The Nightless North: a walk across Lapland

Preface

. Any hesitation which I may have felt in venturing to place before the public a narrative of a three months' tour in Lapland has been dispelled by the kindness of my friends in expressing a wish to hear an account of my wanderings. I may well say with a great writer, that from all details of geographical discovery or antiquarian research — from all display of ' good learning and religious knowledge ' — from all historical and scientific illustrations — from all useful statistics — from all political disquisitions — and from all good moral reflections, the volume is thoroughly free. Here, then, is merely a diary of what did actually take place — a record of the impressions that were produced upon a traveller who — whatever else — has endeavoured truthfully to describe his travels, not only for the perusal of his friends, but for the benefit of any of that great body — the public — who may intend to follow in his footsteps and visit Lapland. F. L. H. M.

Chapter I

The Humber was looking the colour of pea soup, and the tide, running in against stream, raised quite a popple, as we swung clear of HuU Docks one night about the middle of June, in s.s. "Tasso," bound for Throndhjem on the coast of Norway. The day had been showery, and as the sun set, clouds began to gather up from all points of the compass ; the wind, too, whistled among the rigging in a very unseasonable manner, and the prospect certainly did not brighten as night came on. We had several miles of river to traverse ere we reached the open sea, and it was not very long after the crowd of masts and chimney pots of HuU had sunk into a duU haze that I left the deck and proceeded to make myself as comfortable as I could for the night. My friend KiUearn waited above to get a last sight of England as we passed the Spum ; but I don't think he saw much besides the bright rays of the lighthouse itseU, for the night was duU and cloudy, and there was not even a star to be seen to show the outlines of the shore.

Presently he came down to our cabin, which we shared with two other feUow voyagers, to say he had seen the last of our native land ; and in a very short space of time we were both in the arms of the drowsy god. And now, before I go any further, perhaps this is the best time to explain why we thus made ourselves uncomfortable in a very short and nanrow berth of s.s. " Tasso ;" in fact, why we left our native shores. Well, we wTere going for a walk. We had B made up our minds that we hadn't enough exercise in our ordinary life, and we had settled we would ' carry our packs ou our backs' and walk across from the Arctic Oceau to the Gulf of Bothnia. I suppose most, if not all, of my readers are Englishmen, other wise it would be necessary for me to enter into minute details why we wanted to do this.

" Vorfor ?" is the question of every foreigner. Why walk when you can ride or drive or boat ? Why this useless expenditure of money and time ? If you tell him for the fun of the thing, for sport, he shrugs his shoidders, not the least convinced that there can be any pleasure iu it, and leaves you, more than ever convinced that an Englishman is an incomprehensible creature, and totally different from any other nation on the face of the globe. But I am not writing to foreigners, so suffice it to say we were going to see the country, to shoot, to fish, to walk, to enjoy life and amuse ourselves generally with the novelty and the change of scene. Our party consisted of three : KUlearn, a large Irish water spaniel Barle by name, and your humble servant. Scotch, Irish and EngUsh ; so we represented in full the country that we came from.

We had carefuUy considered our dress and luggage, and though perhaps they were both somewhat peculiar, they proved, in all instances, to have been weU chosen and of real practical use in the expedition we had undertaken. Our luggage was not bulky ; it consisted of a smaU tent by Edgington, which folded up into a roU about thirty inches long, with a diameter of six or eight ; when pitched it stood about four feet from the ground, and was of a most simple and serviceable pattern. Two uprights and guys, and the sides pinned to the ground with small pegs that could be cut on the spot. Inside there was just room for two to lie down, and a small adjutting piece at the end composed the dog's bed-chamber, while space enough was left on either side to store guns, rods, and kit generaUy. It wTas said to be waterproof, but of that hereafter, and weighed only fourteen pounds, uprights and all complete.

This, with a knapsack, two large waterproof bags and a thin waterproof sheet, composed our luggage. The contents of the bags were various, consisting chiefly of a change of clothes, cartridges, aud a few tins of pre served meat ; together with a mixed assortment of knick-knacks, a map, a pot au feu, tobacco, a tin plate, medicines, fly books, &c. The tobacco was our only luxury, all else was either necessary or useful. Our dress was made up in the same style, utility not comfort being the order of the day ; knickerbockers, a Norfolk jacket with pockets galore, and a cloth hat ; a good thick pair of shooting boots and a pair of waterproof gaiters, — Killearn, however, pre ferring long boots lacing up the front. Neither had we come unprovided against the attacks of mosquitoes, of whom we had heard dim and fearful tales, for we could produce from our store several veils of different shapes aud colours, thick gloves, &c. Our clothes, too, were all of the closest fabric ; for these little pests wiU get through anything short of cast iron, and even as regards that I should not feel that my money was very safe in laying odds against the flies.

The Irishman Barle had nothing but his thiek coat, poor fellow, which we had considered would be in itself sufficient to repel all attacks : but our foresight was wanting in correctness here, and we became aware of our mistake, but too late. These articles, then, with an ordiuary 12-bore breech-loader and a stout double-handed trout-rod, composed our kit. It was smaU and scanty, for we were going to be our own porters, but useful in the extreme. My first sensation on waking was one of extreme relief ; I did not feel sea-sick. I opened the port and looked out, — the sea as calm as a mill pond, a bright sun and a lovely day. With a light heart I chinbed on deck. We had left the laud far behind us, and not a speck was to be seen on the face of the boundless ocean, which, calm and still, sparkled with a dazzUng light in the beams of the morning sun.

We seemed so lonely on this vast expanse of water that I was glad to go below and apply myseU to the ample breakfast provided by the fat and jovial ship's cook. The feeding on board ship is generally the great event of the day ; even on shore the day hinges to a great extent on dinner, I mean that dinner is looked forward to as the time when all meet and talk over the past events of the day, or the coming ones of the evening. But on board ship during a long voyage not only dinner, but breakfast and luncheon also are each as it were a landing place in the otherwise monotonous day. I soon got to feel this during my stay on the " Tasso." Breakfast finished, what was there to do ? Smoke a pipe and talk, and when you had done your pipe what was there to do ? Why, talk and smoke another, tiU luncheon, and so on.

But in spite of time naturaUy hanging rather heavUy on our hands we had a very pleasant voyage. We had just hit on the steamer by which many Englishmen were going to their salmon fishing in Norway, and between playing quoits and other games on the deck, talking, looking after the dog Barle and smoking, time passed very pleasantly. The passage usuaUy takes from four to five days, but we had an extraordinarily short one, and, I think, touched land in a little over three. The night before we sighted Norway, the sea being very calm and still, we had a good look at the green sun. A sun set at sea is always a remarkable sight ; this was a grand one, the last rays shooting up in their golden splendour through and behind different hued clouds of the most fantastic shapes, which in theU turn painted the sea below with bright and varying colours ; and then, finaUy, when the baU of fire sank into the waves, just as its topmost part was disappearing, from a lurid fire colour it suddenly changed to bright, bright green, and in a moment sank.

It was early on the following morning that I awoke to find that we were slowly rolling from side to side ; the engines were still, and aU that could be heard was the captain's voice above and the footsteps of the people on deck, with a clattering of crockery as we came to the end of each roll. Then the steam whistle went off and sounded as if it had lost half its lungs, and aU was silent again but the wash of the waves against the sides of the ship and the voices of the people on deck. I tumbled up and found we were in a dense fog and totally unable to see further than 150 or 200 yards in any direction. We knew that we were somewhere close to the coast, yet dared not move for fear of running on some rock ; so continued letting off the steam whistle, and trying to catch an echo from the cliffs that we knew were so near.

These fogs are a great nuisance to vessels on the coast of Nor way. A regular broad bank of mist hangs, sometimes for days, as a sort of mask to the rock-bound coast, and when an unfortunate ship once gets weU into one of these clouds there is nothing for it but either to run in and chance where you are going, or to wait till it Ufts. We chose the latter course, and in a few hours were rewarded for our patience by the curtain rising and disclosing a fuU and rather unpleasantly near view of the coast. We had run into a regular bay, and were surrounded by hard-looking black rocks of aU shapes and sizes. Directly facing us the cliffs ran up almost perpendicularly many hundreds of feet ; strata of mist still lay half way up some, and entirely concealed the summits of others ; the only thing to lighten the sombreness of the scene was the streaks of snow that had not yet succumbed to the summer heats and that looked like silver threads hanging down the sides of the distant mountains, and in the near ones contrasted strongly and strangely with the dark rocks on which they rested.

The "Tasso" seemed the tiniest insect in such a world; but like the tiniest insect that lives, she possessed the instinct of seU preservation, and the engines having been reversed, her head was got round in the right direction and we were soon steaming along the coast, every succeeding quarter of an hour bringing before our eyes fresh views of a wild and grand description. The sun, too, came out, and before entirely dispeUing the " creeping vapour " produced wonderful effects of light and shade. We had picked up a Norwegian pilot. A good one is an ab solute necessity on this coast, the channels in places being of such an intricate and narrow nature. Aalesund was the first place that we were to touch at, and it really seemed as if these great, stern, black cliffs stepped aside and made way for us to enter ; suddenly, as we steamed up the Fjord, on rounding the foot of one rough looking mountain, we saw the town of Aalesund lying before us.

The first idea it gave one was that of a nice new toy town with clean, regular wooden houses set up ou a pea green board. Behind it rose a tremendous sugar-loaf mountain, quite black, with patches of green and streaks of snow lying here and there on its sides, and a night cap of mist on its crown. We brought to, within one hundred and fifty yards of the village, the water being quite deep close in shore, and immediately half-a-dozen boats came rowing out to meet us. The man who pulls the boat is called a " flotmann," and it is his duty to take people backwards and forwards from the steamer to the shore at a certain fixed rate. Here for the first time we heard Norse spoken ; gibberish, horrible gibberish it sounded to us, as a new language generally does to a foreigner, and from this moment we determined to learn it, if such a thing were possible.

Killeam contented himself with getting one or two sentences by heart, such as " Findes er nogel Bjom heer " (Are there any bears in the neighbourhood ?) and other sporting phrases of like import. We were very keen on bringing to bag one of these rough inhabitants of the mountains, and certainly began well by learning how to find out from the natives where they lived. But our ideas on the subject were rather vague ; I can answer for my impressions being something of the foUowing kind. On an answer being returned in the affirmative, we would put some ball cartridge in our pockets, walk off to where the bear lived, find one, as you would a partridge or a rabbit in England, then wait till you saw the white spot on his chest as he reared up in front of you, as of course he would do, pull the trigger, and if you ' held straight ' he would faU down dead.

The whole thing to occupy perhaps an hour or two. We learnt two things before we returned to our native island. Bears are not to be found and killed like rabbits and hares, and Lapland is not to be crossed in a fortnight. Very shortly after leaving Aalesund we found ourselves entering Molde Fjord, one of the most beautiful in Norway, and one whicii has been so often described that I shall but glance at some of its more prominent features. Mass on mass rising on the right tc the height of 6,000 feet in grand wild peaks, some covered with snow, others black and gaunt standing out in hard relief against the blue sky beyond ; on the left the little town of Molde with its asylum for lepers, a disease but too common with the inhabitants, stretching down to the edge of the Fjord, and behind it an irregular hill covered with fir trees, which grew more and moresparsely towards its summit, and then the background of moun tains, rising up to match the opposite shore.

The grass, when there was any, such a bright green, a strange contrast to the black rocks or the streaks of dazzling snow, whilst the deep blue sea rippled in the bright sunshine at our feet. The scenery of this place is by some considered to be equal to many parts of Switzerland, but I should doubt it rather, although my knowiedge of Swiss scenery is, I am sorry to say, rather limited. From Molde we steamed on through Christiansund to Thrond hjem, and it was now for the first time that we could see to continue our voyage all night, for although it was a miserably wet evening, and therefore darker than usual, yet the different little islands which we passed, and in some instances almost scraped past, in our course, could be distinctly seen, even from eleven o'clock till two in the morning ; for it must be remembered that, although while at sea it is easy enough to con tinue one's course, yet in sailing among these islands and fjords on the coast of Norway the nicest steering is sometimes necessary ; the channels are intricate and winding, and to find one's way at night, with any unlimited supply of instruments you please, would be simply a moral impossibility.

We arrived at Christiansund at about 1.30, and had to whistle for a considerable time, before first one and then another miserable sleepy flotmann turned out in his skiff to meet us. I tumbled out of my berth to have a look at the place ; the town itseU is regu larly built, and ugly, and the country round flat and bare looking, a striking contrast to the grand scenery on the Molde Fjord that we had just left. I did not remain long on deck, but after waiting to see us pass through a channel between the rocks, so narrow that there was barely ten feet to spare on either side, I was glad to go below and escape the cold and the drizzle. When I awoke the following morning we were steaming up Throndhjem Fjord with a fresh breeze blowing right in our faces, and the water dancing and rippling in the bright sun.

The sceneiy here, though not so wild and rough' as the Molde Fjord, is lovely in the extreme ; and I was content, on the strength of a cup of strong coffee, to lean over the tafttail till twelve o'clock, and watch the ever varying scenes and colours. At twelve o'clock that morning we brought to in front of Throndhjem ; I was going to say in " Throndhjem roads," but that is hardly the name : it is simply the sea in front of the town, but so shut in by natural breakwaters, that " Throndhjem roads " would be by no means an inappropriate term. This was the end of our voyage in the " Tasso," and we thought of the next time that we should step on board an English steamer ; it would be at Copenhagen in all probability, on our return tour, after having come down the Baltic. We paid our biU, the last in English money for some time, said good bye to the fat and jovial cook and the good natured steward, lowered our kit and the dog Barle into a skiff, and rowed ashore.

Throndhjem from the sea seems but a long row of wooden warehouses, but they are so high that the town behind them can scarcely be seen. Yet what am I doing ? — going to describe Throndhjem I verUy believe ! That has been done over and over again, and after aU I am not about to write a book on Norway, but on Lapland — on our walk across it. Nevertheless, I hope I may be excused if I devote a chapter or two to the description of how we got there, and what we saw on our road. Every one looks at a place or a man in his own pecuUar way, and mine, though but a cursory glance, I trust may not be altogether without interest.

Chapter II

There was not much time to do anything the day of our anival at Throndhjem, but on hearing that there were some splendid faUs on the river " Nid," about four English mUes from the hotel, we determined to be energetic and walk over to see them. We were the more inclined to do this as we heard there was salmon fishing to be had on the stream below the falls ; so after a meal of enormous lobsters, bread and butter, and a glass of aquavite oft we trudged. The falls themselves proved weU worthy of the walk ; they were grand in the extreme, one mighty mass of water roUing like oil over the top of a precipice of eighty to a hundred feet, and ending in one roaring mass of foam and spray, which flew up again higher than the falls themselves, and feU on us, as we stood some fifty yards off, in blinding showers.

Of course there were no salmon to be found above this ; the faUs were an impassable barrier. But trout were reported in great numbers, and it certainly looked tempting to stroU along the banks upwards, in the shade of the dark pine trees that grew down quite close to the water's edge on either side, and try our luck at the " œrret." However, we de cided that salmon were better worth our attention, and proceeded to climb up a rough watercourse to gain the top of a small round hiU, where we could see the house of a certain Mr. Patterson, to whom we had been recommended to apply for leave to fish. We found the habitation at last, composed entirely of wood, as all the houses are here ; and after knocking for some time, were con fronted by an old and weazened woman, housekeeper I should say, who informed us that Mr. Patterson was out, but was ex pected back every minute.

We were shown into his library, or study, and I was surprised to see how very English everything looked, with the exception of the building itseU. This explained itself afterwards. Mr. Patterson was an Irishman, but had lived in Norway such a time that he was a Norwegian in all but birth. He received us, when at last he returned, in a most good-natured way, and told us we were at perfect Uberty to fish where we pleased, adding, however, that he was afraid our chances of suc cess would be very smaU, as it was so early in the season. We left with many thanks, convinced that we were going to be the lucky people, and fully determined to try our luck the following day. A Norwegian house is, to our English ideas, an uncomfortable structure : the want of carpets especially gives it a bare cold look ; it is, as a rule, composed entirely of wood, even down to the steps iu front of the door, and this must be so on account of the severe frosts, which would have a prejudicial effect on the stone.

But this house of Mr. Patterson's formed an exception to wiiat we afterwards found out to be the rule, in possessing an open English fireplace, instead of a stove ; the latter no doubt is more effectual in warm ing the room, but where does the yule log burn at Christmas ? and what are you to stand in front of when you come in after a cold drive or a long wralk in the snow ? there is no cosy chimney corner ; no cheerful fire to look at ; in fact no hestia, no family hearth ! Although to us this seems an uncomfortable way of managing things, yet the inhabitants, I suppose, know best what is the most effectual mode of guarding against the severe frosts of their couutiy, and prefer the black stove to the cheerful blaze of a wood fire. Still, nothing will persuade me that a certain lack of spirit aud cheerfulness in the Norwegian is not to be attributed in a great measure to the want of a family hearth.

That night we slept soundly in our simple but comfortable bed ; the furniture of the room was certainly scanty— two beds, a stove, and a wooden table ; no carpet of any sort, of course ; but every thing clean, that was the great thing, aud devoid of bad smells, which are as a rule but too common and of too fearful a character, assaiUng you at every corner of the streets. The next morning we were up betimes. The sun began to shine well in our faces about 2.30 a.m., and that no doubt was a great help to get us out of bed, for shutters there were not, and blinds but of the thinnest material. We had several little pieces of "shopping" to do, and I have no doubt left our "mark" in those shops that happened to have no English-speaking assistant within them ; for in that case we were driven to pantomime, which grew more energetic and despe rate in proportion as the distracted shopkeeper's face showed fewer and fewer signs of intelligence.

I was nearly obliged to give up getting a gaff as a bad job, having been presented with flies, hooks, cork screws, and even scythes in succession. As each new implement was produced the shopman's face beamed with delight and pride at having at last, as he thought, understood me, only to faU into despair deeper than ever when I shook my head and began again gaffing imaginary fish, with explauatory gesticulations and grunts. I returned shortly with a red guide book, not un known, I dare say, to many of my readers, price three and sixpence ; I never saw thankfulness so distinctly written on a man's face as when at last I had paid for what I wanted and walked out of the shop. This last incident set me on, with redoubled energy, to learn the language, and in a very short space of time I could talk fairly well.

Norse is not difficult ; in fact, if an Englishman knows a little German, I should say the easiest language there is to leam, being a mixture of the two, and in many instances almost identical with one or the other. Killearn had gone up the " Nid " to fish on the Irishman's water, so I turned towards the Cathedral, which is well worth looking at ; not that much can be seen of the old structure, but it is being splendidly restored at a great cost, in, I believe, the original design, which is unique and wonderfully effective. When I was there the screen behind the altar had just been finished ;■ carved open work in a dark coloured stone or marble, reaching from floor to ceiUng. There is much, however, to be done ; the nave has only part of the side walls standing, transepts there are none, but some of the Uttle side chapels that have been restored are very beautiful, and, if ever the whole is completed, it wiU be a cathedral indeed well worth seeing.

That evening we strolled up to the " Jortens," sort of tea gardens, at which we met some of our fellow passengers, bound for the north by that night's steamer, who had just finished a capital dinner at four-and-six a head, of eveiy imaginable dish, and we inwardly determined we would " do ditto " the night before we saUed for the north, for we could not go by the boat by which they were going, as my passport had not yet arrived from England, and considering that we were thinking of entering Russian teni tory, we did not deem it advisable to leave such an article behind. We spent a very joUy evening, and stroUed home in almost broad daylight at 12 p.m. ! It was a great nuisance the passport not turning up : and Throndhjem is not a place to spend a week, in admiring scenery, so we went into committee as to what we were to do with our selves till the next steamer came.

After some enquiries we heard of a lake by a place named Josvandet, some eight mUes out of Throndhjem, and thither we determined to bend our steps to whUe away the time tiU the following Friday. Consequently, the next morning found us with a knapsack and a bag, tmdging out of Throndhjem in the direction of our fishing ground. It was a very hot day, and the sun baked down on the dusty road in a manner we had thought was impossible in Norway. This was our first attempt at a walk of any kind, and I don't think we felt much encouragment for the task we had undertaken. We had but hatf the weight that we should have to carry when we had once really started from the Arctic Ocean, yet after six miles along a good high road we sat ourselves down beneath the shade of a rough wooden shed, and pitied our poor shoulders that were aching from the weight of the knapsacks.

There was one thing contained iu those knapsacks of which we were excessively proud, viz., our sleeping suits ; each had his own, made after his peculiar notion. Killearn's was an ordinary dressing suit of very coarse grey flannel, coat and trousers ; mine, I flattered myseU, was a triumph of art and common sense com bined ; the whole costume was in one piece — socks, trousers, coat, and hat, all in one ; you get into it somewhere about the middle, legs down first, then pull the head piece over, and button three buttons in front, elastic straps round the wrists and neck to fix the mosquitoes, and then you were in a kind of sack, quite im pervious either to the attacks of the flies or any reptile that might wish to make a closer acquaintance with you. It answered well on the whole, I think, but had its drawbacks, chiefly on account of the trouble it was to get into when sitting down under the tent.