Bergen is situated some two hundred miles northwest of Christiania, and
may be reached from thence by a carriole (a peculiar native vehicle)
journey across the country, over excellent roads, or by steamboat
doubling the Naze. The latter route, though three times as far, is most
frequently adopted by travellers as being less expensive and
troublesome. Another, and perhaps the most common, route taken by
tourists is by the way of Lake Mjösen, called the Valders route. It
involves railroad, steamer, and carriole modes of conveyance, and in all
covers a distance of at least three hundred and fifty miles.
Bergen was the capital of Norway when it was under Danish rule, and was
even up to a late period the commercial rival of the present capital,
Christiania. The town rises from the bay nearly in the form of a
crescent, nestling at the foot of surrounding hills on the west coast,
between those two broad and famous arms of the sea,--the Sognefjord and
the Hardangerfjord. The first-named indents the coast to a distance of
over one hundred miles, the latter seventy miles,--the first being
north, and the last south of Bergen. The excellent situation of the
harbor and its direct steam communication with European ports gives this
ancient city an extensive commerce in proportion to the number of
inhabitants, who do not aggregate over forty thousand. A large portion
of the town is built upon a promontory, between which and the mainland
on its north side is the harbor, which is rarely frozen over, owing to
the influence of the Gulf Stream, while the harbor of St. Petersburg
(Russia), in about the same latitude, is closed annually by ice for at
least three months.
We see here more of the traditional Norwegian customs than are to be met
with either at Gottenburg or Christiania. Some of the old men who come
from inland are particularly noticeable, forming vivid pictures and
artistic groups, with their long, snowy hair flowing freely about face
and neck in patriarchal fashion. They wear red worsted caps, open
shirt-collars, and knee-breeches, together with jackets and vests decked
by a profusion of silver buttons. The women wear black jackets, bright
red bodices, and scarlet petticoats, with white linen aprons. On the
street called the Strandgade many Norse costumes mingle like various
colors in a kaleidoscope.
The staple commodity of Bergen is dried fish, mostly cod, supplemented
by large quantities of cod-liver oil, lumber, and wood cut for fuel. A
considerable portion of what is called cod-liver oil is produced from
sharks' livers, which, in fact, are believed to possess the same
medicinal qualities as those of the cod. At all events, with this
object, sharks are sought for along the upper coast of Norway,
especially in the region of the Lofoden Islands, and their livers are
used as described. An average-sized shark will yield thirty gallons of
merchantable oil, but this article would not obtain a market except
under the more popular name of cod-liver oil. Catching sharks is not an
employment entirely devoid of danger, as they are large and powerful,
often measuring twenty feet and more in length. The shark, like the
whale, when it is first struck with the harpoon, must be given plenty of
line, or it will drag down the fishermen's boat in its rapid descent to
deep water. Sometimes the struggle to capture the fish is a long and
serious one, as it must thoroughly exhaust itself before it will yield.
When it is finally drawn to the side of the boat, a heavy, well-directed
blow upon the nose completely stuns the creature, and the capture is
then complete.
There are here some neat public squares, a public park, wherein a
military band plays occasionally, and half a dozen churches. There is
also a theatre, royal palace, musical institute, public library, and
museum; but there is hardly a trace of architectural beauty in Norway,
with the exception of the cathedral at Tröndhjem, which is formed of a
mixture of orders, the Norman predominating. The Church of St. Mary at
Bergen is only interesting for its antiquity, dating as it does from the
twelfth century. Its curious and grotesque front bears the date A.D.
1118.
The shops are filled with odd antique articles, mostly for domestic use,
such as old plate, drinking-cups, spoons, and silver goblets bearing the
marks of age, and the date of centuries past. A little experience is apt
to create doubt, in the genuineness of these articles, which, like those
found in the curiosity shops of Japan, are very generally manufactured
in this present year of our Lord, however they may be dated.
A drive of a few miles inland upon the charming roads in any direction
will fill the stranger with delight, and afford characteristic pictures
of great beauty. The farmers hang their cut grass upon frames of wood to
dry, as we do clothes upon a rope on washing-days. These frames are
placed in the mowing-fields, in rows of a hundred feet in length and a
hundred feet apart, and are about five feet in height. Agricultural
tools used upon the farms are of the most primitive character; the
ploughs in many parts of the country are single-handed, and as awkward
as the rude implement used for the purpose to-day in Egypt. The country
houses are low and mostly thatched, the roof being often covered with
soil, and are not infrequently rendered attractive with blooming heather
and little blue and pink blossoms planted by Nature's hand,--the
hieroglyphics in which she writes her impromptu poetry. In the meadows
between the hills are sprinkled harebells, as blue as the azure veins on
a delicate face; while here and there patches of large red clover-heads
are seen nodding heavily with their wealth of golden sweets. Further
away, in solitary glens, white anemones delight the eye, in company with
ferns of tropical variety in form and color. The blossoms of the
multebaer, almost identical with that of the strawberry, are abundant.
The humidity of the atmosphere favors floral development. All through
Scandinavia one meets these bright mosaics of the soil with a sense of
surprise, they are so delicate, so frail, creations of such short life,
yet lovely beyond compare, born upon the verge of constant frost.
While rambling afield one meets occasionally a peasant who bows low,
removing his hat as the stranger passes. Without evincing the servility
of the common people of Japan, they yet exhibit all their native
courtesy. Now and again the road passes through pine forests, still and
aromatic, the soil carpeted with leaves, where, if one pauses to listen,
there comes a low, undefined murmur of vegetable and insect life, like
the sound that greets the ear when applied to an empty sea-shell. Some
wood-paths are found sprinkled with dog-violets, saxifrage, and with
purple heart's-ease. Song-birds are rarely to be seen and one cannot
but wish for their delicious notes amid such suggestive surroundings.
The country lying between Bergen and Christiania, and indeed nearly
every part of Norway, presents great attractions to the angler, who
must, however, go prepared to rough it: but if he be a true lover of the
sport, this will enhance rather than detract from the pleasure. The
country is thinly inhabited, and affords only rude accommodations for
the wandering pedestrian who does not confine himself to the regular
post-route. The lakes, rivers, and streams, swarm with trout, grayling,
and salmon.
Strangers visit with more than passing interest the admirable free
school for girls, which is established at Bergen. Here girls from eight
to sixteen years of age are taught the domestic industries practically,
under circumstances void of every onerous regulation, and they are to be
seen in cheerful groups at work upon all sorts of garments, supervised
by competent teachers of their own sex. Possessed of these prudential
and educational appreciations, it is not surprising that Bergen has sent
forth some eminent representatives in science, art, and literature.
Among these we recall the names of Ole Bull, the famous musician; Ludwig
Holberg, the accomplished traveller; Johann Welhaven, the Norse poet;
and J. C. C. Dahl, the celebrated painter.
Tröndhjem is situated on a fjord of the same name occupying a peninsula
formed by the river Nid, and is surrounded by picturesque scenery. A
delightful view of the town and its environs may be had from the old
fort of Kristiansten. Here resided the kings of Norway in the olden
time. It is now a thriving but small city, having a population of about
twenty-five thousand, and is the seat of a bishopric. There is here an
academy of sciences, a museum, and a public library. The Cathedral of
St. Olaf is famous, being the finest Gothic edifice in Scandinavia, and
the only local object of special interest. In the eleventh and twelfth
centuries the kings of Norway were buried here.
Tröndhjem was founded about a thousand years ago by King Olaf Trygvason,
upon the site of a much older city named Nidaros, but there is certainly
nothing visible to indicate its great antiquity. The adventurous life of
King Olaf, which occurs to us in this connection, may be outlined in a
few words, and is more romantic than that of any other ruler of Norway
which is generally known. Born a prince, he barely escaped assassination
in childhood at the hands of the usurper of his rights, by fleeing from
the country in charge of his mother. They were captured at sea by
pirates, separated, and sold into slavery. Then followed a period of
deprivation and hardship; but at a comparatively early age Olaf was
discovered and ransomed by a relative who had never ceased to search for
the missing youth. He soon after became a distinguished sea-king, of
that class whom we call pirates. His career in this field of adventure
is represented to have been one of daring and reckless hardihood,
characterized by merciless aggression and great success. Finally Olaf
married an Irish princess, embraced Christianity, and fought his way to
the throne of Norway, assuming the crown in the year of our Lord 991.
From this time he became a zealous missionary, propagating his faith by
the sword, and like many other religious zealots he was guilty of
outrageous cruelty. Seven years subsequent to the last-named date he
destroyed the Pagan temples of Thor and Odin at Tröndhjem. Upon the
site of this temple he built a Christian church, making the city his
seat of government, and so it remained the capital down to the union
with Denmark. Olaf was slain in battle while fighting for his throne,
and was declared a saint by the Church, his tomb at Tröndhjem being a
Mecca for pious pilgrims from all parts of Europe for centuries. In such
veneration were the memory and services of this reformed pirate held by
a certain class of religionists, that churches were erected in his name
at Constantinople and elsewhere. His ashes lie entombed beneath the
present cathedral of Tröndhjem.
A short walk from the town brings one to Hlade, where stands the castle
of the infamous Jarl Hakon, whence, in the olden time, he ruled over the
surrounding country with an iron hand. He was a savage heathen,
believing in and practising human sacrifices, evidences of which are
still extant. About a mile from the town, in the fjord, is the island of
Munkholm, once the site of a Benedictine monastery, as its name
indicates, and which was erected in 1028. The mouldering and moss-grown
base of one of its towers is all that now remains. Victor Hugo gives a
graphic description of this spot in his book entitled "Han d'Islande."
Here the famous minister of Christian V., Griffenfeldt by name, was
confined for a period of many weary years. He was guilty of no crime,
his incarceration being the result of political intrigue. When he was
finally brought to the scaffold for execution, a messenger interrupted
the headsman at the last moment and announced a pardon from the king.
"The pardon," said the worn-out sufferer, "is severer than the penalty."
The usual route of those who seek to gain a view of the "midnight
sun"--that is, of witnessing the phenomenon of the sun passing round
the horizon without sinking beneath it--is to depart from Tröndhjem by
sea, for the North Cape, skirting the ironbound coast for a distance of
about seven hundred miles.
As we sail northward, the rapid lengthening of the days becomes more and
more apparent. At Lund, in the extreme south of Sweden, the longest day
experienced is seventeen hours and a half; at Stockholm, two hundred
miles further north, the longest day of the year is eighteen hours and a
half; at Bergen, in Norway, three hundred miles north of Lund, the
longest day is twenty-one hours. Above this point of latitude to the
North Cape, there is virtually no night at all during the brief summer
season, as the sun is visible, or nearly so, for the whole twenty-four
hours. From early in May until about the first of August, north of
Tröndhjem, the stars take a vacation, or at least they are not visible,
while the moon is so pale as to give no light. Even the Great Bear puts
by his seven lustres, and the diamond belt of Orion is unseen. But the
heavenly lamps revive by the first of September, and after a short
period are supplemented by the marvellous and beautiful radiations of
the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. Winter now sets in, the sun
disappears entirely from sight, and night reigns supreme, the heavens
shining only with a subdued light. Were it not for the brilliancy of the
Auroral light the fishermen could hardly pursue their winter business,
that being the harvest time with them, and midnight is considered to be
the best period of the twenty-four hours for successful fishing in these
regions. In and about Lofoden Islands alone, five thousand boats are
thus regularly employed, giving occupation to twenty thousand men in the
boats and a couple of thousand on the shore.
The coast of Norway is bordered by innumerable rocky islands, and also
by deep fjords, winding inland from ten to fifty miles each, among
masses of rock forming perpendicular walls often towering a thousand
feet or more in height. The turbulent waves of the North Atlantic and
Arctic Oceans, hurled against the coast for thousands of years, have
steadily worn into the land and thus formed these remarkable fjords; or
perhaps after they were begun by volcanic or glacial action, the wearing
of the waters has gradually brought about their present condition. The
coast of Sweden, on the other hand, is formed by the Baltic Sea and the
Gulf of Bothnia, both of which are inland waters, and though there are
many islands on the Swedish coast, there are no fjords worthy of
mention. Notwithstanding that the extreme length of Norway, from north
to south, is hardly twelve hundred miles, yet so numerous and extensive
are these peculiar arms of the sea, that its coast-line is estimated to
measure over three thousand miles, which gives to these deep indentures
altogether a length of eighteen hundred miles.
The peninsula known as Scandinavia is composed of Norway, Sweden, and a
small portion of the Russian possessions in the northeast. This division
of country supports a population of little less than seven millions, and
contains in round numbers three hundred thousand square miles. The
mountains of this section of the globe are mostly of primitive rock,
presenting as near as possible the same form as when they were first
solidified, standing forth as tangible evidence of the great antiquity
of this region.
In her course northward the steamer, upon which we embarked at
Tröndhjem, winds in and out among the many islands and fjords, touching
occasionally at small settlements on the mainland to discharge light
freight and to land or to take an occasional passenger. The few persons
who come from the little cluster of houses, which are not sufficient in
number to be called a village, are found to be of more than ordinary
intelligence, and many of them speak English fluently. Even in these
sparsely inhabited regions education is provided for by what is termed
the "ambulatory system"; that is, one able teacher instructs the youth
of three or four neighboring districts, meeting the convenience of all
by suitable variations regarding time and place in holding school
sessions.
There is but one day in the year when the phenomenon of the midnight sun
can be seen at the imaginary line which we designate as the Arctic
Circle, a point in the watery waste or on the land, twenty-three degrees
and twenty-eight minutes from the North Pole; but by sailing some three
hundred miles further northward, to the North Cape, the projecting point
of the extreme north of Norway, it may be observed under favorable
circumstances--that is, when not obscured by clouds--for over two
months, dating from the middle of May. Soon after entering the Arctic
Circle, fourteen hundred and eight geographical miles from the North
Pole, a singularly formed island is observed, called by the natives
Hestmandö, or Horseman's Island,--a rocky and mountainous formation of
some two thousand feet in height, more or less. On approaching the
island from the west, by aid of the imagination one can discern the
colossal figure of a horseman wrapped in his cloak and mounted upon a
charger. The island forms a well-known landmark for seamen navigating
the coast. It is believed that the summit has never been reached by
human feet.
We touch on our way at the little fishing-village of Bodöe. Louis
Philippe lived here for a brief period when travelling as an exile under
the name of Müller, and visitors are shown the room which he occupied.
It is the chief town of Nordland, and has fifteen hundred inhabitants.
After leaving Bodöe the course of the steamer is directly across the
Vestfjord to the group of the Lofoden Islands. Owing to the remarkable
clearness of the atmosphere as seen from Bodöe, they appear to be about
fifteen or twenty miles away on the edge of the horizon, though the real
distance is about fifty. The play of light and shade is here so
different from that of lower latitudes that distances are very
deceptive.
A little to the westward of the steamer's course in coming from the
mainland lies the famous whirlpool known as the Maelström, the subject
of many a romantic and wild conjecture which lives in the memory of us
all. At certain stages of the wind and tide a fierce eddy is formed here
which is somewhat dangerous for small boats to cross, but the presumed
risk to vessels of the size of the coasting-craft usually employed here,
is an error. At some stages of the tide it is difficult to even detect
the exact spot which is at other times so disturbed. Thus we find that
another legend of the credulous past has but a very thin substratum of
fact for its foundation. The tragedies recorded in connection with the
Venetian Bridge of Sighs are proven to be without reliable foundation;
the episode of Tell and the apple is not historical, but a poetical
fabrication; and now we know that neither ships nor whales were ever
drawn into the Norwegian Maelström to their destruction. There are
several other similar rapids in and about these pinnacled islands,
identical in their nature, though the one here referred to is the most
restless and formidable.
On close examination the Lofodens are found to consist of a maze of
irregular mountain-peaks and precipices, often between two and three
thousand feet in height, the passage between them being very tortuous,
winding amid straits interspersed with hundreds of rocky islets which
are the home of large flocks of sea-birds. Dwarf-trees, small patches of
green grass, and velvety moss grow near the water's edge, and carpet
here and there a few acres of soil, but the high ridges are bleak and
bare rock, covered in spots with never-melting snow. These islands are
composed mainly of granite, and for wonderful peaks and oddly pointed
shapes, deep and far-reaching gulches, are unequalled elsewhere. It
seems marvellous that a steamer can be safely navigated through such
narrow passages and among such myriads of sunken rocks. These elevations
from beneath the sea vary from mere turtlebacks, as sailors call them,
just visible above the water, to mountains with sky-kissing peaks. For a
vessel to run upon one of these low hummocks would simply be
destruction, as the water alongside of them is rarely less than two or
three hundred fathoms in depth.
The total length of these remarkable islands is about a hundred and
thirty miles, and the area is computed at fifteen hundred and sixty
square miles. The population will not vary much from twenty thousand,
and the entire occupation of the people is fishing, curing the fish, and
shipping them southward.
The hardy fishermen work nearly all winter at their rough occupation,
braving the tempestuous Northern Ocean in frail, undecked boats, which
to an inexperienced eye seem to be utterly unfit for such exposed
service. The harvest time to the cod-fishers here is from January to the
middle of April. Casualties, of course, are more or less frequent, but
do not exceed those encountered by our fishermen on the banks of
Newfoundland. In the year 1848, a terrible hurricane visited the
Lofodens, and in a few hours swept over five hundred fishermen into
eternity. The men engaged in this service come from all parts of Norway,
returning to their homes in summer and engaging in other occupations.
As we leave the group and steer towards the mainland, it is remembered
that the coast of Norway extends three hundred miles north of the Arctic
Circle, projecting itself boldly into the Polar Sea. Two hundred miles
and more of this distance is north of the Lofoden Islands. Now and then
portions of country are passed on the mainland, affording striking and
beautiful landscape effects, where valleys open towards the sea,
presenting views sometimes capped by glaciers high up towards the
overhanging sky, where they form immense level fields of ice embracing
hundreds of square miles.
The varied and ever present attractions of Norway to the artist are
many, and in a great measure they are unique, especially in the
immediate vicinity of the west coast. No two of the many abrupt
elevations resemble each other. All are peculiar; some like Alpine
cathedrals rear their fretted spires far heavenward, where they echo the
hoarse anthems played by the winter's storms. One would think that
Nature in a wayward mood had tried her hand sportively at architecture,
sculpture, and castle-building, constructing now a high monumental
column or a mounted warrior, and now a Gothic fane amid regions
strange, lonely, and savage. There are grand mountains and glaciers in
Switzerland and other countries, but they do not rise directly out of
the water as they often do in Scandinavia; and as to the scenery
afforded by the innumerable fjords winding inland amid forests, cliffs,
and impetuous waterfalls, nowhere else can we find such remarkable
scenes.
Like rivers, and yet so unlike them in width, depth, and placidity, with
their broad mouths guarded by clustering islands, one can find nothing
in nature more grand, solemn, and impressive than a Norwegian fjord. Now
and again the shores are lined for short distances by the greenest of
green pastures, dotted with little red houses and groups of domestic
animals, forming charming bits of verdant foreground backed by dark and
shadowy gorges. Down precipitous cliffs leap cascades which are fed by
ice-fields hidden in the lofty mountains. These are not merely pretty
spouts, like many a little Swiss device, but grand, plunging, restless
torrents, conveying heavy volumes of foaming water.