These prophecies are repeated, particularly by Ezekiel, many
times almost in the same words in different chapters (see
particularly the whole of the 30th and 32nd), as if he were
desirous in an especial manner to enforce them. These
denunciations and prophecies, then, seem clearly to establish
three distinct important events to the Egyptians--first, their
complete conquest and dispersion; secondly, their remaining
dispersed, without idols, among all nations and countries, in
the open fields, during forty years; and, finally, their being
again brought to the land of their habitation, where they shall
be taught to know the Lord.
_The Gipsies._[72] By SAMUEL ROBERTS.
OUR GUIDE--TO THE MOUNTAINS--MYSTIC LIGHT--THE PHOTOGRAPHS--THE
CLAYMORE YACHT--NORWEGIAN GIPSIES--SINGULAR
RACE--OCCUPATIONS--GIPSY BURIALS--ROMANTIC
LOVE--PREDESTINATION--THE BONDEGAARD--THE HIGH
DEMAND--ESMERALDA’S SOUVENIR.
A note was soon after placed in our hands, by a broad-shouldered
thickset muscular man, rather under middle height, with a thick sandy
almost red beard; his small quick eye betokened alertness, and
self-possession, his countenance expressed good temper, fidelity, and
rectitude. It was not necessary to look again, as we took the note. He
was a broad-chested, sturdy reindeer hunter, of the Fjeld; the note was
an introduction given by Mr. L. the bearer was Ole Halvorsen, or as he
is usually called Ole Rödsheim, from the name of his station and land
in Bœverdal. A certificate of strong recommendation by two English
gentlemen, for whom he had recently acted as guide, and had lately
parted from, was also given us. Captain C.‘s name was also used with his
permission. We at once liked Ole Rödsheim; his quiet manner, and
appearance, was so different from many of the “Tolks,” and guides, who
are often more trouble, and expense than use; most of them would sneeze
for an hour, at the idea of sleeping on some damp heath, under a rock
during a windy wet night, near the exhilarating influence of a cold snow
field; such were not the men for our expedition, and Ole Rödsheim was.
After a careful inspection of our maps, we soon arranged in our minds,
the course for our future expedition after we left Veblungsnœs. The
summit of the Galdhœpiggen, the Mörkfos, and the valders, with a long
route through many Mountain and Lake scenes, we proposed to accomplish.
Ole Rödsheim spoke good English, and the following arrangement was soon
concluded; he was to join us near Molmen, and guide our party over the
mountains, to Skeaker, Lom, and Rödsheim, and ascend with us the
Galdhöpiggen, for the sum of three dollars and a half, finding himself
board and lodging; his services afterwards, if required, to be 4 marks a
day, including everything. Deciding to make a forced march, and travel
in two days what we had before travelled in four, we agreed to be at the
Böver Moen (Beaver stream) between Stueflaaten and Molmen on the
following Wednesday morning.
[Illustration: VEBLUNGSNŒS, WITH CHURCH, FJORD, AND MOUNTAIN OF THE
THREE PEAKS, “THE KING, QUEEN, AND BISHOP.”]
With what pleasure we looked forward to fresh scenes of travel and
adventure in even wilder scenes of nature than those we had yet
traversed. Those we had seen were very beautiful; each camp seemed to
eclipse the last, in the beauty of its scenery. On those still clear
Norwegian nights, full of mystic light, lovely in their starlight
stillness, the mind seemed enthralled, in a thousand pleasing fancies;
the music of the waterfall; the voices on the breeze. The melody of
nature, produced impressions we can never forget.
Norway is not the country for the sybarite, fainéant, and the flâneur;
it is the home of the hardy mountaineer, the angler, the reindeer
hunter, and nomad wanderer, the lover of nature and nature’s works in
her wildest and most beautiful forms.
Plants, mosses of every hue, trees, rocks, glaciers, torrents, lakes,
fjords, waterfalls, mountains, woods, and glens, are, in their
perfection, met at every step, in Norway’s free romantic land.
When Mr. L. came to our camp in the evening with Herr Solberg, we
arranged for our photographs, and paid for them. The views of
Romsdalshorn, Veblungsnœs, and Troldtinderne, from which the engravings
in this book are taken, had yet to be completed specially for us. They
were afterwards forwarded; Herr Solberg was allowed the privilege of
disposing of the stereoscopic view of our gipsy camp, and the carte de
visite of Esmeralda. The specimens he brought to show us, were presented
to Esmeralda.
Our last walk with Mr. L. is taken by the Isfjord. As a parting souvenir
we gave him an illustrated copy of Her Majesty the Queen of England’s
Journal, with which he was much interested; Mr. L. added much to the
pleasure of our visit to the quaint old town of Veblungsnœs. When shall
we meet again? So it is in this world; we meet and we part, but
fortunately the memory retains friendship’s recollection not so easily
effaced.
From the Isfjord, near Veblungsnœs, the farm was pointed out to us where
Colonel Sinclair, who perished at the Kringelen, landed with his forces.
The church of Veblungsnœs is represented in the engraving of the town.
There was nothing remarkable about this church to note. A newly dug
grave was prepared in the churchyard for the deceased Bondegaard, who
had resided near. If it happens that the clergyman cannot attend when
the corpse is buried no delay occurs; the service is read over by the
clergyman at some future time, when he attends for church service. The
yacht Claymore added a charm to our evening contemplation of the
Isfjord. Noah said he had seen one of the gentlemen of the yacht on
shore, who had that day ascended the mountain above our camp.
Our stay was now nearly ended. Hitherto our travels had through every
difficulty, been most successful; we had scarcely lost anything; the two
hats, musketo veil, and kettle prop we could manage without. Mr. L. told
us that two young Norwegian friends who had made an excursion, came to
him with scarcely anything left; they had forgotten some article at
nearly every place they went to. With some trouble the things were again
recovered. When the travellers departed, they again contrived to leave
behind them an umbrella and a pair of galoshes.
Some of the Norwegian gipsies usually attend the October fair at
Veblungsnœs. The women are very handsome, and some of the men. When they
attend the fair, the women drink even more than the men. They are very
fond of music, and at the fairs, when they have drunk to excess, are
very quarrelsome and passionate. Under the Norwegian law any person who
arrives at a certain age without being able to read or write, and who
has not been confirmed, is liable to be committed to gaol. There they
remain until they can read, write, and are properly instructed in
religious knowledge. Many of the gipsies when examined by clergymen,
have been found so ignorant, and without instruction, that they have
from time to time been committed to prison, and detained there, till
they came up to the standard of required proficiency. Prœsten Eilert
Sundt had therefore good opportunities of seeing them, and conversing
with them. The vocabulary of Romany words, as spoken by the Norwegian
gipsies, which he has collected, with other information, is very
valuable.[73] His mission seems to have been performed with much energy.
The short résumé of his works, given in the appendix to this book, we
had specially made for our English readers; it gives some idea of the
state in which he found this wandering and singular people in Norway.
The Storthing granted a large sum for the amelioration of their
condition. We were told that some gipsies who had money given them, and
were settled in farms on the shore of the Isfjord opposite Veblungsnœs,
did not remain long, and, selling their farms, disappeared with the
money. Many of the gipsies who attend the Veblungsnœs fair, when asked
where they came from, say the Valders. This was one reason why we
decided to return with our gipsies through that part of Norway.
Notwithstanding, Prœsten Sundt’s account of their mode of life, and
predilections, and the very unenviable notoriety they seem to have
attained in Norway, we were certainly anxious to fall in with a band of
these wanderers, so that our people might hold converse with them. We
were told that some of the gipsies had land in the Valders! but it is
very possible that the statement that they came from that part of Norway
was an evasive reply. It is very seldom gipsies will give even their
right names to curious questioners; as in other countries where they are
found, and in very few they are not, they deal in horses and work in
metals. The Norwegian gipsies are skilful workers in brass; we were told
that they live in houses in the winter, the cold being too intense for
them to travel with their tents.
The circumstance of the non-burial of the gipsy dead in the Norwegian
churchyards, as stated by the Prœsten Sundt, is not confined exclusively
to the gipsies of Norway. Baudrimont in his “Langue des Bohémiens,” as
spoken by those living in the Basque provinces, says at page 27, “We
know not what becomes of the gipsies who die; not the slightest trace of
them is ever met with. This has given rise to the idea, that they turn
the course of rivulets, and, digging a pit, place the body in the
torrent’s bed, and again let the water resume its course.”
Francisque-Michel in his work, “Le Pays Basque,”[74] at page 143,
says:--“‘I have noticed in many localities,’ said Monsieur le Vicomte de
Belsunce, who was for a considerable period the mayor of a district,
‘that gipsy men and women of great age, long known to the present
generation as old people, disappear suddenly, and never return. It is a
common occurrence, and yet no labourer in the fields, or traveller on
the roads, or shepherd, or hunter in the mountains, ever sees the trace
of a grave.’”
And the same author says:--“Was Grellman[75] right, or was it true, as
many assert, that these people turned the course of some brook whilst
they made the grave, and turned the stream over it immediately
afterwards? Such a burial would not leave any trace, and it was so they
buried Attila, who followed, when he came into Europe, the same route as
the gipsies.”
The more the gipsy element becomes mingled with other house-dwelling
races the less strongly will they cling to their tents. We who have
tried it must confess to a strange fascination in tent life. To our own
knowledge we have known instances of gipsies who have married
house-dwelling gorgios. One singular instance of romantic love was once
narrated to me of a young gentleman of birth, who became so infatuated
as to leave all for a handsome gipsy girl he met with. She left the
neighbourhood of his home, but he could not rest, and, with a few
things, followed and found her, and at last submitted for her sake to be
her husband and adopt tent life. His end was sad. He was making some
pegs for her to sell, but being unpractised in the art, and clumsy with
his knife, it slipped and entered his thigh, probably severed the
femoral artery, for he died soon after.
As long as much of the gipsy element remains, it is not probable that
they can be bent to the steady pursuits of a stationary house-dwelling
population. As well try to turn the falcon into a barn-door fowl; but
Christian charity should lead us, if we cannot alter their nature, to
aid in placing them in such course of life, as may best improve and
raise their moral condition, without requiring them to sacrifice
entirely, those strong and restless feelings, which seem inherent in
their being, and the necessity of some mysterious law or predestination.
We sat out late by our tents, writing our notes; the long evenings of
clear light, enabled us often to snatch those hours which in England,
would be quite dark. The gipsies, before we retired to rest, had their
dose of brimstone and treacle, and with many anticipations, we were soon
buried in repose.
All was stir and bustle. Up, Noah!--up, Zachariah!--vand! All were
moving before six. Eggs, bread, butter, and tea for breakfast. Esmeralda
had been unwell all night. Our gipsies had been living well, and without
their usual exercise. Esmeralda was evidently bilious. She had behaved
very well, and was now deep in the mysteries of cooking and
housekeeping.
The old farmer hovered near as if he was looking out for his quarry. We
had scarcely seen him about before. We were uncertain when Mr. L. would
come, and therefore mentioned to the farmer that we wished to pay him
for our accommodation.
He led the way into his house, and we found ourselves in a little
parlour, comfortably furnished, but without any ventilation: a picture
of the death-bed of King Oscar in 1859, two prints of the Emperor
Napoleon III. and the Empress, and a German coloured print called
Elise, and Our Saviour, were placed on the walls.
His daughter brought in a bottle of some wine or cordial, and a
wine-glass, but we asked for a cup of coffee in preference. In answer to
my request, the old man, who sat on the other side of the table, counted
slowly on his fingers five marks--“Een thaler,” said he. It was what we
expected, and proceeding to pay him, we pulled out three dollar notes.
Not wishing to pay more of our silver away than we could help, we
thought it a good opportunity to pay one of our dollar notes. Directly
the old man saw the notes he suddenly counted three on his fingers, and
raised his demand to “drei thalers.” It was of little consequence, and
we paid him his demand, disgusted with his cupidity--three dollars, or
13_s._ 6_d._ English money, which in Norway was equivalent to the rent
of a cottage and ground for one year for a Huusmand. What different
hospitality the wanderers met with from many not half so wealthy, who
brought to our camp fladbröd for our acceptance. This, and the one at
Lillehammer, were the only two instances we met with of any
over-exaction in Norway. We were told afterwards that one dollar was
amply sufficient.
We had almost loaded our donkeys when Mr. L. came; and at our wish a
boatman brought up two very fine sea trout, for which we paid three
marks and twelve skillings, and took them with us.
The militia were to commence their training at Veblungsnœs that morning.
One of our former acquaintances, a Norwegian captain--a fine specimen of
a thorough-going military man, erect and handsome, with his grey
moustache--had come to see us off. Esmeralda stepped forward, and
pinned some beautiful flowers, selected from the Aak bouquet, in Mr.
L.’s coat. A copy of our song was left for Monsieur le Capitaine’s son;
another for Frue Landmark, of Aak; and one for Herr Solberg; and two
copies for Mr. L. to do what he liked with. The Chevalier had sent a
very nice return telegram to us. Mr. L. and the Captain were astonished
at the weight our donkeys carried. We wished the farmer’s wife and
daughter and son good-by. The old man was absent, probably gloating over
his sudden acquisition of wealth. His son and daughter were very quiet,
respectable young people. The farm people collected on the ground, and,
saluting each other with our hats, we left the camp, and passed up the
wide lane leading to the main route. As we were disappearing over the
edge of the ascent, we saw the Capitaine and his son still looking after
us; they waved their hats as we vanished with a farewell signal in
return.
[Illustration: ROMSDALSHORN,
VIEW FROM NEAR “AAK.”]