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OVER THE DOVREFJELDS,

J. S. SHEPARD,
AuiHOK or " A Kajible theough Noeway," &c.
With Illustrations.

SECOND EDITION.

Henry S. King & Co.,
65, Cornhill, & 12, Paternoster Row, London.
1874-

PREFACE

The following notes pretend to no higher aim
than an attempt to familiarise the English public
with the comparative ease and comfort with
which a visit to Norway may nowadays be
accomplished. There is no doubt that exaggerated ideas of
the difficulty and expense attendant upon such a
trip deter many who would otherwise indulge in a
Scandinavian tour, and it is in the hope of making
the way easier that we have ventured to pen a
rough sketch of our run over the Dovrefjelds, for
the benefit of those who, with a month to spare
and a twenty-pound note in their pockets, are
sighing for " pastures new and strange " in their
approaching summer ramble.
Our thanks are due to the proprietors of the
Illustrated London News for the loan of the
engravings of the obelisk and statue to Harald
Harfager, and to C. Hughes, Esq., for his translation
of the Ballad " Sinklarsvisen " in the Appendix.

Ecta.S', n^-

CONTENTS

Chapteb I. Eoutes to Norway. — Voyage out. — Christian
sand. — Approach to Christiania. — Norwegian Coinage. — Maps
and Guide Books. — Oscar's Halle. — ^Tideman's Bondeliv. — The
Beds of the Country — Topography of Norway.
Chapter II. Rail to Eidsvold.— On the Mioseu. — Ruins
of Hamar. — Norwegian Psalmody. — LiUehammer. — The Mesna
Foa. — A Norwegian Supper Table.
Chapter III. ThroughNorway witha Knapsack. — Entrance
to the Gulbrandsdal.— Wayside Jottings. — A Norwegian In
terior. — An Upset. — Decline of Salmon Pishing. — Bakkejordet.
Chapter IV. A Visit to the Lensmand. — A Mountain
Scramble. — Sinclair's Massacre. — A lively Skyds-gut. — Pass of
Kringelen. — Gorge of Rusten. — Toftemoen. — A Descendant
of Kings. — Dombaas.
Chapter V. Over the Dovrefjelds. — The Lemmings. —
Sueehatten. — Norwegian Hotel Bills. — A BaUoon Voyage
extraordinary. — Trondhjem.
Chapter VI. Trondhjem Cathedral. — Conversion of
Norway to Christianity. — Legends of S. Olaf. — Falls of the
Leerfosseu. — A Dishonest Peasant. — Coasting Steamers. —
Christiansand.— Molde. — The Romsdal. — Aak.
Chapter VII. Lady Pedestrians. — The Vermedal's Foss. —
Weather-bound at Stueflatten. — Tusind Aars Festen. — Harald
Harfager. Chapter VIII. Unexpected Friends.— A BaU at the
Sorenscriver's. — Listad ScBter. — Christiania. — Home.
Appendix.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.

CHAPTER I.
Eoutes to Norway. — Voyage out.— Christiansand.— Approach to
Christiana. — Norwegian Coinage. — Maps and Guide Books. — Oscar's
Halle. — Tideman's Bondeliv.— The Beds of the Country.— Topography
of Norway.
fF late years the choice of routes ^by which
Norway can be reached has greatly increased.
Formerly, Hull used to be well nigh the only port
from which steamers ran, and those any thing but
regularly, and it is still by far the most convenient
starting point for a Scandinavian tour. Neverthe
less, London, Newcastle, and latterly Granton, near
Edinburgh, take off a fair share of those, who
disdaining the overland route, via Ostend, Ham
burgh, and Copenhagen, brave the terrors (not
altogether imaginary) of the North Sea.
On our two previous visits, we had made Hull
our point of departure, and now, for the sake of a
little variety, we felt somewhat inclined to try the
London route, although the passage takes a day

2 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
longer than from Hull, and the steamers that run
(although belonging to the same Company, Messrs.
Wilson & Son of Hull,) are not to be compared
for size or equipment with those on the former
station. '
When, however, we read that the steamship
Oder, Captain Gatkins, Commander, would sail
from Millwall Dock, on Friday, June 28th, we at
onoe made up our minds. A good Captain is not
the least important ingredient in one's comfort, and
well being on a sea voyage, and the name of
Gatkins, brought up instanter to our minds, a
vision of as genial and true hearted a Yorkshireman,
as ever hailed from Hull since the days of Robinson
Crusoe. As the Oder was to sail early on the Friday, and
Millwall is a spot by no means easy or pleasant of
access in the small hours of the morning, we trans
ferred ourselves and effects on board the evening
before, and found most of the passengers had done
the same. Our slumbers were rather interrupted
by the operation of taking in cargo, with an
accompaniment of shouting, stamping, and swear
ing, which lasted far into the morning, so far indeed
that we nearly missed the tide, and had eventually
to be ignominiously tugged out of dock, into the
river, by a bit of a steamer, which would have
made a good study of dignity and impudence as it
puffed away beside us.

over the dovrefjelds. 3
Our first day passed pleasantly enough, but
towards midnight we had ' a stifEsh nor'-wester,
which sadly interfered with our peace of mind.
Fronj previous and painful experience, we knew
the Oder to be a most desperate and persistent
pitcher, and she now showed us she had not forgotten
her old tricks. True there was some excuse for her,
as the wind caught her amidships, but at it she
went, rolling from side to side, with a sweep that at
times almost dipped her boats into the water. She
kept up this slightly discomforting performance,
all Saturday, and well into the Sunday morning,
by which time, the Norwegian Coast was in sight,
its black and inhospitable looking rocks greatly
belying the hearty welcom? ever to be met with on
its shores.
The pleasant cry "Land" soon brought up such
of our passengers as were still groaning below, and
if it be a fact as Dante has it, that " there is no
greater sorrow than in our days of misery to think
on past joys," it is no less true that the victims of
sea sickness, when once again in smooth water,
retain, happily, but slight memories of their recent
sufferings. The sea was now dotted with fishing Jsegts
{Anglice, Yachts), and we passed at intervals a barren
island- or two, on which at certain seasons of the
year, seals are said to abound. Let not, however,
enthusiastic sportsmen conjure up at this visions
B2

4 OVER THE dovrefjelds.
of tremendous and easily filled bags ; the "critters" in
these frequented districts are wary to a degree, and
many a long and weary hour of watching is
necessary to get even a shot at them, as one of our
travelling companions subsequently found. He had
made up his mind at all costs to have a seal, and
spent the greater part of a month in the neighbour
hood of Christiansand. It was all, however, to no
purpose, and with time, money, and patience alike
exhausted, we picked him up again on our return,
a sadder and wiser man, and, like Hector Mclntyre,
without his "phoca."
Immediately on passing within the shelter of the
land we made a sharp turn to the left, in order to
enter the bay at the end of which Christiansand
lies. The appearance of the town from the harbour
is anything but striking, for save and except one
church tower it has no public building to relieve the
monotony of the dense mass of low wooden houses
of which it is composed. The hills overlooking it,
and hemming it in, have a great sameness of color
and outline, and when we landed for an hour's run,
during the steamer's stay, we found that a closer
acquaintance did but strengthen the impression
formed at a distance.
As it was Sunday evening, the streets were
crowded with sober-clad prosperous looking citizens,
accompanied by their wives and olive branches, a
few extending their stroll into the country beyond.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. S
Finding that the fashionable promenade was to a
bridge sorae few hundred yards distant, we made
our way thither, paying, as we passed, a flying
visit to the single church Christiansand possesses.
The services (Guds-Tjeneste) in Norway, as in our
country districts in England, are only held in the
mornings and afternoons, and the building was
therefore closed.
Walking round it (not however to admire its
architectural beauties, for they are nil) we met a
gentleman with a sort of official clerical look, that
encouraged us with our best bow and in our most
mellifluous Norsk to ask his assistance in gaining
admittance. His answer, to our surprise, came in
French, and it was ludicrous enough, after continu
ing our enquiries for some time in that language,
to ultimately discover that we were talking to a
compatriot of our own, a fact we were made aware
of by his replying proudly to a query as to his
nationality, " Non Monsieur, Je suis Anglais^
We eventually got inside the Church, which was
a dreary white-washed barn, the one prominent
and hideous object of attraction being the king's
pew, an awful erection, resplendent with gold and
color, and surmounted by a huge canopy. It
suggested an irresistible and most irreverent
comparison between it and a royal opera box,
commanding, like the latter, a good view of the
(pulpit) performance.

6 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
Leaving here, we made our way towards the
river crossing it by a wooden drawbridge, which
gave admission to vessels of considerable tonnage.
It was by no means a substantial erection, and to
protect it from too great a pressure thefe was a
notice to Jehus to drive only at a foot pace
over the central portion.
There were some rocks to the right of the road
beyond, which seemed high enough to promise a
good view of the surrounding country ; so, like
Syntax iri search of the picturesque, we scrambled
up, and found ourselves more than repaid.
The town, which from the harbour had looked so
flat and wanting in variety, presented a very diiferent
picture when viewed firom above. On three sides
rose ranges of green hills ; far away in front
stretched the blue waters of the fiord, while the
town itself, so commonplace in detail, under the
magic influence of a most brilliant sunset looked
positively Turneresque in the glow of color it
presented. The coup tfeeil landwards was difFerent
in character, but yet very charming. On our right,
extended a wide sweep of highly cultivated open
country (a rare phenomenon in Norway), dotted
thickly with detached farm houses, the black spire
of a wooden Church rising up in their midst ;
whilst on the extreme horizon the landscape was
bounded by range upon range of pine clad
mountains.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 7
The opposite side of the picture was filled up by
the intricate windings of a lovely valley, which,
partly veiled in shadow, stretched as far as the eye
could follow. In its recesses the river at our feet
had its birth, forming on its way to the sea a number
of falls, one of which is said to be well worth a
visit. The rocks forming our eyrie were covered with a'
variety of wild flowers, and fruit of the tiny Alpine
strawberry was already beginning to shew itself,
although, to our regret, as yet green and uneatable.
On our return to the Steamer we passed what
looked like a Dissenting Meeting-house, from which
the congregation was streaming forth in a crowd.
One of the deacons or elders (or whatever their title
may be here) spoke a little English, and informed
us that he and his friends had seceded from the
Church congregation of the town, as they disagreed
with the doctrines taught by the presiding minister.
Judging from the fact that Christiansand for its
eleven or twelve thousand inhabitants possesses but
a single Church, one might not uncharitably infer
that zeal for religion did not flourish there to a
remarkable extent, and it seemed as though the
advent of a new sect or two might serve to rouse up
their flagging energies. We therefore left our friend,
at whose denunciations in broken English we were
not a little amused, with the parting wish (as sincere
as such wishes generally are) that the gospel light

8 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
he had kindled might not be extinguished by an
adverse fate. '
Our course for the remainder of the voyage lay
up Christiana Fiord, land-locked on every side
except the south, so that unless the wind blows from
that quarter the water is as placid as on an inland
sea. The Swedish coast was, however, not yet
visible, being more than sixty miles away, but the
fiord rapidly narrowed as we approached the north,
and within a short distance of Christiana was barely
two miles across.
We lingered on deck till close upon midnight.
The sun had indeed gone down, shortly however
to reappear ; but he had left behind along the whole
sweep of the horizon a sky resplendent with the
most vivid orange and gold it was ever our fortune
to gaze on.
When we came on deck next mornipg the
steamer was entering the Narrows, and the channel
abruptly sank to a mile or two in width. Round
about Drobak, which occupies an important strategic
position commanding the passage, are a series of
forts, which give it an appearance of great strength,
at least to unprofessional eyes, though, doubtless,
in these days, when the theory of military defences
is as shifting and changing as a kaleidoscope, it may
be far behind in all the latest improvements.
Seeing Christiana again was like meeting with
an old friend that seemed to have put on his best

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 9
looks to do US honour. The approach and view of
it from the sea is striking at any time, but favoured
as we now were by a cloudless sky and brilliant
sunshine, the effect as we entered the harbour from
behind the cluster of small islands that shut it in, was
extremely fine. It is true the city itself contributes
but little to the tout ensemble, which derives its
principal charm from its situation and local colour
ing. The ground it stands on slopes gradually
down to the fiord's edge, and the long lines of wooden
warehouses,, black with age, which line the quays,
seem from the absence of beach or foreshore, to
have their foundations in the water itself. The
hills surrounding the town are only from 500 to
1000 feet in height, but they are well wooded,
picturesque in outline, and command some lovely
views, notably from Frogner Saeter, about an hour's
drive away.
The shores of the Fiord, especially to the left
of the city, are broken up into a number of small
bays or inlets, giving the projecting tongues of land
the appearance of so raany small islands ; they are
clothed with a dense foliage, and at every available
point is perched a yilla or country house,
surrounded by its patch of garden and cultivated
ground, standing out like oases in the midst of a
desert of dark green pines.
Prominent among them all is Oscar's Halle, the
summer palace of the Crown Prince of Norway

10 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
and Sweden, a pretty castellated but somewhat toy
like ¦ building of white stone, which we paid a
flying visit to later on in the day.
All this had passed before our eyes In less time
than it takes to tell it, and we were now alongside
the quay, which was thickly thronged with a large
crowd expectant of our arrival. Most of the
Norwegians on board had friends to welcome them,
and it was interesting to watch the affectionate
greetings exchanged.
We were not so fortunate, and after, undergoing
a very slight examination at the hands of the
custom house officials, we shouldered our knapsacks
and went our way, congratulating ourselves on the
discomforts and delays escaped through^our freedom
from what the ancient Romans most aptly called
" impedimenta" alias baggage.
Christiana has several hotels of which the
"Scandinavian" and "Victoria" are the two
principal. The last named is remarkably good ;
while of the former, we have heard many complaints
of the incivility and want of attention shown.
In our own case we put up at one of the smaller
hostelries, the "Britannia," in the Toldbodgade
(Custom House Street). The landlord was an old
acquaintance of ours, and his house is a fairly
comfortable one, and most conveniently situated for
the quays and railway station.
We had determined to make but a few hours stay

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. II
in Christiana, and to start next morning on the
overland route to Trondhjem, the ancient capital of
Norway, which lies some 350 miles to the north
east, and our available time was first of all devoted
to making the necessary preparations before
plunging jnto the interior, such as laying in a stock
of money of the country, maps, guide books, &c.
For the first we betook ourselves to the exchange
office (vexel contoir) of Dybwad & Co., in Carl
Johan's Gade, and found them very civil and
obliging, and what was more to the point in gentry
of their profession, conscientious.
The Norwegian coinage is by no means a
comprehensive one, being confined to dollars, marks,
and skillings ; the respective values, to use the
formula of our youthful days, being 24 skillings
make one mark, and five marks one dollar, the last
of which represents as nearly as possible 4s. 6d. of
our raoney, the mark being worth about lojd., and
the skilling a fraction short of an half-penny. The
usual rate of exchange is four dollars 56 skillings
(more or less) to the sovereign, and Bank of England
notes always command a higher rate than gold.
The Norwegian currency has not yet arrived at
the dignity of a gold coinage* but as a make weight
they have notes descending as low in value as one
• A bill has been this year brought before the Norwegian Storthing
to facilitate the establishment of a gold currency, which shall pass
equally in the three Scandinavian kingdoms.

12 OVER THE DOVREFJELD?.
dollar, which are very much less cumbersome than
a raass of silver, and pass readily in all parts of the
country, the farmers (Bonder) preferring them to
specie. It is also requisite to lay in a good stock of smaa
penge — literally small money — pieces of one, two,
three, four, and eight skillings, which are struck in
white metal, and while doing so, to take care that
they are all of the latest issue, as much of the
coin in circulation is only taken at a discount.
Twenty years ago the Norwegian Coinage could
almost vie with the German for badness, more
especially in the smaller fi^y, and it was difficult to
decide, as one gazed mournfully on the vile greasy
trash received in exchange for one's bright
sovereigns, whether Teuton or Scandinavian bore
away the palm in worthlessness.
Guide Books, to some extent, are a necessity in
such a country as Norway, but the choice happily
is limited. The " Knapsack Guide " of Murray is
useful in its descriptions of towns and beaten tracks,
and the opening chapters on the history, govern
ment, and products of the country are full of
accurate and interesting information ; but as a
" Knapsack Guide " the book is an entire misnomer,
for, save in the title, it hardly once alludes to the
mode of progression there hinted at. Many of the
details given of the various routes, and remarks on
the stations (inns) thereon, are altogether erroneous,

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 3
as changes are constantly occuring, and Murray
has issued but two editions in the last twenty years.
The best book for the purpose is the Lomme
Reise Route or. Pocket Way book, which is
published every Spring in Christiana, and contains
an itinerary of every road, distance of stages,
charges for posting, and hints as to the accomoda
tion to be found on the way. It costs huts i6 skil
lings, and for those who are innocent of Norwegian,
Mr. Bennett, an Englishman, who has lived some
twenty years in Christiana, publishes every year a
translation, enlarged by many useful notes and
contributions from tourists of their feats on fell and
fiord. A monthy paper is also published called the
Norges Kommunicationsblad, containing a complete
list and time table of the few railways and the
innumerable steamers on the various lakes arid
fiords, and which should on no account be omitted
frora the tourist's list of preparations.
Mr. Bennett, who exercises a species of raild
despotisra over the army of English that
annually invades Norway, has in addition published
a little book of dialogues, in which he has striven
with some success, to make the way easy for the
learner, by affixing the pronunciation in phonetic
language. It may be, that it is impossible for the pupil to
acquire in this way the finer shades of accent and

14 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
intonation, but it is near enough for all practicable
purposes, and is far preferable to the vague and
erratic sounds generally indulged in by beginners.
In the matter of maps, there are but two reliable
ones, Munch's and Waligorski's, the former expen
sive and not so clear as couldbe wished ; Waligorski's,
which costs about two dollars, is fairly to be
depended upon, and besides being clearer, is equal
in nearly every other respect to Munch's.
Of course if the traveller merely intends keeping
to the main roads there is no necessity for either,
as the outline map given in Bennett's handbook
will be amply sufficient for all his needs.
All these little preliminaries being settled to our
satisfaction, we employed part of the time at our
disposal before dinner in taking a header in the fiord.
We found a bathing establishment under the
shadow of the Agerhuus fortress, which, as far as
purposes of defence go, is all but useless. A few
bronze cannon captured frora the Swedes in some
of their numerous wars in the 17th or i8th
centuries, and guarded by a solemn looking sentry,
were the only signs of warlike preparation. .In
all else, the grass grown moat, and the groves of
trees which covered the castle well nigh fi'om
donjon unto keep, showed that happily for this
northern land "grim visaged war had smoothed
his wrinkled front," and wreathed it with a chaplet
of leaves.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1$
Our dip was delightfully exhilarating. There
were no sands, and the water went sheer down
for twenty or thirty feet close to the shore, so that
one must be a swimmer to indulge with safety,
although cork jackets are kept ready for those who
care to trust themselves within their embrace.
We walked frora here along the Drammen road,
through an almost unbroken line of villas, the same
we had seen frora the fiord, down to the edge of
which their gardens run. Frora a sraall pier we
caught one of the tiny steamers which are constantly
plying across the harbour, and for three skillings
we were ferried across the arm that separated us
from the peninsular on which Oscar's Halle is
situated. We had a charming rustic walk to it, the road
winding through the recesses of a most picturesque
country. Here and there were kiosks, from which
on Sundays and Holiday tiraes excellent music is
discoursed to the good people of Christiana, who
come over in crowds to disport themselves in these
sylvan shades.
We joined a group who were just going over the
castle, among them a fat Norraan from the Pays de
Caux, who, on finding we could speak French,
speedily fraternised with us.
A thousand years ago his Norwegian ancestors
were probably preparing for the little predatory
excursion which ended in their making a perma-

1 6 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
nent sojourn, by annexing with almost more than
Prussian rapacity (were that possible), one of the
best provinces of France. It was somewhat of a
coincidence, that the very town from which
Monsieur hailed (Fecamp) was precisely the one, if
we are to belive the old chroniclers, at which Rollo
and his Northmen, in the year of grace 895, made
their first appearance in the land they were after
wards to give their name to.
On crossing the threshold, we were politely
requested to equip ourselves in a pair of felt slippers,
in order to avoid damaging the floors of the salons,
which were of polished wood, and dazzling in their
brilliancy. The slippers were emphatically an easy
fit, so easy in fact, that they were continually
dropping off, and to keep them on at all the majority
of the party assumed a shuffling sort of crawl,
which was anything but graceful.
For ourselves we were in some sort prepared, for
at a previous visit, two years before, an inventive
genius who was with us discovered that a skating
motion was the most practicable method of pro
gression, so profitting by past experience we
glided along in style, the getting up stairs being
the one difficulty we were not able to surmount,
without more than once leaving our " skates "
behind us.
The palace is quite on a miniature scale, being
only intended for the prince whenever he honors.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 7
Christiania with a visit— an event of remarkably rare
occurrence. Perhaps now that he has exchanged
his princely coronet for a kingly crown, he may favour
his loyal subjects with a little raore of his company,
for he is extremely popular in Norway, and always
receives a most enthusiastic greeting.
The rooras, although small, are tastefully furnished
and arranged, and the walls hung with some of
the best products of the Norwegian pencil. The
salons on the ground floor contain a series of striking
views of the coast and inland scenery, the fiords
bearing away the palra for grand irapressive
beauty. But from the standpoint of art and national
interest, the ten pictures by Tidemand are the
chefs d'ceuvre of the collection, who is well and
favorably known to Englishmen by his contributions
to many of our recent exhibitions.
In this instance he has illustrated Norwegian
Bonde liv, or farmer life, in what may be called
a pictorial " seven ages," following on canvass the
unchequered career of a peasant, from the cradle to
the grave. They are characterised by an almost
severe treatment, both in coloring and details,
which, however, well accords with the simple
patriarchal scenes depicted on them.
The first age is that of childhood. A young
mother, with a babe in her arms, sits in the living
room of the farm, reading to two little damsels,
C

1 8 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
both of whom listen attentively, the elder of them
busily knitting the while.
The second age shows us a brother and sister, on
the mountain side, watching the flock of sheep that
graze around, the boy waking the echoes with
a shepherd's pipe. We next see the same boy
being taught by his father to make fishing nets,
which many Norwegian farmers understand the
use of far better than their ploughs. And then
coraes the parting from home, when, stafi" in hand
and wallet on his back, he is taking a tearful leave
of father, mother, and friends.
A scene of homely love-making follows. The
prodigal has returned, drawn, perhaps by some
sweet influence, and the happy pair are in the
dairy, the lady's task being evidently to watch the
milk boiling in a huge cauldron, and which, judging
from the distracting attentions of the gallant, seems
in some danger of being scalded.
The knot has been tied in the next, and we see
the delighted mother holding out a lively babe to
seize the pipe which the father stretches towards it.
This picture is entitled " Family Joys," and as a
companion we have one appropriately named
" Family Sorrows," which shows us the same child
" sick and near unto death," while the parents are
watching over its bed with faces in which anguish
and resignation are struggling for the mastery.
Finally, we see the pair advanced in years.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 9
childless and alone in their hut, yet drawing conso
lation in their solitude, and preparing for their
journey to the eternal shores by the perusal of that
Book which contains the panacea for all our ills.
Besides these, which follow as it were in a natural
sequence, are two others : a party of peasants
spearing salraon by torchlight, a bold spirited
production, and a raarriage procession, the gera Of
the gallery.
In it we see the bridal pair in gay fantastic attire,
such as is always worn on these occasions ; the
bride resplendent in breast plate, and crown flashing
with gold and jewels. They are on their way from
church to the house where the festivities are to be
held, and a band of rausicians, with shepherd's pipes
and violins, are outside to greet them.
Prominent in the hands of the master of the
feast, who stands on the door-step, is a " loving-cup "
of portentous diraensions, which will, 'ere the night
be gone, be eraptied again and again to the health
and happiness of the newly wedded pair.
A climb to the roof of the palace should not be
omitted, as the view from the battlements is lovely
in the extreme, commanding an uninterrupted
sweep of the city and harbour, and allowing the eye
to follow for miles the picturesque windings of the
far stretching fiord.
This being the season when the Osterdal farmers
flock in crowds to the seaports in order to raeet the
02

20 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
merchants and make their annual contracts for the
timber which they may fell during the winter, most
of the rooms in our hotel were taken up before our
arrival, and we, together with two, our late fellow
passengers, were put into a salon on the ground
floor, which was turned for the nonce into a sleeping
room by the introduction of four beds for our use.
The Norwegian beds, it may be premised, are the
one great drawback in the comfort of Scandinavian
travel. To a philosophical mind this may be a
minor inconvenience, but they undoubtedly claim
to rank- at the head of the list, as the one item
against which an Englishman can (and with justice)
vent his national weakness for grumbling.
The first count in the indictirient is, that unless
a man happens to be a dwarf he will find them
about a foot too short, so that to lie in them at all
he must be doubled up something like a boa
constrictor at the " Zoo " after a heavy meal.
It is true one might put one's self into a straight
position by poking outside those portions of one's
extremities that cannot be accommodated within,
but this is most carefully prevented by the beds
being constructed in boxes, the sides of which rise
some distance above the mattrass, and effectually
debar the sleeper from the luxury of stretching out
• his legs, unless he imitates the Yankee fashion, and
puts them at an acute angle upon some convenient
ledge arranged beforehand for the purpose.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 21
So much for one end, nor shall we find the
other rauch better cared for. The pillow is far
frora resembling that delicious corapound of feathers
and fine linen, on which the weary head of the
tired wayfarer sinks to repose in our own land.
The Norwegian hoved-pude (head-cushion) is of
the smallest, and contains but the barest possible
allowance of feathers. Underneath, it has a huge
substratum of bolster, triangular in shape, which
slopes at an acute angle and is sufficiently large to
receive the head and shoulders of the sleeper, so
that the upper part of the body is in a half sitting
half lying posture, while the lower is in the snake
like condition above alluded to.
Our grumbling does not end here, for the bed
clothes raust also corae in for a share of our animad
versions. They are of the scantiest, sufficing simply
to cover the bed's surface, without allowing any
margin for that process of " tucking up," so dear to
juveniles ; on the top of all is placed what should be
an eider down quilt, but is generally of a much
heavier material, pleasant enough in the winter, but
insufferably hot during the summer nights, in which
our experience of them occurred.
The little drawbacks here enuraerated are not
indeed quite incurable, for anyone who possesses the
gift of " bed making " can simply take everything
to pieces, and re-arrange it according to his English
tastes and likings, and we have raet with more than

22 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
one tourist who invariably went through this
performance before getting between the sheets.
In other respects the rest of the appointments
of the room were almost the same as in other
civilised lands. Carpets indeed there were none.
nor are they seen save in the houses of the " upper
ten," the floors in default being painted a pale brown.
There are indeed two articles of furniture which
strike English eyes as somewhat peculiar, viz. : stoves
and spittoons. The former are huge iron erections
rising nearly to the ceiling, often artistic in design,
and bearing in many instances the date of the last
century upon them.
The spittoons are filled with the tops of fir and
juniper trees, in lieu of sawdust, and with native
lodgers are most indispensable to every room,
although, like the Yankees, they seem to have a
roving propensity in connection with this little
weakness, which renders it somewhat difficult to tie
them down to a fixed mark.
Our dinner despatched, at which we were glad to
renew acquaintance with some old friends in the
shape of a dish of Alpine strawberries and cream
(jordboer og flotej, we took an evening stroll
through the city to enjoy the refreshing sea breeze
that had begun to blow.
Christiania is by no means a picturesque town,
the streets , being all built at right angles, a fact
due to its only having been in existence some two

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 23
centuries, being founded and named by Christian IV.
in 1624. The public buildings are few in nuraber,
and noteworthy for nothing but the incapability ol
the architect who designed thera.
The Storthing or Parliament House, and the
University, which contains within its walls the
Zoological Museum and the Library of 200,000
volumes, are both in Carl Johan's Gade, which
runs the whole length of the city, from the harbour
to the hill on which the palace stands. The gardens
surrounding the latter are laid out as a public
promenade, and alfresco concerts, on the model of
those in the Champs Elysees, are held in the
evening by an enterprising speculator, the entree
being free, and the proprietor depending on the
refreshment bar to reimburse him for his
venture. The suburbs extend for a long distance, many of
the villas being of very original design, quite
refreshing to behold after the stale classical adap
tions and abortions of carpenter's Gothic, which
are made to do duty with us.
On our two previous visits we had made Bergen
on the west coast our starting point, and had
(varying the route each time) crossed the country
to Christiania. This time we were rather more
aspiring in our ideas, as we contemplated working
our way north as far as Trondhjem, the ancient
capital, a distance of sorae 350 miles, 140 of which

24 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
would be by rail and steamer, as it is the principal
high road in Norway, and has on it a comparatively
large traffic.
It may seem a strange choice, that of so frequented
and travelled a track for a pleasure trip. At
home it is true one would not exactly select the
road from London to Manchester, but in Norway
the case is very different.
North of Trondhjem, in the narrow strip of the
country that runs for nearly 800 miles up to the
North Cape, there is, save in the immediate vicinity
of the towns and the mail route that runs from
Levanger to Sweden, not a practicable road to be
found — the whole traffic is by water. In the
southern district, in that part which on the map
looks like the head of a gigantic tadpole (the
narrow strip aforesaid being the tail), the main
roads across it from coast to coast may be counted
on the fingers.
There are, first, the two roads from Bergen to
Christiania, the one over the Fille^eld, the other
through the Hallingdal ; secondly, that along the
coast from Bergen to Molde,and thence to Trondhjem ;
thirdly, the road from the last named place to
Christiania through Roraas, and by the banks of
the Glommen ; and finally the one we ourselves
were about to take, through the Gulbraridsdal and
over the Dovrefjeld mountains to Trondhjem,
together with the branch road that midway strikes

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 25
off from it through the picturesqup Rorasdal to
Molde and Christiansund.
In all, some half dozen which can fairly be looked
upon as main roads or arteries, the rest, and those
principally in the extreme south and round about
the capital, being either feeders to the main roads,
or local by-ways for the accommodation of the
towns that so thickly stud the sea-board of the
Christiania fiord, with some few others in the
neighbourhood of Stavanger.
Thus an immense district of Norway is literally
roadless — it might almost be said pathless, and this
not from any remissness or want of energy on the
part of her people, but because, from the nature of
the country, it is a matter of simple impossibility to
construct them.
In justice to the government it must be said
that wherever it has been possible a road has been
made, and no country in the world can show finer
specimens of engineering than are to be found on
many of the Norwegian main routes.
It is the peculiar configuration of Norway that
is the great bar to their existing in any number.
If we could mount high enough to obtain a bird's-
eye view of the whole country, it would present to
us the appearance of an iramense cake of rock,
barren, dreary, and uninhabited for nineteen
twentieth's of its whole extent.
A few dents or fissures, sparsely furrowed on the

26 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
face of this rocky desert, would mark the position of
the scattered valleys, and it is in these alone, as the
only cultivated districts, that roads can be made,
and maintained when made, with success.
Out of these valleys the country is a " villainous
compound " of bog and mountain, which, save on
the sceter pastures during the short summer, afibrds
support neither to man nor beast.
Thus the traveller in Norway must, "nolens
volens" adhere closely to the king's highway. He
may take a run up to the sceters (chalets) that are
perched on the mountain summits, or, if he be an
Alpine clubman, condescend to scale some of the
ppaks that overhang the valley ; but as far as
down-right progress goes, if he wants to get from
one end of the country to the other he will find no
such things as cross roads, no shady country lanes,
or pleasant paths through fields, as with us ; the
high road is before him, and that he must follow
with the consciousness that there is perhaps not
another within a hundred railes.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 27

CHAPTER II.
Rail to Eidsvold. — On the Miosen. — Ruins of Hamar. — Norwegian
psalmody.— LiUehammer.— The Mesna, Fos.— A Norwegian supper
table.
ff^HE first part of our journey was by rail to
£ Eidsvold, a village lying at the southern end
of the Miosen lake, about forty-five miles from
Christiania. The starting time was 7.50 a.m., and on arriving
at the station we found all its passages and
approaches literally craramed with intending passen
gers. As there are but two trains a day there is
always a large traffic, but this raorning the Exodus
of the Osterdal farraers back to their valleys,
produced an extra pressure, and one that the officials
were by no means prepared for.
The waiting rooms are on the plan of the French
" salles d^ attente" the passengers being shut up in
pens according to their respective classes, and let
out on the platform when the train is ready.
The first rush speedily filled up all the available
space, and carriage after carriage was added on
before the dense crowd was finally disposed of.
While thus waiting we were favored by the
unwelcome attentions of a muddled votary of

28 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
Bacchus, who was most anxious to make our
acquaintance, followipg us persistently wherever
we went, and plying us with questions as to our
nationality and destination. We bore it very
patiently for some time, and eventually got rid of
him by making a rush into a freshly arrived carriage,
into which our tormentor would have followed but
for the fact of his ticket only entitling him
(fortunately for us) to a third class seat.
The country between Christiania and Eidsvold is
not unlike the wilder parts of Derbyshire, but
would only rank as inferior scenery in Norway. We
passed through a number of extensive pine forests,
crossing here and there at intervals in their breaks,
far above the beds of fiercely rushing streams, down
which the fir trunks, stripped and barked ready for
the saw mill, were dashing on their headlong way
to the sea.
At times a block occurred where the water was
too shallow to float them over a rapid, and it was
by no means a rare thing to see hundreds of them
piled up one above the other in fantastic confusion,
awaiting the time when the autumnal rains should
come and sweep them with resistless force away.
. We arrived at Eidsvold a little after midday,
having been four hours accomplishing the forty-five
miles — a fact due not so much to the slowness of
speed, as to the constant, and to say the truth,
unnecessary stoppages.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 29
At nearly every station there were rows of women
with refreshraents in the shape of cakes, milk, and
such fi-uits as were in season, which met with
extensive patronage. For two or three skillings
one could buy a little tray, ingeniously fashioned
frora the bark of the silver birch, filled with
strawberries and other fruit.
Nor was the important matter of " restauration "
left to outside caterers. In every carriage, which was
divided into a double compartment, there was
fixed a water jar placed just under the roof, in the
space occupied in ours by the lamp. At each side
was a tap with drinking glasses attached to it by
chains. We found the water at starting of icy
coldness, but the temperature rose rapidly under
a burning sun, and was most unpleasantly warm by
the time we arrived at Eidsvold.
The Miosen lake, on which we were about to
adventure, is the largest of the many thousand
lakes that Norway possesses, having a length of
seventy-five miles, with a varying width of from
two to seven. Its course extends in a north
westernly direction, almost in the direct line
between Christiana and Trondhjem. Two passen
ger steamers ply daily on its bosom for three-fourths
of the year ; but, save in exceptionally mild seasons,
it is frozen from December until March, and the
journey must then be made either by land or in
sledges over its frozen surface.

30 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
Its reputation in the olden time was very great,
and in the old Sagas, the most wonderful, not to say
Munchausenish, tales are recounted of the unfathom
able depths of its waters, and its fish producing
powers, and araong them it is curious to note
that the belief in the " great sea serpent " began in
Norway at a very early period.
Peter Clausen, who wrote at the close of the i6th
century says : — " There is said to be in the lake an
old snake or serpent fifty ells long, that only
sheweth itself when any wonderful event is about
to take place in the kingdom."
From our own experience we can state that this
belief has by no means disappeared, but on the
contrary rather increased. All Norwegians we
spoke with on the subject, and many of them most
intelligent men, professed themselves as confident of
the animal's existence as of their own ; and among
the marine population of the western fiords, there
is hardly a fisherman who at some period or
another of his life, has not " with his own veritable
eyes " beheld this apocryphal monster.
The Miosen, although an inland lake, and
looking in fine weather as placid and harraless as a
duck pond, has yet an evil reputation for the
sudden and treraendous storras that at times rage
on it. The old chronicler already quoted says
quaintly of it : — " It • is a perilous and unlucky lake,
and taketh away the lives of many folk, being

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 3 1
gloomy and terrible to see, and far more dangerous
to sail upon than the salt sea itself, for the fierce
Huirel (whirl) winds and the mountain blasts sweep
down upon it, and fresh water (remarks this sage
oracle) becoraeth stormy much raore quickly than
salt." The march of civilization has done nothing to
alter it for the better, and it raust be confessed that
the character given it by Master Peter, is not at
all drawn in too dark colors. It seemed hard to
believe that the glassy sheet in which houses, trees,
and mountains were reflected as in a rairror, could
ever be lashed into waves that rose higher than the
steamer's funnel. One lady, who had had a long
experience of its treacherous and boisterous character,
told us that on one occasion they were tossed about
for four hours on the lake without being able to
land, and at the imminent risk of being every
moment dashed against its rocky shores.
Happily we were destined to see it in its milder
mood, and our voyage up to the lake was of a very
uneventful nature.
For the first part of it we were crowded to excess,
but gradually decreased our numbers at the numerous
places at which the steamer touched, pursuing for
that purpose a zig-zag course fi^om shore to shore.
Touched, however, is a slightly figurative expression,
as, save in one or two instances, we simply stopped
the engines as we came abreast of the stations, and

32 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
the intending passengers came out in huge,
unwieldy row boats, capacious enough to carry
twenty or thirty people and their belongings, and
which took back on their return those who wished
to land.
The scenery of the Miosen must be judged of by
comparison. To those who have seen nothing but
our quiet English landscapes, and are making by
this route their first acquaintance with the beauties
of Norway, it may perhaps bear out the extrava
gant praise bestowed on it by " Murray," but for
our own part, it must be owned, we found it
somewhat tame after the magnificent fiord scenery
of the west coast that we had passed through on our
previous trips.
The mountains surrounding the lake are low and
unbroken in outline, presenting for nearly its entire
length an almost unbroken range. Pine forests
cover the summits, and where the rocks descend
precipitously they retain their green mantle to
their base, so that the trees seem to spring out of
the water.
Where the side of the hills are less steep, the
country becomes more open, and is mapped out in
clearings and cultivated land — substantial farm
homesteads dotting the surface at surprisingly short
intervals, 'so that, as a writer in Blackwood
lately remarked, Norway, in spite of its having
but twelve inhabitants to the square mile, is one of

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 33
the most thickly populated countries in the world,
if we consider its numbers merely with regard to
the land that is available for cultivation and human
habitation. The land on the shores of the Miosen is some of
the most fertile in Norway, a far larger portion
than elsewhere being reclaimed, and ^devoted to
agricultural purposes, and its farmers have the
reputation, and we believe not an undeserved one,
of being the best in the country.
Very fine sturdy fellows these same farmers are,
and with splendid appetites of their own, to judge
from the specimen we had of their powers at dinner,
which was served in the cabin, and to which owing
to our nurabers we had to go down in relays.
Having taken the precaution of ordering our
seats beforehand, when the rush came we followed
calmly down and found places reserved for us.
The dishes were all handed round in the table
d'hdte fashion, and although the spise kart was not
an extensive one, every thing was exceedingly well
cooked and served.
Soup we had none, but there was some excellent
boiled salmon, with roast mutton to follow, and we
were not limited to a single serve, the dishes twice
raaking the circuit of the table. There were
vegetables of various kinds, capital potatoes and
peas, and these were eaten not in the French fashion,
separately, but with the fish and meat, in the

34 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
way that most commends itself to our good old
English prejudices.
The deep-seated reverence for pies and puddings
that is so firmly implanted in every British breast,
has not yet been vouchsafed to the Norwegians,
but en revanche they gave us a very good substitute
in the shape of multebxr (the Scotch cloudberry),
which beaten up into a mass, with the addition of
cream and sifted sugar, made up a very dainty dish.
These berries, which appear on every dinner
table, are somewhat larger than raspberries, and of
a bright yellow colour. They grow in turfy bogs
in elevated situations, improving in size and flavour
the nearer they approach the North pole. The-
plant flowers in June, soon after the snow has
melted, and the fruit scarcely ripens in August,
before it is again overwhelmed with its winter
covering. By northern nations the " multeboer," is esteemed
a most grateful and useful fruit, and its flavour by
the Norwegians is thought superior to that of the
strawberry, though most English people would give
their verdict for the latter.
The Laplanders preserve them by burying them
under the snow, but in the southern districts they
are made into a jam, which is almost as delicious
as the fresh berries. Immense tracts of country,
both in Lapland and the Loffoden Isles, are covered
with them, and so important an article of diet are

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 35
they as to have had a special Act of the Storthing
devoted to them, which, amongst other restrictions,
forbids anyone (other than the proprietor) to gather
more than he can eat on the spot.
In Sweden, vinegar is made from thera by
fermentation, and they are also said to possess
medicinal properties. Dr. Clarke, in his Northern
Wanderings, attributing his recovery frora a
dangerous illness to their curative powers. A sprig
of this plant is also the badge of the Highland clan
MacFarlane. After dinner, coffee was handed round as we sat
on deck under the grateful awning, with just
sufficient breeze to temper the burning sun that
beat down on us from an unclouded sky, for it is
altogether a fallacy to suppose, as many do, that there
is no warm weather in Norway. True, the summer
is a short one, but what it lacks in length, it makes
up in strength, and it is not an unusual thing in
some of the sheltered valleys for them to commence
the harvest before we do in England, the crops being
often sowed, ripened, and reaped, in from eight to
nine weeks. The temperature often rises as high
as io8° Fahrenheit, but is much more endurable
than our close summer heat.
There was a fair sprinkling of English among
our number in the first cabin ; but the great
majority were natives, many of thdm city folk
from Christiania, bound for their annual holiday
D2

36 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
among the mountains, which are equivalent with
them to our seaside resorts.
Norway has — as we understand it — not a watering
place on its whole extent of sea-board. The rocks
run down precipitously to the water, leaving not a
vestige of sand, on which bathing machines can
manoeuvre, or juveniles ply their spades. Hence,
when the summer heats begin, all who can afford
it make tracks for the interior, and locate themselves
among the farmers, many of whom turn their
dwellings into boarding houses, and take in guests
for the season.
The Norwegians are a thrifty race, and the sums
which we in England are accustomed to expend on
our yearly outings (now de rigueur) would astonish
them. On the other hand, it will excite the envy
of an English paterfamilias, when we tell him that
within 72 hours of Bow Bells, he can be boarded
and lodged for the ridiculously small sum of ten
dollars per month, or a trifle over ten shillings per
week. For this he would not, perhaps, fare as
sumptuously as at Scarborough or London-super-
Mare ; the nearest comparison we can make at
home, would be to liken it to a Scotch Highland
Inn, and there the bill of a single night would
sweep away the cost of a week's sojourn in the more
unsophiscated country.
Midway the lake widens out into an imposing
sheet of water — seven miles in width— and equi-

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 37
distant frora either shore is Helgo (Holy Island),
which had in old Catholic tiraes a Benedictine
Monastery on it, of which all traces have
long since disappeared.
Nearly opposite to it on the raainland, we made
a halt for a few minutes at the little town of Hamar,
formerly a place of considerable importance, and
the seat of a Bishopric. The Swedes in one of their
numerous incursions into Norway (for previous to
their Union in 1814, they used to live such a dog
and cat life as we did with the Scotch up to 1603,)
levelled it with the ground in 1567, and it was
eventually deserted by its inhabitants ; the present
town having only risen a few years since on the
ashes of its predecessor.
The only attraction it possesses are the ruins of
the ancient cathedral, built in the twelfth century,
and which are just visible from the lake. All that
now reraains of it are three raassive pillars and
the arches that connect them, and one raay judge
of the scale on which it was built, from the fact
that the outstretched arms of three men can
scarcely clasp them round.
It is almost needless to say that so utter and
complete a disappearance is not so much owing
to the ravages of time as to the Vandalism of the
last three centuries, for even in the seventeenth,
although in a ruinous condition, it was complete in
all its details. The glorious west front, with its

38 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
richly carved portals, was yet intact, together with
a multitude of chapels and flying buttresses.
But that age was a period of decadence when
xhurch conservation, rauch less restoration, had
fallen to the lowest ebb, and thus, instead of any
atterapt being made to save the grand old pile
frora decay, it seems to have been looked upon as a
sort of "happy hunting ground," where any one
who had building on hand could procure an
unlimited supply of stone, hewn, and ready for his
use. Several churches in the neighbourhood were
in this way erected, and as they rose so Hamar
fell, and was only saved from utter destruction by
the advent of a less iconoclastic age.
It is the lament of Norwegian writers that a
similar fate has befallen the majority of their
ancient ecclesiastical buildings, hardly a stone now
remaining upon a stone to show where in Catholic
days the voice of praise resounded from many a
fair abbey, the sites of which are now grass grown
and forgotten.
We were now fast approaching the northern end
of the lake, and the mountains began gradually
to increase in height and grandeur. The time,
however, hung somewhat heavily upon our hands,
(the best possible test of the effect of scenery upon
the mind), and when news was brought by an
enquiring mind who had been making a voyage of
discovery on the fore-deck, that some singing was

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 39
going on, we all rose en masse, and rushed
to where the alfresco concert was proceeding.
It was the general hope that we raight hear some
of the popular patriotic airs, one or two ofwhich are
said to have as great an effect upon the Norwegians,
among whom the love of home and country is
very strong, as the Ranz de Vaches has on the
Swiss. We were, however, destined to be disappointed.
The " Programme " was all sacred music, consisting
principally of Swedish Hymns taken from a
collection entitled "Songs of a Pilgrim to the
Heavenly Zion," which are very popular in the
eastern districts near the Swedish frontier, being
there easily understood, although the two languages
are in many respects dissimilar.
They were sung to very simple airs, but with a
most touching, almost melancholy cadence, which
was most eff'ective. The majority present were of
the peasant class, and nearly all seemed familiar
with the words, and joined in thera with a zest and
fervour that it did one good to witness. The leader,
or rather leaders, were four sturdy bonder, whose
qualification for the post lay in the fact of their
possessing stronger lungs than their fellows. They
sang two hymns very sweefly, and eventually, at
the request of the English visitors through
ourselves as spokesman, they added one or two
more.

40 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
It was a solemn and peculiar scene, to which the
romantic nature of our surrounding lent additional
interest. But far more striking than the overhang
ing mountains, seeming now to shut us from the
outer world, and which the lake most perfectly
reflected on its ruffled surface, was the earnest
emotional look depicted with varied expression
on every face of the dense group. Even those
of our countrymen (ignorant of the words they
were listening to,) showed that the touching soul-
stirring strains had found an echo in their hearts, but
in each Norwegian face there was such an intense
depth of religious enthusiasra as fairly to thrill us.
Tears stood in the eyes of even strong men, and the
women (heavy featured and expressionless at
ordinary times) were now made positively beautiful
by the fervour and devotion that shone in every
feature. From subsequent enquiries we found that the
hymns sung were not those used in the Lutheran
liturgy, but a collection that had been drawn up for
private use when they meet together in their
social gatherings, or on such casual occasions as
the present.
Among the audience, and joining heartily in
the singing, were two or three of the clergy, who
are called by the same name as in pre-reformation
times— prests, spelt and sounded almost like our
word priest.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 4 1
We arrived about 8 p.m. at the extreme northern
point of the lake. The landing stage was a mile
away from LiUehammer, but two or three carriages,
each drawn by a pair of horses, were waiting to
carry passengers and their baggage up to the two
hotels of which the town boasts.
Although the day was far gone, several of our
English fellow travellers pushed on at once for the
interior, the idea most of our countrymen have of
seeing Norway being to rattle through it at the top
of their speed. We had been rather amused on
the steamer at the spectacle of an old lady — we beg
her pardon, but the truth will out — accompanied by
a stalwart son, and a daughter who was busily
employed in mastering the rudiraents of Norsk out
of a huge tome. From their conversation we
judged them to belong to that section of English
society that is always on the move over the
Continent, knowing no rest, and, like "unquiet
spirits," ever hurried on by some relentless fate
from pole to pole. '
Like nine-tenths of the English who pass through
Christiania, they had fallen into the hands of
Bennett, who exercises a paternal despotism the most
absolute and complete over the British tourist in
Norway. To thera his authority is undisputed, and
his word as the law of the Medes and Persians.
" He says to one, go, and he goeth, and to another,
do this, and he doeth it." And so, when we saw this

42 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
ancient dame intently studying an official looking
paper which seemed to have for her a species of
charm, we at once felt intuitively that it bore the
sign manual and imprimatur of King Bennett, and
was for the next raonth at least her book of fate,
telling her what she should see, eat, drink, and avoid.
Being from our knowledge of the country looked
upon as a person of some experience, we were
favoured with a sight of the precious document.
It was drawn up in the forra of an itinerary, giving
the distances from place to place, apportioning out
each day's journey, and indicating the particular
station at which she should breakfast, dine, and
sleep. As far as it went, it was a most useful
compilation, and admirably adapted to save a
person of weak intellect or insufficient mental
calibre frora the slightest possible trouble.
Mr. Bennett, however, is by no means an easy
task master, and travelling under his auspices is
anything but couleur de rose. In drawing up his
programme to be got over, he evidently reckons to
a large extent on that interesting weakness of the
British tourist (before alluded to), which aims at
covering the greatest amount of ground in the
smallest possible time.
It was so in the present instance. The distance
set down to be posted each day varied from forty
to fifty miles, which even on our level roads would
be no trifle for a stout elderly lady to undergo, and

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 43
the labour and fatigue were likely to be augmented
fourfold on the hilly roads and in the primitive
chariots of the country she was about to traverse,
kept up, as it would be for a month, without
intermission. Our opinion was then invited as to the practica
bility of the route laid out, and if we did'nt think
it a " leetle " too much for her to get through in
the given time.
There seemed to be a lingering, doubt on her
mind on this last point, and so, after expressing our
perfect approval of the route sketched out for her,
we were just about to tell her that to do what was
set down on her way bill, she would have to
work like a galley slave. But we did not. We
allowed second thoughts to prevail, feeling sure
that our advice would be thrown away, and have
no chance against the omnipotent Bennett's, and
only result in giving the old dame un mauvais
quart d'heure.
The whole party rolled away northwards the
same evening ; mother, son, daughter, and suite,
the said suite consisting of a solemn looking
Norskman,- who united in his perspn the offices of
coachman, valet, courier, tolk (interpreter), and
servant of all work.
We were glad to stretch our legs on terra firma
after our long ride, and throwing our modest
knapsack into the vehicle appertaining unto

44 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
Ormsrud's Hotel, we struggled up the steep hill
which leads to the town — a title which can only be
awarded it by courtesy, as it consists but of one
long straight street of wooden houses, with a
population of some 1 200 souls. It boasts of having
seen better days, and lays the decline of its fortunes
to the same cause as that of its big namesake down
the lake, viz. : the incursions of the Swedes.
It is these gentry — who in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries must have been "mighty
unpleasant neighbours " — that plead guilty to the
destruction of the cathedral and monastery that
formerly existed here. They possess an interest for
Englishmen, as having been built about 1 160 by a
countryman of our own, Nicholas Breakspear, at
that time Papal Legate in Norway, and who was
afterwards elevated to the Popedom under the
title of Hadrian IV. — the only Englishman who
ever wore the tiara.
We had heard that there was a waterfall worth
a visit, a short distance over the hills, so having
secured rooms at the hotel, we got a boy, in order
to save time, to run on before us and show the
shortest cut to the Mesna Fos, as it is called, Fos
in Norwegian being equivalent to fall.
For the first few hundred yards our path was
along a by road which ran at a very steep incline
up to a mountain farm ; we then struck off to the
right across some broken ground, intersected by

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 45
sundry walls and ditches, over which our guide
— who was a lively little fellow rejoicing in the name
of Olaf (a favourite prefix in Norway) — climbed
like a squirrel. We soon got within ear-shot of
the roar of the Fos, and the smoke which over-hung
it — as from a steaming cauldron — also plainly
indicated its whereabouts. Our path was now a
continual ascent, winding its tortuous course along
the steep banks of the stream, which beneath us
dashed at a great pace lakewards.
A few steps further, and the summit of the rocks
was gained that had hitherto hid the fall from our
impatient gaze, and we could see it toppling down
from the precipice above us, and btirying itself in
a deep and gloomy glen, the recesses of which the
eye could scarcely penetrate. The mass of water
was not of sufficient force to throw itself boldly
into the chasm in one unbroken streara, but divided
into a number of branches, which covered the
entire face of the rock with a net-work as of
frosted silver, the effect in the soft, waning light
being lovely in the extreme. I had hard work to
get my young companion, who had not yet seen
thirteen summers, away frora it: it was the first
fall he had seen, and held him there as though spell
bound by its beauty, for after the first sight of the
sea, as an epoch in a man's life, certainly comes
that of a waterfall, and perhaps of a glacier, which,
ndeed, is but the former frozen into repose.

46 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
A sharp and sudden fall of the rain "peculiar to
the country" quickened our retreating footsteps,
and they were not the less vigorous from the
time appointed for supper being close at hand. We
found it progressing in the spise salon, the long
tables of which were lined with many of our late
fellow travellers ; not the English contingent,
however, for they invariably patronize the other
hotel, near the lake yclept Hammers, as being
rather more pretentious, and as a matter o^ course
dearer. We always make it a rule when travelling on
the Continent to most carefully avoid the hotels
frequented by our countrymen, who have an
unhappy knack of demoralising every one they
come in contact with.
The first glance at the supper table was quite
bewildering, from the variety of dishes that
presented themselves for our choice ; such an
embarras de richesse was it, as fairly to puzzle us
where to begin first.
On taking closer observations, however, we soon
found that the seeming over flowing abundance was
more imaginary than real. There was enough, in
deed, and to spare, of fish, flesh, we were going to add
fowl, but that was absent, served up in a multiplicity
of ways. There were lake trout with the flesh of
a pink color, and the smaller river trout which
were white, and boiled eggs which issued from

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 47
the recesses of a porcelain hen (colored after life),
that we do not as yet seemed to have doraesticated
in England, though they are common in Norway
and other parts of the continent.
When we had taken the " wire edge " off our
appetites, and began to get more critical, we soon
discovered that by far the greater number of dishes
were to act more as appetite ticklers than as pieces
de resistance. Although the appearance of raany
of their contents was not inviting, we were
deterrained to do at "Rome as Rome did,"
and iraitating our right hand neighbour, who was
most impartial in his attentions, we dashed at them
courageously, and found that like many other
things in life, they were not half so bad as they
looked. The sardines, anchovies, and German sausages,
were old acquaintances at home, and required
therefore no introduction. It was the purely national
dishes that were the most peculiar, not only in
look — but as we discovered on trial — in taste also.
They were for the most part shred up into the
most waferish of slices ; doubtless on the principle
that a little of them went a great way, which as
far as the raw sraoked salmon, and the dried ham
and mutton (also innocent of cooking), was
concerned, it raost certainly did.
In the raatter of fluids, tea and coffee were the
favourite beverages. The latter is made uncom-

48 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
monly well all over Norway ; but the tea— at
least in the country parts — is not so skilfully
compounded, and tastes, in addition, more like some
ingenious product of the chemist's art, than good
honest Souchong or fragrant Bohea.
01 (ale) was also extensively patronized, and small
blame to them for it, for a brisker, pleasanter, more
insinuating fluid than this same Baiersk ol it would
be hard to find in any of the countries that swear
allegiance to King Barleycorn. Although named
after the celebrated Bavarian beer, it is entirely a
native product, being brewed at Christiania and
Bergen, whence it finds its way into most parts ofthe
interior that are not too far away from the main
roads. It is sold in bottles holding about a pint
and a half, the retail price being something less
than fivepence-half-penny, so that it is cheap enough
to be the popular drink. It is one of the things that
most Englishmen take to at once, some preferring it
even to their native Bass and Allsop.
There are, we believe, one or two agencies for
the sale of it in London, but it is, we should fancy,
too light to bear well the sea transit. Its one
drawback is, that it has at times a strong resinous
flavour, from the barrels in which it stands previous
to bottling. A slight sensation of this is not unpalat
able ; it is only when there is too strong a dose
that it gets objectionable.
In asking for it in the country districts, the

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 49
prefix Baiersk must not be forgotten, as from the
fact of the Norwegians being great beer drinkers
raost farmers have their own private breweries,
the produce of which they naturally esteem highly,
having doubtless followed the same recipe from the
days of the Vikings and Bersekers, whose recreation
after a hard fought field, was to quaff draughts of
potent ale frora the skulls of their slaughtered
enemies, finding it we should imagine a somewhat
" heady " mixture.
Our own experience of the local taps was not,
we must confess, favorable. True, with regard to
most of them, we only indulged in sips, and
Mr. Swiveller (a good authority) has laid it down
as an undisputed axiom that " beer can't be tasted
in a sip."
Still, in one or two instances where the eye of
the proprietor was upon us as we raised the foaming
tankard — this is " sorter ironical," as poor Artemus
Ward used to say — to our lips, and we wished to be
extra polite, we took, not without apprehensions for
the after consequences, " a modest quencher,"
which authorises us in stating that its prominent
defect (setting aside a host of others) is, that to
quote another high authority " it is more flatterer
than it might be."

50 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.

CHAPTER IIL
Through Norway -with a Knapsack.— Entrance to the Gulbrandsdal.
—Wayside Jottings.- A Norwegian Interior.- An Upset.— Decline of
Salmon Fishing.— Bakkejordet.
WULY 3rd. We had determined over night to
kj make an early start, so as to get well on our
walk ere the sun was too high in the heavens.
Two Norwegian ladies with whom we had
made acquaintance on the steamer were going
some thirty miles up the country for their
Villegiatura, and gave us an invitation to pay
them a visit en passant on the morrow, and
they did us the additional favor of taking on our
knapsack to our resting place for the night, in
their travelling carriage.
In the first instance ours was to have been
ostensibly a walking tour, but as our time was
limited, we wisely determined, taking into consider
ation the distance to be got over, to intersperse it
with an occasional drive, walking through the
more picturesque and roraantic scenery, and post
ing when it became less striking and interesting.
We found this a capital plan, combining the
advantages of both systems, our day's work being
generally laid out so as to do tlie walking in the

0-VER THE DOVREFJELDS. 5 1
cool of the morning and evening, and the riding
during the mid-day heat. Another advantage
our increasing experience of the country gave us
was that of disposing of our baggage.
Book upon book has been written of the charms
of a journey on foot — knapsack on back and stick
in hand — of the free and independent pedestrian,
unshackled by any of the conventionalities that bind
down the ordinary traveller. Indeed, one of the
most practical and delightful records of Norwegian
travel is a " Tour through Norway with a knapsack,"
which has even received the honor of a translation
into Norsk.
It was the perusal of its pages that had seven years
ago first turned our thoughts and eventually our
steps northwards, and we shall not easily forget the
burst of youthful enthusiasm which carried us
triumphantly through every difficulty. We tramped
frora Bergen to Christiania, some 250 miles of
hard walking, bearing our fardels on our backs every
inch of the way, and feeling proud of the achieve
ment as a deed of " derring do."
Increasing years, however, and successive visits,
somewhat modified our ideas, and determined us to
try if it were not possible to accomplish a " Tour
through Norway without a knapsack," by the
simple process of getting some one else (man
or beast) to carry it instead of our own noble
selves. E2

52 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
Let US here anticipate a little, and say that the
result was so eminently satisfactory as to strengthen
and confirm us in the resolution of never on any of
our future excursions converting ourselves into the
semblance of a travelling packman.
The thing was easily managed. The traffic along
the high roads is continuous, and from morning
till night a constant stream of vehicles is passing
along them. Accompanying each conveyance
is the skydsgut (post boy), who can, however, hardly
be said to correspond with our postilion, as he
never drives save when requested, but is seated on
a board at the back of the carriole, in company
with the baggage.
The skyds gut is generally a diminutive urchin,
the lighter the better, although we have not
unseldom had a heavy full grown man, and in the
out of the way districts it is not at all uncommon
in the absence of a " male critter " for a strapping
damsel to officiate in the capacity. The skyds guts
are like most boys, always ready to earn a penny,
and through their medium we had no difficulty, for
a payment of three or four skillings per stage, in
sending our knapsack on from station to station,
right through the country.
The proverbial honesty of the Norwegian
character was a sufficient safeguard against its being
stolen or tampered with. At times, when there
was a scarcity of travellers going our way, we used

OVER "THE DOVREFJELDS. 53
to leave it in charge of the landlady, giving her
the address we wanted it forwarding to, and never
once did we have the slightest trouble in recovering
it. When in our progress, we met parties of students
from the University doing their vacation rambles,
and staggering along under loads that would tax
the strength of an English navvy, we never failed
to congratulate ourselves on our own care and
forethought. The sun shone out brilliantly as we left
LiUehammer, and struck off on the great Northern
road. The effects of the night's rain still sparkled
on every leaf and blade of grass, and the air fairly
reeked with the scent of the innumerable wild
flowers which clothed every ditch and bank with a
variegated carpet.* Before us was the opening of
the Gulbrandsdal valley, one of the most extensive
in the country, which stretches for 170 miles.
We halted again and again to adraire the lovely
views, ever changing and varied, of the lake and the
environs of Lilleharamer, which were, however, soon
lost to sight. The road was carried some way up
the mountain side, and a mile or two from the
town skirted the bank of the river Logen, a fine
• The most abundant were the wild pansy, larkspur, columbine, and
two or three varieties ofthe stone crop. At times we came upon clumps
of the stately great Mullein {verbctscwm thapsus) growing to a height
of several feet. The Norwegians call it the King's taper (kongelys), a
name by which it is stfll known in many parts of England.

54 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
wide rushing stream, with its waters of that
exquisite light blue that is rarely seen save in
glacier or snow water.
The valley here was wondrously fertile, every
available inch being cultivated nearly to the
mountain summits, and the homesteads and
hamlets of two or three wooden houses (for they
never arrived at the dignity of villages) were very
frequent. The heat was intense, and often drove
us into the shade of the frequently recurring
woods. At constant intervals were drinking
troughs for the horses and cattle, the water supply
being brought down the mountain sides in a series
of wooden spouts, and a similar plan is extensively
used in some districts to irrigate the land.
The Norwegian roads are pleasant to walk on, as,
being made for the most part of gravel, there is
seldom any dust ; and the heaviest rainfall soon
drains off as through a cullender, so that they
are generally in good condition.
The task of keeping them in order devolves on
the occupiers of land in the neighbourhood, and at
every few hundred yards along the road side are
black posts, on which are inscribed the name of
the farm, with the parish and ward in which it
stands, and the number of Alen (two feet) that the
proprietor has to keep in repair.
The sides of the roads are generally bordered
with a strip of turf, and there are no hedges as

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 55
with US, but merely a ditch and low bank, which
do not shut in the road, but allow an uninterrupted
view of the surrounding prospect.
We saw but few birds, and those of the ordinary
English varieties ; after the swallows and sparrows,
the pied wagtail and wheat ear predominate, the
sharp note of the latter soon becoming a familiar
roadside accompaniment.
One peculiar feature is the way in which the
magpies congregate in the neighbourhood of the
farmsteads, where they seem to be regarded in the
light of household pets, even the irrepressible boys
holding them in respect. The place of our rook
(which is unknown in Norway) is filled by the
Royston or hooded crow {corvus comix), which is
almost as domesticated as the magpie, and would
settle fearlessly within a few yards of us in the
coolest manner.
Butterflies of the coraraoner English sorts were
in great abundance ; the coramon whites indeed
were scarce, the majority being Meadow
Browns, and varieties of the gracefully marked
Fritillaries. My companion, an ardent entomologist, was in
his element, and rushed about in the most excited
manner, his enthusiasm being so catching, that I
found myself imitating his example, and, in spite of
the thermometer being at something over 85° in
the shade, giving chase to an extra fine specimen.

56 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
which baffled my clumsy efforts in the most airy
and ingenious manner, and finally, after a two
hundred yards burst, floated away into the valley,
leaving me hot, weary, and not at all disinclined for
refreshment, in whatever shape it might present
itself. At the next group of farm houses, therefore, we
made a halt, and selecting the most comfortable
looking one, knocked, and enquired if we could
have some milk.
Our arrival had been heralded by a chubby
young gentleman playing in the yard outside,
who informed us that his name was Johannes
(John), and whom we enlisted in our favor, by giving
him out of our stock of presents (which must not be
omitted from the tourist's list of preparations) a
gorgeously colored picture, upon which he instantly
rushed indoors to display his treasure.
We were met on the threshold by the woman of
the house, with our friend Johannes peeping at us
from behind her skirts, and at her invitation we
entered the kitchen, or living room, which was
a picture of rustic plenty, its rafters hung with
flitches of bacon, and sides of spekke-kjSd (dried
mutton) ; while the shelves running round it were
loaded with piles of ny og gammel ost (new and
old cheese).
One end of the kitchen was almost filled up by an
immense hearth, nearly identical in shape with

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 57
those in old country houses at home, only that here
instead of their use being obsolete they are still
masters of the field, patent ranges not having as yet
penetrated into the interior.
The shining rows of crockery that garnish the
dressers of our English kitchens were here replaced
by wooden platters and bowls, in the latter of
which is eaten the thick suur melk (sour milk),
which, with grod (oatmeal porridge), forras a large
proportion of the food of the peasantry. A
spinning wheel stood in one corner of the room, for
though out of date with us, save in the retired
districts of Scotland and Ireland, they are used
here in every cottage away frora the towns.
Through the open window we could see another
invariable adjunct to every Norwegian house, in
the black smoke-dried hut in which the flad-brod
is raanufactured and baked. This flad-brod,
literally flat bread, is the universal substitute for
bread throughout the entire country. Its compo
nent parts vary somewhat in the different districts,
but the usual materials are barley, rye, and oat
meal, the latter predominating.
A stiff paste is first made, which is rolled out
into sheets sorae four or five feet square, and about
the thickness of a shilling. Flour is then sprinkled
over them with a dredger, and they are placed on a
large flat iron plate (like that called in Ireland
a griddle) raised about two feet from the ground.

58 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
and on which they are subjected to the heat of a
quick fierce fire till sufficiently baked.
When cold they rattle like sheets of paste board,
and look for all the world like gigantic cakes of
brandy-snap gingerbread that have turned mouldy
from over keeping. A sufficient supply is made at one
baking for the monthly supply of the family, which
is stored away _ in huge drawers, care being taken
to keep it in a dry place, as it loses its palatableness
with its crispness, and becoraes soft and flabby,
having a flavour as of old hat or some equally
tasteless material.
We had barely time to take a note of all this,
when a door was thrown open, and we were ushered
into what was evidently the "best parlour,'' a
bright airy room, in striking contrast to the kitchen
we had left, with white curtains festooned around
the French windows (our guillotine sash is
unknown in Norway), and the prettily papered
walls hung with prints and a perfect gallery of
photographic likenesses, which latter feature is a
great weakness of the Norwegians in the country
parts, where, instead of being presented with the
faraily circle bound in morocco, you have the
advantage of being introduced to them en masse.
As they had no milk to give us, the cows being
away at the sceters on the mountain tops, they
brought us a jug of their home brewed ale, which
bore on trial such striking resemblance to ditch

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 59
water, that we could raake no way with it. Seeing
this, our polite hostess produced frora the press
a bottle of red currant wine {ribs viin), which,
mixed with some icy-cold water, made a very
pleasant beverage. A plate of wafer-like cakes
{kron-kager) were also offered, that seem peculiar to
Norway, and are made in a brass mould, which prints
on them a variety of patterns ; when filled with
paste the raould is closed and thrust into a fierce
fire, which gives the cakes a crisp short flavour.
The good raan of the house came in while we
were thus agreeably occupied, and we had a pleasant
chat with him, as far as our limited vocabulary
permitted. On leaving they would not for a
moment hear of any remuneration, so we paid in
kind, with a few trifling gifts of needles, &c., which
pleased them mightily. A mutual interchange of
tak (thanks), a hearty shake of the hand, — which
is the invariable custom after any gift, however
small, — and we were on the road again.
We passed the first raile stone about raid-day —
slow progress our readers may think —but the
Norwegian miles are like the Scotch, " unco' long
ones," measuring no less than seven of our own.
The river now ran at a great distance below us,
and its hitherto smooth though swift current, was
broken up by a raagnificent cascade, its entire
surface for nearly a hundred yards being churned
into a raass of snow-white seething foara by the

6o OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
masses of rock over which the water rushed.
Innumerable trunks of pine and fir were being
hurried down the streara towards the rapids, and
it was a grand sight to watch them whirled into
the wild abyss of waters, disappear for a time, and
rise again to the surface after a lengthened dive,
to pursue their journey seawards. Now and again
an unfortunate tree was caught on a point of rock,
and held suspended in mid air, while others were
kept prisoners in eddies of the fall, and swept round
in a never ending circle.
Our internal monitors warned us that dinner
time had long passed, and we were not therefore
sorry to get to the first station Aronsveen, which lay
up a lane, some little distance off the main road.
Every station has its reputation carefully set forth
in the Guide Books, and a considerable element in
the traveller's comfort in Norway will be due to the
judgment he shows in selecting the good ones, and
giving a wide berth to the bad and indifferent. Of
our present station neither Bennett nor the Lomme
Reise Route said a word, and when that is the case
the verdict raay invariably be looked upon as
unfavourable. These stations, which are the only inns Norway
possesses away frora the towns, are nearly always
kept by farmers, who contract with the government
to supply a certain number of horses and wheeled
conveyances to run for hire at a tariff fixed by law.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 6 1
On the principal roads all the stations are what
is called fast, that is, the postmaster ( skydskaffer )
is bound under penalty to have horses ready for
instant use. On the roads that are not so
frequented the stations are called slow, and with
reason, as the traveller has often to wait some two
or three hours while the horses are being fetched
from their field work railes away on the raountain
side. In addition to the agreeraent the station-holder
enters upon of providing for the locomotion of
travellers, he is also expected to supply their bodily
wants, and furnish thera with board and lodging
when required. The accoramodation depends very
much on the character of the proprietor. If he be a
rich well to do farmer, or has travelled and
emancipated himself from old world notions by a
visit to America, as many of them have, he will
have picked up some notion at least of the appoint
ments a traveller will expect to find in a civilized
caravansery, and as a matter of fact many of the
stations owned by raen of this class can vie for
convenience and comfort with the inns of any
country in the world.
On the other hand, where the station-master is
either poor or content to plod on in the same
way as his fathers before hira, the susceptibilities of
the tourist (especially if he has been clothed in
purple and fed sumptuously every day) will be

62 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
likely to receive a rude shock at the coarse lodging
and still coarser fare provided for him.
Happily these latter are gradually getting few
and far between, not the least cause for this being
the ever increasing tide of English tourists. The
Government also takes great interest in their
improvement, and the Norwegians being as a race
remarkably wide awake to the main chance, are
finding out gradually that it is to their interest to
incur a little trouble and expense for the sake of
their visitors.
Our present station was undoubtedly a poor
one, but the landlady made up for all deficiencies
by her care and attention. We had on our
arrival at once ordered middags mad (midday
meat), adding an eraphatic oiebJikkelig (literally in
the twinkling of an eye) to hasten raatters,* as one of
the national defects is that of extreme slowness,
especially in culinary operations. The larder was
but a limited one, and she could only give us eggs
and bacon, which soon came in smoking appeti-
singly, and although the bacon was nearly raw, our
hunger made us overlook the slight drawback and
make a very satisfactory repast, our Arcadian feast
being appropriately washed down with draughts of
new milk.
* Strax (directly) is the favourite word with our countrymen to
quicken the movements of the natives, but its signification is very
indefinite, and may mean any space of time from an hour to a week.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 63
The making out our bill could not have greatly
taxed the ingenuity of our hostess, who was as
innocent of the art of "charging" as a new born
babe — eight skillings for the two of us, or, a penny-
three-farthings each, being the enorraous sura total
we were amerced in.
We had determined to ride the next stage — one
and a quarter Norsk miles — to Holmen, and found
our stol Kjcerre (stool car) waiting at the door.
In Norwegian travel the choice is confined
between these and carrioles, and for one person the
latter are always to be preferred, their lightness and
simplicity of construction making thera just the
vehicle for a mountain country. They are usually
built without springs, but the shafts are long and
elastic, the ends being fixed on to the axle tree.
The seat, which is only intended for one but can take
two at a pinch, is placed well forward, and by cross
pieces rests on the shafts, the elasticity of which
prevents the occupants frora being jolted, save on
exceptionally bad roads. Seated in thera the legs
are brought nearly to a horizontal position, so that
there is little danger of being thrown out in case of
the horse falling.
The stol Kjcerre is a rauch more primitive and
roughly constructed affair, being simply a box upon
wheels tacked together in the flimsiest raanner.
Indeed, the only difference between it and the carts
used by the peasantry for agricultural purposes is

64 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
the stol, which is a seat with a back to it, on which,
unless you want every bone in your body dislocated,
you will take care to demand a cushion, for the
absence of springs is not compensated as in the
carriole, and the jolting — until after long and
painful practice— is extremely hard to adapt one's
self to.
The harness is scarcely more re-assuring than the
rest of the equipment, — what little there is of it
being composed of strips of rope, with reins of the
same material, long enough to enable the skyds gut
behind to drive, should the occupant be too lazy or
disinclined to do so.
The horses, or rather ponies (a species of cross
between the Shetland and our own), are pretty
quiet things, generally of a chestnut or light dun
color, the manes nearly always cropped short, so
that instead of falling down the neck, each particu
lar hair stands on end " like quills upon the fretful
porcupine," giving them at first sight a most
peculiar appearance.
Although without much fire or spirit, they are
affectionate, docile little animals, and extremely
sure-footed, having the proverbial steadiness of the
raule. A most perfect understanding exists between
them and their drivers, and the society for the
suppression of cruelty to animals, that unhappily
finds so much work to do at home, would certainly
have a sinecure in Norway.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 65
The Norwegians, when driving, rarely punish
their little steeds, contenting themselves with
encouraging them by voice and gesture, and know
ing frora experience the mania of our countryraen
for fast travelling, they never trust thera with a
whip if they can possibly avoid it. Indeed, the only
time that we have ever beheld their stolid undemon
strative nature roused to excitement, has been at
seeing their horses over-driven or ill used — a thing
they resent as fiercely as they would a personal
insult to theraselves.
Our first essay upon wheels was destined to come
to grief in a sudden and inglorious manner. One
peculiarity of the Norwegian horses is that they
require little or no driving, the reins being
generally held loosely in the driver's hands, and the
animal allowed pretty much its own way.
Depending upon this, on coraing to the turn
into the raain road, at the corner of which, as ill
luck would have it, there chanced to be an immense
stone, we allowed our horse full freedom of action ;
he calculated his distance badly, and turned
rather too sharply, our off" wheel came in collision
with the stone, and over went our frail chariot on
to its side, dragging with it the horse, and
depositing us all in the raiddle of the road.
Fortunately we had been going at a slow pace,
and there was but little damage done. I landed like
a cat, on my feet, and in falling caught ray com-

66 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
panion's collar, so that he escaped with a severe
bruise from the side ofthe cart. The skyds-gut seemed
perfectly unconcerned, evidently looking upon the
upset as nothing unusual, and we all turned our
attention to the horse, which lay on its side quite
motionless, so that we at first feared all life was
knocked out of him by the fall. The moment, how
ever, he was released from the pressure of the shafts,
he got up as quietly as if nothing had happened, and
in another few minutes we resumed our journey.
Our ride was an extremely pretty one, the
valley narrowing as we advanced, almost to a
gorge, the sides of which were clothed with dense
forests, through the breaks of which we could
catch sight at intervals — far below us — of the clear,
glancing waters of the Logen, now dirainished
from the wide, stately river of a dozen miles back,
to a brawling, rushing stream.
The sudden change from the smiling, thickly
populated country we had left, was very great ;
hardly a house was now to be seen, and the gentle
raountain slopes, green with waving crops, gave place
to rugged precipices, the steep sides of which
allowed nothing— save the hardy pine — to take root
and flourish.
The most striking feature of the Norwegian
forests, to us who are accustomed in our own woods
to the continual warbling of birds, is their intense
solitude. One listens in vain for the soft notes of

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 67
the thrush and the blackbird, and the distant cooing
of the wood-pigeons. A few colonies of field fares,
although as a rule they prefer to build in the
more dispersed thickets, and here and there a party
of jays broke the silence with their chatter.
The latter part of our stage ran on the very edge
of the precipice at a great height above the river's
bed, and was a fine piece of engineering, cut out of
the solid rock. It deviated so much frora a straight
course, that it was one continual succession of
sharp turns, sorae of thera so abrupt as to demand
most wary steering, and as the experience of our
unfortunate start had not been lost on us, we took
good care to keep our steed well away frora the
corners, for which he seemed to have a remarkable
predilection, a peculiarity, as our after experience
assured us, by no means confined to hiraself.
The Norwegian rule of the road is just the
reverse of our own, the right hand side, instead of
the left, being the proper one to keep on. The
general pace of the horses is by no means fast, a
Norwegian mile in the hour being the highest
speed that they can maintain, six English miles
being as a rule the average. This is in a great
measure due to the tremendous hills that constantly
occur, which are so steep and continuous on some
stages as to confine the pace to a walk for the entire
distance, taking up what on the return journey
may be perhaps done in half the time. F2

68 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
The most enjoyable feature of Norwegian
charioteering is the down hill part of the business,
for the horses have a way of their own of getting
to the bottom of a hill, and the style in which they
rattle down a descent as steep as the roof of a
house is, to quote our American friends, " a caution."
Up the ascents they creep slowly and surely,
zig-zagging from side to side of the road, with an
instinct that we commend to the notice of Darwin,
until the summit being at last gained, they break
into a quick trot which increases, till the pace is
absolutely terrific. When the hills are sufficiently
long to allow the speed to attain its full develope
ment, we shall not exaggerate in asserting that the
ground is often covered by them at the rate of from
fourteen to sixteen miles an hour, and that on
ground where an English horse would come to
grief ere it had gone ten yards.
The initiation for the novice is slightly nervous
work, and we shall not easily forget our " first ride "
when we were "fortunate" enough to make the
descent of some of the worst hills between Bergen
and Christiania, which is saying a great deal.
Like many other things in which c'est le premier
pas qui coute, the first hill generally settles the
matter, and by the time the bottom of the second
is reached, one is ready to confess it a sensation
which even in these days of sensation is worth
experiencing. The seeming reality of the danger

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 69
only serves to add zest to the situation. True, if
the horse were to sturable or fall one would be a
"gone coon," but the little animals are so sure footed
that an accident is a matter of very rare occurrence.
We stayed at Holmen, where we alighted only
long enough to discuss a bottle of Baiersk, and
finished up our day's work by walking to the next
station, Bakkejordet, ten miles on.
The scenery for a time continued of the same
wooded character, then the valley widened out, and
the Logen river expanded into a series of narrow
lakes called the Losna Indsd, along the edge of
which the road was carried for the next fifteen
miles. Twenty years ago a small steamer plied on
them, but the traffic did not pay, and it was there
fore discontinued, after running for some six or
seven years.
The weather had now become dark and lowering,
with heavy masses of rain-clouds piling themselves
up ahead of us, but which fortunately only spent
themselves in occasional showers. They blotted
out, however, in great part the charming effect of
the lovely panoramic view we should otherwise
have had — the long vista of lake stretching away
in front for a seemingly interrainable length,
embosomed in mountains which at every turn
took more varied and fantastic forms. One that
we could see on the extreme edge of the horizori,
stood apart from the main range like a huge rocky

70 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
sentinel guarding the entrance to the pass, and
was, as we afterwards found, iraraediately opposite
the station we were making for.
Standing in a prorainent position, perched upon
the hills above us, was Tretten Church, the
decorator of which, with a laudable design of
rendering it a raore striking feature in the landscape,
had painted the nave and aisles a deep red ochre, and
the spire a staring white, the whole effect of it
against the back ground of vivid green being the
reverse of picturesque, and a sirailar artistic taste
seems to pervade most of the decorations of
Norwegian country churches.
The road we were following had only been in
existence some six years, a fact made know to us by
seeing at intervals cut in large letters on the face of
the rocks we passed — Lom, 1866, which stood for
the name of the engineer and the date when the
road was completed. We saw the same name
many times during our subsequent progress, with
various dates attached, from 1855 to 1870.'
This process of changing old roads into new is
constantly going forward, under the auspices of the
Government, no less a sum than 225,000 dollars
being yearly devoted to the purpose. The improve
ment thus eff'ected is very great, for the old style of
Norwegian road making was reraarkably primitive,
and judging from the remains of the old roads still
existing, it seemed to have been the aim of their

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 7 1
constructors to try how steep it was possible to
make them, short of the perpendicular.
In a carriole that dashed by us, near here, we
fancied we recognized a familiar face, and on
hailing hira as a countryman, he pulled up. It
turned out to be a gentleman naraed Penrose, whom
we had met two years ago at Bergen. He was
almost an annual visitor for the sake of the salmon
fishing, being the lessee of a river farther north,
whence he was returning homewards, rather earlier
than usual. In spite of its being a bad " salmon
year," he had bagged sorae 2oolb. weight to his own
rod, a contrast to the luck of some of the fisher
men we met afterwards, who hardly caught sight
of a fin their whole time out.
It seems to be of late a general complaint that
salmon fishing on the whole is rapidly deteriorating
in Norway. Year by year the prices paid for the
rivers have risen, till it has at length come to the
point that a Norwegian river is fully as expensive a
luxury to indulge in as a Scotch Grouse moor.
We have known ;f 300 per season to be paid for a
stream barely half a dozen railes in length, and
even then saddled with the proviso of giving up
the bulk of the fish taken to the proprietor of the
river. The worst of the raatter is, that as prices have
gone up the fish have gone down (in quantity), a
result principally owing to the unprincipled conduct

72 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
of the natives themselves. Not content with the
heavy sums in which they mulct the " raad
Englishmen " (for such they consider them), they
not only flog the waters most industriously during
their absence, but also net them without mercy,
particularly at the point where the rivers throw
theraselves into the fiords, and that with most
melancholy success.
The Storthing, it is true, so early as 1857, awake
to the evil results that would come to pass, should
these practices remain unchecked — passed a law
forbidding the use of nets at the mouths of salmon
rivers. This law, however, has never been carried
out in its integrity ; the fish are dwindling away
to a tithe of their numbers twenty years ago, and
the stupid proprietors — while chuckling over their
present gains— will find when too late that they
have been but giving another variation of the old
fable, " killing the goose that laid the golden eggs."
We found Bakkejordet but a poor station, a
fact perhaps accounted for by the fact of the host
being a " genius," which made him overlook the
more practical claims of his household. He
dabbled in photography, and pointed with pride
to the evidences of his skill decorating the walls of
the gjest-rum (guest room).
He had also his own manufacture of hermetically
sealed meats, principally ptarmigan, which he shot
in large numbers on the neighbouring^'e/a& during

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 73
the winter, and utilized in this manner for summer
use. We had a dish of thera for supper, and must
give him the credit of saying that they were
reraarkably good, and very little inferior in flavour
to those freshly killed.
Our bed rooms here were mere closets, some ten
feet by six, opening into the gjest-rum on the ground
floor, and the windows being curtainless, with a
constant ebb and flow past them of the inraates of
the station, our toilette and ablutions were hardly
conducted with that privacy we are accustomed to
at home. In addition, our door, which was devoid
of bolts, was several times abruptly opened, and in
marched a pige (girl) with sheets, pillows, and
other paraphernalia for bed making, the fact of
one's being in rather extensive dishabille by no
means serving as a safeguard against intrusion.
This unceremonious behaviour is at first some
what startling to our notions of propriety, but
there is no help for it, it is " the custom of the
country," and any attempt at expostulation would
only expose one's self to misunderstanding or ridicule.
We may be quite sure of one thing — that it is all
done in perfect innocence, and to deduce from it
any laxity of manners or morals would be to pass
a very superficial judgment. The fault, if any, lies
rather in our "insular ideas," having during the last
century or two acquired a prudery and false delicacy
which it is much to be feared are only surface deep.

74 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.

CHAPTER rv.
A Visit to the Lensmand. — A Mountain Scramble. — Sinclair's
Massacre.— A Lively Slcyds (?«<.— Pass of Kringelen. — Gorge of
Eusten. — Toftemoen.— A descendant of Kings.— Dombaas.
fULY 4th. Just as we were off, we were accosted
by a couple of Dutchmen who had driven in,
requesting our services as .interpreters. The
"Mynheers" had lost an overcoat on their way from
the last station, and being innocent of Norwegian,
were unable to explain themselves, and raake their
loss known.
By far the largest proportion of the visitors to
Norway from foreign shores are our own countrymen,
who form certainly ninety out of every hundred, the
rest being made up of Germans (who are thoroughly
well hated in Scandinavia), Dutch, French, and
other Continental nations, the proportion following
the order in which their names are given.
The lake was again our constant companion for
nearly the whole stage. We essayed our luck at
fishing once or twice, but the water near the bank
was too shallow, and our atterapts were unsuccessful.
It was about here that our lady friends were
staying, and we made as we advanced constant
enquiries for the Address they had given us. It did

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 75
not prove very difficult to find, for being the house
of the Lensmand or Constable of the district, it
seeraed pretty well known to every raan, woman,
and child in the neighbourhood, and it was soon
pointed out to us on the mountain side above us.
A steep, but picturesque horse path led up to it,
winding pleasantly through avenues of silver birch,
with seats interspersed at intervals for visitors to
rest on in their upward progress.
On reaching the house, which was surrounded by a
neglected garden — for they are poor horticulturists
in Norway — I, minus ray corapanion, (who had
elected to remain in the valley for sketching
purposes) was ushered into the drawing room, in
which sat three or four ladies, but among them
neither of my friends. The ordeal was rather a
trying one, but the politeness and good nature
of the Norwegian ladies at once set me at
my ease. I introduced myself and ray errand in a
slightly figurative raanner, and in a few minutes
we were chatting away — in spite of my "slight
impediment in speech " — as if we had known each
other for years.
Doubtless, in my attempts at clothing my
thoughts in their Norsk dress, my blunders were
many and egregious ; but as I always make a rule
in talking a foreign language to throw overboard
all mauvaise honte, and to charge the difficulties, as
a fox hunter does a hedge, with a determination to

76 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
get over anyhow, I raanaged by hook or by crook
to make myself understood.
One young lady had spent several years in
England, and spoke English remarkably well. She
was in the last stage of consumption, poor girl, and
a inere shadow, but yet full of spirits and
animation, and buoyed up by hopes of speedy
convalescence, which, I fear, were not destined
to be realized.
Presently, my two friends carae in, and gave me
a warm welcome. The Lensmand zndi his wife also
made their appearance, and I was formally
introduced to them, and to the rest of the
company. The Lensmand was a short thick-set
man, of nearly sixty, with a suavity of manner
that he must have derived from his French
extraction, — his ancestors, some few generations
back, having migrated from France hither.
Herr Coucheron — for such was his name — gave
us some interesting information as to the nature
and extent of his office. As policeraan of the district,
his jurisdiction extended over a distance of three
Norwegian miles along the valley, and five over the
fjelds, or something over 700 English square miles ;
truly a moderate beat, and one that would make
policeman X at home open his eyes in araazement.
The administrators of the law in the country
parts of Norway are divided into three classes —
the lowest grade are the Lensmand, who, in

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 77
addition to acting as guardians of the peace, serve
summonses and processes, arrest culprits, and in
the rainor civil as well as crirainal cases are
empowered to take depositions, hold preliminary
hearings, and prepare them to be passed on to the
superior courts.
The Fogeds, who are next in rank above the
Lensmoend, hold an intermediate position, and
are a sort of inferior magistrate. One of their
duties is to pay the " head money " for the destruc
tion of animals and birds of prey, the rewards for
which figure each year for a good round sura in the
expenses of the kingdora.
In 1855, the last year for which I have been able
to consult the nurabers — there were killed 205 bears,
235 wolves, 125 lynxes, 72 gluttons, and no less
than 2559 eagles. The scale of payment is three
dollars for each of the quadrupeds, and half a
dollar for eagles. Several of the smaller species of
t\\& feroe naturce, the mountain owl (Strix Bubo of
LinnxusJ and the many varieties of the hawks are
also put under a ban, and great numbers are annually
cut off, the reward for their extirpation being on
a descending scale of twenty-four skillings per
head. Next above the Fogeds in rank come the Soren-
scrivers who are the chief magistrates, and try all
cases that are not sufficiently weighty to be sent to
the superior courts for the decision of the judges

78 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
(dommerj, whose sittings are confined to the five or
six principal towns of the country.
The Sorenscriver is of course the great man of
the district, his position as the principal govern
ment official and the emoluments of his post, which
are very considerable for Norway, obtaining for
hira a large share of consideration and respect.
These and other topics of conversation whiled
away the time till breakfast was announced, and
we filed into another room, where a substantial
repast was laid out. I tried to excuse myself from
taking part in it by adducing the fact of a previous
performance of the same nature some hour or two
before, but the hospitality of my hosts would not
be contented with seeing me a passive spectator.
It happened to be the birthday of Madame
Szacinski, the elder of my two friends, and on our
return to the drawing-roora she disappeared for a
moment and quickly re-appeared with a bottle in
each hand, which she handed to the Lensmand, who
promptly uncorking them in a workmanlike manner,
filled up as many glasses as there were persons
present. In the mean tirae we were keeping discreetly in
the back ground, affecting apparently, to ignore the
fact of these festive preparations being for our benefit,
and it was only when the lady whose natal day
we were about to celebrate gave the signal, that we
all coyly advanced and took each one a glass of

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 79
the "particular vanity" he preferred, the choice
being liraited to port viin and rQdviin (port and
claret). Glass in hand, we now formed a half circle around
the table, Madame standing entrenched on the
other side facing us, her eyes seemingly intent on the
pattern of the table cloth. One by one, each of us
stepped forward, made a little congratulatory speech,
bolted the contents of his or her glass, and retired
to give place to the next, who went through
precisely the same cereraony. " Tera'pus will fudge
it," however, as poor Robson used to say, and
I was fain, although unwillingly, to tear myself
away from the "festive throng," and join my
companion down in the valley.
I was well scolded for not having brought
hira up with me, and determined he should lose
nothing by his absence, a party of the ladies gaily
volunteered to act as my escort down the hill, bearing
with thera a perfect cornucopia of good things to
comfort and console the " poor fellow."
They were a merry party, and nothing would
suit them but that they raust take a short cut
down the mountain side, by which, with an infinity
of laughing, shrieking, slipping, and stumbling, we
soon gained the high road. The forlorn one
turned up slightly disconsolate, but their smiles
and " sweets " soon restored him to an amiable
frame of mind. We made our adieux, with promises

8o OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
of another visit should we return that way, and
were once again en route.
We dined at Skjeggestad in the afternoon, having
only walked, thanks to our morning's dissipation,
a Norwegian mUe and a half. Frora here we
posted on to Listad (of which we shall have sorae
thing to say on our return), and thence to Oien
where we made our night's quarters.
The scenery had much the same character as
heretofore — the lake had again given place to the
Logen, which dashed along as lively as ever, and
the smiling face of the glorious valley, which about
Listad widened out to its fullest extent, was cultivated
far up the mountain sides, the belts of pines fringing
only the extreme sumraits, their dark green serving
as an admirable setting to the lighter tints of the
waving crops which were dazzling in their verdure.
Oien did not belie its reputation of being one
of the best stations in Norway, for they gave us so
sumptuous a meal of broiled trout, stewed veal, and
other etceteras, as almost to incapacitate us from
any after exertion.
The guest chambers here were two spacious
rooms, opening into each other, furnished in quite
a recherche style for Norway, with pier glasses,
American rocking chairs, &c., and the walls covered
with well framed prints of Chicago and other
western cities, to which sorae of the faraily had
lately emigrated. The French windows opened

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 8 1
on to a pretty little paddock, half garden, half
orchard, with a gurgling, pellucid stream running
through the middle of it.
The other buildings of the farmstead were all
widely detached from each other, to guard against
fire, and to reach our bed-rooms we had to cross
the road to a low two-storied house that seemed
entirely devoted to sleeping purposes.
The rooms were arranged in a peculiar fashion.
From the staircase landing, a door gave access to
the first of them, which opened again into the next
and so on to the rest, till the round was made, so
that the occupant of the innermost room to gain
his couch would have to pass through three others,
a process which might at times prove somewhat
inconvenient if it were not for the primitive
nature of the Norwegian character.
The station lay just at the foot of the mountain,
which here projected a little from the main range,
and we could see far, far away upon the highest
slopes, some two thousand feet above, nests of huts
in the midst of their several clearings, the blue
wreaths of smoke curling lazily up, and the whole
tableau so etherealized in the golden evening glow,
that we could not resist the temptation of making
our way up to them.
We might have followed the rough road used by
the " dwellers in the highlands " when they want
to cart their produce down to the valley, and which

82 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
by many a winding turn would have brought us to
our goal, but we preferred to take a short cut up
the mountain, and like young Lochinvar on his
way to Netherby Hall — " stay not for brake, nor
stop not for stone."
It proved to be a regular scramble. The first
few hundred yards lay through a wood of silver
birch, and so, steep was the ascent that it was only
by pulling ourselves up yard by yard, by aid of the
tree trunks, that we managed to make any way at
all. Out of this we followed a rough mountain
path used by the shepherds and goat-herds,
which brought us after an hour's climb to the first
cluster of mountain farms, each one surrounded by
its two or three acres of arable and pasture land.
The farmsteads themselves wer^ but poor places,
very different from the prosperous, well to do
tenements of the valley. Theirs must, indeed,
be a hard lot in such an exposed position. The sum
mer is of course their brief time of comfort, but for the
greater part of the year their life is one of constant
struggle with the elements, the snow for five months
being level with their roofs, and the rushing floods
produced by its melting being a no less terrible
enemy. To guard against this latter danger the
houses are generally built upon stone pillars (as we
often see ricks in England), leaving sufficient space
for the water to flow beneath without flooding the
houses.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 83
As our climb had made us thirsty, we called at
several of the farms in the hope of getting some
milk, but the inmates evidently kept early hours,
and were all in bed. Hearing voices in one, we
knocked, when after a little delay, an old lady came
to the door, whora from her dishevelled locks and
scanty attire we judged was retiring for the night.
On preferring our request, she assented in a gruff
manner, but on our saying that as we saw she was
going to bed we would not trouble her, the old
dame took us at our word, and deliberately
slammed the door in our faces.
In our downward progress, we had a glorious
view of the valley at our feet, and of the opposite
slopes, lit up as they were by the now setting sun.
Far away to the north-west towered a long range
of snow-covered peaks, rising from the Jotunfjelds
— a desolate and uninhabited tract of country —
where for a space of more than 2,000 square railes
the wanderer would find scarce a track to guide
him, or a hut wherein to shelter.
We varied our path in descending, and had more
than once to scale the palisadings with which the
tiny fields of rye, clover, &c., were surrounded, to
save them from the polite attentions of the goats
that are allowed to graze on the unenclosed lands in
freedom. These same palisadings are ticklish
things to surmount, being about six feet high,
and are constructed after the following method: —
G2

84 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
Two thick stakes of pine, from seven to eight
feet long, are driven firmly into the ground within
an inch of each other, and repeated at intervals
of four feet. Smaller sticks are then placed in a
slanting position between the uprights, which
serve as grooves to keep them in their place, and
they are still further secured by their being bound
together with twigs of osier ; when completed, it
makes so compact a fence that a weasel could
scarcely put its nose through. They cannot,
however, boast of combining the ornamental with
the useful, having a gaunt monotonous look,
which made us long to see thera replaced by our
own pretty hedge rows, which are after all an
exclusively English possession, and long distant
may be the day when scientific farming shall
improve them from the face of the country, and
gain a few additional acres at the expense of the one
thing that gives our landscapes their most distinct
ive, and certainly their not least charming feature.
The inmates of most of the homesteads were
slumbering peacefully within, save and except one
old gentleman, whom we found wandering through
his domain, indulging in his pipe and meditations,
and admiring a fine crop of peas which were just
in blossom, and perfuming the air with their
fragrance. A party of English had arri\-ed during our
absence, so we hob-nobbed together, related our

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 85
experiences, and indulged in sorae mild dissipation,
with the aid of Seltzer water and lemonade.
July 5th. For the first few miles out of Oien,
the road was somewhat uninteresting. Our old
friend the Logen, that we had never once lost sight of
since leaving LiUehammer, had disappeared, and we
no longer reaped the advantage of the cool breeze
developed by its rushing waters. Seven miles
further on, when we had again regained its
grateful companionship, we passed the farm Viig,
which is said to possess among its timbers part of
the house in which 5. Olaf was born. A less
doubtful relic is the stone set up to mark the spot
where nearly 300 years ago the Scotch Colonel
Sinclair was buried.
His expedition is one of the few instances in
which our history and that of Norway commingles
in the long interval succeeding the Norraan
Conquest, and as it was an occasion on which for
once in a way fortune frowned upon us, we have
managed, and pretty successfully, to forget it.
Far otherwise with the Norwegians. The defeat
and death of Sinklar (as they call him) is one of
their most cherished traditions, and the most popular
song in the language is Storm's spirited ballad on
it, that every Gulbrandsdaler knows by heart, and
which in simple, yet stirring verse, recounts the
setting forth of Herr Sinklar from fair Scotland,
his march through Norway, and his surprise and

86 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
death at the hands of the Gulbrandsdal farmers.
(Appendix. Note I.)
It may be asked Que diahle allait-il faire dans
cette galere f and we will therefore briefly relate
the why and wherefore.
It was in the days of the great lion of the North,
to quote Dulgald Dalgetty, Gustavus Adolphus,
who, for a Protestant hero, had a happy knack of
letting his co-religionists feel the weight of his
arm equally with the Catholics.
He was at war with the Danes, who then ruled
over Norway. Getting a little the worst of it, and
Stockholm being threatened with siege, he sent
over to Scotland to raise a body of troops who
should make a diversion in his favour, by marching
across Norway to the relief of his capital.
On its arrival, the Scottish force divided into two
bodies, the one landing near Trondhjem, and
eventually succeeding in their object, the other
900 strong {Storm's ballad makes them 1400) under
Sinclair, taking the bold course of forcing their
way through the Romsdal and Gulbrandsdal to
Christiania. After the terrible fashion of those days, they
made a desert of the country they marched through,
and young and old of each sex fell before their
merciless swords. It was a bad as well as a cruel
policy. The Norwegians were never greatly
attached to their Danish masters, and had the

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 87
Scotch displayed a little more discretion they
would in all probability have been allowed to pass
freely. But the cry of anguish that their savage
treatment wrung from the unhappy people resounded
through the land ; the fiery-cross flew from valley
to valley, and as the Scotch advanced confidently
into the heart of the country, they were, little
though they suspected it, rushing upon their
fate. " There rises a hill just under Lide,
Which men do Kringelen call ;
The Logen' s swift stream beneath doth glide.
In that our foemen shall fall."
A band of 300 peasants prepared an ambush
above the road along which their march lay, and
huge quantities of rocks, stones, and trees were
collected on the mountain, so placed that all could
be at once hurled on their devoted heads. When
they arrived beneath, the awful avalanche was
at a given signal sent adrift, and the majority of
the Scotch were crushed to death, or swept into the
river and drowned. Sinclair's wife is said to have
accompanied him, and it is added, that a youth who
meant to have joined the peasants in their attack, was
prevented by a young lady to whom he was going
to be married the next day. She, on hearing that
one of her own sex was with the Scotch, sent her
lover to her ^' protection, when Mrs. Sinclair,
mistaking his purpose, shot him dead.

8 a OVER THE -DOVREFJELDS.
"Laing," from whom we have taken the above
particulars as to the attack, adds that sixty prisoners
were taken, and afterwards massacred in cold
blood, but the ballad which was written on the
spot barely a century after the occurrence, says
nothing of any prisoners, and distinctly affirms
that " not a living soul went home to tell the tale
to their countrymen, and warn them of the danger
of attacking those who dwell among the Nor
wegian hills.''
The stone that marks Sinclair's grave was
probably put up shortly after his burial, and is a
rough unhewn slab of considerable size, having a
cross rudely cut on it, and beneath it " Her blev
Skotternes anforer Georg Sinklar begraven, efter
at han var f alden ved Kringelen, den 26 August,
1612. (Here was buried the Scottish leader, George
Sinclair, after he had, fallen at Kringelen.)
It is strange that he should have been buried so
far away from the battle field, which lies twelve
miles away ; but the fact is that the Norwegians
were so delighted at having got rid of their enemy,
and so proud of their victory, that quite a contest
arose amongst them as to which parish should
possess his body.
The peasantry about here relate that his remains
were left unburied for several days, in order to
gratify the curiosity of the inhabitants of the
neighbouring valleys, who flocked in crowds to

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 89
gaze upon the face of hira who, while living, had
wrought such ruin upon thera and theirs.
We dined at Storklevstad, on trout , caught
fourteen railes away in the fjeld lakes, pancakes,
with slices of bacon fried in the batter, and the ever
acceptable strawberries and cream. Frora here
we posted to Bredevangen in a stol kjcerre, and as
no skyds-gut was forthcoraing we drove off without
one, with a parting injunction from the station-
master to take care of the horse. It quickly
discovered that its regular driver was absent, and
crawled along at its own pace, and having soon
after starting developed a tendancy to shy, we
did not care to use the whip, so that our progress
was delightfully snail-like.
Luckily, a return carriole to the station we were
bound for overtook us, and the boy, seeing our
dilemma, offered to drive if one of us would get
into the carriole. My juvenile friend, anxious to
try his hand at steering a carriole, at once
accepted the charge, and our new Jehu soon
altered the aspect of affairs, and by constant and
judicious whipping, made our sluggish beast move
along in style.
He was an arausing little fellow, and talked away
incessantly on every conceivable subject. Among
other things Johannes confided to me that he did'nt
mean to be a skyds-gut all his days, but hoped in a
few years to join his brother in the United States.

90 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
His face had far more of an Italian type about
it than Norwegian, and with his long black hair
and dark merry eyes he reminded me irresistibly
of the juvenile Pifferari that come from Napoli
la bella to discourse hideous music and shuffle
through their uncouth dances.
He was a most adroit diplomatist, for before
we had got half a mile he wheedled me out of a
promise that he, Johannes, and none other, should
drive us on to the next station. To soothe my
amour propre he informed me that our horse was
meget slem at Kjore (very bad to drive), and
expressed his opinion that my companion, whom
he evidently took for my son, was a pene gut (pretty
boy), the object of the compliment being anything
but flattered on having it translated to him.
On arriving at the station, and ordering a stol
kjcerre to take us forward, a fresh skyds-gut raounted,
but as our word was plighted, we persuaded him
for a few skillings to cede his turn to our former
charioteer, who was looking on ruefully in the back
ground.* Johannes at once brightened up at seeing
this move in his favour, and in the exuberance of
his spirits drove us at such a break-neck pace,
taking us again and again within a hair's breadth
of the blocks of stone with which the road was
lined in lieu of rails, that we were at length
• It is customary to give the skyds-gut four skillings per Norwegian
mile as drikJce-penge (literally, drink money).

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 9 1
compelled to check his wild career, and recoramend
a more moderate rate of progress.
We were now approaching the spot where
Sinclair and his Scots met their fate. The road
had for some time been running on the very edge
of the Logen (only a few feet above its bed), which
was here a wide swift stream of considerable depth.
Above our heads the mountain rose abruptly, so
that the road was alraost over-hung by the huge
masses of rock. The old road, now disused some
ten years back, and in all probability that followed
by Sinclair, was some 300 or 400 feet higher up
the hill side, so that those of the Scots who escaped
the first terrible avalanche, were instantly swept
over the precipice into the river by the furious
charge of the Bonder.
Across the river was a different scene. There
the smiling, level valley stretched away for miles,
its highly cultivated surface dotted with farm
houses, and rich with waving crops, presenting
doubtless the same picture as it did on the fatal
26th of August, 16 12.
It is still told how to lull the Scots into greater
security, and distract as much as possible their
attention, one of the best musicians of the valley,
a raaiden named Ragnhild was placed on a
neighbouring erainence, to lure them by the sweet
strains of her horn (Luurj on to their destruc
tion.

92 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
An ingenious plan was also adopted to make the
peasants aware of the exact moment when the
Scots should be immediately under their ambush.
On the opposite side of the river, directly in a line
with the vanguard of the invaders, rode a man on
a white horse, who halted when they halted,
moved on when they advanced, and enabled the
peasants, without showing themselves, to know to a
moment when the time to cut all adrift had
arrived. A stone at the roadside marks the spot
with the simple words — " In erindring om Bonderns
tapperhed, 1612 " — (In remerabrance of the farmer's
bravery). In a hut hard by, with the indefatigable Johannes
for cicerone, we were shown a rather doubtful
collection of weapons, &c., said to be relics of the
raassacre — a few old matchlocks, a dagger, and the
frame of a drum, with a pair of brass snuffers,
ornamented with figures in bold relief, which
roused our suspicions of the other " relics," as they
were the exact fellow of a pair we had seen a day
or two before at one of the stations.
Just before arriving at the station Moen, the
road still being closely embraced by the river and
mountain on either hand, a narrow lateral valley
opened to the right, down which a torrent came
thundering to dash itself into the Logen. It was
rather a gorge than a valley, the stream forcing its
way between huge walls of rock, and forming in

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 93
the few railes of its course some wonderfully fine
falls, which quite repay the labour of getting at
them. A glimpse of the first and finest of them was
visible from the bridge, but in order to approach
nearer we climbed the steep sides of the hill over
looking it. Even then we were far from obtaining a
clear and uninterrupted view of it, the rock through
which it cleft its way encircling it on all sides, and
hiding the greater part of the fall from view, save
where it emerged from its prison, lashed into the
most snow-white foam it is possible to imagine.
We had dismissed and paid Johannes before
starting for our climb, and we soon saw him, rod in
hand, trying to allure some of the trout at the foot
of the fall, from the open window of a saw-raill
overlooking the water, leaving his horse to graze
contentedly at the road side.
We had had enough riding for a while, the jolt
ing of the stol kjcerre soon telling its tale on the
muscles of the back, and it was with a feeling of
relief that we set off to walk to Laurgaard. The
situation of Moen station was an exceptionally
favoured one, nestling under the shadow of a
church that raised its graceful spire heavenwards.
The valley here suddenly assumed a new forra.
From the narrow defile it had been gradually con
tracting to, it expanded out again to nearly two
miles in width,* the encircling raountains, though

94 OVER THfi: DOVREFJELDS.
somewhat too flat in outline , to be picturesque,
increasing rapidly in height, while the dark range
ahead of us seemed to shut out all hope of egress.
The river about here became positively sluggish
for a Norwegian streara, and as raost of the land
lay extremely lowj and there is no "Logen
Navigation Co." to keep the river within bounds,
it overflowed the banks, converting the greater part
of the valley into a disraal swamp, the only
consolation of which, to the British sportsman,
is that it is capital ground for wild duck shooting.
Just before reaching Laurgaard, we obtained a
fine view of a valley leading to the Vaage Vand,
peak upon peak stretching away in the dim distance,
many of them hoary with the still unmelted
winter snows.
The district surrounding the Vaage lake, although
fertile and thickly inhabited, is not much visited
by the English traveller, owing to its laying some
distance from the main road, and being also, when
arrived at, a species of cui de sac, unless the tourist
will make up his mind for two or three days rough
travelling over the fjelds on foot or horseback.
Nevertheless, its isolated position has more than
once been of service to it. While Sinclair was
ravaging the neighbouring Gulbrandsdal, its
inhabitants in their retired valley escaped Scotfree.
A verse in Storm's ballad alludes rather contempt
uously td their refusal to march to the aid of their

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 95'
distressed countryraen, and even now, should there
be any Vaa^e men present when the song is given,
they are sure to be twitted with the inglorious
figure their ancestors cut in the affair.
Laurgaard is most romantically situated at the
entrance of the gorge of Rusten, one of the finest
passes in Norway, and through which our route of
the morrow lay.
On being shown to our sleeping quarters, we found
they Were constructed on the same principle as at
Oien, one door to every two or three rooms, and the
pige in answer to our enquiries, told us that the
one within our own was to be occupied by a married
couple, who were at that moment taking pot-luck
in the gjest room below. Thinking the lady
might have the usual British delicacy in marching
through a gentleman's room, we explained to her
how matters stood, and proposed that if it
met her approval, we should change rooms when
we would at once retire. She thanked us, but
remarked in the frankest possible manner, that
she had now got quite used to the custom, and didn't
mind it a bit. " Only yesterday," said she, " two
Norwegian gentlemen walked through our room
as I lay awake in bed, and saluted me courteously
with uplifted hat as they passed." We, of course,
said no more.
Among the live stock was a numerous herd of
goats, which had excited our admiration as tliey

96 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
grazed on the mountain side, by the picturesque
attitude of the bearded veterans, standing balanced
on some projecting crag, and the playful gambols of
the kids. As evening drew on, they were collected
and driven towards the station, in one of the
outbuildings of .which they were domiciled for the
night. They are everywhere exceedingly tame,
from being so much handled, and would often
follow us for miles along the roads, in the hope of
getting a bit of bread or salt, of which they are
very fond.
July 6th. The scenery of the gorge of Rusten,
is without a doubt among the grandest and most
striking in Norway. The valley had abruptly
dwindled to a mere chasm or rift in the mountains,
just of sufficient width to give passage to the river,
and no more. For the five miles the defile lasted,
the Logen lost the character it had hitherto
maintained, of a peaceable, well behaved stream,
and dashed along in a series of rapids, whirlpools,
and cascades, that were positively ¦ bewildering to
gaze on and deafening to listen to. At intervals
down the steep face of the mountain thundered
a Fos from the s-ciovr ffelds, thousands of feet above,
its waters looking dazzlingly white in the green
frame-work of pine, through which it found its
way to swell the torrent's roar.
Through all this, the road wound its tortuous way
—a wonderful feat of engineering— now mounting

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 97
high above the river's bed, till the stream seemed
a mere silver thread below, now running so close
beside it, as to be almost watered by its spray. At
times, it was blasted out of the solid rock, the
grimness of which was relieved by a profusion
of ferns and grasses, which sprouted out in
luxurious masses from every crook and cranny.
In parts of the gorge dense forests of pine clothed
the precipitous sides of the mountain, and it
was wonderful to see how little soil these hardy
trees required to take root and flourish in. Even
on bare walls of rock — on which a goat could
scarce find a foothold — some favouring breeze had
carried the germs of vegetation, and tiny trees,
from the size of currant bushes, were struggling
into existence.
About the middle of the pass, the road crossed
the river to the western side, under the shadow of
the towering Haalangen range. The view from
the bridge up and down the gorge was one of
unspeakable grandeur ; the tumult of rushing waters
seeming alraost to shake the very foundations,
and we breathed with a greater sense of security
when once again on terra firma.
From Brsendhaugen, a mile or two beyond the
pass, we posted on to Toftemoen, the road as we
approached the Dovrefjelds rapidly rising, so that
we were soon nearly 2,000 feet above the sea
level. H

98 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
We paid a flying visit to Dovre Church, which
stood close to the road side. The country churches
.in Norway are rarely near the villages, as with us, —
indeed of villages, as we understand them, there
are none, the farms being scattered wide apart
over the valley in the midst of their generally
dirainutive holdings. In the thinly populated
parts, the churches are few and far between, and it
is not all unusual for raany of the worshippers to
corae from distances of two, or even three Norsk
miles ; and thus the plan usually adopted, is to
place thera in as conspicuous positions as possible,
to serve not only as aids in their spiritual capacities,
but also to act as landmarks to the benighted
wanderer,— like the beacons in olden times on the
Lincolnshire churches.
The churchyard was entered by a covered gate
way. Most of the graves had wooden crosses above
them, with the inscription — " Fred med dit stov,"
(peace to thy ashes,) painted on them in white
letters, and the age, name, and rank of the
departed. The church itself had a very peculiar
look, from its wooden framework being covered
frora roof to basement with huge slabs of a slatey
stone, called in Norsk /rz'-.sfe«e (free-stone), obtained
on the fjelds, and which splits off very easily.
Some of the slates measured ten feet by six, but
their dull colour gave the edifice a heavy dreary
look.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 99
We had a tired horse to Toftemoen, which hardly
ever got beyond a walk till the post passed us, with
a lively ¦ flourish of its horn, making our steed
prick up its ears, and follow on at a greatly
increased speed. The mail carts were three in
number, and we learnt frora the officer in charge,
that they travel day and night, accomplishing the
journey between Christiania and Trondhjem in
three days, including one by rail and steamer.
At Toftemoen the Gulbrandsdal is looked upon as
ending, and the passage of the fjeld begins. The
stationmaster here, whose name is Tofte, is said to
trace his pedigree up to Harald Harfager (the
fair haired), the first of the Norwegian kings who
ruled over the entire country, and the thousandth
anniversary of whose birth is to be kept as a
national festival on the eighteenth of the present
raonth. We found this descendant of a line of kings
harnessing a horse to a carriole for a passing
traveller, and on corapleting his task, taking a
seat on his own door step, which it required a
stretch of imagination to view in the light of a
throne. We approached most respectfully, and
paid him sorae " carefully prepared " compliments
on his kingly pedigree, which he was pleased to
receive raost graciously.
If we were to say that there was anything regal
or imposing about his presence, we should be
H2

100 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
indulging in a flight of fancy, for a more common
place, unintelligent looking man it would be
impossible to conceive. Another brother lives in a
huge mountain farm on the hill side opposite, and
so proud- are they of their blue blood, and deter
mined to preserve it in its integrity, that they
have never for many generations past, married out
of the family, the consequences of which have not
failed to show themselves, in the stunted growth,
and gradually weakening intellect, of nearly all the
members of the family.
The house, although of wood, was most substan
tially built, and the furniture, with the rest of the
belongings, gave evidence of the wealth and
importance of the proprietor. In the gjest rum were
several antique chests and wardrobes, elaborately
carved and gilt in a rude but effective style, one
of them bearing the date 1610, with the words
"Anno Criesti" below it. There was also a
wonderful looking clock of the same pattern ; and
on the wall hung a genealogical tree, drawn by
hand, in which the Tofte pedigree was not only
traced back to Harald Harfager, but seemed to
claim descent from Thor and Odin, or some such
mythological and misty personages.
At dinner, there was a most extensive display of
silver on the table, some of it a century or two old,
and most artistically wrought. They tell the tale
that some few years back, when the king of Norway

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. IOI
and Sweden (his title is always reversed in Norway)
was on a royal progress to Trondhjem, he did Tofte
the honor of dining with him, accompanied by his
entire suite. When they were about to bring in the
royal plate, Tofte proudly told the king that it
was quite unnecessary, as he had silver enough to
supply the whole table with.
We posted on from here to Dombaas, which is a
sort of half-way house between Christiania and
Trondhjem, and also the point where the road
through the Romsdal to Molde and Christiansund
strikes off from the main route.
Our ride was rather a tedious one, as it was now
a continuous ascent, and the sandy nature of the
ground helped to make the pace slower. The
valley had entirely ceased, and the road was carried
over the spurs of the mountains, which here formed
a huge amphitheatre, that seemed to bar escape on
every side.
Dombaas station was a large and important one,
having in connection with it a telegraph and post
office. Hung around the hall were a lot of
fine skins for sale, of " wild critters " which had
been shot in the neighbourhood — bears, lynxes,
reindeer, and one specimen of a white fox, which is
simply the vulpes vulgaris in its winter garb, but
without that silkiness of texture which makes the
skin of its arctic brother so rauch sought after.
The lynxes, which are getting fewer and fewer each

I02 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
year, have a lovely softness about theirs, almost
equal to seal fur.
We spent the evening roaming over the hills,
from one of which we obtained a fine panoramic
view of the gloomy Dovrefjelds, up whose rugged
sides our raorrow's route lay. Unlike the mag
nificent roads over the Alpine passes, the numerous
zig-zags of which give them the look of gigantic
winding staircases, the one before us, disdaining all
such adventitious aid, ran boldly upwards towards
the raountain's crest, without so much as a curve to
relieve the terrible steepness of the ascent.
One of the king's chamberlains, a Kammerherr
Gjerdrum, was just starting when we got back to
the station, and although the light four wheeled
carriage he was travelling in had two extra horses
put on, he told us it would take him two hours and
a half to get to Fogstuen, only a Norwegian mile
distant. As he was polite enough to add our
knapsack to his load, we deterrained to eschew a
wheeled conveyance, and ride up on horseback in
the early raorning.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. IO3

CHAPTER V.
Over the Dovrefjelds. — The Lemmings.— Sneehatten. — Norwegian
hotel bills. — A balloon voyage extraordinary.— Trondhjem.
csA^tTE werewolf at six, after swallowing a hasty
'^-->-^ crust and glass of milk to keep out the
mountain raists, which hung in dense wreaths
down its sides, but kept pace with our advance,
and rose like a curtain on every side of us, the
effect, as the distant peaks and ranges were
uncovered and brought into view, being very fine.
The only drawback was the pace, which was of the
slowest, as the horses, regulating their raoveraents
entirely by the man who accompanied us to take
them back, hardly ever got beyond a walk, except
for the last few hundred yards before reaching
Fogstuen, over which they rattled in fine style,
having, like ourselves, the hope of breakfast before
their eyes.
Our surroundings soon began to assume a wild
dreary grandeur. All cultivation had long since
ceased, patches of snow dotted the slopes above us,
and off the well kept road we were traversing, the
ground alternated between dwarf forest, sterile
rocks, and swampy heath, the latter largely predora
inating. The lichens and mosses were very varied.

104 OVER THE D0VEEFJE1.DS.
and we saw for the first time the celebrated
reindeer raoss, which all combined to give to the
fjeld its indescribable tint, that has been humor
ously and correctly defined as "custard-mustard"
colour. Of aniraal life there was none, if we except an
occasional lemraing (myodes lemmus) out on a
foraging expedition, which scuttled off at our
approach, and when cevertaken sat boldly up on its
haunches, and vented its anger and surprise in
shrill, pettish barks. They were droll little animals,
not unlike tiny guinea pigs in size and shape, their
color of a sandy tortoise shell, which in some
specimens was very prettily varied.
Most of us who have any smattering of natural
history, doubtless remember the wonderful tales
told of the innumerable hordes that were said to
emerge from some unknown region, and after
devastating the country they passed through,
finally brought their journey to a conclusion in
the sea, into which each particular lemming was
supposed to take a header, a form of "happy
dispatch" the proprietors of the lands they had
favoured with their presence must have viewed
with unqualified approval.
Here they were far from being in such numbers
, as we had seen them on ^the Fillefjeld, where the
mountain was positively alive with them, a fact
owing to four years having, elapsed since their

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. I05
last invasion, and filled up the gaps in their ranks
ready for another razzia.
We had to intercede with our guide for their
lives more than once, for the Norwegians hate them
like " pison," 'on account of the real or imaginary
evil they are supposed to commit, and never
let a chance escape of knocking them on the
head. On walking into the gjest-rum at Fogstuen, we
found a gentleman of the genuine John Bull type
at breakfast, whom we at first took for a country
man, and saluted hira as such in the vernacular.
The illusion was strengthened by his replying in
English, which though not classical, we merely
looked upon as one of the many deealects which
abound north of the Tweed ; but it tumed out after
all that he was a Norwegian, who had lived
long enough in England to pick up not only the
language, but a liking for our manners and customs.
He was on a fishing excursion among the moun
tains, his rod, tackle, and other etceteras being all
of English make, and his whole " get up " rather a
laboured imitation of one of our own disciples of
Izaak Walton.
The station, though but a poor one, boasts of great
antiquity, being among a number of fjeld stuen
(mountain lodgings) that were established so long
ago as the twelfth century, in order to keep up the
communication on the principal roads.

Io6 OVER THE DVOREFJELDS.
It was a long stage to Jerkin, close upon fourteeri
miles, and as our Anglo-Norwegian was going to
fish at a bridge half way on, we 'determined to ride
there with hira, and walk the remaining distance, —
a plan which would enable us to gain a good idea
of the scenery of the plateau, which, in spite of its
dreary monotony is not without its own peculiar
interest. Having dispatched breakfast, in the shape of eggs,
milk, and white bread — the last a great luxury
after the sour, black rye stuff, which no amount of
apprenticeship could ever reconcile us to — we jolted
offin OMT stolkjcerre, with the fisherman on horseback
behind. The mountain peaks on either hand of us,
although belonging to the highest range in Norway,
looked as it were cut short, at the height we were
now above the sea level. We could not catch sight
of Sneehatten, which was once considered the
highest mountain in Norway, but has long since
been deposed in favor of Galdhopiggen on the
JotunQeld, which, with its 8300 Norsk feet, is mpre
than 700 feet higher than Sneehatten.
On our right, the shadows of the mountains
almost overhung us, while to the left of our road
there stretched away for miles a huge morass, {myr
our friend called it, sounded exactly like the Scotch
" muir,") which was anything but a pleasant sight
to gaze on, and would speedily have swallowed up
any adventurous pedestrian striving to make his

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. I07
way across it. Large tracts of it were covered by a
low thick brushwood, with a few stunted trees
scattered among it, rising up in the form of penin
sulas, more often of islands, in the midst of the
dismal swarap. Between thera glistened thousands
of tiny meres, which merged at length into two
magnificent lakes, connected by a rushing stream,
spanned by the bridge (Aasaa Bro) we had now
arrived at.
From over the parapet we dropped our flies
deftly on the water, when the rush of the stream
carried them down at a great rate. It was too late
in the day to expect much sport, but we soon bagged
a brace of fine trout, together with two or three char
(hore), which are a silvery graceful fish that grow
to a large size in the mountain strearas and lakes,
but afford nothing like the play of their speckled
relations. Near us, a weather beaten octogenarian dweller
on the fjelds was whipping the water with a ten
foot fir pole for a rod, a line of rough hemp, and a
bent pin for a hook, but he nevertheless, managed
to bag several " whoppers," whilst our friend, with
all the aid of his elaborate tackle, did not stir a fin
the whole time we remained. The old gentleman
was most anxious to becorae the possessor of an
English hook, and on our presenting him with a
couple he was most demonstrative in his grati
tude.

io8 Over the dovrefjelds.
It was fine fun to see him land his fish, for having
no reel attached to wind them in with, the moment
he felt one, he struck with all his might, the rod
describing a complete half circle, and sending the
fish some twenty yards behind him. His home was
a miserable hut on the opposite shore of the lake,
and on the sarae diminutive patch of pasturage was
a scEter belonging to Toftemoen.
The plateau ceased just before reaching Jerkin,
and the road was carried up an awfully steep ascent,
midway up which was the station. The buildings
were constructed in the form of a quadrangle, to
keep out " the wintry winds," just sufficient space
being left at the angles for carriages to drive in.
Jerkin, from its nearness to Sneehatten, and
the facilites for shooting and fishing the neighbour
hood affords, is a favorite place of sojourn for
tourists, many of whom stop here for weeks
together. In spite of its isolated situation, it is said to be
capital quarters, and we are able from our own
experience to vouch for the excellence of its cuisine.
The present family have for many centuries been
in possession of Jerkin, and their wealth in cattle
and horses is very considerable.
The father of the present proprietor was an
amateur artist, of no mean skill, and specimens of
his skill in oil painting and wood carving are
visible in well nigh every room.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. IO9
A party of the visitors were away scaling the
heights of Sneehatten, which, though fatiguing, is
practicable even for ladies, one, the Honble. Mrs.
Hood, having accomplished the feat with her
husband a few days ago. It can easily be done in
a day, taking three or four hours to ride to the
base of it, and nearly half that tirae to scramble
through half raelted snow to the suramit, where, if
the weather should be propitious, which seldom
happens, a magnificent view of the whole of the
Dovrefjelds is obtained.
During our halt, the clouds had been rapidly
gathering in ever darkening masses, and it was
plain that a heavy storm was about to break. Loth,
though we were to face it, there was no help for it,
every bed being occupied, and so donning our
waterproofs, destined to receive a rude testing, we
set off for Kingsvold, a Norsk mile below the head
of the pass, and fortunately nearly all down hill.
A travelling carriage got under weigh just before
us, with a freight of two natives, one a veritable
Norwegian Daniel Lambert, with, as Hood says: —
" A back too broad to be conceived
By any narrow mind."
It would, we imagine, be difficult to find any steeper
ascent than that for the first few hundred yards out
of Jerkin. It seemed irnpossible that any horses
could come down in safety, much less that they could
gallop down, as they invariably do. In the winter.

IIO O-VER THE DO-VREFJELDS.
-when the deep snow fills up the inequalities of the
ground, it must be a delightful sensation, when the
horses are unharnessed, and the sledges glide with
the speed of an arrow down the incline. Our
present rate of progress was in woful contrast ;
every few yards we had to halt for a supply of
oxygen, and to add to our discomfiture the rain
now carae down in torrents. However, we struggled
on bravely, and at last gained the highest point ot
the pass, 4594 feet above the sea. There we caught
the carriage just preparing to rattle down the
descent. The " stout gentleman " was in a terrible
plight, from the exertion of walking up. We had
watched his performance with — we are afraid — a
feeling of malicious amusement. When we passed
him, his fat sides were heaving like a mountain in
labour, and as he entered the carriage and sank
exhausted on its cushions, a deep sigh of relief
expressed his gratification at the conclusion of his
purgatory. The storm soon came down with redoubled fury;
the lightning flashes were incessant, and the roll of
the thunder was repeated by a thousand echoes
from every side. It was an awfully grand spectacle,
though we should have appreciated it the more
could we but have witnessed it from a place of
shelter. We pushed ori at a rapid pace, makirig
no delays to admire the scenery, which indeed the
dense cloud masses, above, beside, and below us.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 1 1
effectually blotted out. After three or four miles
the descent became less rapid, and the road, leaving
the exposed mountain slope, entered a gorge
which gave us sorae little protection against the
driving rain. We found a raore coraplete shelter
under the wooden bridge of a torrent that crossed
our path, and though a break in the clouds
beguiled us with the hope that the storm had
seen its worst, we ensconced ourselves beneath the
arch, as the rain had already begun to penetrate
our so-called waterproofs. ?
The Norwegian bridges are, as a rule, very neatly
made, wood being generally the principal material,
although at times roughly hewn stone, and more
often boulders of native rock just as they come
from the fjeld, are used for foundations. Wood,
however, par excellence, is what Norwegian bridge
builders rely on ; and they are to be found from
the Naze to the North Cape, fashioned in every
degree of finish, from a few rough logs thrown
carelessly across a torrent, to the elaborate structure
of several arches spanning the widest rivers.
The ordinary raethod of constructing those of a
single span, -is first to level on each side of the
streara a platforra on the rock. Solid pine trees are
then laid close together, with their ends projecting
some -three feet over the water ; across the outer
edge of these, other trees are placed cross-wise, then
another layer parallel with the first, and so on

112 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
layer upon layer, each two projecting an equal
distance over the last, until the space becomes
sufficiently small to be easily spanned. Trees are
then laid across, with rough planks for the flooring,
and side rails put as the finishing touch to the
structure. A momentary lull occurring, we took advantage
of it, and walked on to Kongsvold, which, as its
name implies, is a relic of the ancient days when
each petty king of Norway had a castle or " camp
of refuge," to retire to in case of need. Our
arrival had been heralded by our avant courier the
fat gentleman, and we found a snug little room
ready for us, where before a well spread table, and a
cup of " the beverage which cheers," &c., —to use
the shibboleth of our teetotal friends — we soon forgot
our ducking. There was no hope of carrying out
the wise old saw of "after supper walk a mile,"
as the rain was now again falling heavily, so,
sending down our damp garments to be dried ready
for the morning, we tumbled into bed, and were
soon lulled to sleep by the twittering of a numerous
colony of swallows, which had their nests under
the eaves, within arm's length of us.
July 8th. " Waiting for the bill " would not be
a bad subject for an artist. The scene might be
laid, say in some Rhineland Hof, a Parisian Grand
Hotel, or better still, in one of our monster London
caravanseries. The success of the picture would

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. II3
depend on the artist's rendering of the mingled
expression of the victim, made up of a variety of
unpleasant anticipations as to the length of the
document about to be presented by the approach
ing waiter.
Whatever raay be the deficiencies of Norwegian
stations, the abo-v^e drawback is at all events not
one of thera. If on the one hand we have fleecings
innuraerable at home and abroad to put to the
debtor side of our account, we can on the other
look back to our record of Norwegian bills with a
satisfaction that goes far to soothe our wounded
feelings. All the stations have, at the commence
ment of the dag-bog, a table of rates and charges
for the different raeals, — rates which are fixed by the
authorities, and are reasonable enough to suit the
lightest purse. Although the tariff thus regulates
the raaximum of the charges, and fixes a limit
beyond which they shall not go, it says nothing
about the other extreme, and very kindly allows
thera to charge as little as they like. It is strange,
but no less true, that the station-masters, or rather
mistresses, — for the women are absolute rulers in
the house, — rarely avail themselves of the full
power the tariff gives them, and many of the
regnings (reckonings) presented, come as near to
realizing that unknown quantity of next to nothing
as may well be.
It was so in the present instance. We had

114 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
fared suraptuously — we had eaten and drank of
the best they could give us — meat, eggs, fish, tea,
cofiee, and white bread had all disappeared down
our ravenous maws, and for supper, beds, and break
fast, together with sundry other services rendered, in
the shape of linen washed and clothes dried, we
were- amerced in the tremendous sum of one mark,
and twelve skillings or just eight pence per head.
On looking through our notes, we find that this
was the raost moderate bill in all our Norwegian
experience, although we have often been charged
very little more for the same items.
Taking, however, afair average, the following
may be looked upon as the ordinary station charges
on the principal roads, varying soraewhat accord
ing to the raoderation or otherwise of the
respective proprietors. Supper, bed, and breakfast,
two marks, and if coffee be taken at either of the
raeals, it is, especially in the Bergen district, charged
as an extra. Dinner is nearly always one mark,
and the price is the same, no matter how many
dishes there may be. Baiersk ol is twelve
skillings per quart bottle, while sherry, port, and
claret, of which the last named is the only one
to be depended on as genuine, are sold at well nigh
every station, at from two and a half to three marks
per bottle.
The wild war of the elements that had raged
during the night ceased towards morning, the

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. II5
clouds disappeared as if by magic, and were
replaced by a burning sun, and a sky almost
Italian in its intense blueness. The road to
Drivstuen ran through a narrow gorge, which
rarely ever widened out beyond a width of two
or three hundred yards. The bed of the defile
was taken up by the roaring torrent of the Driv,
which foamed and tumbled down towards the
valley in one unbroken succession of wondrous
rapids and cascades. It was a delightful walk in
the grateful shade cast by the overhanging walls
of rock upon our path. The only traces of yesterday's
storm were that the road was strewn with immense
nurabers of butterflies that had been put hors de
combat by the rain fall, the rich hues of their wings
looking on the grass like some new and rare flower.
We dined at Drivstuen, and had to undergo the
while a polite, but most rigid inquisitorial visit
from a deterrained looking landlady, who, when we
sat down to table, coolly took a chair opposite us, and
began to ply us with questions as to our nationality,
age, narae, condition in life, and so forth. Were
we married ? How many brothers and sisters had
we ? What were their names .? Never was woman
so curious, and when she had come to the end of
her budget of enquiries, she still continued to stare
at us with all her eyes, till we felt fairly disconcerted.
To divert her attention we opened our knapsacks
and presented her with a photograph or two of the
I 2

Il6 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
ruins of Paris, which we chanced to have amongst
our effects, explaining them to her in our best
Norsk, and had the satisfaction of seeing her
regards transferred to the inanimate paper.' The
subject of them excited her interest and compassion,
for the sympathies of all the Scandinavian races
during the Franco-German war ran strongly in
favour of the beaten nation. At times, they carried
their feelings so far as to make demonstrations at
Christiania, in front of the Gerraan Consul's house
and those of the other Teutonic residents.
This was notably the case at the reception given
to two young French aeronauts, who, in the winter
of 1870, were in charge of one of the nuraerous
balloons by which the postal service of besieged
Paris was carried on. At the time of their ascent
a strong sou'wester was raging, which carried the
balloon before it with immense rapidity. All their
efforts to descend were vain, and in an incredibly
short space of time they found themselves above the
North Sea, being hurried as they imagined to swift and
certain destruction. Hours sped by, and still they
were swept forward, literally on the wings of the
wind. Once more they came in sight of land, but
the sight brought them no consolation, for from
its icy shores and snow covered peaks, they believed
themselves to have arrived in the arctic regions,
and that they were about to descend on the
inhospitable shores of Greenland or Spitzbergen.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. II7
It was not an unnatural mistake, for the district
of the Telleraark, where they again succeeded in
reaching terra Hrrna, is one of the wildest and
most dreary districts of Norway, and might easily
have deceived better judges than our two Parisians
as to the latitude and longitude of the locality.
Although now landed, their troubles were by no
means at an end. They were on the desolate
mountain side, miles away from any habitation,
and even when they succeeded in reaching the
nearest hut, were unable to make their conditions
known save by signs and pantomime. After some
days, they got once more into civilized parts, and
the news of their wonderful adventure having
spread, they found theraselves on arriving at
Christiania the heroes of the hour. They were
feted and lionised to their hearts content, while the
unfortunate Germans were mobbed daily in their
honor. Eventually they went back to France with their
mail bags, the contents of which thus duly arrived
at their destinations, after a soraewhat roundabout
journey. We believe this to be the longest aerial
journey yet on record, the distance, as the crow
flies, being certainly not less than 1,000 miles, which
is considerably longer than that accomplished by the
veteran Green, in his flight from Vauxhall to Nassau.
The weather had now become so intensely hot
that walking was out of the question, and as we

Il8 OVER THE DVOREFJELDS.
were but eight stages from Storen, where the
railway to Trondhjem commences, we determined
to post the remainder of the way, and defer our
pedestrian exercise till the thermoraeter was
soraething less than 90° in the shade.
We got, over three stages during the afternoon
and evening — Rise, Aune, and Stuen, thus doing
about twenty-four railes, including stoppages, in
five hours — rather slow . progress — but the horses
on this road are kept so continuously at work during
the suraraer season, that except in the early
morning it is almost impossible to obtain one fresh
and able to cover the ground at a reasonable pace.
Many a time at the Gulbrandsdal, in spite of their
being professedly fast stations, we have had to wait
oftentimes one or two hours till one of the hprses
returned, and it may be easily imagined how unfit
(in spite of the half-hours rest allowed by law) it
then' was for another twenty miles spin.
The scenery passed through on our ride, was not
very striking ; indeed, nearly the whole way from
Drivstuen to Trondhjem the country has neither
the smiling beauty of the Gulbrandsdal nor the
rugged grandeur of the Dovrefjeld to recoramend it,
and we had no cause to regret our determination of
hurrying over it as rapidly as Norwegian wheels
could carry us.
Stuen, where we slept, was a new and fairly
good station, strikingly situated in the midst of

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. II9
dense pine forests, which now covered the country
for railes. The mountains had receded into the
distance, and the only relief to the universal green
covering was the river winding its way like a streak
of silver down the valley.
Just after our arrival, two young Englishmen
came in with a landing net full of small trout,
which they had taken in an hour or two in the
stream below. They described the fish as being
most ravenous, rising with a rush at the flies the
instant they touched the water, so that they had
often four on the hook at once. Some of the
the finest were soon broiling for a supper, to which
they formed a capital addition. As the Norwegians
almost invariably boil trout and salmon, unless
otherwise ordered, it is as well to know that the
word for broiled is stegt (pronounced steaked), and
kogt for boiled. As a rule, they are far from being
despicable cooks, and even in the country parts, it
is rare to find among them instances of that gross
ignorance of the first principles of the culinary art
which has raade the proverb, that "God sends
the victuals and the Devil the cooks " — more
applicable to England than any other country in
the world.
July 9th. Off at eight a.m. for a hard and hot days
posting, right away to Storen or Engen as it is in
definitely called. The distance was only five and
a quarter Norsk railes, but it was past four p.m. ere

120 OVER THE DD-VREFJELDS.
we drew up at the Railway Inn at Storen, although
the roads were in excellent order, and down hill
nearly the whole distance. We must deduct, how
ever, an hours stoppage for dinner at Garlid, where
they gave us roast (preserved) ptarmigan, -with
multeboer and cream to follow.
It was fortunate, for us that our way lay for the
most part through a succession of pine and birch
forests, for the , heat was something intense.
Occasionally, through breaks in the trees, we got
magnificent views of the valley which the road
now ran far above. At one point, between
Austbjerg and Bjerkager, it contracted to a narrow
defile, the road almost overhanging the precipice,
and a stone slab and cross marking the spot from
which during its construction an unfortunate work
man fell, and was dashed to pieces on the rocks
below. We had 'a somewhat exciting drive on to the
next station. Our skyds-gut was an uncouth
hobbedehoy, rather disposed to be impudent.
Instead of mounting on the board behind, he seated
himself immediately in front of us, in order the
better as he said to drive. We did not at first
object to this, as the slightest exertion was too
great on such a day, but when pulling out a filthy
looking dhudeen, he commenced puffing the smoke
into our faces, we gently intimated to him that he
had better retire to the rear. With a surly look.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. ¦ 121
he took the pipe from his mouth and put it into
his pocket, with the tobacco still burning. It was
at this point that we reached the most ticklish part of
the road, and it was precisely here that our
charioteer's temper getting the better of hira, he
commenced urging the horse to the top of its speed.
It must be confessed that the spot chosen was hardly
a favourable one for an equestrian display. To
the right a wall of rock rose above our heads,
while on the other side the precipice went sheer
down, till the eye failed to pierce its gloomy depths ;
and between us and destruction there was not even
the frail barrier of a rail, but only a few blocks of
stone set upon end, with space enough between
them for a vehicle, double the size of our own to
have passed. Down the inclines we dashed at a
tremendous pace, the stol-kjcerre flying from side to
side, and every board in it threatening to dissolve
partnership with the jolting. It was of no use
trying to stop our " Jehu ; " we remonstrated with
him, but to no purpose. He evidently saw we
did'nt like it, and whipped and shouted all the
harder for the knowledge, till we were compelled
to hold on like "grira death" tothe sides of the cart,
to avoid being spilt. We were heartily glad when
the station was reached in safety, and we got a less
reckless driver for the next stage.
At the station before Storen there was a dearth
of skyds-guts, so my young companion proffered his

122 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
services, and mounting behind like a tiger, we
drove in state up to the railway hotel, the well
appointed look of which showed us that we were
once again within the confines of civilization. In
the yard outside there were a number of carriages
with their drivers that had come in to catch the
train (of which there are but two a day), and it
gave us some trouble to find the boy belonging to
the last station, who was to take back our trap and
receive the raoney for its hire. It is a fact that
shows the simplicity of the Norwegian character,
and the reliance they place on the honesty of others,
for we might easily have avoided payment, and
gone our way without any one's being a bit the
wiser. The Trondhjem and Storen J^rnbane, which is,
we believe, the most northern railway in the
world, has only a length of some thirty miles, with
a single line of rails, and a narrow guage of not more
than three feet. The original intention was to
connect it by degrees with the Miosen lake, but
during the last few years a new scheme has been
adopted — to continue it in the direction of Roraas,
the great mining centre, and then along the banks
of the Glommen river to Christiania. It is to be
constructed on Fell's principle, which has proved
so successful over Mount Cenis and up the Rigi.
The station was a light graceful structure, built
in the Swiss style, entirely of wood. In addition

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 23
to the ordinary carriages of the three classes, there
were second class ones open at the sides, with all
the compartments thrown into pne. Seats were
disposed in the centre and around, and in lieu of
windows there were curtains to keep out the sun
and rain, or which could be drawn at will to
admit the refreshing breeze. Here we at once
located ourselves, and as our train never exceeded
the ordinary ten miles an hour pace, we had ample
opportunities to adraire the lovely scenery through
which we passed.
The wild wooded character of our morning's
drive had disappeared ; wide valleys, with waving
crops and thriving honlesteads, stretched away
before us, while the mountains that bounded thera
were gradually losing their height and grandeur,
and dwindling down as we approached Trondhjem
into mere hills, which reminded us forcibly of the Isle
of Man, and the country between Douglas and Peel.
The other occupants of the carriage were half-
a-dozen English and a couple of Norwegian
studenter on their way home for " the long " from
Christiania University. They were disposed to
fraternise, and we were soon chatting away together,
but speedily found that their Trondhjem accent was
not so easily understood as that of more southern
Norway. They did not pronounce their words with the
same clearness as the Christiania folk, clipping

124 OVER THE DO-VREFJELDS.
them of their fair proportions, and running them
one into the other with, to us, a raost puzzling effect.
Within a few railes of Trondhjem we got a
glimpse of the Leerfossen — two fine falls to the right
of the line, and in a few minutes we could see
the city itself before us, steeped in the radiance of a
glorious sunset. Beyond, to the north, south, and
west, stretched the fiord — a sea of glowing molten
gold, contrasting with the dark masses of the
opposing mountains, behind which the sun was-
disappearing. Trondhjem, which is built in the form of a half
circle, lies at the mouth of the little river Nid, in a
shallow bay of the fiord.
Although but the third in point of size, it is the
most ancient of all the Norwegian towns, having
been rebuilt in A.D. 997, by king Olaf Tryggvesen
on the site of Nidaros, the origin of which is lost
in the twilight of fable. Its modern look, however,
gives little sign of its antiquity. With a few rare
exceptions, every building is of wood ; and as the
city has been burnt down on an average every fifty
years, but few of its former glories remain to it,
beyond a church or two, and a tower of the
ancient Benedictine cloister on Munkholm (Monk's-
Island), which lies some little way out in the
harbour. The streets, which are of great width, are laid
out at right angles, and they have two drawbacks.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 25
which speedily force themselves into notice — the
pavements and the drains. The first is just as we
see it in the Hogarthian drawings of London
streets more than a century ago — the roadway
laid with square blocks of free stone, while the
sidewalks for pedestrians are covered with nasty,
sharp pointed pebbles, for all the world like
petrified potatoes.
The drains are siraply open sewers, green,
stagnant, and odoriferous, poisoning the air with
their miasma, and depending solely on the showers —
which are fortunately numerous — to flush them,
and sweep their foul contents to the sea.
We noted these little peculiarities on our way
to the hotel "Victoria," whither the students
politely insisted on conducting us. They left us at
the door, sweeping off their hats to us with an
almost oriental salaam.
Doffing the hat is the universal salute in
Norway, and as it is a custom with most English
visitors "raore honored in the breach than the
observance," it raay be as well to state, that to omit
it is looked upon as a grave breach of manners. It
often amused us to witness the ceremonious way,
even in the country parts, in which the peasants
would salute each other when they raet. In the
towns, it is the custom on entering a shop,
not only to take off the hat, but also to remain
uncovered the whole time of remaining there.

126 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.

CHAPTER VI.
Trondhjem Cathedral.— Conversion of Norway to Christianity.—
Legends of St. Olc^f.—Salla of the Leerfossen.— A Dishonest Peasant.
—Coasting Steamers.— Christiausund.—Molde.— The Romsdal.- Aak.
^ULY IOth. We breakfasted in the morning en
^ famille, the majority of the hotels here being
in the boarding house style, with fixed hours for
meals. Middags-mad (dinner) is at the good old-
fashioned hour of half-past one, and aftens-mad
(evening rrieal), which is a sort of compromise
between tea and supper, at eight p.m.
We found it a pleasant, sociable plan, and far
preferable to eating in solitary state. The landlord,
Herr Quillefeldt, a German, took the head of the
table, with his Norwegian wife at the other end,
and they both exerted themselves to the utmost in
attending to their guests.
We had hoped to have caught a coasting steamer
to Molde on the morrow after our arrival, but
found there would not be one until Saturday, so
that we were in for a four days stay, which we
hailed, however, as a welcorae rest, after the fatigue
of our tramp.
Our first raorning, then, we devoted to the lions
of Trondhjera — we ought rather to have said lion —

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 27
for the sole object of architectural or antiquarian
interest is the Cathedral, which even in its ruined
and mutilated condition, bears ample testimony
to the beauties, which, in the days of its glory,
raade the shrine of St. Olaf the boast of Scandinavia,
and the attraction for numberless crowds from
every land in Christendom. Its history is almost
coeval with the establishment of Christianity in
Norway, of which we will give a brief sketch.
Nearly three centuries had elapsed since the
conversion of our own land by St. Augustine, ere
the knowledge of the true faith was preached to
the Norwegians. Until the latter part of the ninth
century, Norway was under the sway of numberless
petty princes, and was only known to the more
civilized and Christian nations of Europe as the
horae of those terrible hordes of Vikings, who
annually ravaged their lands with fire and sword.
It was not that missioners were wanting who
would gladly have given their lives, like St.
Boniface in Gerraany, to bring them under the
softening influence of the religion of love, but in
truth, the Norsemen were for the time being a
nomade race, never in the same spot for long
together, but incessantly on the move, in whatever
direction promised the best chance of plunder.
It was a glorious privilege reserved for the
descendants of Harald Harfager, who, about the
year 872, had succeeded in becoming absolute

128 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
monarch of all Norway. He himself lived and
died in his heathenism, but his youngest son
Hacon, surnamed " the good," who had been
brought up at the court of our Anglo-Saxon King
Athelstan, strove, on his accession to the throne,
to do all in his power to introduce Christianity.
He began cautiously, converted by degrees some
of his courtiers, raised a few Churches in the
district around Trondhjem, and brought over from
England a bishop and priests. He then summoned
a Thing or parliament, at which he proposed to the
assembled Bonder, " that all the people should be
" baptised, believe in one God, and Christ the son of
" Mary, abstain from all heathen sacrifices, keep holy
" the seventh day, and refrain from all work thereon."
The proposal was premature, and was rejected by
the assembly with indignation.
The popular suspicions were now thoroughly
aroused, the churches were burnt down, the priests
put to death, and Hacon far from being able to
carry out his designs, was compelled, to appear at
least, to offer sacrifice to Odin in order to save his
crown. In 995, thirty years after his death, Olag Trygg
vesen was unanimously chosen king. His early life
had been one of wild adventure, as one of the most
daring and renowned of all the Vikings of his day.
He is said to have visited well nigh every country
in Europe, and while in our own land, was

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 29
converted to Christianity, and confirmed in the
presence of king Ethelred and his court. Like
Hacon, he resolved on the extermination of
heathenism, and being a man of iron will and
immense fertility of resource, he succeeded in
making nominal Christians of a good number of
his subjects.
We say nominal, for it must be acknowledged
the means he employed were more likely to
produce a conforraity more apparent than real.
His plan of conversion was simplicity itself. A
host in himself, and with a chosen band of warriors
at his back, he made a royal progress through the
country, summoning Things to raeet him, and
giving to the asserabled Bonder the choice of two
conditions — either to accept Christianity, or fight.
It may be easily imagined that at his death in the
great sea-fight of Svolder, the majority of his
converts lapsed into their former heathenisra ; and
when in ioi5,.01af Haraldson — better known as the
Saint — came to the throne, he found that the work
of evangelization had to be commenced afresh.
The life and character of S. Olaf are points
upon which great controversy have arisen. On the
one hand, he is looked upon as a holy man, of pure
life and morals, who availed himself of his kingly
power to stamp out the idol worship of his country
men, and introduce (it may be with somewhat of a
high hand) the Christian faith.

130 O-VER THE DOVREFJELDS.
On the other hand, it is asserted that he was a
wild and and ferocious conqueror, whose zeal for
the propagation of religion was only a cloak for
his lust of conquest, and that, to quote a recent
writer "under the sacred banner of the cross he
"perpetrated the most ruthless deeds of blood and
"plunder, until his atrocities raised the whole
"country against him."*
By far the greater number of those who have
thus defamed him, are Norwegian writers of the
post-Reformation period, who, to show their
allegiance to their new faith, have delighted in
heaping derision and contempt on all that their
forefathers held most dear. The ancient " Sagas,"
or contemporary records, which of late years have
become more known out of Norway, present Olaf
to us in a very different light, so that the study of
of them has led Maclear, in his Apostles of Mediceval
Europe, to speak of him in the following terms: —
"The example which he set to his subjects was
" more satisfactory than that of either of his prede-
" cessors. He was exemplary in observing the
" ordinances of religion. The impartial severity with
" which he administered the laws, punishing equally
" both great and small, was one of the chief causes
"of rebellion against his rule. S. Olaf was
"eventually compelled to fly the kingdom, but
* Murray's " Guide to Norway."

O-VER THE DOVREFJELDS. I3I
"was re-called three years later by the party
"favorable to his interests. He had no sooner
" appeared, than multitudes flocked to his standard
"but he rejected all who did not coraply with the
'' one condition of service, — the reception of
"baptisra. The helmets and shields of all who
" fought on his side were distinguished by a white
" cross ; and on the eve of the combat, Olaf directed
" many marks of silver to be given for the souls
" of his enemies who should fall in the battle,
" esteeming the salvation of his own men ilready
"secured. He also directed that the war shout
" should be ' Forward, Christ's men ! Grossmen !
" King's men ! ' The battle was hot and bloody, and
" Olaf was defeated and slain."
The seed already sown had, however, taken too
deep a root to be eradicated, and Christianity shortly
after his death became firmly established in Norway.
The body of S. Olaf was after the battle hidden
by some of his adherents, and three years later,
on the reports of the miracles that were taking
place through his intercession, it was dug up, and
found to be perfectly incorrupt. For the next sixty
years it underwent many vicissitudes, being moved
from church to church, as each succeeding monarch
surpassed his predecessor in the raagnificence of
the shrine he erected to receive it.
Olaf Kyrre, who died in 1093, divided Norway
into Bishoprics, and it was during his reign that
K 2

132 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
the foundations of the first Cathedral were raised,
S. Olaf's body being — on its completion —placed
under the high altar. Few traces of the building
now remain, but there is no doubt that it formed
>,he ground plan and had an important influence
on the design of the present Cathedral.
It was not until the close of the thirteenth
century, that — the grand west front being finally
completed — the whole structure stood forth in all its
beauty, when it was not only the largest in the three
Scandinavian kingdoms, but was not unworthy,
from the richness of its architectural details, to
challenge comparison with many of our English
Cathedrals. Its extreme length was at that time
346 feet, with a breadth of 84 ; while the west front,
which was richly decorated, with a chapel at each
corner, had a width of 140 feet. In addition to
the numerous flying buttresses and pinnacles, there
rose five towers, each surmounted by a spire, the
grand central one rising to a height of 250 feet.
Its present condition offers a lamentable contrast
to its appearance in the days of its glory. A series
of destructive fires in 1328, 1432, and finally in
1 53 1, swept away the west end, and robbed the
central tower of half its altitude, and the Reforma
tion which followed, being more favourable to the
destruction than to the restoration of God's-house,
prevented any attempt being made to save the
greater part of it from sinking into complete and

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 33
utter ruin ; and the only portions that, from the
sixteenth century to our own day, have made
made available for service, are the transepts, choir,
and present chapter house, or ancient sacristy.
During the last fifty years, there have been some
few attempts at restoration, in which considerable
sums have been expended, but a master hand has
been evidently wanting to direct the efforts, and
the principal result achieved, has been to
perpetrate sorae awful Vandalisras, such as blocking
up the choir with a mass of hideous brick-work,
and cloaking up the most elaborate tracery with
coats of a lead colored wash, which makes one
shudder to look at.
At present, better days seera to be dawning for
it, the direction of the work having recently been
placed under a young and rising architect,—
Herr Christie, of Christiania, a descendant of a
Scotch family, who, if we may judge from what
has already been accomplished under his supervision,
is the right man in the right place.
The Cathedral is open each week day from twelve
to one, and at the former hour we joined a group
that were just about being conducted through it,
by a cicerone appointed for the purpose, a polite,
well informed young man, who translated his
remarks as he went on, for the benefit of the few
English present. Our tour of inspection lasted
upwards of an hour, and though there was

134 O-VER THE DOVREFJELDS.
much to interest us, it was impossible to avoid a
feeling of pain at the terrible wreck it presented of
its former beauty, and this not so much from the
ravages of the elements, as from the mis-directed
zeal of incompetent renovators.
Norman work predominates throughout,
especially in the transepts, the north one presenting
the unusual feature of having round and pointed
arches side by side with each other, a fact which
most writers on the subject have looked upon as
upsetting the theory of attributing these two styles
of arch to different periods of Gothic.
It must, however, be borne in mind that this
part of the Church was not began until the date
(1160) of the transition period between Norman
and early English, and "it seems clear," says
Parker, (commenting on Rickman's statement to
the same effect,) " that the pointed arch was in
" common use in England and in other parts of
" Europe, by the middle of the twelfth century,
" being used indiscriminately, as was most consonant
" with the necessities of the work, or the builder's
" ideas." The gem of the whole building is undoubtedly
the choir, which, full of the richest detail through
out, reaches its climax in the Mjkoret (high choir),
which surrounds the high altar, beneath which the
body of S. Olaf reposed, in a network of slender
pillars and open arches, extending to the roof. It

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 35
is a marvel of lightness and grace, and when
restored will be one of the most charming specimens
of the decorated style that Europe can show.
Many of the side chapels— although much
dilapidated, their groined roofs being in several
instances braced up by unsightly iron bands — are
yet full of first class work, in every style but the
perpendicular. The restoration of one has just
been completed, the funds for it having been left
many years ago by a worthy citizen, after whom it
has been named.
In olden days, the great attraction was S. Olaf's
shrine, which was decorated with the greatest
magnificence. The body was enclosed in three coffins, the
inner one of silver, with a weight of 6500 lods
(half an ounce to the lod), enclosed in two wooden
ones, the outer of which was set with gold and
silver ornaments, and numberless precious stones.
According to Malte Brun it brought hither, not
only pilgrims from Scandinavia, b4t from all parts
of Europe, while such was the veneration in which
the saint was held, that churches were erected under
his patronage even in Constantinople. The body of
S. Olaf was found incorrupt in 1098, and again in
1 541, when the Lutherans, following the example
of that amiable and virtuous monarch Henry VIH.
(see Fronde's history), plundered the shrine of all
its treasures ; but it is satisfactory to know that

136 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
the ship which carried the greater part of the
plunder foundered at sea on its way to Denmark,
and the rest was seized by knights of the road on
its overland joumey.
The Lutherans appear to have treated the body
of the saint with some sort of respect, leaving it in
the plainest of its three coffins, in which it was
shortly afterwards captured by the Swedes, and
carried into their own country. It was restored by
them in 1568, and buried in the Cathedral, but the
particular spot has up to this day remained a secret*
Many are the curious legends still extant, of
the combats which S. Olaf had to wage in intro
ducing Christianity, not only with the recalcitrant
Bonder, but also with agents of darkness, in the
shape of wizards (trolds). These gentry very
naturally resented the introduction of a system so
diametrically opposed to them. Their machinations
were, however, of no avail ; the king's sanctity
rendered him invulnerable to their attacks, and
wherever he raet them he made the sign of the
cross over them, and tumed them into stones,
many of which are to this day pointed out in
different parts.
One legend recounts how S. Olaf, by the promise
of a great reward, persuaded a -good natured wizard
* On the south side of the choir is a staircase leading to what is
called S. Olaf's well, the legend being that Ms body was flrst interred
there,, and that ou its removal a spring of water gushed forth.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 37
to build for him the spire of Trondhjem Cathedral,
and it raust be owned that for so holy a man S.
Olaf treated the poor wizard rather scurvily, after
he had faithfully performed his share of the
contract. As it may be new to our readers we give
a translation of it : —
" Trondhjem Cathedral is known far and wide as
one of Christendom's raost remarkable churches, but
still raore striking was it in the olden time, with its
graceful spire towering to the sky. S. Olaf found
it easy enough to build the church, but the spire
was beyond his skill. In his perplexity he promised
the sun to whoever would accomplish the task of
raising it. When no one else came forward, a
wizard who lived in a neighbouring village offered
to do it for the stipulated reward, affixing the con
dition that S. Olaf must never address him by his
name, even should he chance to discover it.
"As the spire rose rapidly towards completion,
S. Olaf was soon in a fix as to the payment, and
tried his utmost to get upon the track of the
wizard's name. Sailing about midnight along the
coast he came to a place called Kjoerringen, where he
heard a child crying in a field, when the mother to
pacify it proraised it the sun when its father
Tvester carae home.
"Joyfully Olaf hurred back to the town, and
carae in the nick of time, for the spire was
just corapleted, and the wizard was on the

138 OVER THE DVOREFJELDS.
point of putting the last gilded knob on the
weathercock. " Thou art setting the weathercock too far to the
west Tvester, shouted S. Olaf. The moment the
wizard heard his name, he fell down dead."
In the Norwegian constitution of 1814, it was
definitively laid down that Trondhjem Cathedral
should be the place for the coronation of the
sovereign, and it was here that Charles John the
First, alias Bemadotte, the ex-Marshal of France,
received the fealty of his new subjects.
Formerly the ceremony was not confined
exclusively to this cathedral, only four kings
having received their crowns under its roof, viz. : —
Haakon V., 1299 ; Karl Knutsson, 1449 ; Kristian
I., 1450 ; and John in 1483.
On the high altar is a fine cast of Thorwaldsen's
noble statue of our Saviour, from the original in
the Church of our Lady in Copenhagen, and
inferior casts of those of the twelve Apostles used
also to stand round the high choir, but are now
removed. Our tour of inspection over, we were in-vited to
inscribe our names, in a book, with the privilege
of adding at the same time, our contributions in
aid of the restoration fund. No charge is made
for admission, but nearly all dropped their mite into
the box, and photographs of the Cathedral were
also on sale at very reasonable prices.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 39
We spent the aftemoon in improving our
acquaintance with the town, strolling through its
broad but somewhat monotonous streets, peeping
into the shop windows, the contents of which,
would not have been peculiar in any English town,
and finally, in having our "fotografs" — as the
Norwegians phonetically call them— taken by a
one legged Pole, whom the last insurrection against
Russia had left minus a limb.
It must be confessed that Trondhjem is not a
lively place. Like most country towns of 1,500
inhabitants, it takes life in a very hum^drum
fashion, and as the Norwegians are at no time a
very demonstrative race, the amount of noise and
bustle in its grass grown thoroughfares is
infinitesimal. Even the boys partake of the
universal depression, and unlike the British variety
of the species, carry on their garaes in the most
orderly manner. The only sign of life is down
towards the harbour, where a good number of
small fishing and merchant ships are generally at
anchor, the crews of which gave a little moveraent
to the quays, as they unload or take in their
cargoes. The warehouses in which goods are stored are
almost the only ancient wooden buildings the
numerous fires have spared. Rising to the height
of four or five stories, built of huge massive logs,
black with age, and dating frora the sixteenth and

140 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
seventeenth centuries, they are not devoid of the
picturesque, as they stand contrasting in their grim
ness with the gaily painted houses that surround
them. In the Market-place were two or three covered
booths for the sale of books and fancy articles, a
very subdued looking crowd fluctuating around
them. There were also a few country women with
vegetables and poultry, their wares displayed on
the ground in default of stalls.
Trade was evidently languishing, the only thing
enquired for being ost (cheese), for which there was
a brisk demand, the tasting process being accom
plished in the most primitive fashion, by the vendor
thrusting his forefinger into the soft mass, and
handing it to the purchaser.
We cannot compliment the Norwegians on the
excellence of their cheese, which, as a rule, is poor
tasteless stuffi The ny ost (new cheese), that forms
the bulk of the produce is not unlike Gruyere in
appearance, but with a wide difference in flavor,
of which it would be almost true to say that
it has none, save a slight sensation of curds. There
is nothing positively distasteful about it, which is
more than can be said for its elder brother gam
mel ost (old cheese), which is often strong enough
to knock one down with its smell, and is, as may
easily be imagined, quite an acquired taste, that few
but natives can ever hope to possess. There is also

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. I4I
a third sort called mys ost (goat's cheese), which is
of a yellowish brown color, and has an indescribable
sweet mawkish taste.
In the evening, one of our student friends supped
wilh us, and afterwards acted as our guide round
the environs, which, in the immediate neighbour
hood of the city are very flat, although the hills
begin to rise a mile or two away.
We met in our rarable with one or two watch
men (vcegter) patrolling the streets, but their office
in such a law abiding community (where shutters
and locks are at so complete a discount) must be a
sinecure indeed. They are armed with a long staff,
surmounted by a knob, studded with sharp spikes,
called the (m.orgen stjerne) moming star. The
late Marquis of Waterford, of knocker-wrenching
renown, in one of his midnight expeditions
through the streets of Bergen, was nearly killed
by a tap on the head from one of them.
Another, and not the least important of the
watchmen's duties, is to give warning of the
outbreak of fires, for which purpose a look-out is
always kept from the watch tower, whence as each
hour comes round, they chant in lugubrious rhymes
the tirae, and state of the weather, interwoven
with an exhortation to prayer. There is no
doubt that this custora dates from a very early
period ; we append a verse of one, with its literal
translation.

142 O-VER THE DOVREFJELDS.
Ho, vsgter, i ho ! Ho, the watchraan, ho !
Klokken er slagen ti The clock has struck ten,
LovetvoereGudvorHerrelPraised be God our Lord !
Nu er det paa tider Now has the time come,
Man laegger sig til sengs. In bed to lay us down,
Madmoren raed sin pige. The housewife & her maid,
Hosbonden raed sin dreng. The master and his lad.
Vinden er S. E., The wind is south east.
Hallelujah ! lovet veere Hallelujah ! praised be
Gud vor Herre. God our Lord.
July I lth. We spent the morning in an excursion
to the Leerfossen, which are formed by the river
Nid, some three miles out of the city. To get to
them we took train to Slupj)en, a station about a
mile from the falls, but as the path is somewhat
difficult to find, by far the best way is to follow the
main road from Trondhjem, which can be varied
at will on returning, and makes a very pretty
ramble. We took what was decribed to us as a short cut
over the hills, and eventually by dint of enquiring
again and again at the numerous cottages, arrived
after heading for every point in the compass at
the lower fall. Unlike most of the Norwegian
fosses, which unite great height with but a narrow
stream of water, the Leerfoss has a breadth of
120 feet with a height of perhaps 80. The river at
one bound abruptly throws itself over a perpen
dicular wall of rock, but it lacks that broken and

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 43
picturesque outline which is the principal charm
of a fall, having in lieu of it almost the artificial
look of a theatrical cascade, so trim are the
surrounding rocks, and smoothly regular the
downpour of the rushing waters.
Half a mile higher up the streara there is a larger
fall, which is said to be finer than the lower, but
our time was limited, the day hot, and after a week
in Norway one gets a glut of falls, and it soon
requires something very special to draw one out of
the beaten track.
Close to the right bank of the river, and turning
the tremendous water power to practical purpose,
were several saw mills and copper smelting
furnaces, which, however useful, were anything
but ornamental adjuncts to the surroundings. We
visited one of the latter — a raanufactory of sub
oxide of copper, of which there are but one or two
others in the country. The foreraan showed us all
over it, and politely explained the whole process,
which was extremely interesting, although unfor
tunately, frora the technical terras he employed,
we failed to catch a great deal of his meaning.
The ore, which comes from Roraas, a hundred
miles distant, and is brought hither by carts and rail,
is first crushed to powder in the water mill. It is
then placed in huge iron cauldrons and cooked for
several days, the refuse that rises to the surface
being continually skimmed offi When thoroughly

144 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
purified, it is run into tanks of boiling water, in
which it is allowed graduaUy to cool down. As the
temperature begins to lower, a number of sticks
are suspended in the water, on which the
copper speedily collects, covering them with a mass
of bright red crystals, which are withdrawn at the
end of the fortnight, perfectly cool and brittle.
They are then detached from the sticks, spread out
in trays to dry, and afterwards packed in barrels
for home use and exportation. They told us that
the greater part of what they make here goes to
Hamburg, where, we believe it is used in the
coloring of stained glass, imparting to it a rich
ruby tint.
Before leaving, we were presented with some
fine specimens of the crystals, by the workmen,
who in return for the modest drikke-penge we
presented them, shouted after us lykkelig reise
(happy journey), the usual Norwegian farewell as
we retraced our steps homewards.
In the afternoon we went over the Videnskab
Selskab (Useful Knowledge Society), which com
prises a library of 30,000 volumes, principally
theological, and with some important manuscripts
bearing upon the early history of the country. On
the ground floor there is a small but interesting
museum, and, although not one of the "open"
days, we were at once admitted by the officials on
learning our nationality.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 45
This courtesy, which we do not quite understand
what we have done to merit, is always shown
throughout Scandinavia to our countrymen. The
mere fact of being an Englishman is an effectual
open sesame, not only to the public buildings, but
also to the private home circles of every class of
the community, who require no other credential,
and are never better pleased than when they can
extend kindness or hospitality to their quondam
enemies. The collection of weapons comprised a variety of
armour, shields, spears, and' two-handed swords,
that used to form the ordinary equipment of a
Viking when on the " war path." We were rather
amused when our conductor gravely presented for our
admiration, what he called an ancient Greek helraet,
the raetal of which was dazzling in its brilliancy,
and in a state of the most wonderful preservation.
We restrained our smiles by an effort, and gently
insinuated that it would be more appropriately
housed in the property room of the Trondhjera
theatre, than in its present proud position as the
gem of the collection.
Some of the contributions of ecclesiastical orna
ments from churches that have gradually fallen
into ruin, are reraarkable for the grotesqueness of
the carving, the Runic or interlaced wickerwork
pattern being predominant, such as is often seen on
the Norman doorways of our English churches.

146 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
Not a few of the roughly painted tryptychs, with
the crucifixion in the raiddle panel, and figures of
the saints at the sides, came from Iceland, which in
the 1 1 th and 1 2th centuries was a centre of learmng,
and its inhabitants far superior in culture and
civilization to the rest of Europe, a fact owing to
its poverty and secluded situation saving it from
invasion and intestine divisions.
In the evening we did some fishing out in the
harbour, but caught nothing but a few flounders
and codlings. The seafaring population here are
uncommonly rough diamonds, and ask as a rule
about thrice the legitimate fare for their boats. We
had been warned, however, of this little peculiarity,
and kept shaking our heads till they had come
down nearly to the price we intended to give.
Just as we were on the point of striking
a bargain, a boat rowed up from an Allan Line
steamer in the bay, and two gentlemen landed,
one the agent of the company, a recently made
acquaintance of ours, with the commander of
the steamer, a rough Danish sea-dog — the beau
ideal of a hardy rover of the seas — who would
have made a splendid Viking had he lived a
thousand years ago.
" Full of strange oaths, and bearded like a pard,"
was the captain, speaking our language fluently,
but as our quotation suggests, with a naughty-cal
flavour about it, which we must charitably suppose

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 47
was owing to the conditions under which he had
acquired it.
Seeing the errand we were on, and also the
difficulty we had in arranging the preliminaries,
the captain good-naturedly dashed into the fray,
and assailed the crowd of boatmen with a torrent
of Norsk, utterly incomprehensible to us, but which
we could see the effect of, in the scowling and
disappointed looks of the boatraen balked of their
prey. "  them," said the captain, turning fo us,
warm yet victorious, " they're the  est lot of
cheating vagabonds in the  town." " Come
here, you beggars," he shouted to two pleasant faced
boys, who had been looking -on from a distance at
the skirmish. " These are the only decent fellows
in the place," he remarked parenthetically to us,
as he helped us into their boat, "you may trust
thera without being swindled, but those 
scoundrels," — and we could hear, as we pushed away
from the pier, the captain's vocabulary of forcible, but
untranslatable epithets being freely scattered on the
sins, real or iraaginary, of the Trondhjem boatmen.
At supper we sat next to Herr Christie, the
architect for the restoration of the Cathedral, and
had a very pleasant chat on architecture in
general. He gave us photographs of some of the
raore peculiar details of the Cathedral, and told us
that the estiraated cost of the entire restoration
L2

148 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
was 550,000 dollars, or over ,^120,000 ; so that
at the present rate of progress he hardly hoped
to see its corapletion, as funds come in but very
slowly. The Governraent yearly grant is only two
or three thousand pounds, while the efforts of private
individuals, in so poor and thinly populated a
country as Norway, can do but little to make
up the deficiency.
July 12. We devoted another morning to the
Cathedral, and meeting with Herr Christie soon
after our entrance, he kindly conducted us all over
it, and gave us most full and interesting particulars
of its past and present, and what it is intended to
make it in the future.
They have now coraraenced to restore the " high
choir," and scaffolding has been for this purpose
erected all round the inside in a series of stages, so
that we were able . to get a close view of the
delicate and beautiful tracery of which it is com
posed, and in which in the more sheltered parts is
as perfect as on the day it was first carved. Just
above the rood screen are three projecting pedestals,
from which in mediseval times the Archbishop of
Trondhjem, supported by his suffragan bishops on
either hand, used to read out the papal interdicts
under which Norway was not unseldom laid.
The stone principally used in the interior is a
soft greyish blue one, which is very easily worked,
and hardens on exposure to the air.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 49
The most complete wreck of all are the nave and
west front, the walls of which alone remain, being
only kept from falling by huge brick buttresses at
frequent intervals. The west front in its uninjured
state raust have been very striking, the entire
facade being taken up with niches filled with
figures of saints, which even mutilated and defaced
as they now are, present traces of no uncommon
beauty. In the afternoon our Irish friend, Mr. E  ,
of the Allan Line, drove us out to his house, delight
fully situated on a headland over-looking the
fiord, about a mile frora Trondhjera. On our way
we made a detour through a country almost
English in its landscape, so fertile and highly
cultivated was it ; indeed, from the earliest times,
the district around Trondhjem has been looked
upon as the garden of Norway, having in spite of
its northern position, a temperature considerably
lower than that of Christiania and other southern
Norwegian towns, a fact owing to the gulf stream
keeping the whole west coast of Norway in a
perpetual state of " hot water."
Our host's house stood in the midst of its own
garden plot, which was rather better cared for and
laid out than is generally the case in Norway,
where frora the causes of climate and ignorance of
horticulture, the art of gardening is at a somewhat
low ebb. It was not, indeed, till the nth or 12th

150 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
centuries that any attempts were made at the
cultivation of the soil, save for the simplest
purposes of agriculture, the early Norwegians
almost imitating in their diet the ancient Germans
and our own British ancestors, whom Csesar
describes as sowing but little corn, and depending
for their subsistence on their flocks and herds.
The first to introduce fruits, vegetables, and
flowers, were the monks, who surrounded each
cloister with its patch of garden ground, where the
products of southern Europe were gradually
acclimatized. ' To such a pitch of perfection did
they attain, that according to Norwegian writers,
it is by no means certain that their countrymen
are even now superior in this respect, and the
best and most productive gardens are still to be
found on the sites of the old monasteries throughout
the land.
Mr. E  's next door neighbour had a very
extensive garden, in which we were astonished to
find quite a thriving cherry orchard, the trees
fairly laden with fruit, which although so early
in the season for so high a latitude, were already
ripe. The principal sorts were the Bigaroon and
and White-hearts, equal both in size and flavour to
our English ones.
The grounds ran along the very edge of the cliffs
overhanging the sea, and the owner, who seemed to
have quite a natural taste in landscape gardening.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. I51
had made the raost of the roraantic situation.
Thick clumps of nut trees and leafy shrubs,
forraed a hedge that served both as a safeguard
and protection against the sea breeze. Here and
there the paths which wound through their sylvan
recesses suddenly emerged on to a projecting point
of rock, whence a varied panorama of the fiord
and distant towers of the city were flashed before
the eye at a glance. On other points of vantage
were perched rustic summer houses for the al fresco
entertainments which the Norwegians, during
their short sumraer, so rauch delight in. The
garden gradually merged into the neighbouring
mountain, its summit clothed with a canopy of
silver birch, with many a fragrant bed of straw
berries and raspberries, and an infinity of ferns and
wild flowers nestling under their shade.
Mr. E  , who had lived some three years in
Trondhjem, gave us some interesting particulars
of the characteristics of the people. The Trond-
hjemers are as a rule very lively and hospitable, and
the higher classes more educated and refined than
in the other parts of Norway.
Of the lower orders, the picture he drew was not
so favourable. Drink is the great evil, and as the
native corn brandy is unfortunately as cheap as it
is bad, a man can, for half-a-dozen skillings, get
as "drunk as a lord." In addition to this little
weakness, they are very treacherous, and despite a

152 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
surface politeness, ready to take advantage of a
stranger. During the first year of Mr. E.  's residence,
more than one attempt was made to impose upon
the ignorance and wealth of the Engelskmand, for
it is almost needless to say that our countrymen
enjoy the same reputation as in other parts of the
continent, for being one and all Croesuses, Mr.
E  's wit and readiness extricated hira out of
more than one dilemma, in which his excitable
Hibernian temperament at times involved him in.
He punished one or two attempts at imposition by
giving the delinquents that genuine F^nglish
receipt "a good hiding," but as the Norwegian
law imposes rather a heavy fine on this species of
entertainraent, Mr. E.  soon found that it
was too expensive a game to be continued without
some little precaution.
One winter evening he was on his way home, a
violent gust of wind blew off his hat. As it was
too dark to see a yard before him, he got a man
who lived in an adjoining hut to try and find it
with a lantem, at the same time borrowing an old
hat till his own was recovered. In the midst of
their search another gust came, and Mr. E.  's
borrowed tile followed the fate of the first. Neither
of them could be found that night, and the
peasant thereupon instantly claimed a couple of
dollars damage for the loss of his property, the

.OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 153
outside value of which Mr. E.  assessed at a
raark-. The peasant persisted, however, in his
demand, and threatened legal proceedings if it
were not .paid.
A few days later Mr. E.  , hearing frora a
neighbour that the peasant had found his own hat,
although concealing the fact in the hope of being
paid his claim, determined to give him a lesson,
and invited him to his house for the purpose as he
said of settling matters. The peasant carae, was
shown into the court-yard at the back, and
Mr. E.  , having carefully sent away all
the servants, to preclude the possibility of their
appearing against him in evidence, gave the
dishonest peasant a tremendous thrashing in full
charge of all claims. The proceeding was suraraary,
but effectual ; the natives from that day forward
held Mr. E.  in salutary fear, and gave up
all further attempts to get the better of him in
their mutual dealings.
July 13th. In the morning we took a run
through Trondhjem, and purchased a few souvenirs
for friends at home. There are one or two decent
shops where a variety of suitable knick-knacks
may be found — Broekstads being the principal
booksellers. Seeing in a window some oil paintings
of Norwegian scenery on sale, we went in and
enquired the prices, and eventually, for a moderate
sum, became the possessors of a striking view of the

154 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
Dovrefjeld range, taken from the plateau as we had
seen it a few. days before. ( See frontispiece.)
The artist, whose name is Jahn, appears to be a
rising man, having studied to some purpose both
at Copenhagen and Diisseldorf. The rendering of
his subjects is truthful in the extreme; the
drawing vigorous and correct ; and he possesses
the rare raerit of refraining frora too free a use
of the more vivid colors, and representing nature
in the garb she generally assuraes in these northern
latitudes. We left Trondhjera at two p.m., after a warm
farvel (farewell) from our host and his family, with
whom we had struck up quite a friendship during
the few days we had spent in his house. They
were very pleasant, homely people, and had made
us feel most thoroughly at home. The wife was
one in a thousand, and the fruits of her vigilance,
and housewifely qualities were visible in the clean,
comfortable aspect of each household detail.
Should any of our readers ever find their way as
far north as Trondhjem, they will find the Hotel
" Victoria " all that we have described, and as the
guide books say "worthy of their highest con
fidence." We had taken berths to Molde on the government
steamer " Norland," one of the line that runs weekly
from Christiania up to Hammerfest, near the North
Cape, a distance of 2,000 miles. The voyage

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 55
occupies from thirteen to fourteen days, but this
period includes stoppages at more than seventy
towns and villages along the coast, extra tirae
being allowed at Bergen, Trondhjera, and the more
important places.
During the entire journey the ship is within
sight of land, and for more than three fourths of
the distance runs within the protection of the belt
of rocks and islands that encircles the Norwegian
coast as by a natural breakwater, so that all the
advantages of the sea voyage are obtained with
but few of the discomforts. A return trip to
Hammerfest and back, may thus be raade for about
,^20, inclusive of provisions ; and the accomraodation
on board the steamers is remarkably good. The
scenery on raany parts of the voyage, notably
between Bergen, and Molde, and among the
Loffoden Islands, is magnificent ; and those who
do not possess the strength or determination to
support the fatigue of a land journey, might search
the world through for a finer continuous series of
marine scenery.
We stearaed out of the harbour at the appointed
time, with a full complement of passengers, among
thera not a few pilgrims to the Tusind Aars Fest,
which was to be held a few days later at
Haugesund, on the south-west coast, to celebrate the
thousandth anniversary of the existence of Norway
as a united nation.

156 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
We passed close under the little island of
Munkholra, which lies in an exact line with
Munkegaden, the principal street of Trondhjem,
an'd the Cathedral at the end of it. There is a
legend extant to the effect, that in olden times a
subterranean passage existed from the raonastery on
the island to the Cathedral, for the benefit of
the religious, but all traces of it have long since
disappeared. The raonastery has for several centuries
been converted into a state prison, and in one of
its dungeons Peter Schuraacher, the Chancellor of
Christian V. of Denmark, was imprisoned for
eighteen years, and they show a hole in the
stone floor, said to have been worn by his cease
less walk to and fro.
Our course lay for some hours northwards, to
make the entrance of the Trondhjem Fiord,
which had here a width of frora three to four
miles, with grand mountain ranges encircling it
on every side.
The time passed away pleasantly enough in
making acquaintance with our fellow passengers,
airing our broken Norwegian, and giving some
of the young ladies lessons in English, — which
is now more generally studied throughout Norway
than even French or German. One party of
lively darasels were on their way to the Fest,
under the charge of a venerable Herr Pastor,
whora one of the ladies informed us united to

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 57
his dignity of parish priest that of a meraber
of the Storthing, which is elected and meets
in Christiania once in three years.
At Bej a, our most northern point, a boat load
of emigrants for the States came off to us. For
so thinly peopled a country as Norway, the
nuraber of her sons that annually seek their
fortunes in the New World is soraething amazing,
being no less than 40,000 a year, or over two per
cent, of the entire population.
Some little excitement was produced during the
evening by the announcement that a whale was
in sight, and we all made a simultaneous rush to
the side where he had been last seen to spout.
We gazed, however, in vain, for Leviathan having
probably taken in a sufficient stock of fresh air for
a lengthened dive, refused to gratify our curiosity
by a further re-appearance.
Towards midnight, we ran into the harbour of
Christiansund, which is landlocked on every side,
and the entrance to it so narrow that a biscuit
could be tossed on to the ship from either shore.
It was a striking sight, as in the soft waning light
we glided in, to see the town suddenly as by magic
burst into view all round us.
We were soon surrounded by boats — there not
being sufficient depth of water for us to get along
side the pier — and most of our passengers availed
themselves of the hour or two we remained, to

158 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
land and explore the town. The Reverend
member of the Storthing had sought his berth long
before our arrival, but as his fair charges were
anxious to have a midnight ramble on shore, we
offered to accompany them, and the Herr Pastor
having given his consent, we were soon scaling the
steep heights on which Christiansund is built.
Although it has a population of more than 6000
inhabitants, no such thing as a regular, well defined
street is to be met with throughout its extent. So
irregular is the ground on which the town stands,
that it was no easy task to pilot our way through
its intricacies, and raore than once had we to claim
the assistance of chance passers-by to put us in the
right path again.
Ours was a lively party ; the damsels were as full
of fun and frolic as young kittens, and the quiet
deserted streets rang with their merry laughter,
causing more than one staid old burgher to show
his night capped head at the window, to see who
were thus disturbing his night's rest.
One noteworthy feature in the otherwise
uninteresting look of the place, was the luxuriance
of the flowers that appeared at every casement, and
of the creepers, especially the honeysuckle, which
covered the fronts of each house. The air was
fairly redolent with their scent, and in spite of the
fears of the "watchmen," with which we were
laughingly threatened by our fair friends, we

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 59
presented them each with a bouquet, to serve, as
we told thera, for an erindring (reraembrance) of
our midnight ramble in Christiansund, and hailing
our bark which had remained waiting our return —
were once more put on board the " Norland."
After a few hours fitful sleep in the somewhat
stuffy cabins, we were landed at Molde in the
early morning, and found that the small steamer
which runs once a week to Veblungsnces, at
the entrance to the Romsdal, did not leave till
two p.m.
Molde ranks in Norway as a town, having a
population of some 2,000 souls, and occupies a
lovely situation on a sraall island, facing the
mainland, commanding in clear weather a
splendid panoramic view of the entire range of
of the Romsdal mountains.
Unfortunately for our chance of seeing this, the
grandest district of Norway, to advantage, the
weather had changed for the worse, and in lieu of
the clear unclouded sky of the last few days, heavy
masses of cloud had piled themselves up on the
mountain sides, completely hiding their summits,
and leaving only their bases visible. Not a breath
of air was stirring, the atmosphere was like an
oven, and the hours, till the boat started, dragged
wearily away.
Fortunately, the place boasted a fair hotel (Bucks),
and the operations of breakfasting and dining did

l6o OVER , THE DOVREFJELDS.
something towards passing away the time. In the
interval between the two, a party of us, comprising a
German from Hamburg, with his sister and a
Norwegian lady friend, essayed an excursion up the
neighbouring heights, but all our energies were
prostrated by the vapour-like heat, and after
climbing a few hundred yards, we all, by a simul
taneous impulse, threw ourselves down on a grassy
bank, till it was time to descend again to the town.
The steamer to Veblungsnces was a tiny toy-like
craft, which made, however, rapid progress on the
still waveless waters of the inland fiords we were
now traversing.
These fiords are the one characteristic in which
Norwegian scenery differs from that of any other
country. The whole coast line from the Naze to
the North Cape resembles as it were a huge rocky
honeycomb, indented by hundreds of fissures running
up into the land, in some instances for more than
a hundred miles, radiating and sub-dividing again
and again into lesser branches, which stretch out
their arms in all directions. The rocks, forming
their shores, generally rise perpendicularly, their
summits, thousands of feet above, being often clothed
in perpetual snow, while their bases are laved in
well nigh unfathomable waters. The main channel
of the fiord rarely exceeds four or five miles in
width, and that of the branch fiords from one to
two, while here and there they contract to a mere

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. l6l
rift in the rocks, like the Naero (narrow) fiord,
a tributary of the Sogne, which is barely 500 yards
from shore to shore.
There is something very peculiar and weird-like
in the aspect of these fiords, their raost striking
feature being the alraost utter absence of life, human
or animal, throughout their extent. Save at the
raouths of the mountain rivers that here and there
run into them, scarce an habitation is to be seen,
for so steep and sterile are the overhanging rocks,
that hardly a goat can with difficulty keep its footing,
and snatch a precarious subsistence. Now and then
a sail glimmers on the horizon, and the smoke of
the little steamer, that at regular intervals carries
all the advantages of civilization into these secluded
inlets, darkens the blue sky ; but these are
rare occurrences, and days often pass away
without the still waters being disturbed by even
a fishing boat.
The only exception to this state of repose is
when the fiord intersects the main road between
two towns, thus necessitating a ferry for the
conveyance of travellers and raerchandise. As a
notable instance of this, the road between Bergen
and Christiania is broken up by no less than four
fiords in the first hundred miles, fully half the
distance having to be accomplished by water, which
is far from an unpleasant change after the rough
jolting of the carrioles.

1 62 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
As our paddles dashed the waters into foam,
we could not avoid the thought that a steamer is
the last place from which to see a fiord to
advantage. The still peaceful calm and desert
like solitude that are its great charms are
altogether destroyed by the shrieking, puffing
iron monster, which seems to challenge comparison
for man's skill and power with the giant forces of
nature that surround it. In a frail boat, with
perchance the desceudants of the Vikings who
ravaged our coasts a thousand years ago, urging it
onwards, we feel more completely our own miserable
insignificance, and as the eye strains to reach the
peaks towering to the clouds, and the ear is
deafened by the descending cataracts, we acknow
ledge and adore the Almighty power that brought
it all into being.
The dense cloud curtain that was so jealously
hiding the beauties of the celebrated valley we
had come so far to visit, seemed, as we approached
the end of the fiord, as if about to rise, foi: a
transitory gleam of sunshine shot out for a moment,
and lighted up the long vista of mountain ranges
with a pale, watery glow.
There were two landing places that lead
equally into the Romsdal, about half a mile
apart from each other, — Aandals-noes, and
Veblungs-noes, {nces being equivalent to the
Scotch " ness ")— and as the steamer touched

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 63
at both, we went on shore at the first
named. In the boat with us was was a German doctor
who had served in his medical capacity all through
the late war, frora Spicheren, where he had a finger
taken off by one of the first shots fired, to the
capitulation of Paris. He was about to pay
a very flying visit to the Romsdal, by
driving some twenty or thirty railes into it
before night, and returning early the next
morning, to catch the steamer on its return
to Molde.
The entrance of this celebrated valley where it
opens upon the fiord must, .under favourable
auspices, be wonderfully fine, but we could only
guess at the beauties that lay hidden behind the
mass of clouds, that becarae at each moment denser,
covering all but the lower slopes of the mountains
under an impenetrable veil. Three miles from
Veblungs-noes, we came to the Hotel Aak, which
Lady Di Beauclerk has described in such glowing
terms in her Winter in Norway.
Although the hotel is large enough to accommodate
nearly twenty guests, it is always a difficult matter
during the summer to obtain rooms without
ordering them beforehand. We were fortunate
in getting the only one vacant ; and the next
arrivals after us were obliged to post on to the
next station Horgheim, which, owing to its pro-
M2

164 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
pinquity to Aak, gets very little patronage, and
consequently is extremely bad.
We were pleasantly surprised at finding a batch
of letters for us here, which we eagerly devoured.
In the interval before supper (all the meals at Aak
being at fixed hours), we walked down to the banks
of the Rauma river, which runs just opposite the
house, and is said to be a good salmon stream, a
mile or two of it being reserved by the proprietor
for his guests to fish in. The situation of the hotel
no doubt deserves the high eulogiura passed upon
it by the fair authoress, "the sharp peak of the
Romsdal's horn towering above it, and ranges of
snow-covered heights surrounding it on all sides.''
But we saw nothing of all this, and could therefore
neither accept nor dissent from her ladyship's
opinion, that Aak is the most lovely spot in
Norway. Supper introduced us to a room full of our
countrymen and Americans, and as the appurten
ances of the table approached as near as might be
to English tastes and customs, we could, without
much stretch of imagination, fancy ourselves back
m our own land.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 65

CHAPTER VII.
Lady pedestrians. — The Vermedals Foss. — Weather-bound at
Stueflaatten. — Tusind Aars Festen. — Harald Harfager.
fULY 15 th. It was late before we made a start,
for the beds at Aak being somewhat more
roomy and comfortable than the generality of those
we had been accustomed to of late, we indulged in an
extra snooze. In other respects we thought Aak
over-rated, and, shall we say it, spoilt by the English
element that forras its principal support. There are
a certain class of our countryraen who, disregarding
the wise saw of " doing at Rorae as Rorae does,"
persist in carrying with them, wherever they go,
their own insular ideas and notions, grafting them
on to those of the country they visit, and often with
the most incongruous and ridiculous results.
The clouds were still provokingly low, so that at
times it seemed as if we could have thrown a
stone into their midst. Only once did they part
for a while, and allow us to catch a raoriientary
glimpse of the Troltinderne (witches' peaks), so called
from the fantastic shapes they assume. The effect
as they rose up out of the sea of raist was very
weird like, and quite in accordance with the
popular tradition, which attributes them to the

1 66 Q-VER THE DOVREFJELDS.
handiwork of a mighty wizard, who in olden
times dwelt hereabouts.
Near Fladraark the scene was extremely wild
and striking. The valley contracted to a narrow
pass, and huge masses of rock, which in by-gone
ages had fallen from the heights above, lay piled
along the road side like titanic remains. From
the mountain sides, which rose precipitously above
our heads, a succession of water-falls came thunder
ing down, looking as though they were leaping out
of the clouds. At one point we counted no less
than five within a distance of a mile — their snow
white columns standing out in bold relief against
the dark face of the rocks they rushed down.
At the station where we dined we met two
young lady pedestrians (the dagbog chronicled
their names as Anna and Maria Rogstad), who
had left Trondhjem in the same steamer as
ourselves. They were on their way to visit an
uncle in the Gulbrandsdal, 150 miles away, and
intimated as coolly as possible their intention of
walking the whole way, doing an average of three
Norwegian miles a day. A heavy deer-hide knap
sack lay at their feet, the joint-stock possession of the
two sisters, and on our innocently enquiring how
they sent it on from place to place — one of them,
in a quiet matter of fact way replied, vi beere det
(we carry it). And so they did, for being just
ready to start, the elder and stronger of the two

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 67
swung it over her shoulder like a feather ; we
rendered our assistance (evidently superfluous,
though,) in adjusting the straps and hooks, and off
they trudged at a brave pace, leaving us in
admiration of their pluck.
A fact like this speaks volumes for the safety of
travelling in Norway, and is a striking evidence
that their system of home education produces
strong healthy women who are not rendered
effeminate by over-codling. It will be a long
time, we fancy, before two young unprotected
ladies could walk through England without insult
or annoyance, yet here, in Norway, it is a
matter of every day occurrence, for a raile or
two farther on we met another party of five
demoiselles errantes, but, wiser than our friends,
they had hired a stolkjcerre to bring on their
baggage, each of them taking it in turn to act
as coachman.
We had a lovely walk to Ormein, the next
station. The road ran at frequent intervals
between avenues of birch and poplar, and the
glirapses we now and again obtained from beneath
their leafy shade of the rugged raountain sides
were very charming. We passed one waterfall,
that descended frora so great a height that its tiny
thread of water was broken up ere it reached the
bottom into a cloud of white smoke, which floated
in mid-air along the face of the rock.

1 68 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
We reached Ormein early in the evening ; the
clouds had somewhat cleared away, and patches of
blue sky cheered us with a prospect of fine weather.
The station was delightfully situated on the hill
side, overlooking a narrow valley, with the Rauma
river in its midst. Down the face of the opposite
mountain, which was fringed from summit unto
base with pines, descended the Vermedals Foss, the
pride of the Romsdal, and the most grandly
picturesque cascade we had yet seen in Norway.
Unlike the others we had passed earlier in the day,
it first leapt in a series of bounds half way down
the mountain side, and then spread out like a fan
into a number of branches, their pearly foam
glancing like lines of silver through the dense mass
of dark green pines.
While supper was preparing, we set off to make a
nearer acquaintance with the Fos. Crossing the
river we scrambled up a steep forest path, which
brought us to some flour and saw mills, that utilised
the tremendous water power, by diverting the
stream into a number of troughs so as to set in
motion the various wheels. A ricketty bridge of
rough logs, thrown down carelessly over the fall,
formed a capital vantage ground for seeing it to
advantage, and the seeming insecurity of our frail
stand point, shaken like an aspen as it was, by the
furious rush of the waters, lent additional excite
ment to the scene.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 69
There is a mountain called Storhoetten (the
great hat), a short distance from Ormein, which
can be ascended easily in a day, and from which a
magnificent view of the whole Romsdal range is
obtained. As my young friend was anxious to
" do " his first mountain, it was agreed that if the
morning were propitious we should, accompanied
by a guide, make the ascent. The best man for the
purpose, we were told, was the station-master, but
as he chanced to be away frora home, we had to
content ourselves with a less experienced vei-viser
(literally way shower), and having made our arrange
raents for an early start, and ordered a stock of
provisions, to be discussed on the top, we retired to
bed to fortify ourselves against the fatigues of the
morrow. July i6th. All our hopes of achieving renown
by scaling Storhoetten vanished into thin air, with
the first glirapse we got through the curtainless
windows of the thick cloud canopy that had again
descended on the valley, and which soon changed
into a small fine rain, that announced as plainly as
it could speak its intention of making a day of it.
A mile or two beyond Ormein, a hoarse roar
told us that we were approaching some considerable
fall. It was not visible from the road, the over
hanging rocks hiding all save the smoke of the
spray, that rose up as from a gigantic cauldron. A
climb of a few yards over the rough ground to our

170 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
right brought us to the river bank,, some little
distance below the fall, which is called the Sondre
Slettafossen. From a fine wide streara it suddenly
contracted between walls of perpendicular rock, to
a width of not more than twenty feet, and through
the rift the rush of the boiling maddened waters
was absolutely awe-inspiring in its terrible grandeur.
Spanning the abyss was a bridge of five pines, unde
fended by a parapet, and the trunks of one or two
having been partially rotted by the steam of the
ascending spray, the passage was not devoid of
danger, the more so as the heavy rain rendered the
foot-hold slippery and insecure. In a natural cave,
formed by an angle of the rocks, we sheltered for a
while, and gazed our fill at the wondrous spectacle.
The road now mounted continually, the country
being covered with woods, the constantly recurring
water-falls in their midst, having a lovely effect as
we caught sight of them in the far distance, their
silvery streaks lighting up the sombre hues of the
thick forests.
The rain came down each moment more doggedly,
so that on reaching Stueflaatten about noon, and
finding the quarters " pernicious snug," we halted
for the day, and had every reason to rejoice at our
determination, for, in addition to the rain, a
piercing north wind had begun to blow down the
valley, so that; though in mid- July, we were glad to
see one of the huge cast iron stoves at work, and a

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. I7I
heap of pine logs being brought in, we were soon
luxuriating in the warmth it speedily diffused
through the gjest rum, the walls of which were
hung with portraits of sundry episcopal worthies of
the Lutheran Church, their necks encased in those
exaggerated ruffs which date frora a period coeval
with our Elizabethan age, and are worn to
this day by the Scandinavian bishops. Cheek by
jowl with them were several German prints of
Catholic subjects, for the Norwegians are remarkably
free from prejudice in their choice of sacred art,
and it is no uncommon thing to see Doctor Martin
Luther (who is of course their great favorite),
scowling at Our Lady and S. Joseph, and other
saints of the Church.
The day dragged wearily through. We asked
for some papers to while away the tirae, but the
files of the Christiania Morgen Blad (morning leaf)
they brought us were nearly a month old, and
consequently a little stale. Among them, however,
we found an adaptation ofthe "British Workman "
in a Norwegian dress, with fairly executed copies of
the same bold wood engravings which adorn our
English periodical. The literary part of it was
decidedly superior to the usual run of the articles of
the " goody " sort, which form the bulk of the
reading in the " British Workman," and we found
in one number a most interesting account of the
Arctic discoveries of Barentz, the celebrated Dutch

172 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
pilot, who, in the year 1596, wintered with his
ships crew in Nova Zembla. The quaint, graphic
record of their sufferings and privations, and of the
shifts they were put to in order to preserve life, is
one of the most striking pictures in the long and
varied roll of Arctic adventure.
July 1 7th. The morning broke dark and lower
ing, and so bitterly cold, that, although in our
overcoats and walking at our sharpest pace, we had
hard work to keep up the circulation. The wind,
which blew with great force, and as though it came
direct from the North Pole, was fortunately at our
backs. The road was uninteresting, or perhaps it
may be that the adverse influences of cloudy skies
and occasional icy rainfall, prevented our giving
much heed to the surrounding scenery.
At Molmen, a poor and dirty station, we lunched
on railk and Huntley & Palmer's biscuits, which,
with those of other makers, are finding their way
into all parts of Norway, and make a splendid
substitute for the black, and too often sour, rye bread.
Our skyds-gut from here, a great hulking fellow,
spoke a little English, and was so anxious to display
his proficiency, that, although on our arrival we
had ordered a horse and stolkjcerre to be ready, he
kept bursting into the gjest rum with — " Do you
want 'osses ? " till we got disgusted with his
pertinacity, and bundled him out with scant
ceremony.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 73
We drove on to Lesje Jernvcerk (Iron works).
A hundred years ago a large establishment was
erected here by Government, but in spite of the
plentiful supply of fuel from the surrounding
forests it turned out a failure, and nothing now
remains of it but a few ruined walls of the
smelting furnace, and the blackened look of the
ground round about.
Being fairly frozen by our ride, we walked on to
Holset ; more than half of our to-day's journey
lay over a sort of mountain plateau, which,
although nothing like so wild or elevated as the
Dovrefjelds, had all its characteristics of dreary
grandeur, being completely uncultivated, and filled
up with a far-stretching swarap, broken here and
there by cluraps of dwarf pines and scrub.
Near Holset, the road ran between immense pine
forests, and as it was nearly knee-deep in sand, the
walking was such hard work, that we preferred a
raore round-about path through the woods. The
mountains were now fast losing the serrated array of
peaks, that distinguished the Rorasdal range, and as
suraing again the ordinary flat topped summits which
are the one great drawback of Norwegian mountains.
The snow lay in one unbroken mass along the
slopes opposite the station, which accorded well
with the wintry blast, that as night came on
increased in severity, and made us cower round the
blazing stove as though in raid Deceraber.

174 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
Up a lateral valley, which we could just catch
sight of, ran a horse-path over the fjelds to Lom,
in Vaage, which, for a fjeld route is said to be very
fair travelling. It takes about a day and a half
frora Holset ; the tourist leaving here in the
afternoon, will reach the first night a mountain
saeter (where a rough bed, with milk and fladbrod
is all that must be expected), reaching Lom in the
evening of the next day. Had the weather been
fine, it was our intention to have followed this
route, then to cross the Jotunfjeld from Lom to
Skjolden, at the head of the Lyster, a branch of
the Sogne Fiord, and so by steamer to Bergen.
We were disappointed at thus losing our chance
of making acquaintance with these wild districts,
which form so large a portion of Norwegian scenery,
and one of its mpst characteristic features. But
it would have been worse than rash for us to have
ventured in face of the present weather, for even at
the best of times the way is but a rough and
dangerous one, and should a storm but arise, the
water-courses — that at every step cross the fjeld —
swell into rivers, the path, that only the sagacity
of the horse and guide enables one to follow,
changes into a roaring torrent, and thick mists
and snow fogs hang over all.
A modern Norwegian writer has given us a
graphic sketch of the fjeld scenery, in the following
passage: — "When," he says, "the traveller ascends

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. I75
" from the cultivated valleys, he passes step by step
" through a variety of regions. First comes the
" region of pines, which in these sheltered spots,
" under the shadow of the over-hanging mountains
" rise thick and luxuriant, serving as shield against
" the wind and sun. Although the paths used by
" the wood-cutters intersect them in every direction,
" one can seldom see far a-head ; the road is easily
" lost, and it is no easy task to find the bridge, or
"ford over the mountain streara, which is often
" swollen by a hundred tiny tributaries, into a rushing
" dangerous torrent. Where the fir trees cease, the
" silver birch, with their graceful drooping branches
" and pleasant sighing murmur, take their place.
" Now the view becomes clearer, and the path easier
" to follow, and as the birch gradually thin, they
" are interspersed with an occasional pale willow,
" and many a clump of fjeld flowers cropping up in
"tufts around. The prospect here is wide and
"unobstructed, and with loosened rein, and the
" horse following behind, one wanders at will, for
"on the raountain side the way lies as the crow
" flies, without any of the turns that it takes' in the
" valley below.
" The suramit gained, a vast waste extends as far
" as the eye can reach, covered with a gray expanse
" of huge boulders of rock, between which the
" passage is most laborious, a continual see-saw up
" and down, — now grazing the shins against a sharp

176

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.

" angle,— now halting to extricate the horse s feet
"from sorae rocky trap in which the poor beast
" often leaves its shoes, fixed as in a vice. Over the
" last slope, and there is the snow-covered horae of
" the reindeer, a boundless plain of stone, with here
" and there masses of snow, a roaring torrent that
" has its source at the glaciers foot, and all around
" a dazzling array of peaks, robed in eternal snow."
Th. Kjerulf
July 1 8th. To day was the thousand years festival
(tusind aars fest) to celebrate the millenary
of Norway's existence as a united nation. For
weeks beforehand preparations have been in progress

HABAT.-D H.\ltr.40KH S OBELISK AT HIUOESUM

i't'M'l'llil'll '. ' ' ''K%
i ill '''''i' .¦ 'Im

III

pMTniinTiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiii.iiiii.--i.uii

STAinB or HABALD HAEEA.aBE, CHEISTIANIA.

178 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. '
for making the day a national holiday. Through
out the entire country special services will be held
in every church, while in all the principal towns
rejoicings on an extensive scale are to take place,
with illuminations, balls, and merry making for
every class of the community. Haugesund, on the
west coast, will be the great point of interest, for it
was here that was raised the funeral pile of King
Harald Harfager. An obelisk of granite has been
erected on the spot where his remains reposed, and
round it will to day assemble all the learned and
noble in the land, to honor by their voice and
presence the memory of Norway's first sole monarch.
In the Heimskringla, or Sagas of the Norwegian
kings, written in the eleventh century, by Snorro
Sturleson, the Icelandic chronicler, there is a
graphic and interesting account of the life and
exploits of this Harald Harfager. We see him
first, a mere boy, the ruler of a petty state which
he had just inherited at his father's death.
Several of the neighbouring kings hoping to take
advantage of his youth and inexperience lead forces
against him, but aided by the skill and advice of
his uncle Guttorm, " the leader," he defeated them
all in succession, and finally surprising four of the
upland kings at Ringsaker, in Hedemarken, he
burnt them in their beds, in the delightful style of
warfare peculiar to the age. Annexing all their king
doms to his own, he became the most powerful king

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 79
in that part of the country, and it was at this point
that the event occurred, without which the festival
of to day raight perhaps have been adjourned for a
few hundred years. Hearing of the beauty of a
raaiden named Gyda, Harald sent envoys to ask
her hand. The young lady, however, rejected his
suit with conturaely, refusing to raarry hira till
" he should subdue to himself the whole of Norway,
" and rule over it as fully and freely as king Eirik
"ruled over Sweden, or king Gorm over Denmark."
Instead of sharing the anger of his followers at the
rebuff, Harald received it as an incentive to raore
active exertion, and in the presence of his army he
solemnly called the Imraortal Gods to witness that
" he would neither clip nor comb his hair till he
" had conquered all the land, with scalt and duties,
" and domains, or die in the attempt."
Henceforward, his career of conquest was rapid
and unchecked by defeat. King after king went
down before his power, and in ten years from the
date of his oath he had crushed out all opposition,
and held suprerae and undisputed sway over the
whole of Norway.
When his task was finally accomplished, the
young lady, whose burning words had been the
moving spring of his conduct, was added to the
list of his already numerous wives, and one of the
king's raost renowned Jarles, had the distinguished
privilege of becoming for the nonce the royal

l8o OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
hairdresser, and a pretty job he must have had in
bringing the mass of tangled locks again into
shape. It was then discovered, what had been hitherto
unsuspected, that the king had a remarkably " nobby
head of hair," of the light color peculiar to the
northern nations, and as in those days every one from
prince to peasant had his nick-name, Harald was
henceforth known by the title of Harfager, or the
" Fair Hair." (Appendix, Note II.)
As we drove on to Hollaker, and came in sight
of the church of Lesje, which stood on an eminence
in the middle of the valley, we could see numerous
groups of peasants in holiday attire, responding
to the summons of its bell, which was chiming
for the special service. In many of the secluded
western valleys, where the old picturesque costumes
still retain their footing, it is a pretty sight to see
the dalesmen wending their way to church ; but
in the travelled district we were now in, the
conventional attire of modern Europe has long
since displaced the more becoming national dress.
In the Gulbrandsdal, the only vestige of the ancient
costume that has survived is a bright red woollen
cap, with a pointed over-hanging top, like those
worn by the fishermen of the Italian coasts of the
Mediterranean. Our ride was a terribly severe one, the wind
having abated nothing of its keenness, and on

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. l8l
getting to Hollaker, we were glad to take refuge
before a roaring fire, which was soon made for us
on the spacious old-fashioned hearth of the station
kitchen. There, while -gradually thawing and
discussing some comforting compound, we watched
with interest the management and details of a
Norwegian household The huus-moder (house
mother), being in a delicate state of health (attribut
able to twins, who, like the young Micawbers were
unceasing in their demands for refreshment), gave
her orders from an easy chair, and watched with
vigilant eye the progress of her servants in their
respective tasks. One was lunching frora a huge
bowl of grod (porridge), dipping each spoonful as
she took it into a pan of railk which stood
beside it.
My young friend not having as yet raade
acquaintance with this native luxury, was induced
after sorae persuasion to try it. The grod was, as
it usually is, excellent, but the Norwegians have a
great fancy for keeping their railk till it is as sour
as verjuice, and no sooner had he taken a raouthful,
than he raade a face expressive of anything but
delight. The eyes of all thepiges however, were upon
him, and he was compelled to make a virtue of
necessity, and swallow the nauseous mixture, which
he did with Spartan heroism, whilst registering a
mental vow to give suur melk a wide berth for
the future.

182 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
We walked on from here to Dombas, which we
had left sorae twelve days before. The valley as
we advanced gradually narrowed to a raere point,
winding picturesquely through dense pine forests.
We soon caught sight of our old friend the Dovre
fjeld road, creeping up towards Fogstuen, with a
long array of snow covered peaks overhanging it.
We dined at Dombas, and had a chat with the
clerk in charge of the telegraph station, who had
been there fifteen years, and spoke feelingly of the
dull and dreary nature of his post.
We reached Toftemoen early in the evening,
having arranged our plans so as to sleep under the
same roof with the descendant of Harald Harfager,
and pay at the same tirae a visit to his brother's
farmstead, crowning the slope of the opposite hill
side, and which for its wealth in horses and cattle
is one of the most noteworthy in the Gulbrandsdal.
Ordering supper to be ready on our return, we
set out for the bondegaard (farra). It was a pretty
walk at first through a wood, and then by a steep
mountain path along the banks of a torrent, the
waters of which turned the wheels of two or three
flour and saw mills in connection with the farra.
We found the building, as in most mountain
gaards of any size, forming, as at Jerkin, a
quadrangle, with openings at the corners. Seeing
no one about, we walked in, and inspected with
much interest the pile of weather beaten old-world

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 83
looking buildings, some of which dated from more
than two hundred years back. All was of wood
except the roofs, which were covered with huge
slabs oi fri stene, like those described as composing
the neighbouring church on our journey north
wards. Many of the over-hanging eaves and
projecting doorways were carved in a rough but
effective manner, and the walls painted a dull
heavy red colour. The living rooms extended
along two sides of the square, while the rest was
taken up in cow-houses and dairies, with granaries
and store-houses of fodder for the cattle during the
winter.* A raan — whora we first mistook for our host
Tofte, and accosted as such — now made his
appearance from the dairy, but a closer view of
him, and the surprise depicted on his face at being
clairaed as an acquaintance, discovered our error
to us, and we then found that it was his brother,
the owner of the farm, whom we were addressing.
We apologized for the mistake, on the score of the
strong family likeness, and the old fellow, who was
if anything raore stolid and undemonstrative than
the junior branch, bade us welcome (velkommen),
and politely invited us to enter.
Brandy and cakes were at once produced, and
we all hob-knobbed amicably together. We drank
* In some of the poorer districts the leaves and smaller branches
of the birch are largely used for this purpose.

184 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
Tofte's health, alluded in compliraentary terms to
the "Thousand years Festival," and suggested that as
the descendant of Harald Harfager, he ought to have
been at Haugesund, to take part in the festivities.
On the walls of the roora we sat in, hung a
series of delightful daubs of Sinclair's expedition,
executed by a native artist in a style of art pecu
liarly his own, and which strongly excited the
risible faculties of our young friend, by the shock
they inflicted on his artistic susceptibilities. The
closing tableau, which was especially rich, portrayed
a handful of gigantic peasants, halberd in hand,
hewing down an unresisting crowd of terror-
stricken Scotch, who were on their knees begging
in vain for raercy.
Expressing a wish to see the rest of the house,
Tofte led the way into a huge state apartraent, used
only on state occasions at Christmas (Juul) and
holiday times, or on the occurrence of a birth,
death, or marriage in the family. It measured
some forty feet, by nearly thirty, and was supported
in the centre by a wooden pillar. Along one entire
end of the room ran an immense sideboard, called
a skarp, which rose as high as the ceiling,
and was carved and gilt with almost barbaric
magnificence. An opening in the centre admitted
the light through one of the windows of the room,
and the name of the owner, and the date
of its construction — some time in the last

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 85
century — were emblazoned in flaming letters
upon it. Altogether, it was the most gorgeous
and extensive piece of upholstery we ever saw
in Norway ; and we had a sort of intuitive
feeling that its interior would prove no less
interesting than its exterior adornments.
Anxious though we were to see the contents of
this wonderful cupboard, we could not so far forget
our manners as to put the question point blank;
the one or two broad hints that we let fall were alto
gether thrown away upon so obtuse an individual as
Tofte, and our curiosity had to remain unsatisfied.
It was no easy task to draw our host into
conversation, for he was emphatically a man' of
few words, contenting himself with replying by
a sententious " Ja " (yes), to our enquiries as to
his farm and belongings. Unimpressionable
though he was, our adrairation of his grand old
house tickled his vanity, and waxing by degrees
confidential, he told us that he had more than forty
horses, and a hundred cows, besides numerous herds
of small deer in the shape of sheep and pigs.
We bade the old fellow adieu, with a regret at
our inability to make a longer stay, and accept
his invitation to inspect his stock and farm
buildings, which, frora the cursory glance we had of
thera, seeraed all in most excellent order, bearing
ample evidence to the opulence and jJrosperity of
their proprietor.

O-VER THE DOVREFJELDS.

CHAPTER Vin.
Unexpected Friends.— A Ball at the Sorenscrivers.- Listad Saeter
— LiUehammer. — Christiania. — Home.
^/ULY 19th. Although we were now passing
kJ over the same ground again, the scenery, from
the different condition under which we saw it, had
all the charm of novelty. The weather had at
length changed for the better, old Sol had once
more put in an appearance, and the gorge of
Rusten, through which our walk lay, looked
gloriously bright and fairy like. Midway in it, we
were overtaken by Tofte junior, in a swell private
carriole, en route for a large farm he has in the
Hedalen, a valley some forty miles away, and
between which and Toftemoen he makes constant
journeys to and fro. Iraraediately on seeing us
he disraounted, and invited us to take his place,
which we of course declined, and after a mutual
interchange of civilities he drove off on 'his way.
We overtook him again at Laurgaard, where we
dined in company with myriads of flies, which
covered every wall, and when in motion fairly
darkened the air. We met here an old acquaint
ance, in the person of Kararaerherr Gjerdrum, who
had been up as far as Narasos, several hundred

O-VER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 87
miles north of Trondhjem, where he had been an
eye-witness of a terrible fire, which swept away
nearly every house in the place, leaving but a few
cinder heaps to shew where the town had once
stood. We slept at Moen, taking our chance of the
station accommodation, in spite of the suspicious
silence of the guide books. We should not,
however, recommend any future tourist imitating
our exaraple, for the place was of the poorest, the
beds execrable, and the larder erapty of everything
save sorae very high veal, flad brod, and rank butter.
By dint of a little gentle expostulation, we
managed to inaugurate a search in the hen house,
which produced three eggs, with which and
a cup of -w.eiik tea appropriately called in Nor
wegian te vand (tea water), we eked out a meal.
Remembering the grand looking waterfall we
had seen frora the road a fortnight before, we
set out to explore it. Starting frora the mills
that nestled at the foot of the first fall, we
climbed the hill side above them, till we gained
a narrow mountain path skirting the very edge
of the precipice above the torrent, which seemed
to have fairly eaten into the wall of rock, and
forced a passage for its imprisoned waters to. the
outer world. After a climb that we should have
enjoyed better had we been professional rope dancers,
we finally emerged on to a projecting turf-covered

1 88 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
ledge, comraanding a view of a second and larger fall,
the only disadvantage being that looking at it as we
were, from behind, it lost a good deal of its effect.
What reraained, however, was sufficiently striking.
Before us rose two immense buttresses of rock,
their pine clad summits towering above our heads,
while their bases were lost in the smoke and ¦ spray
of the boiling cauldron far below.
Across the abyss was suspended in mid air what
looked like a fragile bridge, composed of a single
pine, but in reality was one of the irrigating pipes
through which the waters of some friendly stream
were conveyed to the valley below. It served to
set, as in a frame, a lovely view of the country
wehad just passed through, stretching away into
the dim distance in a varied panorama of valley,
lake, and fell, its bright coloring steeped in a
glorious sunset, all the more vivid from the deep
shadows of our secluded retreat. From the gulf at
our feet rose the roar of the foaming snow-white
waters, rushing madly forwards to the entrance of
the rocky cavern they were pent up in, and throw
ing themselves out of their prison house, as if in
triumph at their escape.
The rock we were on seemed fairly shakefl by
their wild tumult, and we breathed more freely
when we had placed a wide space between us.
Following now a path that led us up the gorge,
and finding a rough bridge some half a mile

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 89
further on, we crossed it and returned to the station.
July 12. Walked to Bredevangen, and then
stol-kjcerred to Klevstad. Between here and the
Dovrefjelds at several of the stations were posted
up notices in Norwegian and English, asking
travellers to refrain frora giving alras to the
numerous beggars along the road, and to deposit
instead their alras in boxes placed for the purpose,
the funds in which would be administered by the
clergy of the district, among the deserving poor.
We dined with two Englishmen from Liverpool,
the elder of whom, from his being habited in a
suit of rusty black and sundry other signs, we set
down as a Dissenting minister, who had come to
Norway with the laudable design of wearing out
his old clothes. With a view to improving the
occasion, he had before starting gone in for a
comprehensive study of Norsk, and had so far
succeeded in his aim, as to learn by heart a number
of phrases, the one slight drawback being that as
he pronounced thera not one word in ten was
understood by those whora he addressed.
The carte here was a most luxurious one of
stewed meat, pancakes ( pandekager ) , and straw
berries and cream, at the appearance of the last of
which the rev. gentleraan waxed raightily jocose,
and inforraed the old lady who officiated as " i>ige "
that "she knew what was good," but we very
rauch doubt whether she added to this knowledge

190 O-VER THE DOVREFJELDS.
that of catching the point of his reverence's
corapliment. July 2 1 St. On our way from Oien, where we
had slept the night before, to Listad we overtook a
sprucely dressed peasant girl in her Sunday costume,
on her way to the parish church several miles
away. She wore no bonnet, having instead a gay
silk kerchief tied coquettishly under her chin. As
our roads lay in the same direction we walked on
together in amicable converse, her Norwegian
being rather more easy of comprehension than the
ordinary Gulbransdal dialect, which used sadly to
puzzle us. She was a communicative damsel, and
told us that she had lived some time with an
English family, who came annually to stay in the
valley. They were here again this year, but
through illness in her family she had been prevented
from resuming her situation, and the place was now
filled up to her great disappointment, for she
evidently looked back to her service with the
Engelsk familie as an event in her life.
Chancing to enquire their name we found to our
surprise that they were acquaintances of ours, a
Mr. and Mrs. Lund, whom we had sailed with on
the Oder. The place they were staying at being
but a few hundred yards out of our way, we
determined to give them a call en passant, and
bidding our friend adieu at the church door, we
soon found ourselves before the house of the most

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. I9I
extensive landhandler (country general dealer)
in the district. To add to his income he also took
in boarders, among them our friends, who welcomed
us in the warmest manner, and introduced us to
the other visitors, and the lady of the house, the
master being away in Christiania.
It was somewhat of a misnomer to call the Lunds
" an English family," the gentleraan being a Dane
who had lived many years in England, and the
lady hailing from north of the Tweed. They were
greatly amused at the history of our meeting with
their old doraestic, and at the lucky chance which
brought us on their traces. We dined en famille —
simply but well — glasses of the native brandy being
previously handed round to promote appetite.
In the afternoon we wanted to continue our
tramp, but our entertainers would not hear of it,
and plainly intimated that having caught us we
were not to escape so easily, and as the rain was
now pouring down heavily we made no very great
resistance. We were soon initiated into their programme of
amuseraents for the next two or three days, araong
which was an ascent to a neighbouring sater on
the morrow, at the mention ofwhich my companion
grew so excited that I at once gave my consent to
join the party.
We soon found that we had involved ourselves
in something raore serious than a raere mountain

192 O-VER THE DOVREFJELDS.
climb, being nothing less than accompanying our
host and hostess to a grand evening party at the
Sorenscrivers, or principal magistrate of the
Gulbrandsdal, who lived some two or three miles
on the road we had come. In vain, we represented
that our pedestrian costume would look rather out
of place among a crowd of elegantly dressed
people, and that having sent on our traps to the
next station, we had not even a change of linen to
make ourselves presentable. " Besides," we weakly
urged " we are not invited, and shall be looked
upon as intruders."
It was all to no purpose, our excuses were all
pooh-poohed. Our dress would not matter a bit,
as every one went just as it suited his or her fancy,
and the fact of our being English would cover a
raultitude of deficiences in toilette. As to not
being invited, the notion was laughed to scorn.
Norsk hospitality had not been so far contaminated
by civilization as to object to a couple of guests,
more or less. In short, we were fairly talked out
of all our scruples, the more readily, we must
acknowledge that in our secret hearts we were
hailing the chance of assisting at a Norwegian
festive gathering.
A messenger was forthwith dispatched to Listad
station to order rooms for us, and to give instruc
tions for our knapsacks to be sent back by the next
retum conveyance, and at five we drove off in

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 93
state in a sort of heavy barouche drawn by two
horses, and coached by a brother of Mrs. Lund, a
tall Scotchman, who, in spite of his solemn look as
befitted " the Sabbath," proved hiraself a right
jolly fellow before the evening was over.
On arriving at the house of Herr Kaltenborn, a
long rambling pile with extensive outbuildings
attached, we were received at the door by the
Sorenscriver himself, a fine hearty old man,
supported by three stalwart sons, with a crowd of
male visitors in the back ground. The guests were
rapidly arriving, and comprised nearly all the
principal people in the district.
First, there were the son and daughter of the
doctor, an important person in a country where
they are so scarce as the interior of Norway.
Then came a nephew of the Foged, but owing to
indisposition we were deprived of the pleasure of
that official's company, and with it that of his
two nieces, whom we afterwards found were the
identical young ladies whose pedestrian exploits had
roused our admiration in the Romsdal. The
Listad station-master was well represented, the
" pastor's " daughter bearing away the palm as the
belle of the assembly, and our number was made
up with a visitor or two from the capital, and
sundry youthful branchesof the wealthy Gulbrands
dal farmers, who in their spruce attire would
have done no discredit to a Paris salon, and made
o

194 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
US look doubtfully upon our Joseph's dress of "many
colors," set off by boots of portentous thickness.
We were first ushered into the reception room,
in which the ladies were asserabled in force. Most
of the party being old acquaintances, no introduc
tions were necessary, save in our own case, and
their frank, pleasant greeting made us feel at once
at home. Tea was now handed round on trays,
and as each one received his cup he advanced into
the ante-room, where sat the portly lady of the
house, surrounded by a bevy of daughters and
friends doing the honors of the tea table, and dis
pensing the piles of cakes and gingerbread, with
which the board fairly groaned.
We found the Norwegian girls very charming
and unaffected, not pretty so far as features went,
but with a depth of expression which was most
gentle and womanly. None ¦ of them were en
grande tenue, dressed, or rather undressed, to death,
as we too often see at horae. Light inexpensive
muslins were the favorite toilettes, and if some of
the fair creatures were a thought dowdy in their
get up, their out of the way position was ample
excuse. They all seemed delighted to have
Englishmen to talk to, many of them were learning
our language, some with considerable success, and
we (lucky fellows) were in constant requisition to
aid thera in mastering the intricacies of our trouble
some pronunciation. One of the best linguists was

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 95
the daughter of a " pastor " in the Sogne Fiord,
and we soon inferred from sundry signs and
symptoms that she was forlovet (engaged) to the
second son of our host. She had spent the last
winter in the Loffoden Isles, the great cod-fishing
centre on the west coast, near the Maelstrom, and
gave us an interesting account of her life there.
In spite of the slight drawback that the sun from
November until February is only visible for three
or four hours daily, they seeraed to have had a very
jolly time of it, sledging and skating in the day
tirae, and spending the long winter evenings in
festivity and raerry raaking.
By this time, tea being well over, a long
drawing room, with French windows opening into
the garden, was cleared by some of the gentlemen,
, the heavier part of the fumiture taken out bodily,
whilst the chairs were huddled up against the walls,
and we soon saw that a dance was in contem
plation. There was no piano, not even a fiddler,
but quite a novel kind of dance music, in the shape
of a rough looking peasant lad, with a large old-
fashioned accordion, which he really played most
effectively, and agreeably disappointed our precon
ceived notions of it as a musical instrument.
The entrance of the spillemand (musician) was
the signal for action. Partners were chosen, and
some twenty couples were soon footing it merrily
in a lively Scottische called here the "Rhiinlander." 02

196 O-VER THE DOVREFJELDS.
The dances most in favor besides, were galopes,"
valses, the "Tempete," quadrilles (somewhat
differing from our own), and cotillons, the last of
which were danced in the French fashion, with a
variety of arausing accorapaniraents with cards,
scarves, &c.
They were most energetic dancers, going in for
it with a force and vigor which we hardly expected
from the sluggish phlegmatic Norsk character.
All seemed to dance for the sake of dancing, and
save with the one or two engaged couples, there
was none of the flirtation and spooneying that we
are accustomed to see at home. There was but
little conversation or promenading in the intervals,
for after a dance each cavalier, after conducting his
partner to a seat abruptly left her, and rushed off to
fecruit his energies by a visit to a refreshment
buffet, where hot punch was being manufactured
and consumed at a great rate.
Their admiration of the adage that " silence is
golden " was amusingly exemplified in the way
partners were chosen. The gentleman walked up
to the lady whose hand he wished to secure, drew
himself up before her as stiff as a soldier on parade,
and then all once, without uttering a word, gave a
sudden duck, bow, or bob, for it was a compound of
all three, as if he had been suddenly galvanized.
The lady, as if the same shock had affected her,
rose with a jerk (there were never any refusals), put

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 97
her arm through that of her partner, and whirled
away into the giddy throng.
As we were not exactly in dancing trim, we
preferred taking raerely a passive part, and
contented ourselves for sometime with watching
the fun from the shelter of a doorway, "quite
adjacent," as Pat would say, to the punch depart
raent. Our host, however, who in spite of his
seventy summers was footing it with the best of
thera, soon dragged us out of our retirement. It
was no use pointing appealingly to our heavy nailed
boots as an excuse, for one of the sons at once volun
teered to fit us out in a pair of his own, so raounting
with hira to his room, we were soon equipped in a
pair of spring-sides, which had the one drawback
of being about three sizes too large for us, and in
which we were always in doubt as to whether our
feet were in or out of them.
Whilst hesitating as to which of the damsels we
should honor with our hand, and working
painfully out in our minds, a Norsk translation of
the formula, "May I have the pleasure," &c., we
were relieved from all difficulty of choice by the
approach of a gentleman with a lady on each arm,
who, coming to a stand in front of us, smilingly
asked which we admired the more, roses or lilies.
On gently acknowledging our preference for the
former flower, he presented us for a partner the one
of his fair charges typified by the "rose," while

198 O-VER THE DOVREFJELDS.
retaining the " lily " for his own. This lively little
plan of effecting an introduction was constantly in
progress during the evening, and we think it
might be introduced with advantage at home, for
the benefit of those " virgins of uncertain age," who,
under the disparaging title of "wall-flowers," sit
desolate and neglected in our ball rooms.
After two or three hour's dancing, supper was
announced, and we all filed into another room,
where a genuine Norwegian banquet, both as to the
quantity and quality of the viands, was laid out.
There was only room at the table for half our
number, but the difficulty was got over in a manner
which rather upset our preconceived notions of
Norwegian politeness. The motto of place aux
dames was altogether ignored, for the gentlemen
having led their partners up to the festive board,
and assisted thera to whatever chanced to be their
" particular vanity " in fish, flesh, or fowl, quietly
sat themselves down at the table, whilst the ladies,
plate in hand, retired into the back ground, and
extemporized tables as they best might with the sofas
and chairs of the adjoining room.
The supper was no mere butterfly repast of jellies,
trifles, and light airy nothings, but a most substantial
matter-of-fact affair, served up hot and smoking,
and was heartily appreciated by the guests of both
sexes, who seemed as though determined to incapaci
tate theraselves from any after exertion.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 1 99
To do them justice, however, it only seeraed to
have given them fresh vigor, for dancing was at
once resuraed and kept up until the sraall hours ofthe
morning, with occasional pleasant little interludes
in the shape of strawberries and multeboer with cream,
which were handed around araong the dancers.
But the favorite refreshraent for the sterner sex,
and soraewhat a strange one for a hot July night,
was the hot brandy punch already alluded to. The
materials for brewing it were on a table in the hall,
which presented the additional advantage of adraitt
ing the cool night air through the open door. At
the close of each dance there was a general rush of
gentleraen towards the phalanx of glasses ; pipes
were lit, and there they reraained till the sound of
the rausic called thera once raore to action. They
raust have strong heads these Norwegians, for the
amount of punch they disposed of during the
evening was something portentous. Everybody was
continually drinking to his neighbour, with a
clinking of glasses in the French and Gerraan
fashion. As strangers and Englishraen, we were in
great request for this purpose, but as we were by no
raeans ambitious to sustain the reputation that
lago gave our countrymen, of being " raost potent
in potting," we took the prudent course of imbibing
but a sip at each toast, instead of satisfying the
hospitable desire of our entertainers by draining
our glasses in their honor.

200 OA-ER THE DOVREFJELDS.
At last, a little before three, the party began
to break up. The horses were harnessed, carriages
brought round, and after an immensity of hand
shaking from the whole family circle of the
Kaltenborns, who came out to see us off we brought
our Sunday evening's entertainment to a close.
We do not doubt that we shall shock the sensi
bilities of the severe moralists among our readers
by the confession we have just, made of what they
will consider our " Sabbath breaking ! " Be it so.
This is not the place to enter upon the vexed and
oft debated question of the proper way to keep
Sunday. We will merely remark that the
Norwegians are to the full as proud of their form
of Protestantism as we are of ours, and that as a
people their standard of morals and religion is
quite as high as our own. Whenever in the course
of our peregrinations in Norway we ventured to
touch upon this difference between the two
countries, and described the dreary monotony of
an English (to say nothing of a Scotch) Sunday,
the reply invariably was " that they had no idea
the English were so stupid."
Nine out of every ten of our countrymen believe
as firmly as they do in their bibles that Sunday is
invariably desecrated by Catholic, and honoured
only by Protestant nations. There never was a
greater delusion. Those who have travelled tell a far
different tale ; and as a matter of fact, if there is

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 201
a pin to choose in this respect between Paris, or
Beriin, and Vienna, or Hamburg, it is certainly not
in favour of the Protestant cities.
For ourselves, having an opinion of our own in
the matter, we were not troubled with any scruples
of conscience, and were able to subscribe most
thoroughly to Andrew's opinion, confided to us as
we were bowling homewards, that there were
" mony waurse ways o' spending Sunday in Scotland
than that."
July 22. It had been arranged over night that
we were to start early for the sceter belonging to
Listad station ; but owing to our dissipation it was
past ten before the cavalcade mustered in the
courtyard at Listad. Five of us were on horseback,
Mr. and Mrs. Lund and ourselves, Andrew leading
the way, on a raw-boned charger, while the rear
was brought up by Miss Jarman, the daughter of
the station-master, in a stolkjcerre, laden with a
supply of creature comforts for our consumption.
The road wound at first through the upper slopes
of the valley, zig-zagging upwards at awfully steep
gradients, and with gates at every few yards,
dividing the various tiny freeholds, among which
the groups of farm buildings were thickly scattered.
As we mounted higher and got on to the bare
plateau the road changed into a raere sandy track,
which had only been lately laid down at great trouble
and expense, over the swampy face of the raountain.

202 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
and was looked upoh as a good sceter road. Now
and then there were ugly gaps in it, where it had
been swallowed up by the ravenous bog ; and as
the poor horses floundered up to their bellies in a
sea of black mud, we could easily imagine what
unpleasant travelling it must have been before the
present road was made.
The night had been one of incessant rain, but
the clouds had risen with the sun, and under its
influence were now dispersing, like a routed army,
among the dark array of peaks that encorapassed
us. Beneath us extended a magnificent view of
the Gulbrandsdal, with the road stretching like a
huge white serpent along its green slopes, looking
in the bright transparent air as though within a
stone's throw.
We halted at frequent intervals to rest the horses
in their long climb. The plateau once gained,
however, we improved the pace, and when the
road was firra enough to permit, cantered along
briskly over the dreary fjeld, which required all the
influences of a bright sun and the bluest of skies
to counteract its melancholy influence.
Once or twice the road plunged into the depths
of a romantic gorge, where the spurs of two
mountains commingled, and down which a
torrent rushed through a forest of pines to gain
the valley. To our regret the improved part of
the road soon ceased, and for the rest of our ride

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 203
we had an opportunity of seeing what a saeter road
was like in its integrity. A road is far too dignified
a title, being in truth the most villainous of horse
tracks, oftener than not the bed of a torrent,
among the loose stones of which our horses picked
their way like cats, sturabling, slipping, and slid
ing along in a marvellous fashion, but never
(ince coraing to grief and pitching us over their
heads, as we every moraent expected they would
do. They were raost intelligent animals, and we
soon found the best policy was not to dictate to
them which way they should go, but leave them to
follow their own instincts, and it was most
interesting to notice how, on coming to an
especially "ugly bit," they would test each step
carefully with their forefeet, before trusting their
whole weight upon it.
We passed a number of raountain farms belong
ing to the Venebygdal, a lateral valley running
into the Gulbrandsdal, and which, narrow through
out, dwindled at its upper end to a raere cleft in
the mountains, their gloomy pine fringed sides
setting out in bold relief the snow-white waters
of the invariable river.
The inraates of the huts who carae out to see us
pass seemed miserably poor, their principal support
consisting in herds of goats, that were browsing on
the lichens and rough herbage around. Turning
now abruptly to the left to breast the raountain

204 O-VER THE DOVREFJELDS.
slope, and congratulating ourselves on reaching
a more even and pleasant road, we found it was
but " out of the frying pan into the fire," for the way
lay over a succession of swamps, through which
our horses struggled painfully, now and again
sinking so deeply as to make us feel slightly
nervous for the result. We were not re-assured by
young Jarman, whom we met at yesterday's dance,
and had now overtaken us on foot, relating some of
his experiences, and how, on one occasion, he and
his horse were for more than half-an-hour in one
of these swamps, having the narrowest escape in
the world of being swallowed up. We were
heartily glad to catch sight of the sceter, standing
in the middle of its little plot of- bright green
pasturage, with the flocks and herds grazing
picturesquely around. The Norwegian sheep and
cows— frora their pastures lying so much among
the broken ground of the mountain slopes — are
almost as clever at climbing as the goats ;
and we used often to admire the agility and
skill with which they would scale the steepest
ascents. We were welcomed at the door of the sceter by
the two strapping /z^e.y in charge of it, and who
were doubtless not at all sorry to have the monotony
of their life relieved by a visit from the lower
world. The sceters, which are almost the exact
counterparts of the Swiss Chalets, are of course

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 205
only tenanted during the summer months, from
about the beginning of June until the end of
Septeraber. The journey to it is looked upon as the
great event of the year among the valley folk, and
is a constant theme both for Norwegian poets
and painters. Storra, the bard of the Gulbransdal,
has written in the country dialect two charming
idylls descriptive of the progress to and frora the
sceter, and one of Tideraand's most striking can
vasses depicts a faraily flitting to the mountain
farm, the " house father " driving before him a
horse heavily laden with baggage, while the
mother follows, bearing a chubby child on her
back, an elder brother waking the echoes with an
Alpine horn, to keep together the scattered goats
that accompany the procession.
The first business on hand was dinner, which our
four hours ride and the bracing air of the hills had
made us quite ready for, and it was with some
anxiety that we looked out for the approach of
the stolkjcerre on which our hopes of the comissariat
department mainly depended. It was a matter
of wonder to us how anything on wheels could
ever have made its way over the vile roads we had
come, but it made its appearance at length, and we
were soon sitting before a rough but bountiful
meal. Vale and mountain each contributed their
quota to the banquet, though the novelties were of

2o6 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
course fumished by the latter. The grand piece de
resistance was a huge wooden bowl of thick cream
{flote) from the sceter dairy, round which we all sat,
spoon in hand, waiting the signal of attack. As we
were in blissfiil ignorance of the proper mode of
procedure we kept our eyes on the Lunds, who were
old hands at sceter life, in order to follow their lead,
and not commit ourselves by any gaucheries.
Beside us stood two " smaller bowls, filled, the one
with moist sugar, the other with grated bread
crumbs. The initiated commenced operations by first
sprinkling a small quantity of each, over as much
of the cream as their appetite or fancy dictated,
then seizing a spoon, they plunged it into the
floating mass, detached a square inch or so, and
quickly, ere it could slide away, conveyed the
luscious morsel to their mouth. It seemed so easy
that we at once marked out our own particular
extent of territory, and plunged fearlessly in medias
res. Like many other apparently simple things,
however, we soon discovered that some amount of
practice was requisite to go through the task either
gracefully or effectually.
The first plunge of our spoons at once informed us
that what looked like a solid mass of cream, was but
a floating coat some half an inch in thickness, and
the difficulty was to get this into the spoon with
out an accompaniment of the underlying milk.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 207
which a week's standing had converted into a thin
sour fluid, anything but palatable to British tastes
though not so to Norwegians, who seem to have
an idea that milk, like wine, improves by keeping.
The cream itself had a slight acidity about it, but
for this the sugar proved an ample corrective, and
after the first few mouthfuls had been captured and
disposed of, we were quite ready to confess that if
it did not surpass, it was at all events a very good
substitute for the far-famed cream of Devonshire.
Like, however, the pork-pie of Pickwickian renown,
that the young lady quoted by Mr. Weller pro
nounced "rather too rich," we found that the
Norwegian delicacy was very satisfying, and in
spite of the invitation of our entertainers to " go
in and win," we were soon compelled to cry " hold !
enough ! "
We were all so utterly incapacitated by our
debauch (strictly a teetotal one) that movement for
a tirae was out of the question, and a proposal for
a general siesta was put, and carried unaniraously.
To enjoy it in the fresh air, instead of the close
room, the windows of which obstinately refused to
open, we adjourned to the roof of the cow-house,
which one of the party had pitched upon as a
snug place for a snooze, being covered with a raost
luxuriant crop of long grass and soft lichens, among
which we sank down as in a feather bed. These
hanging gardens are very coramon in Norway.

208 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
hours to ascend and return. The first part of our way
lay over the swampy surface of the fjeld, which craved
wary walking to avoid sinking into the treacherous
ground, and the inky pools that at every step
intervened. Now and again a lemraing, disturbed
in a foraging expedition, would scuttle off into the
juniper bushes, and when hard pressed take to the
water as kindly as any duck.
After pushing our way through a succession of
scrub and dwarf pines, we made a detour in order
to see a waterfall, situated in a gorge, through
which the waters of a mountain stream found their
way into the valley. It was a break neck scramble
down to the fall, over huge boulders that seemed
as though they had been cast down by Titans in
their playful sport.
The fall was but a small one, its principal charra
arising frora the romantic, secluded glen in which
it was embosomed. A dense tapestry of ferns and
wild flowers covered the steep sides of the rocks,
that on all sides seemed to cut off retreat frora the
outer world. The foaming mass of snow-white
waters looked in the dim twilight weird and ghost
like, and one could imagine how from such a scene
the superstitious Northern nations would draw
materials for the naiads and water sprites in which
their literature is so rich.
To avoid retracing our footsteps we forded the
stream just below the fall. Although shallow, the

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS 2O9
water had great force, and the spray was so heavy
as to wet us through in a few moments. My
young companion was the last to cross, and as he
seemed disinclined to face it, young Jarman coolly
hoisted him on his back, and brought him over
dry shod.
Beyond here we raet numerous herds of bright
eyed goats, being driven in for the night to the neigh
bouring sceters, a precaution nearly always taken
on the mountains. In bear infested districts fires are
burnt all night in addition, as if Master Bruin
once gets a taste of raeat, he becomes a raost
persistent visitor.
After a pleasant ramble, we reached the point
we were making for — a bold, rocky promontory,
jutting like a headland into the gulf 1500 feet
below, and commanding a splendid view of the
dark gloomy gorge of the Venebygdal, one raass
of green waving pine tops. The river was a mere
streak of silver in the pale twilight, its roar —
owing to the distance — reaching our ears but in
a subdued murmur.
On our return to the sceter we had a "railk
supper " by firelight, and then went to inspect
our respective nat kvarters (night quarters), the
resources of the establishment being barely equal
to the task without relegating some of us to the
shelter of the cowhouse or granary, whither the
piges theraselves had to retire in our favour. P2

2IO OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
The living room, with its one bed covered with
skins, was given up to the two ladies ; a bedstead
that stood close to the entrance door fell to
the share of my companion and myself, while
the other three were shown a hole under the roof
leading to a species of loft, and which had been
previously littered down with sundry heaps of
straw. One by one they mounted the rickety
ladder, and disappeared into the darkness. We
lost no time in following their exaraple, and
squeezing ourselves into our own narrow box, which
was an awfully tight fit for two, and precluded all
possibility of free movement.
We were not destined to enjoy at once the
sweets of repose, for long after we had retired an
incessant clatter of tongues proceeded from a group
of the sceter people and our own servant, gathered
round the expiring embers on the hearth. As it
was only natural that the piges, exiled as they were
from the world below, should be anxious to post
themselves up in the gossip and latest news of the
valley, we lay quiet and made no sign, until at
length Mr. Lund's patience getting exhausted, his
night-capped head was thrust forth frora his eyrie,
and with a few words of energetic Norsk he drove
thera frora their position out into the night. Our
slumbers were very fitful, though our fears as to
hostile attack on the part of certain nameless
pests were happily not verified, but we were not

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 2X1
sorry when about four a.m., the piges came in and
began the work of the day, by converting into
butter and cheese the " lacteal produce," to use a
Johnsonian phrase, brought in the preceding
evening. The fresh raorning air was a delightful change
after the close stifling sceter. The sunlight already
tinged the mountain ranges with a chastened rosy
hue, a few cloudlets flecking a sky which was
almost Italian in its blueness. The bleating of
the sheep and goats, begging to be set free to their
pastures, were the only sounds that broke the silence,
and the whole scene had that sweet indefinable
charm we at times meet with in our wanderings
through this glorious world, that serves in lieu of
a meditation, melting the heart and moistening the
eye with its beauty.
For our ablutions we preferred a mountain stream
a stone's throw away, to the meagre aids the sceter
was likely to afford us. The Norwegians, it must be
confessed, do not take kindly to cold water, probably
frora its being so abundant with them, and the
wash-hand jugs and basins at the stations always
looked as though intended rather for the inhabit
ants of a doll's house, than for full grown Christians.
The towels were never larger than good sized
pocket handkerchiefs, and the native soap was such
a curiosity, both in color and smell, as would secure
for it a prominent place in an English museum.

212 O-VER THE DOVREFJELDS.
On returning to the sceter in response to a
summons to breakfast, we found ourselves sur
rounded by the now liberated sheep and goats, who
hustled and pushed us about in the most amusing
and uncereraonious manner. We were at first
alraost carried off our legs by the rush, as each one
strove to raake its way to the front, and bring itself
under our notice. A couple of soleran old ewes,
whose faces had something almost human in their
sagacity of expression, stood on their hind legs,
barring our progress, with a foot on each of our
shoulders, while behind us, sorae of the more
depraved goats were actually rummaging our
pockets, in the vain hope of discovering salt, which
was the sole cause of the unusual commotion
amongst them.
Just as they had given us up as a bad job, 2. pige
made her appearance with a supply of the coveted
dainty, and to her, in the twinkling of an eye, their
"sheepish" attentions were transferred.
They seemed to be quite aware they had now got
the real Siraon Pure, and dashed at her in the
wildest state of excitement, leaping high into the
air at her out-stretched hand, and scrambling over
each others backs in one undistinguishable heap.
It was no easy task for her to make an impartial
distribution, and, as in human affairs, a few of the
more impudent and persistent got the "lion's
share."

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 21 3
We rode back to Listad in the early moming,
arriving at the station about noon. A party from
the Sorenscrivers came in while were dining, with
whora we discussed a bottle of port, made our
final adieus to all our friends, and resumed the
journey that had received so pleasant an inter
ruption. At Bakkejordet in the evening we met Lensmand
Coucheron, who was engaged in his official capacity,
liquidating the estate of an unfortunate land-
handler who had just suspended payment — an
event which seemed sadly out of place in such an
Arcadian region.
July 24. We were roused in the morning by the
appearance at our bedside of a pige with a cup of
coffee, which she gravely handed us as soon as we
recovered consciousness. Among the ancient
Scandinavians it was the custom to' offer all guests
an " awakening cup " of mjod (mead) or spiced
ale, which, if the visitor was a person of distinction,
was borne in by the " house-mother " or one of
her daughters. This custom has, however, fallen
into general abeyance on the frequented routes, but
in the western and more primitive districts it still
lingers, and we shall not easily forget our first
introduction to it, and the startling effect produced
on our nerves by a strapping Hallingdal lass
suddenly appearing before us in her outlandish
costume.

214 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
Before breakfast we indulged in a plunge in the
lake, to the astonishment of a group of natives
haymaking in the adjoining field, and who looked
aghast at such an unheard of proceeding. We
stopped and had a chat with one of them after our
dip, in the course of which he argued most seriously
that bathing in cold water was most unhealthy,
an opinion not all we could say to the contrary in
the least degree weakened.
Before leaving, we took a short cut over the hills,
to see our lady friends at the Lensmand's. They
were very pleased to see us again, and over a cup of
chocolate we related our mutual experiences since
our last meeting. When we rose to go they insisted
on escorting us with two attendant cavaliers as far as
Bakkejordet, where we packed up our traps and
discharged our score.
Madame Szacinski gave us a letter to her husband,
one of the first photographers of Christiania, and
after much hand-shaking and many hopes that we
might some day meet again— we parted and went
our respective ways.
We had a hot walk to Holmen, posting frora there
to Aronsveen, the scene of our upset ; midway, the
sky suddenly darkened behind us, masses of black
rain cloud spread like a pall over the heavens, and
it was plain we were in for one of those Northern
storms that are almost tropical in their violence.
Our only chance of escaping a wet jacket lay in

O-VER THE DOVREFJELDS. 21 5
our horses speed, so putting the reins into our
skydsguts hands, we pointed to the rapidly advanc
ing storm, and bade him " kjSre hurtig som mulig "
(drive as fast as possible), and as the road was down
hill we were soon careering along at a pace that
made every board in our frail chariot threaten to
dissolve partnership, and considerably raised our
estimate of the capabilities of Norwegian steeds.
It was a close shave — we had barely tirae to ensconce
ourselves under the porch of the station when the
rain carae down in torrents, and flashes of the
bluest lightning we ever saw lit up incessantly
every part of the horizon. It lasted so long that
we began to despair of getting to LiUehammer that
night, which, as the Miosen steamer sailed early in
the raorning, would have entailed the loss of the
weekly stearaer to Hull on the Friday. At each
moment fresh batches of travellers were arriving,
looking like drowned rats, and as there was a
dearth of horses, and every one wanted to have the
first chance of those that came in, we were com
pelled to " stand upon the order of our going," and
put in a claim for priority, which was somewhat
grudgingly allowed.
It was close upon midnight before we drove up
to our old quarters at Ormsrud's Hotel, LiUeham
mer. It was our last ride. We were once again with
in the pale of civilization, and a feeling of regret stole
over us that the curtain was about to fall on our

2l6 OVER THE DOVREFJELDS.
ramble, and that our pleasant slipshod existence was
so soon to be exchanged for the stern realities of life.
This feeling has never struck us so powerfully as in
Norway. Elsewhere, in other lands, there is often
times a positive pleasure at the thought of retuming
horae— but Norway seems to have a hold on the
love and sympathies of Englishmen, which the
sunny south, with all its radiant beauty, cannot
rival. For those who have once seen Norway, her
savage beauty and the simple life of her peasant
sons have an irresistible attraction, and we have
often raet men whom nothing can allure else
where, but who, as year after year comes round,
take flight for her shores with a persistency which
almost amounts to a migratory instinct.
The rest of our joumey may be dismissed in a
few words. The morrow saw us once more steam
ing down the Miosen to Christiania, whence we
sailed the next day for England in the " Hero,"
one of Messrs. Wilson & Son's best ships, and
fifty five hours later we had exchanged the
silvery waters of the mountain encircled fiords
for the ^mud banks, and turbid waters of the
Huraber. Our holiday was over, and the day dreams of
the past month — one which we had lived as it were
out of the world — faded away as we stepped on to
the quay at Hull in the murky morning.
But the pleasures of memory are still our own.

OVER THE DOVREFJELDS. 21 7
and with the bard who so well has sung them,
we may say in conclusion : —
 Once again
In my own chimney nook as night steals on,
With half shut eyes reclining, oft, methinks.
While the wind blusters, and the pelting rain
Clatters without ; shall I recal to mind
The scenes, occurrences I raet with here.
And wander in Elysium. Rogers' Italy.

END.

APPENDIX.

NOTE I.

E. Storm, the bard of the Gulbrandsdal, was b om at
Vaage in 1742, aud died at Copenhagen in 1794. Besides hi»
Sinklarsvisen he has left many .poems in the dialect of his
native valley which have passed into " household words "
among his countrymen.
SINKLARSVISEN.
Herr Sinklar drog over salten hav,
Til Norrig hans kurs monne stande ;
Blandt Grudbrands klipper han fandt sin grav,
Der Tanked saa blodig en pande.
Herr Sinklar drog over bolgen blaa
For svenske penge at stride ;
Hjelpe dig Gud! du visselig maa
I groesset for Normandeu bide.
Maanen skinner om natten bleg
De Tover saa sagtelig trille ;
En havfru op af vandet steg,
Hun spaaede Herr Sinklar ilde.
"Vend om, vend om, du Skotske mand,
" Det gjelder dit liv saa fage ;
" Kommer du til Norrig, jeg siger forsaud
"Bet aldrig du kommer tilbage."

" Led er din sang, du giftige trold,
" Altidens du spaar om ulykker ;
"Panger jeg dig engang i void
" Jeg lader dig hugge i stykker."
Han seiled i dage, han seUed i tre,
Med alt sin hyrede folge ;
Den fjerde morgen han Norrig mon se
Jeg vil det ikke fordolge.
Ved Eomsdals kyster han styred til land
Erkloerede sig for en Kende,
Ham fulgte fjorten hundrede mand
Some aUe havde ondt i sinde.
De skjendte og broendte hvor de drog frem,
Al folkeret monne de krsenke ;
Oldingens afmagt rorte ei dem
De spotted den groedende enke.
Barnet blev draebt i modereus skjod
Saa mildelig det end smiled ;
Men rygtet om denne jammer og nod
Til kjernen af landet iled. -
Bauuen lyste og budstikken lob
Fra grande til noermeste grande ;
Dalcus sonner i skjul ei krob
Det maatte Herr Sinklar finde.
Soldaleu er. ude paa kongeus tog,
Vi maa selv landet forsvare ;
Forbandet veere det nidings drog,
Som nu sit blod vilde spare.
De bonder fra Vaage, Lesje og Lom,
Med skarpen oxen paa nakke ;
I. Bredebygd tilsammen kom,
Med Skotten vUde de snakke.

III.

Teet under Lide der lOber en sti,
Som man monne Kringen kaldo,
Laagen skyuder sig der forbi,
I den skal fienderne falde.
Eiflen hoenger ei mer paa vaeg
Hist sigter graahoerdede skytte,
Nokken opiofter sit vaade skjeg
Og Tcenter med loengsel sit bytte.
Det forste skud Herr Sinklar gjaldt,
Han broled og opgav sin aande ;
Hver Skotte raabte, da obersten faldt,
" Gud fri OS af denne vaande."
" Frem, bSnder ! frem, i Norske moend !
" Slaa ned, slaa ned for fode ! "
Da onsked sig Skotten hjem igien,
Han var ei ret lystig tilmode.
Med dode kroppe blev Kringen strod,
De rayne fik nok at cede ;
Det ungdoms blod, som her udflod,
De Skotske piger begroede.
Ei nogen levende sjoel kom hjem,
Som kunde sin landsmand fortoelle,
Hvor farligt det er at besoge dem,
Der bor blandt Norriges fjelde.
End kneiser en stotte paa samme sted,
Som Norges uvenner mon true,
Ve hver en Normand, som ei bHver hed
Saa tidt hans oine deu skue.

IV. TRANSLATION.

Herr Sinclair sailed across the sea,
And steered his course to Norway's strand ;
Mid Gudbrand's rocks his grave found he,
There were broken crowns in Sinclair's band.
Herr Sinclair sailed o'er the blue wave.
That he might iight for Swedish gold;
God help thee man! thyself now save,
Thou'lt fall before the Norskman bold.
The moon amid the pale uight shone,
The waves around so gently rolled,
A mermaid rose on Sinclair's sight,
And thus prophetic evU told :
" Turn back, turn back, thou Scottish man,
" Or it wUl surely cost thy life,
" For if thou com'st to Norway's strand,
" Thou never more shall join the strife."
"Thy songs are lies, thou witeh most foul,
" Thou ever sing'st the self-same tune,
" Could I but get thee in my power
" In pieces smaU I'd have thee hewn."
He sailed a day, he sailed three.
With aU his mercenary band,
The fourth, he Norway's shore did see —
On Eomsdal's coast he leapt to laud.
And with him fourteen hundred men.
On mischief all that band were bent.
They spared nor young or aged then,
But slew and burnt as on they went.

The child they kUled at mother's breast,
Nor cared how sweet so'er its smile ;
Of widows' tears they made a, jest, —
Sorrow's loud cry arose the while.
Throughout the land the waU resounds,
The beacon blazed, — the oross of fire
Sped its swift eourse, and Sinclair soon
Shall feel the 'vengeful dalesmen's ire.
The soldiers of the king are gone.
We must ourselves the land defend,
To shed his blood wiU ne'er grudge one,
On such may heaven's wrath descend.
Peasants from Vaage, Lesje, and Lom,
With axes sharp, on shoulder set.
To parley with the Scots they oome,
And now at Bredebygd are met.
There rears a hill close uuder Lide,
Which our vale-folk do Eringeo call,
The Logon's stream beneath doth glide,
In that shall our fierce foemen faU.
On walls no more our rifles hang,
The rocks are lined -with marksmen gray.
The water sprite lifts up its head.
And waits impatiently its prey.
The first shot pierced Herr Sinclair's breast.
He groaned, aud forth his spirit gave,
And as he fell, each Scot cried out:
"Oh God, in this our peril save." Q

VI

" On peasants, on Norwegian men,
" Let eaoh foe find a Sinclair's grave."
The Scots now wished themselves home again,
And only strove their lives to save.
With corpses thick was KHngen strewed.
High festal did the ravens keep, —
The noble blood that this day flowed,
Tlie Scottish maidens long did weep.
And not a soul of that array,
To Scotland e'er retumed to tell
His countrymen of that dark day,
And how the sad event befel.
Mid Norway's mountains stUl there stands
A column raised upon the spot;
Let Norway's foes from other lands.
Behold it, and despise it not :
No Norskman sees it rise on high
But marks it with a flashing eye.
C. H.

vn.

NOTE II.

FROM HARALD HAARFAGER'S SAGA.

King Harald sent his men after a maiden named Gyda, a
daughter of king Eirik of Hordaland, who was brought up by
a rich farmer in Valders. The king -wished to have her for
liis wife, for she was au exceedingly fair maiden, yet of proud
disposition. When the messengers arrived, aud informed the
maiden of their errand, she answered that she would be throwing
herself away, were she to take for her husband a king that had
no greater kingdom than a few acres to rule over. " For it
seems wonderful to me," said she, " that there is no king to be
found who wUl subdue to himself Norway as sole monarch, as
Gorm the Old, king of Denmark, or Eirik, king of Upsala."
The messengers thought that her answer was exceedingly
proud, and asked her what she thought would come of such an
anawer. They said that Harald was so mighty a king that his
offer was too good for her. But, although she answered them
otherwise than they could have wished, they saw no pretence
for carrying her away against her will, and so they prepared
to depart.
When they were ready, the people followed them out, and
then Gyda said to the messengers ; " repeat these my words to
king Harald — that only on this condition wiU I consent to become
his wife that he wiU first fcr my sake subdue aU Norway,

VIII.
so that he can rule over the kingdom as freely as Eirik over
Sweden, or king Gorm over Denmark, for then alone, methinks,
can he be called a king of a people."
The messengers now went back to king Harald, and took
the maiden's message, saying that she was mightUy bold and
freespoken, and weU deserved that the king should send a
strong force after her and inflict some disgrace upon her.
Then the king answered, that the maiden had neither so spoken
or acted as to deserve punishment, and she should rather have
thanks for her speech. She has reminded me, he said, of what
seems now to me wonderful, but which I have not before
thought of, and then he added — " I make a solemn promise,
andswearit by the gods that oreatedme and watch over all things,
that I will never clip or comb my hair untU I have subjected all
Norway to my sway, with tax, and tribute, and dominion
(skat og skyld og herredomme) or die in the attempt.''

STANTON AMD SON, PEIHTEES, NOETFAMPTOIT.