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diff --git a/24676.txt b/24676.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c08cb2f --- /dev/null +++ b/24676.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3025 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Peeps at Many Lands: Norway, by A.F. Mockler-Ferryman + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Peeps at Many Lands: Norway + +Author: A.F. Mockler-Ferryman + +Illustrator: A. Heaton Cooper + Nico Jungman + +Release Date: February 23, 2008 [EBook #24676] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PEEPS AT MANY LANDS: NORWAY *** + + + + +Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net/ + + + + + + + + + + Peeps at Many Lands + + Norway + + By + + Lieut.-Col. A. F. Mockler-Ferryman, F.R.G.S., F.Z.S. + + With twelve full page illustrations in colour + + By + + A. Heaton Cooper & Nico Jungman + + + London + Adam and Charles Black + 1911 + + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + Chapter Page + + I. The Land of the Vikings 1 + II. Modern Norway 5 + III. The People and Their Industries 9 + IV. On the Farm 15 + V. Manners and Customs 20 + VI. School and Play 25 + VII. Some Fairy Tales 32 + VIII. The Hardanger Fjord 37 + IX. A Glimpse of the Fjelds 43 + X. Wild Nature--Beasts 48 + XI. Wild Nature--Birds 54 + XII. Waterfalls, Snowfields, and Glaciers 60 + XIII. Driving in Norway 66 + XIV. Arctic Days and Nights 70 + XV. Laplanders at Home 78 + XVI. Winter in Christiania 84 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + Skjaeggedalsfos, Hardanger Fjord frontispiece + Facing Page + Naerodal, from Stalheim, Sogne Fjord viii + Fishing Through the Ice on Christiania Fjord 9 + Making "Fladbroed"--A Cottage Interior 16 + A Hardanger Bride 25 + A Baby of Telemarken 32 + Godoesund, Hardanger Fjord 41 + A Saeter 48 + Bondhus Glacier, Hardanger Fjord 57 + Laerdalsoeren 64 + A Lapp Mother and Child 73 + Skiers Drinking Goosewine 80 + Saetersdalen Girl In National Costume on the cover + + + Sketch-Map of Norway on page vii. + + + + +NORWAY + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE LAND OF THE VIKINGS + + +Who has not heard of the Vikings--the dauntless sea-rovers, who in the +days of long ago were the dread of Northern Europe? We English should +know something of them, for Viking blood flowed in the veins of many +of our ancestors. And these fierce fighting men came in their ships +across the North Sea from Norway on more than one occasion to invade +England. But they came once too often, and were thoroughly defeated at +the Battle of Stamford Bridge, when, as will be remembered, Harald the +Hard, King of Norway, was killed in attempting to turn his namesake, +King Harold of England, off his throne. + +Norwegian historians, however, do not say very much about this +particular invasion. They prefer to dwell on the great deeds of +another King Harald, who was called "Fairhair," and who began his +reign some two hundred years earlier. This Harald was only a boy +of ten years of age when he came to the throne, but he determined +to increase the size of his kingdom, which was then but a small one, +so he trained his men to fight, built grand new ships, and then began +his conquests. Norway was at that time divided up into a number of +districts or small kingdoms, each of which was ruled over by an Earl +or petty King, and it was these rulers whom Harald set to work to +subdue. He intended to make one united kingdom of all Norway, and +he eventually succeeded in doing so. But he had many a hard fight; +and if the Sagas, as the historical records of the North are called, +speak truly, he fought almost continuously during twelve long years +before he had accomplished his task, and even then he was only just +twenty-one years of age. + +They say that he did all these wonderful things because a girl, named +Gyda, whom he wanted to marry, refused to have anything to say to him +until he had made himself King of a really big kingdom. He made a vow +that he would not comb or cut his hair until he had conquered the whole +country. He led his men to victory after victory, and at length fought +his last great battle at Hafrsfjord (to the south of Stavanger). The +sea-fight was desperate and long, but Harald's fleet succeeded in +overpowering that of the enemy, and Sulki, King of Rogaland, as well +as Erik, King of Hardanger, were slain. Then Harald cut and dressed +his hair, the skalds composed poems in honour of the event, and for +ever after he was known as Fairhair. He was truly a great Viking, +and he did not rest content with the conquest of Norway alone; for +he brought his ships across the North Sea and conquered the Isle of +Man, the Hebrides, the Shetlands, and the Orkneys, and he lived to +the age of eighty-three. + +Then there are the stories of the two Olafs--Olaf Tryggvasson and +Olaf the Saint, each of whom took part in many a fight on British +soil, each of whom was the champion of Christianity in Norway +and fought his way to the throne, and each of whom fell in battle +under heroic circumstances, the one at Svold (A.D. 1000), the other +at Sticklestad (A.D. 1030). To us it is interesting to know that +King Olaf Tryggvasson, on one of his early Viking expeditions, was +baptized in the Scilly Isles, that as his second wife he married an +Irish Princess, and that for some time he lived in Dublin. To the +Norwegians he is a Norse hero of the greatest renown, who during his +short reign of barely five years never ceased to force Christianity +on the heathen population, and who, at the age of thirty-one, came to +an untimely end. His fleet was ambuscaded and surrounded, and when +his men had made their last stand he refused to surrender. Neither +would he suffer the ignominy of capture or death at the hands of +his enemies; so, with shield and sword in hand, and in full armour, +he leaped overboard, and immediately sank. For years afterwards his +faithful people believed that he would appear again, and many fancied +that, on occasions, their hero's spirit visited them. + +Everyone knows the old triumphant line, "London Bridge is broken +down," yet few are aware that the words are translated from an old +Norse song, and fewer still could say who broke down the bridge. The +story goes that this was accomplished by the other Olaf, afterwards +known as St. Olaf. He and his Vikings had allied themselves with +Etheldred the Unready against the Danes, who held the Thames above +London Bridge. The bridge itself, which in those days was a rough +wooden structure, was densely packed with armed men, prepared to +resist the advance of the combined fleets. But Olaf drove his stout +ships against it, made them fast to the piers, hoisted all his sail +and got out his oars, and succeeded in upsetting the bridge into +the river, thus securing victory for Etheldred. But that was before +Olaf gained the throne of Norway. What he did as King of that country +would take too long to tell here. Every district of Norway possesses +legends bearing on his visits when engaged in converting the people to +Christianity, and describing his powers of working miracles. Everywhere +the name of St. Olaf still remains engraven on the country. His death, +however, was that of a soldier--on the battle-field; and the lance +which Norway's patron saint carried in his last fight may even now +be seen by the altar in Trondhjem Cathedral. + +It was St. Olaf's half-brother, Harald the Hard, who fell, as we have +said, at Stamford Bridge, when attempting the invasion of England in +1066. But all this is history nearly a thousand years old, and the +stirring tales of the Vikings are fully recorded, and may be read +in the Sagas. Ten centuries have changed the order of things. To-day +we have, in our turn, become the invaders, albeit full of peace and +good-will; and over the same seas upon which once danced Long Ship, +Serpent, and Dragon, our great ugly, smoky steamers now plough +their way. + + + + + +CHAPTER II + +MODERN NORWAY + + +"Norroway over the Foam," as it used to be called, is a good land to +go to and a beautiful land to look upon. It lies less than two days' +journey from our shores, so it is easy enough to reach. Away from +the towns--and they are not many--everything is picturesque, grand, +and majestic, and the country indeed looks (as the people firmly +believed of it long ago) as if it might have been the playground +of countless giants, who amused themselves by pulling up acres of +land, letting the sea into the valleys, and pelting each other with +mountains and islands. Thank goodness the giants have disappeared! But +if they really did have a hand in fashioning Norway, they are to be +congratulated on the result. + +One of the first things one likes to know about a foreign country is +its size. Well, Norway is just a little larger than the British Isles, +and that part of it which forms the usual holiday touring ground of +British and other people--_i.e._, from Trondhjem to the south--is no +larger than England. The remainder of the country consists of a long, +narrow strip running up into the Arctic Circle, and ending in Lapland +in the Far North. + +On three sides Norway is washed by the sea; on the other side she +has two neighbours--Sweden from the south right away up to Lapland, +and then Russia. + +Now let us see what sort of a land it is. First, there are the fjords, +stretching often a hundred miles or more inland from the sea-coast, +sometimes with delightful fertile shores, at other times hemmed in on +either hand by rocky cliffs rising two or three thousand feet sheer +from the water. Then there are the mountains, which are everywhere; +for, with the exception of Spain, Norway is the most mountainous +country in Europe. And on their summits lie vast fields of eternal +snow, with glaciers pushing down into the green valleys, or even into +the ocean itself. Again, from these mountains flow down rivers and +streams, now forming magnificent waterfalls as they leap over the +edge of the lofty plateau, now rushing wildly over their rock-strewn +torrent beds, until they reach the lake, which, thus gathering the +waters, send them on again in one wide river to the fjord. + +Such things lend themselves to create scenery which cannot fail +to charm, and in one day in Norway you may see them all. Take, +for instance, the famous view of the Naerodal from Stalheim, a place +which every visitor to Western Norway knows well. Probably nowhere +in the world is there anything to approach it in grandeur, for not +only are there the great mountains forming the sides of the actual +valley in the foreground, but away beyond appears a succession of +other mountains, stretching far across the Sogne Fjord, even to the +snowy peaks of Jotunheim. + +People who live in such a land must needs be proud of it, and the +descendants of the Vikings believe that there exists in the world no +fairer country than their beloved Norge. [1] Maybe they are not far +wrong. But these Northern people are not numerous, and they are not +forced, for want of space, to spoil their landscapes by studding the +country-side with little red-brick cottages, for all Norway contains +not one-half the number of inhabitants found in London. Under such +circumstances the feeling of freedom is great, and the Norwegians +claim that, as a nation, they are the freest of the free. Recent +events would seem to justify the claim. Only the other day Norway +dissolved the Union with Sweden with little difficulty, and of her +own free-will cast herself loose from the light fetters with which, +for nearly a century, she considered that she had been bound. + +With Norway time has dealt kindly. In modern ages war has not +ravaged her lands. The oldest living Norseman was born too late to +fight for his country, and it is to be hoped that his grandsons and +great-grandsons may continue to live in ignorance of the horrors which +war entails. Yet are they all prepared to take up arms in defence +of hearth and home, for each able-bodied man serves his time as a +soldier, and doubtless, if occasion should arise, would prove to the +world that the old Viking spirit within him was still alive. + +It is, however, the sense of restfulness pervading everything that +is Norway's charm, and even the ordinary bustle of life is unknown +outside the towns. In the summer the beaten tracks of the country +are practically in the hands of the foreign visitors, whose money +helps not a little to support many a Norse family. In the winter +things are different, as, except perhaps in Christiania, very few +foreigners are to be met with, and the Norwegians live their own lives. + +The towns are neither numerous nor large, and, with a few exceptions, +are situated on the sea-coast. Perhaps a quarter of the whole +population of Norway is to be found in the towns, the remainder +consisting of country-folk, who live on their farms. What we term +villages barely exist, and the nearest approach to them is a group +of farms with a church in the neighbourhood. + +Christiania, the capital of the country, is the largest town, and other +towns of importance are Bergen, Trondhjem, Stavanger, Frederikstad, +Toensberg, and Christiansand, all busy seaports and picturesquely +situated. But the interest of a country such as Norway does not lie +in the towns, which, with their wide streets, stately buildings, +well-stocked shops, hotels, restaurants, places of amusement, and +crowded dwellings, do not differ very greatly from other European +towns, and a townsman's life in his town is much the same all over +the civilized world. + +Town-dwellers in all Norway number no more than the inhabitants of +Manchester, and though force of circumstance necessitates their living +in the towns, their thoughts are ever of the country--of the fjeld, +the fjord, the forest, the mountain lake, or the salmon river. In the +summer nothing pleases them better than to tramp, with knapsack on +back, for days on end, in the wilderness of the mountains, obtaining +shelter for the night at some out-of-the-way mountain farm or at one +of the snug little huts of the Norwegian Tourist Club. In the winter +they have their sleighs, snow-shoes, toboggans, and skates to assist +them in taking air and exercise, and in a Norwegian winter one does +not live in a state of uncertainty as to whether the ice will bear or +the snow be still lying on the ground when one wakes up in the morning. + +So comfortable has travelling in Norway been made for foreigners that +there is no difficulty in going anywhere. There is a railway from +Christiania to Bergen, and another from Christiania to Trondhjem. There +are regular steamers on all the fjords and along the coast, even up +to the North Cape and beyond. Wherever there are roads there is a +well-appointed service of vehicles and posting-stations, and wherever +anyone is likely to go by steamer, road, or rail there are hotels. + + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE PEOPLE AND THEIR INDUSTRIES + + +The greater number of the people are country-folk, who gain a +living by farming, timber-working, or, when living near the sea, +by fishing. Then there are a certain number of men who are soldiers +by profession, and more still who are sailors--not fighting sailors, +but serving on board the 8,000 merchant vessels which Norway possesses. + +Everyone who lives in a Norwegian town is connected one way or +another with some sort of trade or profession; and, of course, in +the seaports there are always ships coming and going, unloading and +loading, and so providing plenty of work for a great many men. In +the towns also there are, as in every civilized town, men who follow +regular professions--clergymen, merchants, bankers, lawyers, doctors, +hotel-keepers, shop-keepers, and others, as well as Government +officials, learned professors, literary men, and artists. + +As a nation Norway cannot be considered wealthy, but the fact that she +employs so many ships for trading purposes is perhaps a proof that she +is fairly prosperous. There are few really rich Norwegians, and still +fewer who are able to live as independent gentlemen on their estates; +no man can claim the right to be called noble, for the nobility of +the country was abolished by law nearly a century ago, and since +then equality has been the birthright of every Norseman. But no one +can prevent money made in trade gradually finding its way into the +pockets of a few capable men of business, and thus class distinctions +must be created. The majority of the Norwegians, however, are content +to work and earn sufficient to maintain themselves and their families +in fairly comfortable circumstances, and fortunately the products of +the country enable them to do so. + +The forests, covering as they do almost one-fourth of the area of +Norway, are of immense value, and the timber trade is a source of +income to a great number of the people. Much of it, of course, is used +in the country itself, as the houses and bridges are mostly built of +wood; but there is plenty left to be exported to England and other +foreign countries, as anyone who visits the ports in the South of +Norway can judge for himself. Between Christiansand and Christiania, +for instance, one may see enormous stores of timber awaiting shipment, +and one wonders how it will ever be shipped. Then, travelling among +the forest-clad mountains, one finds the woodman busy with his axe, +and the great bare tree-trunks being hauled down to the banks of the +torrent or river, so as to float on the waters to the low country, +and thence even to the sea-coast. Again, on lakes like the Randsfjord, +the sight presented by the gathered logs, which have floated down +from the mountains, and which are being rafted for their final voyage, +is an extraordinary one. Acres and acres of floating timber cover the +end of the lake, and the massive trunks are packed so close that you +might wander about on them at your will for hours. + +But it is not only timber in a raw state that does so much for the +prosperity of Norway, for a great trade is done also in matches as +well as in wood-pulp. The latter is a comparatively modern industry, +and its development has been rapid. Anyone who visits Christiania +and has the opportunity of taking the little town of Hoenefos in his +travels, should not fail to pay a visit to the pulping works. It is +said that in Chicago one may see a herd of swine driven in at the +front gate of a factory and brought out at another gate in the form +of sausages. At Hoenefos trees go into the works and come out as paper, +or very nearly so. + +The waterfall, which gave a name to the place, is at the meeting +of two rivers--one flowing from Spirillen Lake and the other from +the Randsfjord, and was at one time beautiful. Now, however, its +picturesqueness is marred by the presence of a barn-like structure +containing the pulping works, while the fall itself is utilized +to drive the machinery. And, it must be confessed, all this has +been brought about by an Englishman, for here at Hoenefos is made +the paper upon which is printed _Lloyd's Weekly_ and the _Daily +Chronicle_. Neither is the fact concealed, but rather boasted of in +large letters on the outside of the barn. But Norway can well spare +this one scrap from its storehouse of scenery, and the works find +regular employment for upwards of a hundred Norwegians. + +The process of pulping is simplicity itself; the trees are felled in +the forests on the hillsides close by, and sawn into blocks. Aerial +wires stretch from the felling ground to the works, and the blocks +come swinging down in baskets, to be handed over forthwith to the +mercy of the machinery. With the aid of heavy crushers and a certain +amount of water the logs are soon reduced to pulp, which then floats +away into sifters, to be eventually rolled out into flat sheets. + +An immense amount of this pulp is exported to England in sacks, +and is used for many other purposes besides paper-making. + +Another thing which we get from Norway is ice. Most of those huge +blocks of ice which you see in the fishmongers' shops in the summer +have come across the North Sea, and ice-cutting is a very important +business in the winter months. The ice is obtained principally from the +mountain lakes, and in the vicinity of Christiania long wooden chutes +are erected from the mountain-tops to the edge of the fjord. Down +these the huge cubes travel, direct from their homes to the deck of +the boat, and thus save the cost of overland transport. They are sawn +most carefully, the dimensions being about two feet each way; rope +handles are then frozen into the blocks for facility of movement, +and the cubes are stored in ice-houses until the summer, by which +time they have lost almost half their original weight. + +Next to timber, the chief export from the country is fish (including +cod-liver oil). The great fisheries are round the Lofoedden Islands +on the North-West Coast, well within the Arctic Circle, and it +is estimated that some 30,000 men and 6,000 boats are engaged in +capturing the cod from January to April each year. The fishermen +assemble from far and wide, and take up their residence for the +season in temporary huts, clustered together on the shores of the +islands. The work is arduous as well as dangerous, for storms and +heavy seas are of frequent occurrence, and tides and currents among +the islands most treacherous. And here, close to the fisheries, +is situated the dreaded whirlpool, the Maelstrom of renown. + +But it is the people's living, and in a favourable season they make +immense hauls. An ordinary catch for an ordinary day is 500 cod per +boat, and a good day will double that number, though in such a case +the boat has to make a second trip to bring the fish ashore. A simple +calculation will show that millions of cod are landed on the islands +every day. Imagine the sight and imagine the smell! + +The fish are split open and, after the roe and the liver have +been removed, hung up on hurdles to dry. Some are sold to the +fishing-smacks, which come to the islands to buy the fresh fish, and +then salt it down in barrels, or take it away to dry elsewhere. Scores +of bundles of dried cod, looking like slips of leather, may be seen +for the remainder of the year on every wharf in Norway. Who eats it +all is a mystery; but it goes to England and Spain in large quantities, +and most of us have eaten it on Ash Wednesdays. + +Cod's roe and liver are probably of more value than the fish from +which they are extracted, and there are large factories for making +cod-liver oil, not only at the Lofoeddens, but also at other places +on the coast. At Hammerfest, which boasts of being the northernmost +town in the world, the whole air is laden with the nauseous fumes +issuing from the steaming caldrons of boiling cod-liver oil. + +The fish trade of Norway is not, however, confined to cod and the +Lofoedden Isles, for in many other parts fishing is the chief industry +of the people, and hundreds of thousands of barrels of salted herrings +and sprats leave the country every year, while sardines and anchovies +are tinned or potted in the factories at Stavanger and other large +seaports. The salmon, also, for which the Norwegian rivers are famous, +are brought over to England packed in ice, and well repay the owners +of the rivers. + +Even in the depth of winter a good deal of sea fishing goes on through +the ice of the frozen fjords. The fisherman erects a shelter of some +kind to protect him from the biting wind, and within view of this he +breaks two or three holes in the thick ice. In each hole his baited +hooks are dropped down, the other end of the line being fastened +to a simple contrivance of pieces of stick, which begin to waggle +when a fish is hooked. On the Christiania Fjord numbers of these +sporting fishermen are to be seen at work all through the winter, +and judging by the frequency of their visits to their different holes, +they must take a quantity of fish. It is cold work, however, sitting +and watching for the signal to come from the hole, and one cannot +help admiring the men's energy and keenness. + +It is only natural that, living in a country where fish is so +plentiful, the people themselves should be great fish-eaters, and +the daily fish-markets at Bergen and other places on the coast are +most interesting sights. As a rule the fish are brought to market +alive in half-sunken canoes, towed astern of the fishing-boats, +and at Bergen all the bargaining is done between the buyers on the +quayside and the sellers in their boats. + +In proportion to the population the variety of occupations in Norway is +certainly great, and there are other industries besides those already +mentioned. There is, for example, a considerable trade in skins +and furs, in condensed milk, butter, and margarine, and in certain +minerals and chemicals. Employment is found also for many men on the +railways--in road-making, in boat and shipbuilding, in timber-dressing, +in mechanical engineering, in slate-quarrying, in stone-cutting, +and in mining (principally in the silver mines at Koengsberg). + +It would seem, therefore, as if there were plenty of work for the +Norwegians to do, and they are willing workers. Abject poverty, as +we know the term, has no place in Norway at present, for the country +can support its people, thanks, perhaps, to the fact that the desire +to emigrate to America and Canada is strong. + + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +ON THE FARM + + +Norway is not like England, where nearly every bit of ground is +cultivated, for nothing will grow on bare rocks, and a good deal of +Norway is barren land. In fact, except in the low country down in the +south, the only land worth cultivating lies, as a rule, in the valleys +near the fjords. There are situated all the farms, sometimes with small +orchards of apples and cherries, but more often with potato plots, +a little corn, and a great amount of grassland. As the mountains +are always so close at hand, the fields are generally strewn with +rocks and boulders, and are very uneven, so haymaking is not easy, +and such a thing as a mowing-machine would be quite useless. + +Every blade of grass that can be gathered has to be made into hay, +otherwise the ponies and cows would starve in the winter, as they +are often snowed up for weeks at a time. Haymaking is, therefore, a +great business, and the amount of grass which the Norwegians contrive +to scrape off their land is marvellous. At the best of times it only +grows to a height of about six inches, but scythes and reaping-hooks +find their way into every nook and corner, and grass that no English +farmer would trouble to cut is all raked in with the greatest +care. Parties go up the mountain-sides to ledges of the cliffs, and +on to the tops of the mountains, to make sure that nothing is wasted, +the grass being brought down to the farms to be dried. + +Long wires may be seen stretching from the valleys away up, thousands +of feet, to the tops of the mountains, and on these the bundles of +grass are tied, to come swirling down to the farmstead. There is no +time in the short Northern summer to make the hay as we make it, and +there is usually so much rain that the grass would never dry at all +if left lying on the ground; so long hurdles are put up in positions +where they will catch the sun and the wind, and on them the grass +is hung up to dry, there remaining until it has made itself into +hay. Afterwards it is stored in covered barns ready for winter use. + +The corn, also, is dried in a peculiar manner. As it is cut it is made +up into small sheaves, a number of these being tied, ears downwards, +to a pole planted upright in the ground. This makes drying rapid, +and, if wet weather sets in, the rain runs off freely. A field of +these wheat-stacks has a very odd appearance at a little distance, +and near the woods one sees similar, though somewhat larger, stacks +of branches and leaves, on which the goats are fed in the winter. + +Directly the snow has melted off the mountains the flocks and herds +are sent up to the highland pastures (saeters), usually in charge of the +younger women and girls of the farm, and there, throughout the summer, +the dairy work is carried on. As in all mountainous countries, rich +and sweet herbage follows the melting of the snow, and the cows and +goats give an abundance of good milk, which is turned into butter and +cheese, to be sold or consumed in the winter. Life at the saeter-hut, +or mountain farm, is healthy and delightful, though much hard work +has to be got through each day. + +Children seldom go to the saeters until old enough to be able to do +real work, but one often sees a girl of fourteen or so looking after +a flock of goats. She will be out with them all day as they feed +on the mountain-sides, and will do all the milking. When seen for +the first time this is rather an amusing operation, and decidedly a +practical one. The milkmaid seizes a goat, straddles her, with face +towards the goat's tail, and, stooping down, proceeds to milk. From +a little distance all you see is the goat's hind-legs emerging from +beneath a blue petticoat, which looks most peculiar. + +But the children who are too young to spend the summer at the saeters +find plenty to do at home, and they learn almost as soon as they +can toddle that there is work for everyone. Quite small boys and +girls manage to do a good day's haymaking, and they can row a boat or +drive a _carriole_ before they have reached their teens. Such things +they regard as amusements, for they have few other ways of amusing +themselves, and their one ambition is to do what their fathers and +mothers do. + +In some cases the small farmers move their whole families up to the +mountain pastures for the summer; and, in addition to the dairy work, +they rent the fishing on some of the mountain lakes, which they +net freely. The trout thus caught are split open and salted down +in barrels, eventually being sent down to the markets in the towns, +where they fetch a good price. And all these peasants possess rifles, +and are keen sportsmen, so that when August comes they go in pursuit +of the wild reindeer, and lay up a store of meat, which, salted and +dried, comes in very handy in the hard times of winter. + +As a rule the peasants eat very little meat, and what they do eat has +probably been smoked and dried and hung up for several months. A good +deal of salt fish is consumed; but the principal food is porridge +(_groed_), made of barley, rye, or oatmeal, and eaten generally with +sour buttermilk, with the addition of potatoes, when plentiful. White +bread is not found far from the towns, and the black, or rye, bread +is a heavy compound, a taste for which takes an Englishman some time +to acquire. But even that is superior to the _fladbroed_, which in +appearance and consistency resembles old boot-leather. + +The well-to-do farmer lives more sumptuously. He occasionally has fresh +meat and fresh fish, and the dried articles nearly every day. He also +indulges in cheese, usually of the commoner kind, known as _prim_, +or _mysost_, which is not unlike brown Windsor soap. There are two +other native cheeses, but they are considered somewhat expensive +luxuries. They are called _gammelost_ and _pultost_, and are made +from sour skimmed milk, being afterwards kept in a dark cellar for +a year or so to ripen. The latter is the greater delicacy, and is +stored, in a sloppy state, in wooden tubs. If you should ever chance +to see one of the tubs being produced, do not wait to see it opened, +or your nose will never forget it! + +Verily, winter is the bugbear of the struggling Norwegian countryman's +existence. Like the provident ant, he spends the greater part of the +summer in laying up for the winter, and he has not only himself and his +family to think of, but also his cattle, for if the latter cannot be +properly housed and fed he will be ruined. There are times, however, +when he contrives to throw off the constant thought of the future, +and when he can enjoy himself thoroughly. Sunday is a day of rest, +with possibly a long row across the fjord to church, after which +comes a good gossip with the neighbours, and the chance of a feast +at a friend's farm. There are also high-days and holidays, weddings +and christenings, accompanied by plentiful food and drink, as well +as by dancing and fiddling. + +But when the snow covers up the country the days are none too exciting, +though the cattle have to be fed and many odd jobs attended to. Most +of the men are handy carpenters, and can make such things as dairy +utensils, while the women in many parts weave sufficient cloth to keep +the whole family clothed. By the younger men, however, the season is +looked forward to as a time of real enjoyment. Then it is that they +get out their snowshoes and enter with zest into the grand sport +of ski-ing, or, taking their guns with them, go off on their ski to +shoot ryper or hares for the market. + +Such is the life of the ordinary small farmer and peasant; but down +by the fjords and on the beaten track of the foreign tourists the +larger farmer has grasped the situation, and has discovered the value +of having more than one string to his bow. So in summer he combines +hotel-keeping with farming. His farm produce is consumed in his hotel, +and if he is fortunate enough to have a salmon river flowing through +his land, he can be certain of a good rent for it. Thus the prosperous +farmer becomes a person of some importance in the district, and one +day, perhaps, a Member of the Storthing, or Parliament. + + + + + +CHAPTER V + +MANNERS AND CUSTOMS + + +The religion of the country is the Lutheran, almost in its original +form, for in some matters the Norwegians are most conservative. Though +not, perhaps, what we would consider a religious-minded people, they +are naturally good, honest, and kind, and they take their religion on +trust. They pay tithes, and give Easter and Christmas offerings to +their clergy willingly, since they regard the priest as a superior +person, and hold him in high esteem. He is a man, like his fellows, +and farms his own land, which appeals to the people in the country +parts. Moreover, he is possessed of learning, and away from the towns +he is mainly responsible for the national education. + +Often the journey to church is long, for the farms lie far apart, and +when the church is distant ponies or boats are brought into requisition +for the conveyance of, at any rate, the women and children. Down by +the fjord on a fine Sunday morning the sight of the boats crossing +over to a church is a picturesque one. Deep laden with men, women, +and children, they come one after another; and when they reach the +shore, the women take their clean white head-dresses and gay kerchiefs +out of the compact little _tiner_ (oval chip-wood boxes), and finish +their toilets before going up to the church. + +The Norwegian Sabbath begins on Saturday evening and ends at noon +on Sunday, after which time the day is spent in simple enjoyment +as a true holiday. Then in the evening the boats start for home, +and across the still waters one may hear the women singing glees, +as often as not to the accompaniment of the fiddle. + +A wedding causes quite as much interest and excitement in Norway as it +does in England, and in the olden time the festivities lasted for a +week or more. Nowadays the merry-making has been somewhat curtailed, +but the actual ceremony has lost none of its solemnity and little +of its brightness. In the towns civilization has robbed the wedding +of its picturesqueness. The men are clothed in their best "blacks," +as if going to a funeral, and the ladies wear dresses of Parisian +style. But away in the depths of the country one may still see a real +Norwegian wedding, with the bride and bridesmaids, if not also most of +the guests, dressed in the national costume, and it is a pretty sight. + +In front comes a _stolkjaerre_, the pony being led by the master of +the ceremonies. On the seat sits the bride in the full dress of the +country, and wearing her bridal crown; by her side the bridegroom, +also well adorned for the occasion; and, on the step of the cart, that +most important person, the fiddler, working his bow with astounding +energy. If the pony can bear the weight, perhaps a couple of the +bride's relations will sit up behind, otherwise they will walk in the +procession which follows; and there may be seen all the available +peasants of the district--young men and maidens, grandfathers and +grandchildren. + +So they wend their way to the church; and after the service, if the +good old customs be kept up, the party proceeds to a green close by +and enjoys a boisterous dance until it is time to go on to the wedding +supper. Feasting and merry-making then continue for several hours--in +fact, the sleepiness of the guests is the only thing that breaks up +the entertainment for the night. Next day the festivities are resumed, +and are possibly carried on into a third day. The fiddler is always +busy, for without him there can be no real fun, the people's love of +music being no less than their love of dancing. + +The violin is the one instrument which they know and understand, and +it has been in use among the Norwegians for hundreds of years. Their +most famous violin-player, Ole Bull, who died some few years ago, +was looked on as a great composer and musician. But all over the +country there are to be found men who can play after a fashion; and +a century or so ago, when the people were still very superstitious, +they fully believed that anyone who could play at all well had had +intercourse with the fairies, who were supposed to be marvellous +musicians and acquainted with an immense variety of beautiful tunes. + +The food provided at a peasant's wedding feast is, of course, something +out of the common, and the guests are supposed to bring a present of +something good to eat, such as fresh meat, butter, old cream, cream +porridge, or cheese, for the ordinary fare of the country folk is, +as we have said, of the plainest. + +With regard to the national costume, mentioned above, it is, +unfortunately, a fact that it is gradually disappearing. There are +parts, however, where there are no railways, no steamboats, and few +tourists, and in such places the people still live much as they did +a hundred years ago, even the men wearing clothes similar to those +worn by their grandfathers and great-grandfathers, and some of these +are quaint in the extreme. + +Perhaps the quaintest dresses are those of the people of Saetersdal, a +district in the South of Norway, between Christiansand and Telemarken; +and, when properly turned out, the men are quite as "dressy" as +the women. They wear a pair of trousers buttoned with half a dozen +silver buttons tight round the ankles, and coming right up to the +armpits. Several broad stripes adorn the legs from top to bottom. And +the coat takes the form of a curious little cape, richly embroidered +with silver, and having sleeves, fastened at the wrists with more +silver buttons. Shoes, with buckles, white stockings, and a cut-down +tall hat, gaily decorated with ribbons and embroidery, complete the +costume. The women wear short skirts--only a little below the knees--of +dark blue, with a bright trimming round the bottom; coloured stockings; +a bodice laced with silver, and covered with silver brooches and +other ornaments; a waistbelt, which is sometimes entirely of metal; +a kerchief tied over the head, after the fashion of the bandana of +West Indian negresses; and on occasions a shawl of many colours. + +A step farther north, in what is called Lower Telemarken, a similar +kind of dress still exists, though the man's waistcoat-jacket is of +a somewhat different pattern and colour, and the women wear their +skirts a trifle longer. On Sundays and great occasions the latter +also put on cloth stockings and gloves, embroidered tastefully with +trails of flowers. + +But such dresses as these are not the national costume of Norway. For +that we have to go still farther north--to the Hardanger. If an English +girl wishes to dress a doll as a typical Norwegian, the clothes would +be those of the Hardanger, and they would be these: a dark blue serge +skirt (to the ankles), trimmed with black velvet and silver braid; +a white chemisette with full sleeves; a red flannel bodice embroidered +with white, black, and silver, and glittering with brass saucer-shaped +ornaments; and a waistbelt adorned with metal buttons. The effect +is neat, bright, and decidedly piquant. The girls plait their fair +hair in two long tails, wearing a handkerchief as a head-dress; but +the married women have a most elaborate coiffure, something of the +sister-of-mercy type, consisting of the so-called _skaut_, or hood, +and the _lin_, or forehead band. It takes a considerable time to +put on, as the snow-white linen has to be most carefully stretched +over a frame, which is first fastened on the top of the head, and +then so arranged that the numerous small plaits hang in a particular +manner. This is the ordinary head-dress, though the country women +coming in to church on Sundays often wear curious old-fashioned +bonnets, which have the appearance of being heirlooms handed down +from generation to generation. + +The men do not dress up to the women. They confine themselves +to a rough trouser suit, generally of dark blue, and a black felt +hat. Even amongst the older men of the Hardanger one seldom sees the +knee-breeches and stockings which used to be worn. + + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +SCHOOL AND PLAY + + +I am not certain whether Norse boys and girls are very good, or +whether they are spoilt. You may travel all day on a steamer with +a well-to-do family from the town, or you may live in a farmhouse +with a peasant's family for a month, and the chances are that you +will never hear the parents say "Don't." One thing I am sure of: the +children who live in the country parts do very much as they please; +in the summer they go to bed when they feel tired, sometimes not +till nearly midnight; and they are not worried about getting their +boots and their clothes wet, because no Norwegian troubles his or her +head about such matters. Moreover, the life is such a simple one that +perhaps there is little opportunity for real naughtiness. + +These country children have a very easy time, as for the greater part +of the year they have no school to go to, and they spend all the +summer out in the open air, looking after the ponies, cows, sheep, +or goats, or hay-making, or rowing about, or fishing, or something +of the kind. In the winter they, as well as the town children, +are all obliged to go to school, from the age of seven to fourteen +or fifteen--_i.e.,_ until their Confirmation, and until this takes +place they receive religious instruction from the priest on Sunday +afternoons, for there is no religious teaching in the schools. + +There is a great difficulty about the country schools, because in +some districts the farms are miles and miles apart, and it would be +quite impossible for the children to walk to school and back in the +day. In such districts the Government schoolmasters have to go about +from place to place, and teach the children in their own homes. If +there should be two or three farms close together, one of the farmers +provides a schoolroom in his house, and the schoolmaster lives with +him as his guest for a time, and then goes on to another house. But +the schoolmasters must give every child twelve weeks' schooling in +the year. This does not amount to a great deal--only three months of +school in the year! + +The wonder is that the children contrive to remember anything that +they have learned, with nine long months in which to forget it. Yet +they work hard while they are about it; they are inspected every +year, and they are required to pass quite difficult examinations at +the end. It is expected, however, that before long the twelve weeks' +compulsory schooling will be increased to fifteen weeks. + +In the towns the children are not forced to attend school for more than +the twelve weeks in the year, but there are, of course, numbers of +private schools, high schools, etc., to which parents can send their +children, on payment, for a superior education. And at such schools +the work goes on for a much longer period of the year--in fact, all +through the year, except for two months in the summer and a week at +Christmas and at Easter. + +It is all much the same as our own arrangements in England. There +is the Government school, where the education is free, and there are +other schools, where a higher education is paid for. But the compulsory +schooling does not end with the seven years at the Government schools +referred to above, for there are continuation schools, at which the +pupils have to put in a further twenty-four weeks. + +In Norway there are no large public schools for boarders, so, in spite +of their long holidays, the children do not have half the fun that +English boys and girls have. There is no cricket, football, hockey, +golf, or any game of that sort, and there is not a racquet-, fives-, +or tennis-court in the land. How then, you will ask, do they manage +to amuse themselves? + +It must be remembered that the winter is much longer in Norway than it +is with us, and even if the boys wanted to play football they would not +be able to do so, as the ground is covered with snow. At that season +they have their various winter sports to keep them busy--ski-ing, +skating, tobogganing, and the like, and they do not require any other +games. In the summer, instead of playing cricket, they go for walking +tours into the mountains, or they go fishing in the rivers and lakes, +or sometimes shooting. + +Though the Norwegians boast that ball games have been played in the +country since Saga times, such games are of the most elementary kind, +and would be scorned by any English boy. But for all that the Norse +boys are every bit as manly as any other boys, because they enjoy +many forms of sport which make them so; and they are strong, because +they take plenty of exercise, and have physical drill in their schools. + +This brings us to other games played by Norwegian children--not the +games which are purchased in the shops in Christiania, Bergen, and +other towns, but the games which are played without any of the bought +things. Of course the girls have dolls and dolls' houses and dolls' +tea-parties, like the girls of every land, and there are toys of +every description in the shops. The peasant children, however, who +live far out in the country, never see a shop, and have to provide +themselves with things to play with; but it is wonderful what an +amount of amusement they can get out of an old bone, or a block of +wood, tied to a yard or two of string. + +As a rule their fathers are good hands at carving wood, so toys are +easily made for the smaller children, and one finds everywhere such +simple toys as wooden dolls, animals, miniature boats, sleighs, +and carts. + +But the real enjoyment of the Norwegian children--at any rate of the +girls--is the outdoor game, played when the weather is fine, both +in the town and in the country, wherever there are enough children +to make a game. To see a bevy of these quaint little girls throwing +heart and soul into their games is delightful, and they have scores +and scores of different ones. In most of them dancing and singing play +a great part, and the most popular form of game is what is called a +"Ring Dance," in which, as the name implies, the players join hands +and dance round in a circle. + +Many of these ring dances have their counterpart in English games, +and the tunes and words sung to them are almost similar. Whether we +adopted them from the Norwegians, or they adopted them from us, is a +matter which will probably never be decided, but several games of this +kind are common to all Europe. "Blind Man's Buff," "Hunt the Slipper," +and "Forfeits," for instance, are found nearly everywhere. Here +is the Norse version of "Round and round the Mulberry Bush," which +in some parts is called "The Washing-Maids' Dance," and in others +"Round the Juniper Bush": + + + "So we go round the juniper bush, the juniper bush, the juniper + bush, + So we go round the juniper bush early on Monday morning. + This is the way we wash our clothes, wash our clothes, wash + our clothes, + This is the way we wash our clothes early on Monday morning. + + "So we go round the juniper bush, the juniper bush, the juniper + bush, + So we go round the juniper bush early on Tuesday morning. + This is the way we ring out our clothes, ring out our clothes, + ring out our clothes, + This is the way we ring out our clothes early on Tuesday morning." + + +The washing operations proceed through the next three days of the week, +with a verse to each day. Thus on Wednesday they hang up the clothes, +on Thursday they mangle them, and on Friday iron them. Then on Saturday +they scrub the floor, and on Sunday go to church. + +With each verse the children dance hand in hand round the imaginary +juniper bush, singing lustily, and illustrating the different actions +of the washing operations. Finally, two and two and arm in arm, +they promenade round, as if going to church, and generally prolong +the walk while they sing the last verse a second time. + +Another very favourite game is _Slaengkompas_, which is perhaps best +translated almost literally as Scatter-Compass. It is a rapid game, +and full of excitement. The players grasp hands in a circle and gallop +round, singing the refrain as they go: + + + "Those who would join in _Slaengkompas_ must be tolerably quick! + One--two--three--and four--and five. + So comes _Slaengkompas_ again." + + +When the counting begins the players let go hands, and, clapping to +the tune, spin round separately until the word "five" is reached, +when they should be in position ready to join hands again and continue +to gallop round in the original circle. + +The aim of the game is to keep things going until the verse has been +sung three times, but, of course, the players often become giddy and +lose their places. + +There is not space to describe more of these ring dances here, but +there are many of them, and a great many which our English children +would do well to adopt. + +Our good old street game of "Hop-scotch" you may see played +almost anywhere in Norway under the somewhat curious name of +"Hop-in-Paradise," while in some parts "Cat's Cradle," though a milder +form of amusement, is quite popular, and a large variety of figures +is known. + +Then the girls are very fond of dressing up as brides, with crowns +and all, and having a mock wedding, with its accompanying procession +and dancing. Above all things they love dancing, and their fathers and +grandfathers play the fiddle for them for many an hour of a winter's +evening, while the mothers sing nursery rhymes to the smaller +children. And, as with the games, these jingles are more or less +the same as our own. They have "This is the house that Jack built," +with the malt, and the rat, and everything, only that they prefer +the name Jacob to Jack. They have "Fly away, Peter, fly away, Paul"; +and the baby on his mother's knee has the joy of being shaken about to +"This is the way the farmer rides, bumpety-bumpety-bump." + + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +SOME FAIRY TALES + + +Norwegian children are just as fond of fairy stories as are any +other children, and they are lucky in having a great number, for +that famous story-teller, Hans Christian Andersen, was a Dane, and +as the Danish language is very like the Norwegian, his stories were +probably known in Norway long before they were known in England. But +the Norwegians have plenty of other stories of their own, and they +love to sit by the fire of burning logs or round the stove in the +long winter evenings and listen to them. Of course, they know all +about people like Cinderella and Jack the Giant-Killer, but their +favourite hero is called by the name of Ashpot, who is sometimes a +kind of boy Cinderella and sometimes a Jack the Giant-Killer. + +The following are two stories which the little yellow-haired Norse +children gloat over: + +Once upon a time there was a man who had been out cutting wood, and +when he came home he found that he had left his coat behind, so he +told his little daughter to go and fetch it. The child started off, +but before she reached the wood darkness came on, and suddenly a +great big hill-giant swooped down upon her. + +"Please, Mr. Giant," said she, trembling all over, "don't take me +away to-night, as father wants his coat; but to-morrow night, if you +will come when I go to the _stabbur_ to fetch the bread, I will go +away with you quite quietly." + +So the giant agreed, and the next night, when she went to fetch the +bread, he came and carried her off. As soon as it was found that she +was missing, her father sent her eldest brother to look for her, but +he came back without finding her. The second brother was also sent, +but with no better result. At last the father turned to his youngest +son, who was the drudge of the house, and said: "Now, Ashpot, you go +and see if you can find your sister." + +So away went Ashpot, and no sooner had he reached the wood than he +met a bear. + +"Friend bear," said Ashpot, "will you help me?" + +"Willingly," answered the bear. "Get up on my back." + +And Ashpot mounted the bear's back and rode off. Presently they met +a wolf. + +"Friend wolf," said Ashpot, "will you do some work for me ?" + +"Willingly," answered the wolf. + +"Then jump up behind," said Ashpot, and the three went on deeper into +the wood. + +They next met a fox, and then a hare, both of whom were enlisted into +Ashpot's service, and, mounted on the back of the bear, were swiftly +carried off to the giant's abode. + +"Good-day, Mr. Giant!" said they. + +"Scratch my back!" roared the giant, who lay stretched in front of +the fire warming himself. + +The hare immediately climbed up and began to scratch as desired; but +the giant knocked him over, and down he fell on to the hearth-stone, +breaking off his fore-legs, since which time all hares have had +short fore-legs. + +The fox next clambered up to scratch the giant's back, but he was +served like the hare. Then the wolf's turn came, but the giant said +that he was no better at scratching than the others. + +"_You_ scratch me!" shouted the giant, turning impatiently to the bear. + +"All right," answered Bruin; "I know all about scratching," and he +forthwith dug his claws into the giant's back and ripped it into a +thousand pieces. + +Then all the beasts danced on the dead body of the monster, and +Ashpot recovered his sister and took her home, carrying off, at the +same time, all the giant's gold and silver. The bear and the wolf +burst into the cattle-sheds and devoured all the cows and sheep, +the fox feasted in the henroost, while the hare had the free run of +the oatfield. So everyone was satisfied. + + + +The other story is also about Ashpot, whose two elder brothers +still treated him very badly, and eventually turned him out of his +home. Poor Ashpot wandered away up into the mountains, where he met +a huge giant. At first he was terribly afraid, but after a little +while he told the giant what had happened to him, and asked him if +he could find a job for him. + +"You are just the very man I want," said the giant. "Come along +with me." + +The first work to be done was to make a fire to brew some ale, so they +went off together to the forest to cut firewood. The giant carried a +club in place of an axe, and when they came to a large birch-tree he +asked Ashpot whether he would like to club the tree down or climb up +and hold the top of it. The boy thought that the latter would suit +him best, and he soon got up to the topmost branches and held on to +them. But the giant gave the tree such a blow with his club as to +knock it right out of the ground, sending Ashpot flying across the +meadows into a marsh. Luckily he landed on soft ground, and was none +the worse for his adventure; and they soon managed to get the tree +home, when they set to work to make a fire. + +But the wood was green, and would not burn, so the giant began to +blow. At the first puff Ashpot found himself flying up to the ceiling +as if he had been a feather, but he managed to catch hold of a piece of +birch-bark among the rafters, and on reaching the ground again he told +the giant that he had been up to get something to make the fire burn. + +The fire was soon burning splendidly, and the giant commenced to brew +the ale, drinking it off as fast as it was made. Ashpot watched him +getting gradually drunk, and heard him mutter to himself, "To-night +I will kill him," so he began to think of a plan to outwit his +master. When he went to bed he placed the giant's cream-whisk between +the sheets as a dummy, while he himself crept under the bedstead. + +In the middle of the night, just as he had expected, he heard the +giant come into his room, and then there was a tremendous whack as +the giant brought his club down on to the bed. Next morning the boy +came out of his room as if nothing had happened, and his master was +very much surprised to find him still alive. + +"Hullo!" said the giant. "Didn't you feel anything in the night?" + +"I did feel something," said Ashpot; "but I thought that it was only +a sausage-peg that had fallen on the bed, so I went to sleep again." + +The giant was more astonished than ever, and went off to consult +his sister, who lived in a neighbouring mountain, and was about ten +times his size. At length it was settled that the giantess should +set her cooking-pot on the fire, and that Ashpot should be sent to +see her, when she was to tip him into the caldron and boil him. In +the course of the day the giant sent the boy off with a message to +his sister, and when he reached the giantess's dwelling he found her +busy cooking. But he soon saw through her design, and he took out of +his pocket a nut with a hole in it. + +"Look here," he said, showing the nut to the ogress, "you think you +can do everything. I will tell you one thing that you can't do: you +can't make yourself so small as to be able to creep into the hole in +this nut." + +"Rubbish!" replied the giantess. "Of course I can!" + +And in a moment she became as small as a fly, and crept into the nut, +whereupon Ashpot hurled it into the fire, and that was the end of +the giantess. + +The boy was so delighted that he returned to his old tyrant the giant +and told him what had happened to his sister. This set the big man +thinking again as to how he was to rid himself of this sharp-witted +little nuisance. He did not understand boys, and he was afraid of +Ashpot's tricks, so he offered him as much gold and silver as he +could carry if he would go away and never return. Ashpot, however, +replied that the amount he could carry would not be worth having, +and that he could not think of going unless he got as much as the +giant could carry. + +The giant, glad to get rid of him at any cost, agreed, and, loading +himself with gold and silver and precious stones, he set out with the +boy towards his home. When they reached the outskirts of the farms +they saw a herd of cattle, and the giant began to tremble. + +"What sort of beasts are these?" he asked. + +"They are my father's cows," replied Ashpot, "and you had better put +down your burden and run back to your mountain, or they may bite you." + +The giant was only too happy to get away, so, depositing his load, +which was as big as a small hill, he made off, and left the boy to +carry his treasure home by himself. + +So enormous was the amount of the valuables that it was six years +before Ashpot succeeded in removing everything from the field where +the giant had set it down; but he and all his relations were rich +people for the rest of their lives. + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE HARDANGER FJORD + + +All that is grand, all that is beautiful, will be found in the +Hardanger--the "Smiling Hardanger," as the Norwegians themselves call +it; and even if an English visitor went nowhere else, he would have +seen typical Norwegian scenery of every possible kind. + +The easiest way to go there is from Bergen, and most people bent +on a tour in Norway make a start either from Christiania or from +Bergen. Bergen itself claims to be the most beautiful town in the +country, and it really is a lovely spot, with its old wooden houses +all around the harbour, full of picturesque shipping, and with its +amphitheatre of bold mountains rising upwards almost from the centre +of the town. But Bergen has its drawbacks, and the principal one is +that it rains every day, or nearly every day. + +To reach the Hardanger from Bergen, and to go from one end of the fjord +to the other, you take a passage in one of the comfortable little +local steamers, and you begin your journey early in the morning. It +is a very pleasant way of travelling, as you sit on deck all day and +enjoy the scenery, and only go down to the saloon at meal-times. If +you do not wish to go all the way to the very end of the fjord, +there are numbers of pretty little places where you can break your +journey. But if you like you can travel throughout the day and finish +up late at night at Odda, or at Vik-i-Eidfjord, each of which is at +the head of a branch of the Hardanger Fjord. + +Let us take our tickets right through to Eidfjord, make a good long +day of it, and see what there is to be seen. For some little time +after leaving the harbour we see nothing of great interest, only a few +graceful-looking barges in full sail, reminding us of the pictures of +the old Viking ships, and flocks of seagulls fluttering and screaming +round the stern of our boat. Then the steamer begins to pick its way +through the scattered islands, some of which are mere barren granite +rocks, others partially cultivated, and with neat little farmsteads +lying snug in the valleys. + +So we go on for an hour or two, occasionally stopping off a small group +of farms, to land, perhaps, a farmer returning from the Bergen market, +or a girl coming home from her situation in the town. Presently we +come alongside a pier under an overhanging cliff, and we see the +name of the place written up on a board, just like the name of a +railway-station. This is Godoesund, a favourite holiday haunt of +the Bergen people. It is not a town or even a village, but just a +chalet-like hotel of two or three buildings, standing on the side +of a fir-clad hill, in the midst of a fairyland of creeks and wooded +islets--as pretty a spot as one could wish to see. + +Now we are nearing the Hardanger Fjord; we pass through the narrow +straits known as the Loeksund, and we enter the fjord. Glorious and +ever-changing views open out before us, as hour after hour the steamer +passes from one small station to another, dropping a mail-bag, and +perhaps a passenger or two. We pass farms lying close to the shore, +the wooden houses being in many cases painted red or white, and thus +forming a brilliant contrast to the blue-black mountains and dark +green forests which rise up behind them. We see every now and then +a clean white wooden church, and, away up on the mountain-sides we +can discern tiny specks, which, we are told, are the saeter dwellings. + +Sometimes the steamer is out in the middle of the fjord, which, in +parts, is five miles or more in width, but at other times we find +ourselves close in to a rocky precipice, and wondering how it will +be possible to avoid grounding. Above us the mountain-side rises +perpendicularly to a height of, it may be, 3,000 or 4,000 feet; +and, looking down into the clear water, we can see that it is ever +so deep. As a matter of fact, the chart tells us that hereabouts it +is a little more than 2,000 feet in depth. + +Soon we reach the bay in which is Rosendal, where one could spend +a very pleasant week or so, with trout fishing to be had in the +streams and lakes, and mountain walks up to the edge of the great +Folgefond snowfield. The steamer calls for a few minutes, and then +goes on up the beautiful little branch fjord known as the Mauranger, +at the extremity of which lies Sundal. + +The scenery here is delightful, and especially so at the spot where +the Bondhus Valley is seen stretching down to the fjord. Half-way +up the valley a round-topped mountain appears to bar the way, and +farther off a blue-grey glacier--the Bondhus Brae--is seen falling +from the white snowfield, and choking the head of the vale. + +Those who have the mind to do so can wander up to the glacier, sleep +the night at a saeter, and on the following day hire a sleigh, and +career for miles over the vast field of perpetual snow, right across +the headland to Odda. And great is the joy of plunging suddenly, +on a hot August day, into the depths of winter. + +But our steamer does not stay here long--only long enough to put some +Norwegian passengers on shore, and take fresh ones on board. This +occupies some time, however, for Norse people, and especially the +ladies, refuse to be hurried. It is amusing to watch them starting +on their travels. All their friends come to see them off, although +it is quite possible that the traveller is only going to the next +station on the fjord, not a dozen miles away. Each friend bears +some small package--a pot of cranberry jam, a basket of apples or +cherries, a bag of cakes, or something of that kind. The gaily-painted +wooden trunks and the _tiners_ are stowed away on board; and then the +"farvels" commence, with kisses and handshakes, and pats on the back, +and many last words until the bell rings for the steamer's departure, +when a lady passenger suddenly discovers that she has left something +behind. The wildest confusion follows, and away run all the friends to +fetch it from the house, returning just in time. Then the good-byes +begin again, and as the steamer finally departs, everyone shouts, +"Farvel! farvel! farvel!" frequently and rapidly; hats are raised, +and handkerchiefs continue waving until the boat can no longer be seen. + +Returning down the Mauranger Fjord we steam out across the main +fjord, and early in the afternoon call at several small places on the +northern shore--Bakke, Vikingnaes, Nordheimsund--each with its spruce +hotel, enticing the traveller to loiter and explore the country in +the neighbourhood. A little later we enter the Fiksensund, a narrow +branch fjord, and a wonder of wonders. For a distance of seven miles +it wends its way amongst the mountains. In places the precipitous +hillsides are within a hundred yards of each other, and in no part is +this extraordinary fjord-arm a third of a mile in width. For thousands +of feet sheer out of the water rise the bold walls of granite, with +here and there a ledge thickly wooded with fir and birch. It looks as +if the mountains had been torn asunder to admit the sea, and local +legends say that a spiteful giantess did this and many other nasty +things in the giant age. Half-way up the fjord the steamer fires a +gun, so that the passengers may hear the echo, and the sound comes +back time after time from every nook and cranny. At the end is Botnen, +with a road running away north to other farms, and eventually to the +railway from Bergen to Vossevangen. + +Again we return to the main fjord, and before long enter the +Gravensfjord, wherein lies Eide, a kind of junction of the +steamer-routes, and a very touristy place, as there is a good +driving-road to Voss. The Bergen steamer continues its way up +the Soerfjord to Odda, which is reached late at night; but we, +who are bound for Eidfjord, change into a small branch steamer, +and are soon rounding a mighty headland, and, if there is any wind, +getting a tossing for a few minutes, the fjord just here being wide +and open. The head of a seal may occasionally be seen bobbing up +and down, and large flocks of duck are always swimming about at a +respectful distance from the steamer. And what a view we have across +the expanse of water! The never-ending mountains stretch away one +behind the other, to be crowned in the distance by the dazzling white +snowfield, lighted up by the fast sinking sun. + +And when the sun goes down the scenery, as we steam on, changes +each moment. In the twilight the granite cliffs stand out black and +uninviting, and the country looks cold and grey. It may be that +we are tired of the long journey, for with the growing darkness +comes the feeling that something to eat and bed would be pleasant +things. Then the steamer's whistle makes us spring to our feet, and, +peering ahead, we see lights on the Vik jetty and in the hotel close +by. In a few minutes we are in Naesheim's comfortable dining-room, +enjoying our well-deserved supper after a day of days on Norway's +most glorious fjord. + + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A GLIMPSE OF THE FJELDS + + +"Fjeld-weather" is the Norwegian term for fine, warm, bright days. It +implies that the weather is suitable for a tour on the mountains. But, +alas! it is not the weather that is always encountered there, for +even in the summer the climate of the high plateau is ever varying, +and though there may be a long spell of fine, hot weather, with +a glorious crisp air, yet at any moment a change of the wind may +bring a week of soaking rain, sleet, possibly snow, and a fall of +temperature by twenty degrees. That is no time for the fjelds, and +the traveller is better off in a fjordside hotel. + +Given fine weather, there is no more splendid touring ground than the +highlands of Norway, where, at a height of anything up to 4,000 or +5,000 feet above the sea, stretch thousands of square miles of wild and +uninhabited moorland, cut up with numerous large lakes, and clothed +only with a dwarf vegetation. Such parts usually lie off the beaten +track, and to reach them means an expedition--heavy, uphill walking +for two or three days, with the baggage carried on the backs of ponies. + +If you were going to undertake an expedition to these high fjelds, +you would probably make a start from the lowlands by following +some well-worn track leading to a saeter. In nine cases out of ten +the track will be running by the side of a river, at first wide and +flowing lazily through the valley, but soon narrowing, until its upper +waters become a rushing mountain torrent, swishing between mighty +boulders. After a while you find that the path gradually begins to +ascend by zigzags up the mountain-side, and the scenery, whenever +you pause to look down, is magnificent. In time you reach the upland +pastures, with here and there a saeter-dwelling, and this is the end +of the first stage of your journey, for you probably will have climbed +some 2,000 feet and walked a dozen miles or more. Thus you will be glad +enough to accept the hospitality offered to you by the simple peasants. + +All these saeter-huts are much alike, though, of course, they vary +in size and in the way in which they are fitted up; but as they are +only occupied during the summer months, luxurious fittings are not +considered a necessity. The outer walls are constructed of fir-trunks, +let into one another at the corners on the log-hut principle, and +the interior is lined with boarding. In some parts, however, where +timber is scarce the buildings are of stone. + +The roof consists of rough planks, on which is placed a layer of +birch-bark to fill in the cracks; and on the top, again, are laid +sods of earth to a thickness of about a foot. Grass and weeds soon +cover the roof, binding it together and keeping the rain out. + +The door opens into a dark hall or chamber, which serves as a +receptacle for rubbish of all kinds--fishing-nets, tools, skins, +empty milk-pans, and the like; and in the corner is a roughly-built +fireplace for boiling the milk and for cooking. On one side of this +hall is the door into the sole living apartment, which possesses +a window at one end, and against one of the side walls a couple of +bunks, wherein three or four dairymaids sleep. + +Sometimes there is a separate room, or even a detached hut, +for the dairy work; but there is generally only the one room, +the milk being set in large, shallow wooden vessels on a number of +shelves fixed against one of the walls. Everything is scrupulously +clean, and the cattle women are working hard all the long daylight +hours. Periodically a man from the farm in the lowlands comes up to +the saeter with a couple of ponies and takes down butter and cheese, +and such visits are the only excitement in saeter-life. + +If you have time to linger here for a day or two you will be made +welcome, and you will find plenty to interest you. The views down into +the deep valleys and away to the fjords in the distance are always +delightful, and there may be a stream with pools holding trout worth +trying for. The tiny rivulets which trickle down from the hills are +lined with ferns and forget-me nots, and elsewhere may be seen flowers +of every hue--red Alpine catchfly, blue meadow cranesbill, hawksweed, +wild radis, and a score of other pretty things. + +But the greatest joy of all is the sight of a wide marsh covered with +the delicious _multebaer_, whose luscious, yellow fruit and gold-red +leaves brighten the country-side. This is the cloudberry, found in +Scotland and in the North of England, and to come on a stretch of +this fruit after a long, hot walk is a thing worth living for. Besides +this best of all Norse wild fruits, the fjelds produce many excellent +berries, such as crowberries, whortleberries, marsh whortleberries, +bearberries, dewberries, cranberries, and others. The children of the +country parts all over Norway spend much of their time in feasting +on these little fruits, and during the summer and autumn months their +hands and faces are generally well stained with the dark juice. + +Upwards, beyond these pleasant pastures, when you have left behind +the last saeter-shanty and the last thicket of birches, you reach a +world where, except for the scattered Tourist Club huts and their +summer caretakers, you cannot count on coming across either dwelling +or human being. + +Wandering far afield, you may meet a couple of Lapps with their herd +of reindeer, and down by one of the tarns you may chance on a rough +stone shelter, inhabited for the time being by two Norwegian fishermen, +whose nets are laid in the mountain lake. + +All over this lofty wilderness the snow lies deep for several months +of the year, but as soon as it begins to thaw it disappears rapidly, +when, as in Switzerland, Nature's garden immediately blossoms forth +in all its glory. It must be confessed, however, that the carpet of +Alpine flowers on the Norwegian high-fjelds cannot compare with that of +Switzerland. On the great mountain plateau of Norway everything gives +way to the lichen-like reindeer moss, and the flowers are merely in +patches, or growing in masses only in those swampy parts where the +moss does not thrive. + +The fjelds furnish a recreation-ground for the Norwegian +townsman. There he can lead the life that he loves best, and one week +of the wilds will set him up for the remainder of the year. Even though +he cares nothing for shooting or fishing, the sense of freedom as he +does his daily tramp delights his soul. And his wife or his sister as +often as not will accompany him, for the Norwegian ladies are brave +walkers, and know how to rough it. + +But the majority of Norsemen are good sportsmen and good fishermen, +and in most seasons there are plenty of fjeld-ryper to be shot and good +hauls of trout to be made in the mountain lakes and connecting streams. + +But what is the country like up here on the very summit of +everything? It is called a plateau; but that does not mean that it +is absolutely level, for, as a matter of fact, there is no part of +it level enough to be made into a football ground. It is all up and +down, and every here and there are low hills, with occasionally great +prominent, rounded mountain-tops, rising to a height of 500 or 600 +feet above the plateau. Then there are chains of lakes, often several +miles in length, acres of swampy ground in every direction, shallow +ravines filled with a jumble of rocks and boulders, and constant sand +mounds, partly overgrown with grass and dwarf juniper. And up here +are the snowfields, about which we shall have more to say presently. + +It is all weird and wild and wonderful, and if there be no wind the +silence is intense, and only broken by the bark of an Arctic fox from +some rocky hillside or by the plaintive call of a golden plover. + +Why, it may be asked, should anyone wish to go to such a desolate +place? Only to shoot or to fish, to gather in a store of the purest +air in the world, or perhaps to enjoy a period of calm and quiet +solitude--world-forgetting, by the world forgot. + + + + + +CHAPTER X + +WILD NATURE--BEASTS + + +In a country like Norway, with its vast forests and waste moorlands, +it is only natural to find a considerable variety of animals and +birds. Some of these are peculiar to Scandinavia. Some, though only +occasionally met with in the British Isles, are not rare in Norway; +whilst others (more especially among the birds) are equally common +in both countries. + +There was a time when the people of England lived in a state of fear +and dread of the ravages of wolves and bears, and the Norwegians of +the country districts even now have to guard their flocks and herds +from these destroyers. Except in the forest tracts of the Far North, +however, bears are not numerous, but in some parts, even in the South, +they are sufficiently so to be a nuisance, and are ruthlessly hunted +down by the farmers. As far as wolves are concerned civilization is, +fortunately, driving them farther afield each year, and only in the +most out-of-the-way parts are they ever encountered nowadays. Stories +of packs of hungry wolves following in the wake of a sleigh are still +told to the children in Norway, but they relate to bygone times--half +a century or more ago, and such wild excitements no longer enter into +the Norsemen's lives. + +Yet less ferocious animals give the people trouble enough, and +amongst these may be mentioned the lynx and the wolverine, or glutton, +each of which will make his supper off a sheep or a goat if he gets +the chance. Of the two the lynx is perhaps the worse poacher, and +his proverbial sharpness renders him difficult to catch. Not so the +glutton, who, if he succeeds in crawling through a hole in the fence +of a sheepfold, stuffs himself so full that he cannot get out again. I +think that most of us would rather be called lynx-eyed than gluttonous, +and certainly a lynx is a much handsomer beast than a glutton. + +With the exception of the rabbit, all our English animals are found +in Norway--the badger, fox, hare, otter, squirrel, hedgehog, polecat, +stoat, and the rest of them. But besides these there are little Arctic +foxes and Arctic hares, with bluish-grey coats in the summer and +snowy-white ones in the winter. This change of colour is a provision +of Nature, rendering these particular animals, and some birds also, +almost invisible among the snows. The ermine is another instance of +this. In summer he is just an ugly little brown stoat; but in winter +he comes out in pure white, with a jet-black tip to his tail, a skin +worth a lot of money. + +Of all these small Norwegian animals perhaps the most interesting +is the lemming, who, for some reason best known to himself, does not +trouble to put on a white coat in the winter, but keeps to his stripy +jacket all the year round. He lives everywhere--up on the mountains +and down in the valleys, and is hardly as large as an ordinary rat; +but woe betide the dog that brings him to bay, for if he finds his +road to escape barred, he will sit up and fight to the death, and he +knows how to bite. Yet he would much rather run away if he could, +as in ordinary life he is quite peacefully inclined, and feeds on +nothing more than grass and herbs and roots. + +But there is a peculiarity about the lemming which makes the +country-folk of Norway more afraid of him than of any other animal. In +most years you may wander about the country for weeks and never see a +lemming, but occasionally there comes what is called a "lemming-year," +when more young lemmings are born than usual, and then the trouble +begins. They eat up everything round about their homes, and they begin +to wander in search of food in packs of thousands, like swarms of +locusts. The farmers try to destroy them, but they soon give up the +attempt, as for days and days the lemmings come on in great waves, +eating up the grass and the crops wherever they pass. Except the sea, +nothing will stop them when once they have made a start; they come +down the mountain-sides, swim the rivers and streams, rush through the +forests, and, eating as they go, devastate the farm-lands. They do not +wander hither and thither, but keep to the same direction straight +ahead, until they eventually reach the sea. Whether they think that +it is only another river to be crossed, or whether they think that +they have done enough damage for one lifetime, nobody knows; but into +the sea they all plunge madly, and, of course, are soon drowned. + +This, however, does not end the nuisance, for thousands of them +die as they sweep over the country, leaving their dead bodies to +poison the water, and thus making the people ill with what they term +"lemming fever." So the pretty little lemmings are on occasions +more to be dreaded than are even bears and wolves, but fortunately +"lemming-years" do not come round very often, and the whole country +is not visited by the pest at the same time. They made their last +big raid in several districts in 1902, and they may come swarming +down from the mountains again any summer. + +I must now say something about the wild animals which are helpful +to the people in that they provide them with food and bring money to +their pockets. Foxes and other fur-bearing animals will always fetch +good prices. There are also the hares, especially the white ones, +which are shot and snared in winter-time in great quantities, and +sold all over Europe. You may see them hanging up in the poulterers' +shops in London. Then there is that huge beast, the elk, almost as +big as a small horse, who roams about the forests like his Canadian +brother, the moose, and is hunted and shot for his flesh, skin, and +massive flat horns. Red deer there are also in some parts of Norway; +but the animal of greatest interest is undoubtedly the reindeer. + +Up on the great mountain plateaux there are still plenty of wild +reindeer roaming about in large herds, and numbers of them are shot +every autumn by the farmers, who sell the skins, and dry the meat +to be eaten in the winter months. It is, however, the so-called tame +reindeer which are so invaluable to the people of the North. Without +them it would be difficult, if not impossible, for the Laplanders to +exist, and without them thousands of Norwegians would be poor indeed. + +It is a popular idea that, in the winter, reindeer draw the sleighs +all over Norway. As a matter of fact, it is only in the extreme North, +among the Lapps, that reindeer are employed for this kind of work; and +very few Europeans ever have the opportunity of enjoying a drive in a +reindeer "pulk," as the queer sleigh is called. That the experience +is most exhilarating and exciting is certain. In the first place, +there is only one trace, connecting a kind of shoulder harness with +the forepart of the sleigh; again, there is only one rein coming from +a collar round the deer's neck, and consequently driving a reindeer +as we drive a horse is, of course, out of the question. All that +it is possible to do is to head him in the required direction, and +hope for the best. A jerk of the rein sets him going; and, as often +as not, he starts at a frantic gallop, kicking up the snow into the +driver's face until he is almost blinded, and careering right and +left at his own sweet will until he is tired. There is no difficulty +about keeping to the road, because there are no roads--only miles and +miles of snow, and the reindeer knows pretty well which way to go, +since the camping-places and habitations in these regions are limited. + +Imagine what it would be like to jump into a boat-like "pulk" all +alone--for there is only room for one--twist the rein round your wrist, +give it a flick, and so away over the waste of snow, watching the +great antlers of the deer in front of you, and flinging yourself from +side to side to prevent capsizing. And, if you do happen to upset, +you must hang on to the rein like grim death and be dragged over the +snow, otherwise the reindeer will either fly like the wind and be lost, +or he may turn on you and attack you with his fore-hoofs. + +These are the animals which are called the tame reindeer, but +their tameness only consists in the fact that they are kept in herds +together, and watched by men and dogs. They graze wherever they choose, +and the men and the dogs have to follow them. When they are wanted +for driving, to be milked, or to be killed, the Lapp has to lasso +them over the horns, from a distance of thirty or forty yards, for no +reindeer is ever sufficiently tame to permit a man to walk up to him. + +The wealth of a Laplander depends on the number of reindeer which he +possesses. They carry his baggage and draw his sleighs when encampments +are moved; they provide him with milk and cheese, and, when killed, +with excellent meat. Their skins keep him warm at night, and out of +them are made boots, shoes, and leggings, as well as every kind of +article of leather which the Lapp has a use for. Horns, hoofs, and +bones all have their value, and not so long ago the women did all +their sewing with needles and threads made out of reindeer's bones +and sinews. Moreover, after supplying their own wants, the herdsmen +can sell the surplus meat and skins, and thus obtain the wherewithal +to buy other necessaries or luxuries. + +Cows, horses, sheep, goats, or pigs would be out of place in Lapland, +and would find nothing to eat. But the "camel of the Arctic Desert," +as the reindeer has been called, thrives in the cold without care or +shelter, and subsists on the moss, which he obtains by scraping deep +holes in the snow. Small wonder that he is a valuable beast to the +Laplander, who, however, repays him only with blows and lashes. + +Farther south, on the Hardanger Fjeld and elsewhere, herds of tame +reindeer have now been established by Norwegian companies as a new +industry. Lapps are hired to look after them, and the meat is sold +in great quantities in many parts of Europe, especially in Paris. A +good trade is done also in the skins, for glove-making and other +purposes. It is by no means difficult to have a look at one of these +herds, and any visitor to Norway who finds himself within a day's +climb of the mountains whereon a herd is known to be grazing should do +his utmost to see the reindeer. He will find them not, like the deer +in Richmond Park, waiting to be looked at, but timid and restless, +and ready to take flight at the slightest provocation. Only the Lapp +herdsmen and their dogs are able to control these wild children of +a wild land. + + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +WILD NATURE--BIRDS + + +What a place Norway must be for birds'-nesting! There, if one went at +the right time, and did not mind roughing it, one might find eggs which +one could never come across in England, although laid by birds which +are called British. But the Norwegians protect a great many of their +birds by law in the same way as we do, and if this had only been done +a hundred years ago the Great Auk would not have disappeared for ever. + +Most of our British birds are found in Norway at some time of the year, +and many of our rarer birds are almost common in Norway--golden eagles, +snowy owls, ravens, ring-ouzels, and crested tits, for instance. As +with us, there are resident birds and migratory birds. Nearly all the +kinds of birds which come from the South in the summer months to nest +in the British Isles also go farther North and nest in Norway. You will +find swallows, martins, cuckoos, warblers, and others of our summer +birds all nesting over there, and you will find some varieties of +southern birds which do not come to England, but go straight up from +Eastern or Central Europe to breed in the cool of the North. Amongst +these may be mentioned the blue-throated warbler, ortolan bunting, +Lapland bunting, shore lark, red-throated pipit, tree warbler, and +many others. + +Then there are birds which are common enough in England in the winter, +but which mostly go away to Norwegian breeding-grounds, such as geese, +ducks, woodcock, and snipe; while bramblings, fieldfares, and redwings +are birds of the North, and never nest in Great Britain. Besides +these, there are a certain number of birds which have no claim to be +termed British, and which are found in Norway all the year round--the +nut-cracker, several kinds of woodpecker, the ryper (the game-bird of +the country), and others. And, on the other hand, some of our common +resident birds migrate from Norway in the winter. + +The house-sparrow is as much at home in Norway as he is in every other +land, but in winter he sticks close to the habitations, and were it +not for the fact that the people are bird-lovers, sparrows would have +a poor chance of picking up a living at this time of the year. Towards +the end of autumn it is a general custom to erect near the house a +sheaf of corn on a pole, so that the small birds may have something +to eat when the hard weather comes. And the ceremony of putting up +the pole is made the occasion for a feast for the children. They are +thus not likely to forget the birds, and even in the towns one sees +these bundles of corn hanging outside the windows. + +It is, perhaps, a little disappointing to find that robins in Norway +are not associated with Christmas, but the fact remains that they are +not brave enough to risk starvation, and though a few of them are said +to stay in the country, the bulk of them leave in September. But the +wren takes the place of the robin as far as tameness and impertinence +are concerned, as in winter he attaches himself to the peasant's +cottage and makes himself quite at home, being known either as +"Peter-of-the-Afternoon" or as "Tommy-round-the House." Magpies +also are great favourites with the country people at this season, +as they become quite tame, and hop in and out of the cottages. They +are regularly fed, and no one would dream of molesting them. + +The Norwegians have several quaint old legends connected with some +of their birds. This is the story of the gold-crest, known in Norway +as the "bird king": + +"Once upon a time the golden eagle determined to be publicly +acknowledged as king of the birds, and he called a meeting of every +kind of bird in the world. As many of the birds would come from +tropical countries, he appointed a day in the warmest month; and the +place he chose was a vast tract called Groenfjeld, where every species +of bird would feel at home, since it bordered on the sea, yet was +well provided with trees, shrubs, flowers, rocks, sand, and heather, +as well as with lakes and rivers full of fish. So on the morning of +the great congress the birds began to arrive in a steady stream, and +by noon every description of bird was represented--even the ostrich +(though how he contrived to cross the seas the story does not say). The +eagle welcomed them, and when the last hummingbird had settled down he +addressed the meeting, saying that there was no doubt that he had a +right to demand to be proclaimed their king. The spread of his wings +was prodigious, he could fearlessly look at the sun, and to whatever +height he soared he could detect the slightest movement of a fly on +the earth. But the birds objected to him on account of his predatory +habits, and then each in turn stated his own case as a claimant for +the kingship--the ostrich could run the fastest, the bird of paradise +and the peacock could look the prettiest, the parrot could talk the +best, the canary could sing the sweetest, and every one of them, +for some reason or other, was in his own opinion superior to his +fellows. After several days of fruitless discussion it was finally +decided that whichever bird could soar the highest should be, once +and for all, proclaimed king." + +"Every bird who could fly at all tried his best, and the golden +eagle, confident of success, waited till last. Eventually he spread +his wings, and as he did so an impudent little gold-crest hopped +(unbeknown to his great rival) on to his back. Up went the eagle, +and soon outdistanced every other bird. Then, when he had almost +reached the sun, he shouted out, 'Well, here I am, the highest of +all!' 'Not so,' answered the gold-crest, as, leaving the eagle's back, +he fluttered upwards, until suddenly he knocked his head against +the sun and set fire to his crest. Stunned by the shock, the little +upstart fell headlong to the ground, but, soon recovering himself, he +immediately flew up on to the royal rock and showed the golden crown +which he had assumed. Unanimously he was proclaimed _fuglekongen_ +(king of the birds), and by this name," concludes the legend, "he +has ever since been known, his sunburnt crest remaining as a proof +of his cunning and daring." + +In those parts of Norway where the gold-crest is rarely seen the +same story, omitting the part about the sun and the burnt crest, +is told of the common wren, who is said to have broken off his tail +in his great fall. And to this is applied a moral, viz.: Proud and +ambitious people sometimes meet with an unexpected downfall. + +Besides the three British woodpeckers, there are four other kinds +resident in Norway, and of these the great black woodpecker is the +largest. The woodmen consider it to be a bird which brings bad luck, +and avoid it as much as possible. They call it "Gertrude's Bird" +because of the following legend: "Our Saviour once called on an old +woman who lived all alone in a little cottage in an extensive forest +in Norway. Her name was Gertrude, and she was a hard, avaricious +old creature, who had not a kind word for anybody, and although she +was not badly off in a worldly point of view, she was too stingy and +selfish to assist any poor wayfarer who by chance passed her cottage +door. One day our Lord happened to come that way, and, being hungry +and thirsty, he asked of Gertrude a morsel of bread to eat and a +cup of cold water to drink. But no, the wicked old woman refused, +and turned our Saviour from the door with revilings and curses. Our +Lord stretched forth His hand towards the aged crone, and, as a +punishment, she was immediately transformed into a black woodpecker; +and ever since that day the wicked old creature has wandered about +the world in the shape of a bird, seeking her daily bread from wood +to wood and from tree to tree." The red head of the bird is supposed +to represent the red nightcap worn by Gertrude. + +Legends of this description were doubtless introduced in the early days +of Christianity in order to impress the new religion on the people, +and several have been preserved. Thus the turtle-dove is revered +as a bird which spoke kind words to our Lord on the cross; and, +similarly, the swallow is said to have perched upon the cross and to +have commiserated with Him; while the legend of the crossbill relates +how its beak became twisted in endeavouring to withdraw the nails, +and how to this day it bears upon its plumage the red blood-stains +from the cross. + +Yet one more Christian legend--about the lapwing, or peewit: "The +lapwing was at one time a hand-maiden of the Virgin Mary, and stole +her mistress's scissors, for which she was transformed into a bird, +and condemned to wear a forked tail resembling scissors. Moreover, the +lapwing was doomed for ever and ever to fly from tussock to tussock, +uttering the plaintive cry of 'Tyvit! tyvit!'--_i.e.,_ 'Thief! thief!'" + +In the old Viking times, before Christianity had found its way so far +North, the bird which influenced the people most was the raven. He +was credited with much knowledge, as well as with the power to bring +good or bad luck. One of the titles of Odin was "Raven-god," and he +had as messengers two faithful ravens, "who could speak all manner +of tongues, and flew on his behests to the uttermost parts of the +earth." In those days the figure of a raven was usually emblazoned +on shield and standard, and it was thought that as the battle raged +victory or defeat could be foreseen by the attitude assumed by the +embroidered bird on the standard. And it is well known that William +the Conqueror (who came of Viking stock) flew a banner with raven +device at the Battle of Hastings. + +But the greatest use of all to which the sable bird was put was to +guide the roving pirates on their expeditions. Before a start was +made a raven was let loose, and the direction of his flight gave the +Viking ships their course. In this manner, according to the old Norse +legends, did Floki discover Iceland; and many other extraordinary +things happened under the auspices of the raven. + + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +WATERFALLS, SNOWFIELDS, AND GLACIERS + + +A really fine waterfall is a most fascinating thing. Long before you +reach it you hear the roar of the water, and see the spray ascending +like steam from a boiling caldron. Then when you stand before it, +you gaze in wonder on the never-ending rush of water, hurtling in +one great mass from top to bottom of the lofty cliff, or leaping in +mighty bounds from ledge to ledge. + +Nowhere in Europe can one see such a variety of waterfalls as in +Norway, for every district has its _fos_, and in some districts the +cascades are innumerable. In the Romsdal, for instance, an English +traveller once counted within a mile no fewer than seventy-three +waterfalls, "none of which were less than 1,000 feet high, while +some plunged down 2,000 feet." But the majority of these would only +consist of a single thread of water, not of that great, broad sheet +which is the feature of the more famous falls. + +Which of Norway's many waterfalls is the finest is a matter of +opinion. Some people give the palm to the Rjukanfos (Telemarken), some +to the Skjaeggedalsfos [2] (or Ringedalsfos), some to the Voeringfos, +while others maintain that the Vettifos, the Tvindefos, and the +Tyssedalsfos are without rivals. The fact is that each of these +(and other falls which could be named) has its own particular charm, +and the last one visited always seems to be the best. A great deal +also depends on the time of year, and on the amount of snow which has +fallen on the mountains during the preceding winter. For, it must be +remembered, it is the rapid melting of the snow in the spring that +gives to most of the Norwegian waterfalls such a volume of water in +the early months of the year. + +But the summer rainfall on the high fjelds is always heavy, and +even after all the snow of the year has melted, an immense amount +of water has to drain away to the lowlands, and so to the sea. At +first it collects in the tarns which fill the hollows of the mountain +plateaux, but these, overflowing, soon send their surplus water by +certain channels away over the cliffs. + +The greater waterfalls, however, are those which indirectly carry off +the water from the snowfields, the mountains capped with perpetual +snow; for, except during the frost-bound months of winter, these +falls are always full. + +The snowfields are of themselves of immense interest, but so intimately +are they connected with the glaciers that we shall speak of the two +together. A snowfield may exist without a glacier, but a glacier +cannot exist without a snowfield--that is to say, the glacier is made +by the snowfield. + +How snowfields came into existence nobody knows for certain, but it +is generally supposed by learned people who have studied the matter +that, thousands of years ago, after what is called the Great Ice Age, +Norway gradually put off her mantle of ice and snow and became what +she is now; but the snow on the higher parts of the land has never +yet had time to melt right away, because fresh snow is always falling +and adding to the pile. And it is the weight of all this fresh snow on +the top of the accumulation of centuries which produces the glaciers. + +The Folgefond, in the Hardanger district, is the snowfield which most +people who visit Norway see sooner or later, and since it covers +an area of 120 square miles, at a height of about 5,500 feet above +the sea, it is visible from a great many points of view. It forms a +background to many a picture of the varied scenery of the Hardanger +Fjord, and it has the advantage of being easily accessible. + +Of course, the belief in the old popular legends is dying out even in +Norway, but there are still some aged grandfathers and grandmothers +living near the great snowfield who can tell the tales as they were +told to them. Thus they relate that where the Folgefond now lies was +once a fertile and well-peopled valley, called Folgedalen, and that in +one night its farms, forests, people, and cattle were buried in snow as +a judgment for some great sin. One story ascribes the misfortune to the +curse of a gipsy woman, who had been refused alms by the priest; while +another relates that the valley was overwhelmed because the inhabitants +had murdered their liege lord, the petty King of the district. + +But why it happened and how it happened does not really much matter, +for there the vast field of snow is to-day, and there it will doubtless +remain for many centuries to come. As has been said, you can go up +to the top of it and sleigh across a portion of its summit, or you +can potter round about it and examine its many glaciers. + +The two largest glaciers of the Folgefond are the Buar Brae, near +Odda, and the Bondhus Brae, near Sundal, and to spend a day at either +of them is a real treat. But it is not wise to visit these glaciers +without someone who knows them, for one might easily fall into one +of the great fissures in the ice, known as crevasses, especially if +lately-fallen snow had hidden the opening of the mighty crack. + +A glacier, as most people know (now that everyone goes to Switzerland, +if not to Norway), is nothing more than a river of ice; not a nice, +clean, smooth sheet of ice, but a rough mass of frozen billows, +almost blue in colour, and generally covered with sand, dust, and +stones of all sizes. Wherever, beneath the edge of a snowfield, +the country shapes itself into a valley, there you will find a glacier. + +If you make a snowball, and keep pressing and kneading it in your +hands, you will soon convert it into a solid lump of ice. That is +just what the sun does to the snowfield. It keeps melting the new +snow, and this presses down into the old snow, so that the weight +of the whole thing squeezes out the frozen snow into the valleys in +the form of glaciers. And, as this process goes on year after year, +the glacier would naturally keep going lower and lower down into the +valley were it not for the fact that the point (or snout, as it is +termed) of the glacier very frequently breaks off, and disappears into +the torrent of ice-water which flows away from it. So some glaciers, +although always moving, never grow any longer, but others creep a +little bit farther down each year. + +There are many other interesting things about a glacier. One of them +is the moraine, which consists of heaps of rocks and stones broken off +from the edges of the valley by the great river of ice as it pushes +its way imperceptibly forward. These rocks are embedded in the ice +or borne on its surface, and are only given up when the extremity +of the glacier melts away into the torrent. Some of the rocks thus +transported are of immense weight, and the torrent is powerless to +move them; year by year, therefore, the jumbled heap of boulders and +rocks is added to until it often grows to an enormous size. + +Another fine snowfield in the Hardanger district is the Joekul, +a splendid white dome, whose melting snows help to swell the +Voeringfos. The Joekul does not possess many large glaciers, but one +of them has, in past years, been a great source of trouble to the +people who live near it. This is the Rembesdal glacier, at the far +end of the Simodal Valley, near Eidfjord. + +The Simodal is a beautiful and fertile valley, with farms on either +bank of the river, which rushes through it to the fjord. This river +comes from the glacier, but not directly. The head of the valley is +choked by a high cliff, over which tumbles a grand waterfall, and +this issues from a large mountain lake, into the opposite end of which +descends the snout of the glacier, with a continuous stream of milky +water flowing from it. So far there is nothing peculiar in all this, +but the peculiarity lies higher up. + +Some little distance up the glacier, and almost at right angles to one +side of it, is a rocky hollow or small valley, and into this the water +begins to pour in the spring as soon as the sun is strong enough to +begin to melt the snow. The great glacier blocks up the end of this +hollow with a thick dam of ice, and before long a huge lake is formed. + +What used to happen every two or three years was that the pressure of +the water in this dammed-up lake became so tremendous that the glacier +at last could resist it no longer. Away went the side and lower part +of the glacier, and with one mighty crash the water escaped. Down +into the lower lake, and over the waterfall, the wall of solid water, +several feet in height, descended into the valley. There it carried +destruction far and wide, sweeping away crops, cattle, farm buildings, +bridges, and everything that came in its way. The loss of life also +was often considerable, for there was no warning other than the roar +of the water as it burst into the valley. + +A few years ago, however, some Norwegian engineers devised a means of +averting these terrible floods by enabling the upper lake to empty +itself gradually. They constructed under the glacier an iron-lined +tunnel, connecting the upper lake with the lower, and in this way the +water escaped at once. So the people of Simodal can now sleep in peace. + + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +DRIVING IN NORWAY + + +Like Switzerland, Norway has splendid roads. No difficulty in +road-making seems to be too great for the Norwegian engineers to +overcome. One frequently sees miles of road cut out of the solid +rock of some mountain-side, and skirting the edge of a fjord or +long lake. Again, a road may wind its way through a narrow gorge, +with precipices a thousand feet high on either hand, and down in the +depths a wild torrent, crossed every here and there by massive stone +bridges; or, over the open mountains a road will zigzag upwards to +a pass in long loops, like the famous "Snake Road" near Roeldal. + +And the surface of all these roads is hard and kept in good repair--at +any rate, in the summer months. In the winter they are, of course, +thick in snow, which, when beaten down by the sleigh traffic, forms +a new surface, which takes the wear and tear off the actual roadway +for several months. + +But we are now writing of the summer, after the snow has all melted, +the snow-ploughs put on one side, and the roads recovered from the +havoc wrought by the streams of melting snow. Then the sleighs have +been hidden away in the innermost recesses of barns and outhouses, +and the driving season begins. + +Driving is one of the greatest enjoyments of Norwegian travel, though +too much of it is perhaps wearisome. The best plan is to arrange a +tour, so that some of it shall be by railway, some by steamer, some +walking, and some driving, and this is generally easy to manage. The +particular charm of driving is that the traveller can take his own +time, go his own pace, and stop when and where he chooses. In this +manner the scenery is capable of being more fully appreciated. + +Until quite recently there were very few railways in Norway, and there +are not many now. There are, however, plenty of excellent roads, +and a well-organized system of posting. The posting-stations are +situated about ten miles apart, and consist usually of a small inn +or farmhouse, where the traveller can demand food and lodgings, as +well as a change of conveyance and horses. The _skydsgut_ (literally +post-boy, but frequently an old man, or even a woman), accompanies +the conveyance from his station to the next, and returns with it, +though nowadays it is more usual to engage a vehicle (if not also a +horse or pony) for a whole day's journey, which has the advantage of +avoiding the perpetual rearrangement of one's luggage. + +There are four kinds of conveyance in general use: the _caleche_, drawn +by a pair of horses, and something like a heavily-built victoria; +the _trille_, a light, four-wheeled trap with two horses; and the +_stolkjaerre_ and the _carriole_, the last two being the most popular +and convenient vehicles for quick travelling. + +The _stolkjaerre_ is a rough, box-like cart, with a seat for two +persons, and another little seat behind for the _skydsgut_. It has +the advantages of ample room for luggage, and economy when travelling +two together, the hire of one _stolkjaerre_ being less than that of two +_carrioles_; but, having no springs, it jolts and jars its occupants +most unmercifully. + +The _carriole_ may be considered to be the national vehicle of Norway, +and is certainly the most comfortable. In appearance it resembles a +miniature buggy, and it holds one person, who can stretch his legs +in a long, narrow trough between the seat and the splash-board; +or, by straddling the trough, the occupant can rest his feet on two +conveniently-placed iron steps. The luggage is strapped on to a board +behind, and the _skydsgut_ sits on it. A day's drive in a _carriole_, +if the weather be fine and the pony a good one, is a real pleasure, +and an intelligent _skydsgut_ will enliven the journey with his +amusing babble, as well as with scraps of information about the +country traversed. + +The ponies are generally about thirteen hands in height, good-tempered, +sure-footed, strong, and hardy, and think nothing of doing thirty or +forty miles a day, if given an occasional rest. Driving them requires +no great skill, and it is best to leave them as much as possible to +their own devices, since reins and bit have very little influence +over their movements. One may haul on to the reins for half an hour +without inducing the pony to pull up, but the magic sound of the +"burr-r-r" uttered by the _skydsgut_ will cause the little beast to +stop dead. And he will not go on again until he hears the peculiar +click of his master's tongue. So the stranger in the _carriole_ +or _stolkjaerre_ will do well to hold the reins for the sake of +appearances, and allow his _skydsgut_ to do the rest. + +One word of comfort to the adventurous driver: Do not be alarmed +if you notice that the harness is dropping to pieces. Your henchman +(up behind) will soon put matters right with some scraps of string +and a few bits of stick. + +But the actual drive--how lovely it all is! Now you are passing up a +valley among the hayfields and orchards which border the river, and +by the roadside you find a profusion of wild flowers--great purple +gentians, blue harebells, yellow mountain globe flowers, and other +blossoms of varied colours. Butterflies there are also in abundance, +and, if you be an entomologist, your heart will rejoice at the sight of +such rare English insects as the Camberwell Beauty, the Northern Brown, +and others. Now you enter a dark pine-forest, to find yourself before +long emerging on to an open stretch of wild moorland; and so you cross +the col, and commence to drop down into another valley, narrow and +shut in by towering mountains. Waterfalls sparkle in the sun as they +tumble over the cliffs, and the still unmelted snow stands out white +and glistering on the distant hill-tops. The road swings from side to +side of the valley, crossing the torrent in its bottom by stout timber +bridges, and at last you reach the margin of the great lake, where +stands the neat little inn ready to provide you with your midday meal. + +The organized tours, however short they be, always include a drive of +this description, and no Englishman would consider that he had visited +Norway unless he had driven through a part of the country. Even in +a week one can cover a deal of ground. One can go by steamer from +Bergen up the Hardanger Fjord to Eide, and thence drive across the +neck of land to the Sogne Fjord, through the finest and most varied +scenery imaginable, returning to Bergen, if needs be, by steamer down +the Sogne Fjord. Or, if there be a few days to spare, one can steam +across the head of the Sogne Fjord from Gudvangen to Laerdalsoeren, and +thence again take _carriole_ or _stolkjaerre_ to the Fillefjeld, and so +visit the wildest of Norway's mountain districts, the Jotunheim--the +Home of the Giants. + + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +ARCTIC DAYS AND NIGHTS + + +Everyone has read of the midnight sun and of the sunless winter of the +North. They are features of all tales of Arctic exploration. Yet, in +order to see the sun shining at midnight or to experience pitch-dark +days, it is not necessary to be actually a seeker after the North +Pole. Sunny nights and black winter days may be enjoyed, or otherwise, +even in Norway, but only in the Far North--within the Arctic Circle. + +It is not quite easy to realize what things are like right away up +in the North, as it were, on the top of the world, and why things +are as they are is difficult to explain without entering into a host +of scientific details. We will, therefore, avoid a long discussion +about the movements of the earth and suchlike matters, and merely +mention certain facts. At the North Pole itself there is continuous +day for six months of the year, and continuous night for the other +six months, while on the line known as the Arctic Circle the sun +shines at midnight once, and once only, in the year, and during one +entire day of twenty-four hours in the winter it does not rise above +the horizon at all. South of the Arctic Circle there is no such thing +as midnight sun or as a day without sunrise. + +As far as Norway is concerned, a considerable tract of country lies +within the Arctic Circle--in fact, an area rather larger than that +of Ireland--so it is not very difficult to find a place where the +midnight sun can be seen for a period in the summer-time, and where +in the winter some of the days are really dark. Of course, to see +the midnight sun it is necessary to be at the place selected at the +right time, and even then there is always the chance of the sky being +clouded over, and no sun visible. For the latter reason travellers +with plenty of leisure endeavour to go as far North as possible, +so as to be almost certain of seeing the great sight. + +Nowadays everything is made easy for everybody, and steamers take +passengers to the North Cape throughout the summer for the sole purpose +of enabling them to see the midnight sun from the very best point +of view. Here, provided that the sky is clear, the midnight sun can +be seen from May 13 to July 31. Between those dates it does not set, +and it would be a bad summer indeed if the clouds hid the sun for so +long a time. + +To reach the North Cape takes a good deal of time, and many people +dislike a lengthy sea voyage; but even if one starts from Bergen +and goes all the way by sea, there is something of interest to be +seen every day, as the steamer keeps close to the coast, threads its +way among the innumerable small islands, and calls at many places +with beautiful scenery in the background, more especially Molde and +Christiansund. + +A little farther on you come to Trondhjem; but if you would curtail +the sea voyage it is not necessary to take the steamer from Bergen, +since Trondhjem can be reached by rail from Christiania or by a +driving tour right through the country from various places. Onwards +from Trondhjem, however, you must go by sea, unless you are prepared +for a long and rough overland journey. + +Trondhjem, the ancient capital of Norway, is a place of historic +interest, and contains the finest cathedral in Scandinavia. Its +name means "throne home," as the old Kings of Norway used to reside +there, and it was the place where the coronation ceremony was always +performed. Though no longer the capital of the country, it is still +a flourishing town, and the present King (Haakon VII.) was crowned +there a few years ago. + +Now the real sea voyage to the North Cape commences, and with luck +you may reach your destination in five days, but on every one of the +five you will stop somewhere or see something which will be worth +seeing. The town of Namsos is of no great interest, but the coast and +island scenery now becomes stupendous and grand, with great giant +rocks rising up out of the sea. The most remarkable of these are +Torghatten and Hestmanden. + +The peculiarity of Torghatten lies in the fact that there is a hole +or tunnel straight through the massive rock, which itself is some +800 feet in height. As you sail past it you see daylight through the +hole, and if you land to examine it you will find that it is nearly +200 yards from end to end, and that its almost perpendicular sides +vary in height from 60 feet at one end to four times that height at +the other end. No man can account for this remarkable tunnel except +by quoting the local legend, and in this the Hestmand (the other +extraordinary rocky island) is mixed up. + +Hestmanden, the "man on horseback," is a wonderful mass of rock, +the outline of which, allowing for a little imagination, resembles +a man on a horse. And this is the legend: + +Not far from Torghatten is an island called Lekoe, on which, in the +age of the giants, there lived a beautiful maiden. In those days +the Hestmand was a real live giant, and he fell desperately in love +with the Lekoe maiden. But the latter, who was only half a giantess, +was afraid of the great monster, and would have nothing to do with +him. So the Hestmand flew into a rage, and one day chased the object +of his affections, who fled for her life. The giants did not do things +by halves, and the Hestmand was so angry that he meant to kill the +maiden, and he shot at her with a giant arrow, which was a fairly +large fir-tree. Now, just at the moment that he shot his arrow, the +maiden's brother, who was another giant, realized what was going on, +and flung his hat between his sister and the arrow. The maiden was +saved, but the arrow pierced the hat. Then the sun suddenly appeared +above the horizon, and the actors in the tragedy were instantly turned +into stone. Hestmanden is the wicked giant on his horse; Torghatten +is the hat which was pierced by the arrow; the arrow itself may be +seen, as a great stone pinnacle, on a neighbouring island; while +Lekoemoen, the mountain on Lekoe, is the beautiful maiden who caused +all the trouble. + +But to continue the voyage. Immediately after passing Hestmanden +the Arctic Circle is crossed, and a few hours later a call is made +at the little town of Bodoe. Thence to the Lofoedden Islands is no +great distance, and after they have been visited and the wonderful +cod drying-grounds inspected, the steamer wends its way to Tromsoe, +and then to Hammerfest, which we have already referred to as a great +place for the manufacture of cod-liver oil. Beyond this the rocky +coast presents a succession of rugged and wild capes and promontories +until the object of the voyage at length comes in sight. + +The North Cape, the northernmost point of Norway, is a rocky headland +on Mageroe Island--the end of all things, rising a thousand feet above +the deep blue Arctic sea. The climb up the steep, zigzag pathway +from the spot where the steamer lands you is arduous, and you will +be glad of the rest by King Oscar's column. You would have been glad +if a score of other passengers had not been with you, and still more +glad if you had come here half a century earlier, before the hand of +man had marked the spot, and before all your distant friends expected +you to post them a postcard from the North Cape. + +Still, something of romance remains as, gazing northwards, you +remember that, except, perhaps, for a corner of Spitzbergen, nothing +intervenes between you and the North Pole--only that barrier of ice +which, so far, has defied all penetration. But this is mere sentiment, +and you have come to see something else--the merging of sunset with +sunrise. Du Chaillu well describes the scene: "The brilliancy of the +splendid orb varies in intensity, like that of sunset and sunrise, +according to the state of moisture of the atmosphere. One day it will +be of a deep red colour, tingeing everything with a roseate hue, +and producing a drowsy effect. There are times when the changes in +the colour between the sunset and sunrise might be compared to the +variations of a charcoal fire, now burning with a fierce red glow, +then fading away, and rekindling with greater brightness. + +"There are days when the sun has a pale, whitish appearance, and when +even it can be looked at for six or seven hours before midnight. As +this hour approaches the sun becomes less glaring, gradually changing +into more brilliant shades as it dips towards the lowest point of its +course. Its motion is very slow, and for quite a while it apparently +follows the line of the horizon, during which there seems to be a +pause, as when the sun reaches noon. This is midnight. For a few +minutes the glow of sunset mingles with that of sunrise, and one +cannot tell which prevails; but soon the light becomes slowly and +gradually more brilliant, announcing the birth of another day, and +often before an hour has elapsed the sun becomes so dazzling that +one cannot look at it with the natural eye." + +Such is the wondrous sight, and all through the summer, even before +and after the period of the non-setting of the sun, the nights are +almost as light as day. Indeed, all over Norway, far to the south +of the Arctic Circle, the summer nights are remarkably short--not +altogether an unmixed blessing to those who find it difficult to +sleep in daylight. + +But what a change comes over these northern lands in winter! At +the North Cape the sun sets on November 18, not to rise again until +January 24, and everywhere within the Arctic Circle there is a time +of continuous night. To us, who have no experience of such a state of +affairs, it seems as if life must be bereft of all its pleasures. Yet +the dwellers in the Arctic regions think nothing of it. To them even +the dark winter has its charms, for, as has been said of a certain +gentleman, it is not really as black as it has been painted. + +In the first place, there is the snow, covering everything, and even +at the darkest time of year there is sufficient light, if the sky be +clear, to see to read for an hour before and an hour after midday. Then +there is the light given by the moon and stars, and lastly the cheering +glow of the aurora borealis,or northern lights. It is not, therefore, +always dark, though when snow falls or the clouds block out the sky +the darkness becomes intense. At such times the picture is truly a +melancholy one. + +To say that the light given by the aurora borealis does duty for +sunlight is not true. Magnificent spectacle as it presents, this +marvellous phenomenon produces no light of any real value, and only +occasionally for a few minutes does it illumine the landscape. Tales +of sleighing over the wastes of snow by the light of the aurora +borealis have no foundation in fact, for seldom, if ever, has it +sufficient power to obliterate the stars, and never does the moon +pale before it. On the other hand, it is certain that these northern +lights, streaming up into the heavens on every clear night of the long +winter, must bring feelings of pleasure to the inhabitants of the Polar +regions. The form, the intensity, and the colour of the light is ever +varying, and thus, in watching it, there is always expectancy. We in +England are accustomed to see these lights on autumn nights, but the +display is feeble in comparison with that of the Arctic winter. + +No one knows for certain what the aurora borealis really is, and +even the most scientific people can tell you no more than that they +suppose it to be "a phenomenon of electrical origin"! + + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +LAPLANDERS AT HOME + + +Although Lapps are occasionally seen in charge of reindeer herds on +some of the southern mountain tracts of Norway, their real home is +in the Far North, not only of Norway, but also of Sweden, Finland, +and Russia, and the country which they inhabit is known as Lapland. + +That portion of it which belongs to Norway covers only some 3,000 or +4,000 square miles, while the whole of the Land of the Lapps has an +area of something like 35,000 square miles. But statistics show that +in Norwegian Lapland there are a great many more inhabitants than +there are in Russian, Finnish, and Swedish Lapland put together; +and the people, whether they be under the rule of Russia, Sweden, +or Norway, are all of the same race--Asiatics and Mongols--totally +unlike Europeans in appearance. + +In the first place, they are dark, and what we consider ugly, though +it is quite possible that in their eyes we ourselves are hideous. Then +they are short--a five-foot Lapp would be almost a giant--but what +they lack in stature they make up in sturdiness; for, although spare +of body, probably no men in the world can do a longer day's work, +or survive greater hardships. Dirty they are certainly, since they +never change their clothes and seldom comb their hair; yet, for all +that, they are perfectly healthy and happy. + +They have gradually split up into three groups, known as Mountain +Lapps, Sea Lapps, and River Lapps, the first being nomads, or +wanderers, and the other two settlers, by the sea or river, who have +abandoned the original mode of life of their race. + +Mountain Lapps are the most restless individuals it is possible to +imagine. Winter and summer they are always on the move, and three days +are seldom passed in one place. Time does not enslave them, for they do +not trouble about it. Routine is nothing to them: they eat and drink +when they feel inclined, and they sleep when a favourable opportunity +occurs. In such matters, as well as in many others, they resemble wild +animals. But in some respects they are methodical: they work by the +seasons, and in their wanderings take the same lines each year. In +the summer months they are down by the sea; during the remainder of +the year they are on the mountains, though at Christmas-time they +usually arrange to encamp somewhere in the vicinity of a church; +for Christmas is a great event in the lives of the Lapps, since they +profess Christianity, and if they are able to go to church at no +other time of the year, they make a point of doing so at this season. + +To-day these people are law-abiding and peaceable, but they are a +strange mixture of good and bad. They are kind and hospitable, and of +a cheerful disposition; at the same time they can be cruel, cunning, +and selfish, while their love of money is no less than their love of +drink--when they can obtain it. + +For one thing only does the Mountain Lapp live--his herd of +reindeer. They provide all his wants--food, clothing, and the +wherewithal to purchase luxuries. They are his wealth; his very +existence depends on them, and, in consequence, his mode of living +has to be accommodated to the habits of his reindeer. Whither-soever +they choose to graze, their owner has to follow; and he deems it +no hardship to pitch his rough tent on the snowy wastes in winter, +or even to sleep out under a rock, with the thermometer at seventy +degrees below zero. It is his life; from earliest childhood he has +known none other; he is content with it. And it is not only the men who +pass their lives thus; for the Lapp family is to some extent a united +one, and the women and children thoroughly enjoy the wild, free life, +apparently suffering no ill effects from the rigours of the climate. + +A Lapp baby starts life in a very queer way. Until it is able to +walk it is kept in what is called a _komse_, a kind of cradle made +of strips of wood covered with leather, and just large enough to take +the baby. The little creature is rolled up in sheepskin and put into +the cradle, which is then stuffed with moss, and the leather covering +laced securely all around, so that only the baby's face is seen. To +protect its head the _komse_ is provided with a wooden hood, like most +cradles, and there is generally a shawl, which can be thrown over +the whole thing in severe weather; in fact, when the baby has been +properly done up in its _komse_, it might go by parcel post without +coming to much harm. It is a very excellent arrangement, because the +family is incessantly moving about, and the mothers have their work +to do, so cannot always be bothering about their babies. A thong of +leather stretches from head to foot of the _komse_, which the mother +can thus sling on her shoulder when going about, and by this thong +the baby can be hung up to a tent-pole or to the branch of a tree if +its mother is busy. But as often as not the _komses_ are just stuck +up on end in the snow or against a rock while work is going on. + +As soon as the child can walk and has finished its cradle existence, it +is dressed in clothes similar to those of his or her father or mother, +and looks most quaint. And the life which these children lead is devoid +of much amusement. From the beginning they are helping to pack up and +move the tent, and to look after the reindeer; they are nothing more +than little old men and women; their toys are miniatures, or models, +of such things as they will have to use later in life--lassoes, +snowshoes, sleighs--and their games are restricted to learning the use +of the same. They are treated by their parents more or less as if they +were grown up, and allowed to do much as they please. Consequently, +they become self-willed, and have little respect for their elders. + +After all, the mode of life of the Lapps does not differ very +greatly from that of our own gipsies, though of the two the Lapps +are certainly the better people. The wandering spirit is inherent +in both, but a portion of each sooner or later shakes it off, and +leads a more settled life. Some there are, however, who will never +be anything but wanderers, so long as there remains a free country +wherein they are at liberty to roam. + +Let us now see the kind of place which the Mountain Lapp calls +"home." It cannot be anything very elaborate or bulky, as it has to be +packed up and moved about nearly every day, and it has to be carried +on the backs of the reindeer in summer, or drawn by them in sleighs +in the winter. So it is nothing more than a most unconventional form +of tent, not altogether unlike the wigwam of the Red Indian, or the +dwelling of many other nomadic people. A few long poles are stuck up +on a circle, with their ends fastened together to form a sort of cone, +and over this framework is stretched a covering of coarse woollen +material. At one side there is a loose flap, forming a door, and the +whole of the top part of the tent round about the ends of the poles +is left open, to admit light and to allow the smoke from the fire to +issue forth. The diameter of the tent is about twelve or fifteen feet, +and the height in the centre eight or ten feet. This is the kitchen, +larder, store-room, drawing-room, dining-room, and bedroom of the +family--men, women, boys, girls, babies, dogs and all. + +A few branches of trees are spread on the ground, and in the middle, +immediately under the opening in the roof, is the fire, which is +kept alight day and night. Around it the inmates sit on the ground +by day, and sleep by night. There is no furniture of any kind, and +only a few cooking-pots, with some wooden bowls, and spoons of wood +or of horn. Beds and blankets and suchlike luxuries are also absent, +so undressing, dressing, washing, and absurdities of that kind are +not indulged in. When the time has come to go to sleep, those who +are in the tent just roll themselves close up to the fire, and sleep +quite comfortably in the clothes which they probably have not taken +off for a year or two. The whole family is not likely to be in the +tent at the same time; some members of it must always be looking +after the reindeer, as the herd can never be left to its own devices; +consequently, there is generally plenty of room. + +Meals are free-and-easy affairs; there is no dinner-bell and no +fixed time for eating. But food is always ready, hanging in a pot +over the fire; and when anyone feels inclined to eat, the hand is +plunged into the pot, and a piece of meat pulled out and devoured. In +addition to reindeer-meat--of which the Lapps consume a great deal--the +food consists of cheese, and sometimes a kind of porridge; while for +drink they have water, melted snow, reindeer-milk, and, on occasions, +coffee. The latter they are very fond of, but few families can afford +to drink it often; so also with spirits, which, however, they only +manage to obtain in the towns. + +Thus live the Mountain Lapps year in year out. To-day a family is in +one place, to-morrow a dozen miles away; now and again other families +are met with, and received hospitably; but for the most part the +family and its herd keep to themselves, since to do otherwise might +lead to difficulties about grazing. The rain floods their tent; the +snow buries it; the wind blows it down; yet they survive, and glory +in their free life. + +The Sea Lapps, though much more numerous than their brethren of the +mountains, are not so interesting. They live by the coast in huts built +of wood or of sods, and obtain a livelihood by fishing. The River +Lapps, on the other hand, are both herdsmen and fishermen. Residing +in small settlements on the banks of the rivers, they keep reindeer +as well as a few cows and sheep, and they do a little in the way +of farming the land round the settlement. Many of them are even +intellectual, and the advantages of having their children properly +educated in the schools are gradually becoming appreciated. + + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +WINTER IN CHRISTIANIA + + +Cold it is, of course--bitterly cold, and always freezing hard; but +it is a dry cold, and you hardly notice it. The streets are all one +sheet of frozen snow, and great care is taken to keep them in good +repair, gangs of road-menders being always at hand to fill up ruts +by the simple process of picking up the hard snow of the roadway and +then sprinkling a little water on the top, which at once produces a +solid surface. No wheeled traffic is now to be seen; everything is on +runners, from the carriage of the King to the doll's perambulator. One +no longer hears the rumble of the _carrioles_ and _stolkjaerres_ over +the rough flags, and the silence is broken only by the jingling of +the sleigh-bells. + +It is a strange sight indeed, this winter city, with its fur-clad +men and women, and snow-covered houses and gardens, its keen, crisp +air and pale blue sky. What a change from the fogs and dampness of +our English climate! + +Christiania is gay at this time of year, for it is the "season." The +members of the Storthing, with their wives and families, are in town +for the session, and all sorts of gaieties are in progress. But all +those Norwegians who have leisure to enjoy themselves turn their +attentions to the real pleasures of winter--sleighing, ski-ing, +tobogganing, and skating. The boys and girls are thoroughly +happy. Directly school is over away they go, with their skates, +snowshoes, or toboggans, to have a right good time in their different +playgrounds. The hill on which the palace stands is given up to these +little revellers, and in the evenings dozens of them of all ages may +be seen descending the slopes face downwards on their _kjaelker_, or +racing through the trees with their long ski on their feet. The public +gardens also are flooded to form a rink for the sole use of the infant +skaters, and, judging by their rosy cheeks, the outdoor exercise in +the cold, dry air makes them as healthy as any children in the world. + +But grown-up people consider skating feeble sport in comparison with +ski-ing, which may be called the national sport of Norway. Not so +many years ago it was restricted to that country; but now the sport +has become a favourite one in Sweden, Switzerland, and in other +parts of Europe where the snow lies deep. Yet, to see perfection +in the art, one must go to Norway--the real home of the great long +wooden snowshoe. From earliest youth the Norwegians of both sexes +are accustomed to go about the country in the long winter months on +these strange contrivances, for without them it would be absolutely +impossible to move off the roads. Children are taught in the schools to +use them; soldiers wear them at winter drill and manoeuvres; farmers, +milkmaids, cowboys, all may be seen daily in the country parts going +from place to place on them, and so keen are the young rustic lads +on becoming proficient ski-runners that all over Norway are to be +found ski clubs, formed for the purpose of encouraging snowshoeing +as a pastime, and for sending competitors to the great annual meeting +at Christiania. + +These snowshoe competitions are most interesting and exciting; and the +pluck, endurance, and daring which they bring out are remarkable. They +take place on the hills just outside Christiania, and are attended by +every man, woman, and child who can reach the spot. On the first day is +held the long-distance race, and on the second the jumping competition, +only winners in the former being allowed to enter for the latter. + +Every English boy knows what it is to take part in a cross-country +run of half a dozen miles. The Norwegian test is something more +formidable--about fifteen miles of rough, mountainous country, +over hill and dale, through forests, and as often as not down rocky +precipices, all half buried in snow; in the runner's hand a staff, and +on his feet his ski, six or eight feet long. The course is carefully +marked out beforehand by tying pieces of coloured rag to branches and +rocks, and it is a point-to-point race throughout. Every district sends +its champion, and there are frequently as many as eighty competitors, +who are started one after another at intervals of a minute. Except, +however, for expert ski-runners who can follow the course, it is not +an interesting race to watch, as one only sees the start or the finish, +to learn subsequently who covered the distance in the shortest time. + +The appearance of the men as they come in is sufficient proof of +the terrific nature of the test. So bathed in perspiration are they +that they might have been running a "Marathon" race in the height +of summer; and so parched are their tongues that they can scarcely +speak. Lucky the skier who, during his run, chances on an unfrozen +forest pool whereat he may quench his thirst by deep draughts of what +the Norwegian terms "goosewine"--our "Adam's ale." + +But the second day's sport is of a different kind; the whole thing +is visible to the spectators, who from first to last are subjected +to thrills of wild excitement. The ground selected for the contest +is the side of a somewhat steep hill, and the snow must be in proper +condition--deep, and not having a hard-frozen crust. The competitors +assemble on the summit, and at the bottom of the slope--perhaps a +hundred yards from the starting-point--is a large enclosed space, +around which stand the spectators. Half-way down the hillside, a +horizontal platform, well covered with hard snow, has been built out, +so as to form the "taking-off" point for the long jump; and close +by it is the box for the judges and committee. The soldiers on ski, +keeping the ground, give the signal that all is ready; in another +second a bugle-call resounds from the top of the hill; and the first +man has started. + +Down the slope he comes at the top of his speed, his fists clenched, +and determination in his face. Gathering himself together as he nears +the "take-off," he bends slightly on his ski, and, with a frantic +bound, flies forward into space. For an instant a breathless silence +falls on the crowd, and then, as the _ski-loeber_ lands at the bottom, +and struggles in vain to keep his feet, cheers mingled with laughter +fill the air. Number 2 is no more successful than his predecessor; but +Number 3 lands on both feet with much grace, continues his way on level +ground, and, wheeling round, receives the well-merited applause of the +onlookers. Others follow in quick succession, some making brilliant +leaps, some having awkward spills; yet one and all racing down to the +platform with almost abandoned recklessness. What with the delay caused +by accidents, and the time taken in measuring the successful jumps, +the contest occupies some hours. Then the judges declare the names of +the prize-winners, together with the length of each man's leap; and, +prodigious as it may seem, it is no unusual thing for the champion +to accomplish 100 feet, measured on the slope from the "take-off" +to the landing-point. + +Such are some of the winter sports of Norway. Can anyone wonder +that the men who enter into them with so great a zest have earned +for themselves the name of "Hardy Norsemen"? Can anyone wonder that +Dr. Nansen, in his younger days the champion _ski-loeber_ at one of +these great meetings, should have defeated all others in the race +for the North Pole? + + + + + +NOTES + + +[1] Pronounced Nor-gay. + +[2] Frontispiece. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Peeps at Many Lands: Norway, by +A.F. 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