Foss, and is estimated in Murray's 
 "Guide" at 2,000 feet high: if so, it must be the 
 highest fall in the world ; but I think that half that 
 height is much nearer the truth. 
 
 I walked up this very singular and magnificent valley, 
 between its great walls .of rock, and past the cul-iously- 
 shaped sugar-loaf mountain that stands like an obelisk, 
 and forms one of its most remarkable features, until I 
 reached the upper end of the valley, which is closed in 
 by a pyramidal mountain, standing, bolt upright in front 
 of the road, and apparently defying farther progress. 
 A zigzag road, which is an engineering triumph, over- 
 comes this obstacle ; and from it magnificent views of 
 the valley and fiord are obtained. There are two very 
 fine cascades, which fall almost in front of this road, 
 and are well seen from it. 
 
 I started from Gudvangen at about six o'clock, in- 
 tending to stop at the next station, some two hours' 
 walk ahead ; but passed it without being aware : I 
 only remember some dirty huts about the spot. At 
 about eleven o'clock I reached the next station, Vinge, 
 entered it, struck a light, and found a dirty man lying 
 in a dirty trough : not a raised box, as usual here, but 
 a wooden trough, lying on the ground. In another 
 trough, on the opposite side, was an equally dirty 
 woman ; there were some children and other people dis- 
 tributed about in similar troughs on the other parts 
 of the floor. The man made some surly answers to my 
 
250 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 inquiries, and did not show any symptoms of intending 
 to rise. I was quite disgusted, and made up my mind 
 to walk on. It appears that this station and the one 
 previously passed are not used at aU as sleeping-places, 
 but merely for the changing of horses : tourists coming 
 this way all sleep at Gudvangen. 
 
 Walking on a mile or two farther, I made another 
 attempt to get a bed, which was equally unsuccessful. 
 Close by the road was a tempting hayfield, with the 
 new-mown hay stacked on wooden frames or horses, so 
 I spread a little of this upon the ground, and laid down 
 by the side of one of the frames ; but in a very few 
 minutes I found — what in the dark I had not observed 
 — that the field was a spongy semi-bog ; the water soon 
 soaked through my bed of hay, and my clothes also, 
 and I was glad to walk on again to dry myself. 
 
 In the absence of the dry, crisp heather, or reindeer 
 moss, a nice flat piece of rock is, after all, the best out- 
 door bed ; and it is always safer to sleep upon a moun- 
 tain than upon a plain. The dews and night mist — 
 dampness and malaria — settle in the plains and lower 
 valleys; but upon the mountain sides and summits, 
 when it is not actually raining or " mizzling," there is 
 dry, safe ground always to be found, and an atmosphere 
 which may be cold and benumbing to the toes and 
 fingers, but is not liable to engender ague or rheu- 
 matism. I found such a stone a little farther on, 
 where the road rose, and slept comfortably upon it for 
 a couple of hours, nntil the day dawned. 
 
 Walking on through grand and beautiful scenery. 
 
A DAY'S BEST. — RETURNING FROM CHURCH. 251 
 
 and past waterfalls and lakes, I reached Vosseyangen, 
 at about six o'clock. This station is prettily situated 
 on the banks of a lake, with fertile country and wooded 
 hills around, and is well provided with food: even 
 such luxuries as white bread may be obtained here. 
 After a supper, or breakfast, whichever it may be 
 called, I went to bed, and slept till midday, spending 
 the afternoon idly and luxuriously, bathing in the lake, 
 lounging on its banks, writing letters, and fishing : but, 
 cockney-like, I caught nothing. 
 
 At this part of my diary there is a note recom- 
 mending all tourists in Norway to ask for pancakes, 
 called "pankucken" in Norsk. I was told by four 
 Englishmen I meet here, and supped with, that this 
 luxurious food may be obtained at most of the 
 stations : this was a new fact to me, and quite worthy 
 of record. 
 
 "Walked on next day over beautifully wooded country, 
 and through rich, rocky glens, passing a dozen or so 
 of waterfalls and several lovely lakes. It was Simday, 
 and there was a Sunday calm and brightness in the air, 
 and over the country all around. On crossing the lake 
 at Graven, the people were coming out of the church 
 on the side I was approaching, and I met them as they 
 walked down the hill towards the water-side. They 
 all embarked and crossed the lake, while I ascended the 
 hill, commanding a fine view of it. The efiect of this 
 procession of boats, creeping slowly and silently along, 
 was very picturesque: the white caps and red dresses 
 of the women contrasted finelv with the dark waters of 
 
252 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 the lake and the wooded hills around. The situation 
 and general aspect of the lalte are suggestive of soli- 
 tude, and this seemed lilce an unaccustomed holiday 
 outbreak upon it. 
 
 There is decided character in the costume hereabouts: 
 the men wear short jackets and vests, with double rows 
 of showy glass buttons on them ; some have Brummel 
 hats, and others glazed sailors' hats. The women dress 
 very gaily: a wliite handkerchief is folded OA-^er the 
 head, fitting closely to its shape ; then by means of a 
 wire or cane it is stretched over the top of the head 
 in the form of a large flat arch, spreading far out at the 
 sides, and terminating in large vraigs, while the loose 
 remains of the handkerchief fall down partly behind 
 and partly at the sides: altogether it forms an elabo- 
 rate and extensive specimen of millinery architecture. 
 The bodice of their dress is a sort of open waistcoat 
 of scarlet cloth, with a bright green border, the lower 
 part of it disappearing under the skirt, which comes up 
 very high ; the open part of the vest bemg filled with 
 a breastplate of embroidered cloth worked elaborately 
 with brilliantly coloured wool and silk : some have 
 bright glass beads worked in with the wool, and the 
 more aristocratic have breastplates worked with gold 
 and silver thread. I saw one matron, whose breast was 
 covered by one great central star, the rays alternately 
 of gold and silver, and the centre of glistening beads : 
 it was altogether on so magnificent a scale, that only a 
 stout woman could find room between the shoulders to 
 display it all at once. Besides these, they have silver 
 
COSTUME. — A JOLLY BOATMAN. 253 
 
 and silver-gilt trinkets hanging from the neck; I am 
 not sufficiently versed in jewellery to give them a name, 
 but they may he described as cup-shaped buttons with- 
 out shanks, or brooches. They wear them about the 
 neck ; and when they have a sufficient number they 
 make a necklace of them ; while those w^ho possess but 
 two or three, simply hang them in the front of the 
 neck. The men also wear large silver brooches in 
 their shirt-fronts, and fasten the shirt-neck with silver- 
 linked buttons. 
 
 The road now passes over a small fjeld on to Ulvik, 
 a water station, where I tried to get a boat. The 
 station-master, who was evidently endowed with the 
 natural instincts of an hotel-keeper, did his best to hinder 
 me and force me to take two men, or stop for the night 
 at his house: this sort of dodging, however, is almost 
 unknown in Norway. At first I asked for a boat ; and 
 a boat and one man was about to start, as a matter of 
 course ; but when he found that I was an Englishman, 
 h& stoutly maintained that two men were necessary, and 
 I was kept above an hour waiting for the second man. 
 At last I paid the host his tilsigelse, or fee for calhng 
 the boat, got in with the one man, taking an oar myself, 
 and we pulled off, to the great chagrin of the landlord 
 (the payment is twenty shillings per man per mile) and 
 the satisfaction of the one boatman, a jolly fellow, with 
 a club-foot and one eye, who evidently disliked the 
 landlord and enjoyed his disappointment. As soon as 
 he learnt how far I had walked, he insisted upon taking 
 the oar from me, made a bed with liis jacket and some 
 
254 THEOUGH NOEWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 canvas, and would not go on until I laid down com- 
 fortably and arranged myself for the night, wMcli was 
 now coming on. 
 
 The night was very beautiful on the water ; one by 
 one the stars broke through the darkening curtain of 
 the sky above, and the daylight lingered in the north, 
 shining out from behind the purple edge of the sharp 
 mountain ridges. I lay down lazily at the bottom of 
 the boat; the old man rowing and singing the rude 
 spontaneous music of a happy unselfish heart ; then the 
 daylight passed quite away, all the stars shone at their 
 very best, and several meteors trailed along the sky. 
 At about midnight we reached Vik, the station from 
 which all tourists start to see the great Voring Foss. I 
 invited the one-eyed boatman to take supper with me, at 
 which he was much delighted ; though the supper was 
 very rude, nothing but bread, and butter, and cheese, 
 and ale being to be had, though this house is so much 
 frequented. This station is a very poor one: a small 
 jackaU to so great a lion as the Voring Foss ; but when 
 Norway grows more fashionable, as it doubtless must, 
 there will probably arise a considerable hotel hereabouts. 
 
 The next morning I started on the way to the water- 
 fall, making first for the Eidfiord Lake, and crossing 
 it to Saebo. There is a fine example of a raised beach 
 or terrace on this small lake. The valley above is very 
 wild and grand, well worthy of a visit for itself, inde- 
 pendently of the fall. It is terminated by a wall of 
 rock that seems quite impassable, reminding one of the 
 approach to the foot of the Gemmi Pass. A rough 
 
THE VOEING FOSS. 255 
 
 zigzag path up this leads to a large rolling moor, sur- 
 mounted in the far distance by the snowy peak of the 
 Hailing Joklen. The fall is somewhere hereabouts; a 
 mile or two from the commencement of this moor : but 
 it is not easy to find. I was told below that I should 
 find a gorge to the left, and a thin thread cascade visible 
 fi-om a distance, and that immediately below this is the 
 Voring Foss ; but that in spite of these indications it 
 is very difficult to find. This proved to be quite true, 
 and in order to save time I made for the small farm 
 of Hoi, where, after consuming two large bowls of milk, 
 I engaged a Httle boy to conduct me to the Foss. Most 
 of the farmhouses have pictures of some kind ; rude 
 prints, portraits of King Oscar and subjects fi:om Scrip- 
 ture history, prevail. At this establishment a great 
 work of high art is careftdly hung upon the wall and 
 exhibited ostentatiously in the best available light: it 
 is Bradshaw's Railway Map of England. 
 
 I saw the fall from two points : the first, a ledge of rock, 
 from which the lower part is visible ; the second displays 
 nearly the whole of it. The torrent forming the fall 
 flows from the melting snows of the Hailing Joklen, and 
 traverses for some miles the moor just spoken of. There 
 it sinks into a guUy it has cut, to the depth of some 200 
 feet below the level of the moor ; and thence it pitches 
 in a foaming mass down into a narrow gorge of fearful 
 depth. The place from which I first saw it was a pro- 
 jecting piece of rock, not merely perpendicular, but 
 undermined, and positively overhanging this horribly 
 magnificent abyss. The rock is smoothed at the top. 
 
256 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 and slopes downwards in a most slippery manner towards 
 the overhanging precipice. A slater, a chamois hunter, 
 or a Chamoimi guide, might possibly \ enture to stand 
 upon the brink, but I could not; so I laid down and let 
 my face hang over, and shuddered even then. Plumb 
 down below, a clear thoTisand feet or more, with no 
 rock or anything to break the declivity, is the foaming 
 pool of milky water into which the torrent thunders 
 with solid, crashing energy. The idea of sliding 
 forward and pitching down licadlong after the manner 
 of the water is almost suggested, accompanied with a 
 horrible suicidal fascination — a sort of insane desire to 
 do so. On the opposite side the perpendicular rocks 
 I'ise two or three hundred feet higher. 
 
 The other point of view coiimianding the whole of 
 the fall is rather less horrible. The fall itself is not a 
 beautiful one seen thus from above: it being so much 
 fore-shortened that its height, said to be 900 feet of 
 clear fall, is by no means evident. The deep dreadful 
 hole it has dug for itself by its everlasting pounding 
 upon the rock is grander than the fall, and well worth 
 a long pilgrimage. The cataract is not a graceful sheet 
 of water, nor a waving mare's-tail fall, but a descending 
 mass, a great lump of water, driving eternally down- 
 wards ; demonstrating the tremendous and never-ceasing 
 power of gravitation, and seemingly intent upon forcing 
 a passage to the earth's centre. 
 
 The cutting made by this waterfall is altogether a 
 very remarkable one ; something like the gorge of the 
 Tamina at the Baths of Pffefers. It must be about two 
 
A PROJECT FOE BAKNUM. 257 
 
 miles in length from the foot of the fall to its outlet at 
 the bottom of the zigzag path up the barren mountain ; 
 its depth is above a thousand feet, and it is only four or 
 five yards in width. I was sorry that I could not afford 
 time to explore it. At the expense of a day's work and 
 a ducking, I have little doubt that the fall might be 
 reached, by climbing and wading, and perhaps, in some 
 parts, swimming up this gully. 
 
 It would pay very well, I am sure, to buy the farm 
 ^.t Saebo, and build a rough hotel there with a wooden 
 gallery like that in the gorge of Tamiiia. I am no 
 advocate fpr artificial adjuncts to waterfalls; but in 
 this case, where one of the grandest, if not the one 
 grandest fall in Europe is almost inaccessible, an arti- 
 ficial approach to it, displaying not only the fall but 
 the magnificent gorge it has cut, would be perfectly 
 permissible, and the payment of a toll for the use of 
 the gallery (as at Pffefers) quite legitimate. The 
 present station is not only a very wretched one, but is 
 so far from the fall that it is a day's work, whether by 
 horse or foot, to go to it and back again ; leaving very 
 little time for contemplating the fall and making an 
 exploration of its vicinity. An inn at Saebo would be 
 within a couple of hours' walk of the top of the fall, 
 and close by the outlet of the gorge. The whole con- 
 cern might be bought for a trifle — waterfall, gorge, 
 vaUey, and farm; some other waterfalls higher up 
 might be included, and the mountain thrown into the 
 bargain, as a consideration for cash payment. It would 
 be the grandest show in Europe. Is there no Barnum 
 
258 TJIEOUGH NOBWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 that will bid for it,, and work it in conjunction with the 
 steani communication on the Hardanger Fiord ? K not, 
 let us form a Limited Liability. 
 
 On the way back, the boatman who rowed me across 
 the lake was eloquent in his account of the visit of the 
 King of Holland : how he gave five dollars for a bowl 
 of milk, two dollars to himself for rowing him across, 
 and a dollar each as " drikkepenge " (drink-money) to all 
 concerned. 
 
 The next morning I started with a boat and two 
 rowers for tJtne ; distant two Norsk miles. It was a 
 windy, squally morning, but the wind being aft, we 
 put up a sail, and the boat, a very small one, rushed 
 through the water during the squalls at a wondrous, 
 pace. It was a very exciting sail ; the boatman holding 
 the sheet in his hand, kept the sail square untU the 
 bow of the boat was fairly buried in the water, as the 
 strength of the wind increased. The men told me that 
 such a boat, with its mast and sail, can be. bought here 
 for five or six dollars. 
 
 On reaching the Utne station, I was told that if I 
 waited fisr an hour, I could have hot " mad : " that is, a 
 dinner. Feaaring that such unusual hoxury might corrupt 
 me, I told them that I could not wait, but would be glad, 
 to take anything they had ready — expecting,, of course, 
 some fladbrod and smoer. To my surprise, a well- 
 cooked grouse was brought in about ten minutes after, 
 with salad ; and after it some gooseberry-fool, with deli- 
 cious cream. There were tw« polished maliogajiiy chests, 
 of drawers, besides other furniture, and a floor so clean 
 
A MARVELLOUS HEAD-DRESS. 259 
 
 that it seemed never to have been trodden on: in 
 addition to all this, the walls were papered. This is, 
 to my taste, one of the best stations I have met with 
 in Norway. It has no hotel pretensions, yet there is 
 a certain air of elegance, combined with a thorough 
 farmhouse homeliness and comfort ; and the cleanliness 
 of the place is quite exhilarating. The charge for all 
 this was one mark, or elevenpence English. 
 
 It was well worth the money, and a day's journey, 
 to see the work of art borne by the hostess upon her 
 head. It was a mighty structure of white cambric, 
 or some such material, similar to those already described 
 (page 252), but far more marvellous. The great arch 
 overhead spread aloft like a peacock's tail ; and, instead 
 of depending on wire or cane, was self-supporting by 
 virtue of starch and a wonderful complication of fine 
 crimping : I believe that is the proper term ; if not, 
 I will try another, and say " goffering." * The imma- 
 culate whiteness of all its vast expanse was in perfect 
 harmony with the cleanliness of the whole establishment. 
 
 This station is situated at the commencement of the- 
 Sor Fiord, which is one of the terminal branches of 
 the Hardanger Fiord. I walked on over a rough path, 
 sometimes keeping the shore, then mounting the steep 
 hill sides, commanding fine views of the fiord. There 
 is a fine combination of savage grandeur and smiling 
 
 * Zinc or ironwork treated in the same way would he called " cor- 
 rugated." Our modem corrugated zinc for roofs and walls is but an 
 imitation of this method of strengthening a thin material that has 
 been practised by laundresses for ages. 
 
 S 2 
 
260 THROUGH K-QEWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 beauty here. Grand mountains slope steeply down to 
 tlie water, thrusting forward sharp promontories, be- 
 tween which are sheltered bays with verdant banks of 
 gently sloping cultivated land, with comfortable, clean- 
 looking farms dotted here and there. There is much 
 game hereabouts : Utne, I have no doubt, would be 
 a capital station for a sportsman. 
 
 The quiet, light-haired, characteristic Norsk people 
 prevail here. The dark Celtic-looking features which 
 were common from Sogndalsfjoren to Vik, have disap- 
 peared again. With the true Scandinavian type of face 
 and head, there are combined more cleanliness, better 
 farming, and more of the aspect of comfort and simple 
 honesty. The red waistcoats, silver ornaments, and 
 plaited hair still prevail. 
 
 An Englishman, or a tourist of any country, is evi- 
 dently -a great curiosity here. Many pass this way, 
 but they go by water ; the land-path is quite a byway. 
 
 The men and women were busy in the fields gather? 
 ing the harvest of oats and barley. They left their' 
 work as I approached, and asked me many questions; 
 but their manner was so simple and unobtrusive that 
 there was no rudeness in their curiosity : indeed, many 
 of them took off their hats and stood uncovered when 
 I told them that I was an Englishman. When they 
 become better acquainted with travelhng Englishmen, 
 this compliment, I fear, will be discontinued. 
 
 On two or three occasions when these gossiping 
 halts occta-red near to a farmhouse, one of the girls 
 from among the group ran off, and speedily returned 
 
CHEAP SAILIKG BOATS. 261 
 
 bearing a bowl of milk, which was given me to drink. 
 One of the farmers told me that the path on this, the 
 west side of the fiord, was so bad that I should not 
 reach Flesje, the point I had fixed upon for the night, 
 until two in the morning. He advised me to cross, and 
 showed me a man going over, who rowed me across the 
 fiord, and refused to take any payment. 
 
 I wallied on along the eastern shore, encountering 
 the same kind of simple curiosity and civility as before. 
 Being recommended to stop at a house built close on 
 the water's edge, near to UUensvang, I found it to be 
 the new ima of Lofthuus partly built. The portion that 
 is finished is very comfortable, and I was served with 
 wheaten bread and a good bed. 
 
 The next morning I took a boat. The boatman had 
 been a sailor in an American brig, and spoke nautical 
 English : he had a new boat, rather a good one, adapted 
 for two rowers and four or five passengers, and told me 
 that the boat, with a pair of oars, cost 7 dollars; or 
 12 dollars, including mast, sails, and rudder. For 50 
 or 70 dollars — i.e., from \Ql. to 14Z. — a "skyter," or 
 sloop, with a tall mast and sails, a deck, and a cabin, in 
 which two or three persons may contrive to sleep, can 
 be purchased ; and for about 261., a vessel fit for sea, 
 in which the voyage round the North Cape might be 
 safely made in summer time, and even the return 
 journey to England. He pointed out to me two or 
 three such vessels, which might pass muster at Cowes, 
 in foggy weather, when the absence of copper-bottom, 
 &c. would not be visible. 
 
262 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 A party of four or five maght start from Bergen on 
 this part of the Hardanger Fiord, purchase such a vessel, 
 lay in a stock of biscuits, &c., and with the aid of a 
 gun or two, and some fishing tackle, obtain the rest of 
 their food, and visit the best parts of Norway at a very 
 moderate expense, provided all the party were something 
 of sailors. This man, whose name is Peter Hartsberg, of 
 Ullensvang, told me that he would undertake the pilot- 
 ing and management of such a vessel. I should say that 
 four or five hardy feUows might, in this manner, start 
 from Hull, have two months' yachting and some inland 
 excursions, fare handsomely all the while, and return to 
 England at an expense not exceeding 201. or 251. eacli. 
 Idlers and coxcombs, who must go ashore and " do 
 the snobbish" to astonish the natives, would of course 
 require five or six times as much. With carefiil man- 
 agement, all the fiords, and the voyage to Hammerfest, 
 raight be "done" in a boat that would cost but 51. The 
 only difficulty in this case would be in coasting fi-om 
 the mouth of one fiord to another ; but by choice of 
 weather this might be quite safely done ; the distance to 
 be traversed on the open coast beuig seldom more than 
 a day's row or sail, and there are pleiity of bays and 
 harbours everywhere. The small boat has some con- 
 siderable advantages over a large one ; it may be rowed 
 in calm weather, and can run close into the shore and 
 creep behind projecting rocks, when shelter from the 
 wind is desirable. The only difficulty with such a 
 boat would be the croesmg to the Lofibdens; but 
 as the steamer is plying weekly, this journey might 
 
HOW TO TRAVEL IN NORWAY. 263 
 
 be made, and the boat sent forward alcmg the coast 
 to meet the steamer on its return to the first mainland 
 station. 
 
 The piirchase of a boat appears to me a far better 
 investment than the purchase of a carriole. The best 
 scenery in Norway is on the coast, and near the fiords ; 
 the best stations are those on the fiords, and even the 
 inland scenery is all very near the fiords. A boat will 
 carry a good stock of provisions, besides shooting and 
 fishing materials ; and if in addition to this a tent were 
 provided, no cabin would be needed, for the tourist 
 might land upon any convenient roek, make up Ms bed, 
 and pass the night luxuriously. This would be the 
 most enjoyable, and the cheapest way of visiting 
 iNorway. A few lines and hooks to hang over the boat 
 side will always afford a supply of food. 
 
 The scenery of the fiord continues very fine, com- 
 bining much grandeur with a Zurich-like sweetness. 
 The glaciers of the Folgefond, another great ice-field 
 about forty miles long and ten to twenty broad, over- 
 hang the lower part of the fiord, but do not descend 
 very low, on account of the precipitous character of the 
 rocks affording but little resting-place for the ice. 
 This arm of the fiord, though a branch of the sea, is so 
 far from the opening of the fiord — more than a hundred 
 miles — that the saltness of the water is scarcely percep- 
 tible to the taste. One might drink half a pint of it 
 without observing it to be at all salt, unless especial 
 attention were directed to the fact. Such being the 
 case, I was much surprised at finding that the rocks 
 
264 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 are tMckly grown with seaweed, a species of bladder- 
 wrack, similar to that which abounds on our own coasts, 
 but of paler colour. The mussels are also very abun- 
 dant, but very small ; they diminish in size as the water 
 grows less salt. 
 
 The late Professor Edward Forbes brought to light 
 some very interesting and important facts by dredg- 
 ing up animals from different depths of the sea-coast. 
 He found that there were zones of characteristic 
 animal life, corresponding to zones of depth ; and 
 thereby geologists have been able to come to curious 
 conclusions respecting the depths of the ancient seas in 
 which the animals lived, . whose fossil fragments tell 
 the wondrous history of the world's early growth. A 
 similar investigation of the plants and animals of 
 estuaries, and their relation to the varying degrees of 
 saltness, would, I suspect, be very interesting ; especially 
 as there are many reasons for believing that much of 
 our coal was deposited in fiords, or even inland lakes. 
 The Norwegian fiords and the Gulf of Bothnia afford 
 fine fields for such inquiry. 
 
265 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The Tyssedal and Skieggedal — Glacier ruins on a grand scale — An 
 unvisited region and neglected waterfalls — A singular glacier 
 and its mode of formation — Influence of the amount of rainfall 
 in determining the height of the snow-line-^Odde — On the 
 practice of maintaining footmen and other male domestics — 
 Evidences of general honesty — A recently arrived pastor — 
 Position of the Norwegian pastor — Importance of practical 
 education to the clergy — A hunt for a lodging — The Haukelid 
 I^elde — A wet hed — How to pass a wet night on the fjeld — 
 Norwegian mode of preparing coffee — A hint for English cot- 
 tagers — A returned emigrant. 
 
 I LANDED at Tyssedal, at the mouth of the Skieggedal, 
 where, according to a Norwegian I met on the way, 
 there is one of the finest waterfalls in Norway — one not 
 mentioned in Murray, and apparently unlinown to 
 English tourists. The only mention I have found of it 
 in any book, is by Professor Forbes, who heard its roar 
 (or what his guide supposed to be its roar) when cross- 
 ing the Folgefond, which is above twelve miles distant 
 as the crow flies. 
 
 I walked, or rather climbed^up the valley by a diffi- 
 cult track, over ma^ificent glacier ruins — sometimes 
 struggling among moraine boulders, then across vast 
 slopes of bare, smoothed rocks, so steep as to be almost 
 dangerous : some parts of the latter would be quite 
 so, or even impassable, but for trunks of trees laid 
 across and fastened together, so as to afford foothold. 
 
266 THROUGH NOEWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 In most places these steep slopes terminate in a pre- 
 cipice of considerable depth, with the torrent roaring 
 below. It is something like walking on a slated house- 
 roof of gigantic dimensions. The glacier slopes in this 
 valley are even more remarkable than those of the 
 Justedal. 
 
 After two or three hours of this sort of scrambling, 
 I came upon an oasis amidst the desolation, on which 
 oasis are two farms. I asked for Jacob, to whom I had 
 been recommended by the pastor of UUensvang. Jacob 
 is the principal farmer, and owns the greater part of 
 the valley. < I found him worlung in a field, and he 
 took me to his home, he and his wife bidding me a 
 kind welcome. They are a young couple, recently 
 married ; and the house, though poor, is clean and com- 
 fortable. They gave me a supper of lake trout and ale, 
 and a good straw bed, with clean blankets and no fleas, 
 in an adjoining building. 
 
 After breakfast of trout and coffee, I started for the 
 falls, umder the guidance of Jacob. We first crossed a 
 little lake, then went on farther to a large one, some 
 four or five miles long: a wild mountain taim, with 
 precipices around. Over one of these, at .the upper 
 end of the lake, is the Ringedals Foss, called also the 
 Skieggedals Foss. It is a very beautiful waterfall, about 
 600 or 800 feet high : the stream just grazes the rock 
 nearly all the way, spreading into a snowy sheet, and 
 throwing out a vast amount of spray. It is something 
 like the Mongefoss ; not so high, but the quantity of 
 water much greater : it is, perhaps, the most beautiful 
 
WATERFALLS AND SPRAY GLACIER. 267 
 
 fall I have seen in Norway, btit not the grandest. 
 There is no difficulty in approaching it. 
 
 We proceeded then to another fall on the north 
 side of the lake. After about an hour and a hah" of 
 hard scrambling over rough boulders, with much rank 
 vegetation springing between them, we came to the foot 
 of the Tysse Strenger, as Jacob called them. They are 
 twin falls, pitching into a common ,chasm. They start 
 at some distance from each other, but in their long 
 journey downwards are so much spread out by the 
 resisting air, that they meet and mingle into one cloudy 
 mass of spray below. The hghter fragments of the 
 spray are carried far away from the body of the falls 
 in a diminishing cloud, extending at its extreme limits to 
 a distance of quite half a nule. This has brought about 
 a curious result: the formation of a glacier of an entirely 
 abnormal character. Although so late in the year, and 
 the Sim's heat so strong, the gorge at the foot of the cas- 
 cade was bridged over with ice, under which the waters 
 flowed. This, though thus undermined, was so strong, 
 that I and Jacob walked over it with perfect safety : from 
 it, in fact, the best view of the Mis may be obtained. 
 Like the ordinary glacier, it is crevassed ; though I am 
 not prepared to state that the crevasses are formed in a 
 similar manner. I was prevented by a broad blue 
 crevass — reminding me of the " bergschrund," or last 
 upper crevass of an Alpine snow-field — from walking 
 quite close to the falls ; but was near enough to get well 
 wetted while standing on any part of this ice-bridge, 
 or waterfall glacier. The mode of its formation is 
 
268 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A ICNAPSACK. 
 
 pretty evident. During the winter, the spray is of 
 course frozen, and this cloud is so dense that it forms 
 a great accumulation of snow, too deep for all the 
 summer's sun to melt; thus bringing the snow-line in 
 this smaU spot some thousands of feet lower than that 
 of the country generally, and indicating in a very 
 striking and instructive manner one of the causes (and 
 one that has not been suiSciently considered) which de- 
 termine the height of the snow-line: viz., the quantity of 
 rainfall during the winter. It is evident that with a 
 given amount of summer heat, a corresponding depth of 
 snow is capable of being melted. With a constant 
 amount of snow-fall during the winter, the height of 
 the snow-line would vary directly with the amount of 
 summer-heat ; and, on the other hand, with a constant 
 amount of summer heat, the height of the snow-line 
 would vary inversely with the amount of winter snow- 
 fall. 
 
 This requires to be continually regarded in aU specu- 
 lations concerning the existence of a "glacial epoch," 
 and in all inquiries as to the causes of the periodic 
 advance and recession of glaciers in particular locahties; 
 especially in latitudes where the winter is long. All 
 around this small permanent glacier, or snow fond, is a 
 rank vegetation, which extends up the hiU sides far 
 above it. 
 
 On our way back, Jacob stopped and listened; we 
 heard a rustling, and he said that it was a bear. We 
 followed in the direction of the sound, and after going 
 a short distance found a sort of track faintly indicated 
 
THE TWIN FALLS OF THE SKIEGGEDAL. 269 
 
 by the treading down and bruising of the herbs growing 
 between the boulders. Following this, we came upon 
 some bear's dung, but did not catch a sight of Bruin 
 himself. Had I been alone I should have preferred 
 steering in the opposite direction ; but Jacob assured me 
 that the bear, unless wounded, or its young molested, 
 will never attack a man: that he has been within a 
 yard of a bear, and the bear has civilly waUced on. He 
 was very anxious to track this one to its lurking-place, 
 as there is a price set upon the heads of bears by the 
 government ; he had also a personal objection to these 
 animals as tenants upon his property, which extends 
 hereabouts. I would recommend the enterprising 
 Englishman before alluded to, who has been bear- 
 hunting in Norway for the last three years but has 
 not yet seen a bear, to try this valley, and consult 
 Jacob. 
 
 Jacob informed me that only two other Englishmen 
 had, within the memory of man, visited this valley; 
 and that I was the first who had explored these twin 
 falls: the other Englishmen having only visited the 
 Ringedals Foss. 
 
 I should recommend all tourists who are tolerably 
 strong on foot, to make an excursion up this valley and 
 visit these falls. The wildness of the valley itself, and 
 its very remarkable glacier ruins, well repay the rough 
 journey; and both of the falls are worthy to rank 
 amongst the finest in Norway. 
 
 Some fine glimpses of the Folgefond and the fiord 
 are obtained in looking down the valley firom the upper 
 
270 THROUGH NOEWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 ground near the falls. A day and a lialf is quite suffi- 
 cient for this excursion, half a day for the ascent of the 
 Talley, and a day for exploring the falls and returning ; 
 or, with a moderate effort, it might be all done in a 
 day. 
 
 Walking back to Tyssedal, I took a boat, and 
 reached Odde, at the end of the fiord, the same 
 evening. 
 
 The closing of the fiord at Odde is very fine, and the 
 situation of the station very beautiful. I had almost 
 said the situation of the hotel; but this would be a 
 libel, for the disa/greeable animal with a cloth squeezed 
 between his elbow and side is not to be seen here. 
 Tortunateiy for me, and aU who feel as I do.>. the Nor- 
 wegians have no idea of male domestics ; they cling to 
 the natural notion that household duties belong to 
 woman. How anybody not absolutely sold in slavery 
 to the dreadful despotism of fashion, can prefer a 
 male to a female waiter, I cannot possibly understand. 
 On the very few occasions when I have dined with a 
 footman standing at my chair-back, my appetite has 
 been spoiled by the disagreeable sensation of a sort of 
 nightmare influence behind me, and a feeling that the 
 poor fellow must be either ashamed of his occupation and 
 continually wishing to be a blacksmith, or else satisfied 
 with it and therefore out of the pale of manhood alto- 
 gether. Women delight in feeding or nursing, or some- 
 how personally tending their fellow-creatures ; and when 
 they wait at table, do so cheerfully, and are performing 
 their natural duty. Men waiters are always disagree- 
 
A PEW WORDS ABOUT WAITERS. 271 
 
 able and grudging in their attendance, and seem to be 
 enviously taking notes of how much one eats. 
 
 It rained the next morning, and this supplied me with 
 an excuse for lingering in these luxurious quarters, to 
 write letters and get my shoes patched ; for among other 
 excesses of cLvilizatiom, there was a traTelling cobbler 
 located at a small farm hard by. I also went out 
 a-fishing in a boat, with some tackle lent me by mine 
 host, and caught a haddock, which I brought back in 
 triumph, and had cooked for dinner as a first course ; 
 it was followed by stewed hare and jeUy, with potatoes 
 and other vegetables, white bread and pancake, and 
 cherries for dessert. After this saturnaha, I started 
 again, at about 5 p.m., on my way to a district where 
 such excesses were not likely to be repeated. 
 
 I proposed to walk on to Skare, the second station 
 beyond, and about fifteen miles distant ; but on reach- 
 ing the lake of Sandven, found the road so abominable, 
 that I was content to halt at HLldal, the first station. 
 There, after the usual supper of fladbrod, butter, and 
 sour milk, I slept in a good, clean straw bed, in an 
 upper reserved room, where there was a multitude of 
 boxes containing the family wealth, and,, among other 
 things, a watch and some silver trinkets hanging to 
 nails upon the wall. The people must be very honest, 
 or they could not trust a savage-looking vagabond- 
 stranger like myself so imsuspiciously. 
 
 The next morning I walked on up the valley by a 
 rough, winding path among wild rocks and precipices, 
 tangled with pine and birch forests, among which there 
 
272 THROUGH NOEWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 is many a noisy torrent and white cascade. I passed 
 several clusters of poor hoyels on small alluvial flats, 
 where the river had once been a lake and left some soil 
 hehind. There are some magnificent views of many 
 valleys seen at once, where the path follows a ledge upon 
 the face of a steep precipice, and thus winds round the 
 mountain side at a great elevation. At one part it is 
 bounded by a wall of rock which descends perpendicu- 
 larly to the river about 1,500 feet below : it finally 
 rises to the bare rocks and snow patches. Waligorski's 
 map is quite wrong here, it places the road on the 
 opposite side of the river. 
 
 Murray's " Handbook for Northern Europe," p. 187, 
 speaking of this route, describes the stage from Selje- 
 stadt to Skare as "the last station practicable for a 
 carriole." This is rather amusing to read on the spot, 
 as the path in some parts is a steep staircase, about 
 three feet wide, ascending the stony slope of a moun- 
 tain side, having an angle of about 80°. The rude steps 
 are about eighteen inches high. Norwegian ponies and 
 carrioles certainly do make the passage of some astonish- 
 ing roads, but this one is rather beyond their powers. 
 
 The summit of the range being reached at last, the 
 track then descends to a dark, quiet lake, at the upper or 
 alluvial end of which is a cluster of farms, forming a 
 sort of village, called Roldal. THs day's walk was 
 a most magnificent one. 
 
 Inquiring of the people in the fields about a lodging, 
 I was directed to " Robert," or to the " Prestgaard," 
 i. e. the parsonage. A kind man in wooden shoes took 
 
A PASTOR OUT OF HIS ELEMENT. 273 
 
 me to Robert's house, when we found that all the in- 
 habitants were away to the saeters, except a travelling 
 shoemaker, who had taken his temporary quarters in 
 one of the wooden huts of which the farm is composed ; 
 the rest being locked up. 
 
 We tried another house with the same result. I had 
 some diffidence about applying to the priest, as in such 
 a case there must be a difficulty in paying for one's 
 entertainment ; and' it is rather presumptuous to call and 
 ask for hospitality without any introduction. In this 
 case, however, as there seemed no other alternative, I 
 did apply ; not directly for food and shelter, but for in- 
 formation as to where I might obtain it. A young man, 
 came to the door, who evidently wished me farther. He 
 told me that he had recently arrived here, and pointed 
 to the house of Eobert as my best chance. He was 
 very different in appearance from the other pastors I 
 have seen. They were all rough, farmer-looking men, 
 of a decidedly practical turn of mind ; this was a pale 
 young man, dressed in town costume, and had recently 
 left Christiania, having been transplanted from the re- 
 finements of city life to these rude quarters, where he 
 must labour in obscurity, with no other associates than 
 the unwashed and untutored peasants around him. His 
 pallor, high white forehead, and nervous temperament, 
 all indicated a hard student, who had probably earned 
 honours at the university, and had dreamed of intel- 
 lectual fame. He appeared like a man suffering deeply 
 from this isolation and disappointment, and very much 
 soxu-ed thereby. 
 
274 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK^ 
 
 CertairJy a double-refined literary university educa- 
 tion is a most unfit preparation for a clergyman who is 
 to be placed in such a position as this. A short appren- 
 ticeship to a few useful trades, such as carpentering, 
 cooperage, shoemaking, and above all, a knowledge of 
 medicine and surgery, would be in every respect better 
 than Greek, Latin, metaphysics, mathematics, and con- 
 troversial theology. A good knowledge of the apph- 
 cable scientific improvements in agriculture would be 
 an immense boon; and as all the pastors are farmers, 
 their farms might thus be made models for the district, 
 and through them any amount of improvement could 
 be introduced. 
 
 I tried again at the house of Robert ; and the shoe- 
 maker, after some search, found a key which opened a 
 room in which stood a bed. He also supphed me with 
 some raw ham and fladbrod. I had by this time become 
 independent of cooking, and could heartily enjoy a meal 
 of raw ham and bruised oats in the form of fladbrod. 
 The kind man with the wooden shoes accompanied 
 me throughout my seardi, and did not leave me until I 
 was fairly housed ; yet I had great difficulty in inducing 
 him to accept a small payment in return. 
 
 The next morning I started to cross the Haukelid 
 Fjeld into the TeUemark. The distance is six Norwe- 
 gian miles ; which are rather more than seven English 
 miles in length. Forty-three miles over wild mountains 
 is ftdly equal to sixty on ordinary roads ; and therefore 
 I allowed a day and night for the journey. There is 
 a clearly marked track on the map, but no saeter, or 
 
A ROUGH EOAD AND A HARD BED. 275 
 
 halting-place of any kind, indicated for the whole dis- 
 tance. The man with the wooden shoes urged me very 
 strongly to take a guide, but I was too conceited of 
 my mountaineering skill to do so. Besides, Murray 
 says that it is a post-road, and talks cooUy of carrioles, 
 long stages, &c. ; which is even more amusing than the 
 account given of my previous day's route. 
 
 There is a sort of road for about a mile out of 
 
 Rodal, but not adapted for anything with wheels. 
 
 Afterwards it is a track about a foot wide, mere shoe- 
 
 wearings upon the rock ; and even tliis track is lost 
 
 altogether at the crossing of every bog : of which there 
 
 are many. The track is really a difficult one to keep ; 
 
 for although not marked on the map, there are many 
 
 saeters, and paths leading to them, which may be easily 
 
 mistaken for the track across the fjeld. This fjeld, 
 
 like the others I have crossed, is for the most part a 
 
 duU, dreary waste: a rolling moor, diversified with 
 
 bogs, Biany stagnant pools or lakes, and occasional 
 
 mountain ridges. I walked on all the day long over 
 
 this sort of ground, and at about nightfall came upon 
 
 a ridge of mountains. 
 
 As soon as it became too dark to follow the track any 
 farther, I sought a bed-chamber, and found a capital 
 one ; a sort of shallow cavern formed by an overhang- 
 ing or undermined mass of rock, the floor of which 
 was a nicely hollowed, clean block of stone. I ascer- 
 tained this by throwing a lighted wax match iato it; 
 thinking it just possible that such snug quarters might 
 be already tenanted by a bear, or a family of wolves. 
 
 T 2 
 
216 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 Having thus learned that the premises were TinoccTipied, 
 I crawled into them, put on my extra shirt over my 
 waistcoat, and all the socks I possessed on my feet and 
 hands ; then coiled myself into the hollow place in the 
 stone, laid my pistol within easy reach, in case of q[uad- 
 rupeds, and using my knapsack for a pillow, soon fell 
 asleep. After about two hours I awoke, and found 
 myself terribly cold ; on further investigation, I per- 
 ceived that I was wet also : in fact, that I was lying 
 in a pool of water, and that water was dropping from 
 the rock above. Heavy rain was falhng, the air was 
 thickened with mist, and the nice clean hollow in 
 the stone proved to be a basin, worn by the dripping 
 from the rock above, ' and evidently a regular water 
 receptacle. 
 
 The rain and mist, combined with the darkness of 
 the night, rendered it almost impossible for me to pro- 
 ceed; yet, being so thoroughly drenched, it was not 
 agreeable to stand or sit still. I was on the side of a 
 mountain partly covered with low bushes and stunted 
 birch-trees. After slowly proceeding a little way, a 
 brilliant thought occurred to me : I determined to make 
 a fire, and set to work accordingly. A withered tree 
 offered fuel ; but after three or four hours' perseverance, 
 I only succeeded in getting up a crackling and a 
 smoulder : but it served capitally to pass away the time. 
 I should advise all benighted travellers to light a fire, 
 or try to do so : the gathering of the fuel, the building 
 it up with scientific arrangements for currents of air, 
 the lighting and blowing, the awakening hopes when 
 
BENIGHTED AND ASTRAY. 277 
 
 a flicker arises, the fluctuations of despair when all 
 is black again, carry one through the dark hours 
 amazingly. 
 
 At daylight I found that I had wandered quite away 
 from any vestige of the track, and therefore steered 
 straight on by compass for an hour or two, until I 
 came upon a track taking something like the direction 
 of my route. I followed it to a place called Flathyl, 
 a small settlement of wooden huts, where I might have 
 obtained lodging and food, but my besetting sin of 
 stubbornness would not allow me to do so ; having 
 started for Gugaard, the mental pain inevitably result- 
 ing from falling short of that intention would far exceed 
 the amount of physical inconvenience arising from 
 walking ten miles farther : for such is the distance I had 
 yet to make, according to the information I received 
 from the inhabitants of Flathyl. 
 
 It appears that I had gone quite away from the pro- 
 per track, and got on to another which runs nearly 
 parallel to it at a distance of five or six miles further 
 south. It may be that I lost it at an early part of the 
 journey, where, according to my map, it passes between 
 the Ule Vand and the Staa Vand, and then continues 
 on the north side of the chain of lakes. Certainly I 
 saw no path corresponding to the broad hue marked 
 upon the map. 
 
 I reached Gugaard at about nine o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, after a walk of above fifty miles, including my 
 deviations from the proper track ; and this over ground 
 that can scarcely be measured by miles, the greater part 
 
278 THKOUGH NORWAY "WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 of the way having been over bogs and moraines, up and 
 down mountains, &c. There is an immense number of 
 small lakes on the fjeld, especially towards the latter 
 part of this walk. 
 
 I found quite a fertile country at the journey's end, 
 and a considerable number of farms. I stopped at one 
 belonging to a man whom I overtook on the way. My 
 host was a bachelor for the time, and alone in the 
 house; his wife and family being at the saeter. He 
 cooked me some coifee, and gave me fladbrod and 
 cheese, of which I made a hearty meal. 
 
 I have found that the coffee is always good in Norway, 
 even at the poorest places ; and this, I think, is partly 
 attributable to the mode of preparation, and partly to 
 the fact that the stock of coffee berries at a farm is laid 
 in only at long intervals, and thus it often happens that 
 they have been kept for a long time. It is a fact worth 
 knowing that the quality of coffee is much improved by 
 keeping the berries for a length of time in the raw 
 state: it has even been asserted that the commonest 
 coffees, if kept a sufficient length of time, may acquire 
 the aroma and flavour of the best Mocha. A ripening, 
 action takes place, which develops an increased quan- 
 tity of the vol&,tile aromatic oil, on the quantity of which 
 the flavour of the coffee mainly depends. Moreover, the 
 Norwegian farmers always roast the coffee as required, 
 and grind and infuse it while stiU hot. The apparatus 
 commonly used for roasting it is a sort of covered 
 shovel, or tray, made of sheet-iron, and riveted to an 
 iron handle. This is put into the fire, and the berries 
 
COFFEE-MAKING IN NORWAY. 279 
 
 shaken about in it. When such a special apparatus is 
 not possessed, a frying-pan is used, which answers the 
 purpose equally well. My host used one on the present 
 occasion, and then turned the hot berries into a wooden 
 mortar and ground them with a wooden pestle. This 
 is the usual method of coffee grinding ; and the wooden 
 mortar and pestle appear to be kept exclusively for the 
 purpose. The Norwegian farmers roast their coffee 
 much more than our coffee-dealers do: they make it 
 nearly black ; and I think this is an advantage when 
 the coffee is immediately consumed. It is not Ukely 
 that our dealers who sell coffee ready roasted wiU 
 over-roast the berries, as they lose weight in roast- 
 ing, and tbe amount of loss is proportionate to the 
 extent of the roasting : when roasted only to a reddish 
 brown they lose fifteen per cent; to a dark brown, 
 twenty-five per cent. 
 
 As the best means of preventing drunkenness is by 
 supplying an agreeable substitute for intoxicating drinks, 
 any improvement of the poor man's coffee is of great 
 social importance ; I therefore suggest to the benevolent 
 ladies who so nobly exercise the attributes of woman 
 by visiting with kind intent the dwellings of the poor, 
 that they might do great service by teaching them how 
 to roast, and grind, and make coffee; and, where it is 
 practicable, by presenting the poor man's wife with an 
 apparatus for the purpose. It appears to me that the 
 iron tray and the wooden pestle and mortar answer 
 their purposes admirably; and the two might be pro- 
 fitably manufactured and sold for one shilling, if a quan- 
 
280 THEOtJGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 tity were in demand. From what I have seen, with 
 the wooden pestle and mortar, the newly-roasted coffee, 
 may be pomided as quickly and effectually as it can 
 be ground in a small coffee-mill ; and if kept exclusively 
 for this purpose, it would be a valuable addition to the 
 domestic furniture of a cottage. One of these, with a 
 roaster, a pound or two of coffee berries, and a lesson 
 in the use of them, would be a most suitable marriage 
 present to the bride of an agricultural labourer ; for by 
 their judicious use she might win her husband from 
 the beer-shop, and thus avert the domestic miseries so 
 commonly associated with it. 
 
 The wooden walls and ceiling of the room in which I 
 had this meal were curiously decorated ; beiiig painted 
 all over with figures of ovals within ovals, considerably 
 eccentric, reminding me of diagrams of the microscopic 
 structure of starch granules. 
 
 After a few hours' sleep, and a repetition of the meal 
 just described, I started at two in the afternoon, and 
 walked on by a good road to Nordgaard. On the way 
 I was hailed by a man on the other side of a hedge, to 
 know if I had seen two horses on the fjeld. On find- 
 ing me to be an Englishman, he spoke to me in good 
 English, and told me that long ago he emigrated to 
 America, and lived there for sixteen years; but the 
 desire to see his "Gammle Norge" again had brought 
 him back, and finding his daughter married, witli a 
 farm and family about her, he was persuaded to remain 
 and end his days there. I asked him which he liked 
 the best, America or Norway? He said that he liked,. 
 
AN IMMIGEANT FROM AMEEICA. 281 
 
 America the best. Why then did he not return ? He 
 tried to explain, and after some help in wording and 
 shaping the expression, told me that he liked America, 
 but did not love it ; and that he loved Norway, but did 
 not like it ; and as loving was stronger than hking, he 
 resolved to die at home. 
 
282 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 The silver lirooches, &c. of the peasantry of the Tellemark — A 
 commercial suggestion — Painted chambers — The Tellemark as 
 regarded by Norwegians — The Totak Vand — Horse-racing — 
 The " houseman," or farm-labourer, of Norway and his relations 
 to the "bonder," or peasant proprietor — Social equality of 
 farmer and labourer — The merry-makings of Jule time — The 
 poor relations of our Norman aristocracy and the royal families 
 of Europe — Carved cottages — A region of soft bogs — How to 
 escape smothering in a bog— Presence of mind attainable as an 
 art — The " eng," or detached hayfarra — A mud poultice. 
 
 I AEEITED early at Nordgaard, which is a rude farm 
 station at the road side. All the men here wear fine 
 silver buttons on their waistcoats, short jackets, large 
 silver links at the neck and wristbands of their shirts, 
 and silver brooches on the shirt-front. The brooches 
 are of the pattern known by our goldsmiths as the 
 " Maid of Norway " brooch, and are all of native manu- ■ 
 facture. The one worn by the son of the host cost two 
 dollars at Vinje (a few miles south of this), where it 
 was made : it was of silver gilt, of rather elaborate pat- 
 tern and fine workmanship. I think it might be a good 
 speculation to purchase some of these for the Enghsh 
 market ; they would probably command a ready sale and 
 good prices, as genuine Norwegian brooches : the pat- 
 terns and workmanship are so quaint and peculiar that 
 they could not easily be imitated by any of our short 
 
A PAINTED CHAMBER— THE TELLEMAEK. 283 
 
 mechanical processes of stamping, &c., and if they were 
 made in England by the same processes of simple hand 
 labour as in Norway, they would cost a great deal more, 
 on account of the higher cost of such labour. 
 
 I slept in a painted chamber again, but the pattern 
 was more elaborate than the starch granule decorations 
 of my last night's lodging-place. There were proces- 
 sions of red, green, and yellow cavaliers along some of 
 the beams, and similarly-coloured ladies bearing flower- 
 pots on horseback on others. The apostles were distri- 
 buted on other parts of the walls, the vacant spaces 
 being decorated with paintings of independent flower- 
 pots. There were no real growing flowers, and the 
 floor was wretchedly dirty ; the bed, as usual, of straw. 
 
 I was now in the famous district of the Tellemark, a 
 district that even the Norwegians regard as romantic. 
 
 The peasants of the Tellemark are celebrated as the 
 most picturesque people in Norway, on account of their 
 jewellery, their general costume, their strongly-marked 
 features, their poverty, dirtiness, and sporting tenden- 
 cies. The Tellemark is the wildest, most barren and 
 dreary of the inhabited regions of Norway ; the dis- 
 trict and its inhabitants bearing a similar relation to the 
 rest of Norway that the wilds and people of Connemara 
 do to the rest of Great Britain and Ireland. A native 
 Norwegian reared upon fiadbrod, and accustomed from 
 his infancy to rancid smber, considers it an exploit, a 
 great effort of hardihood and endurance, to make a 
 carriole journey through the Tellemark ; and the idea 
 of voluntarily doing it on foot never suggested itself to 
 
2.84 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK, 
 
 anybody but mad Englishmen : amongst whom I have 
 evidently been classed by aU the Norwegians to whom I 
 have communicated my intention of finishing my tour 
 by walking across the wildest part of this wild 
 region.. 
 
 The Totak Vand was my next destination ; but the 
 high road makes a considerable bend to Vinje, to avoid 
 which I determined to go across the country : especially 
 having been informed that there exists a direct track to a 
 farm called Kosthveit. I walked on, accordingly, by the 
 road until I reached a bridge, and on crossing it found 
 the track described ; which, though not marked in my 
 map, is much more definite than many that are there 
 marked. It ascended a high ridge, and on the way up I 
 had a luxurious feast of wild strawberries, which are 
 finer and more abundant here than I have found them 
 anywhere else -in Norway. The summit of the ridge 
 commands a fine view, down a valley, of many small 
 lakes. After this bogs prevail — very soft bogs, and 
 small stagnant pools in all the many hollows of a mossy 
 field which appears to be but recently thawed from its 
 winter layer of snow. This style of country continues 
 to the Totak Vand, which is a lake of considerable 
 dimensions, some fifteen miles long, and from one to 
 six miles wide. With much difficulty I obtained a boat. 
 Being quite beyond the region of regulated tarifis or 
 posting, or any kind of travelling, I had to hire a- boat 
 used by the farmer for his personal transport only. 
 He was evidently doubtful whether I was asking him 
 to row me across as a gratuitous favour, or whether 
 
THE TOTAK VAND. 285 
 
 such a rough-looking fellow as myself could be induced 
 to pay a trifle. After a preliminary scrutiny, he accord- 
 ingly asked me how much I would pay him. I offered 
 him a mark (the distance is about four or five English 
 miles), which he accepted eagerly, and with evident asto- 
 nishment at the amount. 
 
 The scenery on this lake is not remarkable. There 
 are several farms dotted about the slope of the moun- 
 tain forming the shore on which I landed. It is marked 
 Gaards:^^!''! on the map. I tried at several houses, 
 and found them all uninhabited and locked up; but 
 there were people working in some of the fields, and 
 they directed me. to the best farmhouse of the district. 
 I arrived there just as the housemen were returning ; 
 and on asking them whether I could have a bed, they 
 told me that the "huusbond" (which, literally trans- 
 lated, means house-master, and fi-om which, of course, 
 our word husband is derived) was not yet returned. I 
 waited accordingly ; and in the meantime these house- 
 men, or farm-labourers, amused themselves with horse- 
 racing of a remarkably break-neck, steeple-chase cha- 
 racter. They seized the bare-backed horses by the 
 mane, and throwing themselves upon them commenced 
 beating, and kicking, and howling at the beasts; which, 
 evidently accustomed to the sport, and taking as much 
 interest in it as their riders, started off at a scrambling, 
 furious gallop over the cultivated patches, the bare 
 rock, loose stones, and boggy hollows of the mountain 
 side, up hills or down hills of any inclination, appa- 
 rently intent upon breaking their own knees and theii- 
 
286 THROUGH NOEWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 riders' skiills at every step ; but they did neither while I 
 was looking on. 
 
 The relation of these housemen, or farm-labourers, in 
 Norway, to the bonder, or freehold peasant farmer, is 
 peculiar and interesting. They hold cottages and 
 patches of land, generally sufficient to support two 
 cows and some sheep, and to grow sufficient rye, barley, 
 or oats for the consumption of the family. These sub- 
 farms, as they may be called, are usually situated on 
 the skirts of the bonder's farm, and are held under him 
 at a fixed rent for a term of two lives — that of the 
 houseman and his widow. The houseman is under an 
 obligation of fiimishing a certain number of days' 
 work on the bonder's farm, at a fixed rate of wages: 
 usually about threepence or fourpence per day, with 
 victuals. The houseman can give up his land and 
 remove, on giving six months' notice, and in such case 
 is entitled to the value of house, buildings, &c., he has 
 erected at his own expense; but the landlord cannot 
 remove him, or his widow, so long as the stipulated ser- 
 vices are rendered and the rent paid. The unmarried 
 sons and daughters of the housemen are usually em- 
 ployed as day labourers, on the main farm or that of 
 their parents. The eldest son of a houseman commonly 
 succeeds his father by a sort of customary inheritance, 
 which in some districts is so usual as to amount to a 
 sort of tenant-right. A labourer is not considered in a 
 condition to marry respectably until he has obtained 
 a houseman's situation and allotment ; and the pastor of 
 the parish commonly refuses to marry a couple that is 
 
FAKMS : BONDERS AND HOUSEMEN. 287 
 
 not thus proTided. As the supply of labour is fully up 
 to the demaad, and a vacancy for a houseman but 
 seldom occurs, a considerable check is thus put upon 
 early marriages ; but at the same time a great amount 
 of illegitimacy is also consequent By Norwegian law, 
 illegitimate children become legitimate by the subse- 
 quent marriage of their parents. 
 
 The farms of the bonders seldom change hands ; 
 they pass from father to son, through many generations, 
 and are usually not more than large enough to provide 
 for the wants of the family. It is but rarely that one 
 can distinguish the bonder from his housemen by any 
 difference of dress or manner. They usually take their 
 meals together, and Kve on terms of apparent equaUty. 
 The exceptions that I have seen to this were chiefly in 
 the large farms of the GToldbrandsdal, and in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Trondhjem, where there are thirty or forty 
 labourers on one farm, and who are called to their 
 meals by the tolling of a beU, hung for the purpose in 
 a little belfry on the roof of the main building. 
 
 In the winter-time a greater degree of separation 
 and inequality doubtless exists ; for that is the great 
 junketing period in Norway, especially in the extreme 
 north, when Yule time is a long term of continual dark- 
 ness. Then the farmers pay long visits to their neigh- 
 bours, half-a-dozen families stopping at one farm ; and 
 the host and his family, joining the guests, start in pro- 
 cession over the snow to the house of one of his visitors, 
 then to another, and so on till the round is completed, 
 and each has been a host and guest to all in turn. 
 
288 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK, 
 
 Dancing is the favourite ataiusement at these gather- 
 ings, and the polka, or "polsk," as they call it, the 
 favourite dance. It was one of the common dances of 
 Norway long before its introduction into England. I 
 have heard some very animated accounts of these 
 merry-makings, the remembrance of which evidently 
 lasts through the summer ; and if I may judge by the 
 blushes and laughter that have replied to my inquiries, 
 there is quite as much love-making at these " Yulekiks" 
 as at the saeters in summer-time. 
 
 I have already alluded to the length of time that 
 some of these bonder estates continue in one family. 
 Mr. Laing quotes some interesting instances of this. 
 Hrolf Blakar, of Blakar, in Lom parish, " preserves a 
 head-piece or helmet complete, with an opening only 
 for the eyes, and parts of a coat of mail, a long sword, 
 and other articles of his ancestors ; and a writing of 
 King Hakon Magnussen the younger, who lodged a 
 night in Blakar Gaard, in the fourteenth year of his 
 reign, anno 1364." * 
 
 In many instances the title-deeds by which the exist- 
 ing families hold their estates are written in a dead lan- 
 guage, the old Norsk, or Icelandic. 
 
 Many of the relations of Rolf Ganger, the conqueror 
 of Normandy, and the ancestor of our Norman line of 
 kings, are still represented by their descendants, who 
 are peasant proprietors in Norway and Iceland. If 
 the royal families of Europe, and our aristocratic fami- 
 lies whose ancestors " came over with the Conqueror," 
 * Laing's "Residence in Norway," p. 260. 
 
ANCESTORS OF THE ENGLISH AKISTOCEACY. 289 
 
 covld. trace their lineage far enough, they would find 
 the farms of theu: ancestors among the " gaards " of 
 Norway, with nearly the same boundaries as they had 
 a thousand years ago ; and in many instances the 
 present bonder would be the direct descendant of the 
 elder son of the common ancestor, while the prince or 
 nobleman would have descended from a younger son : 
 for then, as now, when the farms were too small for 
 subdivision, the elder sons inherited them intact, while 
 the younger went to seek their fortunes on the seas and 
 in distant lands. Then they manned the vessels of the 
 terrible sea-kings, and settled on the shores of England, 
 Scotland, France, Spain, Portugal, and even of the 
 Mediterranean; besides colonizing Greenland and the 
 shores of the unknown Western world, which they 
 called Vinland. Now they help to man the ships of the 
 British and American navy and merchant service, and 
 are among the most successful agricultural emigrants to 
 that New World which their ancestors discovered. 
 
 The proud beauty I met walking through the valley 
 of the Otta in the parish of Lorn, and so near to the 
 farm of Blakar where the king slept, may be as nearly 
 related to some of our proudest Norman families as her 
 Norman features and bearing indicate ; but hers would 
 be far purer Norman blood than theirs, just as her face 
 and figure were finer, and more typical of that style of 
 beauty, than any I have seen among our nobility. 
 
 After waiting and watching the horse-racing for above 
 half an hour, the bonder, or possible cousin of half- 
 a-dozen kings, approached. He was informed of my 
 
 V 
 
290 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 requirements, bade me welcome, supplied me with flad- 
 brod and a bowl of butter, and then joined the group 
 who were dipping their spoons into a pHe of " Roman 
 cement" dabbed dowii upon a board. On only one occa- 
 sion have I been asked to partake of the cement, though 
 I have usually found that it is the chief article of food. 
 I suspect that fladbrbd and smoer is considered more of a 
 ■delicacy; especially as I have sometimes seen the bonder 
 and his wife sitting apart and partaking of these. 
 
 While wandering about in search of a lodging I saw 
 several very remarkably carved cottages, some of them 
 most elaborate. I made a sketch of the front of one of 
 them, an engraving from which will be seen on the title- 
 page. They are aU of that general top-heavy design, 
 but vary considerably in detail ; they are very old, and 
 not used as residences, but for the storing of hay : the 
 hay is put in at the door of the upper story, and taken 
 out from the lower. Most of the houses hereabouts 
 have some kind of carving about them, but those devoted 
 to human residence have the smallest amount of such 
 outside decoration. 
 
 I slept in a comfortable straw bed in the state apart- 
 ment upstairs, the panels of which were decorated with 
 paintings of cities in gaudy colours. 
 
 My next destination was across a roadless country to 
 the Mjos Vand, and from thence to Holvik, situated 'at 
 the easternmost end of this lake, and at the month of 
 the valley through which flows the river that connects 
 the two lakes of the Mjos Vand and the Tin Sjben. 
 This river, encountering a precipice on its wayj pitches 
 
BOGS AND THEIR DANGEES. 291 
 
 over it, and forms the Riukan Foss, the great rival of 
 the Voring Foss. 
 
 The Mjos Vand has a forked shape, and Holvik is at 
 the extremity of the farthest prong ; the track marked 
 on the map sweeps round the nearest, hut I was told that 
 by going to a place called Synderland, I might cross 
 this part of the lake in a boat, and save some miles 
 thereby. I made for it accordingly, steering by com- 
 pass over many miles of most detestable bog, alarm- 
 ingly soft at some parts, and ankle-deep at the best. 
 My boots had stout cloth tops, firmly laced np the mid- 
 dle ; any sort of shoe would have been inevitably left 
 behind, and even a tight-rfitting Wellington boot might 
 have been drawn oiF, for at every step a great mus- 
 cular effort was required to xlrag the foot out of its 
 black muddy peat encasement. I sank knee-deep 
 several times, and a shuddering cold sweat oozed out of 
 every pore on each occasion. Nothing is more horrible 
 to my imagination than the ■ idea of being smothered 
 in a bog ; it is a nasty, dirty,- disgusting, undignified, 
 and Quilpish death: a quicksand must be bad enough, 
 but that is more cleanly. I had rather be masticated 
 alive, feet first, by any imaginable slow-feeding wild 
 beast, than be smothered in a Bog. I am not quite cer- 
 tain whether there do exist any bogs soft and deep 
 enough for a man to sink into and be buried perpendi- 
 cularly ; but if such things are possible, they surelymay 
 •be found in this district. I saw several patches with 
 a smooth watery surface, and a decided pool-like cha- 
 racter. They had been pools of water, since filled up 
 
 V 2 
 
292 THEOTJGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 with mosSj and having well-defined boundaries ; so that 
 I could stand upon the brink, and probe them with my 
 walking-stick, which failed to find the bottom. I con- 
 sidered what would be the best to do, in case of stepping 
 unexpectedly into such gulf, and determined that the 
 best course would be to throw myself backwards imme- 
 diately, then turn over, and scramble in the direction 
 from whence I came. In the first place, there would 
 be less danger of sinking when lying at one's length 
 than when standing upright ; for a certain weight, say 
 150 lbs., all concentrated on a small surface like that 
 covered by the feet, would have far more penetrating 
 power than the same weight spread over a large surface 
 such as that of a perpendicular section of the body: 
 thus, one might roll safely oyer a bog upon which it 
 would be impossible to walk. The horrible helplessness 
 of sticking in a bog arises from the efibrt required to 
 pull the leg out of the close-filling hole, in the total 
 absence of any fulcrum upon which to rest one foot 
 while pulling up the other. The object of falling back- 
 wards rather than forwards would be, of course, to malce 
 way towards the ground of known solidity : that which 
 had been just walked over and thereby proved ; while to 
 go forward would probably be progression from bad to 
 worse. 
 
 It is always desirable when placed in any position of 
 possible danger to suppose the occurrence of the danger, 
 and carefully consider the steps to be taken in such an 
 event ; and if the risk is considerable, every step in the 
 predetermined effort for escape should, as far as pracr 
 
PEESENCE OE MIND. — ENGS. 293 
 
 ticable, be continually rehearsed. By such, means, pre- 
 sence of mind may be acquired as an art. If passengers 
 of an emigrant, or any other ship, on a long voyage, were 
 put through a course of daily drill, by which, on the 
 signal of danger being given, each should mechanically 
 run to his proper place, in readiness to take his turn in 
 getting into the boat pre-assigned to him, the terrible 
 confusion, the overcrowding and sinking of the first 
 boat, and most of the fatal results of blind terror, so 
 apt to prevail on such occasions, might be prevented ; 
 for though there are but very few who are capable in 
 the moment of extreme peril of thinking calmly upon 
 what is best to be done, most people are capable of doing 
 what is best if they know what that is, — more especially 
 if they have had some practice in the doing of it. 
 
 On arriving at Synderland, I found several houses, 
 but no inhabitants ; they were all absent at the sae- 
 ters, or " engs.'' These latter are distant pasturages, 
 usually on high, flat ground : small table-lands. They 
 differ from the saeters, inasmuch as the grass is mowed 
 and made into hay at the engs, while the saeter pas- 
 turages are rocky regions, where mowing with a scythe 
 or sickle would be impossible ; and therefore the grass 
 is cut by the teeth of the cows and goats, and har- 
 vested in the form of cheese. Mr. Laing very inge- 
 niously supposes that the name of England is derived 
 from these, as the old sea-kings who visited our shores 
 used the land as " engs," or detached supplementary 
 farms ; and thus it was their land of engs, or England. 
 I passed over several engs on my way this morning : 
 
294 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 they were oases of thin brown grass, amidst the desert 
 of bog; the grass itself growing on a boggy foundation. 
 The top of this grass is mowed with a small sidde-like' 
 scythe, and stored in wooden houses,. built for the puxr- 
 pose on the spot. These are easily mistaken for human 
 residences, some being as large as the farmhousesj and 
 even better looking' outside. The people live a gipsy 
 sort of life during this harvest, as the.engs in-some 
 districts are many 'miles feom- the farms. I saw some 
 picturesque groups talcing their meal of cement,. round ; 
 fires surmounted by wooden tripods ; a great black cal- 
 dron, suitable for a Macbeth stage property, hanging 
 by a stout black chain from the ^ tripod. At night the 
 harvesters on the eng all tumble pell-mell into the hay- 
 bams to sleeps 
 
 As I depended upon finding a ferry at Synderland, 
 its uninhabited condition was rather awkward. Find- 
 ing nobody to help, me, I endeavoured to help myself,, 
 by coasting along the lake in search of a boat- At last 
 I found one ; but it was on the opposite side, and the 
 lake being above a mile wide, I called in vain for some 
 one to bring it over. After much, hesitation as to whe- 
 ther I should swim across or walk round, I deter- 
 mined upon 1 the latter, and proceeded aceoidingly for 
 several miles over villanous ground, consisting of soft 
 bogs, variegated with boulders. Being imable to reach ; 
 Holvik till the. next mornmg, and by no means willing 
 to attempt such bogs at night, I stopped at a place 
 called Bospen, situated, on the slope of a hill rising 
 from the boggy wildernessw 
 
A day's walk through bogs. 295 
 
 The effect upon the feet of such a day's bog walking 
 is rather curious. The mud finds its way into the 
 boots, in spite of every kind of lacing; it surrounds 
 the foot, and forms a kind of mud poultice, which 
 softens and whitens the skin, and produces a numbness 
 or partial insensibility, such as an ordinary bread poultice 
 would, if applied for a similar length of time. 
 
296 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 A Tellemark interior — " Juno" and " Vesta " — Romance and dirt — 
 Sleeping in the hay — Many bedfellows of the human species and 
 many more of the lower animals — The irritating powers of ants — 
 Characteristic scenery of the Tellemark — Facilities for extensive 
 and profitable drainage — An old man and his old boat — The 
 legend of the Marie Stige — Crossing the Marie Stige — The 
 Riulcan Foss from the Marie Stige — The height of the Riukan 
 Foss — An imaginary rescue — The Dale Station. 
 
 The farm at whicli I stopped was a miserable place; 
 the common room or kitchen being very small and low, 
 and curiously dirty, the windows nearly all broken 
 and pasted with paper. It was crowded with men and 
 women, all of them nearly as dirty as the floor. As I 
 entered the room in semi-darkness, I gradually became 
 conscious of the existence of two luminous bodies, 
 shining in a gloomy recess close by me ; and, on grow- 
 ing accustomed to the darkness, I perceived, first that 
 they were two human eyes, then that they belonged to a 
 woman, and finally that the woman was young and of 
 very remarkable appearance. The eyes before referred 
 to were pale blue, and the largest human eyes I had ever 
 seen ; the woman's nose was short and wide, with great 
 distended nostrils, and yet not ugly ; her hair salmon- 
 coloured, and very thick and long : a heap of it was 
 
" JUNO " AND « VESTA." 297 
 
 gathered on the top of her forehead, and in it was 
 stuck a large round silver brooch. The brooch in her 
 hair was partly occupied in securing a handkerchief of 
 many colours which covered the top of her head and 
 hung loosely backward and on each side. Another 
 brooch of similar dimensions shielded her breast. Her 
 whole aspect was remarkably bold and almost ferocious; 
 somewhat boy-like, and decidedly handsome in its way. 
 The brooch and high bunch of hair above her forehead 
 added greatly to the effect. Her portrait would make 
 a good picture of one of the old Scandinavian god- 
 desses ; but as I do not remember the name of any one 
 equally suitable, I shall call her " Juno," on account of 
 her ox-like eyes. Another girl — ^possibly her sister, 
 though very unlike her in expression, being very meek, 
 gentle, and rather pretty — sat at the fireside: she 
 may be called " Vesta." I fell into a romantic state of 
 mind, and its being too dark to see the dirt upon their 
 faces, I imagined them both very beautiful, and built up 
 rustic love stories, of which they were the heroines ; 
 until Vesta, reaching from the beam a short pipe, 
 lighted it, as I supposed, for her father ; but, to my 
 horror, and the total destruction of all the little novels, 
 she commenced smoking it herself, and then handed it 
 to Juno, who took her turn and handed it back again. 
 They spat noisily into the fire, and altogether behaved 
 in the most unromantic manner imaginable, for two 
 girls of about fifteen and eighteen years of age. After 
 long and patient waiting, I asked Juno whether I could 
 be provided with any supper. She answered abruptly. 
 
 & 
 
298 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 " No ;" but an old man, who, being the dirtiest of all, 
 was, I suppose, the master, brought me some fladbrodi 
 and drab-rcoloured smoer. 
 
 There were two very dirty beds in the room ; and 
 these- were evidently all that existed upon the establish- 
 ment, although eighteen persons besides myself were 
 crowded in this small, low kitchen* The bonder asked 
 whether I would, sleep in the hay; to which inquiry I 
 joyfully answered " Yes ;" for having already felt a 
 procession of fleas moving up my legs, I had > gloomy 
 forebodings of the animated condition of the clay- 
 coloured bedd,ing. 
 
 It was now quite dark, and the man conducted me 
 across a field to the door of a large building., I entered 
 it, and, scrambling over a great depth of hay, commenced 
 arranging some sort of bed, when I was startled by a 
 loud laugh of decidedly soprano pitch, then by a voice 
 and another voice answering it. The laughter and voices 
 were those of Juno and Vesta in alarming proximity to 
 me ; presently I heard other voices, and then I fouiad. 
 that I was one of a large company of bedfellows of both 
 sexes, all sleeping together in the hay. It was a cloudy 
 night and very dark, so that I can testify nothing regard- 
 ing the arrangements for separating the sexes. For above 
 an hour there was a continual talking, with occasional, 
 squeaking, followed by much laughter; then the num^ 
 ber of talkers gradually diminished till only a couple or 
 so remained, and finally nothing but snoring; was to be 
 heard. During all this time I was endeavouring to 
 make myself comfortable, and was much; surprised at 
 
A NIGHT IN A HAYBARN. 299 
 
 finding that all my endeavours were utter failures; for 
 after my experiences of rough lodging and nights out of 
 doors, I expected to find a bed on the new-mown hay 
 quite a luxury : but I found it most miserable. 
 
 Some people can sleep anywhere provided they are 
 warm, and on anything provided it is soft ; for my own 
 part I can endure exposure, cold, and a hard resting-place, 
 but to be half buried in odorous material, and perpe- 
 tually tickled with straws, irritates me beyond endurance. 
 In order to understand what it is to sleep in such a place, 
 it must be remembered that the hay in this boggy coun- 
 try is by no means composed exclusively of grass : about 
 half of it consists of dried leaves and stalks of various 
 wild plants, including a great' proportion of thistles; 
 moreover, it is not carefully stacked and pressed down, 
 bu^t pitched anyhow into these receptacles, and falls on 
 the floor and rises to the ceiling in a state of promiscuous ■ 
 entanglement : it was about ten feet deep, and very loose, 
 in the region of my eight's burial-place. To tell how ■ 
 the stalks and blades and thistle-leaves got down my 
 neck, and up my sleeves, and ferreted all over me, would 
 require a whole chapter. Nor were these representatives 
 of the vegetable kingdom my only tormentors, , for the 
 entomology of all Scandinavia seemed to be illustrated 
 by the animated specimens that crawled all over me. 
 Among these the ants predominated. I have a great re- 
 spect for these Httle animals: their social institutions, 
 their industry and public spirit, always^ awaken in my 
 mind feelings of the deepest interest ; but in spite of all 
 this, they tickle most horribly, for their very active legs 
 
300 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 are extremely thin, cased in a shell of metallic hard- 
 ness, and their toe claws are wondrously sharp. 
 
 There is an important acid, called formic acid, from 
 formica, the Latin name for ants ; the old chemists ob- 
 tained it by bruising unhappy ants in a mortar, and dis- 
 tilling their remains. When ants are irritated, they eject 
 this acid, and so do the leaves of the stinging-nettle ; from 
 which it may also be obtained by distillation. Chloroform 
 receives its name from having the same composition as 
 formic acid, but with chlorine substituting the oxygen. 
 It is supposed by some that the perspiration of ants con- 
 sists of this acid, and thus their reputed aversion to walk 
 over chalk has been explained ; the theory being that the 
 formic acid causes the chalk to effervesce, and suffocates 
 the ant with the evolved carbonic acid. These facts 
 and speculations surround the ant with an additional 
 interest to the chemist in his laboratory, but by no 
 means increase its desirableness as a bed-fellow under 
 circumstances calculated to irritg,te the worthy little 
 animal. That they were seriously irritated in this 
 haybarn there can be no doubt ; they had been gathered 
 with the hay, and carried far from their native com- 
 munities, and were wandering fretfully among the 
 labyrinth of dried vegetation in search of some solid 
 ground by which they might reach their homes. My 
 body was such a landing-place, and once reached, their 
 enterprising disposition led them to explore the island 
 by crawling under my clothes and all about my skin. 
 If I had ever doubted the theory of their irritant acid 
 perspiration, this night's experience must have converted 
 
AXTS AND OTHER CREEPING BEDFELLOWS. 301 
 
 me; for upon no other supposition can I account for their 
 special powers of torture. 
 
 Besides these, there were many other creatures with 
 many legs wandering with like uneasiness in search of 
 their lost homes, their eggs, and maggot-babes ; and as 
 I fell into short beginnings of feverish slumbers, every 
 blade of grass seemed to be a centipede or a wriggling 
 worm, the dried leaves became crawling beetles, and 
 every bit of stick or twig assumed the changing form of 
 , some intolerable creeping beast. 
 
 I might have borne all this much better had I adopted 
 the night-dress (that of Paradise) before alluded to 
 (page 245), which seems to be usually worn when 
 sleeping thus ; for the irritation was all exaggerated by 
 the vegetable fragments and the industrious animals 
 being confined between the clothes and the skin. But 
 there were many difficulties in the way of adopting this 
 costume : first of all it was doubtful whether I should 
 ever find my clothes again if once I parted with them ; 
 then there was the uncertainty as to whether any sort of 
 fence existed between me and the proprietors of the 
 female voices : the possibility of coming in positive con- 
 tact with Juno and Yesta in the course of my blind 
 struggles with the hay, or of sleeping till daylight, and 
 then having to hunt for my clothes in their presence, 
 were fearful subjects of apprehension to a man whose 
 leading characteristic is extreme modesty. 
 
 Besides all this, I was not aware, and am not now, 
 whether the custom of sleeping in the hay in Adam's 
 costume is extended to these communities of sleepers, 
 
302 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 for the sleeper whom I startled on my way to Lunden 
 was apparently solitary. I might have ascertained all 
 this had my powers of endiirance been greater, but I 
 was forced to yield before daylight. I scrambled towards 
 the hole by which I entered, took- off my clothes ia 
 the adjoining field, ■ and shook off the inner lining of 
 tormentors. 
 
 On returning, I found that the bonder had risen, 
 and general activity was commencing; and I was much 
 surprised at finding him busy in preparing for me a 
 breakfast of trout and coffee, and showing a degree of 
 attention which contrasted strongly with the apathy of 
 the night before, when it seemed doubtful whether I 
 should get any food at all. This change was probably 
 produced by my showing somemoney, and offering pay- 
 ment after supper; though he refused it, and told me to 
 pay next morning. He, his housemen, and Juno and 
 Vesta, all evidently thought me a houseless wanderer 
 who had come to beg for food and shelter ; the idea of 
 a tourist being of coiu'se utterly unknown to them, as 
 no one within the memory of man had ever travelled for 
 amusement thereabouts, so far away from the regions'of 
 roads or any sort of highway. When,. after breakfast, 
 I paid the farmer 20 skillings (about 9d.), he looked at 
 the money with astonishment, exclaimed that it was 
 " enogh," with a pronunciation that would pass for 
 good lowland Scotch ; he then shook hands in token of 
 thanks, and insisted on walking with me to the top of 
 the neighbouring hill to- point out the way. At Gaards- 
 fiord, where I: stopped the previous night,-! .gave the 
 
CHAEACTEEISTICS OF THE TELLEMAEK. 303 
 
 host one mark, which he returned to me, saying it 
 was "/or meget," too much, and I had much difficulty 
 in inducing him to accept it. 
 
 The hill that I ascended with mine host is the first of 
 a series, and my' route for several miles was an almost 
 continuous ascent — a welcome change after the previous 
 hogs. The highest point attained commands a fine 
 panorama of an immense extent of country, consisting 
 for the most part of rolling hills, with boggy and pool- 
 filled hollows and flats between. This seems to be the 
 prevailing character of the Tellemark country, and 
 may have considerable influence in producing some of 
 the peculiarities of the people. I have no doubt that 
 most of these boggy regions might easily be drained, 
 and thereby converted into fertile plains. The drainage 
 of a flat, boggy country nearly on the sea-level is a 
 very difficult problem ; but an elevated plain may fre- 
 quently be well drained by cutting a single trench. 
 All that is required is to find the lowest part of the 
 boundary of the elevated marshy land which is situated 
 near to a descending valley, and then to cut a deep 
 channel, establishing a communication between the 
 marsh and the valley; this would drain most of the 
 land lying above the level of the bottom of the cutting. 
 I am satisfied that great regions hereabouts might be 
 thus reclaimed at a yery small expense. 
 
 On descending, I came upon a repetition of bogs and 
 small -lakes, which continued, with occasional alterna- 
 tions of low ridges, until I reached the north-eastern 
 fork of the Mjos Vand. My map is very incorrect 
 
304 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 here, for though I steered considerably eastward of the 
 direction it indicated, I found myself much too far 
 north, and had an hom-'s walk to the eastward along the 
 steep and rugged banks of the lake, before I reached its 
 easternmost extremity, from which the river forming 
 the Riukan Foss issues. This lake is very shallow, and 
 has apparently a rich alluvial bottom. Some thousands 
 of acres of land might be gained by simply lowering 
 the bed of the river Maan, forming its outlet. Thi's 
 might be very easily done, as the river makes some 
 rapid descents very near to the lake, which is of great 
 extent, and its level limits the natural drainage of 
 a vast amount of surrounding country. The simple 
 lowering of this lake would alone drain many of the 
 surrounding bogs ; but if, in addition to the lowering of 
 the Mjos Vand, the principal channels of communica- 
 tion between it and these boggy regions were cut 
 deeper, a vast region now a noxious, boggy waste, might 
 be rendered as valuable as any of the existing land at 
 this latitude and elevation : moreover, the climate would 
 be greatly improved by the reclamation of so much bog 
 and so great a surfaqe of stagnant pools. 
 
 On reaching the head of the river, I found no track 
 down the vaUey, as I expected, and no bridge or any 
 other visible means of crossing to the opposite side, on 
 which a track is marked on the map. I scrambled 
 onward through bushes, and over rocks, till I came to 
 a perplexing obstacle — the edge of a small precipice, a 
 wall of rock about fifteen feet high ; rather too deep 
 to jump or drop down, and not sufficient to turn one 
 
A PRECIPITOUS PATH AND A LEAKY BOAT. 305 
 
 back without severe humiliation. I walked along it for 
 some distance;- and finding that it grew worse as I 
 went further, I returned to the most promising point, 
 and stood for some time in doubt whether to hang as 
 far down as possible, and then drop, or to make a long 
 journey round — until at last, in a moment of coura- 
 geous determination, I pitched my knapsack down, so 
 as to be compelled to follow. There is a steep slope, 
 covered with bushy plants, at the foot of the rock-wall, 
 and the fate of my knapsack was far from encouraging, 
 for it rolled, and bounded, and bumped over and over a 
 terrible distance down this slope ; and when I dropped 
 I followed its example to a small extent, but with no 
 other damage than torn clothes and some scratches. 
 
 After scrambling on still farther, I came opposite a 
 saeter situated on a slope on the other side of the 
 river ; and at the foot of the slope was something that 
 appeared like a boat. I shouted loudly and long, and 
 was just about giving up hopes of a ferry, when an old 
 man, bent nearly double, emerged from the saeter, and 
 moved slowly down the hill ; he then drew the boat to 
 the bank, and spent a considerable time in baling water 
 from it. At last he stepped into it and rowed across ; 
 first pulling with the oars, and then, while the boat 
 moved on by the impulse thus given, baling out water 
 — then another pull, and more bowls of water over the 
 side, — and so on until he reached the shore, with the 
 boat nearly filled. The boat was a curiosity, being made 
 simply of two squared pieces of the stump of a tree, form- 
 ing the stem and stern ; to these ends some deal boards 
 
 X 
 
306 THEOUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 were nailed, and thus tlie bottom and sides were formed : 
 it was a sort of rude packing-case, with tliick ends, and 
 no top; and some lumps of stone were placed in the 
 bottom for ballast. The old man got out, and we hauled 
 the box ashore, to let the water run out of its sides ; 
 then I threw out two big stones that ballasted one end, 
 and took their place, baling out the water as the old 
 man rowed. When I remarked that the boat would not 
 last much longer, he smiled ; said that it would last as 
 long as he should himself, and patting its side, told me 
 that he made it fifteen years ago : he seemed to have a 
 strong affection for it, and I could not help fancying 
 that he intended it to be his coffin. 
 
 After crossing, I walked up to the saeter, answered a 
 great many questions from the curious inhabitants, and 
 then followed a track which ascends to a great height 
 above the river and commands some fine views. Many 
 tourists visit the Riukan Foss, but they come from the 
 other side, and very few ascend to this part of the 
 valley. After passing another saeter, where I was sup- 
 plied with milk in a kind of trough shaped like a 
 London butcher's tray, and demanding much skilful 
 management to drink out of the corner without over- 
 whelming oneself, I arrived at the farm near to the 
 Riultan Foss, which was the residence of Marie, the 
 heroine of the Marie Stige.* This farm is situated on 
 the side of a mountam, which blocks up the valley. 
 
 * " Stige" is the Dansk and Norsk for ladder, and placing the artide 
 en at tJie end of the Tford, as is usual, it becomes Stigen, the ladder, 
 hence the local name " Marie Stigen," the Mary's ladder, which most 
 
LEGEND OF MARIE STIGE. 307 
 
 The ordinary track by whicli the lower part of the 
 valley may be reached, ascends about a thousand feet 
 over the ridge of this mountain, and then, of course, a 
 corresponding descent has to be made. But the river ! 
 How does that find its way down the valley ? There is 
 a deep cleft, a great chasm, more than a thousand 
 (some say two thousand) feet in depth. Ages had 
 passed away, and nobody had dreamed of any other 
 way to reach the lower valley than that over the moun- 
 tain ; but Marie, whose lover lived below, had heard of 
 his rival's plot to waylay him as he came by the track 
 over the ridge to visit her, so she tried the dreadful 
 precipice, and found that by clinging with fingers and 
 toes to the little ledges of the rock, she could pass in 
 a direct line along the face of it. Thus she warned 
 her lover of his danger, and enabled him to meet her 
 secretly and safely, by traversing the giddy path she 
 had discovered; and the lovers evaded — as lovers 
 always do— both the cruel father and his accomplice, 
 the wealthy rival. By this path they met as usual, 
 until at last detected; and then Ej stein Halfoordsen, 
 the lover, was prevailed upon to fly, in order to escape 
 new plots against his life. In the course of years the 
 father died, the rival ceased to persecute, and Ejstein 
 returned with fame and wealth. He came by the 
 shortest way, Marie saw him coming, and called his 
 name aloud; he raised his arms and waved his hands 
 
 English TTTiters have misunderstood and Germanized into " Marie 
 Stein," or Mary's Eoek. Others spell it "Marie Stegen," which, 
 translated, signifies the Mary's fry, or Mary's roast meat. 
 
 X 2 
 
308 THROUGH SrORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 as a signal of recognition, and by doing so was over- 
 balanced and fell. She watched his falling body till it 
 disappeared in the foam of the Riukan Foss ; when the 
 dark veil of madness fell over her mind, and fulfilled its 
 beneficent intent by shutting out a knowledge too hor- 
 rible for endurance. 
 
 A little girl from the farm guided me to the edge of 
 the precipice, from which a distant view of the fall is 
 obtained. ' From this point it is much like the Voring 
 Foss, but can be better seen. My guide then showed 
 me the beginning of the track leading to the Marie 
 Stige, telling me that she was forbidden from going to 
 the Marie Stige itself. I gave her 4 skillings, which 
 she protested was too much, at the same time offering 
 to return two, and it was with great difficulty that I 
 induced her to keep the whole amount of rather less 
 than twopence. 
 
 I then proceeded along what I supposed to be the 
 Marie Stige, a ledge of rock trodden with footsteps, 
 varying from six inches to a foot in width, with a sloping 
 wall of rock above and the chasm below ; this conti- 
 nued until I came to a part where there are two tracks, 
 one apparently leading over the hiU, the othfer direct to 
 the midst of the perpendicular wall of the precipice 
 (which is seen a little farther on rising to a fearful 
 height overhead) and proceeding downwards to the gulf 
 below, with an unbroken smoothness that looks utterly 
 hopeless : but I determined to go on as long as there 
 was any vestige of a track. Following thus the marks 
 of footsteps, I came out at last not upon the edge, but 
 
CROSSING THE MARIE STIGE. 309 
 
 upon the face of the precipice formed by the sphtting 
 down of the barrier mountain before referred to ; it was 
 a giddy path, but I kept along it, placing my feet upon 
 the worn ledges and clinging to other ledges above, until 
 I came to a tree which grew upon a ledge similar to those 
 I had stepped upon, but much wider, and which seemed 
 to be the end of the track I was following. Some 
 initials cut upon the tree, as triumphant indications of 
 the carver's exploit in reaching it, rather confirmed the 
 notion that I had only followed a track leading to this as 
 a station for viewing the waterfall and the whole of the 
 great chasm, which are well displayed from this point. 
 
 Concluding that such was the case, and that the other 
 ascending track leads to the Marie Stige, I was about to 
 return, when I saw far away below me, standing on a 
 large table of rock, five student-looking young men, 
 with a peasant, who appeared to be their guide ; they 
 hailed me, and I returned their salutation, but could not 
 hear what they said. Then the peasant took off his 
 shoes, left them, and presently re-appeared moving along 
 the face of the precipice like a fly on a wall. His 
 means of adhesion were totally unintelligible from the 
 distance, but as he approached I perceived that he was 
 clinging by fingers and toes to narrow ledges of rock 
 from one to four or five inches wide. At last he reached 
 me, and asked me whether I would accompany him 
 back, which I consented to do; though it appeared 
 rather a dangerous exploit: I found, however, that it 
 was much easier than it appeared to be from the dis- 
 tance. The rock has a perpendicular lamination (and 
 
310 THROUGH NOEWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 doubtless a corresponding cleavage to that to which, the 
 formation of the chasm is due) ; the abrupt terminations 
 of these laminas form ledges, which though very narrow 
 are perfectly firm and safe, affording a reliable foot- 
 hold, without the slightest tendency to slipperyness ; 
 besides these there is an abundance of similar ledges, 
 affording firm finger-hold, which, though but an inch 
 wide, give a most comfortable assurance of safety to the 
 climber, who, bending the hands claw-fashion, clings to 
 them with the finger-ends. I would rather, under such 
 circumstances; have a firm two-inch foot ledge, and one 
 inch of such finger-hold, than an eighteen-inch pathway 
 with nothing for the hands. At about half way I 
 stopped to contemplate the scene, which is magnificent, 
 and its grandeur is heightened by the peculiar position 
 from which it is seen. 
 
 Imagine yourself " holding on by your eyeHds," as 
 the sailors have it, in the manner just described, to the 
 face of a precipice which rises overhead some 500 or 
 600 feet; the upper part being, in fact, quite out o£ 
 sight, without leaning forward, which would, of course, 
 involve the fate of Ejstein ; then, with great care, and 
 some fear and trembling, you turn yourself round, gra- 
 dually placing your heels on the former position of 
 your toes, removing your hands one at a time from 
 their clutching-places, and finding a lower ledge upon 
 which to rest the wrist end or heel of the hand. Hav- 
 ing anchored yourself thus, and keeping your back 
 quite flat against the rook (as any leaning forward 
 would be fatal), you look in the direction of the 
 
A CLIMB. — THE EIUKAN FOSS. 311 
 
 upper part of the valley, and see far below and far 
 away a dark chasm partly hidden by branches of trees; 
 through this the river flows, and as it comes nearer 
 reaches a wider opening of the gorge, advancing 
 towards the edge of a precipice, over which it rolls 
 towards a gully of its own cutting, and then pitches 
 down an unknown depth : for the mass of falling water 
 plunges into a wliite cloud that hides the bottom of the 
 dark abyss, and rises up high into the sunshine. This 
 is the perpetual spray, the reeldng, or " riukan" from 
 which the name of the fall is derived. You may, how- 
 ever, estimate the depth, for looking straight down the 
 gray wall to which you are clinging, you see that it 
 terminates in dark, quiet water. This is the same that a 
 few minutes since was thundering and tearing down so 
 furiously, and partly rising again to form the ever- 
 hanging, though ever-falling, cloud of waterdrops. 
 
 Murray says that the "Estimates of the height of 
 the Riukan Foss are various; the most probable is 
 about 900 feet." This, I think, is an over-estimate: 
 500 feet appears to me much nearer the truth. The 
 p^t of the wall on which I halted is fully as much 
 above the top of the fall as the whole height of the 
 fall Itself According to Murray's estimate, therefore, 
 there was 1,800 feet of precipice below; according to 
 my own, about 1,000 and some 4Q0 or 500 feet above. 
 This wall is not absolutely perpendicular, but is within 
 a very few degrees of it. 
 
 On arriving at the end of the Marie Stige, and 
 landing upon the platform of rock where the five 
 
312 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK, 
 
 tourists stood, I was congratulated by them all on my 
 escape ; but did not quite vmderstand the meaning of 
 these earnest congratulations. One of them, an Anglo- 
 Portuguese South-American merchant, explained in 
 English that, seeing me halting in that terrible situa- 
 tion (by the tree before mentioned), they concluded 
 that I had got so far and was unable to advance or 
 retreat, and were under the impression that the acci- 
 dent of their arrival with the guide had been the meajis 
 of saving my life. They were rather disappointed 
 when I told them that I was in no danger whatever, 
 and had no idea of danger ; that I could have retreated 
 with perfect ease, but should not have ventured forward 
 had not their guide, by his example, demonstrated the 
 possibility of so doing, which otherwise was by no 
 means evident. They had really been terrified, and 
 when, in order to convmce them that there was no 
 danger, I proposed to recross with them, the Portuguese 
 exclaimed that he would not do so for a vast amount ; 
 and all the rest concm-red. I can easily understand 
 that, viewed from this position, where the ledges are 
 quite invisible, and both the height above and depth 
 below, fairly seen, it must be a somewhat thrilling sight 
 to witness the crossing of the Marie Stige — far more 
 so than to do it. 
 
 This platform of rock affords by far the best view of 
 the fall, and those who come from below have no occa- 
 sion to cross the Marie Stige, except for its ov^n sake. 
 The quantity of falling water is much greater than at 
 the Voring Foss, but the height does not appear to me 
 
BEST VIEW OF THE EIUKAN EOSS. 313 
 
 SO great. Much of the effect of the quantity of water 
 is lost, on account of the narrowness of the chasm down 
 which it falls. 
 
 After lingering till the sun had set, I walked on, in 
 company with the Portuguese and liis four Norwegian 
 companions, to the farm below, where they remained. 
 This farm is said to have been the residence of Marie's 
 lover, and many tourists who walk up the rugged way 
 from it to the platform of rock from which the best 
 view of the fall is obtained, imagine that they have 
 thereby crossed the Marie Stige. I walked on by 
 moonlight through a fine valley, passing many cascades, 
 until I reached Dale, at a late hour. This is a good 
 station, and the regular halting-place for visitors to the 
 Riukan Foss. 
 
314 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 The Tin Sjoen — Tellemark costume — A sociable squirrel — Kne 
 forests — Dirt, rags, and finery — A few facta brought forward to 
 indicate that tourists with weak stomachs should not visit the 
 Tellemark — Solid chairs — Breakfast with the bonder — An 
 investigation of the contents of my knapsack — Sudden change 
 in the social a&pect of the country — Wine-shops, commerce, and 
 mining — Eongsberg — A public-house and Sunday amusement — 
 The long town of Drammen — My reception by tlie hotel-keepers 
 of Drammen — Home-like scenery and its associations — Gaiety 
 of Christiania — Family affinity between ourselres and the 
 Norwegians and Danes — Back to London. 
 
 The next morning I walked down the valley to Mael, on 
 the Lake of Tin Sjoen, then took a boat to Haakenaes, 
 where there is a good station, and from thence by 
 another boat I proceeded to Graver, ten miles further 
 down the lake. The boatmen were two fine-looking fel- 
 lows, tall, and powerfully built, and with the large and 
 strongly-marked features that characterize the peasants 
 of the Tellemark. Their short jackets and waistcoats 
 were as usual thickly covered with silver buttons, and 
 at the knees of their knee-breeches there were as many 
 more buttons as could be placed there. The lake is 
 rather a fine one, bounded by high wooded hills and 
 fertile little bays, with farms upon them in every bend 
 of the shore. Wild waterfowl abound here, and we 
 were much amused with a squirrel that followed the 
 
TRACK TO KONGSBEEG. 315 
 
 boat for a long distance, as we rowed close to the other 
 shore. 
 
 On landing at Graver, I inquired for the track 
 leading to Kongsherg, by Bolkesjo ; a well-defined 
 path was shown to me, and I was recommended to 
 stop at the farm of Lier, which, according to my in- 
 tbrmant, would afford the most comfortable quarters in 
 the district. There is much fertile country, and some 
 tolerably good farms in the neighbourhood of Graver. 
 
 The first part of my walk was amidst the rich scenery 
 of fertile winding valleys, and then through silent forests 
 of tall pines, with stems so large, so high and straight, 
 and uniformly tapering, that Milton's lines, — 
 
 " His spear, to equal which the tallest pine 
 Hewn on Norwegian hills to be the mast 
 Of some high admiral, were but a wand," 
 
 haunted me continually as I waUied along. After eight 
 or ten miles of such forests, the track passes over some 
 curious glacier ground, — great plains of smooth, flag- 
 like rock, with very slight inclination, and remarkably 
 deep grovings. Finally, I reached Lier, which is 
 situated on the flank of a curiously shaped mountain, 
 overlooking a melancholy lake. I should never have 
 found it, had I not overtaken three dirty men who 
 were going out a-fishing, and with whom I walked 
 for about an hour. They pointed out the farm, which 
 is not visible from the track, and is situated in a 
 region so hopelessly rocky that I could scarcely believe 
 any agriculture possible : I should not have thought of 
 looking for a house thereabouts. On reaching it, I 
 
316 THROUGH NOEWAY WITH A IvNAPSACK. 
 
 found, as usual, that tliere was nobody at home, but 
 saw some people in the distance, and therefore went in 
 at the open door, and sat down till they came. 
 
 The housemen and women came first, then the 
 master ; all of them incredibly dirty — dirty as Greeks, 
 and ornamented with a profusion of silver brooches 
 and other silver and gilded silver trinkets. The 
 master, as usual in the Tellemark, was the dirtiest, 
 and wore the greatest amomit of jewellery. On 
 his shirt front were three huge circular brooches, 
 that touched each other, for want of space between 
 them; the neck was fastened with silver shirt-links, 
 with chains hanging from them. There were three 
 rows of silver buttons on his immeasurably short 
 waistcoat, and three rows more on the sides of each 
 knee, and all were brightly polished; but his stock- 
 ings were full of holes, and the garments upon which 
 the silver was displayed were miserably ragged. It 
 appears here to be the general custom to wash and 
 shave once a week, so that the bristles and -the dirt 
 accumulate on their faces simultaneously, and are both 
 pared off with a razor on Sunday mornings : it being 
 Friday evening, and hot weather, these decorations had 
 nearly reached their weekly maximum. 
 
 My supper consisted of dirty fladbrod, good butter, 
 and sour milk; this last the master brought me in 
 a bowl, quite filled; he held the bowl with one hand, 
 and his thumb was immersed in the sour milk, which 
 exercised its solvent powers upon the film of dirt 
 that overlaid his skin, so that by the time he placed 
 
FINERY AND DIRT.— A LOG CHAm. 317 
 
 the bowl before me, his immersed thumb was sur- 
 rounded by an aura, or dark halo of dirt particles, 
 suspended in the beverage. By skilful management, 
 drinking from the opposite side of the bowl, and 
 avoiding any agitation of its contents, I contrived to 
 drink some of the milk without reaching the portion 
 thus beclouded. 
 
 The room had the usual dirty floor and pasted paper 
 windows; half a dozen people were eating cement, but 
 there was no Juno or Vesta here. Besides the kitchen, 
 or common room, there was a little second room, in 
 which I slept in a very dirty bed, and breathed a cheesy 
 atmosphere, produced by two very large tubs filled 
 with stale milk in a state of putrescent, caseous fermen- 
 tation, and covered with a thick mouldy film, from 
 which arose an intensely som' odour of rotten cheese. 
 In this room were two specimens of a curious chair, 
 such as is occasionally met with in those parts of 
 Norway where the largest pine-trees abomid. They 
 are made by simply cutting a log about three feet long 
 from the thickest part of a large pine trunk ; one side 
 of one half of this log is adzed out to form a seat, 
 the other side being left in the rough for the back, 
 which is curved inside, and thus a solid seat, £t block 
 with a back, is formed. 
 
 When I arose the next morning, the housemen had 
 all departed and were working in the fields, but the 
 bonder and his wife were waiting at home to take 
 breakfast with me. This was quite a state repast, 
 consisting of cofifee and rye-bread and butter. The loaf 
 
318 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 of bread was new, and had apparently been prepared 
 on purpose, or was possibly part of the family provision 
 for Sunday. 
 
 After breakfast, my hat and stick were carefully 
 examined, and such longing glances were cast upon 
 the outside of my knapsack, that I felt morally com- 
 pelled to exhibit its contents; which afforded an im- 
 mense amount of delight. Small as it was, mine 
 host and his wife evidently regarded it as a museum 
 of wonders: the scarlet flannel shirt was an object of 
 special admiration; the softness of the material, the 
 brilliancy of the colour, the buttons and stitching, were 
 all commented upon with the utmost enthusiasm, and 
 they evidently considered me guilty of a great waste 
 of splendour in wearing so brilliant a garment inside. 
 Had it belonged to the bonder, he would certainly have 
 worn it as an overcoat, and have covered it with all the 
 silver brooches and buttons in his possession. If I had 
 possessed another besides that on my back, I should 
 have made him a present of it, and waited over Sunday 
 to witness the result. 
 
 As a protection against the weather, and immersion 
 in rivers, &c., I make up the contents of my knap- 
 sack into small parcels, rolled in oiled silk, and secured 
 with an india-rubber ring. These rings interested 
 the investigators immensely, and when I stretched 
 one of them to its utmost and passed it over my 
 head, the bonder threw up his hands, exclaiming, 
 " O mine God fader ! " "0 mine God fader ! " and 
 repeated the exclamation every time I showed him a 
 
THE NATIVES ASTONISHED. 319 
 
 new application of their wondrously exj)ansive powers. 
 When, at the concltision of the show, I gave him two 
 of these rings, lie rushed off to show them to his house- 
 men, and lie evidently valued them above the artificial 
 flies and fish-hooks. I should advise all tourists who 
 propose penetrating the wilds of Norway to carry a few 
 boxes of vulcanized india-rubber rings with them. 
 
 I walked on by Bolkesjo, which is a clean com- 
 fortable station near the boundary of the TeUemark. 
 The beams of the room are elaborately decorated with 
 scroll carvings and Latin inscriptions in relief; the 
 letters very large, and painted alternately red and yeUow 
 on a green ground. A comfortable dinner was pro- 
 vided here. I intended to take a carriole to the next 
 station, in order to have some experience of this mode 
 of travelling before leaving Norway ; but I was told 
 that they could not fetch a horse in less than three or 
 four hours, and therefore I travelled by my usual means 
 of conveyance, along a good road and through a well- 
 peopled country. I was much struck with the change 
 in the appearance of the people and the condition of the 
 houses that was evident immediately upon passing the 
 boundary of the Tellemark. At Moen, I found a small 
 but comfortable station, and enjoyed the luxury of 
 sleeping in a clean, uninliabited bed. 
 
 On approaching Kongsberg next morning, I was 
 
 rather surprised at passing some wine-shops; the first 
 
 , I had seen in Norway. In order to ascertain what sort 
 
 of wine is popular here, I called for a glass at one 
 
 of the shops, and was supplied with some cherry wine 
 
320 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A IQ^APSACIC. 
 
 strongly flavoured with the prussic acid from the 
 kernels. The charge was two skillings per glass; 
 
 Kongsherg is a considerable town, with indications 
 of commerce that are quite novel, after Norwegian 
 country life ; for, besides its mining industry, there is 
 much trading in timber, as the logs and rafts in the 
 river testify. Being Sunday, I could not visit the great 
 silver mine ; and having only just time enough to reach 
 Christiania by the starting time of the packet, was 
 unable to afford the two days' delay that such a visit 
 would cost ; therefore I pushed on to the next station, 
 intending to take a carriole there, but found there was 
 none: nor was there any food, but abundance of ale. 
 It was, in fact, remarkably like an English beer-shop, 
 and the people about were beer-shop customers such as 
 mining districts usually supply. 
 
 At Hougsund, which is rather more than half way 
 to Drammen, there is a very large station; quite a 
 public-house, with a skittle-ground and tea-gardens 
 attached, where a game nearly the same as American 
 bowls, was being vigorously played by artizans in then- 
 Sunday clothes. There were other games, such as 
 throwing a suspended ring upon a hook, &c., and there 
 were many players, but I observed no indications of gam- 
 bling ; and though most of the players and the loungers, 
 who were very numerous, were drinking ale, there was 
 no drunkenness. This is evidently a favourite place 
 of Sunday resort for the artiz;ans of the vicinity. The 
 reader must remember that I had left behind the wild 
 district of Tellemark, the region of bog and mountain 
 
A LUTHEEAN SABBATH. 321 
 
 and thinly scattered farms, and that I was now in the 
 midst of a dense population and much business. Most of 
 the company consisted of working men in their Sunday 
 clothes, in which guise they look singularly like Scotch- 
 men under similar circumstances; Like Scotchmen on 
 Sunday, they dress all in black; like Scotch artizans 
 on Sunday, they seem oppressed with a consciousness 
 of being in full dress, and move about in a bashfal, 
 uneasy manner ; and like Scotchmen, they can evidently 
 take a great deal of ale without inconvenience ; but 
 they are unlike Scotchmen in Scotland on Sunday, in 
 taking their Sunday amusements openly and without 
 fear of the folk. Luther's notions of the Sabbath are 
 fully carried out here ; for while the people scrupulously 
 abstain from following their daily labour, they make the 
 Sunday a bright and cheerful holiday — going to church 
 in the morning, taking country walks in the afternoon, 
 and singing and dancing in the evening. 
 
 I had a dinner of broth and mutton, the broth 
 prepared with barley precisely after the manner of 
 Scotch broth, and then walked on to Drammen, meet- 
 ing many people on the way, some on foot, others in 
 carrioles and gigs, many fishing on the banks of the 
 river, and several carrying guns; these, and the con- 
 tinual banging that I heard in the fields around, showed 
 that shooting is a favourite sport in this neighbourhood. 
 Among other provisions for amusement were some 
 " ol vogns," or ale waggons, carts built for the purpose 
 of carrying bottles of ale, and retailing them on the 
 wayside. The two that I passed were besieged by 
 
322 THEOtTGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 customers, and corkscrews were in great demand. 
 There are several terraces in this valley of the river 
 Drammen, but they are not so high above the level of 
 the river as those of the northern valleys. 
 
 Drammen is a very long town, longer even than the 
 " lang toun o' Kirkaldy." It has some fifteen thousand 
 inhabitants ; is about five miles long aJid nothing broad, 
 being simply a row of houses on each side of a broad 
 river. There are many handsome villas in the neigh- 
 bourhood belonging to the rich timber-merchants ; they 
 are built of wood brightly painted, and have handsome 
 gardens around them. There is no national costume 
 in Drammen : round hats and ample skirts prevail 
 among the women, and black dress coats and Panama 
 hats are most common among the men. I heard many 
 pianos and a good deal of singing in the houses, and 
 passed some public rooms where there were many 
 dancers. It was about sunset when I reached the com- 
 mencement of Drammen, and quite dark by the time 
 I had walked partly through it. 
 
 I was dismissed very cavalierly from the first hotel at 
 which I applied. It was the chief hotel of the place, 
 and possessed a waiter, who, with the natural instinct 
 of his species, looked up and down me, estimated the 
 value of my clothes, and then showed me the door. It 
 is true that my boots were reduced to the last extremi- 
 ties of barely adhering to my feet ; my trousers, which 
 originally were of shepherd's plaid, had acquired a uni- 
 form tint, similar to that which distinguishes the gar- 
 ments of brickmakers and navvies ; my coat, of the 
 
THE REJECTED OF HOTELS. 323 
 
 same material, was in a similar condition, but not so 
 decidedly bricky. Besides this, there were many mend- 
 ings of my own, the stitches of which were large 
 enough to be distinctly visible to the naked eye, and 
 the colour of the thread was not exactly the same as 
 the material it held together ; my last clean collar was 
 consumed, and my complexion was many shades darker 
 and redder than that of a civilized Caucasian : still, I 
 did not anticipate so tmceremonious an expulsion, and 
 might have been indignant had not my sense of the 
 ludicrous prevailed. 
 
 Finding no other hotel or inn in the neighbourhood, I 
 made inquiry of a passer-by, who proved to be a shoe- 
 maker, and a very civil fellow. He took me to the 
 nearest inn, where, in order to conciliate the authorities, 
 I ordered a bottle of ale before commencing my chief 
 negotiations ; but it was of no avail, my boots and 
 trousers, wild beard and complexion, were too much 
 for them, and I was politely told that the house was full. 
 The shoemaker then conducted me to another house 
 of apparently still smaller pretensions, where another 
 bottle of ale and another application led to a like result. 
 We then crossed the bridge — which, according to the 
 shoemaker's belief, is the longest and finest bridge in 
 the world — and boldly entered the second grand hotel 
 of Drammen. I called for a bottle of ale and asked 
 for the master : the latter came bearing the former ; he 
 spoke English fluently, and said at once that he per- 
 ceived that I was a tourist who had been roughing it 
 up the country. J told him how I had been turned 
 
324 THROUGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 out of the other hotels as a rogue and vagabond; he 
 laughed, and assured me that he, who was a man of the 
 world and a;ccustomed to Englishmen, could distinguish 
 an English gentleman at a glance, whatever might be 
 the state of his clothes ; whereupon I called for another 
 bottle of ale, and we all three hobnobbed together, thep 
 had more ale and an hour's gossip. The shoemaker 
 would not stop to supper, and was only prevented by- 
 physical force from paying for all the ale, though he 
 had already paid for one of the previous bottles. 
 
 The next morning after much walking I finally 
 emerged from the long street into the country, which is 
 very fertile and well cultivated. At the Gulbeck station 
 I hired a carriole and horse to the next station, a dis- 
 tance of If Norsk mile, about ten English statute 
 miles ; the charge for which was 2 marks 6 skillings, or 
 about 2s. in English money. The principal difficulty I 
 encountered was in the disposal of my legs, which have 
 to be somehow arranged between the front of the vehicle 
 and the tail of the horse, either dangling or resting on 
 the shafts. The chief excitement of carriole travel- 
 ling is the running down the hills, which Norwegian 
 ponies perform in a manner peculiar to themselves : the 
 steeper the hill the greater the speed ; the rougher the 
 road and the larger the loose blocks of stones upon it, 
 the greater is the sense of security enjoyed by the 
 horse, and the more frolicsome are his movements. As 
 there are no other springs than the elasticity of the 
 shafts, the tourist may or may not, according to taste, 
 participate in the animal's enthusiasm. 
 
FROM DEAMMEN TO CHEISTIAOTA. 325 
 
 The scenery is very beautiful all the way between 
 Drammen and Christiania. It has a smilingj home-like, 
 English character. The wild mountains and the dreary 
 i^elds, the snow-peaks and glaciers, bogs, boulders, tor- 
 rents, and cascades, the vanishing foot-tracks and bar- 
 riers of gray precipice, all seemed now to belong to a 
 distant land and a past age of dreamy remembrance; 
 while this common highway passing between rich fields, 
 skirting small lakes with water-lilies on their surface, 
 and crossi»g tranquil rivers that have bending willows 
 overhanging from their grassy banks, was Hke the way 
 home from some friend's house in the country, and set 
 me longing for my books, my easy chair, some music, 
 a clean collar, and civilization. These feelings were 
 heightened as I approached Christiania, and passed 
 numerous villas of considerable beauty ; at one of the 
 finest of which there was a grand party, with gaily- 
 dressed ladies and gentlemen promenading on a terrace 
 that overlooked an Italian garden with flower vases, 
 statues, and fountains, all enlivened by the music of an 
 excellent band. 
 
 Christiania appeared extravagantly gay and Paris- 
 like : there were pleasure-boats sailing on the fiord in 
 the neighbourhood of Oscar's Hall, the king's summer 
 palace on the water -side; the Klinkenberg seemed 
 filled with visitors ; there was a grand concert in an- 
 other place, the " Lust-salle ; " the WalhaUa Theatre 
 was open, and there had been a performance there last 
 night (Sunday); and everybody seemed to be brilliantly 
 dressed and keeping holiday. Whether this was attri- 
 
326 THEOIJGH NORWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 butable to the contrast with the Tellemark, or due to 
 the fact that this is the gay season at Christianiai and 
 the festival of Saint Monday, which is kept to some 
 extent by the artizans of Norway, I cannot positively 
 say ; perhaps, all combined to give the city the altered 
 aspect it presented to me. 
 
 I was greeted with a hearty welcome by mine host of 
 the Hotel du Nord, who knew exactly where I had 
 been, how I had travelled, and almost everything con- 
 cerning me. It appears that the station keepers have 
 to make some sort of periodical report, of which the 
 newspaper editors of Christiania avail themselves to 
 chronicle the movements of the more illustrious , tour- 
 ists : my want of rank was fiiUy compensated by the 
 eccentricity of my mode of travelhng. 
 
 On the next morning I left Christiania, and, sailing 
 down the fiord by a steam-packet that called at many 
 stations on the way, arrived at the mouth of the fiord 
 and bade farewell to Norway. Then, passing through 
 the Kattegat and Great Belt by the flat sandy shores of 
 Denmark, I landed at Kiel, where I was surprised at 
 finding that everybody spoke German, and that the 
 Danish tongue was almost unknown. I felt positively 
 annoyed with this, in spite of a great respect for Ger- 
 many and its people, for my short stay of a little over 
 two months had created a sort of Scandinavian enthu- 
 siasm, an earnest wish to witness the consummation of 
 that great Scandinavian confederation of Norway, Den- 
 mark, and Sweden, and the formation thereby of a 
 powerful barrier against Russian encroachment on the 
 
ENGLISH CHAEACTEEISTICS IN NORWAY. 327 
 
 one hand, and Austrian court influences on the other. 
 Such a confederation, united by a strong sense of 
 common nationahty, and common language, if in firm 
 alliance with Britain, would have great influence on 
 Europe ; and an influence exercised by a people of so 
 sphd, calm, and pacific a character would greatly aid 
 the spread of sound constitutional liberty and the gene- 
 ral progress of mankind. 
 
 I feel strongly tempted to dwell upon this and 
 kindred subjects in order to show how EngHshmen are 
 bound by a sort of national filial tie to Norway and Den- 
 mark — for undoubtedly the best blood of Britain has 
 been derived from the shores of Scandinavia. No ob- 
 ' servant tourist can visit Norway (and the same applies 
 to Denmark) without having continually forced upon 
 his attention the moral and physical family likeness be- 
 tween these northern people and ourselves ; for all our 
 special English characteristics are even more visible in 
 Norway than in England: all those peculiarities of 
 physiognomy, of manner and character, by which an 
 Englishman is distinguished from a Frenchman, and 
 even from a German, are seen to be purely Scandi- 
 navian peculiarities. I often thought, when in the most 
 wild and primitive parts of Norway, that they now re- 
 present, in everything but costume and the presence 
 of guns and a few other modem inventions, very nearly 
 the state of Old England in the days of Alfred; and 
 that a practical knowledge of the physical and social 
 condition of Norway at the present time must be of 
 great value to the student of English history and the 
 
328 THEOUGH NOEWAY WITH A KNAPSACK. 
 
 progress of English civilization. But as another volume 
 v?ould be needed if I were to attempt a dissertation on 
 this interesting subject, I must conclude; leaving the 
 reader to picture for himself the rest of the journey 
 from Kiel, by the railway that passes through the corn- 
 fields and butter-yielding flats of Holstein to busy 
 Hamburg, and then by sea to the giddying roar and 
 whirl and rattle of still busier London. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Expenses of travelling, board, lodging, &c. from the time 
 
 of leaving Hull to the return to London — two months and 
 
 eleven days. 
 
 & *. d. 
 Passage money (second class) from Hull to 
 
 Christiania 3 10 
 
 Food and steward » 10 
 
 Breakfast at Chiistiansand 02 
 
 Admission to Klinkenberg 
 Seat in theatre at ditto 
 
 Orange at ditto 
 
 Map and vocabulary 
 
 Bill at Hotel du Nord 
 
 Kail to Eidsvold (third class) 
 
 Supper, bed, and breakfast at Eidsvold .. 
 
 Fare by steamer on the Miosen Lake 
 
 Dinner on ditto, 18 sk. ; ale, lOrf. 
 
 Supper, bed, and breakfast at Hammer^s Hotel, 
 
 LiUehammer 
 
 Dinner at Mosshuus 
 
 Supper, bed, and breakfast at Holmen 
 
 Steamer to Elfstadt 
 
 Dinner at Hundorp 
 
 * Specie- dollars, marks, and skillings. A specie-dollar is equal to 
 about 4s. 6d. English, a mark to about lOfi, and a skilling rather 
 less than one halfpenny. 24 skillings make 1 mark; 5 marks, I specie- 
 dollar. 
 
 £4 2 
 
 D. 
 
 M. S. 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 2 18 
 
 
 
 2 12 
 
 
 
 3 20 
 
 
 
 1 4 
 
 
 
 2 12 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 1 12 
 
 
 
 1 12 
 
 
 
 1 2 
 
330 APPENDIX. 
 
 Supper, bed, and breakfiist at Vik 
 
 Ditto at Laurgaard 
 
 Ditto at Dombaas 
 
 Dinner, bed, and breakfast at Jerkin 
 
 Dinner at Drivstuen 
 
 Supper, bed, and bredkfast at Bise 
 
 Dinner at Stuen 
 
 Supper, bed, and breakfast at Bjerkager 
 
 Dinner at Hov 
 
 Bed and breakfast at Soknaes 
 
 Dinner at Leer 
 
 Supper, bed, and breakfast at Oust 
 Belle Vue Hotel, Trondhjem : 
 
 Dinner and coffee 
 
 One bottle ale 
 
 Supper 
 
 Half-bottle Sauterne 
 
 Servants 
 
 Passage from Trondhjem to Hammerfest 
 
 Provisions on board 
 
 Landing and embarking 
 
 Breakfast at Hammerfest 
 
 Dinner and wine at ditto 
 
 Landing and embarking at Tromso 
 Ale and breakfast at baker's shop at ditto 
 Passage from Hammerfest to Trondhjem 
 Provisions on board 
 
 Landing 
 
 Bill at Belle Vue, Trondhjem 
 
 Terry, 2 ; dinner, 8 
 
 Supper, bed, and breakfast at Bye 
 
 Two bowls milk at Fandrem 
 
 Supper and bed at Langsaet 
 
 Breakfast at Garberg 
 
 Supper, bed, and breakfast at Quam 
 
 Dinner at Honstad 
 
 Boatandmen 
 
 Tilsegelse 
 
 Supper, bed, and breakfast at Baekkan 
 
 Boat and tilsegelse 
 
 Milk 
 
 Supper, bed, and breakfast at Lonsaet 1 12 
 
 D. 
 
 M. S. 
 
 
 
 1 12 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 1 6 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 1 12 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 1 12 
 
 
 
 2 12 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 1 12 
 
 
 
 1 12 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 15 
 
 1 8 
 
 7 
 
 2 20 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 1 12 
 
 
 
 3 3 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 15 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 1 4 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 1 8 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 1 12 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 3 8 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 1 4 
 
 
 
 2 
 
APPENDIX. 331 
 
 Boat and tilsegelse 
 
 Boat, man, and boy 
 
 Dinner, 8 ; milk, 2 
 
 Boat and men 
 
 Boat to Vebltmgsnaesset ... ., 
 
 Dinner at ditto 
 
 Supper, bed, and breakfast at Ormein 
 
 Ditto ditto at Molmen 
 
 Ditto ditto at Hoset 
 
 Bed and breakfast at Skeaker 
 
 Supper, bed, and breakfast at Mork 
 
 Ditto ditto atMorkSaeter 
 
 Ditto ditto at Mjelvior 
 
 Bill at Konnei (two days) 
 
 Dinner at Sogndalsfjoeren 
 
 Boatmen and tilsegelse 
 
 Supper, bed, and breakfast at Lunden 
 
 Men and boat to Gudvangen 
 
 Dinner at GudTangen 
 
 Bill at Vossevangen 
 
 Boat 
 
 Boatto Vik 
 
 Boat across lake to Saebo and back 
 
 Guide to Voring Foss 
 
 Milk 
 
 BiUatVik 
 
 Boat to trtne 
 
 Dinner at ditto 
 
 Supper, bed, and breakfast at Lofthuus 
 
 BoattoOdde 
 
 Supper, bed, and breakfast at ditto 
 
 Dinner at ditto 
 
 Mending boots 
 
 Supper, bed, and breakfast at Hildal 
 
 Man with wooden shoes 
 
 Supper, bed, breakfast, and ham and fladbrod, for 
 
 journey, at Roldal 
 
 Milk at saeters 
 
 Supper, bed, and breakfast at Nordgaard 
 
 MUk 
 
 Supper, bed, and breakfast at Gaardsfiord 
 MUk 
 
 D. 
 
 M. S. 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 1 4 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 12 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 1 12 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 2 
 
 
 
 2 10 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 1 
 
 2 3 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 20 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 1 20 
 
 
 
 1 8 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 12 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 1 12 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 1 12 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 4 
 
332 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Supper, bed, and breakfast at Bospen . 
 
 Milk, 4 ;* ferry, 4 
 
 Guide to the Marie Stige 
 
 Ditto across ditto 
 
 Supper, bed, and breakfast at Dale 
 
 Boat to Hildal 
 
 Ditto to Graver 
 
 Supper, bed, and breakfast at Lier 
 
 Dinner at Bolkesjo 
 
 Supper, bed, and breakfast at Moen 
 Dinner and ale at Hougsund 
 
 Ale 
 
 Supper, bed, and breakfast at Drammen 
 
 Carriole , •■■ 
 
 Hotel du Nord, Ghristiania 
 
 Steam to liiel 
 
 Provisions on board 
 
 86 specie-dollars, 1 mark, 1 1 skillings, equal to 
 
 Add expenses from Hull to Cliristiania 
 
 Ditto from Kiel to London 
 
 D. 
 
 M 
 
 s. 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 Total expenses 
 
 86 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 19 
 
 7 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^£25 
 
 9 
 
 4 
 
 By examination of the above account, it will be seen that 
 the whole expenses for board and lodging for the ten weeks 
 amounted to rather less than 9Z. 
 
 * The frequent repetition of milk hereabouts is explained by the 
 fact that, milk being the most nutritious food obtainable, I dined on 
 bowls of milk whenever I could get them. Presh milk is abundant 
 enough on the fjelds during the summer, as the cows are all at the 
 saeters, but none is to be obtained at the farms below. In the above 
 account each 2 skillings represents one bowl of milk, containing 
 nearly a quart. 
 
 London : Trlntetl by Smith, Elder & Co., Little Green Arbonr Court, E.C. 
 
G5, CornJdll, London, August, 1859. 
 
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 9 
 
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 Life and Correspondence of Lord Metcalfe, 
 
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 13 
 
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 18 
 
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 expression, few woriis in the English language 
 can stand the test of comparison with it."— Morn- 
 vng Post, 
 
 WUTHERING HEIGHTS AND 
 AGNES GREY, By Ellis and 
 Acton Bell. "With Memoir by 
 Currer Bell. Price 2s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 " There are passages in this book of ' "Wuthering 
 Helght-9 ' of which any novelist, past or present, 
 might be proud. It has been said of Shakespeare 
 that he drew oases which the physician might 
 study ; Ellis Bell has done no less."— PafZtAZ^um. 
 
 " There is, at all evt-nts, keeping in the book : 
 the groups of figures and the scenery are in har- 
 mony with each other. There is a touch of Sal- 
 vator Boaa in q\\."— Atlas. 
 
 " ' Wuthering Heights ' bears the stamp of a 
 profoundly individual, strong, and passionate 
 mind. The memoir^s one of the most touehing 
 chapters in literary biography."— i\ro«co7^^r»iMr, 
 
 A LOST LOVE. ByAsHFORD Owen. 
 Price 2s. cloth. 
 
 "'A Lost Love' is a story full of grace and 
 genius. No outline of the story would give any 
 idea of its 'bG&Mty."—AthencBmn. 
 
 " A tale at once moving and winning, natural 
 and romantic, and certain to raise all the finer 
 symjpathies of the reader's nature."— Preas. 
 
 real picture of woman's Iiie."—Weatmm8ter 
 
 "A very beautiful and touching story. It Is 
 true to nature, and appeals to all who have not 
 forgotten love and youtli."— G/b6e. 
 
 " A novel of great geniup ; beautiful and true as 
 life itself."— A' e«j Quwrterly Review. 
 
 'A striking and original story: a woik of 
 genius and sensibility,"— Aa^jw-daaAeinew. 
 
 "This volume displays unquestionable genius 
 and that of a high order."— ittrfy* Newspaper 
 
sm:ith:, eilidee .^nd co. 
 
 CHEAP SERIES OF POPULAR FICTIONS— 
 
 X Continued. 
 
 DEERBROOK. By Harriet 
 Martineau. Price %s. Gd. cloth. 
 
 "ThlB popular fiction presents a true and ani- 
 mated picture of country lif6 among the upper 
 middle claases of English residents, and is re- 
 markable for Its interest, arising from the 
 influence of various characters upon each other, 
 and the eff&ct of ordinary circumstances upon 
 them. The descnptions of rural scenery, and the 
 daily pursuits in village hours, are among the 
 moat (Siarming of the author's writings ; but the 
 way In which exciting incidents gradually arise 
 out of the most ordinary phases of life, and the 
 skiU with which natural ana every-day characters 
 are brouglii out in dramatic situations, attest the 
 power or the author's genius."— 
 
 "A pure and beautiful moral feeling pervades 
 the work, and recommends it to families where 
 novels are not generally admitted." — 
 
 TALES OF THE COLONIES- 
 
 By Charles Koworoft. Price 
 2s. Qd. cloth. 
 
 " 'Tales of the Oolonles * is an able and interest- 
 ingbook. The author has the first great requisite 
 in Action— a knowledge of the life he undertakes 
 to describe; and his matter is solid and real."— 
 Spectator. 
 
 "It combines the fidelity of truth with the 
 spirit of a romance, and has altogether much of 
 IJe Foe in its character and composition."- 
 Literary Gazette. 
 
 "Sinoethetime of Robinson Crusoe, literature 
 has produced nothing like these 'Tales of the 
 Colonies.' "—Metropolitan Magazine. 
 
 "This is a singular work. No mere romance, 
 no mere fiction, nowever skilfully managed or 
 powerftilly executed, can surpass it. The work 
 to which it bears the neai'est simiUtude is 
 Robinson Crusoe, and it is scarcely, if at all, 
 infferior to that extraordinary history."— JoA» 
 Bull. 
 
 Fourth edition, 
 
 ROMANTIC 
 
 "AviUiou")- 
 
 TALES (including 
 By the Author of 
 "John Hali&x, Gentleman." A 
 new edition. Price 2*. 6d cloth. 
 
 " In a nice knowledge of the refinements of the 
 female heart, and in a happy power of depleting 
 emotion, the authoress is excelled by very few 
 story tellei-s of the day."— fftofie. 
 
 "As pleasant and fanciful a miscellany as has 
 been given to t^e public in these latter days."— 
 AthenfBv/m. 
 
 ■ " ' ATiltion ' is a beautiful and fanciful story, 
 and the rest make very agreeable reading. There 
 Is not one of them unqtuckened by true feeling, 
 exquisite taste, and a pure and vivid imagina- 
 tioii."—Exa/mmer. 
 
 PAUL FERROLL. 
 
 price 25. cloth. 
 
 •' We have seldom read so wonderful a romance, 
 we can find no fault in It as a work of art. It 
 leaves ua in admiration, almost in awe, of the 
 powers of its author."- ATew Quarterlp. 
 
 "The art displayed in presenting Paul Ferroll 
 throughout the story is beyond all praise."— 
 Sxnmvner. 
 
 "The incidents of the book are extremely well 
 managed."— 4£AcM(Ewm. 
 
 " ' Paul Ferroll ' is a book that will be very much 
 read, talked about, and marvelled at." — Qlohe. 
 
 " The fruit of much thoughtful investlgatioa is 
 represented to us in the character of Paul 
 
 Ferroll We do not need to he told how 
 
 he felt and why he acted thus and thus ; it will 
 be obvious to most minds from the very opening 
 pages. But the power of the story is not weak- 
 ened by this early knowledge : rather is it 
 heightened, since the artistic force of contrast is 
 grand and fearful in the two figures who cling so 
 closely together in their fond human love.** — 
 Momtng Uhronicle. 
 
 " 'Paul Ferroll' is a most strikingly original 
 production. It may he regarded as apnenomenon 
 in literature— a book that must be read, and 
 cannot be forgotten."— JIforninff Pout. 
 
 "To all the elements of powerful efi'ect, the 
 story adds the merit of being ably and forcibly 
 written."— JoftM Bull. 
 
 " ' Paul Ferroll ' is an original conception 
 wrought out with marvellous skill and mastery 
 of language. It is by far the mont extraordinary 
 work of modern times."— /Mwa^aied News of the 
 World. 
 
 '"Paul FerroU' is one of the novels of this 
 generation that will be read by the next."- (?to&e. 
 
 SCHOOL FOR FATHERS, 
 
 By Talbot Gwynne. Price 2*. cl, 
 
 " ' The School for Fathers ' is one of the cleverest, 
 most brilliant, genial, and instructive stories that 
 we have read since the publication of ' Jane 
 Eyre.' "—Eclectic Review. 
 
 " The pleasantest tale we have read for many a 
 day. It is a story of the Taller and Spectator 
 days, and is very fitly associated with that time 
 of good English literature by its manly feeling, 
 direct, unaffected manner of writing, and nicely- 
 managed, well-turned narrative. The descriptions 
 are excellent; some of the country painting is as 
 fresh as a landscape by Alfred Constable, or an 
 idyl by Tennyson."— .ExamiMer. 
 
 '*A capital picture of town and country a 
 century ago; and is emphatically the freshest, 
 raciest, and most artistic piece of fiction that has 
 lately come in our sfTfiy."— Nonconformist. 
 
 " 'The School for Fathers ' is at once highly 
 amusing and deeply interesting— full of that 
 genuine humour which is half pathos— and written 
 with a freshness of feeling and raoiness of style 
 which entitle it to be calledTa tale of the ' vicar of 
 Wakefield' school."— jBritaw^ia. 
 
 "A hale, hearty, unaffected, honest, downright 
 English tale, A vigorous paintijig of tnghsh 
 men and manners, by an artist who is thoroughly 
 national in his genius, taste, education, and 
 prejudices."— G/o&e. ,„ . ^ . ,^ , 
 
 "A capital story, illustrating our town and 
 country life a hundred years vusQ."—Biitieh 
 Qua/rterl}/. 
 
 Now ready, price 2s. 6(?., cloth, 
 AFTER DARK. By Wilkie Collins. 
 
 PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION. 
 
 DOMESTIC STORIES. By the Author of "John Halifax, Gentleman," &c. 
 KATHIE BRANDE : the Fireside History of a Quiet Life. By Holme 
 
 Lee, Author of "Svlvan Holt's Daughter." 
 BELOW THE SURFACE. By Sir Arthur Hallam Elton, Bart., M.P. 
 
AVOKKIS njBLISHEr) BY 
 
 NEW NOVELS. 
 
 (to be had at all libkaries.) 
 
 THE DENNES OF DAUNDELYONN. 
 
 By Mrs. Charles J. Proby. 3 vols. 
 {Now ready.') 
 
 COUSIN STELLA; or, Conflict. 
 By the Author of " Violet Bank." 
 3 vols. 
 
 "An excellent novel, written with great care; 
 the interest is well sustained to the 'end, and the 
 characters are all life-like. It is an extremely 
 well- written and well-conceived story, with quiet 
 power and precision of touch, with IVeshness of 
 interest and great merit."— AiAfinffiMm. 
 
 " ' Cousin Stella' has the merit, now bccomiug 
 rarer and rarer, of a comparative novelty in ire 
 suliject; the interest of which will secure for this 
 novel a fair share of popularity." — ^atwrday 
 Reoiew. 
 
 " The character of Cousin Stella, sentle, impul- 
 sive, almost childlike, is most ably and beautifully 
 drawn; and from beginning to end there is an 
 abundance of life and animation, truthful con- 
 versaMon, ever-vaiying scenes, and brigtit pic- 
 tures,"— -ieader, \ 
 
 By the Author of 
 
 CONFIDENCES. 
 
 *' Rita." 
 
 "Decidedly both good and interesting. The 
 hook hay a fresh and pleasant air about it: it is 
 "Written in an excellent tone, and there aretouches 
 of pathos here and there which we must rank 
 with a higher style of composition than that 
 usually attained in works oT this claaa."— JTew 
 Quarterly Beview. 
 
 "This new novel, by the author of 'Rita,' dis- 
 plays the same combiuatioc of ease and power in 
 the delineation of chai'acter, the same life-like 
 dialogue^ and the same faculty of constructing an 
 interesting story."— Spectator, 
 
 *' A work to be recommended not less from the 
 moral than the literary point of view."— Pj-ess. 
 
 " ' Confidences' is written in the most pleasing 
 manner of any novel we have read for years 
 ^ast."— Leader. 
 
 " A clever book, and not too long^'Sxaminer. 
 
 TRUST FOR TRUST. By 
 
 A. J. Barrowcliffe, Author of 
 " Amberhill." 3 vols. 
 
 " The story is admirably developed, Theinterest 
 never flags, the incidents are natural without 
 being commonplace, and the men and woman talk 
 and act like human Deinga."—P/'ess. 
 
 " It iB seldom we find, even in this gi'eat age of 
 novel writing, so much that is pleasant ana bo 
 little to object to as in ' Trust for Trust.' It con- 
 tains much original thought and ftesh humour." 
 —Leader. 
 
 " ' Trust for Trust* may be safely recommended : 
 The reader will not willingly lay down the book 
 until he has reached the end of the third volume. 
 There is a certain spirit and draraatio power in 
 many of the scenes that is worthy of praise, and 
 there is sufhcient consistency in the characters 
 and unity in the plot to give artistic completeness 
 to the tale."— ^ct-nomisr. 
 
 " TJio stoi-y evinces vigour of description and 
 power of •wilting."— Uterari/ Chwchman, 
 
 OLD AND YOUNG. 1 vol. 
 
 '/ The writer's powers of description are cer- 
 tainly above the average. The writing through- 
 out is that of a well-edueated and polished scholar 
 . . . The tone is manly and healthful."— Jforniw/7 
 Merala. 
 
 20 
 
 ELLEN RAYMOND ; or, TTps and 
 Downs. By Mrs. Vidal, Author 
 of "Tales for the Bush," &c, 
 3 vols. 
 
 " The plot is wrought out wi^h wonderftd inge- 
 nuity, and the different characters are sustained 
 in perfect keeping to the QDA."—JlluatrateA News 
 of the World. 
 
 " The characters are good, the style pure, cor- 
 rect, brisk, and easy."— Prcs«. 
 
 "Mrs. Vidal displays resource, imagination, 
 and power in no common degree. * * • There ia 
 more power and strength put forth in ' Ellen 
 Raymond' than perhaps in any lady's book of 
 this generation,"— ^a^ardayBerzew. !; 
 
 ' Kiere is infinite vigour and variety in ' Ellen 
 Raymond,' and an interest that increases ivith 
 every page. The delineation of the several 
 dramatis personce is extremely forcible and nii- 
 t\ira\."—X>ailp Teiegra/ph, 
 
 " This novel will find a great many admit'ers." 
 —Lead&r. ,V' 
 
 LOST AND WON. By Georgiana 
 
 M. Crah/ Author of " Ri version." 
 
 1 vol. 2nd Edition. 
 
 " Nothing Bupei-^or to this novel has appeared 
 during the presenti season,"— iender. 
 
 " Miss Craik's SioC' story is a good one and in 
 point of ability^^ve the average of ladies' novels." 
 —jyaily^^i^ 
 " "" ~ suage is gond, the narrative spirited, 
 ;ers are faKrly delineated, and the 
 as consideralue dramatic force."— 
 'Review. 
 - - Lan improvement on Miss Craik's first 
 truiK. ThA story is more compact and more 
 interesting/!"— j4 WiemfBztm. 
 
 " There ift a freshness and cleverness in this 
 tale whi^ renders it charming."— Giofte. 
 
 AN OLD DEBT. By I'lorence 
 Dawson. 2 vols. 
 
 "A powerfully written novel; one of the best 
 which has recently proceeded from a ffemale 
 
 hand The dialogue is vigorous and 
 
 spirited."— Jfomi«£r Post. 
 
 " There is an energy and vitality about this 
 work which distinguish it ftom the common 
 head of novels. Its terse vigour somethuea recals 
 Miss Bronte, but in some respects Miss Tlorence 
 Dawson is decidedly superior to the author of 
 ' Jane Eyre." "Saturday Review. 
 
 " Tliis novel is written with great care and 
 painstaking; it evinces considerable powers of 
 reflection. The style is good, and the author 
 possesses the power of depicting emotion,"— 
 Athenmum. 
 
 " The story displays considerable talent,"— 
 JEelectic Sevieio. 
 
 "A very good seasonable novel."— Leader, 
 
 THE MOORS AND THE FENS. 
 By F. G. Tbafford. 3 vols. 
 
 "This novel stands out much in the same way 
 that J ane Eyre ' did. . . . The characters are 
 drawn by a mind which can realize ftotitioua 
 characters with minute intensity."— Satv^da^ 
 itemew. 
 
 "It is seldom that a first Action is entitled to 
 such applause as ia 'The Moors and the Fend,* 
 and we sliall look anxiously for the writer's next 
 essay."— Ot/jc. 
 
 ■ 'pi/f '^?T^"'*^°^ ^^^ ".^6 sin of telling a story, and 
 
s]mitjei, elder jVI^D CO. 
 
 NEW NOVELS— con^mwet?. 
 
 SYLVAN HOLTS DAUGHTER. 
 
 By Holme I^e, Author of *' Kathie 
 
 Braude," &c. 2Qd edition. 3 vols. 
 
 "Tlio well-estal)lished reputation of Holme 
 Leo, as a novel writer, will receive an additional 
 
 flory fi'om the publication of 'Sylvan Holt's 
 laughter.' It Is a charming tale or country life 
 and character."— G^6e. , , 
 
 "There is much that is attractive in 'Sylvan 
 Holt's Daughter,' much that is graceful and re- 
 fiaed, much that is fresh, healthy, and natural." 
 —Press. 
 
 "The conception of the story has a sood deal of 
 originality, and the characters avoid common- 
 place types, without heine unnatui-al or improba- 
 ole. The heroine herself is charming. It is a 
 novel in which there is much to interest and 
 please."— iVew Quarterly Revievj. 
 
 "A novel that is well worth reading, and which 
 possesses the cardinal virtue of being extremely 
 mtereating."— J.fAe7KBwm. , , 
 
 •'A really sound, good T)ook, highly flnishea, 
 true to nature, vigorous, passionate, honest, and 
 sincere."— iJiiftWn University/ Magazine, 
 
 MY LADY ! A TAI.E of Modern 
 Life. 2 vols. 
 
 '"My Lady* is a flue specimen of an English 
 matron, exhibiting that union of strength and 
 gentleness, of common sense and romance, of 
 energy and grace, which nearly approaches our 
 ideal of womanhood."— Pr^sa. 
 
 " ' My Lady* evinces charming feeling and deli- 
 cacy of touch. It is a novel that will be read with 
 interes t."— JLiAewflSttm . 
 
 "The story is told throughout with great 
 strength of reeling, is well written, and has a 
 plot which is by no means common-place." — 
 Bxamintr. 
 
 "There is some force and a good deal of fresh- 
 ness in ' My Lady.' The characters are distinctly 
 drawn, and often wear an appearance of indi- 
 viduality, or almost personality. The execution 
 is fresh and powerful."— S^pecfttior. 
 
 "A tale of some ftovf^v."— National Heview. 
 
 "It is not in every novel we can light upon a 
 style so vigorously graceful— upon an intelligence 
 so refined without littleness, so tenderly truthful, 
 which has sensibility rather than poetry; but 
 which is also most subtly and searchingly power- 
 ful."— 2>M6iin University Magazine. 
 
 " Care has been bestowed on the writing, whicli 
 is pleasant and flowing. The descriptions ornature 
 are truthful and delicately Cj:skwn.,"— Economist. 
 
 OASTON BLIGH. ByL.S.LAVENU, 
 Author of " Erlesmere." 2 vols, 
 
 " ' Gaston Bligh * is a good st^ry, admirably 
 told, full of stirring incident, sastainine to the 
 close the interest or a very ingenious plot, and 
 abounding in clever sketches of character. It 
 sparkles with wit, and will reward perusal."— 
 CriUc, 
 
 "The story is told with great power; the whole 
 book sparkles with esprit: and the characters 
 talk like gentlemen and ladies. It is veiT enjoy- 
 able reading."— PreM. 
 
 THE THREE CHANCES. 
 
 By the Author of "The Fair 
 Carew." 3 vols. 
 
 "This novel is of a more solid texture than 
 
 most of its contemporaries. It is full of good 
 
 sense, good thought;, and good writing."— A'fafe.- 
 
 Mfian. 
 
 '< " Some of the characters and romantic situa- 
 
 ' tions are strongly marked and peculiarly original. 
 
 ( ... It is the gre it meiit of the auf-horess that 
 
 I the personages of her tale are Unman and real."— 
 
 THE PROFESSOR. By Currer 
 Bell. 2 vols. 
 
 "We think the author's friends have shown 
 sound judgment in publishing the 'Professor,' • 
 now that she is gone. ... It shows the first 
 germs of conception, which afterwards expanded 
 and ripened into the great creations of her imagi- 
 nation. At the same time her advisers were 
 efiually right when they counselled her not to 
 publish it in her lifetime, . . . But it abounds 
 in nxe\ri%%."—Satv/rday Review. 
 
 " The idea is original, and we every here and 
 there detect germs of that power which took the 
 world by storm in 'Jane Eyre.' The rejection of 
 the 'Professor' was, in our opinion, no less ad- 
 vantageous to the young authoress than creditable 
 to the discernment of the booksellers."— Prcsa. 
 
 " Anything which throws light upon the growth 
 and composition of such a mind cannot be other- 
 wise tlian interesting. In the 'Professor 'we may 
 discover the gei-ms of many trains of tliinking, 
 which afterwards came to be enlarged and 
 illustrated in subsequent and more perfect 
 works."- Cn7i^. 
 
 " There is much new insight in it, much ex- 
 tremely characteristic genius, and one character, 
 moreover, of fresher, lighter, and more airy 
 grace."— .BcoBomMt. 
 
 " We have read it with the deepest interest ; 
 and confidently predict that this legacy of Char- 
 lotte Bronte's genius will renew and confirm the 
 general admiration of her extraordinary powers." 
 —JEclectic. 
 
 BELOW THE SURFACE. 3 vols. 
 
 "The book is unquestionably clever and enter- 
 taining. The writer develops from first to last 
 his double view of human life, as coloured by the 
 manners of our age. . . . It is a tale superior 
 to ordinary novels, in its practical application to 
 the phases of actual \\tQ,"—Athenasum. 
 
 "There is agreat deal of cleverness in thisstory j 
 a much greater knowledge of country life and 
 character in its various aspects and conditions 
 than is possessed by nine-tentlis of the noveUsts 
 who undTertake to describe \t."— Spectator. 
 
 " The novel is one that keeps the attention fixed, 
 and it is written in a genial, often playful tone. 
 The temper is throughout exceWeut."— Examiner. 
 
 "This is a book which possesses the rare merit 
 of being exactly what it claims to be, a s;tory of 
 English country life j and, moreover, a very well 
 told Btovy."— Daily News. 
 
 '"Below the Surface* merits high praise. Itis 
 full of good things; good taste— good feeling- 
 good writing— good notions, and high morality." 
 —Globe. 
 
 " Temperate, sensible, kindly, and pleasant."— 
 Saturday Review. 
 
 "A more pleasant story we have not read for 
 many a da.y."—Briti8/i Quarterly. 
 
 EVA DESMOND ; ok, Mutation. 
 3 vols. 
 
 "A more beautiful creation than Eva it would 
 be difficult to imagine. The novel is undoubtedly 
 full of interest."— JlforremfiT Post. 
 
 " There is power, pathos, and originality in con- 
 ception and catastrophe."- ieatZer. 
 
 THE CRUELEST WRONG OF ALL. 
 
 By the Author of " Margaret ; or, 
 Prejudice at Home." 1 vol. 
 
 " The authoT has a pathetic vein, and there is a 
 tender sweetness in the tone of her narration." — 
 Leader. 
 
 "It has the first requisite of a work meant to 
 amuse: it is amusing."- CJ?o&e. 
 
 ^ 21 
 
^^^OKK:s I'TJDBx.isiiEr) by 
 
 NEW l^OYELS— continued. 
 
 THE ROUA PASS. By Erick 
 Mackenzie. 3 vols. 
 
 " It ie seldom that we have to notice so good a 
 novel as tlie 'Roua PasB.* The story is wen con- 
 trived and well told ; the incidents are natural and 
 varied ; several of the characters are skilfully 
 drawn, and that of the heroine is fresh, powerful, 
 and original. The Highland scenery, m which 
 the plot IS laid, is descnhed with truth and feeling 
 —with a command of language which leaves a 
 vivid impression."— JaiwrtZtty Retnew. 
 
 " The peculiar charm of the novel is its skilful 
 nainting of the Highlands, and of life among the 
 Highlanders. Quick ohservation andatrue sense 
 of the poetry In nature and human life, the 
 author 'h.&s."—Exami7ier. 
 
 "The attractions of the story are so numerous 
 and varied, that it would he difflcult to single out 
 any one point of it for attention. It is a brilliant 
 social picture of sterling scenes and striking 
 adventures ."—)S«m. 
 
 THE NOBLE TRAYTOUR. 
 
 A Chronicle. 3 vols. 
 
 " An Elizabethan masquerade. Shakespeare, 
 the Queen. Essex, Raleigh, and a hundred nobles, 
 ladies, and knights of the land, appear on the 
 8tae;e. The nutnor has imhtted himself with the 
 spirit of the times."— ififfder. 
 
 " The story is told with a graphic and graceful 
 pen, and the chronicler has produced a romance 
 not only of great value in a historical point oi 
 view, hut possessinc many claims upon the atten- 
 tion of the scholar, the antictuary, and the general 
 reader."— Posi. 
 
 PERVERSION J OR, The Causes and 
 Consequences of Infidelity. By 
 the late Eev. W. J. Contbeare. 
 3 vols. 
 
 "This story h^ a touching interest, which 
 lingers with the reader after ne has closed the 
 'book."— AtheniBum. 
 
 " The tone is good and healthy ; the religious 
 feeling sound and true, and well sustained."- 
 Quaraian. >, 
 
 '* It is long, very long, since we have read a 
 narrative of more power than thia."— British 
 Qiia/rterlp Review. 
 
 ■This is a good and a. noble \iOQ\."—Neic 
 Quarterly. 
 
 THE WHITE HOUSE BY THE SEA 
 
 A Love Stort. By M. Betham- 
 Edwards. 2 vols. 
 
 "A tale of Bnglish domestic life. The writing is 
 very good, graceful, and unaffected ; it pleases 
 without stai-thng. In the dialogue, people do not 
 harangue, but talk, and talk naturany.*'— CWhc. 
 
 " The narrative and scenes exhibit feminine 
 spirit and quiet truth of delineation."- fi'jpecEfflior. 
 
 MAUD SKILLICORNrS PENANCE. 
 
 By Mart C. Jackson^ Author ot 
 "The Story of My Wardship." 
 2 vols. 
 
 "The styleis natural, and displays considerable 
 dramatic power." — Critic, 
 
 "It is a well concocted tale, and will be very 
 pnlatahle to novel readers." — Morning Post. 
 
 KATHIE BRANDE: a Fireside Bis- 
 tort op a Quiet Life. By 
 Holme Lee. 2 vols. 
 
 " ' Kathie Brande ' is not merely a very interest- 
 ing novel— It is a very wholesome one, for It 
 leaches virtue by example."— CH*ic. 
 
 "Throughout 'Kathie Brande' there is much 
 sweetness, and considerable power of description," 
 —Saturday Review. 
 
 ". ' Kathie Brande ' is intended to illustrate the 
 paramount excellence of duty as a moving prin- 
 ciple. It is full of beauties."- JJozZy Nwia. 
 
 ^' Certainly one of the best novels that we have 
 lately read."— GMardian. 
 
 Georgiana M. 
 
 RIVERSTON, By 
 
 Graik. 3 vols. 
 
 "A decidedly good novel. The hook is a very 
 clever one, containine much good writing, weO 
 discriminated sketches of character, and a story 
 told so as to bind the reader pretty closely to the 
 XeixX:"— Examiner. 
 
 " Miss Craik is a very lively writer : she has wit, 
 and she has sense, and she has made in the 
 beautiful young governess, with her strong will, 
 saucy independence, and promptness of repartee, 
 an interesting picture."— PrsBs. 
 
 "Miss Craik writes well; she can paint cha- 
 racter, passions, manners, with considerable 
 effect : her dialogue flows easily and expressively." 
 —Daily Netoa, 
 
 " The author shows great command of language, 
 a force and clearness of expression not often met 
 with, . . . We offer a welcome to Miss Craik, 
 and we shall look with interest for her next 
 vfork."~AtheniBum, 
 
 FARINA. By George Meredith. 
 1 vol. 
 
 "A masque of ravishers in steel, of robher 
 knights ; of water-women, more ravisnins than 
 lovely. It has also a brave and tender dMlverer, 
 and a heroine proper for a romance of Colore. 
 Those who love a real, lively, audacious piece of 
 extravagance, by way of a change, wiU enjoy 
 Farina.' "—jltAen(B«m. 
 
 FRIENDS OF BOHEMIA: 
 
 OR, Phases op London Life. By 
 E. M. "WniTTT, Author of "The 
 Governing Classes." 2 vols. 
 
 " Mr. "Whitty is a genuine satirist, employing 
 satire for a genuine purpose. You laugh with him 
 very much Hbut the laughter is fi-uity and ripe in 
 thought. His style is serious, and his cast of 
 mind severe. The author has a merriment ailn 
 to that ofJaquesandthatof Timon."— ^WwntBum, 
 
 THE EVE OF ST. MARK. A 
 
 Romance op Venice. By Thomas 
 
 DOUBLEDAT. 2 VOls. 
 
 " ' The Eve of St. Mark ' is not only well written, 
 but adroitly constructed, and interesting- Its 
 tone is perhaps too gorgeous ; its movement is too 
 much that of a masquerade; but a n^stery is 
 created, and a very loveable heroine is pour- 
 tray ed."—.4iACTiffiwm. 
 
 NOVELS FORTHCOMING. 
 
 THE TWO HOMES. By the Author 
 
 of « The Heir of Vallis." 3 vols. 
 A NEW NOVEL. By the Author of 
 
 " Sylvan Holt's Daughter." 3 vols. 
 
 And other Works of Fiction by Popular Authors. 
 ■ 22 
 
 EXTREMES. By Miss E. W. AtkW- 
 soN, Author of " Memoirs of the 
 Queens of Prussia." 2 vols. 
 
SMITH, ELDEE J^i^ND CO. 
 
 NEW BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS. 
 
 THE PARENTS' CABINET of Amusement and Instruction fok Young 
 Peksons. New edit., carefully revised, in 12 Monthly Shilling Volumes, 
 each complete in itself, and each containing a full page Illustration in oil 
 colours, with wood engravings, and handsomely bound in ornamented 
 boards. 
 
 • •; _ contents. 
 
 AMUSING ST0E.IBS, all tending to the development of good qualities, and the avoidance of faults. 
 iSQaaAPHlOiL ACCOUNTS OF BEMAEKABLE CH.iK.ACTBlia, Interesting to Young Poople. 
 «KPLB NABllATIVES 01' HISTORICAL EVENTS, suited to the capacity of children. 
 
 BLUOIDATIONS OF NATURAL HISTORY, adapted to encoura-^e habits of ohservation. 
 JaMILIAB EXPLANATIONS OF NOTABLE SOIENTIEIC DISCOVERIES AND MECHANICAL 
 
 irraW^^ACOOUNTS of the geography, INHABITANTS, AND PEODUOTIONS OF 
 . DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. 
 
 Miss Edgewoeth's Opinion of the pabents' Cabinet:— 
 "I almost feel afraid of praising it as much as I think it deaerves. . . . There is 80 much 
 variety in the hook that it cannot tire. It alternately excites and.relieves attention, and does not lead 
 tothe bad habit or frittering away the mind byreiiuiring noexertion fi-omthereader. . . . . Whoever 
 your scSnSac associate is, fie understands his business and cluldren's oapa,bilities light well. . . . 
 Without lecturiDg, or prosing, you keep the right and the wrong clearly markef, and hence aU 
 the sympathy of the young people is always enlisted on the right side. 
 
 *„* Vols. r. to X. are now ready. 
 
 By the Author of " Bound the Fire," &c. 
 
 1. 
 UNICA ; A Stokt foe a Sunday 
 Afternoon. "With Four Illus- 
 : trations. Price 3«. cloth. 
 
 " The character of Unica is charmingly con- 
 ceived, and the story pleasantly UHA/'—Spectator. 
 . '■ An pxcellenc and exceedingly pretty 8toi"y for 
 ighildren."— SiafesTBttw. 
 
 "This tale, like its author's former ones, will 
 find favour in the nursery." — AtheniBum. 
 
 II. 
 
 OLD GINGERBREAD AND THE 
 
 SCHOOL- BOYS. With Four 
 
 Coloured Plates. Price 3s. cloth. 
 
 £''(Md Gingerbread and the Scliool-'boys' is 
 dSUgli.tftil, and tlie drawing and colouring or tne 
 f ibtorial part done with. g. spirit and correctness. 
 
 "This tale is very good, the descriptions being 
 natural, with a feeling of country freshness. — 
 l^ectator. , ^ , 4. 
 
 " The book is wellgot up, and the coloured plates 
 are very pretty."— Gfi(o6e. .^ . , 
 
 " An excellent boys' book ; excellent in its moral, 
 chaste and simple in its language, and luxuriously 
 illustrBitBA,"—Illtt8tratedNew8oftlie World. 
 
 "A. very lively and excellent tale, illustrated 
 with very delicately coloured pictures.' — 
 Economist. . , ^. 
 
 "AdelightfLil story for little boys, inculcating 
 henevolent feelings to the -soov."— Eclectic Eeview. 
 
 WILLIE'S BIRTHDAY; showing how 
 
 A Little Bot did what he Liked, 
 AND HOW HE Enjoyed it. With 
 Four Illustrations. Price 2s. 6d. cl. 
 
 WILLIE'S REST : a Sunday Story. 
 With Four Illustrations. Price 
 2s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 "Graceful little tales, containing some pretty 
 parables, and a good deal of simple feeling. — 
 JSconomtst. 
 
 "Extremely well written story books, amusing 
 nnd moral, and got up in a very handsome style. 
 —Morninff Herald. 
 
 UNCLE JACK, THE FAULT KILLER. 
 
 With Four Illustrations. Price 3s. cl. 
 
 "An excellent little book of moral improvement 
 made pleasant to children : it is ta.r beyond the 
 common-plocemoraltaleinaesisn and execution." 
 —Globe. 
 
 VI. 
 
 ROUND THE FIRE : Six Stories 
 FOB Young Readers. Square 
 1 6mOj with Paur Illustrations. 
 Price 3s. cloth. 
 
 "Charmingly written tales for the young."— 
 Leader. 
 
 " Six delightfallittle atoHea."— Guardian. 
 "Simple and very interesting." — iVa^i nal 
 Review. 
 
 '■' Simple and very 
 
 roiew. 
 
 ' True children's stories."- 
 
 THE KING OF THE GOLDEN RIVER; 
 
 OR, The Black Brothers. By 
 John Rtjskin, M. A. Third edition, 
 ■with 22 Illustrations by Richard 
 Doyle. Price 2s. 6d. 
 
 " Tbis little fancy tale is by a master-band. The 
 story has a charming ma-cai."— Examiner. 
 
 STORIES FROM THE PARLOUR 
 PRINTING PRESS. By the 
 
 Authors of the "Parents' Cabinet." 
 Pcap. 8vo, price 2s. cloth. 
 
 RHYMES FOR LITTLE ONES. 
 
 With 16 Illustrations. Is. 6d. cloth. 
 
 LITTLE DERWENT'S BREAKFAST. 
 
 2s. cloth. 
 JUVENILE MISCELLANY. Six En- 
 gravings. Price 2s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 INVESTIGATION ; ok, Tratels in 
 THE Boudoir. By Miss Halsted. 
 Fcap. cloth, price 3s. 6d. 
 
 23 
 
-V^OEICS T^XJBLISHED BY SDVCITU, ELDEK Sc CO. 
 
 POETRY. 
 
 SKETCHES FROM DOVER 
 
 CASTLE, AKD OTHER POEMS. By 
 
 liieut.-Col. William Read. Crown 
 8vo. Price 7^. 6rf. cloth. 
 
 POEMS. By Peed. W. "Wton. 
 Pcap. 8vo. Price 55. cloth. 
 
 " In his minor poems Mr. TTyon shows a ffi-eat 
 deal of the true sentiment of poetry."— iJai^a/ 
 Teteora^h. 
 
 10N1CA. Fcap. 8vo, 4s. cloth. 
 
 "The themes, mostly classical, are grappled 
 withholdness.andtonedwitha lively imagination. 
 The style is rich and firm, and cannot be said to 
 he an imitation of any kno*n author. We cor- 
 dially recommend it to our readers as a book of 
 realpoetry."— CWic. 
 
 " The author is in his mood, quizzical, satirical, 
 liumorous, and didocLio by turns, and in each 
 mood he displays extraordinary power."— J^^m*- 
 trated News of the World. 
 
 THE SIX LEGENDS OF KINC 
 COLDENSTAR. By the late Anna 
 Bkadstreet. Fcap. 8vo, price 5s. 
 
 *' The author evinces more than ordinary power, 
 a vivid imagination, guided by a mind of lofty 
 sAra."— Globe. 
 
 " The poetry is tasteful, and above the average." 
 ■^National Review. 
 
 "This is a posthumous poem by an unlinown 
 authoress, of higher scope and more finish than 
 the crowd of poems wliich come before us. The 
 fancy throughout the poem is quick andlight, and 
 miiBioal."—Athen(Bum. 
 
 POEMS. By Ada Teetanion. 55. cl. 
 
 " There really is a value in such poems as those 
 of Ada Trevanion. They give an imaae of what 
 many women areon their best side. Perhaps no- 
 where can we point to a more satisfactory fruit 
 of Christian civilization than in a volume like 
 this."—Saturda2/ Review. 
 
 " There are many passages in Miss Trevanion's 
 {)oems ftill of grace and tenderness, and as sweet 
 as music on the water."— jP^-es*. 
 
 POEMS. By Henry Cecil. 5s. cloth. 
 
 "He shows power in his sonnets, while in his 
 lighter and less restrictive measures the lyric 
 •elementia dominant. . . . IfMr. Cecil does not 
 make hisname famous, it is not that he does not 
 deserve to do bo."— Critic. 
 
 " There is an unmistakeahle stamp of genuine 
 poetry in most of these ^pa^es."— Economist. 
 
 " Mr. Cecil's poems diBJilay qualities which 
 si amp them the productions of a fine imagination 
 and a cultivated taste." — Morning HeraVd. 
 
 ENGLAND IN TIME OF WAR. 
 
 By Sydney Dobell, Author of 
 
 " Balder," " The Koman," &c. 
 
 Crown 8vo, 5s. cloth. 
 
 "Tl«it Mr. Dotell is a poet, * England in time of 
 \A ar' bears witness."— jl^fteMfflMOT. 
 
 THE CRUEL SISTER, and other 
 
 Poems. Fcap. 8vo, 4s. cloth. 
 
 " There are traces of power, and the versification 
 displays freedom and &V!Q\."— Guardian. 
 
 POEMS OF PAST YEARS. 
 
 By Sir Abthde Hallam Elton, 
 Bart., M.P. Fcap. Svo, 3s. cloth. 
 "A leflned, scholarly, and gentlemanly mind is 
 apparent all through this volume."— Xeadei*. 
 
 POEMS. By Mrs. Peank P. Fellows. 
 
 Fcap. Svo, 3s. cloth. 
 
 "There is easy simpliciiT in the diction, and 
 elegant naturalness in the thought."— ^'^Jeeiaior, 
 
 POETRY FROM LIFE, ByC.M.K. 
 Peap. Svo, cloth gilt, 5s. 
 
 "Elegant verses. The author has a pleasing 
 fancy and a refined mind."— .Econoniwi. 
 
 POEMS. By Walter R. Cassels. 
 Fcap. Svo. 35. %d., clotli. 
 
 "Mr. Cassels has deep poetical feeling, andgives 
 promiseof realexcellence. His poems are written 
 sometimes with a strength or expression by no 
 means bomraon," —Gua/rdian, 
 
 GARLANDS OF VERSE. By Thomas 
 Leigh. 55. cloth. 
 
 "One of the best things in the 'Garlands of 
 Verse* is an Ode to Toil. There, as elsewhere, 
 there is excellent feeling."— .Ea;amiwe)*. 
 
 BALDER. By Sydney Bobell. 
 
 Crown Svo, 75. 6rf., cloth. 
 
 "The writer has fine qualities;' his level of 
 thouRht is lofty, and his passion for the beautiful 
 has the truth of instinct."— jKAentettm. 
 
 POEMS. By William Bell Scott. 
 
 Fcap, Svo, 55., cloth. 
 
 "Mr, Scott has poetical feeHns, keen observation, 
 deep thought, and command of language."— 
 Spectator, 
 
 POEMS. By Mary Maynaed. 
 
 Fcap. Svo, 45., cloth. 
 
 ""We have rarely met vrith a volume of poems 
 displaying so largo an amount of power, blended 
 with so much delicacy of feeling and gi-ace of 
 expression."— CAwrc/i ofEngla/nd Quarterly. 
 
 POEMS. By CuRRER, Ellis, and 
 Acton Bell, 4s., cloth. 
 
 SELECT OD^S OF HORACE. In 
 
 English Lyrics. By J. T. Black. 
 Fcap. Svo, price 4s., cloth. 
 
 " Beudered into English Lyrics witli a vigour and 
 heartiness rarely, if ever, surpassed."- CWh'c. 
 
 RHYMES AND RECOLLECTIONS 
 OF A HAND-LOOM WEAVER. 
 
 By William Thom. With Me- 
 moir. Post Svo, cloth, price Ss. 
 
 KINC RENE'S DAUGHTER. 
 
 Svo, price 2s. dd. cloth. 
 
 Fcap, 
 
 MAID OF ORLEANS, and ototr 
 Poems. Translated from Schillek. 
 Pcap. Svo, price 2s. 6rf. 
 
 London : Printed by Sunn, Eldss and Co., Little Green Arbour Court, E.C. 
 24