Capital of Norway. -- A Grand Fjord. -- A Free and Independent
State. -- The Legal Code. -- Royal Palace and Gardens. -- Oscar's
Hall. -- The University. -- Public Amusements. -- The Ice Trade.
-- Ancient Viking Ships. -- Heathen Tombs. -- An Interesting
Hostelry. -- A Steam Kitchen. -- Environs of Christiania. --
Horses and their Treatment. -- Harvest Time. -- Women's Work. --
The Saeter. -- A Remarkable Lake. -- Wild Birds. -- Inland Travel.
-- Scandinavian Wild Flowers. -- Lonely Habitations. -- A Land of
Alpine Heights.
In approaching the capital of Norway by sea from Gottenburg, the
Christiania fjord is ascended for a distance of seventy miles to its
head, bordered on either side nearly the whole way by finely-wooded
hills, and its surface dotted by emerald isles reflected in the deep
mirror-like waters. It must be understood that a fjord is not a
sound, nor is it a thoroughfare in the full sense of that word; it is
a _cul de sac_. This of Christiania at its _debouchure_ is just
fifteen miles in width, and like many other Norwegian fjords is much
deeper than the sea beyond its mouth. The entrance is marked by a
powerful and lofty lighthouse on the island of Faerder. The ancient
citadel of Akershus, built upon a bold and rocky promontory some six
hundred years ago, commands the approach to the city. In this curious
old fortification are kept the regalia and national records, the
tree-adorned ramparts serving as a pleasant promenade for the
public. One is often reminded while sailing upon Norwegian fjords of
the Swiss lake-scenery. This leading to the capital is not unlike
Lake Geneva in the vicinity of Vevay and Chillon, except that it is
bolder in its immediate shores and is also broader and deeper than
Lake Leman. The city, which is built upon a gradual slope facing the
south, is seen to good advantage from the harbor. No more appropriate
spot could have been selected for the national capital by Christian
IV., who founded it, and after whom it is named, than the head of
this beautiful elongated bay. An ancient town named Oslo occupied the
site in the middle of the eleventh century. It is the seat of the
Storthing, or Parliament; and the King, whose permanent residence is
at Stockholm, is expected to reside here, attended by the court, at
least three months of the year. With its immediate suburbs, the
population of the city is a hundred and twenty-five thousand. It
should be remembered that Norway is a free and independent State,
though it is under the crown of Sweden, and that the people are
thoroughly democratic, having abolished all titles of nobility by
enactment of the Storthing (Great Court) so early as 1821, at which
time a law was also passed forbidding the King to create a new
nobility. Nevertheless, the thought occurs to us here that these
Northmen, who overran and conquered the British Isles, founded the
very nobility there which is the present boast and pride of England.
We find some problems solved in Norway which have created political
strife elsewhere. Though its Church is identical with the State,
unlimited toleration exists. There is also a perfect system of
political representation, and while justice is open to one and all,
litigation is sedulously discouraged. The meetings of the Storthing
are quite independent of the King, not even requiring a writ of
assemblage from him. Thus it will be seen that though nominally under
despotic rule, Norway is really self-governed.
The legal code of Norway is well worthy of study, both on account of
its antiquity and its admirable provisions. The old sea-kings, or
free-booters as we have been accustomed to consider them, had a more
advanced and civilized code than any of the people whose shores they
devastated. Before the year 885 the power of the law was established
over all persons of all ranks, while in the other countries of Europe
the independent jurisdiction of the feudal lords defied the law until
centuries later. Before the eleventh century the Scandinavian law
provided for equal justice to all, established a system of weights
and measures, also one for the maintenance of roads and bridges, and
for the protection of women and animals,--subjects which no other
European code at that time embraced. These laws were collected into
one code by Magnus VII. about the year 1260. They were revised by
Christian IV. in 1604, and in 1687 the present system was drawn up.
So simple and compact is it that the whole is contained in a pocket
volume, which is in the possession of every Norwegian family. Each
law occupies but a single paragraph, and all is simple and
intelligible. Speaking of these early law-makers (as well as
law-breakers!) Carlyle says: "In the old Sea-Kings, what an
indomitable energy! Silent, with closed lips, as I fancy them,
unconscious that they were specially brave; defying the wild ocean
with its monsters, and all men and things; progenitors of our Blakes
and Nelsons!"
The Royal Palace of Christiania is pleasantly situated on an elevated
site, the highest ground in fact within the city, surrounded by an
open park containing miniature lakes, canals, and groves of charming
trees. The park is called the Royal Gardens, which are always open to
the public. Fronting the palace is an admirable equestrian statue in
bronze of the citizen King Bernadotte, who ascended the throne of
Sweden under the name of Carl Johan XIV., and it bears his consistent
motto: "The people's love is my reward." The palace is a large plain
edifice of brick, quadrangular in shape and painted a dull ugly
yellow, with a simple portico. It was erected within the last fifty
years, and looks externally like a huge cotton-factory. The Queen's
apartments are on the ground floor and are very beautifully
furnished, especially the White Saloon, so called. Above these are
the King's apartments, embracing the usual variety of state halls,
audience chambers, reception rooms and the like, plainly and
appropriately furnished. The palace contains some of Tidemand's best
pictures. There is also a royal villa called Oscar's Hall, situated
in the immediate environs on the peninsula of Ladegaardsoeen, less
than three miles from the city proper. It is a Gothic structure amid
the woods, eighty feet above the level of the waters of the harbor
which it overlooks. Oscar Hall, with its one castellated tower, is
scarcely more than a shooting-box in size, though it is dignified
with the name of palace. The grounds are wild and irregular, covered
mostly with a fine growth of trees, mingled with which the mountain
ash was conspicuous with its clusters of berries in royal scarlet.
The air was full of the fragrance of the lily-of-the-valley, which
lovely little flower grows here after its own sweet will in rank
profusion. There are a few choice paintings in the Hall, especially
some admirable panels by Tidemand representing scenes in Norwegian
peasant life, and called "The Age of Man from the cradle to the
grave." There are also, we feel constrained to say, some very poor
pictures on the walls of Oscar's Hall. In the garden near the villa
were many familiar flowers in a thrifty condition, such as lilacs,
white and scarlet honeysuckles, sweet peas, yellow tiger-lilies and
peonies, besides some curious specimens of cacti and a wonderfully
fragrant bed of low-growing mignonette. It was singular to see
flowers and fruits which with us have each their special season, here
hastening into bloom and ripeness all together.
The streets of the city are quite broad, most of them running at
right angles with each other. The houses are generally of brick,
stuccoed, though there are some of stone, and all have the effect of
stone structures. There was once a richly endowed cathedral here,
where James I. of England was married to Anne of Denmark in 1589, but
it was destroyed by fire, which element has completely devastated the
place at different periods, so that the present aspect is one of a
substantial modern character. The old wooden houses have almost
entirely disappeared. The present cathedral is in the shape of a
Greek cross, but it is of no special interest. Over the altar is a
painting by a German artist representing our Saviour in the Garden of
Gethsemane, a work of much more than ordinary merit. The inhabitants
of Christiania are almost exclusively Protestants.
The University founded by Frederick VI. in 1811 is a plain but
massive structure, the front ornamented with Corinthian pillars of
polished red granite. It accommodates at the present writing some
nine hundred students, the tuition being free to all native
applicants suitably prepared; it contains also a noble library of
over two hundred thousand volumes, besides many manuscripts of
inestimable value. The library is freely open even to strangers under
very simple restrictions. The University also contains an extensive
Museum of Zoology and Geology, which in the departments of the bronze
and iron periods excels even the admirable one at Copenhagen.
Christiania has a Naval, a Military, and an Art school, a Lunatic
Asylum, an Astronomical Observatory, and various charitable
institutions; nor should we forget to mention its admirably
conducted Botanical Garden situated about a mile from the town,
containing among other interesting varieties a very finely-arranged
collection of Alpine plants from Spitzbergen and Iceland. The town
has its Casino, Tivoli, or whatever we please to call it; the good
citizens here have named it the Klinkenberg. It is a place of
out-door amusement for old and young, where grown up children ride
wooden-horses and participate in childish games with apparently as
much zest as the little ones. Here we found peep-shows,
pistol-galleries, Russian slides, a small theatre, and cafes where
were dispensed beer, music, and Swedish punch,--this last very sweet
and very intoxicating! The acrobat, with his two small boys in
silver-spangles and flesh-colored tights, was present and especially
active, besides the conventional individual who eats tow and blows
fire from his mouth. On the occasion of our visit the last named
individual came to grief, and burned his nether lip severely.
The commerce of Christiania is increasing annually. Over two thousand
vessels were entered at its custom house during the year 1885. There
are regular lines of steamers established between here and London,
Hull, Glasgow, Copenhagen, and other ports, which transact a large
amount of business in the freight department, with a considerable
incidental passenger trade. The harbor is frozen over at least three
months of the year, though that of Hammerfest, situated a thousand
miles farther north on the coast of Norway, is never closed by ice,
owing to the genial influence of the Gulf Stream,--an agent so
potent as to modify the temperature of the entire coast of
Scandinavia on its western border. Wenham Lake Ice, which was
originally and for some years shipped from Massachusetts to England,
now comes direct from the Christiania fjord! An English company has
long owned a lake near Droebak, which yields them an ample supply of
ice annually. The London ice-carts still bear the name of "Wenham
Lake," but the ice comes from Norway. We were told that the quantity
shipped for use in England increases yearly as ice grows to be more
and more of a domestic necessity.
The Storthing's Hus is quite a handsome and imposing building, of
original design in the Romanesque and Byzantine style, facing the
Carl Johannes Square, the largest open area in the city. It was
finished and occupied in 1866. The Market Place is adorned with a
marble statue of Christian IV. Another fine square is the Eidsvolds
Plads, planted with choice trees and carpeted with intensely bright
greensward. The chief street is the Carl Johannes Gade, a broad
boulevard extending from the railroad station to the King's Palace,
half way between which stands the imposing structure of the
University. Opposite this edifice is the Public Garden, where an
out-door concert is given during the summer evenings by a military
band. In a large wooden building behind the University is kept that
great unrivalled curiosity, the Viking ship, a souvenir of more than
nine hundred years ago. The blue clay of the district where it was
exhumed in 1880, a few miles south from Christiania at Gokstad, has
preserved it nearly intact. The men who built the graceful lines of
this now crumbling vessel, "in some remote and dateless day," knew
quite as much of the principles of marine architecture as do our
modern shipwrights of to-day. This interesting relic, doubtless the
oldest ship in the world, once served the Vikings, its masters, as a
war-craft. It is eighty feet long by sixteen wide, and is about six
feet deep from gunwale to keel. Seventy shields, spears, and other
war equipments recovered with the hull show that it was designed for
that number of fighting men. A curious thrill is felt by one while
regarding these ancient weapons and armor, accompanied by a wish that
they might speak and reveal their long-hidden story. In such vessels
as this the dauntless Northmen made voyages to every country in
Europe, and as is confidently believed they crossed the Atlantic,
discovering North America centuries before the name of Columbus was
known. Ignoring the halo of romance and chivalry which the poets have
thrown about the valiant Vikings and their followers, one thing we
are compelled to admit: they were superb marine architects. Ten
centuries of progressive civilization have served to produce none
better. Some of the arts and sciences may and do exhibit great
progress in excellence, but shipbuilding is not among them. We build
bigger but not better vessels. This ancient galley of oak, in the
beauty of its lines, its adaptability for speed, and its general
sea-worthiness, cannot be surpassed by our best naval constructors
to-day. An American naval officer who chanced to be present with the
author, declared that there were points about this exhumed vessel
which indicated retrogression rather than progress on the part of
modern builders of sea-going craft. The bent timbers on the inside
are of natural growth, the sheathing boards are an inch and a half in
thickness, firmly riveted, the iron bolts clinched on either end.
Near the gunwales the bolts are of oak. The planking slightly
overlaps, being bevelled for the purpose; that is, the hull is what
we technically call clinker-built, and would probably draw about four
feet of water in a sea-going trim. The bow and stern are of the same
pointed shape, and rise a considerable distance above the waist,
giving the vessel what sailors term a deep sheer inboard.
The burial of this ship so many centuries ago was simply in
accordance with the custom of those days. When any great sea-king
perished, he was enclosed in the cabin of his galley, and either sunk
in the ocean or buried with his vessel and all of its war-like
appointments upon the nearest suitable spot of land. In this
instance, as has been intimated, weapons of war were buried with the
deceased, just as our Indian tribes of western America do to this
day. Tombs dating much farther back than the period when this
sepulchral ship was buried have been opened in both Norway and
Sweden, showing that the dead were sometimes burned and sometimes
buried in coffins. The cinerary urns were usually found to have been
either of terra-cotta or of bronze,--seldom, however, of the latter
material. In these tombs trinkets and weapons were also discovered,
with the skeletons of horses and other domestic animals. To the
period of these burials belong the earliest Runic inscriptions,
differing materially from those which were in use a few centuries
later. One may believe much or little of the extravagant stories
handed down by tradition concerning these ancient Scandinavians, but
certainly we have tangible evidence in these tombs that some of the
legends are literally true. We are told that when a chieftain died in
battle, not only were his war-horse, his gold and silver plate, and
his money placed upon his funeral pyre, but that a guard of honor
from among his followers slew themselves, that he might enter the
sacred halls of Odin properly attended. The more elevated the chief
the larger was the number who must sacrifice themselves as his escort
to the land of bliss. So infinite was the reliance of the Heathen
horde in their strange faith, that, far from considering their fate
to be a hard one, they adopted its extremest requirements with songs
of joy!
A general aspect of good order, thrift, industry, and prosperity
prevails at Christiania. The simplicity of dress and the gentle
manners, especially among the female portion of the community, were
marked features. No stranger can fail to notice the low, sympathetic
tones in which the women always speak; but though decorous and
worthy, it must be admitted that the Norwegian ladies are not
handsome. The people resort to the ramparts of the old castle as a
promenade, with its grateful shade of lime-trees, and they also
throng the pleasant Central Park near the Royal Palace. One sees here
none of the rush and fever of living which so wearies the observer in
many of the southern cities of Europe,--notably in Paris, London, and
Vienna. The common people evince more solidity of character with less
of the frivolities, and yet without any of the frosty chill of
Puritanism. They may be said to be a trifle slow and phlegmatic, but
by no means stupid. The most careless schoolboy when addressed by a
stranger in the street instantly removes his hat, and so remains
until he has fully responded to the inquiry made of him, showing thus
the instinctive politeness which seems to permeate all classes in
Norway.
The long-established Hotel Victoria is an interesting hostelry and
museum combined, at least so far as ornithology is concerned. Its
stuffed varieties of native birds disposed in natural positions here
and there about the establishment, would prove the envy of any
collector in this department of natural history. The house is built
about a spacious court, which is partly occupied by a broad and lofty
marquee or tent, under which the _table d'hote_ is served.
Orange-trees and tropical plants are gracefully disposed, and
creeping vines give a sylvan appearance to the court. The whole area
is overlooked by an open and spacious balcony, where a band of
musicians during the season dispense enlivening music. Tame sparrows
and other birds hop about one's feet during each meal, even alighting
upon the chairs and tables to share tid-bits with the guests. The
whole formed a consistent purpose well carried out, and was entirely
unlike any hotel whose hospitality we have shared. There are three or
four excellent public houses besides the Victoria, including the
Grand Hotel and the Scandinavia, the last two quite centrally
located. We made our temporary home at the Grand, a spacious and
comfortable establishment.
There is an original institution of a charitable nature in the
capital, called a Steam Kitchen, where food is cooked upon a large
scale, and entirely by steam. This large establishment, situated on
the Torv Gade, was built especially for the purpose of benefiting the
industrious poor of the city. Here two or three thousand persons are
daily provided with good wholesome dinners at a minimum charge,
calculated to cover the actual cost. While hundreds of persons carry
away food to their families, larger numbers dine at the neat tables
provided in the establishment for that purpose. The inference drawn
from a casual observation of the system was, that no possible
benevolence of a practical character could be better conceived or
more judiciously administered. It seemed to be the consummation of a
great charity, robbed of all objectionable features. None appeared to
feel humiliated in availing themselves of its advantages, since all
the supposed cost of the provisions was charged and paid for.
Upon visiting a new city in any part of the world, the writer has
learned more of its people, their national characteristics and all
local matters worth knowing, by mingling with the throng, watching
their every-day habits and conventionalities, observing and analyzing
the stream of life pouring through its great thoroughfares, reading
the expression upon human faces, and by regarding now and again
chance domestic scenes, than from all the grand cathedrals, art
galleries, show palaces, and guide-books combined. Years of travel
fatigue one with the latter, but never with Nature in her varying
moods, with the peculiarities of races, or with the manners and
customs of every-day life as characterizing each new locality and
country. The delight in natural objects grows by experience in every
cultivated and receptive mind. The rugged architecture of lofty
mountains, tumbling waterfalls, noble rivers, glowing sunsets, broad
land and sea views, each has a special, never-tiring, and impressive
individuality. While enjoying a bird's-eye view of Christiania from
the height of Egeberg, a well-wooded hill four hundred feet in height
in the southern suburb, it was difficult to believe one's self in
Icelandic Scandinavia,--the precise latitude of the Shetland Islands.
A drowsy hum like the drone of bees seemed to float up from the busy
city below. The beautiful fjord with its graceful promontories, its
picturesque and leafy isles, might be Lake Maggiore or Como, so
placid and calm is its pale-blue surface. Turning the eyes inland,
one sees clustered in lovely combination fields of ripening grain,
gardens, lawns, cottages, and handsome villas, like a scene upon the
sunny shores of the Mediterranean near the foot-hills of the Maritime
Alps. An abundance of deciduous trees enliven the scene,--plane,
sycamore, ash, and elm in luxuriant foliage. Warmer skies during the
summer period are not to be found in Italy, nor elsewhere outside of
Egypt. As we stood upon the height of Egeberg that delicious sunny
afternoon, there hung over and about the Norwegian capital a soft
golden haze such as lingers in August above the Venetian lagoons.
The houses in the vicinity of Christiania are generally surrounded by
well-cultivated gardens embellished with choice fruit and ornamental
trees. An unmistakable aspect of refinement was obvious about these
homesteads, and one would fain have known somewhat of the residents
of such attractive domiciles. The traveller who passes so few days in
each new city, and those occupied mostly in observations of a
different character, can hardly pretend to express an opinion of the
resident social life and domestic associations; but we were credibly
informed that there was no dearth of circles composed of intelligent,
polished, and wealthy individuals in Bergen, Gottenburg, or
Christiania. Evidences of the truth of this are certainly obvious to
the most casual observer. Here, and afterwards still farther north, a
tree new to us was found, called the Haegg (_Prunus Padus_), so
abundantly clothed in snow-white blossoms as to entirely hide its
leaves of green. It generally stood in the yards of dwelling-houses
as a floral ornament, and reminded one of a New England apple-tree in
full bloom. The blossoms emitted very little decided perfume, but the
luxuriant growth and the pure white flower were very beautiful. A
dainty bit of color now and again, caused by the single-leafed
dog-rose, recalled the inland roads of far-off Massachusetts, where
mingled blackberry and raspberry bushes and wild roses so often line
the quiet paths. The immediate environs of the capital are
characterized by fine picturesque elevations, the land rising
gradually on all sides until it becomes quite Alpine. The forest
road leading towards Rynkan Falls was fragrant with the soft,
soothing odor of pines and firs, mingled with that of blue, pink, and
yellow flowers, blossoms whose local names only served to puzzle
us,--"wee, modest, crimson-tipped flowers." The giant larkspur,
lilies-of-the-valley, and some orchids were familiar, and greeted the
senses like old friends. The juniper bushes were luxuriant, and there
were plenty of bilberries and wild strawberries in bloom. These last
berries when ripe, as we afterwards found them farther north, are a
revelation to the palate, being quite small, but of exquisite flavor,
recalling the tiny wood-strawberries of New England, which were of
such exquisite flavor and dainty aroma before we cultivated them into
monstrosities. The summer is so short here as to give the fruits and
flowers barely time to blossom, ripen, and fade, or the husbandman a
chance to gather his harvest. Vegetation is wonderfully rapid in its
growth, the sunshine being so nearly constant during the ten weeks
which intervene between seed-time and harvest. Barley grows here two
and a half inches and peas three inches in twenty-four hours, for
several consecutive days. It is an interesting fact that if the
barley-seed be brought from a warmer climate it requires to become
acclimated, and does not yield a good crop until after two or three
seasons. The flowers of the torrid and temperate zones as a rule
close their eye-lids like human beings, and sleep a third or half of
the twenty-four hours; but in Arctic regions life to these lovely
children of Nature is one long sunny period, and sleep comes only
with death and decay. It was also observed that the flowers here
assume more vivid colors and emit more fragrance during their brief
lives than in the south. The long delightful period of twilight
during the summer season is seen here in all its perfection, full of
suggestiveness and roseate loveliness, which no pen can
satisfactorily describe. There is no dew to be encountered and
avoided, no dampness. All is crystal clearness and transparency,
"gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy."
Nothing can be pleasanter or more exhilarating than driving over the
Norwegian roads among the dark pine forests or by the side of dashing
torrents and swift-gliding, seething rivers. The roads are kept in
perfect condition upon all of the regular post-routes, and one rolls
over them in the native carriole nearly as smoothly as though
navigating a lake in a well-manned boat. The little horses, almost
universally of a dun-color and having their manes cropped short, are
wiry and full of life and courage, dashing down the hills at a
seemingly reckless pace, which carries the vehicle half way up the
next rising ground by the mere impetus of the descent. It was
particularly gratifying to observe the physical condition of the
horses both inland and in the streets of Christiania, all being in
good flesh. Not a lame or poor animal was to be found among them,
either in hack, dray, or country-produce cart. They are mostly
pony-shaped, rather short in the legs, few standing over fourteen
hands, and generally even less; but yet they are strong, tough, and
round in form. It was pleasing to observe the drivers, who seemed
also to be the owners, of these animals. When they came from the
house or establishment where their business called them, they would
often take some appetizing trifle from their pockets,--a small apple,
a lump of sugar, or bit of bread,--and tender it to the waiting
horse, who was evidently on the look-out for such a favor. The good
fellowship established between the animal and his master was
complete, and both worked the more effectively together. No observant
person can fail to see what docility and intelligence kindness to any
domestic animal is sure to elicit, while brutality and harshness
induce only reluctant and inefficient service. If the whip is used at
all upon these faithful animals it must be very uncommon, since a
watchfulness in regard to the matter did not discover a single
instance. When a driver has occasion to stop before a house and leave
his horse, he takes one turn of the rein about the animal's near
fore-foot and secures the long end loosely to the shaft. Custom has
taught the horses that this process ties them to the spot, and they
do not attempt to move away under any circumstances. Insects during
the brief but intense heat of summer are very troublesome to animals
exposed to their bite, and so the Norwegian horses are all wisely
permitted to wear long tails as a partial defence against flies and
gnats. The price at which they are valued is very moderate. A
nicely-matched pair, quite sound, young, and well broken for pleasure
driving, can be purchased for three hundred dollars or less.
Between Christiania and Stockholm the railroad follows almost a
straight line due east across southern Norway and Sweden through a
country dotted over with little hamlets of a dozen houses more or
less, occupied by thrifty farmers. The people are of a social, kindly
disposition, but to be known among them as an American insures
instant service, together with unlimited hospitality. Nearly every
family has one or more representatives living in the United States,
and the very name of America is regarded by them with tenderness. A
large percentage of the young people look forward to the time when
they shall eventually make it their permanent home. Emigration is
neither promoted nor discouraged by the Government. Norway seems
generally to be more fertile than Sweden. True, she has her numerous
mountains, but between them are far-reaching and beautiful valleys,
while the sister country with less elevations has a soil of rather a
sandy nature, much less productive. But intelligent farming overcomes
heavy drawbacks; and there are large tracts of land in Sweden that
are rendered quite remunerative through the adoption of modern
methods of cultivation. Immediately about the railroad stations on
all the Scandinavian railroads there are fine gardens, often
ornamented with fountains, bird-houses, blooming flowers, and
miniature cascades. Some of the combinations of floral colors into
graceful figures showed the hand of experienced gardeners. Most of
these station-houses, all of which are constructed of wood, are
extremely picturesque, built in chalet style, rather over-ornamented
by fancy carvings and high colors, yet well adapted in the main for
their special purpose. The Government owns and operates three
quarters of all the railroads in either country, and will doubtless
ere long, as we were assured, control the entire system.
In the rural districts women are very generally employed upon
out-of-door work, as they are in Germany and Italy, and there is
quite a preponderance of the sex in both Norway and Sweden. It was
the haying and harvesting season when the author passed over the
principal routes, and the fields showed four times as many women as
men engaged in mowing, reaping, loading heavy carts, and getting in
the harvest generally. What would our New England farmers think to
see a woman swing a scythe all day in the haying season, cutting as
broad and true a swath as a man can do, and apparently with as little
fatigue! Labor is very poorly paid; forty cents per day is considered
liberal wages for a man except in the cities, where a small increase
is realized upon this amount. The houses all through Norway outside
of the towns are built of logs, well-matched and smoothly finished,
laid horizontally one upon another, like our frontier cabins in the
far West. Each farm, besides the home acres, has also connected with
it what is termed a "saeter," being a tract of mountain pasture, where
a portion of the young members of the family (usually the girls only)
pass the nine or ten weeks of summer engaged in cheese-making, the
cattle being kept on the hills for that period. Here a very rude hut
with but two apartments serves for the girls, and a rough shed for
the cattle at night. The outer apartment of the hut contains a stove,
a table, and a coarse bed, forming the living-room, while the inner
one is improved for the dairy. The available soil about the home farm
in the valley must raise hay and grain for the long winter's use.
After being milked in the morning, at the saeter, the cows, goats, and
sheep go directly to their allotted feeding ground, perhaps more than
a mile away, and at the evening hour they by themselves as surely
return to be milked. The only inducement for such regularity on the
part of the intelligent creatures, so far as we could understand, was
a few handfuls of salt which was given them nightly, and of which
they seemed to be very fond. Great exertion is made by the girls in
the mountains to excel one another as to the aggregate production of
cheese for the season, much pride being felt also in the quality of
the article. The sturdy figures and healthy blooming faces of these
girls, "with cheeks like apples which the sun has ruddied," showed
what physical charms the bracing mountain air and a simple manner of
life in these regions is capable of producing.
Norway has been appropriately called the country of mountains and
fjords, of cascades and lakes. Among the largest of the latter is
Lake Mjoesen, which is about sixty miles long and has an average width
of twelve. It is certainly a very remarkable body of water. It
receives into its bosom one important river, the Lougen, after it has
run a course of nearly a hundred and fifty miles. At its southern
extremity is the port of Eidsvold, and at the northern is
Lillehammer. These are situated in the direct route between
Christiania and Troendhjem. But the most singular fact attached to the
lake is that it measures over fifteen hundred feet in depth, while
its surface is four hundred feet above the level of the ocean. Its
bottom is known to be nearly a thousand feet below that of the North
Sea, which would seem to show that it must be the mouth of some
long-extinct volcano. Neither glacial action nor any other physical
agent known to us can have dug an abrupt hole eight or ten hundred
feet deep; and yet there are also some dry valleys in Norway whose
bottoms are considerably below that of the sea. The river Mesna
tumbles boisterously into the lake close to Lillehammer. A walk
beside its thickly-wooded banks brings to view many beautiful
cascades and waterfalls, some of which are worthier of a visit than
many of the more famous falls of Scandinavia. On all the important
inland routes not furnished with railroad or steamboat transit
Government supports a system of postal service, whereby one can
easily travel in almost any desired direction. On such excursions the
keen air and free exercise are apt to endow the traveller with an
excellent appetite, which Norwegian fare is not quite calculated to
assuage. However, the milk is almost always good, and eggs are
generally to be had. Even hard black bread will yield to a hammer,
after which it can be soaked in milk and thus rendered eatable. One
does not come hither in search of delicate and appetizing food, but
rather to stand face to face with Nature in her wildest and most
rugged moods. The pleasures of the table are better sought in the big
capitals of southern Europe or America, where "rich food and heavy
groans go together."
As to the fauna of Norway, the reindeer, the bear, the wolf, the fox,
and the lynx about complete the list of indigenous animals. The
ubiquitous crow abounds; and fine specimens of the golden eagle, that
dignified monarch of the upper regions, may occasionally be seen
sailing through the air from cliff to cliff, across the fjords and
valleys. At certain seasons of the year this bird proves destructive
to domestic fowls and young lambs. But we escaped in Norway the
almost inevitable legend of a young child having been carried off by
an eagle to its nearly inaccessible nest; that story is still
monopolized by Switzerland. For some reason not quite understood by
the author, the mischievous magpie is here held as half sacred. That
is to say, the country people have a superstition that any injury
inflicted upon these birds entails misfortune upon him who causes it;
and yet the Government offers a premium for their destruction.
Magpies appear to be as much of a nuisance in Norway as crows are in
India or Ceylon, and to be quite as unmolested by the people
generally. What are called the wild birds of Scandinavia are in fact
remarkably tame, and they embrace a large variety. As the traveller
proceeds through the country, he will observe sheaves of unthrashed
grain elevated upon poles beside the farm-houses and barns, which are
designed to furnish the feathered visitors with food. These sheaves
are regularly renewed all through the winter season; otherwise the
birds would starve. The confiding little creatures know their
friends, and often enter the houses for protection from the severity
of the weather. Neither man, woman, nor child would think of
disturbing them, for they are considered as bringing good luck to the
premises which they visit. The bounty paid for the destruction of
bears and wolves in 1885 showed that nearly two hundred of each
species of these animals were killed by the hunters. Bears are
believed to be gradually decreasing, but wolves are still very
numerous in the northerly regions and the thickly-wooded middle
districts. In extreme seasons, when pressed by hunger, they prove
destructive to the reindeer herds of the Lapps in spite of every
ordinary precaution, and even in the summer season farmers never
leave their sheep unguarded when they are pastured away from the
homestead.
In journeying from the capital to Troendhjem (where the steamer is
taken for the North Cape) by the way of Lillehammer, one crosses the
Dovrefjeld, or mountain plateau; but a more popular route is by rail
from city to city. This fjeld lies a little above the sixty-second
parallel of latitude, and is about one third of the distance from the
southern to the northern extreme of the country, which reaches from
the fifty-eighth to the seventy-first parallel. The famous elevation
called the Sneehaettan--"Snow Hat"--forms a part of this Alpine
range, and is one of the loftiest in Norway, falling little short of
eight thousand feet in altitude. To be exact, it ranks sixth among
the Scandinavian mountains. It should be remembered that one eighth
of the country lies within the region of perpetual snow, and that
these lofty and nearly inaccessible heights are robed in a constant
garb of bridal whiteness. No other part of Europe or any inhabited
portion of the globe has such enormous glaciers or snowfields,
unless possibly some portions of Alaska. Here in Norway are glaciers
which cover from four to five hundred square miles, descending from
plateaus three and four thousand feet in height down to very near
sea-level, as in the instance of the mammoth Svartisen glacier, which
is visited by all travellers to the North Cape. Arctic and Alpine
flowers abound in the region of the Dovrefjeld,--and glacial flowers
are abundant, though not so much so as in the more frequently visited
snow regions of Switzerland. As the ice and snow recede in the early
summer, the plants spring up with magic promptness, so that within a
few yards the same species are seen in successive stages of growth,
spring and summer flowers blooming side by side in rather forced
companionship. The blue gentians are extremely lovely, and are among
the first to appear after the mantle of snow is lifted from the
awaking earth. The most remarkable and abundant of the spring flowers
however is the _linnaea borealis_, thus appropriately named after the
great Swedish botanist and naturalist. It is a long, low-creeping
plant bearing a pink blossom, and is in full bloom early in July,
luxuriating all over the Scandinavian peninsula. Harebells nodding
upon their delicate stems, primroses, snowdrops, and small blue
pansies are also common. In the southern districts roses of various
species thrive in glorious profusion in the open air annually during
the short genial period, and also as domestic favorites during the
long night of winter, adorning and perfuming the living-rooms of the
people of every class in town and country.
Though the highest point in Norway or Sweden is only about
eighty-five hundred feet above sea-level, an elevation which is
reached only by the Jotunfjeld, or Giant Mountain, still no highlands
in Europe surpass those of Scandinavia in terrific and savage
grandeur, "rocked-ribbed and ancient as the sun." Mont Blanc is fully
one third higher than this Giant Mountain, but being less abrupt is
hardly so striking and effective in aspect. The grand elevations of
Norway are intersected by deep dark gorges and fearful chasms,
roaring with impetuous torrents and enormous waterfalls, and
affording an abundance of such scenes as would have inspired the
pencil of Salvator Rosa. The mountain system here does not form a
continuous range, but consists of a succession of plateaus like the
Dovrefjeld, and of detached mountains rising from elevated bases. The
length of this series of peculiar elevations--mountains and
plateaus--is that of the entire peninsula, from the North Cape to
Christiansand on the Skager Rack, some twelve hundred miles, having
an average width of about two hundred miles,--which gives to the
mountains of Norway and Sweden an area larger than the Alps, the
Apennines, and the Pyrenees combined, while the lakes, waterfalls,
and cascades far surpass those of the rest of Europe. There is no
other country where so large a portion is covered with august
mountains as in Norway. It includes an area of about one hundred and
twenty-three thousand square miles; and it has been said by those
most familiar with its topography, that could it be flattened out it
would make as large a division of the earth as would any of the four
principal continents. The ratio of arable land to the entire area of
Norway is not more than one to ten, and were it not that the support
of the people at large comes mainly from the sea, the country could
not sustain one quarter of even its present sparse population.
Undismayed by the preponderance of rocks, cliffs, and chasms, the
people utilize every available rod of land. Here and there are seen
wire ropes extending from the low lands to the mountain sides, the
upper ends of which are lost to sight, and which are used for sliding
down bundles of compressed hay after it has been cut, made, and
packed in places whither only men accustomed to scale precipices
could possibly climb. The aspect of such regions is severe and
desolate in the extreme, even when viewed beneath the cheering smiles
of a summer sun. What then must be their appearance during the long,
trying winter of these hyperborean regions? In snug corners,
sheltered by friendly rocks and cliffs from the prevailing winds, are
seen little clusters of cabins inhabited by a few lowly people who
live in seeming content, and who rear families amid almost incredible
deprivations and climatic disadvantages, causing one to wonder at
their hardihood and endurance. It is not uncommon to see along the
west coast of Norway, among the islands and upon the main-land,
farm-houses surrounded by a few low buildings of the rudest
character, perched among rocks away up on some lofty green terrace,
so high indeed as to make them seem scarcely larger than an eagle's
nest. To anybody but a mountaineer these spots are positively
inaccessible, and every article of subsistence, except what is raised
upon the few acres of available earth surrounding the house, must be
carried up thither upon men's backs, for not even a mule could climb
to these regions. A few goats and sheep must constitute the entire
animal stock which such a spot can boast, with perhaps a few domestic
fowls. These dwellings have been constructed of logs cut in some of
the sheltered gulches near at hand and drawn to the spot with
infinite labor, one by one. It would seem that such persistent and
energetic industry applied in more inviting neighborhoods would have
insured better results. What must life be passed in such an isolated,
exposed place, in a climate where the ground is covered with snow for
nine months of each year! Some few of these eyries have bridle-paths
leading up to them which are barely passable; and yet such are
thought by the occupants to be especially favored.