MISERY.
_July 19._--It rained all night again and all day. This was dreadful,
and not at all like Norway.
We have always made a rule that we may fish on Sunday, but not shoot.
Some people draw an even finer distinction, and say it is allowable to
shoot with a rifle, but not with a gun: this we have always thought too
subtle. Now yesterday was Sunday, and Esau having observed two divers on
the lake while the Skipper was out fishing, went and secreted himself
with a gun where he expected them to come over, hoping that they would
be alarmed by the other canoe on its return. This soon happened, and
they flew within forty yards of him. Both barrels were discharged, and
Esau returned to camp, muttering something about 'birds of that kind
having immortal bodies if they hadn't immortal souls.' The result of
Sabbath-breaking was no doubt this miserable weather.
The camp to-day presented a most cheerless prospect. The canoes were
drawn up on land and turned bottom upwards; the kitchen stowed away
under a soaked sack; a very third-rate camp fire smouldering before the
tent, surrounded by old egg-shells, backbones of fish, bacon-rind, and
some apology for firewood; our two rods standing up against the gloomy
sky with the wind whistling through their lines, and all the scenery
blotted out with rain and mist, and scudding, never-ending clouds that
drifted down the valley, and gave very occasional glimpses of extremely
wet mountains. The cook, clad in a macintosh with a spade in his hand,
watching a pot which was trying to boil on the spluttering fire, his
trousers tucked into his socks, and his boots shining with wet, would
have given any one a pretty good idea of the meaning of the expression
'played out.'
[Illustration: View of Bredsjö by Night]
The mosquitoes were bad here, and we spent much of our leisure time
making war against them. Esau's favourite way of 'clearing the road' was
to bring in a smoking log of pitch pine, close up the ventilation, and
fill the tent with smoke. It forced us to quit, but not the mosquitoes,
as they appeared to fall into a deep and tranquil sleep, from which they
awoke refreshed and ready to renew the attack just a few minutes before
the tent again became habitable for human beings. Prowling round the
tent and squashing them with our fingers was perhaps the best plan, but
we were obliged to sleep with a rug over our heads and covered up at
every point, to avoid their intrusion at night.
_July 20._--Still rain, and nothing but rain; it stopped for an hour or
two last night, and the lake looked uncommonly pretty among its dark
surroundings, but the downpour soon began again.
In our desperation yesterday afternoon we arranged with a native, whom
the Skipper discovered, to bring a horse and sleigh to-day to meet us at
the next rapid, and help us down with our baggage to Olstappen.
Therefore we got up early and were down at the rapid about ten o'clock,
where we found our man waiting. The rain at this period was the worst
variety we have yet seen, and it has tried all kinds during the last
four days. We packed everything on the sleigh, covered it with our
ground sheets, and then put the wheels on our canoes, and followed down
the track.
There is a saw-mill halfway down the river which is simply perfect.
It is perched on piles over the middle of the stream, where it dashes
through a rift in a huge black cliff, and the water goes tearing past
down a long shoot made of logs, and plunges down at the end churned into
a mass of white foam, with noise and spray that quite bewilder one.
We got down to Olstappen at last, not without a good deal of hard work,
and paid our man 4s. 6d. On our way we met a Norwegian tourist, who was
on a walking tour with his sister, and had left her rained up, so to
speak, in a Sæter, and was strolling about in the forest to wile away
the time: he spoke a very little English, and we had a long talk with
him; as he had a fellow-feeling for us, and was quite ready to curse the
rain with us or any one else.
The Norwegians, men and women, seem to go a good deal on walking tours,
and probably know infinitely more of their fatherland than does the
average Briton of this island, the superiority of which he seldom fails
to impress on the long-suffering foreigner.
At midday we launched our canoes on Olstappen, which is a fine wide
lake, and not so rainy as Bredsjö, being several hundred feet lower.
We paddled across to the mouth of the Vinstra River, a rather perilous
undertaking, for where the wind met the river there was a nasty sea on,
and we shipped some water, but got safe to land. We could not find a
decent camp till we had walked a quarter of a mile from the lake up the
river. There we found a nice sheltered place, pretty, and close to the
river, made our portage, and pitched the tent, and with tea our drooping
spirits began to revive (who is proof against a hot meal of trout and
bacon, buttered eggs, and tea?), even though our clothes and equipments
were all wet through, and we had a damp change of raiment, sleeping
rugs, and boots. But now the wind had changed, and we looked forward to
the morrow as the wearied traveller always _does_ look forward to the
morrow.
There were many sandpipers at the mouth of this river; we caught one
young one, and had serious thoughts of taking its innocent life for our
tea, but better feelings prevailed, and we released it as an offering
for fine weather, and caught four trout instead.
_July 21._--Hurrah! the rain stopped during the night, and this morning
actually the sun shone out now and then. We heaped up a huge fire and
dried all our belongings, and then had nearly a whole day before us free
for fishing.
A voyaging day is a big business. We calculate that it takes us two and
a half hours to pack up from an old camp, breakfast, and get aboard
ship; but to pitch the camp in a new place takes much longer. First you
have to find a suitable place, often a matter of great difficulty in a
country like this, where level spaces a yard square are very rare; dig a
trench; pitch the tent, and arrange everything in it; collect firewood,
and make a place for the fire; see that the boats and everything about
the tent are safe from harm should the stormy winds begin to blow; and
then cook dinner. All this cannot be done under three hours of hard
work; so that if in addition you propose getting over a considerable
amount of ground, it is sure to be a long and toilsome day. But the
following day you wake up with a glorious feeling of duty performed and
pleasure to look forward to.
The Skipper, with a hankering after cleanliness, washed a lot of
clothes, and himself, having left the rain to perform the latter
operation for the last two or three days; but Esau, not being troubled
with any such absurd remnants of civilisation, went up the river
reconnoitring in his natural condition. He came back to dinner in a
perfectly rapturous state, having caught a remarkably nice bag of fish,
got a beautiful view of the Jotunfjeld Mountains, and found a waterfall,
which he said was the best in Norway, and therefore in the world. The
Skipper had tried the lake in the afternoon without success, so after
dinner we both went out and soon discovered the reason. Seven boats full
of natives were out with a huge flue net, which they shot in a circle,
and then beat the water enclosed till all the wretched fish were in the
net. We saw them get thirty in one haul, and besides this there was a
boat 'ottering;' and although we captured a few fish, it was obvious
that with all this netting it would be impossible for the lake to be
good.