A Summer in Norway ... Also, an account of the red-deer, reindeer and elk

Preface

. Having lost the book in which I had briefly noted down the incidents of my visit and travel through Norway, I tried to supply its place from memory. The attempt to do this resulted in the more voluminous record contained in this volume. Then came the suggestion that what I had written, and had been read with interest by those who had seen the manuscript, would be of interest to the public, especially as it related to a country and a people not as familiarly known to many, at least, as other countries in Europe. I put the manuscript in the hands of the publishers with much doubt and hesitation, hoping, however, that they will not be disappointed in their estimate and judgment of what may interest the public. Ottawa, III, March, 1875. CONTENTS.

Chapter I

Interest in Scandinavia; causes therefor; what we know of Norway; the route to Norway; arrive in London; start from Hull; limited accommodations; crossing the North Sea; the passengers; the protecting islands; stop at Aalesund, 9

Chapter II

Absence of docks in Norway; primitive mode ot landing; day succeeds day without night; singular sensations; sleeping in day-time; British sportsmen; tax on provisions; salmon-fishing in Norway ; lease of the rivers to Englishmen ; a day at the fishing-grounds ; manner of fishing ; Mr. Burrows, a veteran fisher; habits of salmon; dine on a fifty-thousand-dollar salmon, 25

Chapter III

Continue the voyage; among the islands; scenery and sights; red deer; its island home; fishers' huts; Trondhjem; ancient capital of Norway; meet Hattram, our interpreter; landing and reception; Norwegian salutations; the streets; flowers; the hotel ; Norway beds ; down coverlets ; stroll through Trondhjem ; politeness ofthe people; an agreeable acquaintance, . . . .

Chapter IV

Norwegian history; Olaf Tryggveson; his romantic story; is sold into slavery ; kills his captor ; turns sea-king ; wonderful prowess; harries the nations; marries an Irish princess; becomes a Christian; ascends the throne; Christianity in Norway; founding of Trondhjem, CONTENTS. 2

Chapter V

The great cathedral; Olaf the Holy; miraculous spring; kings crowned at Trondhjem; present dynasty; union between Norway and Sweden; population; steamship lines; variety of languages spoken ; environs of the city, 59

Chapter VI

Steamer accommodations ; cheapness of travel ; Norwegian miles ; the currency ; rates of watermen ; embarkation ; reasons why docks not used; daylight at midnight; popular celebration of midsummer night ; among the islands ; their number ; cod fishing, catching, drying and packing; meals on the steamer; the flat-bread, 69

Chapter VII

Coast towns and people ; local travel and traffic ; no baggage smashing ; Torghatten ; the natural tunnel ; the Seven Sisters ; entering the snow area; the Horseman's Island; legend of the horseman and the tunnel; the midnight sun; strange sensations produced; a school for myths, 83

Chapter VIII

The Arctic Circle; the island fishermen; snows and silvery streams; light and shade at midnight; eider ducks; gathering the down ; the trade in down ; the eider family in Norway ; Bodo; a good time with the children; their good behavior; flowering moss; an accident; leave Bodo; peculiar fish; arrive at Tromso, 95

Chapter IX

Arrive at Hammerfest; excursion by land and water to North Cape; the trip to Vadso; improved whaling; extent of the business; another visit to North Cape; hotel accommodations; primitive habits ; most northern town in the world ; moderate temperature; navigation never interrupted by ice in Norway; the effect of the Gulf Stream, CONTENTS. 3

Chapter X

Hammerfest; its commerce and oil factories; cod-fishing; the Sei; the fishermen; religion and education; hostility to Catholics; confirmation and suffrage ; general education ; the Lapps ; history and language ; nomadic or mountain Lapps ; social distinctions; family relations, dress, physical qualities; an insane bridegroom ; domestic virtues ; Lapp women ; use of tobacco ; coast Laps ; religious character ; fanatical crusade ; superstitious charms, 125

Chapter XI

First sight of reindeer ; garden housetops, their construction ; buildings in Hammerfest and other towns; fuel; wintering of cattle on fish ; feeding of horses ; cows ; dairy farms ; food for stock ; sheep, goats, hogs, fowls, and Lapland dogs ; mails and telegraphs ; courtesy of people and officials ; temperature and light in winter; winter amusements; love of home and country; fishing at midnight; the midnight sun again, 1^9

Chapter XII

Trade in Hammerfest; the Lapp quarter; American consul; leave Hammerfest; our northern position; island channels; Bosekop, the Lapland Eden; the hotel; an arctic bouquet; rapid growth of flowers ; peat bogs ; church architecture ; the forests ; valley of the Alten river; codfish trade; unconsciously aid a truant: an historical monument, 167

Chapter XIII

Historical monument; Harold Haarfager, Norway's first and great king; the story of his conquest of kingdom and queen; the expelled jarls; their settlements and colonies; discovery of Iceland; its settlement, republican government, conversion to Christianity, historians and poets; discovery and settlement of Greenland ; Scandinavian claim to the discovery of America ; the several expeditions; the first white man buried and the first white child born in America; credit to which these claims of discovery are entitled, CONTENTS. I

Chapter XIV

Gardens and grass at Bosekop; copper mine at Kaafjord; leave Bosekop; christening and confirmation pilgrims; fourth of July on the steamer; miss the stars and stripes; meet friends at Oxfjord; the voyage south; changed aspect produced by summer; Tromso; contested lodgings; Laplander encampments; herds of reindeer; arrange for a visit; the trip by water; rather comical landing, 203

Chapter XV

The encampment; the reindeer and the Lapland herders; special investigation of the habits of the animal; their keeping, and uses; their breeding and natural instincts; long conversation with the herders; compared with other branches of the deer family ; domestication ; the value of the milk ; Lapland cheese ; the natural food of the reindeer ; the universality of the moss where the reindeer are found, .'.-... \

Chapter XVI

A commercial levee ; Lapland thread ; Norwegian log cabin ; domestic industry; luncheon; a cutler's shop; the universal sheath-knife, its use and cost; Lapp encampment; a charming sail to town; location of Tromso; dull fishing; social life in towns ; general gravity of the people ; leave Tromso ; monotony of perpetual daylight, and desire to escape it; the steamer; second view of the grand coast scenery; the works of nature and of man; human insignificance, 241

Chapter XVII

The Lofoden islands ; their number, size and location ; the Maelstrom ; island scenery ; the inhabitants ; virtue, temperance and industry; the women, able-bodied and good-looking; general cleanliness; the journey among the islands; dangerous navigation ; authority of captain and pilot ; pass Bodo ; leave the Arctic Circle; Norwegian fjords and lakes; recollections of the journey ; reach Trondhjem, CONTENTS. ■"•

Chapter XVIII

Attempted imposition; I resist and defeat it; American weakness in such matters ; the landlord ; continued rain, and no darkness yet; environs of Trondhjem; comfortable condition of the people ; mode of curing hay ; Norwegian scythe ; women in the fields ; overland travel ; legal regulations ; the carriole system ; the vehicle and harness ; engage a carriage for my party; the contract and arrangements; leave Trondhjem; the railway to Storen; Norwegian strawberries; Storen, . . . . -79

Chapter XIX

The overland trip; lose and then recover our carriage; light baggage; a countryman accompanies us; we start on a good road; pass Prœsthuus, Garlid, Bjerkager and Austbjerg; a lady tries the carriole; a grand precipice; Stuen and Anne or Ovne; first night at a station; peat; a case of poverty; sunny nights; Rise, Drivstuen arid Kongsvold ; a Norwegian kitchen; try rav hand at cooking with astonishing results; the Dovre Fjeld; a bad road; the summit; Mount Snehæton; Hjœrkin ; the carriage upsets ; in a tight place ; the mustang horses of the country, 299

Chapter XX

Resume the journey; bleak and barren district; delay at Fogsten; flowers under snow; snowballing in July; another accident, and hazardous travel; Dombaas; wild reindeer; no darkness yet; part with our traveling companion; the Norwegian elk; Thoftemoen; a royal station-keeper, his pride and wealth; Laagen valley; a perilous bridge and road; Brœndhaugen, Laurgaard, Moen, Bedevangen; Kringlen, an historical site; the story of the annihilation of a Scotch army under Sinclair, at Kringlen; the commemoration monument; the romance, . 321

Chapter XXI

Storklevslad; secure a good dinner; Oien; Norwegian timber a race for horses ; we win ; Listad ; Skjæggstad ; the beggars CONTENTS. in Norway; last of the snow mountains; Kerkestuen; tlie road along the river ; Holmen and Fossegaarden ; vexatious delay waiting for horses ; need of patience ; lower valley of the Laagen; Lake Mjosen; reached Lillehammer, 341

Chapter XXII

Lillehammer; docks at the landings; a garden of roses; honest horses; the falls; Lake Mjosen; effect of the Lisbon earthquake; Helgio; Hamar; Vormen river; Eidsvold; an historical city; cradle of Norwegian liberty; transfer of Norway to Sweden in 1S10; the secret treaty; convention at Eidsvold in 1S14; a king elected ; the constitution of Norway ; king abdicates, and King of Sweden elected King of Norway; incorruptibility of the Storthing; national independence, 353

Chapter XXIII

Leave Eidsvold by rail for Christiana; the hotel porter; his importance, his numerous functions, his qualifications, dress and income; hear of the second Chicago fire; difficulty in getting information; Christiana Fjord and Christiana; ancient city of Osloe; environs of the capital; parks and palaces; parliament house; university and museum; other institutions; American consul; Mr. Bennett, the generous friend of travelers, . . . 371

Chapter XXIV

Leave Christiana by rail; Kongsvinger; indifferent accommodations; absence of carpets in Norway hotels; cross the Swedish line; Avika; a wheat-field; Laxa; a long and wearisome delay ; gross mismanagement of railways ; the German system ; Stockholm ; the Grand Hotel ; the northern Venice ; water transit; abandon the trip to Russia; the Gotha slack-water canal; Wener lake; Trolhœtta falls; southern Sweden; Gothenburg to Copenhagen, Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne; up the Rhine; Heidelburg; Baden-Baden; Zurich and Lucerne; up the Riga; Rhone glacier; Geneva; Paris; London; Liverpool; New York, 3S7; C H APTER I. Interest in Scandinavia; causes therefor; what we know of Norway; the route to Norway; arrive in" London; start from hull; limited accommodations; crossing the North Sea; the passengers; the protecting islands; stop at Aalesund.

IT is gratifying to observe the interest recently awakened in the United States in all that pertains to the Scandinavian states, and especially to Norway. Many considerations com bine to excite this interest. In the first place, we know but little of its present or past, al though not hidden away in the interior, like most other European states, but swept on its western border by that great ocean stream which, beginning at Central America, and carrying with it the forest trees of the tropics to the arctic regions of Norway, and within a few days' sail of the most commercial nation of Europe, still it seems to be wrapt in seclusion, and its natu- NOR HAY. 10 ral features and characteristics escape that notice which other countries receive. We know that Norway has a history, but little of it is accessi ble in our language.

We know they were once a powerful people in war ; that they had liberal, yes, democratic institutions, and were more advanced than many of their southern neighbors in the science of government ; that they left their deep impress especially upon the British Islands, when the institutions of the latter were in a plastic state, and in the process of formation, and thus have had an influence on our own. We know that William the Conqueror was descended from Norwegian stock, and that the present dynasty of Great Britain traces its origin back to Norway. We know that they had their heroic age, when in valor, enterprise and sanguinary deeds they eclipsed all other peoples. We have been told that their brave navigators first discovered our own country, and actually colonized our shores centuries before Columbus was born.

We have been told that they have a mountainous, rugged country, reaching far into the Arctic Circle, peopled with a hardy race of fishermen, extending much nearer the pole than civilization has elsewhere reached ; but of all this we have but shadows and glimpses, which interest but do not satisfy. In the dark shadows of the past we look for faint images of thing's that have gone before. Into these dim outlines we figure to ourselves great realities, and with credulous ears listen to mythical tales as substitutes for established facts, and if they give but an outline we fill up the picture from our own imaginings. Whether it be of times, of peoples or of countries, if we know but little, our curiosity is excited, our interest is awakened, and we wish to fill up the measure of our knowledge.

The human mind is ever striving after something new ; and the higher the culture the stronger is this desire. With the known we are already satisfied, and stretch forward to the unknown. We feel less interest in the perusal of a book which we have already read, or the story of which has been already told us. We travel to see new things. If we visit countries which have filled the pages of history for thousands of years, and the characteristics of whose peoples have been often described to us, it is not so much to see what we have thus learned, but something new — something that others have overlooked, or have omitted to describe ; for it NORWAY. is a certain truth that no traveler, no matter how observing and painstaking he may be, ever sees all the features of a country or a people which he visits, any more than the artist sees all the features or appreciates all the beauties of a landscape which he beholds ; yet were he to undertake to write a description of all he saw, even in a short study, he would find it almost an endless task.

So it is with Scandi navia. We know but little of it, and this little serves but to sharpen the appetite for more. Why would you prefer to hear of Norway rather than of England or France, or of our own country ? Simply because you wish to hear of something new to you, rather than listen to a tale so often told, and which has lost the charm of novelty. Although its western islands are washed by the same ocean that laves the shores of our own land — although a waif thrown from our southern keys may be dashed upon the rocks by the maelstrom, or swept beyond the North Cape, yet we know less of that land and its people than of many countries at our anti podes. We know indeed that it is an old country and was once mistress of all the northern seas. We know there was a time when the sea-kings of the Norsemen left their midnight sun and swept down upon the more benighted regions of Ireland, Scotland and England, overcame the natives, and placed rulers over their settlements ; crossed the channel, drove the descendants of the Gauls from all the coasts of Normandy, and colonized it with their surplus population ; gave it a new name, commemorative of their origin, and their descendants still hold the lands their fierce ancestors wrested from weaker hands.

We know that these later descendants of the Northmen, not content with their continental possessions, in the person of William the Con queror, crossed the channel, conquered England, and established there a great dynasty, which, with slight interruption, has ruled that great nation ever since. Thus much we learn from the histories of the lands they invaded or conquered ; but back of this we know so little that a charm of mystery hangs over these sea-robbers, as they were called, and the land they came from. If their own histories tell much we would like to know, they are sealed books except to the most learned ot other nations, for the Norske language is con- A SU As As ER sN NORWAY. fined to a limited area. So that we are still confined, or at least most of us, to the scraps picked up here and there in the histories of the countries with which they came in contact.

We have all heard of Harold and Olaf, and others of their warlike kings who built their rude dwellings upon the rugged cliffs and threaded their way, with their great fleets of little vessels full of devoted followers, among the rock-bound islands and into the deep fjords, whence they dashed, as if from a well-covered ambush, upon the restless North Sea, whose tempestuous gales they braved as if sporting with a plaything, and rushed down upon distant shores, where they loaded their barks with booty, or drove away the inhabitants and took possession of their deserted hearthstones, with the unconcern of real pur chasers. The purchase-money was blood, which sealed the deed which was written with the point of a lance. Such were the fruits of valor, such was glory in those rude times, when the strong hand claimed as its own all it could grasp, and the right was recognized and the violence ap plauded by the world at large; when the sense of justice was so perverted as to recognize no rights in the weak which the strong were under any obligation to respect.

Alas, a thousand years of progressive civilization and christianiza tion have not sufficed to so enlighten the human mind as to enable it fully to appreciate the wickedness of such perverted principles. If, as between individuals, the sense of mankind will no longer recognize the right of violence, poten tates and states take to themselves the fruits ot force, and complacently look around for applause for their mighty deeds. When, enticed by the charm begotten by a little knowledge only, I resolved to visit Norway and see for myself the country and the people, see what they did and how they lived, I was embarrassed to find out how to go, so I went to London. From the imperfect information which I had received I supposed a line of steamers sailed from England around the North Cape and into the White Sea, to Archangel, and that thence I could find comfortable con veyance by water and by rail across Russia to St. Petersburg, and such was my contemplated route when I started.

I spent two days of dili gent inquiry in London, without success. I visited the offices of Cook, Bradshaw and Murray, but they could add nothing to my stock of information. Norway was out of the beaten track of travel, and so had not commanded attention — Murray's Guide was old, and everything might have been changed since. Fortui ately I met a countryman at my banker's, who was bound for northern Norway, and who had been several months in pursuit of the very information which I desired. From him I learned that the direct route was to sail from Hull in one of Wilson's steamers, direct across the North Sea, "or Trond hjem ; * that one would sail the next Thursday evening, and he believed every alternate Thurs day through the season, and that he had en gaged his passage in her six weeks before, for the reason that he understood that passage in her was in great demand.

I immediately telegraphed to Wilson, at Hull, for rooms, and was answered that everything was engaged long before. As that was the only chance to get to northern Norway, when the sun was at the highest, I again telegraphed to Hull that I must go on the Tasso — that I learned was the name of the steamer — and so would go to Hull on Wednesday. And we did go, trusting to good * In Norwegian names and words the j has the sound of 3*. In this word dh are silent, so it is pronounced Tronyem. fortune for an opening. On my arrival I went to the office and made myself as agreeable as possible to the passenger clerk, who finally admitted that frequently places were given up at the moment of sailing, and if any were abandoned I should have them. But I had three ladies in my party, and there were but four berths in the ladies' cabin.

He could manage one by turning out a lady's maid who only paid steerage fare, but even that would make trouble. The next morning I was at the office early, and was gratified to learn that a state-room was given up, and I should have it. He went with me to the steamer, introduced me to the captain, and requested that everything should be done to accommodate me. The captain promised much, and kept his promise. We went on board with but one place in the ladies' cabin, trusting to fortune for the other ; and that soon came ; when the lady found that her maid could not remain with her, she prevailed upon two gentle men friends to give up their state-room to her, while they should take their chances on the settees in the dining saloon, although all these were already engaged. So we were all fixed.

The first night out we did nicely, for the weather was pleasant and the sea not rough. The next morning a fresh breeze came down upon us from the north, and the treacherous North Sea was about to vindicate its reputation. All day long the wind increased, and the little cockle-shell we were in tumbled about in a lively way. However the sun shone brightly, and it was reasonably warm. I got our ship chairs in good positions, and the ladies passed the whole day on deck, and without suffering very much. In the evening the wind had increased to half a gale, and so much water came upon the deck that the ladies could stay there no longer. I staggered aft to our state-room, and saw at once that we could not sleep there. The motion was absolutely murderous. The yerk of the propel ler, as we toppled over the waves, would throw me up clear off the floor every minute.

I knew my wife could not live there half an hour, so I found the stewardess, and slipping a half sover eign into her willing hand, told her she must make up a bed on the floor in the ladies' cabin for Mrs. C. It was a matter of life and death, and must be done. She demurred at first, as the space on the floor was not more than five by seven feet, and the other ladies could not get into their berths. But it had to be done, and so it was done ; and when done I got the lady (she was very sick) upon the floor as soon as possible. It was indeed a terrible night. The little steamer seemed to stand first on one end and then on the other, and then she would lay on either side alternately. Everything that was loose in the ship was thrashing about in a lively way. It was midnight before I got my party settled, when I made a very crooked way to the deck, and for the first and only time in my life acknowledged the supremacy of Neptune.

I then, wrapped in a blanket, stretched myself on the floor of the dining saloon in front of the side seats, which were covered with passengers, who could find no better places to sleep. The rolling, rearing and plunging of the ship made their couches anything but stable resting-places, and before long a tremendous sea struck the bow, when it was already lifted high, and the shock was as if she had struck a rock, or at least a floating wreck, and strewed the floor with those who had been holding themselves on to the side lounges, and the dapper gentleman who fell upon my big boots, the feet of which occupied a vertical position, growled and groaned ■J.I as if his ribs were broken, and then apologized for his sudden intrusion on my quiet. I do not think he was to blame. Screams were heard from every quarter; state-room doors flew open, and their occupants rushed out in dishabille.

The expression on the countenances of those who suppose they are in a sinking ship in a raging sea cannot be described. It is simply horrible. Then is the time when all the incidents of a lifetime are reviewed in a moment ; when the loved ones at home present themselves as if for the last time, and a last adieu is thought amid the anguish of despair. Such a minute is a life time long. These fears were groundless, however, for the little bark kept on climbing the waves with per sistent resolution. In truth, the old North Sea proved itself equal to all I had heard of it, with — to use a favorite English expression — nasty seas, though not large ones. I have been in the ground swells and in the chopped-up seas of the Mediterranean, the Gulf of Mexico and the British Channel, but they were amiable as com pared with the waves of the North Sea, rolling down from the far distant Northwest.

During the night the captain had laid his course for Bergen, that he might have the pro tection of the island, from the rough open sea. This brought the seas more abeam and enabled all the large ones to get on board. When I went on deck I found a very portly Englishman, whom I had left a few hours be fore sole occupant of the open deck, holding on for dear life, in a big chair, and taking the spray like a duck in a thunder-storm. Now he was lashed securely to the chair, and that well secured to the hatch — an office which some sailor had performed for him for a shilling, and which he assured me had alone saved him from being washed overboard twenty times during the night. I thought once would have done. He was surely in a sad plight, as wet as if he had been in the cold ocean all night ; his teeth chat tering so that he could never get his h's in the right place, as he poured out the vials of his wrath upon the North Sea and all it contained, and everybody who was such a fool as to go upon it, even for salmon-fishing in Norway.

As the morning advanced the weather moder ated a little, and our course was again changed for Trondhjem, which brought our head nearly to the seas, when the motion was more fore and aft, but less of the rolling or rocking motion, which makes one walk so groggy. All that day and the next night this unpleas ant weather continued, and the steward's score must have been light, for very few appeared at the table, and most of those who came staid but a few minutes. When, on the following morning, we could see the snow-capped mount ains of Norway in the far east, all seemed in spired with new life and hope, for the sight of land is joyful to one who has been tempest tossed even for a few days, and the thought of getting under the friendly protection of the is lands gladdened every heart. But our course was not for the islands ; it was almost due north and parallel to them.

This day I was able to get the ladies on deck again, for they felt better in the open air than in the confined cabin, and the sight of the distant hills was refreshing. To ward evening we were evidently approaching the shore, and about eight o'clock the pilot pointed out an isolated island, far ahead, inside of which we should go. This we passed at ten o'clock, while yet the sun was above the horizon. Our course was now changed more to the eastward, the open sea being on our left, while we skirted along numerous islands which lay on our right. Oh, how we longed to get inside, where we should have still water and a quiet sleep. At last the door was pointed out through which we should enter and find the long wished for calm. This we entered in the dusk of the evening, between eleven and twelve o'clock, and then we glided along in waters as still as if in a canal.

We had not been in the habit of retiring be fore dark, and so we sat upon the deck, wrapped in cloaks and blankets, waiting for darkness to come ; but it came not. At midnight we stopped at a flourishing town of one thousand inhabitants, named Aalesund, but still it was only dusk.

Chapter I

I. Absence of docks in Norway; primitive mode of landing; day succeeds day without night; singular sensations; sleeping in day-time; british sportsmen; tax on provisions; salmon-fishing in norway; lease of the rivers to englishmen; a day' at the fishing-grounds; manner of fishing; mr. burrows, a veteran fisher; habits of salmon; dine on a fifty-thousand-dollar salmon. THOUGH midnight, we could see the people passing along the streets and upon the dock, and as they got into the boats to come off to us. We were now in Norway, where steamers do not land at docks but anchor out almost as far as they can get away, and make people come to them and go from them in little boats, and so must the freight be transferred. Boats were used a thousand fe years ago, in Harold's time, and so they must be used now on every possible occasion.

Be sides, it keeps the people active and used to it, and enables them to earn some skillings which would be lost should the steamer go to dock and let people step on shore or on board — so (=5) LN NORWAY. must native industry be protected and encouraged. Here we were in Norway at last. The land of myths and mysteries, of ghosts and hob goblins, of giants, of ghouls, of fancy forms and of fairy tales, and a thousand mystic charms with which the imagination had clothed their islands and their fjords, their mountains and their streams, and their people too. We thought not of the night, but strained our eyes in the dim twilight to see how looked their lands, their fences and their houses, their boats, their dresses, their forms and their faces. For the latter we need not have been so anxious, for we had seen some of them at home.