'CLrtC f fyxmll Uttirmitj ^itwvg 66o 3 The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031214392 PEOSE WRITWGS OP BAYARD TAYLOR. REVISED EDITION. NORTHERN TRAVEL: NORWAY, LAPLAND, etc. / d-couO-nz^ /vcc T Tf? TK iiTN IX, I %t u / -^ V y> • '• \y I&T; M\!TMi^ °\$£S[]LHi>&i o V/' Tine Vbirimg F©ss. &, SOHS , NORTHERN TRAVEL. SUMMEK AND WINTER PICTURES. SWEDEN, DENMARK AND LAPLAND. BAYARD TAYLOR. NEW YORK G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 188 F3 FTH AVENTTK 1879 ?Ot cording tc%t of Congress, In I I Rnlered according tc%st of Congress, In the rear ' 557, by 1 !• PUTNAM, ;». U» vaita Office of the District Gonrt of the United States for the 8 lathers District of New York. PREFACE. This book requires no further words of introduction tban those with which I have prefaced former volumes — that my object in travel is neither scientific, statistical, nor politico economical ; but simply artistic, pictorial, — if possible, panoramic. I haye attempted to draw, with a hand which, I hope, has acquired a little steadiness from long practice, the people and the scenery of Northern Europe, to colour my sketches with the tints of the originals, and to invest each one with its native and characteristic atmosphere. In order to do this, I have adopted, as in other countries, a simple rule : to live, as near as possible, the life of the peo- ple among whom I travel. The history of Sweden and Norway, their forms of Government, commerce, productive industry, political condition, geology, botany, and agricul- ture, can be found in other works, and I have only touched upon such subjects where it was necessary to give complete VI PREFACE. ness to my pictures. I have endeavoured to give pboto graphs, instead of diagrams, or tables of figures ; and desire only that the nntravelled reader, who is interested in the countries I visit, may find that he is able to see them by the aid of my eyes. Bayard Taylor. Lokdon: November, 1867. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. A WINTER VOYAGE ON THE BALTIC. Embarking at Ltibeck — Put into a Hut — The Company on Board- Night on the Baltic — Ystad — A Life Lost — Stopped by lee — A Gale— The Swedish Coast — Arrival at Dalaro — Conscientious Custom-House Officer. ....... Page 13 CHAPTER II. STOCKHOLM — PREPARATIONS FOR THE NORTH. Departure in Sleds — A Meteor — Winter Scenery — Swedish Post-Stations — View of Stockholm — Arrival — Stockholm Weather — Swedish Ignor- ance of the North — Funds — Equipment. . . . .21 CHAPTER in. FIRST EXPERIENCES OF NORTHERN TRAVEL. & Swedish Diligence — Aspect of the Country — Upsala — A Fellow-Pas geuger — The Northern Gflds — Scenery — Churches — Peasant's Houses Arrival at Gefle — Ftirhtul Papers — Speaking Swedish — Daylight at Gene — A Cold Italian — Experience of Skjuts and FSrbud — We reach gnow — Night Travel — An Arabic Landlord — A Midnight Chase- Quarters at Bro — The Second Day — We reach Sundsvall. . 27 V1U CONTENTS CHAPTER IV. A SLEIGH RIDE THROUGH NORRLAND. Sundsvall and the Norrlanders — Purchase Sleighs — Start again — Driving on the Ice — Breakfast at Fjal — Twilight Hymn — Angermannland — A Bleak Day — Scenery of Norrland — Postillions — Increase of Cold — Dark Travel — The Norrland People — The Country and its Products — North- ern Thanks — Umea — The Inn at Innertafle. . Page 33 CHAPTER V. PROGRESS NORTHWARD— A STORM. Christmas Temperature — First Experience of intense Cold — Phenomena thereof — Arctic Travel — Splendour of the Scenery — The Northern Nature— Gross Appetites — My Nose and the Mercury Frozen — Dreary Travel — Skelleftea. and its Temple— A Winter Storm — The Landlady at Abyn — Ploughing out — Travelling in a Tempest — Reach Pitea. 50 CHAPTER VI. JOURNEY FROM PITEA TO HAPARANDA. Torment — Under the Aurora Borealis — A Dismal Night — Around the Bothnian Gulf — Forest Scenery — Mansbyn — The Suspicious Iron- Master — Brother Horton and the Cold — A Trial of Languages — An- other Storm — New Year's Day — Entrance into Finland — The Finns— Haparanda. ....... 63 CHAPTER Vn. CROSSING THE ARCTIC CIRCLE. Medical Treatment— The Kind Fredrika— Morals In the North — Our Quarters at Haparanda— Vain Questions — Start for Lapland — Arctic Daylight— Campbell's Torneft — A Finnish Inn — Colours of the Arctic Sky— Approach to Avasaxa — Crossing the Arctic Circle — An After noon Sunset—Reception at Jnoxengi. .... 79 CONTENTS. IX CHAPTER VIII. ADVENTURES AMONG THE FINNS. Journey up the Tornea — Wonders of the Winter Woods — Lapps and Reindeer — My Finnish Vocabulary — A Night Journey — Reception at Kengis — Continue the Journey— Finnish Sleds— A Hard Day — The Inn at Jokijalka — Its Inmates — Life in a Finnish Hut — An Arctic Picture — A Frozen Country — Kihlaagi — A Polar Night — Parkajoki — We reach Muoniovara. . . . Page 83 CHAPTER IX. LIFE IN LAPLAND. Reception at Muoniovara — Mr. Wolley — Our Lapland Home — A Fin nish Bath — Send for Reindeer — A Finnish House — Stables — The Reindeer Pulk — My first Attempt at driving Reindeer — Failure and Success — Muonioniska — View from the Hill — Fears of an old Finn — The Discovery of America— A Lapp Witch — Reindeer Accident. 98 CHAPTER X. A REINDEER JOURNEY ACROSS LAPLAND. Preparations for the Journey— Departure — A lazy Deer — " Long Isaac" — An Auroral Spectacle — A Night at Palajoki — The Table-Land of Lapland — Saga6ity of the Deer — Driving a wild Reindeer — Polar Poetry— Lippajarvi^-Pieture of a Lapp — The Night — A Phantom Journey — The Track lost— A Lapp Encampment — Two Hours in a Lapp Tent — We start again — Descent into Norway — Heavy Travel- Lapp Hut in Siepe — A Fractious Reindeer — Drive to Kautokeino. 101 CHAPTER XI KAUTOKEINO — A DAY WITHOUT A SUN Tinpland Etiquette — The Inn — Quarters at the Lansman s — Situation of Kautokeino — Climate — Life— Habits of the Population — Approach of Sunrise — Church. Service in Lapland — Cold Religion — Noonday with- out Sunrise — The North and the South — A Vision — Visits of the Lapps X CONTENTS. — Lars Kaino— A Field for Portrait-painting — C haracter of the Lapp Race — Their present Condition — The religious Outbreak at Kauto keino — Pastor Hvnslef — A Piano in Lapland — The Schools — Visit to n Gamme. ... ... Pago 126 CHAPTER XII. THE RETURN TO MUONIOVARA. Advantages of Lapp Costume — Turning Southward — Departure from Kautokeino — A Lapp Hut — Religion — The Reindeer — Their Qualities — Treatment by the Lapps — Annoyances of Reindeer Travel — Endur- ance of Northern Girls — The Table-Land — The " Roof of the World" — Journey to Lippajarvi — Descent to the Muonio — Female Curiosity — The Return to Muoniovara — Prosaic Life of the Lapps — Modern Prudery. ..... .141 CHAPTER XIII. ABOUT THE FINNS. Change of Plans — Winter in Lapland — The Finns — Their Physical Ap pearance — Character — Drunkenness — A Spiritual Epidemic — Morality — Contradictory Customs — Family Names and Traditions — Apathy of Northern Life — The Polar Zone — Good Qualities of the Race — An English Naturalist. . . . . . .154 CHAPTER Xrv". EXPERIENCES OP ARCTIC WEATHER. Departure from Muoniovara — 50" below Zero — A terrible Day — An Arctic Night — Jokijalka again — Travelling down the Tornea — A Night at Kardis — Increase of Daylight — Juoxengi — A Struggle for Life- Difficulty of keeping awake — Frozen Noses — The Norseman's Hell— — Freezing Travellers — Full Daylight again — Safe Arrival at Hapar anda — Comfort — The Doctor's Welcome — Drive to Tornea — The Weather. ....... 164 CHAPTER XV. INCIDENTS OF THE RETURN JOURNEY. Mild Weather! — Miraculous Scenery — Nftsby — Swedish Honesty— A3- CONTENTS jrj , ventures at Lnlefi- -Northern Sleds — PiteS — Accident at Skelleflea— The Non-land Climate — A damp Swede — Travelling in a Tempest — A Norrland Inn — Character of the People — Their Houses. Page 177 CHAPTER XVI. CONCLUSION OF THE ARCTIC TRIP, Warmth and Daylight — Swedish Linen — The Northern Women- Pro gress Southward — Quarrel with a Postillion — A Model Village — Rough Roads — Scarcity of Snow — Arrival at Stockholm — Remarks on Arctic Travel — Scale of Temperature — Record of Cold. . . IS* CHAPTER XVIL LIFE IN STOCKHOLM. Stockholm — Its Position and Appearance — The Streets and Houses- Manner of Living — Swedish Diet — Stockholm in Springs — Swedish Gymnastics — A Grotesque Spectacle — Results of Gymnastics — Ling's System — The Swedish Language — Character of the Prose and Poetry -Songs — Life in Stockholm. .... 197 CHAPTER XVIII. MANNERS AND MORALS OF STOCKHOLM. Hospitality of the Swedes — Northern Frenchmen— Stockholm Manners — Dress — Conventionalism — Taking off the Hat — Courtesy of the Swedish — An Anecdote — King Oscar — The Royal Family — Tendency to Detraction — The King's Illness — Morals of Stockholm — Illegitimate Births — Sham Morality — Causes of Immorality — Drunkenness — An Incident. ........ 213 CHAPTER XIX. x JOURNEY TJ GOTTENBURG AND COPENHAGEN. Appearance of Spring — Departure from Stockholm — The Gotha Canal- Vreta Kloster — Scenery of the Wener — European Ideas concerning America — A Democratic Nobleman — The Gotha River — Gottenb'irg— Xii CONTENT'S. Tlie Giant's Pots -The Cattegat— Elsinore — The Sound Dues — Copen hagen and its Inhabitants — Thorwaldsen — Interview with Hans Christian Andersen — Goldschmidt — Prof. Rafn. . . Page 229 CHAPTEK XX. RETURN TO THE NORTH. — CHRISTIANIA. ffisit to Germany and England — The Steamer at Hull — The North Sea — Fellow-Passengers — Christiansand — The Coast of Norway — Arrival at Christiania — Preparations for Travelling — The Carriole—Progress of Christiania — Beauty of its Environs. .... 2:io CHAPTER XXI. INCIDENTS OP CARRIOLE TRAVEL. Disinterested Advice — Departure — Alarm — Descending the Hills — The Skyds System — Krogkleven — The King's View — Country and Country People — Summer Scenery — The Randsfjord — A Cow-Whale — The Miosen Lake — More than we bargained for — Astonishing Kindness — The Lake from a Steamer. ..... 242 CHAPTER XXU. GULDBRANDSDAL AND THE DOVRE FJELD. Lillehammer— A Sabbath Morning — A Picture of Dahi — Guldbrandsdel — Annoyances of Norwegian Travel — T' le Lougen River — Cataracts— The Station at Viik— Sinclair's Defeat — Pass of the Rosten — The Upper Valley — Scenery of the Dovre Fjeld — Solitude of the Mountains — Jerkin — Summit of the Fjeld — Nature in the North — Defile of the Driv —A Silent Country — Valley of the Orkla — Park Scenery — A Cun- ning Hostess — Solidity of Norwegian Women. . 251 CHAPTER XXIII. DRONTHEIM. — VOYAGE UP THE COAST OP NORWAY. Panorama of Drontheim— Its Streets and Houses — Quarters at the Hotel —Protestant High Mass — Norwegian Steamers — Parting View ol CONTENTS. Xiii — -Drouthe:m — The Namsen Fjord — Settlements on the Coast— The Rock of Torghatten — The Seven Sisters — Singular Coast Scenery — The Horseman — Crossing the Arctic Circle — Coasting Craft — Bodo — An Arctic Sunset. ...... Page 269 CHAPTER XXIV. | THE LOFODEN ISLES. Habits of the Arctic Summer — The Lofoden Islands — Moskoe — The Myth of the Maelstrom — The Lofoden Fishermen — Improvement iu the People — Lofoden Scenery — The Rasksund — Disappearance of Day- light — Character of the Scenery — Tromsoe at Midnight. Page 281 CHAPTER XXV. FINNARK AND HAMMERFEST. Visit to the Lapps — Scenery of Tromsdal — Phenomena of the Arctic Summer — The Lapp Gammes — A Herd of Reindeer — The Midnight Sun and its Effect — Scenery of the Alten Fjord — Pastor Hvoslef — Mr. Thomas and his Home — Altengaard — A Polar Bishop — An Excited Discussion — Whales — Appearance of Hammerfest — Fishy Quarters. 289 CHAPTER XXVI. THE MIDNIGHT SUN. Plans of Travellers — Ship for the Varanger Fjord — Scenery of Magerde — Miraculous Provision for human Life — Fisheries on the Coast — The Torsanger Fjord — Coast Scenery — Svserholtklub — Rousing the Sea Gulls — Picture of the Midnight Sun — Loss of a Night — The Church of the Lapps — Wonderful Rock-painting — Nordkyn. . . 300 CHAPTER XXVII. THE VARANOER FJORD — ARCTIC LIFE. flic Tana Fjord — Another Midnight— Desolation — Arctic Life — The Varanger Fjord — The Fjrtof Vardohuus — Arrival atVadso — Summer there — More of the Lapps — Climate and Delights of Living— Rich B XIV CONTENTS. Fishing — Jolly young Englishmen — Daylight Life- Its Effects, phy sical and Moral — Trees of Hammerfest — An astronomical Monument Pago 31C CHAPTER XXVIII. THE RETURN TO DARKNESS— NORWEGIAN CHARACTER. Splendour of the Northern Coast Scenery — Growth of Vegetation — Gov ernment of the Lapps — Pastor Earners and his Secession — Religion in the North — An intelligent Clergyman — Discussions on Board — Star- light and Lamp-light — Character of the Norwegians — Their national Vanity — Jealousy of Sweden. • • 321 CHAPTER XXIX. DKONTHEIM AND BERGEN. Trouble at Drontheim — Valley of the Nid — The Lierfoss — Picture of Christiansund — Molde and Romsdal — The Vikings and their Descend- ants — The Rock of Hornelen — Rainy Bergen — A Group of Lepers — Norwegian Filth — Licentiousness — Picture of Bergen — Its Streets— Drunkenness — Days of Sunshine — Home-sick for Hammerfest — The Museum — Delays and dear Charges. .... 330 CHAPTER XXX. A TRIP TO THE V6UING-POSS. Parting View of Bergen — Lovely Scenery — Interested Kindness — The Roads of Norway — Uncomfortable Quarters — Voyage on the Oster fjord — Bolstadoren — Swindling Postillions — Arrival at Vossevangen — Morning Scenery — Agriculture in Norway — Destruction of the Forests —Descent to Vasenden — A Captain on Leave — Crossing the Fjeld — The Shores of ITlvik — Hardanger Scenery — Angling and Anglers — — Pedar Halstensen — National Song of Norway — Steba — A stupendous Defile — Ascent of the Fjeld — Plateau of the Hardanger — The Vorintf- Fobs — Its Grandeur — A Sartor Hut — Wonderful Wine. 341 CONTENTS. x% CHAPTER XXXI. SKETCHES FROM THE BERGENSTIFT. Peder's tmbarrassment — His Drowning — The Landlady— Mon.ing at Ulvik — A Norwegian Girl — Female Ugliness — Return to Vossevangea — Indolence — Detention at Stalheim — Scenery of the Naerodal — Pos tillions — On the Gudvangen Fjord — The Sogne Fjord — Transparency of the Water — The Boatmen. .... Page 359 CHAPTER XXXII. HALUNGDAL — THE COUNTRY-PEOPLE OF NORWAY. Roads to Christiania— Southern Sunshine — Saltenaaset — The Church of Borgund — Top of the Fillo Fjeld — Natives on Sunday — Peculiar Fe- male Costume — Scarcity of Milk and Water — The Peak of Saaten — A Breakfast at Ekre — Hallingdal — Wages of Labourers — Valley Scenery —How Ftirbuds are sent — General Swindling — Character of the Nor- wegians for Honesty — Illustrations — Immorality — A " Cutty Sark" — Charms of Green. ..... 370 CHAPTER XXXIII. TELLEMARK AND THE RHJKAN-FOSS. The Silver Mines of Kongsberg — Roads in Tellemark — Bargaining for Horses — The Inn at Bolkesjo — Sleeping Admonitions — Smashing Travel — Tinoset — The Tind Lake — A Norwegian Farm-House — The Westfjord-dal and its Scenery— Ole Torgensen's Daughter — The Val- ley — X Leper — Defile of the Maan Elv — Picture of the Riukan-Foss — Its Beauty — A Twilight View — Supper at Ole's — The Comprehension of Man — A singular Ravine — Hitterdal — How respectable People live The old Church — Return to Christiania. . . 383 CHAPTER XXXrV. NORWAY AND SWEDEN. Norwegian Honesty — The Country People — Illicit Connections — Ths Tselandic Language — Professor Munek-"-The Storthing — The Norwe gyi CONTENTS. gian Constitution — The Farmer-State — Conversation between a Ger man Author and a Swedish Statesman — Gotteuburg — A Fire — Swedish Honesty and Courtesy— The Falls of Trollhiitten. . Page 395 CHAPTER XXXV. A TRAMP THROUGH WERMELAND AND DALECARLIA. Our Route - Leaving Carlstad — The Scenery — Valley of the Klar Elv • Ohlsater — Wedding Arches — Asplund — A Night Journey — Adven- tures in search of a Bed — Entrance into Dalecarlia — The Farmers at Tyngsjo — Journey through the Woods — The People at Westerdal — The Landlord at Ragsveden — The Landlady — Dalecarlian Morality — A Lasare — The Postillion — Poverty — A Dalecarlian Boy — Reception at Kettbo — Nocturnal Conversation — Little Pehr — The female Postil- lion — The Lttsare in Dalecarlia — View of Mora Valley. . 407 CHAPTER XXXVI. LAST DAYS IN THE NORTH. Mora Scenery — " The Parsonage of Mora" The Magister — Peasants from Upper Elfdal — Scenery of the Siljan — Hymns on Board — Opin- ions of the Lasare — Their Increase — Conversation with the Peasants — Leksand — The Domprost Hvasser — Walk in the Garden — Dalecar lian Songs — Rainy Travel — Fahlun — Journey to Upsala — The Cholera — The Mound of Odin — Skal to the Gods — The End of Summer hi Stockholm— Farewell to the North. .... 436 NORTHERN TRAYEL, CHAPTER I. A WINTER VOYAGE ON THE BALTIC. We went on board the little iron Swedish propeller, Carl fohan, at Lubeck, on the morning of December 1, a.d. 1856, having previously taken our passage for Stockholm What was our dismay, after climbing over hills of freight on deck, and creeping down a narrow companion-way, to find the cabin stowed full of bales of wool and barrels of butter. There was a little pantry adjoining it, with a friendly Stewardess therein, who, in answer to my inquiries, assured us that we would probably be placed in a hut. After fur- ther search, I found the captain, who was superintending the loading of more freight, and who also stated that he would put us into a hut. " Let me see the hut, then," I demanded, .nd we were a little relieved when we found it to be a state- room, containing two of the narrowest of bunks. There was another hut opposite, occupied by two more passengers, 2 14 NORTHERN TRAVEL all that the steamer could carry and all wc had, except a short deck-passenger, who disappeared at the commencement of the voyage, and was not seen again until its close. The day was clear and cold, the low hills around Lubeck ■wore covered with snow, and the Trave was already frozen over. We left at noon, slowly breaking our way down the narrow and winding river, which gradually widened and became clearer of ice as we approached the Baltic. When we reached Travemtnde it was snowing fast, and a murky chaos beyond the sandy bar concealed the Baltic. The town is a long row of houses fronting the water. There were few inhabitants to be seen, for the bathing guests had long since flown, and all watering places have a funereal air after the season is over. Our fellow-passenger, a jovial Pole, insisted on going ashore to drink a last glass of Bava- rian beer before leaving Germany; but the beverage had Deen so rarely called for that it had grown sharp and sour, and we hurried back unsatisfied. A space about six feet square had been cleared out among the butter-kegs in the cabin, and we sat down to dinner by candle-light, at three o'clock. Swedish customs already appeared, in a preliminary decanter of lemon-colored brandy a thimbleful of which was taken with a piece of bread anc sausage, before the soup appeared. The taste of th6 liquor was sweet, unctuous and not agreeable. Our party consist- ed of the captain, the chief officer, who was his brother-in- law, the Pole, who was a second-cousin of Kosciusko, and had a name consisting of eight consonants and two vowels, a grave young Swede with a fresh Norse complexion, and our two selves. The steward, Hildebrand, and the silent A WINTER VOYAGE ON THE BALTIC 15' stewardess, Marie, were our attendants and purveyors. The ship's officers were rather slow and opaque, and the Swede sublimely self-possessed and indifferent ; but the Pole, who had been condemned to death at Cracow, and afterward invented cheap gas, was one of the jolliest fellows alive. His German was full of funny mistakes, but he rattled away with as much assurance as if it had been his native tongue. Before dinner was over, we were all perfectly well acquainted with each other. Night had already set in on the Baltic ; nothing was to be seen but snow ; the deck was heaped with freight ; the storm blew in our teeth: and the steamer, deeply laden, moved slowly and laboriously ; so we stretched ourselves on the narrow bunks in our hut, and preserved a delicate regard for our equilibrium, even in sleep. In the morning the steep cliffs of Moen, a Danish island, were visible on our left. We looked for Riigen, the last stronghold of the wor- ship of Odin in the Middle Ages, but a raw mist rolled down upon the sea, and left us advancing blindly as before. The wind was strong and cold, blowing the vapory water- smoke in long trails across the surface of the waves. It was not long, however, before some dim white gleams through the mist were pointed out as the shores of Sweden, and the Carl Johan slackened her speed to a snail's pace, snuffing at headland after headland, like a dog off the scent, in order to find her way into Ystad. A lift of the fog favored us at last, and we ran into the tittle harbor. I walked the contracted hurricane deck at three o'clock, with the sunset already flushing the west looked on the town and land, and thought of my friend Dr IQ NORTHERN TRAVEL. Kane. The mercury had fallen to- 16°, a foot of snow cov- ered the house-roofs, the low, undulating hills all wore the same monotonous no-color, and the yellow- haired people on the pier were buttoned up close, mittened and fur-capped, The captain telegraphed to Calmar, our next port, and received an answer that the sound was full of ice and the harbor frozen up. A custom-house officer, who took supper with us on board, informed us of the loss of the steam-ship Umea, which was cut through by the ice near Sundsvall, and sunk, drowning fifteen persons — a pleasant prospect for our further voyage — and the Pole would have willingly landed at Ystad if he could have found a conveyance to get beyond it. We had twelve tons of coal to take on board} and the work proceeded so slowly that we caught another snow-storm so thick and blinding that we dared not venture out of the harbor. On the third morning, nevertheless, we were again at sea, having passed Bornholm, and were heading for the southern end of the Island of Oland. About noon, as we were sitting huddled around the cabin stove, the steamer suddenly stop- ped. There was a hurried movement of feet overhead — a cry — and we rushed on deck. One of the sailors was in the act of throwing overboard a life buoy. " It is the Pole !" was our first exclamation. " No, no," said Hildebrand, with r distressed face, " it is the cabin-boy" — a sprightly, hand- some fellow of fourteen. There he was struggling in tha icy water, looking toward the steamer, which was every moment more distant. Two men were in the little boat, which had just been run down from the davits, but it seem- ed an eternity until their oars were shipped, and they pulled A WINTER V; VAGE ON THE BALTIC. \"/ away on their errand of life or death. We urged the inatt to put the steamer about, but he passively refused. Thi hoy still swam, but the boat was not yet half-way, and headed too much to the left. There was no tiller, and the men could only guess at their course. We guided them bj signs, watching the boj's head, now a mere speck, seen at intervals under the lowering sky. He struggled gallantly : the boat drew nearer, and one of the men stood up and looked around. We watched with breathless suspense for the reappearance of the brave young swimmer, but we watched in vain. Poor boy ! who can know what was the agony of those ten minutes, while the icy waves gradually benumbed and dragged down the young life that struggled with such desperate energy to keep its place in the world ! The men sat down and rowed back, bringing only his cap, which they had found floating on the sea. "Ah!" said Hildebrand, with tears in his eyes, " I did not want to take him this voyage, but his mother begged me so hard that I could not refuse, and this is the end !" We had a melancholy party in the cabin that afternoon. The painful impression made by this catastrophe was heightened by the knowledge that it might have been pre- vented. The steamer amidships was filled up to her rail with coal, and the boy was thrown overboard by a sudden lurch while walking upon it. Immediately afterwards, linca were rove along the stanchions, to prevent the same thing happening again. The few feet of deck upon which we could walk were slippery with ice, and wc kept below, smoking gloomily and saying little. Another violent snow-storm aarae on from the north, but in the afternoon we caught 18 NORTHERN TRAVEL sight of some rock3 off Carlscrona, and made the light on Oland in the evening. The wind had been blowing bo freshly that our captain suspected Calmar Sound might be clear, and determined to try the passage. We felt our way lowly through the intricate sandbanks, in the midst of fog and snow, until after midnight, when only six miles from Calmar, we were stopped by fields of drift ice, and had to put back again. The fourth morning dawned cold and splendidly clear. When I went on deck we were rounding the southern point of Oland, through long belts of floating ice. The low chalk' cliffs were covered with snow, and looked bleak and desolate enough. The wind now came out of the west, enabling us to carry the foresail, so that we made «ight or nine knots, in spite of our overloaded condition. Braisted and 1 walked the deck all day, enjoying the keen wind and clear, faint sunshine of the North. In the afternoon, however, it blew half a gale, with flurries of mingled rain and snow. The sea rose, and the steamer, lumbered as she was, could not be steered on her course, but had to be "conned," to keep off the strain. The hatches were closed, and an occasional sea broke over the bows. We sat below in the dark huts ; the Pole, leaning against the bulkhead, silently awaiting his fate, as he afterwards confessed. 1 had faith enough in the timidity of our captain, not to feel the least alarm — and true enough, two hours had not elapsed before we lay-to un- der the lee of the northern end of Oland. The Pole then sat down, bathed from head to foot in a cold sweat, and would have lauded immediately, had it been possible. The Swede was as inexpressive as ever, with the same jalf-smil* on his fair, serious face A WINTER VOYAGE ON THE BALTIC. lg I was glad to find that our captain did not intend to lose the wind, but would start again in an hour or two. We had a quieter night than could have been anticipated, fol- lowed by a brilliant morning. Such good progress had been made that at sunrise the lighthouse on the rocks of Landsoit was visible, and the jagged masses of that archipelago of cloven isles which extends all the way to Tornea, began to stud the sea. The water became smoother . as we ran into the sound between Landsort and the outer isles. A long line of bleak, black rocks, crusted with snow, stretched be- fore us. Beside the lighthouse, at their southern extremity, there were two red frame-houses, and a telegraph station. A boat, manned by eight hardy sailors, came off" with a pilot, who informed us that Stockholm was closed with ice, and that the other steamers had been obliged to stop at the little port of Dalaro, thirty miles distant. So for Dalaro we headed, threading the channels of the scattering islands, which gradually became higher and more picturesque, with clumps of dark fir crowning their snowy slopes. The mid- day sun hung low on the horizon, throwing a pale yellow light over the wild northern scenery; but there was life in the cold air, and I did not ask for summer. We passed the deserted fortress of Dalaro, a square stone structure, which has long since outlived its purpose, on the summit of a rock in the sound. Behind it, opened a quiet bay, held in a projecting arm of the mainland, near the ex- tremity of which appeared our port— a village of about fifty houses, scattered along the abrupt shore. The dark-red buildings stood out distinctly against the white background : two steamers and half a dozen sailing crafts were moored ^0 NORTHERN TRAVEL. below them ; about as many individuals were moving quietly about, and for all the life and animation we could see, wt might have been in Kamtchatka. As our voyage terminated here, our first business was to find means of getting to Stockholm by land. Our fellow- passengers proposed that we should join company, and engage five horses and three sleds for ourselves and luggage, The Swede willingly undertook to negotiate for us, and set about the work with his usual impassive semi-cheerfulness. The landlord of the only inn in the place promised to have everything ready by six o'clock the next morning, and our captain, who was to go on the same evening, took notices of our wants, to be served at the two intervening post-stations on the road. We then visited the custom-house, a cabin about ten feet square, and asked to have our luggage ex- amined. " No," answered the official, " we have no authority to examine anything; you must wait until we send to Stockholm." This was at least a new experience. We were greatly vexed and annoyed, but at length, by dint of explanations and entreaties, prevailed upon the man to attempt an examination. Our trunks were brought ashore, and if ever a man did his duty conscientiously, it was this same Swedish official. Every article was taken out and separately inspected, with an honest patience whioh I could not but admire. Nothing was found contraband, however ; we had the pleasure of re-packing, and were then pulled back to the Carl Johau in a profuse sweat, despite the in- tense cold. STOCKHOLM.— PREPARATIONS FOR THE NORTH J*] CHAPTER II. STOCKHOLM. PREPARATIONS FOR THE NORTH. On the following morning we arose at five, went ashore in tne darkness, and after waiting an hour, succeeded in getting our teams together. The horses were small, but spirited, the sleds rudely put together, but strong, and not uncomfortable, and the drivers, peasants of the neighborhood, patient, and good-humored. Climbing the steep bank, we were out of the village in two minutes, crossed an open com- mon, and entered the forests of fir and pine. The sleighing was superb, and our little nags carried us merrily along, at the usual travelling rate of one Swedish mile (nearly seven English) per hour. Enveloped from head to foot in our fur robes, we did not feel the sharp air, and in comparing our sensations, decided that the temperature was about 20°. What was our surprise, on reaching the post-station, at learning, that it was actually 2° below zero ! Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the darkness decreased, but the morning was cloudy, and there was little appearance of jaybreak before nine o'clock, In the early twilight we were startled by the appearance of a ball of meteoric fire, nearly 22 NORTHERN TRAVRt. as large as the moon, and of a soft white lustre, which moved in a horizontal line from east to west, and disap- peared without a sound. I was charmed by the forest scenery through which we passed. The pine, spruce, and fir trees, of the greatest variety of form, were completely coated with frozen snow, and stood as immovable as forests of bronze incrusted with silver. The delicate twigs of the weeping birch resembled sprays of crystal, of a thousand airy and exquisite patterns. There was no wind, except in the open glades between the woods, where the frozen lakes spread out like meadow intervals. As we approached the first sta- tion there were signs of cultivation — fields inclosed with stake fences, low red houses, low barns, and scanty patches of garden land. We occasionally met peasants with their sleds — hardy, red-faced fellows, and women solid enough to outweigh their bulk in pig-iron. The post-station was a cottage in the little hamlet of Berga. We drove into the yard, and while sleds and horses were being changed, partook of some boiled milk and tough rye-bread, the only things to be had, but both good of their kind. The travellers' room was carpeted and comfortable, and the people seemed poor only because of their few wants. Our new sleds were worse than the former, and so were our horses, but we came to the second station in time, and fouud we must make still another arrangement. The luggage was sent ahead on a large sled, while each pair of us, seated in a one horse cutter, followed after it, driving ourselves. Swedish horses are stopped by a whistle, and encouraged by a smacking of the lips, which I found impossible to learn at once, and they considerately gave us no whips. We had STOCKHOLM. — PREPARATIONS FOR THE N3RTH. 23 now a bfoad, beaten road, and the many teams we met and passed gave evidence of our approach to Stockholm. The country, too, gently undulating all the way, was more thickly settled, and appeared to be under tolerable cultivation. About one in the afternoon, we climbed a rising slope, and from its brow looked down upon Stockholm. The sky was dark-gray and lowering; the hills were covered with snow, and the roofs of the city resembled a multitude of tents, out of which rose half a dozen dark spire3. On either side were arms of the Malar Lake — white, frozen plains. Snow was already in the. air, and presently we looked through a screen of heavy flakes on the dark, weird, wintry picture. The impression was perfect of its kind, and I shall not soon for- get it. We had passed through the southern suburb, and were descending to the lake, when one of our shafts snapped off. Resigning the cutter to the charge of a stout maiden, who acted as postillion, Braisted and I climbed upon the luggage, and in this wise, shaggy with snowy fur, passed through the city, before the House of Nobles and the King's Palace, and over the Northern Bridge, and around the northern suburb, and I know not where else, to the great astonishment of everybody we met, until our stupid driver found out where he was to go. Then we took leave of the Pole, who had engaged horses to Norrkoping, and looked utterly disconso- late at parting ; but the grave Swede showed his kind heart at last, for — neglecting his home, from which he had been absent seven years — he accompanied us to an hotel, engaged rooms, and saw us safely housed. We remained in Stockholm a week, engaged in making 24 NORTHERN TRAVEL. preparations for our journey to the North. During thia time we were very comfortably quartered in Kahn's Hotel, the only one in the capital where one can get both rooms and meals. The weather changed so entirely, as completely to destroy our first impressions, and make the North, which we were seeking, once more as distant as when we left Ger- many. The day after our arrival a thaw set in, which cleared away every particle of snow and ice, opened the harbor, freed the Malar Lake, and' gave the white hills around the city their autumnal colors of brown and dark- green. A dense fog obscured the brief daylight, the air was close, damp, and oppressive, everybody coughed and snuffled, and the air-tight rooms, so comfortable in cold weather, became insufferable. My blood stagnated, my spirits de- cended as the mercury rose, and I grew all impatience to have zero and a beaten snow-track again. We had more difficulty in preparing for this journey than I anticipated — not so much in the way of procuring the necessary articles, as the necessary information on the sub- ject. I was not able to find a man who had made the journey in winter, or who could tell me what to expect, and what to do. The mention of my plan excited very general surprise, but the people were too polished and courteous to say outright that I was a fool, though I don't doubt that many of them thought so. Even the maps are only minute enough for the traveller as far as Tornea, and the only special maps of Lapland I could get dated from 1803. The Government, it is true, has commenced the publication of a very admirable map of the kingdom, in provinces, but these do not as yet extend beyond Jemteland, about Lat. 63° STOCKHOLM. — PREPARATIONS FOR THE NORTH 25 north. Neither is theie any work to he had, except some botanical and geological publications, which of course con- tain but little practical information. The English and German Handbooks for Sweden are next to useless, north .f Stockholm. The principal assurances were, that we should suffer greatly from cold, that we should take along a supply of provisions, for nothing was to be had, and that we must expect to endure hardships and privations of all kinds. This prospect was not at all alarming, for I remembered that 1 had heard much worse accounts of Ethiopia while making similar preparations in Cairo, and have learned that all such bugbears cease to exist when they are boldly faced. Our outfit, therefore, was restricted to some coffee, sugar, salt, gunpowder, lucifer-matches, lead, shot and slugs, four bottles of cognac for cases of extremity, a sword, a butcher- knife, hammer, screw- driver, nails, rope and twine, all con- tained in a box about eighteen inches square. A single valise held our stock of clothing, books, writing and drawing materials, and each of us carried, in addition, a double- barrelled musket. We made negotiations for the purchase of a handsome Norrland sleigh (numbers of which come to Stockholm, at this season, laden with wild-fowl), but the thaw prevented our making a bargain. The preparation of the requisite funds, however, was a work of some time. In this I was assisted by Mr. Mostrom, an excellent valet- de- place, whom I hereby recommend to all travellers. When, after three or four days' labor and diplomacy, he brought me the money, I thought I had suddenly come in possession of an immense fortune. There were hundreds of bank-notes, and thousands of silver pieces of all sizes — Swedish paper 26 NORTHERN TJUVFJ.. silver and copper, Norwegian notes and dollars, Danish marks, and Russian gold, roubles and copecks. The value belied the quantity, and the vast pile melted away so fast that I was soon relieved of my pleasant delusion. Our equipment should have been made in Germany, for, singularly enough, Stockholm is not half so well provided with furs an'd articles of winter clothing as Hamburg or Leipsic. Besides, everything is about fifty per cent dearer here. We were already provided with ample fur robes, I with one of gray bearskin, and Braisted with yellow fox. To these we added caps of sea-otter, mittens of dog-skin, lined with the fur of the Arctic hare, knitted devil's caps, woollen sashes of great lehgth for winding around the body, and, after long search, leather Russian boots lined with sheepskin and reaching halfway up the thigh. When rig- ged out in this costume, my diameter was about equal to half my height, and I found locomotion rather cumbrous; while Braisted, whose stature is some seven inches shorter, waddled along like an animated cotton-bale. Everything being at last arranged, so far as our limited information made it possible, for a two months' journey, we engaged places in a diligence which runs as far as Gefle, 120 miles north of Stockholm. There we hoped to find snow and a colder climate. One of my first steps had been to engage a Swedish teacher, and by dint of taking double lessons every day, I flattered myself that I had made suffi- cient progress in the language to travel without an inter- preter — the most inconvenient and expensive of persons. To be sure, a week is very little for a new language, but tc one who speaks English and German, Swedish i3 already half acauired. FIKST EXPERIENCES OF NORTHERN TRAVEL. {87 CHAPTER III. FIRST EXPERIENCES OF NORTHERN TRAVEL. The diligence was a compact little vehicle, carrying foul persons, but we two were so burdened with our guns, sword, money-bag, field-glass, over-boots and two-fathom-long sashes, that we found the space allotted to us small enough. We started at eight o'clock, and had not gone a hundred yards before we discovered that the most important part of our outfit — the maps — had been left behind. It was toe late to return, and we were obliged to content ourselves with the hope of supplying them at Upsala or Getfe. We rolled by twilight through the Northern suburb. The morning was sharp and cold, and the roads, which had been muddy and cut up the day before, were frozen terribly hard and rough. Our fellow-passengers were two Swedes, an unprepossessing young fellow who spoke a few words of English, and a silent old gentleman; we did not derive much advantage from their society, and I busied myself witli observing the country through which we passed. A mile or. two, past handsome country-seats and some cemeteries, brought us into the region of forests. The pines were tall and picturesque in their forms, and the grassy meadows ^8 NORTHERN TRAVEL between them, entirely clear of snow, were wonderfully green for the season. During the first stage we passed some inlets of the Baltic, highly picturesque with their irregular woocid shores. They had all been frozen over during the night. We were surprised to see, on a southern hill-side, four pea- sants at work ploughing. How they got their shares through the frozen sod, unless the soil was remarkably dry and sandy, was more than I could imagine. We noticed occasionally a large manor-house, with its dependent out- buildings, and its avenue of clipped beeches or lindens, look- ing grand and luxurious in the midst of the cold dark fields. Here and there were patches of wheat, which the early snow had kept green, and the grass in the damp hollows was still bright, yet it was the 15th of December, and we were almost in lat. 60° N. • The houses were mostly one-story wooden cottages, of a dull red color, with red roofs. In connection with the black-green of the pine and fir woods they gave the country a singularly sombre aspect. There was little variation in the scenery all the way to Upsala. In some places, the soil appeared to be rich and under good cultivation ; here the red villages were more frequent, and squat church- towers showed themselves in the distance. In other places, we had but the rough hills, or rather knobs of gray gneiss, whose masses were covered with yellow moss, and the straco-lincr fir forests. We met but few country teams on the road; nobody was to be seen about the houses, and the land seemed to be asleep or desolated. Even at noon, when the sun came out fairly, he was low on the horizon, and gave but ac eclipsed light, which was more cheerless than complete dark- ness FIRST EXPERIENCES OF NORTHERN TRAVEL. 2? The sun set about three o'clock, but we had a long, splen- did twilight, a flush of orange, rose and amber-green, worthy of a Mediterranean heaven. Two hours afterwards, the lights of Upsala appeared, and we drove under the imposing front of the old palace, through clean streets, over the Upsala River, and finally stopped at the door of a court- yard. Here we were instantly hailed by some young fellows, who inquired if we did not want rooms. The place did not appear to be an inn, but as the silent old gentleman got out and went in, I judged it best to follow his example, and the diligence drove off with our baggage. We were right, after all: a rosy, handsome, good-humored landlady appeared, promised to furnish us with beds and a supper, to wake us betimes, and give us coffee before leaving. The old gentleman kindly put on his coat and accom- panied us to a bookstore on the public square, where I found Akrell's map of Northern Sweden, and thus partially re- placed -our loss. He sat awhile in our room trying to con- verse, but I made little headway. On learning that we were bound for Tornea, he asked: "Are you going to buy 'lumber ?" " No," I answered ; " we are merely going to see the country." He laughed long and heartily at such an absurd idea, got up in a hurry, and went to bed without saying another word. Wo had a supper of various kinds of sausage, tough rye bread, and a bowl of milk, followed by excellent beds — a thing which you are sure to find every- where in Sweden. We drove off again at half-past six in the morning moon light, with a temperature of zero. Two or three miles from the town we passed the mounds of old Upsala, the graves o* SO NORTHERN TRAVEL. Odin, Thor and Freya, rising boldly agair.jt the first glim- merings of daylight. The landscape was broad, dark and silent, the woods and fields confusedly blended together, and only the sepulchres of the ancient gods broke the level line of the horizon. I could readily have believed in them at that hour. Passing over the broad rich plain of Upsala, we entered a gently undulating country, richer and better cultivated than the district we had traversed the previous day. It was splendidly wooded with thick fir forests, floored with bright green moss. Some of the views toward the north and' west were really fine from their extent, though seen in the faded light and long shadows of the low northern sun. In the afternoon, we passed a large white church, with four little towers at the corners, standing in the midst of a village of low red stables, in which the country people shelter their horses while attending service. There must have been fifty or sixty of these buildings, arranged in regular streets In most of the Swedish country churches, the belfry stands apart, a squat, square tower, painted red, with a black upper story, and is sometimes larger than the church itself. The houses of the peasants are veritable western shanties, except in color and compactness. No wind finds a cranny to enter, and the roofs of thick thatch, kept down by long, horizontal poles, have an air of warmth and comfort. The stables are banked with earth up to the hay-loft, and the cattle enter their subterranean stalls through sloping doorways like those of the Egyptian tombs. Notwithstanding we made good progress through the day, it was dark long before we reached the bridge over the Dal FIRST EXPERIENCES OP NORTHERN TRAVEL. 31 Klv, and of the famous cascades we saw only a sloping white glimmer, between dark masses of forest, and heard the noise of the broken waters. At Elfkarleby we were allowed twenty minutes for dinner — boiled salmon and beefsteak both bad. 1 slept after this, until aroused by the old Swede as we entered Gene. We drove across a broad bridge, looked over vessels frozen into the inlet of the Gulf, passed a large public square, and entered the yard of the diligence office. A boy in waiting conducted us to a private house, where furnished rooms were to be had, and here we obtained tea, comfortable beds, and the attendance of a rosy servant- girl, who spoke intelligible Swedish. My first care the next morning, was to engage horses and send off my forbud papers. We were now to travel by " skints'' (pronounced shoos), or post, taking new horses at each station on the road. The fdrbud tickets are simply orders for horses to be ready at an appointed time, and are sent in advance to all the stations on the road, either by mail or by a special messenger. Without this precaution, I was told, we might be subjected to considerable delay. This mode of travelling is peculiar to Sweden and Norway. It has been in existence for three or four centuries, and though gradually improved and systematized with the lapse of time, it is still sufficiently complex and inconvenient to a traveller coming from the railroad world. Professor Retzius had referred me to the botanist Hart- man, in case of need, but 1 determined to commence by helping myself. I had a little difficulty at first : the peopl are unused to speaking withforeigners, and if you ask them to talk slowly, they invariably rattle away twice as fast as 32 NORTHERN TRAVEL. before. I went into a variety shop on the public square, ana asked where I could engage horses for Sundsvall After making myself understood, as I supposed, the clerk handed me some new bridles. By dint of blundering, 1 gradually circumscribed the range of my inquiries, and finally came to a focus at the right place. Having ordered horses at six the next morning, and despatched the fbrbvd tickets by the afternoon's mail, 1 felt that 1 had made a good beginning, and we set out to make the tour of Gefle. This is a town of eight or ten thousand inhabitants, with a considerable shipping interest, and a naval school. It is a pretty place, well built, and with a neat, substantial air. The houses are mostly two stories high, white, and with spacious courts in the rear. The country around is low but rolling, and finely clothed with dark forests of fir and pine, [t was a superb day — gloriously clear, with a south wind, bracing, and not too cold, and a soft, pale lustre from the cloudless sun. But such a day ! Sunrise melting into sunset without a noon — a long morning twilight, a low, slant sun, shining on the housetops for an hour or so, and the evening twilight at three in the afternoon. Nothing seemed real in this strange, dying light — nothing but mj ignorance of Swedish, whenever I tried to talk. In the afternoon, we called on the Magister Hartman, whom we found poring over his plants. He spoke English olerably, and having made a journey through Lapland from Tornea to the Lyngen Fiord, was able to give us some information about the country. He encouraged us in the belief that we should find the journey more rapid and easy in winter than in summer. He said the Swedes feared the FIRST EXPERIENCES OF NORTHERN TRAVEL. 33 North and few of them ever made a winter journey thither, but nc thing could stop the Americans and the English from going anywhere. He also comforted us with the assurance that we should find snow only six Swedish (forty English) miles further north. Lat. 60° 85' N., the 17th of December and no snow yet ! In the streets, we met an organ-grinder playing the Marseillaise. There was no mistaking the jet- black hair, the golden complexion and the brilliant eyes o« the player, " Siete Italiaao f" 1 asked. " Siciiro !" he answered, joyously : " e lei anche T' " Ah," he said, in answer to my questions, "io non amo questo passe; I freddo ed oscn.ro ; non si gagna niente — ma in Italia si vive." My friend Ziegler had already assured me : " One should see the North, but not after the South." Well, we shall see; but I confess that twenty degrees below zero would have chilled me less than the sight of that Italian. We were at the inn punctually at six in the morning, but our horses were not ready. The hhllkarl, or ostler, after hearing my remonstrances, went on splitting wood, and, as I did not know enough of Swedish to scold with any profit, [ was obliged to remain wrathful and silent. He insisted on my writing something (I could not understand what) in the post-book, so I copied the affidavit of a preceding travel- ler and signed my name to it, which seemed to answer the purpose. After more than half an hour, two rough two- wheeled carts were gotten ready, and the farmers to whom they belonged, packed themselves and our luggage into one, leaving us to drive the other. We mounted, rolled ourselves i.n our furs, thrust our feet into the hay, and rattled out o/ Gefle in the frosty moonlight. Such was our first ex- perience of travelling by skjuts. 31 NORTHERN TRAVEL. The road went northward, into dark forests, over the same undulating, yet monotonous country as before. The ground was rough and hard, and our progress slow, so that we did not reach the end of the first station (10 miles) until nine o'clock. As we drove into the post-house, three other travellers, who had the start of us, and consequently the first right to horses, drove away. I was dismayed to find that my forbud had not been received, but the ostler informed me that by paying twelve skillings extra I could have horses at once. While the new carts were getting ready, the post- man, wrapped in wolf-skin, and with a face reddened by the wind came up, and handed out my forbud ticket. Such was our first experience of forbud. On the next station, the peasant who was ahead with our lusisrage left the main road and took a rou^h track through the woods. Presently we came to a large inlet of thr Bothnian gulf, frozen solid from shore to shore, and upon this we boldly struck out. The ice was nearly a foot thick, and as solid as marble. So we drove for at least four miles, and finally came to land on the opposite side, near a saw- mill. At the next post-house we found our predecessors just setting off again in sleds ; the landlord informed us that he had only received my forbud an hour previous, and, according to law was allowed three hours to get ready his Beoond instalment of horses, the first being exhausted. There was no help for it : we therefore comforted ourselves with breakfast. At one o'clock we set out again in low Norrland slede, but there was little snow at first, and we were obliged to walk the first few miles. The station was a long one (twenty English miles), and our horses not the FIRST EXPERIENCES OF NORTHERN TRAVEL. 35 most promising. Coming upon solid snow at last, we travelled rather more swiftly, but with more risk. The sleds, although so low, rest upon narrow runners, and the eliafts are attached by a hook, upon which they turn in all directions, so that the sled sways from side to side, entirely independent of them. In going off the main road to get a little more snow on a side track, I discovered this fact by overturning the sled, and pitching Braisted and myself out on our heads. There were lakes on either side, and we made many miles on the hard ice, which split with a dull sound under us. Long after dark, we reached the next station, Stratjara, and found our horses in readiness. We started again, by the gleam of a flashing aurora, going through forests and fields in the uncertain light, blindly following our leader, Braisted and I driving by turns, and already much fatigued. After a long time, we descended a steep hill, to the Ljusne River. The water foamed and thundered under the bridge, and I could barely see that it fell in a series of rapids over the rocks. At Mo Myskie, which we reached at eight o'clock, our horses had been ready four hours, which gave us a dollai banco vdntapermingar (waiting money) to pay. The land- lord, a sturdy, jolly fellow, with grizzly hair and a prosper- ous abdomen, asked if we were French, and I addressed him in that language. He answered in English on finding that we were Americans. On his saying that he had learned English in Tripoli, I addressed him in Arabic. His eyes flashed, he buret into a roaring laugh of the profoundest delight, and at once answered in the majestic gutturals of the Orient. "Allah akhbar !" he cried; "I have been $#} NORTHERN TRAVEL. waiting twenty years for some one to speak to me in Arabia and you are the first !" He afterwards changed to Italian, which he spoke perfectly well, and preferred to any foreigt language. We were detained half an hour by his delight, and went off forgetting to pay for a bottle of beer, the price of which I sent back by the skfutsbonde, or postillion. This skjutsbon.de was a stupid fellow, who took us a long, circuitous road, in order to save time. We hurried along in the darkness, constantly crying out "Kdrpa!" (Drive on !) and narrowly missing a hundred overturns. It was eleven at night before we reached the inn at Kungsgarden, where, fortunately, the people were awake, and the pleasant old landlady soon had our horses ready. We had yet six- teen English miles to Bro, our lodging-place, where we should -have arrived by eight o'clock. I hardly know how to describe the journey. We were half asleep, tired out nearly frozen, (mercury below zero) and dashed along at haphazard,' through vast dark forests, up hill and down, following the sleepy boy who drove ahead with our baggage. A dozen times the sled, swaying from side to side like a pendulum, tilted, hung in suspense a second, and then righted itself again. The boy fell back on the hay and slept, until Braisted, creeping up behind, startled him with terrifio yells in his ears. Away then dashed the horse, down steep declivities, across open, cultivated valleys, and into the woods again. After midnight the moon rose, and the cold was intenser than ever. The boy having fallen asleep again, the horse took advantage of it to run off at full speed, we following at the same rate, sometimes losing sight of him and uncertain of our way, until, after a chase of a few miles} FIRST EXPERIENCES OF NORTHERN TRAVEL. 3? we found the boy getting his reins out from under tha runners. Finally, after two in the morning, we reached Bro. Here we had ordered a warm room, beds and supper, by farbud. but found neither. A sleepy, stupid girl, who had just got up to wait on a captain who had arrived before ua and was going on, told us there was nothing to be had. " We must eat, if we have to eat you," I said, savagely, for we were chilled through and fierce with hunger ; but I might as well have tried to hurry the Venus de Medici. At last we got some cold sausage, a fire, and two couches, on which we lay down without undressing, and slept. I had scarcely closed my eyes, it seemed, when the girl, who was to call us at half-past five o'clock, came into the room. " Is it half- past five ?" I asked. " Oh, yes," she coolly answered, " it's much more." We were obliged to hurry off at once to avoid paying so much waiting money. At sunrise we passed Hudiksvall, a pretty town at the head of a deep bay, in which several vessels were frozen up for the winter. There were some handsome country houses in the vicinity, better cultivation, more taste in building, and a few apple and cherry orchards. The mercury was still at zero, but we suffered less from the cold than the day previous, and began to enjoy our mode of travel. The horses were ready at all the stations on our arrival, and we were not delayed in changing. There was now plenty of anow, and the roads were splendid — the country undulating, with beautiful, deep valleys, separated by high, wooded hills, and rising to bold ridges in the interior. The houses were larger and better than we had yet seen — so were the people 3 38 NORTHERN TRAVEL. — and there was a general air of progress and well- doing In fact, both country and population improved in appcaranc* as we went northward. The night set in very dark and cold, threatening snow We had an elephant of a horse, which kicked up his heel and frisked like an awkward bull-pup, dashed down the hills like an avalanche, and carried us forward at a rapid rate. We coiled ourselves up in the hay, kept warm, and trusted our safety to Providence, for it was impossible to see the road, and we could barely distinguish the other sled, a dark speck before us. The old horse soon exhausted his en- thusiasm. Braisted lost the whip, and the zealous boy ahead stopped every now and then to hurry us on. The aurora gleamed but faintly through the clouds ; we were nearly overcome with sleep and fatigue, but took turns in arousing and amusing each other. The sled vibrated con- tinually from side to side, and finally went over, spilling ourselves and our guns into a snow-bank The horse stop- ped and waited for us, and then went on until the shafts came off. Toward ten o'clock, the lights of Sundsvall appeared, and we soon afterwards drove into the yard of the inn, having made one hundred and fifty-five miles in two days. We were wretchedly tired, and hungry as bears, but found room in an adjoining house, and succeeded in getting a sup- per of reindeer steak. I fell asleep in my chair, before my pipe was half-finished, and awoke the next morning to a sense of real fatigue. I had had enough of travelling byfarbud A SI.EIGII HIDE TIIROI GH NORRLAND. QV\ CHAPTER IV. A SLEIGH RIDE THROUGH NORRLAND. Sundsvall is a pretty little town of two or three thousand inhabitants, situated at the head of a broad and magnificent bay. It is the eastern terminus of the only post-road across the mountains to Trondjem (Drontheim) in Norway, which passes through the extensive province of Jemteland. It is, consequently, a lively and bustling place, and has a considerable coasting trade The day after our arrival was market-day, and hundreds of the Norrlanders thronged the streets and public square. They were all fresh, strong, coarse, honest, healthy people — the men with long yellow hair, large noses and blue eyes, the women with the rosiest of checks and the fullest development of body and limb. Many of the latter wore basques or jackets of sheepskin with the wool inside, striped petticoats and bright red stockings. The men were dressed in shaggy sheepskin coats, or garments of reindeer skin, with the hair outward. There was a vast collection of low Norrland sleds, laden with butter, cheese, hay, and wild game, and drawn by the rouch and tough little horses of the country. Here wag «till plenty of life and animation, although we were alreadj fltj SOUTHERN TRAVE1* so far rorth that the sun did not shine upon Sundsvall the whole day, being hidden by a low hill to the south. The snowy ridges on the north, however, wore a bright roseate blush from his rays, from ten until two. We called upon a merchant of the place, to whom I had a letter of introduction. He was almost the only man I met before undertaking the journey, who encouraged me to push on. "The people in Stockholm," said he, "know nothing about Northern Sweden." He advised me to giv* up travelling by fOrbud, to purchase a couple of sleds, and take our chance of finding horses : we would have no trouble in making from forty to fifty English miles per day. On returning to the inn, I made the landlord understand what we wanted, but could not understand him iu return. At this juncture came in a handsome fellow, with a cosmopolitan air, whom Braisted recognised, by certain invisible signs, as the mate of a ship, and who explained the matter in very good English. I purchased two plain but light and strongly made sleds for 50 ri^s (about $14 ), which seemed very cheap, but I afterwards learned that I paid much more than the current price. On repacking our effects, we found that everything liquid was frozen — even a camphorated mixture, which had beeu carefully wrapped in flannel. The cold, therefore, must have been much more severe than we supposed. Our sup- plies, also, were considerably damaged — the lantern broken, a powder-flask cracked, and the salt, shot, nails, wad- ding, &c, mixed together in beautiful confusion. Every- thing was stowed in one of the sleds, which was driven by the postilion ; the other contained only our two selves. We A SLEIGH HIDE THROUGH NORRLAND. 41 were off the next morning, as the first streaks of dawn appeared in the sky. The roads about Sundsvall were very much cut up, and even before getting out of the town we were pitched over head and ears into a snow-bank. We climbed slowly up and darted headlong down the idges which descend from the west toward the Bothnian Gulf, dividing its tributary rivers ; and toward sunrise, came to a broad bay, completely frozen over and turned into a Bnowy plain. With some difficulty the skjutsbonde made me understand that a shorter road led across the ice to the Becond post-station, Fjfil, avoiding one change of horses. The way was rough enough at first, over heaped blocks of jce, but became smoother where the wind had full sweep, and had cleared the waidr before it froze. Our road was marked out by a double row of young fir-trees, planted in the ice. The bay was completely land-locked, embraced by a bold sweep of wooded hills, with rich, populous valleys between. Before us, three or four miles across, lay the little port of Wifsta-warf, where several vessels — among them a ship of three or four hundred tuns — were frozen in for the winter. We crossed, ascended a long hill, and drove on through fir woods to Fjal, a little hamlet with a large inn. Here wo got breakfast ; and though it may be in bad taste to speak of what one eats, the breakfast was in such good taste that I cannot pass over it without lingering to enjoy, in memory, jts wonderful aroma. Besides, if it be true, as some shock- ingly gross persons assert, that the belly -is a more important district of the human economy than the brain, a good meal deserves chronicling no less than an exalted impression. Certain it is, that strong digestive are to be preferred to 42 NORTHERN TRAVEL. atrong thinking powers — better live unknown than die of dyspepsia. This was our first country meal in Norrland, of whose fare the Stockholmers have a horror, yet that stately capital never furnished a better. We had beefsteak and onions, delicious blood-puddings, the tenderest of pan-cakes (no omelette sonjflee could be more fragile), with ruby rasp- berry j.rni, and a bottle of genuine English porter. If you think the bill of fare too heavy and solid, take a drive o fifteen miles in the regions of Zero, and then let your delicate stomach decide. In a picturesque dell near Fjal we crossed the rapid lndal River, which comes down from the mountains of Norway. The country was wild and broken, with occasional superb views over frozen arms of the Gulf, and the deep rich valleys stretching inland. Leaving Hernosand, the capital of the province, a few miles to our right, we kept the main northern road, slowly advancing from station to sta- tion with old and tired horses. There was a snow-storm in the afternoon, after which the sky came out splendidly clear, and gorgeous with 'the long northern twilight. In the silence of the hour and the deepening shadows of the forest through which we drove, it was startling to hear, all at once the sound of voices singing a solemn hymn. My first idea was, that some of those fanatical Dissenters of Norr- land who meet, as once the Scotch Covenanters, among the hills, were having a refreshing winter mee-ting in the woods, hut on proceeding further we found that the choristers were a company of peasants returning from market with their empty sleds. It was already dark at four o'clock, and our last horses A SLEIGH RISE THROUGH NORRI.AND. 43 were so slow that the postilion, a handsome, lively boy, whose pride was a little touched by my remonstrances, failed. in spite of all his efforts, to bring us to the station before seven. We stopped at Weda, on the Angermann River, the largest stream in Northern Sweden. Angermannland, the country which it drains, is said to be a very wild and beautiful region, where some traces of the old, original Asiatic type which peopled Scandinavia are yet to be traced in the features of its secluded population. At Weda, we found excellent quarters. A neat, quiet, old-fashioned little servant-girl, of twelve or fourteen, took charge of us, and attended to all our wants with the greatest assiduity. We had a good supper, a small but neat room, clean beds, and coffee in the morning, beside a plentiful provision for breakfast on the way, for a sum equal to seventy-five cents. We left at half-past seven, the waning moon hanging on the horizon, and the first almost imperceptible signs of the morning twilight in the east. The Angermann River which is here a mile broad, was frozen, and our road led directly across its surface. The wind blew down it, across the snow-covered ice, making our faces tingle with premo- nitory signs of freezing, as the mercury was a little below zero. My hands were chilled inside the fur mittens, and 1 was obliged to rub my nose frequently, to prevent it from being nipped. The day was raw and chilly, and the tem- perature rose very .little, although the hills occasionally sheltered us from the wind. The scenery, also, grew darker md wilder as we advanced. The fir-trees were shorter and stunted, and of a dark greenish-brown, which at a little distance appeared completely black. Nothing could exceed 44 MMUHEHN TRAVEL. the bleak, inhospitable character of these landscapes. The inlets of the Bothnian Gulf were hard, snow-covered plains., inclosed by bold, rugged headlands, covered with ink-black forests. The more distant ridges faded into a dull indigo hue, flecked with patches of ghastly white, under the lower- ing, sullen, short-lived daylight. Our road was much rougher than hitherto. We climbed long ridges, only to descend by as steep declivities on the northern side, to cross the bed of an inland stream, and then ascend again. The valleys, however, were inhabited and apparently well cultivated, for the houses were large and comfortable, and the people had a thrifty, prosperous and satisfied air. Beside the farmhouses were immense racks, twenty feet high, for the purpose of drying flax and grain, and at the stations the people offered for sale very fine and beautiful linen of their dwn manufacture. This is the staple production of Norrland, where the short summers are frequently insufficient to mature the grain crops. The inns were all comfortable buildings, with very fair accommodation8 for travellers. We had bad luck with horses this day, however, two or three travellers having been in advance and had the pick. On one stage our baggage-sled was driven by a poike of not more than ten years old — a darling fellow, with a face as round, fresh and sweet as a damask rose, the bluest of eyes, and a cloud of silky golden hair. His suc- cessor was a tall, lazy lout, who stopped ao frequently to talk with the drivers of sleds behind us, that we lost all patience, drove past and pushed ahead in the darkness, trusting our horse to find the way. His horse followed, leaving him in the lurch, and we gave him a long-winded A SLEIGH RIDE THROUGH NORRLAND. 45 cW? astern before we allowed him to overtake us. This so '.saspcrated him that we had no trouble the rest of the way. Mem. — If you wish to travel with speed, make youi postilion angry. At Hornas they gave us a supper of ale and cold pig' feet, admirable beds, and were only deficient in the matter of water for washing. We awoke with headaches, on account of gas from the tight Russian stove. The temperature, at starting, was 22° below zero — colder than either of us had ev?r before known. We were a little curious, at first, to know how we should endure it, but, to our delight, found ourselves quite warm and comfortable. The air was still, dry, and delicious to inhale. My nose occasionally required friction, and my beard and moustache became a solid mass of ice, frozen together so that I could scarcely open my mouth, and firmly fastened to my fur collar. We travelled forty-nine miles, and were twelve hours on the way, yet felt no inconvenience from the" temperature. By this time it was almost wholly a journey by night, dawn and twilight, for full day there was none. The sun rose at ten and set at two. We skimmed along, over the black, fir-clothed hills, and across the pleasant little valleys, in the long, gray, slowly-gathering daybreak : then, heavy snow-clouds hid half the brief day, and the long, long, dusky evening glow settled into night. The sleighing was superb, the snow pure as ivory, hard as matfble, and beautifully crisp and smooth. Our sleds glided overuit without effort, the runners making music as they flevf[ii With every day the country grew wilder, blacker anddmore rugged, with no change in the general character dfi the scenery. In the 46 NORTHERN TRAVEL. afk'rnoon we passed the frontier of Norrland, and entered the province of West Bothnia. There are fewer horses at the stations, as we go north, but also fewer travellers, and we were not often detained. Thus far, we had no difficulty : my scanty stock of Swedish went a great way, and I began to understand with more facility, even the broad Norrland dialect. The people of this region are noble specimens of tti physical man — tall, broad-shouldered, large-limbed, ruddy and powerful ; and they are mated with women who, I ven- ture to say, do not even suspect the existence of a nervous system. The natural consequences of such health are: morality and honesty — to say nothing of the quantities of rosy and robust children which bless every household. If health and virtue cannot secure happiness, nothing can, and these Norrlanders appear to be a thoroughly happy and contented race. We had occasional reason to complain of their slowness ; but, then, why should they be fast ? It is rather we who should moderate our speed. Braisted, how- ever, did not accept such a philosophy. " Charles XII. wa3 the boy to manage the Swedes," said he to me one day ; " he always kept them in a hurry.' 1 We reached Lefwar, our resting-place for the night, in good condition, notwithstanding the 22° below, and felt much colder in the house, after stripping off our furs, than out of doors with them on. They gave us a supper consist- ing of smOrgas (" buttcrgoose" — the Swedish prelude to a meal, consisting usually of bread, butter, pickled anchovies, and caviar flavored with garlic), sausages, potatoes, and milk, and made for us sumptuous beds of the snowiest and sweetest A SLEIGH RIDE THROUGH NORRLANE 47 Hnen. When we rose next morning it was snowing About an inch had fallen during the night, and the mercury had riser, to 6° below zero. We drove along in the dusky half-twilight toward Angesjo. over low, broad hills, covered with forests of stunted birch and fir. The scenery con- tinued the same, and there is no use in repeating the description, except to say that the land became more cold and barren, and there seemed to be few things cultivated except flax, barley and potatoes. Still the same ridges sweeping down to the Gulf, on one hand, the same frozen bays and inlets on the other, and villages at intervals of eight or ten miles, each with its great solid church, low red belfry and deserted encampment of red frame stables. Before reaching the second station, we looked from a wooded height over the open expanse of the Gulf, — a plain of snow- covered ice, stretching eastward as far as the eye could reach. The day gradually became still and cold, until the tem- perature reached — 22° again, and we became comfortable in the same proportion. The afternoon twilight, splendid with its hues of amber, rose and saffron, died away so gradually, that it seemed scarcely to fade at all, lighting our path for at least three hours after sunset. Our postilions were all boys — ruddy, hardy young fellows of fourteen or fifteen, who drove well and sang incessantly, in spite of the cold. They talked much with us, but to little purpose, as I found it very difficult to understand the humming dialect they spoke Sach, as he received his drickpenningar (drink-money, or gratuity), at the end of the station, expressed his thanks by shaking hands with us. This is a universal custom 48 NORTHERN TRAVEL. throughout the north of Sweden : it is a part of the simple natural habits of the people ; and though it seemed rathei odd at first to be shaking hands with everybody, from the landlord down to the cook and the ostler, we soon came tc take it as a matter of course. The frank, unaffected way in which the hand was offered, oftener made the custom a pleasant one. At Stocksjo we decided to push on to a station beyoDd Umea, called Innertafle, and took our horses accordingly. The direct road, however, was unused on account of the drifts, so we went around through Umea, after all. We had nearly a Swedish mile, and it was just dark when we descended to the Umea, River, across whose solid surface we drove, and up a steep bank into the town. We stopped a few moments in the little public square, which was crowded with people, many of whom had already commenced their Christmas sprees The shops were lighted, and the little town looked very gay and lively. Passing through, we kept down the left bank of the river for a little distance, and then struck into the woods. It was night by this time; all at once the boy stopped, mounted a snow-bank, whirled around three or four times, and said something to me which I could not understand. "What's the matter?" I asked; "is not this the road to Innertafle ?" " I don't know — I think not," he said. " Don't you know the way. then ?" I asked again. " No !" he yelled in reply, whirled around several times more, and then drove on. Presently we overtook a pedes trian. to whom he turned for advice, and who willingly acted ii3 guide for the sake of a ride. Away we went again, but the snow was so spotless that it was impossible to see the A SLEIGH HIDK THltOUGH NORRI.AMD 49 track. Braisted and 1 ran upon a snow-bank, were over turned and dragged some little distance, but we righted ourselves asjain, and soon afterwards reached our destina- tion. In the little inn the guests' room lay behind the large family kitchen, through which we were obliged to pass. We were seized with a shivering lit on stripping off our furs, and it seemed scarcely possible to get warm again. This was followed by such intense drowsiness that we were obliged to lie down and sleep an hour before supper. After the cold weather set in, we were attacked with this drowsy fit every day, toward evening, and were obliged to take turns in arousing and stimulating each other. This we generally accomplished by singing " From Greenland's icy mountains," and othei appropriate melodies. At Innertafle we were attended by a tall landlady, a staid, quiet, almost, grim person, who paid most deliberate heed to our wants After a delay of mure than two hours, she furnished us with a supper consisting of some kind of fresh fish, with a sauce composed of milk, sugar and onions, followed by gryngrbt, a warm mush of mixed rice and barley, eaten with milk. Such was our fare on Christmas eve : hut hunger is the best sauce and our dishes were plent" fully seasoned with it. flO NORTHERN TRAVEL CHAPTER V. PROUfl£SS NORTHWARDS. — A STORM. We arose betimes on Christmas morn, but the grim and deliberate landlady detained us an hour in preparing oui coffee. I was in the yard about five minutes, wearing only my cloth overcoat and no glebes, and found the air truly 6harp and nipping, but not painfully severe. Presently, Braisted came running in with the thermometer, exclaiming, with a yell of triumph, "Thirty, by Jupiter!" (30° of Reaumur, equal to 35i° below zero of Fahrenheit.) We were delighted with this sign of our approach to the Arctic circle. The horses were at last ready ; we muffled up carefully, and set out. The dawn was just streaking the East, the sky was crystal-clear, and not a breath of air stirring. My beard was soon a solid mass of ice, from the moisture of my breath, and my nose required constant friction. The day pievious, the ice which had gathered on my fur collar lay against my face so long that the flesh began to freeze over my cheek bones, and thereafter I was obliged to be par- ticularly cautious.- As it grew lighter, we were surprised to find that our postilion was a girl. She had a heavv PROGRESS NORTHWARDS. — A STORM 5 J sheepskin over her knees, a muff for her hands, and a shawi around her head, leaving only the eyes visible. Thus accoutred, she drove on merrily, and, except that the red oi her cheeks became scarlet and purple, showed no signs of the weather. As we approached Sormjole, the first station, w again had a broad view of the frozen Bothnian Gulf, over which hovered a low cloud of white ice-smoke Looking down into the snowy valley of Sormjole, we saw the straight pillars of smoke rising from the houses high into the air, not spreading, but gradually breaking off into solid masses which sank again and filled the hollow, almost concealing the houses. Only the white, handsome church, with its tall spire, seated on a mound, rose above this pale blue film and shone softly in the growing flush of day. We ordered horses at once, after drinking a bowl of hot milk, flavored with cinnamon. This is the favourite win- ter drink of the people, sometimes with the addition oi brandy. But the finkel, or common brandy of Sweden, is a detestable beverage, resembling a mixture of turpentine, train oil, and bad molasses, and we took the milk unmixed, which admirably assisted in keeping up the animal heat. The mercury by this time had fallen to 38° below zero. We were surprised and delighted to find that we stood the cold so easily, and prided ourselves not a little on our pow- ers of endurance. Our feet gradually became benumbed, but, by walking up the hills, we prevented the circulation from coming to a stand-still. The cold, however, played some grotesque pranks with us My beard, moustache, cap, and fur collar were soon one un- divided lump of ice. Our eye-lashes became snow-white 52 NORTHERN TRAVEL. and heavy with frost, and it required constant motion tc keep them from freezing together. We saw everything through visors barred with ivory. Our eyebrows and hair were as hoary as those of an octogenarian, and our cheeks a mixture of crimson and orange, so that wc were scarcely recognizable by each other. Every one we met had snow- white locks, no matter how youthful the face, and, whatever was the colour of our horses at starting, we always drove milk-white steeds at the close of the post. The irritation of our nostrils occasioned the greatest inconvenience, and as the handkerchiefs froze instantly, it soon became a matter of pain and difficulty to use them. You might as well at- tempt to blow your nose with a poplar chip. We could not bare our hands a minute, without feeling an iron grasp of cold which seemed to squeeze the flesh like a vice, and turn the very blood to ice. In other respects we were warm and jolly, and I have rarely been in higher spirits. The air was exquisitely sweet and pure, and 1 could open my mouth (as far as its icy grating permitted) and inhale full draughts into the lungs with a delicious sensation of refreshment and exhilaration. I had not expected to find such freedom of respiration in so low a temperature. Some descriptions of severe cold in Canada and Siberia, which I have read, state that at such times the air occasions a tin£lin£> smarting sensation in the throat and lungs, but I experienced nothing of the kind. This was arctic travel at hist. By Odin, it was glorious ' The smooth, firm road, crisp and pure as alabaster, over which our sleigh-runners talked with the rippling, musical murmur of summer brooks; the sparkling, breathless firraa^ PROGRESS NORTHWARDS. — A STORM. 53 merit ; the gorgeous rosy flush of morning, slowly deej. en- ing until the orange disc of the sun cut the horizon ; the golden blaze of the tops of the bronze firs ; the glittering of the glassy birches ; the long, dreary sweep of the landscape; the icy nectar of the perfect air ; the tingling of the roused blood in every vein, all alert to guard the outposts of life against the besieging cold — it was superb ! The natives themselves spoke of the cold as being unusually severe, and we congratulated ourselves all the more on our easy endur- ance of it. Had we judged only by our own sensations we should not have believed the temperature to be nearly so low. The sun rose a little after ten, and I have never seen anything finer than the spectacle which we then saw for the first time, but which was afterwards almost daily re- peated — the illumination of the forests and snow-fields in his level orange beams, for even at midday he was not more than eight degrees above the horizon. The tops of the trees, only, were touched : still and solid as iron, and cov- ered with sparkling frost-crystals, their trunks were changed to bkzir.g gold, and their foliage to a fiery orange-brown The delicate purple sprays of the birch, coated with ice, glittered like wands of topaz and amethyst, and the slopes of virgin snow, stretching towards the sun, shone with the fairest saffron gleams. There is nothing equal to this in the South — nothing so transcendently rich, dazzling, and lorious. Italian dawns and twilights cannot surpass those wc saw every day, not, like the former, fading rapidly into the ashen hues of dusk, but lingering for hour after hour with scarce a decrease of splendour. Strange that Nature 54 NORTHERN TRAVEL. should repeat these lovely aerial effects in suih widely dif- ferent zones and seasons. I thought to find in the winter landscapes of the far North a sublimity of death and desola- tion — a wild, dark, dreary, monotony of expression — but I had, in reality, the constant enjoyment of the rarest, the ten derest, the most enchanting beauty. The people one meets along the road harmonise with these unexpected impressions. They are clear eyed and rosy as the morning, straight and strong as the fir saplings in their forests, and simple, honest, and unsophisticated beyond any class of men I hare ever seen. They are no milksops either. Under the serenity of those blue eyes and smooth, fair faces, burns the old Berserker rage, not easily kindled, but terri- ble as the lightning when once loosed. " I would like to take all the young men north of Sundsvall," says Braisted, " put them into Kansas, tell them her history, and then let them act for themselves." " The cold in clime are cold in blood," sings Byron, but they are only cold through superior self-control and freedom from perverted passions. Better is the assertion of Tennyson : " That bright, and fierce, and fickle is the South, And dark, and truo, and tender is the North." There are tender hearts in the breasts of these northern men and women, albeit they are as undemonstrative as the En glifsh — or we Americans, for that matter. It is exhilarating to see such people — whose digestion is sound, whose nervca are tough as whipcord, whose blood runs in a strong full stream, whose impulses are perfectly natural, who are o-ood PROGRESS NORTHWARDS. — A STORM. 58 without knowing it, and who are happy without trying to be so. Where shall we find such among our restless com* munities at home ? We made two Swedish miles by noon, and then took a breakfast of fried reindeer meat and pancakes, of which we ate enormously, to keep up a good supply of fuel. Braisted and 1 consumed about a pound of butter between us. Shriek not, young ladies, at our vulgar appetites — you who sip a spoonful of ice-cream, or trifle with a diminutive meringue, in company, but make amends on cold ham and pickles in the pantry, after you go home — I shall tell the truth, though it disgust you. This intense cold begets a necessity for fat, and with the necessity comes the taste — a wise provision of Nature! The consciousness now dawned upon me that I might be able to relish train-oil and tallow-candles before we had done with Lapland. I had tough work at each station to get my head out of iny wrappings, which were united with my beard and hair in one solid lump. The cold increased instead of diminish- ing, and by the time we reached Gumboda, at dusk, it waa 40° below zero. Here we found a company of Finns travel- ling southward, who had engaged five horses, obliging us to wait a couple of hours. We had already made forty miles, and were satisfied with our performance, so we stopped for the night. When the thermometer was brought in, the mercury was frozen, and on unmuffling I found the end of my nose seared as if with a hot iron. The inn was capital; we had a warm carpeted room, beds of clean, lavendered Jinen, and all civilised appliances. In the evening we sat dcwn to a Christmas dinner of sausages, potatoes, rancakes 6fi NORTHERN TRAVE/,. raspberry jam, and a bottle of Barclay and Perkin's best porter, in which we drank the health of all dear relatives and friends in the two hemispheres. And this was in West Bothnia, where we had been told in Stockholm that we should starve ! At bedtime, Braisted took out the ther« mometer again, and soon brought it in with the mercury frozen below all the numbers on the scale. In the morning, the landlord came in and questioned us, in order to satisfy his curiosity. He took us for Norwe- gians, and was quite surprised to find out our real character. We had also been taken for Finns, Russians and Danes, since leaving Stockholm. " I suppose you intend to buy lumber ?" said the landlord. " No," said I, '' we travel merely for the pleasure of it." " Ja so-o-o !" he exclaimed, in a tone of the greatest surprise and incredulity. He asked if it was necessary that we should travel in such cold weather, and seemed reluctant to let us go. The mercury showed 25° below zero when we started, but the sky was cloudy, with a raw wind from the north-west. We did not feel the same hard, griping cold as the day previous, but a more penetrating chill. The same character of scenery continued, but with a more bleak and barren aspect, and the population became more scanty. The cloudy sky took xway what little green there was in the fir-trees, and they gloomed as black as Styx on either side of our road. The lir was terribly raw and biting as it blew across the hollows and open plains. I did not cover my face, but kept up such h lively friction on my nose, to prevent it from freezing, that in the evening I found the skin quite worn away. At DaglOsten, the third station, we stopped an hour foi PROGRESS NORTHWARDS. — A STORM. 5? breakfast. It was a poverty-stricken place, and we could only get some fish-roes and salt meat. The people were all half-idiots, even to the postilion who drove us. We had some daylight for the fourth station, did the fifth by twilight,, and the sixth in darkness. The cold ( — 30°) was so keen that our postilions made good time, and we reached Sunnana, on the Skeleftea River, 52 miles, soon after six o'clock. Here we were lodged in a large, barn-like room, so cold that we were obliged to put on our overcoats and sit against the stove. I began to be troubled with a pain in my jaw, from an unsound tooth — the commencement of a martyrdom from which I suffered for many days afterwards. The existence of nerves in one's teeth has always seemed to me a super- fluous provision of Nature, and 1 should have been well satisfied if she had omitted them in my case. The handmaiden called us soon after five o'clock, and brought us coffee while we were still in bed. This is the general custom here in the North, and is another point of contact with the South. The sky was overcast, with raw violent wind — mercury 18° below zero. We felt the cold very keenly ; much more so than on Christmas day. The wind blew full in our teeth, and penetrated even beneath our furs. On setting out, we crossed the Skeleftea River by a wooden bridge, beyond which we saw, rising duskily in the uncertain twilight, a beautiful dome and lantern, crown- ing a white temple, built in the form of a Greek cross. It was the parish church of Skeleftea. Who could have ex- pected to find such an edifice, here, on the borders of Lap- land? The village about it contains many large and hand- some houses. This is one of the principal points of trad? and intercourse between the coast and the interior. 58 NORTHERN TRAVEL. The weather became worse as we advanced, traversing the low, broad hills, through wastes of dark pine forests. The wind cut like a sharp sword in passing the hollows, and the drifting snow began to fill the tracks. We were full two hours in making the ten miles to Frostkage, and the day seemed scarcely nearer at hand. The leaden, lowering sky gave out no light, the forests were" black and cold, the snow a dusky grey — such horribly dismal scenery I have rarely beheld. We warmed ourselves as well as we could, and started anew, having for postilions two rosy boys, who sang the whole way and played all sorts of mad antics with each other to keep from freezing. At the next station we drank large quantities of hot milk, flavored with butter, sugar and cinnamon, and then pushed on, with another chubby hop-o'- my-thumb as guide and driver. The storm grew worse and worse : the wind blew fiercely over the low hills, loaded with particles of snow, as fine as the point of a needle and as hard as crystal, which struck full on our eyeballs and stung them so that we could scarcely see. I had great difficulty in keep- ing my face from freezing, and my companion found his cheek touched. By the time we reached Abyn, it blew a hurricane, and we were compelled to stop. It was already dusk, and our cosy little room was doubly pleasant by contrast with the wild weather outside. Our cheerful landlady, with her fresh complexion and splendid teeth, was very kind and at- tentive, and I got on very well in conversation, notwith- standing her broad dialect. She was much astonished at my asking for a bucket of cold water, for bathing. " Why," said she, " 1 always thought that if a person put his feet PHOGRESS NORTHWARDS. — A STORM. 59 into cold water, in winter, he would die immediately." However, she supplied it, and was a little surprised to find me none the worse in the morning. 1 passed a terrible night from the pain in my face, and was little comforted, on rising, by the assurance that much snow had fallen. The mercury had risen to zero, and the wind still blew, although not so furiously as on the previous day. We therefore determined to set out, and try to reach Pi-tea. The landlady's son, a tall young Viking, with yellow locks hanging on his shoulders, acted as postilion, and took the lead. We started at nine, and found it heavy enough at first. It was barely light enough to see our way, and we floundered slowly along through deep drifts for a mile, when w? met the snow-plows, after which our road became easier. These plows are wooden frames, shaped somewhat like the bow of a ship — in fact, I have seen very fair clipper models among them — about fifteen feet long by ten feet wide at the base, and so light that, if the snow is not too deep, one horse can manage them. The farmers along the road are obliged to turn out at six c 'clock in the morning whenever the snow falls or drifts, and open a passage for travellers. Thus, in spite of the rigorous winter, commu- nication is never interrupted, and the snow-road, at last, from frequent plowing, becomes the finest sleighing track in the world. The wind blew so violently, however, that the furrows were soon filled up, and even the track of the baggage-sled, fifty yards in advance, was covered. There was one hollow where the drifts of loose snow were five or six feet deep, and linre we were obliged to get o-ut and struggle across, sinking 60 NORTHERN TRAVEL. to our loins at every step. It is astonishing how soon one becomes hardened to the cold. Although the mercury stood at zero, with a violent storm, we rode with our faces fully exposed, frost-bites and all, and even drove with bare hands, without the least discomfort. But of the scenery we saw this day, I can give no description. There was nothing but long drifts and waves of spotless snow, some dim, dark, spectral fir-trees on either hand, and beyond that a wild chaos of storm. The snow came fast and blinding, beating full in our teeth. It was impossible to see ; the fine parti- cles so stung our eyeballs, that we could not look ahead. My eyelashes were loaded with snow, which immediately turned to ice and froze the lids together, unless 1 kept them in constant motion. The storm hummed and buzzed through the black forests ; we were all alone on the road, for even the pious Swedes would not turn out to church on such a day. It was terribly sublime and desolate, and I enjoyed it amazingly. We kept warm, although there was a crust of ice a quarter of an inch thick on our cheeks, and the ice in our beards prevented us from opening our mouths. At one o'clock, we reached the second station, Gefre, unrecognisable by our nearest friends. Our eyelashes were weighed down with heavy fringes of frozen snow, there were icicles an inch long hanging to the eaves of our moustaches, and the hand- kerchiefs which wrapped our faces were frozen fast to the flesh. The skin was rather improved by this treatment, but it took us a great while to thaw out. A.t Gefre, we got some salt meat and hot milk, and then started on our long stage of fifteen miles to Pitea. The wind had moderated somewhat, but the snow still fell fast I'fiOURKSS NORTHWAKDS. — \ SI'IKM. «)1 and thick. We were again blinded and frozen up more firmly than ever, cheeks and all, so that our eyes and lips were the only features to be seen. After plunging along 'or more than two hours through dreary woods, we came jpon the estuary of the Pitea River, where our course waa marked out by young fir-trees, planted in the ice. The world became a blank ;' there was snow around, above and below, and but for these marks a man might have driven at random until he froze. For three miles or more, we rode over the solid gulf, and then took the woods on the opposite shore. The way seemed almost endless. Our feet grew painfully cold, our eyes smarted from the beating of the fine snow, and my swollen jaw tortured me incessantly. Finally lights appeared ahead through the darkness, but another half hour elapsed before we saw houses on both sides of us. There was a. street, at hist, then a large mansion, and to our great joy the skjutsbonde turned into the court-yard of an inn. 4 OSJ NORTHERN TRAVEL CHAPTER VI. JOURNEY FROM P1TEA TO HAPARANDA. My jaw was so painful on reaching Pitea, that I tossed about in torment the whole night, utterly unahle to sleep. The lonjr northern niarht seerted as if it would never come to an end, and I arose in the morning much more fatigued and exhausted than when I lay down. It was G° below zero, and the storm still blowing, but the cold seemed to relieve my face a little, and so we set out. The roads were heavy, but a little broken, and still led over hills and through interminable forests of mingled fir and pine, in the dark, imperfect day. I took but little note of tha scenery, but was so drowsy and overcome, that Braisted at last filled the long baggage-sled with hay, and sat at the rear, so that I could lie stretched out, with my head upon his lap. Here, in spite of the cold and wind, I lay in a warm, stupid half-sleep. It was dark when we reached Ersnfis, whence we had twelve miles to Old Lulea, with tired horses, heavy roads, and a lazy driver. I lay down again, dosed as nsual, and tried to forget my torments. So passed three hours; the night had long set in, with a clear sky, 13° below zero, and JOURNEY FROM PITuA TO HAPAKANDA. 63 a sharp wind blowing. All at once an exclamation from Braisted aroused me. I opened my eyes, as I lay in his lap, looked upward, and saw a narrow belt or searf of silver fire stretching directly across the zenith, with its loose, frayed 3iids slowly swaying to and fro down the slopes of the sky Presently it began to waver, bending back and forth, Bometimes slowly, sometimes with a quick, springing motion, as if testing its elasticity. Now it took the shape of a bow now undulated into Hogarth's line of beauty, brightening and fading in its sinuous motion, and finally formed a shepherd's crook, the end of which suddenly bes;an to separate and fall off, as if driven by a strong wind, until the whole belt shot away in long, drifting lines of fiery snow. It then gathered again into a dozen dancing frag- ments, which alternately advanced and retreated, shot hither and thither, against and across each other, blazed out in yellow and rosy gleams or paled again, playing a thous and fantastic pranks, as if guided by some wild whim. We lay silent, with upturned faces, watching this won- derful spectacle. Suddenly, the scattered lights ran together, as by a common impulse, joined their bright ends, twisted them through each other, and fell in a broad, luminous curtain straight downward through the air until its fringed hem swung apparently but a few yards over our heads. This phenomenon was so unexpected and startling, that for a moment I thought our faces would be touched by tha skirts of the glorious auroral drapery. It did not follow the spheric curve of the firmament, but hung plumb from the zenith, falling, apparently, millions of leagues through the air, its folds gathered together among the stars and its 6-1 NORTHERN TRAV1L. embroidery of flame sweeping the earth and shedding a pale. unearthly radiance over the wastes of sncw. A moment afterwards and it was again drawn up, parted, waved its flambeaux and shot its lances hither and thither, advancing and retreating as before. Anything so strange, so capricious, so wonderful, so gloriously beautiful, I scarcely hope to see again. By this time we came upon the broad Lulea River, and were half an hour traversing its frozen surface, still watch- ing the snow above us, which gradually became fainter and less active. Finally we reached the opposite shore, drove up a long slope, through a large village of stables, and past the imposing church of Old Lulea to the inn. It was now nearly eight o'clock, very cold, and I was thoroughly exhausted. But the inn was already full of travellers, and there was no place to lay our heads. The landlord, a sublimely indifferent Swede, coolly advised us to go on to Perso, ten miles distant. I told him I had not slept for two nights, but he merely shrugged his shoulders, repeated'his advice, and offered to furnish horses at once, to get us off. It was a long, cold, dreary ride, and I was in a state of semi-consciousness the whole time. We reached Perso about eleven, found the house full of travellers, but procured two small beds in a small room with another man in it, and went to sleep without supper. 1 was so thoroughly woru out that I got about three hours' rest, in spite of my pain. We took coffee in bed at seven, and started for Ranbyn, on the Ranea River. The day was lowering, temperature 8£° below zero. The country was low, slightly undulating with occasional wide views to the north, over the inlets ol the gulf, and vast wide tracts of forest. The settlements JOURNEY FROM PITEA TO HAPARANDA. 65 ffere still as frequent as ever, but there was little apparent cultivation, except flax. Ranbyn is a large village, with a stately church. The people were putting up booths for a fair (a fair in the open air, in lat. 65° N., with the mercury freezing !), which explained the increased travel on the road. We kept on to Hvita for breakfast, thus getting north of the latitude of Tornea ; thence our road turned eastward at right angles around the head of the Bothnian Gulf. Much snow had fallen, but the road had been ploughed, and we had a tolerable track, except when passing sleds, which sometimes gave us an overturn. We now had uninterrupted forest scenery between the stations — and such scenery ! It is almost impossible to paint the glory of those winter forests. Every tree, laden with the purest snow, resembles a Gothic fountain of bronze, covered with frozen spray, through which only suggestive glimpses of its delicate tracery can be obtained. From every rise we looked over thousands of such mimic fountains, shooting, low or high, from their pavements of ivory and alabaster. It was an enchanted wilderness — white, silent, gleaming, and rilled with inexhaustible forms of beauty. To what shall I liken those glimpses under the boughs, into the depths of the forest, where the snow destroyed all perspective, and brought the remotest fairy nooks and coverts, too lovely and fragile to seem cold, into the glitter- ing foreground? "Wonderful!" "glorious!" I could only exclaim, in breathless admiration. Once, by the roadside, we saw an Arctic ptarmigan, as white ab the snow, with ruby eyes that sparkled like jewels as he moved slowly and silently along, not frightened in the least. 66 NORTHERN TRAVEL. The sun set a little after one o'clock and we pushed on to reach the Kalix River the same evening. At the last station we got a boy postilion and two lazy horses, and were three hours and a half on the road, with a temperature oi 20° below zero. My feet became like ice, which increased the pain in my face, and I began to feel faint and sick with bo much suffering and loss of rest. The boy aggravated us so much by his laziness, that Braisted ran ahead and cuffed his ears, after which he made better speed. After a drive through interminable woods, we came upon the banks of the Kalix, which were steep and fringed with splendid firs. Then came the village of Mansbyn, where, thank Heaven, we got something to eat, a warm room, and a bed. While we were at supper, two travellers arrived, one of whom, a well-made, richly-dressed young fellow, was ushered into our room. He was a bruk-patron (iron-master), so the servant informed us, and from his superfine broad cloth, rings, and the immense anchor-chain which attached him to his watch, appeared ho be doing a thriving business. He had the Norse bloom on his face, a dignified nose, and English whiskers flanking his smoothly-shaven chin. His air was flushed and happy ; he was not exactly drunk, but comfortably within that gay and cheerful vestibule beyond which lies the chamber of horrors. He listened to our con- versation for some time, and finally addressed me in imper- fect English. This led to mutual communications, and a ileclaration.of our character, and object in travel — nothing of which would he believe. " Nobody can possibly come here for pleasure," said he; "I know better; you have a secret political mission." Our amusement at this only JOURNEY I'ttOM PITEA TO HAPARAND-1. fi" Strengthojed him in his suspicions. Nevertheless he called for a bottle of port wine, which, when it came, turned out to be bad Malaga, and insisted on drinking a welcome, " You are in latitude 66° north," said he; "on the Kalix, where no American has ever been before, and I shall call my friend to give a skal to your country. We have been tc the church, where my friend is stationed." With that he went out, and soon returned with a short, stout, broad-faced, large-headed man of forty or thereabouts His manner was perfectly well-bred and self-possessed, and I took him to be a clergyman, especially as the iron-master addressed him as "Brother Hortcn." "Now," said he, " welcome to 66° north, and prosperity to free America ! Are you for Buchanan or Fremont ?" Brother Horton kept a watchful eye upon his young friend, but cheerfully joined in the sentiment. I gave in return: " iSkal to Sweden and the Swedish people," and hoped to get rid of our jolly acquaintance; but he was not to be shaken off. " You don't know me," he said ; " and I don't know you — but you are something more than you seem to be ; you are a political character." Just then Braisted came in with the thermometer, and announced 24° of cold (Reaumur). "Thousand devils!" exclaimed Brother Horton (and now I was convinced that he was not a clergyman), " what a ther- mometer ! How cold it makes the weather ! Would you part with it if I were to give you money in return ?" I declined, stating that it was impossible for us to procure 30 cold a thermometer in the north, and we wanted to have aa low a temperature as could be obtained. This seemed to puzzle the iron-master, who studied awhile 6S NORTHERN TRAVEL. upon it, and then returned to the subject of my political mission. "I suppose you speak French," said he; "it ig necessary in diplomacy. I can speak it also" — which he began to do, in a bungling way. 1 answered in the same language, but he soon gave up the attempt and tried German. I changed also, and, finding that he had ex- hausted his philology, of which he was rather proud, espe- cially as Brother Horton knew nothing but Swedish, deter- mined to have a little fun. " Of course you know Italian," said I; "it is more musical than German," and forthwith addressed him in that language. He reluctantly confessed his ignorance. " Oh, well," I continued, " Spanish is equally agreeable to me;" and took up that tongue before he could reply. His face grew more and more blank and bewildered. " The Oriental languages are doubtless familiar to you ;'' I persisted, " I have had no practice in Arabic for some time," and overwhelmed him with Egyptian salutations. I then tried him with Hindustanee, which exhausted my stock, but concluded by giving him the choice of Malay, Tartar, or Thibetan. " Come, come,' said Brother Horton, taking his arm as he stood staring and perplexed — " the horses are ready.'' With some difficulty he was persuaded to leave, after shaking hands with us, and exclaiming, many times, " You are a very seldom man !" When we awoke, the temperature had risen to 2° above zero, with a tremendous snow-storm blowing. As we were preparing to set out, a covered sled drove in from the north, with two Swedish naval officers, whose vessel had been frozen in at Cronstadt, and who had been obliged to return home through Finland, up the eastern coast of the Bothnian Gulf. JOURNEV PROM PITEA TO HAPARANDA. 6{j The captain, who spoke excellent English, informed me that they were in about: the same latitude as we, on Christ- mas day, on tlie opposite side of the gulf, and had experienced the same degree of cold. rBoth of them had their nosei severely frozen. We were two hours and a half in travel- ling to the first station, seven miles, as the snow was falling in blinding quantities, and the road was not yet ploughed out. All the pedestrians we met were on runners, but even with their snow skates, five feet long, they sank deep enough to make their progress very slow and toilsome. By the time we reached Niisby my face was very much swollen and inflamed, and as it was impossible to make the next stage by daylight, we wisely determined to stop there. The wind blew a hurricane, the hard snow crystals lashed the windows and made a gray chaos of all out-of-doors, but we had a warm, cosy, carpeted room within, a capital din- ner in the afternoon, and a bottle of genuine London porter with our evening pipe. So we passed the last day of a. d. 1856, grateful to God for all the blessings which the year had brought us, and for the comfort and shelter we enjoyed, in that Polar wilderness of storm and snow. On New Year's morning it blew less, and the temperature was comparatively mild, so, although the road was very heavy, we started again. Nasby is the last Swedish station, the Finnish frontier, which is an abrupt separation' of racea and tongues, being at the north-western corner of the Both- nian Gulf. In spite of the constant intercourse which now exists between Norrland and the narrow strip of Finnish Boil which remains to Sweden, there has been no perceptible assimilation of the two races. At Nasby, all is pure Swe- 70 NORTHERN TRAVEL. dish; at Sangis, twelve miles distant, everything is Finnish The blue eyes and fair hair, the lengthened oval of the face, and slim, straight form disappear. You see, instead, square faces, dark eyes, low foreheads, and something cf an Orien- tal fire and warmth in the movements. The language is totally dissimilar, and even the costume, though of the same general fashion, presents many noticeable points of differ- ence. The women wear handkerchiefs of some bright color bound over the forehead and under the chin, very similar to those worn by the Armenian women in Asia Minor. On first coming among them, the Finns impressed me as a less frank and open hearted, but more original and picturesque, race than the Swedes. It is exceedingly curious and inter- esting to find such a flavour of the Orient on the borders of the Frigid Zone. The roads were very bad, and our drivers and horses provokingly slow, but we determined to push on to Hapa- randa the same night. 1 needed rest and medical aid, my jaw by this time being so swollen that I had great diriiculty in eating — a state of things which threatened to diminish my supply of fuel, and render me sensitive to the cold. We reached Nickala, the last station, at seven o'clock. Beyond this, the road was frightfully deep in places. We could scarcely make any headway, and were frequently overturned headlong into the drifts. The driver was a Finn, who did not understand a word of Swedish, and all our urging was of no avail. We went on and on, in the moonlight, over arms of the gulf, through forests, and then over ice again— a flat, monotonous country, with the same dull features re- peated again and again. At half-past nine, a large white JOURNEY FItOM 1'ITEA TO HAPARANDA. 7J ehurch announced our approach to Haparanda, and soon afterwards we drove up to th# inn, which was full of New- Year carousers. The landlord gave us quarters in the same room with an old Norrlander, who was very drunk, and annoyed us not a little until we got into bed and pre- tended to sleep. It was pretence nearly the whole night, on my part, for my torture was still kept up. The next morn- ing I called upon Dr. Wretholm, the physician of the place, — not without some misgivings, — but his prescription of a poultice of mallow leaves, a sudorific and an opiate, restored my confidence, and I cheerfully resigned myself to a rest of two or three days, before proceeding further northward. 72 NORTHERN TRAVEL CHAPTER VII. CROSSING THE ARCTIC CIRCLE. I was obliged to remain three days in Haparanda, applying { oultices, gargles, and liniments, according to the doctor's instructions. As my Swedish was scarcely sufficient for the comprehension of prescriptions, or medical technicalities in general, a written programme of my treatment was furnished to Fredrika, the servant maid, who was properly impressed with the responsibility thereby devolving upon her. Fred- rika, no doubt, thought that my life was in her hands, and nothing could exceed the energy with which she undertook its preservation. Punctually to the minute appeared the prescribed application, and, if she perceived or suspected any dereliction on my part, it was sure to be reported to the doctor at his next visit. I had the taste of camomile and mallows in my mouth from morning till night ; the skin of my jaw blistered under the scorching of ammonia ; but the final result was, that 1 was cured, as the doctor and Fredrika had determined. This good-hearted girl was a genuine specimen of the Northern Swedish female. Of medium height, plump, bul CROSSING THE ARCTIC CIRCLE. jft} not stout, with a rather slender waist and expansive hips, and a foot which stepped firmly and nimbly at the same time, she was as cheerful a body as one could wish to see. Her hair was of that silky blonde so common in Sweden; her eyes a clear, pale blue, her nose straight and well formed, her cheeks of the delicate pink of a wild-rose leaf, and her teeth so white, regular and perfect that I am sure they would make her fortune in America. Always cheerful, kind and active, she had, nevertheless, a hard life of it: she was alike cook, chambermaid, and hostler, and had a cross mistress to boot. She made our fires in the morning dark- ness, and brought us our early coffee while we yet lay in bed, in accordance with the luxurious habits of the Arctic zone. Then, until the last drunken guest was silent, towards mid- night, there was no respite from labour. Although suffering from a distressing cc ugh, she had the out-door as well as the in-door duties to discharge, and we saw her in a sheepskin jacket harnessing horses, in a temperature 30° below zero. The reward of such a service was possibly about eight American dollars a year. When, on leaving, I gave her about as much as one of our hotel servants would expect for answering a question, the poor girl was overwhelmed with gratitude, and even the stern landlady was so impressed by my generosity that she insisted on lending us a sheepskin for our feet, saying we were " good men." There is something exceedingly primitive and unsophisti- cated in the manners of these Northern people — a straight- forward honesty, which takes the honesty of others for granted — a latent kindness and good-will which may at first be overlooked, because it is not demonstrative, and a total 74 NOHTHKRK TRAVEL. unconsciousness of what is called, in highly civilized circles, " propriety." The very freedom of manners which, in some countries, might denote laxity of morals, is here the evident stamp of their purity. The thought has often recurred to me — which is the most truly pure and virginal nature, the fistidious American girl, who blushes at the sight of a pair of boots outside a gentleman's bedroom door, and who requires that certain unoffending parts of the body and articles of clothing should be designated by delicately cir- cumlocutious terms, or the simple-minded Swedish women, who come into our bedrooms with coffee, and make our fireE while we get up and dress, coming and going during all the various stages of the toilet, with the frankest Unconscious- ness of impropriety ? This is modesty in its healthy and natural development, not in those morbid forms which suggest an imagination ever on the alert for prurient images. Nothing has confirmed my impression of the virtue of the Northern Swedes more than this fact, and I have rarely felt more respect for woman or more faith in the inherent purity of her nature. We had snug quarters in Haparanda, and ouv detention was therefore by no means irksome. A large room, carpeted, protected from the outer cold by double windows, and heated by an immense Russian stove, was allotted to us. We had two beds, one of which became a broad sofa during the day, a backgammon table, the ordinary appliances for washing, and. besides a number of engravings on the walls, our win- ilow commanded a full view of Tornea, and the ice-track ncross the river, where hundreds of persons daily passed to and fro. The eastern window showed us the Arctic dawn, CROSSING THE ARCTIC CIRCLE. ffj growing and brightening through its wonderful gradations of color, for four hours, when the pale orange sun appeared above the distant houses, to slide along their roofs for two hours, and then dip again. We had plentiful meals, con- sisting mostly of reindeer meat, with a sauce of Swedish cranberries, potatoes, which had been frozen, but were still palatable, salmon roes, soft bread in addition to the black shingles of Jladbrod, English porter, and excellent Uinea beer. In fact, in no country inn of the United States could we have been more comfortable. For the best which the place afforded, during four days, with a small provision for the journey, we paid about seven dollars. The day before our departure, I endeavored to obtain some information concerning the road to Lapland, but was disappointed. The landlord ascertained that there were skjuts, or relays of post-horses, as far as Muonioniski, 210 English miles, but beyond this I could only learn that the people were all Finnish, spoke no Swedish, were mi/drably poor, and could give us nothing to eat. ] was toW that a certain official personage at the apothecary's sho^ spoke German, and hastened thither ; but the official, a da/k-eyed, olive-faced Finn, could not understand my first 'juestion. The people even seemed entirely ignorant of the g :ography »f the country beyond Upper Tornea, or Matareigi, forty miles oif. The doctor's wife, a buxom, motherly Udy, who seemed to feel quite an interest in our undertaking and was as kind and obliging as such women always are, procured for us a supply of fladbr&d made of rye, and delightfully crisp and hard — and this was the substance of our prepara* tions. Reindeer mittens were not to be found, nor a rein- 76 NORTHERS TRAVEL. deer skin to cover our feet, so we relied, as before, on plenty of hay and my Scotch plaid. We might, perhaps, have had better success in Tornea, but I knew no one there who would be likely to assist us, and we did not even visit the old place. We had taken the precaution of getting the Russian vise, together with a small stock of roubles, at Stockholm, but found that it was quite unnecessary. No passport is required for entering Tornea, or travelling on the Russian side of the frontier. Trusting to luck, which is about the best plan after all, we started from Haparanda at noon, on the 5th of January. The day was magnificent, the sky cloudless, and resplendent as polished steel, and the mercury 31° below zero. The sun, scarcely more than the breadth of his disc above the horizon, shed a faint orange light over the broad, level snow-plains, and the bluish- white hemisphere of the Both- nian Gulf, visible beyond Tornea. The air was perfectly still, and exquisitely cold and bracing, despite the sharp grip it took upon my nose and ears. These Arctic days, short as they are, have a majesty of their own — a splendor, subdued though it be; a breadth and permanence of hue, imparted alike to the sky and to the snowy earth, as if tinted glass was held before your eyes. I find myself at a loss how to describe these effects, or the impression they produce upon the traveller'^ mood. Certainly, it is the very reverse of that depression which accompanies the Polar night, and which even the absence of any real daylight might be considered sufficient to produce. Our road was well beaten, but narrow, and we had great difficulty in passing the many hay and wood teams which CROSSING THE ARCTIC CIRCLE. ~? met us, on account of the depth of the loose snow on either side. We had several violent overturns at such times, one of which occasioned us the loss of our beloved pipe — a loss which rendered Braisted disconsolate for the rest of the day. We had hut one between us, and the bereavement was not slight. Soon after leaving Haparanda, we passed a Binall white obelisk, with the words " Russian Frontier'' upon it. The town of Tornea, across the frozen river, looked really imposing, with the sharp roof and tall spire of its eld church rising above the line of low red buildings. Qampbell, I remember, says, " Cold as the rooks on Torneo's hoary brow," with the same disregard of geography which makes him grow palm trees along the Susquehanna River. There was Tornea ; but 1 looked in vain for the " hoary brow." Not a bill within sight, nor a rock within a circuit of ten mile's,: but one unvarying level, like the western shore of the Adriatic, formed by ^e deposits of the rivers and the retrocession of the sea. Our road led up the left bank of the river, both sides of which were studded with neat little villages. The country was well cleared and cultivated, and appeared so populous and flourishing that I could scarcely realise in what part of the world we were* The sun set at a quarter past one, but for two hours the whole southern heaven was superb in its hues of rose and orange. The- sheep-skin lent us by our landlady kept our feet warm, and we only felt the cold in our faces ; my nose, especially, which, having lost a coat of we fell in with a herd of rein-deer,, attended by half-a-dozen Lapps ADVENTURES AMONG THE FINNS. 85 They came tramping along through the snow, about fifty in number, including a dpzen which ran loose. The others were harnessed to pulks, the canoe-shaped rein-deer sledges, many of which were filled with stores and baggage. The Lapps were rather good-looking young fellows, with a bright, coppery, orange complexion, and were by no means so ill-favoured, short, and stunted as I had imagined. One of them was, indeed, really handsome, with his laughing eyes, sparkling teeth, and a slender, black moustache. We were obliged to wait a quarter-of-an-hour while the herd passed, and then took to the river again. The effect of sunset on the snow was marvellous — the spotless mounds and drifts, far and near, b^ing stained with soft rose colour, until they resembled nothing so much as heaps of straw- berry ice. At Kardis the people sent for an interpreter, who was a young man, entirely blind. He helped us to get our horses, although we were detained an hour, as only one horse is kept in readiness at these stations, and the neigh-. bourhood must be scoured to procure another. I employed the time in learning a few Finnish words— the whole tra- velling-stock, in fact, on which I made the journey to Muonioniska. That the reader may see how few words of a strange language will enable him to travel, as well as to give a sample of Finnish, 1 herewith copy my whole voca* bulary : one fix eight kahoxa two cax nine ohexa threo kolma ten kiumene four r.elia a half puoli hevgrste live viis horses six oos immediately varsin K«ven settiraa ready walmu 6 NOHTHEItJJ TRAVEL. drive on ! ay& perli ! butter voy how much 1 guinga paha 1 fire valkar a mile peligorma leba a bed siingu (Swedish) bread good bad huva meat liha pah£ milk maito We kept on our way up the river, in the brilliant after* noon moonlight. The horses were slow ; so were the two skjutsbonder. to whom I cried in vain : " Ayo perli !'" Braisted with difficulty restrained his inclination to cufl their ears. Hour after hour went by, and we grew more and more hungry, wrathful and impatient. About eight o'clock they stopped below a house on the Russian side, pitched some hay to the horses, climbed the bank, and sum- moned us to follow. We made our way with some difficulty through the snow, and entered the hut, which proved to be the abode of a cooper — at least the occupant, a rough, shaggy, dirty Orson of a fellow, was seated upon the floor, making a tub, by the light of the fire. The joists overhead were piled with seasoned wood, and long bundles of thin, dry fir, which is used for torches during the winter darkness. There was neither chair nor table in the hut ; but a low bench ran around the walls, and a rough bedstead was built against one corner. Two buckets of sour milk, with a wooden ladle, stood beside the door. This beverage appears to be generally used by the Finns for quenching thirst, instead of water. Our postilions were sitting silently upon the bench, and we followed their example, lit our pipes, and puffed away, while the cooper, after the first glance, went on with his work ; and the other members of his family, clustered together in the dusky corner behind the fire-place, were ADVENTURES AMONG THE FINNS. 87 equally silent. Half an hour passed, and the spirit moved no one to open his mouth. I judged at last that the horses had been baited sufficiently, silently showed my watch to the postilions, who, with ourselves, got up and went away without a word having been said to mar the quaint drollery of the incident. While at Haparanda, we had been recommended to stop at Kingis Bruk, at the junction of the Tcrnea, and Muonio. "There,'' we were told, "you can get everything you want: „nere is a fine house, good beds?, and plenty to eat and drink." Our blind interpreter at Kardis repeated this advice. " Don't go on to Kexisvara ;" (the next station) said he, "stop at Kengis, where everything is good." Toward Kengis, then, this oasis in the arctic desolation, our souls yearned. We drove on until ten o'clock in the brilliant moonlight and mild, delicious air — for the temperature had actually risen to 25° above zero ! — before a break in the hills announced the junction of the two rivers. There was a large house on the top of a hill on our left, and. to our great joy, the postilions drove directly up to it. " Is this Kengis ?" I askfd, but their answers I could not understand, and they had already unharnessed their horses. There was a light in the house, and we caught a glimpse of a woman's face at the window, as we drove up But the light was immediately extinguished, and everything became silent. I knocked at the door, which was partly open, but no one came. I then pushed : a heavy log of wood, which fras leaning against it from the inside, fell with a nois6 which reverberated through the house. I waited awhile, and then, groping my way along a passage to the door of 88 NORTHERN TR, VT5L. the room which had been lighted, knocked loudly. After a little delay, the door was opened by a young man, who ushered me into a warm, comfortable room, and then quietly Btared at me, as if to ask what I wanted. " We are travel- ers and strangers," said I, " and wish to stop for the night." ' This is not an inn," he answered ; " it is the residence of the patron of the iron works.'' I may here remark that it is the general custom in Sweden, in remote districts, for travellers to call without ceremony upon the parson, magis- trate, or any other prominent man in a village, and claim his hospitality. In spite of this doubtful reception, con sidering that our horses were already stabled and the station three or four miles further, I remarked again : " But perhaps we may be allowed to remain here until morning?" " I will ask," he replied, left the room, and soon returned witli an affirmative answer. We had a -large, handsomely furnished room, with a sofa and curtained bed, into which we tumbled as soon as the servant-girl, in compliance with a hint of mine, had brought up ?ome bread, milk, and cheese. We had a cup of coffee in the morning, and were preparing to leave when the patron appeared. He was a short, stout, intelligent Swede, who greeted us courteously, and after a little conversation, urged us to stay until after breakfast. We were too hungry to need much persuasion, and indeed the table set with tj&de, or capercailie (one of the finest game birds in. the world), potatoes, cranberries, and whipped cream, accom- panied with excellent Umea, ale, and concluded wi th coffee, surpassed anything we had sat down to for many a day. The patron gave me considerable information about ttw ADVENTURES AMONG THfc FINNS. 8(l country, and quieted a little anxiety I was beginning to feel, by assuring me that we should find post-horses all the way to Muonioniska, still ninety-five miles distant. He in- formed me that we had already got beyond the daylight, as the sun had not yet risen at Kengis. This, however, was n consequence of a hill to the southward, as we afterwards found that the sun was again above the horizon. We laid in fuel enough to tast us through the day, and then took leave of our host, who invited us to visit hirn on our return. Crossing the Tornea, an hour's drive over the hills brought us to the village of Kexisvara, where we were obliged to wait some time for our horses. At the inn there was a well forty feet deep, with the longest sweep-pole I ever saw. The landlady and her two sisters were pleasant bodies, and sociably inclined, if we could have talked to them. They were all spinning tow, their wheels purring like pleased lionesses. The sun's disc came in sight at a quarter past eleven, and at noon his lower limb just touched the horizon. The sky was of a splendid saffron hue, which changed into a burning brassy yellow. Our horses promised little for speed when we set out, and their harness being ill adapted to our sleds increased the difficulty. Instead of hames there were wide wooden yokes, the ends of which passed through mortices in the ends of the shafts, and were fastened with pins, while, as there was no belly-bands, the yokes rose on going down hill, bringing our sleds upon the horses' heels. The Finnish sleds have excessively long shafts, in order to prevent this. Our road all day was upon the Muonio River, the main rranch of the Tornea, and the boundary between Sweden and Russia, 90 NORTHERN' TRAVEL. above the junction. There had been a violent winl during the night, and the track was completely filled up. The Tornea and Muonio are both very swift rivers, abounding in dangerous rapids, but during the winter, rapids and all, they are solid as granite from their sources to the Bothnian Gulf. We plunged along slowly, hour after hour, more than half the time clinging to one side or the other, to pre- vent our sled from overturning — and yet it upset at least a dozen times during the day. The scenery was without change : low, black fir forests on either hand, with the decorative snow blown off them ; no villages, or signs of life, except the deserted huts of the wood-cutters, nor did we meet but one sled during the whole day. Here and there, on the banks, were sharp, canoe-like boats, twenty or thirty feet long, turned bottom upward. The sky was overcast, shutting out the glorious coloring of the past days. The sun set before one o'clock, and the dull twilight deepened apace into night. Nothing could be more cheerless and dis- mal : we smoked and talked a little, with much silence between, and I began to think that one more such day would disgust me with the Arctic Zone. It was four o'clock, and our horses were beginning to stagger, when we reached a little village called Jokijalka, on the Russian side. The postilion stopped at a house, or rather a quadrangle of huts, which he made me comprehend was an inn, adding that it was 4 polan and 3 behkor (a fearfully unintelligible distance!) to the next one. We entered, and found promise enough in the thin, sallow, sandy-haired, and most obsequious landlord, and a whole herd of rosy children, to decide us to stop. We were iDVENTURES AMONG THE FINNS. 91 ushered into the milk-room, which was warm and carpeted, and had a single narrow bed. I employed my vocabulary with good effect, the quick-witted children helping me out, and in due time we got a supper of fried mutton, bread, butter, and hot milk. The children came in every few minutes to stare at our writing, an operation which they probably never saw before. They would stand in silent surios'ity for half an hour at a time, then suddenly rush out, and enjoy a relief of shouts and laughter on the outside Since leaving Matarengi we had been regarded at all the stations with much wonder, not always unmixed with mis- trust. Whether this was simply a manifestation of the dislike which the Finns have for the Swedes, for whom they probably took us, or of other suspicions on their part, we could not decide. After a time one of the neighbors, who had been sent for on account of his knowing a very few words of Swedish, was ushered into the room. Through him I ordered horses, and ascertained that the next station, Kihlangi, was three and a half Swedish miles distant, but there was a place on the Russian side, one mile off, where we could change horses. We had finished writing, and were sitting by the stove, con- sulting how we should arrange the bed so as to avoid contact with the dirty coverlet,- when the man returned and told us we must go into another house. We crossed the yard to the opposite building, where, to our great surprise, we were ushered into a warm room, with two good beds, which had clean though coarse sheets, a table, looking-glass, and a bit of carpet on the floor. The whole male household congregated to see us take possession and ascertain whether 9^ NORTHERN TRAVEL. our n ants were supplied. I slept luxuriously until await- entd by the sound of our landlord bringing in wood to light the fire. He no sooner saw that my eyes were open than he snatched off his cap and threw it upon the floir, moving bout with as much awe and silence as if it were tha Emperor's bedroom. His daughter brought us excellent coffee betimes. We washed our faces with our tumblers of drinking water, and got under way by half- past six The temperature had changed again in the night, being 28° below zero, but the sky was clear and the morning moonlight superb. By this time we were so far north that the moon did not set at all, but wheeled around the sky, Binking to within eight degrees of the horizon at noonday. Our road led across the river, past the church of Kolare, and through a stretch of the Swedish forests back to the river again. To our great surprise, the wind had not blown here, the snow still hung heavy on the trees, and the road was well beaten. At the Russian post-house we found only a woman with the usual troop of children, the eldest of whom, a boy of sixteen, was splitting fir to make torches I called out " hevorste !" (horses), to which he made a deliberate answer, and went on with his work. After some consultation with the old woman, a younger boy was sent off somewhere, and we sat down to await the result. I called for meat, milk, bread, and butter, which procured us in course of time a pitcher of cold milk, some bread made of gr iund barley straw, horribly hnrd and tough, and a lump of sour frozen butter. There was some putrid fish in a wooden bowl, on which the family had breakfasted, while dx> immense pot of sour milk, bu'ter, broken bread, and straw ADVENTURES AMONG THE FINNS. 93 meal, hanging over the fire, contained their dinner. This was testimony enough to the accounts we had heard in Stockholm, of the year's famine in Finland ; and we seemed likely to participate in it. I chewed the straw bread vigorously for an hour, and succeeded in swallowing enough to fill my stomach, though not enough to satisfy my hunger. The younger children occupied themselves in peeling oil the soft inner bark of the fir, which they ate ravenously. They were handsome, fair- Bkinned youngsters, but not so rosy and beautiful as those of the Norrland Swedes. We were obliged to wait more than two hours before the horses arrived, thus losing a large part of our daylight. The postilions fastened our sleds behind their own large sledges, with flat runners, which got through the snow more easily than ours. We lay down in the sledge, stretched, ourselves at full length upon a bed of hay, covered our feet with the deerskin, and set off. We had gone about a Swedish mile when the postilions stopped to feed the horses before a house on the Russian side. There was nobody within, but 3ome coals among the ashes on the hearth showed that it had been used, apparently, as a place of rest and shelter. A tall, powerful Finn, who was travelling alone, was there, smoking his pipe. We all sat down and did likewise, in the bare, dark hut. There were the three Finns, in complete dresses of reindeer skin, and ourselves, swaddled from head to foot, with only a small segment of scarlet face visible between our frosted furs and icy beards. It was a true Arctic picture, as seen by the pale dawn which glimmered on the wastes of snow outside. We had a poor horse, which soon showed signs of breaking 94 NORTHERN TRAVEL. down, especially when we again entered a belt of country where the wind had blown, the trees were clear, and the track filled up. At half-past eleven we saw the light of the Bun on the tops of the hills, and at noo'n about half his disc was visible. The cold was intense ; my hands became so stiff and benumbed that I had great difficulty in preventing them from freezing, and my companion's feet almost lost all feel- ing. It was well for us that we were frequently obliged to walk, to aid the horse. The country was a wilderness of mournful and dismal scenery — low hills and woods, stripped bare of snow, the dark firs hung with black, crape-like moss, alternating with morasses. Our Finnish postilions were pleasant, cheerful fellows, who insisted on our riding when there was the least prospect of a road. Near a solitary hut (the only one on the road) we met a man driving a reindeer. After this we lost all signs of our way, except the almost obliterated track of his pulk. The snow was deeper than ever, and our horses were ready to drop at every step. We had been five hours on the road ; the driver said Kihlangi was " ux verst" distant, and at three, finally, we arrived. We appreciated rather better what we had endured when we found that the temperature was 44° below zero. I at once ordered horses, and a strapping young fellow was ejent off in a bad humor to get them. We found it impossi- ble, however, to procure milk or anything to eat, and as the cold was not to be borne else, we were obliged to resort to a bottle of cognac and our Haparanda bread. The old woman sat by the fire smoking, and gave not the least attention to our demands. I paid our postilions in Norwegian orts, which they laid upon a chair and counted, with the assist- ADVENTURES AMONG THE FINNS 9p ance of the whole family. After the reckoning was finished they asked me what the value of each piece was, which gave rise to a second general computation. There was, apparently, more than they had expected, for they both made me a formal address of thanks, and took my hand. Seeing that I had produced a good effect I repeated my demand for milk. The old woman refused, but the men interfered in my behalf; she went out and presently returned with a bowl full, which she heated for us. By this time our horses had arrived, and one of our new postilions prepared himself foi the journey, by stripping to the loins and putting on a clean shirt. He was splendidly built, with clean, firm muscle, a white glossy skin, and no superfluity of flesh. He then donned a reindeer oipbsk, leggings and boots, and we started again. It was nearly five o'clock, and superb moonlight. This time they mounted our sleds upon their own sledges, so that we rode much higher than usual. Our way lay up the Muonio River : the track was entirely snowed up, and we had to break a new one, guided by the fir-trees stuck in the ice. The snow was full three feet deep, and whenever the sledge got a little off the old road, the runners cut in so that we could scarcely move. The milk and cognac had warmed us tolerably, and we did not suffer much from the intense cold. My nose, however, had been rubbed raw, and I wag obliged to tie a handkerchief across my face to protect it. While journeying along in this way, the sledge suddenly tilted over, and we were flung head foremost into the snow. Our drivers righted the sledge, we shook ourselves and got in again, but had not gone ten yards before the same thing 96 NORTHERN TRAVEL. happened again. This was no joke on such a night, but art took it good-humouredly, to the relief of the Finns, who seemed to expect a scolding. Very soon we went over a third time, and tl.en a fourth, after which they kept near ufl and held on when there was any danger. I became very drowsy* and struggled with all my force to keep awake, for sleeping was too hazardous. Braisted kept his senses about him by singing, for our encouragement, the mariner's hymn : — " Pear not, but trust in Providence, Wherever tbou may'st be." Thus hour after hour passed away. Fortunately we had gocd, strong horses, which walked fast and steadily. The scenery was always the same— low, wooded hills on either side of the winding, snowy plain of the river. We had made up our minds not to reach Parkajoki before midnight, but at half-past ten our track left the river, mounted the Swedish bank, and very soon brought us to a quadrangle of low huts, having the appearance of an inn. I could scarcely believe my eyes when we stopped before the door. " Is this Parkajoki ?" T asked. ' " Ja /" answered the postilion. Braisted and 1 sprang out instantly, hugged each other in delight, and rushed into the warm inn. The thermometer still showed — 44°, and we prided ourselves a little on hav- ing travelled for seventeen hours in such a cold with so little food to keep up our animal heat. The landlord, a young man, with a bristly beard of three weeks' growth, showed us into the milk room, where there was a bed of reindeer skins. His wife brought us some fresh hay, a ADVENTUKES AMONG THE FINNS. «J7 quilt and a sheepskin coverlet, and we soon forgot both our hunger and our frozen blood. In the morning coffee was brought to us, and as nothing else was to be had, we drank four cups apiece. The land- lord asked half a rigs (13 cents) for our entertainment, and was overcome with gratitude when I save him double the sum. We had the same sledges as the previous night, but new postilions and. excellent horses. The temperature had risi'n to 5° below zero, with a cloudy sky and a light snow falling. We got off at eight o'clock, found a track partly broken, and went on at a merry trot up the river. We took sometimes one bank and sometimes the other, until, after passing the rapid of Eyanpaika (which was frozen solid, although large masses of transparent ice lay pil id like rocks on either side), we kept the Swedish bank. We were in excellent spirits, in the hope of reaching Muor.ioniska before dark, but the steady trot of our horses brought us out of the woods by noon, and we saw before us the long, scattering village, a mile or two distant, across the river To our left, on a gentle slope, stood a red, two-story build- ing, surrounded by out-houses, with a few humbler habita- tions in its vicinity. This was Muoniovara, on the Swedish side — the end of our Finnish journey. 98 NORTHERN TRAVEL. CHAPTER IX. LIFE IN LAPLAND. As we drove up to the red two-3tory house, a short man with dark whiskers and a commercial air came forward to meet us. I accosted him in* Swedish, asking him whether the house was an inn. He replied in the negative, adding that the only inn was in Muonioniska, on the Russian side, a mile or more distant. I then asked for the residence of Mr. Wolley, the English naturalist, whose name had been mentioned to me by Prof. Retzius and the botanist Hart- man. He thereupon called to some one across the court, and presently appeared a tall, slender man dressed in the universal gray suit which travelling Englishmen wear, from the Equator to the Poles. He came up with extended hand, on hearing his own language ; a few words sufficed for ex- planation, and he devoted himself to our interests with the cordiality of an old acquaintance. He lived with the Swede. Ilerr Forstrom, who was the merchant of the place; but the wife of the latter had just been confined, and there was no room in his house. Mr. Wolley proposed at first to send 10 the inn in Muonioniska, and engage a room, but after- wards arranged with a Norsk carpenter who lived on the LIFE IN LAPLAND. 9Q hill above, to give us quarters in his house, so that we might be near enough to take our meals together. Nothing could have suited us better. We took possession at once, and then descended the hill to a dinner — I had ventured to hint at our famished condition — of capercailie, cranberries, eof bread, whipped cream, and a glass of genuine port. Warmed and comforted by such luxurious fare, we climbed the hill to the carpenter's house, in the dreary Arctic twi- light, in the most cheerful and contented frame of mind. Was this, indeed, Lapland ? Did we, indeed, stand already in the dark heart of the polar Winter ? Yes ; there was no doubt of it. The imagination could scarcely conceive a more desolate picture than that" upon which we gazed — the plain of sombre snow, beyond which the black huts of the village were faintly discernible, the stunted woods and bleak hills, which night and the raw snow clouds had half obscured, and yonder fur-clad figure gliding silently along beside his reindeer. Yet, even here, where Man seemed to have set- tled out of pure spite against Nature, were comfort and hospitality and kindness. We entered the carpenter's house, lit our candles and pipes, and sat down to enjoy at ease the unusual feeling of shelter and of home. The building was of squared fir-logs, with black moss stuffed in the crevices, making it very warm and substantial. Our room contained a loom, two- cables, two beds with linen of voluptuous soft^ ness and cleanness, an iron stove (the first we bad seen in Sweden), and the usual washing apparatus, besides a piece 3f caroet on the floor- What more could any man desire ? The carpenter, Herr Knoblock, spoke some German ; his Bon, Ludwio-, Mr. Wolley's servant, also looked after oui I (JO NOHTIIKRN TIIAVKI. needs ; and the daughter, a fair, blooming girl of about nineteen, brought us coffee before we were out of bed, and kept our fire in order. Why, Lapland was a very Sybaris in comparison with what I had expected. Mr. Wolley proposed to us another luxury, in the shape of a vapour-bath, as Herr Forstrom had one of those bath- ins-houses which are universal in Finland. It was a little wooden building without windows. A Finnish servant-girl who had been for some time engaged in getting it in readi- ness, opened the door for us. The interior was very hot and moist, like an Oriental bathing-hall. In the centre was a pile of hot stones, covered with birch boughs, the leaves of which gave out an agreeable "smell, and a large tub of water. The floor was strewn with straw, and under the roof was a platform extending across one end of the building. This was covered with soft hay, and reached by means of a ladder, for the purpose of getting the full effect of the steam Some stools, and a bench for our clothes, completed the ar- rangements. There was also in one corner a pitcher of water, standing in a little heap of snow to keep it cool. The servant-girl came in after us, and Mr. W. quietly proceeded to undress, informing us that the girl was bathing- master, and would do the usual scrubbing and shampooing. This, it seems, is the general practice in Finland, and is Dut another example of the unembarrassed habits of the people in this part of the world The poorer families go into their bathing-rooms together — father, mother, and ihildren— and take turns in polishing each other's backs. [t would have been ridiculous to have shown any hesitation dnder the circumstances — in fact, an indignity to the hones' LIFli IN LAPLAND. |01 simple-hearted, virtuous girl — and so we deliberately un« dressed also. V\ hen at last we stood, like our first parents in Paradise, " naked and not ashamed," she handed us bunches of birch-twigs with the leaves on, the use of which was suggested by the leaf of sculpture. We mounted to the platform and lay down upon our backs, whereupon she increased the temperature by throwing water upon the hot stones, until the heat was rather oppressive, and we began to sweat profusely. She then took up a bunch of birch- twigs which had been dipped in hot water, and switched us smartly from head to foot. When we had become thorough- ly parboiled and lax, we descended to the floor, seated our- selves upon the stools, and were scrubbed with soap as thoroughly as propriety permitted. The girl was an admirable bather, the result of long practice in the business. She finished by pouring hot water over us, and then drying us with warm towels. The Finns frequently go out and roll in the snow during the progress of the bath. I ven- tured so far as to go out and stand a few seconds in the open air. The mercury was at zero, and the effect of the cold on my heated skin was delightfully refreshing. I dressed in a violent perspiration, and then ran across to Herr Forstrom's house, where tea was. already waiting for us. Here we found the Idnsnian or magistrate of tin Russian district opposite, a Herr Braxcn, who was decorated with the order of Stanislaus for his services in Finland lurin"- the recent war. He was a tall, dark-haired man, ,/rith a restless light in his deep-set eyes, and a gentleman in his demeanor. He entered into our plans with interest, and the evening was spent in consultation concerning them 102 NORTirr.X TRAVEL. Finally, it was decided that Birr Forstrorn should send a messenger up the river to Palajoki (forty miles olf), te engage Lapps and reindeer to take us across the mountains to Kautokeino, in Norway. As the messenger would be absent three or four days, we had a comfortable prospect o rest before us, and I went to bed with a light heart, to wake tu the sixth birthday I have passed in strange lands. In the morning, I went with Mr. Wolley to call upon a Finn, one of whose children was suffering from inflamed eyes, or snowthalmia, as it might be called. The family were prolific, as usual — children of all sizes, with a regular gradation of a year between. The father, a short, shock- headed fellow, sat in one corner ; the mother, who, like nine- tenths of all the matrons we had seen between Lapland and Stockholm, gave promise of additional humanity, greeted us with a comical, dipping courtesy — a sudden relaxing and stiffening again of the muscles of the knees — which might be introduced as a novelty into our fashionable circles. The boy's eyes were terribly blood-shot, and the lids swollen, but a solution of nitrate of silver, which Mr. W. applied, relieved him greatly in the course of a day or two. We took occasion to visit the stable, where half a dozen cows lay in darkness, in their warm stalls, on one side, with two bulls and some sheep on the other. There was a fire in one corner, over which hung a great kettle filled with a mixture of boiled hay and reindeer moss. Upon this they are fed, while the sheep must content themselves with bunches of birch, willow and aspen twigs, gathered with the leaves on The hay is strong and coarse, but nourishing, and the rein- Jeer moss, a delicate white lichen, contains a glutinous in MFE IN LAPUND. ] 03 gredient, which probably increases the secretion of milk, The stable, as well as Forstrom's, which we afterwards inspected, was kept in good order. It was floored, with a gutter past each row of stalls, to carry off the manure. The cows were handsome white animals, iji very good con- dition. Mr. Wolley sent for his reind-eer in the course of the morning, in order to give us a lesson in .driving. After lunch, accordingly, we prepared ourselves for the new sensa- tion. I put on a poesk of reindeer skin, and my fur-lined Russian boots, ljudvrig took a pulk also, to assist us in case of need. These pulks are shaped very much like a canoe; they are about five feet long, one foot deep, and eighteen inches wide, with a sharp bow and a square stern. You sit uprjght against the stern-board, with your legs stretched out in the bottom. The deer's harness consists only of a collar of reindeer skin around the neck, with a rope at the bottom, which passes under the belly, between the legs, and is fastened to the bow of the pulk. He is driven by a single rein, attached to the base of the left horn, and passing over the back to the right hand of the driver, who thrusts his thumb into a loop at the end, and takes several turns around his wrist. The rein is held rather slack, in order tha,i it may be thrown over to the right side when it slips to the left, which it is very apt to do. I seated myself, took proper hold of the rein, and awaited the .signal to start. My deer was a s,trong, swift animal, who had just shed his horns. Lud.wig set off first ; my deer wave a startling leap, dashed, around. the corner of the house, and made down the hill. I tried to catch, the breath which ■1(>.J NORTHERN TRAVEL hiid been jerked out of me, and to keep my balance, as the j>ulk, swaying from side to side, bounced over the snow. It was too late; a swift presentiment of the catastrophe flashed across my mind, but I was powerless to avert it. In another second I found myself rolling in the loose snow, with the pulk bottom upward beside me. The deer, who was attached to my arm, was stauding still, facing me, with an expres- sion of stupid surprise (but no sympathy) on his face. I got up, shook myself, righted the pulk, and commenced again. Off we went, like the wind, down the hill, tlie snow flying in my fa.ee and blinding me. My pulk made tremen- dous leaps, bounding from side to side, until, the whirlwind suddenly subsiding, I found myself off the road, deep over- head in the snow, choked and blinded, and with small snow- drifts in my pockets, sleeves and bosom. My beard and -eyebrows became instantly a white, solid mass, and. my face began to tingle from its snow -bath ; but, on looking back, I saw as white a heard suddenly emerge from a drift, followed •by the stout body of Braisted, who was gathering himself •up after his third shipwreck. We took a fresh start, 1 narrowly missing another over- turn, as we descended the slope below the house, but on reaching the level of the Muonio, 1 found no difficulty in keeping my balance, and began to enjoy the exercise. My deer struck out, passed the others, and soon I was alone on the track. In the grey Arctic twilight, gliding noiselessly nd, swiftly over the snow, with the low huts of Muonioniska dimly seen in the distance before me, I had my first true ex- perience of Lapland travelling. It was delightfully novel and exhilarating ; I thought of " Afraja," and the song of LIFE IN I,API,A30 105 "Kulnasatz, my reindeer !'" and Bryant's "Arctic Lover," and whatever else there is of Polar poetry, urged rny deer with shouts, and never once looked behind me until I had climbed the opposite shore and reached the village. My companions were then nowhore to be seen. I waited somi time before they arrived, Braisted's deer having become fractious and run back with him to the house. His crimson face shone out from its white frame of icy hair, as he shouted to me, " There is nothing equal to this, except riding be- hind a right whale when he drives to windward, with every man trimming the boat, and the spray flying over your bows !" We now turned northward through the village, flying around many sharp corners, but this 1 found comparatively easy work. But for the snow I had taken in, which now began to melt, I got on finely in spite of the falling flakes, which beat in our faces. Von Buch, in his journey through Lapland in 1807, speaks of Muonioniska as "a village with an inn where they have silver spoons." We stopped at a house which Mr. Wolley stated was the very building, but it proved to be a more recent structure on the site of the old inn. The people looked at .is with curiosity on hearing we were Americans. They had heard the name of America, but did not seem to know exactly where it was. On leav- ing the house, we had to descend the steep bank of the river. I put out my feet to steady the pulk, and thereby ploughed a cataract of fine snow into my face, completely blinding me. The pulk gave a flying leap from the steepest pitch, flung me out, and the deer, eager to make for home, dragged me by the arm for about twenty yards before J 106 NORTHERN TRAVEL. could arrest -him. This was the worst upset of all, and.fai from pleasant, although the temperature was only zero. 1 reached home again without further mishap, flushed, ex- cited, soaked with melted snow, and confident of my ability to drive reindeer with a little more practice. During the first three days, the weather was raw, dark and lowering, with a temperature varying from 9° above to 13 c below zero. On the morning of the 14th, however, th Bky finally cleared, with a cold south wind, and we saw, for the first time, the range of snowy mountains iu the east. The view from our iu.ll, before so dismally bleak and dark, became broad and beautiful, now that there was a little light to see it by. Beyond the snowy floor of the lake and the river Muonio stretched the scattering huts of Muonion- iska, with the church overlooking them, and the round, white peak of Ollastyntre rising above his belt of black woods to the south. Further to the east extended alternate streaks of dark forest and frozen marsh for eighteen miles, to the foot of the mountain range of Palastyntre, which stood like a line of colossal snow-drifts against the soft violet sky, their sides touched by the rosily-golden beams of the invisible sun. This and the valley of the Tornea, at Avasaxa, are two of the finest views in Lapland. I employed part of my time in making some sketches of characteristic faces. Mr. Wolley, finding that I wished to procure good types of the Finns and Lapps, kindly assisted me — his residence of three years in Muoniovara enabling him to know who were the most marked and peculiar per- sonages. Ludwig was despatched to procure an old fellow by the name of Niemi, a Finn, who promised to comply LIFE IN LAPLAND. ] 07 •with my wishes; but his ignorance made him suspicious, and it was accessary to send again. " I know what travel- lers are," said he, " and what a habit they have of getting people's skulls to carry home with them. Even if they are arrested for it, they are so rich, they always buy over the judges. Who knows but they might try to kill me for the sake of my skull ?" After much persuasion, he was finally induced to come, and, seeing that Ludwig supposed he was still afraid, he said, with great energy : " 1 have made up my mind to go, even if a shower of knives should fall from heaven !" He was seventy-three years old, though he did not appear to be over sixty — his hair being thick and black, his frame erect and sturdy,- and his colour crimson rather than pale. His eyebrows were jet-black and bushy, his eyes large and deep set, his nose strong and prominent, and the corners of his long mouth drawn down in a settled curve, expressing a melancholy grimness. The high cheek-bones,, square brow, and muscular jaw belonged to the true Finnish type. He held perfectly still while I drew, scarcely moving r a muscle of his face, and I succeeded in getting a portrait which everybody recognised. 1 gave him a piece of money, with which he was greatly delighted ; and, after a cup of coffee, in Herr Knoblock'a kitchen, he went home quite proud and satisfied. " They do not at all look like dangerous persons," said he to the car- penter : " perhaps they do not collect skulls. I wish they spoke our language, that I might ask them how people live in their country. America is a very large, wild place. I know all about it, and the discovery of it. I was not there myself at the time, but.Jenis Lampi, who lives it EHtila, i 08 NORTHERN TRAVEL. was one of the crew of the ship, and he told me how it -hap- pened. Jenis Lampi said they were going to throw the captain overboard, but he persuaded them to give him three days, and on the third day they found it. Now I should like to know whether these people, who come from that country, have laws as we have, and whether they live as comfortably." So saying, Isaaki Anderinpoika Niemi de- parted. No sooner had he gone than the old Lapp woman, Elsa, who had been sent for, drove up in her pulk, behind a fast reindeer. She was in complete Lapp costume — a blue cloth gown with wide sleeves, trimmed with scarlet, and a curious pear-shaped cap of the same material, upon her head. She sat upon the floor, on a deer-skin, and employed herself in twisting reindeer sinews, which she rolled upon her cheek with the palm of her hand, while I was sketching her. It was already dark, and I was obliged to work by candle light, but I succeeded in catching the half-insane, witch-like ex- pression of her face. When I took the candle to examine her features more closely, she cried out, " Look at me, O son of man !" She 3aid that I had great powers, and was capa- ble of doing everything, since I had come so far, and could make an image of her upon paper. She asked whether we were married, saying we could hardly travel so much if we were ; yet she thmght it much better to be married and stay at home. I gave her a rigsdaler, which she took with joyful surprise, saying " What! am 1 to get my coffee and tobacco, and be paid too ? Thanks, O son of man, for your great goodness !" She chuckled very much over the drawing, say* ing that the dress was exactly right. XWK (N LAPLAND. 109 In the afternoon we took another reindeer drive to Mud- ioniska, paying a visit to Pastor Fali, the clergyman whom we had met at Forstrom's. This time I succeeded very well, making the trip without a single overturn, though with everal mishaps. Mr. Wolley lost the way, and we drove about at random for some time. My deer became restive, and whirled me around in the snow, filling my pulk. It was bo dark that we could scarcely see, and, without knowing the ground, one could not tell where the ups and down were The pastor received us courteously, treated us to coffee and pipes, and conversed with us for some time. He had not, as he said, a Swedish tongue, and I found it difficult to under- stand him. On our way back, Braisted's and Ludwig's deers ran together with mine, and, while going at full speed, B 's jumped into my pulk. 1 tried in vain either to stop or drive on faster ; he trampled me so violently that I was obliged to throw myself out to escape his hoofs. Fortunately the animals are not heavy enough to do. any serious harm. We reached Forstrom's in season for a dinner of fat reindeer steak, cranberries, and a confcct of the Arctic raspberry. After an absence of three days Salomon, the messenger who had been sent up the river to engage reindeer for us, returned, having gone sixty miles before he could procure them. He engaged seven, which arrived the next evening, in the charge of a tall, handsome Finn, who was to be our conductor. We had, in the meantime, sunplied ourselves with reindeer poesks., such as the Lapps wear, — our own furs bein 0, impracticable for pulk travelling: — reindeer mit- tens and was of squirrel tails strung on reindeer sinews. The carpenter's second son, Anton, a lad of fifteen, was engaged to accompany us as an interpreter. 6 ) 10 M1RTIIERN TKAVRL. CHAPTER X. A REINDEER JOURNEY ACROSS LAPLAND. We left Muoniovara at noon on the 15th, fully prepared for a three days' journey across the wilds of Lapland. We were about to traverse the barren, elevated table-land, which divides the waters of the Bothnian Gulf from those of the Northern Ocean, — a dreary, unfriendly region, inhabited only by a few wandering Lapps. Even without tlie preva- lence of famine, we should have had difficulty in procuring food from them, so we supplied ourselves with a saddle of reindeer, six loaves of rye bread, sugar, and a can of coffee. The carpenter lent us a cup and saucer, and Anton, who felt all the responsibility of a boy who is employed for the first time, stowed everything away nicely in the broad baggage pulk. We found it impossible to procure Lapp leggings and shoes at Muonivara, but our Russian boots proved an ad- mirable substitute. The poesk of reindeer skin is the warmest covering for the body which could be devised. It is drawn over the head like a shirt, fitting closely around the neck and wrists, where it is generally trimmed with ermine, and reaching half-way below the knee. A thick woollen Hiifh, wrapped first around the neck, the ends then n REINDEER JOURNT.Y ACROSS LAPLAND. J J 1 twisted together down to the waist, where they are passec tightly around the body and tied in front, not only increases the warmth and convenience of the garment, but gives it a highly picturesque air. Our sea-otter caps, turned down so i'S to cover the ears and forehead, were fastened upon our heads with crimson handkerchiefs, and our boas, of black and red squirrel tails, passed thrice around the neck, reached to the tips of our noses. Over our dog-skin mittens we drew gauntlets of reindeer skin, with which it was difficult to pick up or take hold of anything ; but as the deer's rein is twisted around one's wrist, their clumsiness does not interfere with the facility of driving. It would seem impossible for even Arctic cold to penetrate through such defences— and yet it did. Herr Forstrom prepared us for the journey by a good breakfast of reindeer's marrow, a justly celebrated Lapland delicacy, and we set out with a splendidly clear sky and a cold of 12° below zero. The Muonio valley was superb, towards sunrise, with a pale, creamy, saffron light on the snow, the forests on the tops of the hills burning like jagged masses of rough opal, and the distant range of Palastyntre bathed in pink light, with pure sapphire shadows on its northern slopes. These Arctic illuminations are transcend- ent; nothing can equal them, and neither pen nor pencil can describe them. We passed through Muonioniska, and kept up the Russian side, over an undulating, wooded country. The road was quite good, but rny deer, in spite of his siz stud apparent strength, was a lazy beast, and gave me much trouble. I was obliged to get out of the pulk frequently - and punch him in the flanks, taking my chance to tumble in 112 NORTHERN TRAVEL. headlong as he 3prang forward again. I soon became dis- gusted with reindeer travelling, especially when, after we had been on the road two hours and it was nearly dark we reached Upper Muonioniska, only eight miles. We there ook the river again, and made better progress to Kyrkes- suando, the first station, where we stopped an hour to feed the deer. Here there was a very good little inn, with a bed for travellers. We had seven reindeer, two of which ran loose, so that we could change occasionally on the road. I insisted on chang- ing mine at once, and received in return a smaller animal, which made up in spirit what he lacked in strength. Our conductor was a tall, handsome Finn, with blue eyes and a bright, rosy complexion. His name was Isaac, but he was better known by his nickname of Pitka Isaaki, or Long Isaac. He was a slow, good-humoured, prudent, careful fel- low, and probably served our purpose as well as anybody we could have found. Anton, Jiowever, who made his first jour- ney with us, was invaluable. His father had some misgiv- ings on account of his timidity, but he was so ambitious to give satisfaction that wo found him forward enough. I have already described the country through which we passed, as it was merely a continuation of the scenery below Muonioniska — low, wooded hills, white plains, and every- where snow, snow, snow, silence and death. The cold in- creased to 33 ° below zero, obliging me to bury my nose in my boa and to keep up a vigorous exercise of my toes to pre- vent them from freezing, as it is impossible to cover one's br Jts in a pulk. The night was calm, clear, and starry ; but after an hour a bank of auroral light gradually arose in the A REINDEER JOLRNI'.V ACROSS LAPLAND. 1 13 north, and formed a broad arch, which threw its lustre ovel the snow and lighted up our path. Almost stationary at first, a restless motion after a time agitated the gleaming bow ; it shot out broad streamers of yellow fire, gathered them in and launched them forth again, like the hammer of Thor, which always returned to his hand, after striking the blow for which it had been hurled. The most wonderful ap- pearance, however, was an immense square curtain, which fell from all the central part of the arch. The celestial scene-shifters were rather clumsy, for they allowed one end to fall lower than the other, so that it over-lapped and dou- bled back upon itself in a broad fold. Here it hung for pro- bably half an hour, slowly swinging to and fro, as if moved by a gentle wind. What new spectacle was in secret prepara- tion behind it we did not learn, for it was hauled up so bung- lingly that the whole arch broke and fell in, leaving merely n pile of luminous ruins under the Polar Star. Hungry and nearly frozen, we reached Palajoki at half- past nine, and were at once ushered into the guests' room, a little hut separated from the main building. Here, barring an inch of ice on the windows and numerous windy cracks in the floor, we felt a little comfort before an immense fire kindled in the open chimney. Our provisions were already adamantine ; the meat was transformed into red Finland granite,, and the bread into mica-slate. Anton and the old Finnish landlady, the mother of many sons, immediately commenced the work of thawing and cooking, while I, by the Jight of fir torches, tv-'ok the portrait of a dark-haired, black - syed, olive-skinned, big-nosed, thick-lipped youth, who gave his name as Eric Johan Sombasi. When our meal of meat, 114 NORTHERN TRAVEL. bread, and coffee had been despatched, the old woman made a bed of reindeer skins for us in one corner, covered with a coarse sheet, a quilt, and a sheepskin blanket. She then took her station near the d jor, where several of the sons were al- ready standing, and all appeared to be waiting in silent cu- riosity to see us retire. We undressed with genuine Fin- nish freedom of manner, deliberately enough for them to understand the peculiarities of our apparel, and they never took their eyes from us until we were stowed away for tha night in our warm nest. It was snowing and blowing; when we arose. Long Isaac had gone to the woods after the reindeer, and we employed the delay in making a breakfast off the leavings of our sup- per. Crossing the Muonio at starting, we entered the Russian territory and drove up the bed of the Palajok, a tributary stream which comes down from the north. The sky became clearer as the dawn increased ; the road was tolerably broken, and we sped merrily along the windings of the river, under its tall banks fringed with fir trees, which, loaded with snow, shone brilliantly white against the rosy sky. The temperature was S° below zero, which felt un- pleasantly warm, by contrast with the previous evening. After a time we left the river and entered a rolling up- land — alternate thickets of fir and birch, and wastes of fro- zen marsh, where our path was almost obliterated. After more than two hours' travel we came upon a large lake, at the further end of which, on the southern side of a hill, was the little hamlet of Suontajilrvi. Here we stopped to bait the deer, Braisted's and mine being nearly fagged out. Wt entered one of the huts, where a pleasant woman was taking A REINDEER JOURNEY ACROSS LAPLAND. HJj charge of a year-old baby. There was no fire on the hearth, and the wind whistled through the open cracks of the floor Long Isaac and the woman saluted each other by placing their right arms around each other's waists, which is the universal manner of greeting in Finland. They only shake hands as a token of thanks for a favour. We started again at noon, taking our way across a wil- derness of lakes and snow-covered marshes, dotted witb stunted birch-thickets. The road had entirely disappeared, but Eric of 1'alajoki, who accompanied us as an extra guide, went ahead with a strong reindeer and piloted us. The sagacity with which these animals find the track under a smooth covering of loose snow, is wonderful. They follow it by the feet, of course, but with the utmost ease and ra- pidity, often while going at full speed. I was struck by the sinuous, mazy character of our course, even where the ground was level, and could only account for it by the sup- position that the first track over the light snow had followed the smoothest and firmest ridges of the marshes. Our pro- gress was now slow and toilsome.nand it was not long before my deer gave up entirely. Long Isaac, seeing that a change must be made, finally decided to give me a wild, powerful animal, which he had not yet ventured to intrust to either of us. The deer was harnessed to my pulk, the rein carefully secured around my wrist, and Long Isaac let go his hold A wicked toss of the antlers and a prodigious jump followed, md the animal rushed full tilt upon Braisted, who was next uefore me, striking him violently upon the back. The more I endeavored to rein him in, the more he plunged ami 116 NORTHERN TRAVEL. tore, now dashing against the led deer, now hurling meoves the baggage pulk, and now leaping ofF the track into bot- tomless beds of loose snow. Long Isaac at last shouted to me to go ahead and follow Eric, who was about half a mile in advance. A few furious plunges carried me past our little caravan, with my pulk full of snow, and my face likewise. Now, lowering his neck and thrusting out his head, with open mouth and glaring eyes, the deer set off at the top of his speed. Away I went, like a lance shot out from the aurora: armoury ; the pulk slid over the snow with the swiftness of a fish through the water ; a torrent of snow-spray poured into my lap and showered against my face, until 1 was com- pletely blinded. Eric was overtaken so quickly that he had no time to give me the track, and as I was not in a condi- tion to see or hear anything, the deer, with the stupidity of his race, sprang directly upon him, trampled him down, and dragged me and my pulk over him. We came to a stand in the deep snow, while Eric shook himself and started again. IVly deer now turjied and made for the caravan, but I succeeded in pulling his head around, when he charged a second time upon Eric, who threw himself out of his pulk to escape. My strength was fast giving way, when we came to a ridge of deep, loose snow, in which the animals sank above their bellies, and up which they could hardly drag us. My deer was so exhausted when we reached the top, that 1 had no further difficulty in controlling him. Before us stretched a trackless plain, bounded by a low mountain ridge. Eric set off at a fast trot, winding hither and thither, as 1 is deer followed the invisible path. I kept A REINDEER JOURNEY ACROSS THE PLAINS \ [J close behind him, white as a Polar bear, but glowing like a volcano under my furs. The temperature was 10 c below zero, and I could have wished it ten degrees colder. My deer, although his first savage strength was spent, was still full of spirit, and I began to enjoy this mode of travel We soon entered the hills, which were covered with thickets of frozen birch, with here and there a tall Scotch fir, com- pletely robed in snow. The sun, which had showed about half his disc at noon, was now dipping under the horizon, and a pure orange glow lighted up the dazzling masses of the crystal woods. All was silver-clear, far and near, shining, as if by its own light, with an indescribable radiance. We had struck upon a well-beaten track on entering the hills, and flew swiftly along through this silent splendour, this jewelled solitude, under the crimson and violet mode of the sky. Here was true Northern romance; here was poetry beyond all the Sagas and Eddas that ever were written. We passed three Lapps, with heavy hay-sleds, drawn by a reindeer apiece, and after a time issued from the woods upon si range of hills entirely bare and white. Before us was the miserable harnlet of Lippajarvi, on the western side of the barren mountain of Lippivara, which is the highest in this part of Lapland, having an altitude of 1900 feet above the sea. I have rarely seen anything quite so bleak and God-forsaken as this village. A few low black huts, in a desert of snow — that was all. We drove up to a sort of station-house, where an old, white-headed Finn received me kindly, beat the snow off my poesk with a birch broom, and huno- my boa near the fire to dry. There was a wild, fierce-lookina: Lipp in the room, who spoke some Norwegian, 118 NORTHERN TRAVEL. and at once asked who and what I was. His head was cov ered with a mop of bright brown hair, his eyes were dark blue and gleamed like polished steel, and the flushed crim« Bon of his face was set off by the strong bristles of a beard of three weeks growth. There was something savage and ferocious in his air, as he sat with his clenched fists planted upon his knees, and a heavy knife in a wooden scabbard hanging from his belt. When our caravan arrived I trans- ferred him to my sketch-book. He gave me his name as Ole Olsen Thore, and I found he was a character well known throughout the country. Long Isaac proposed waiting until midnight, for moon rise, as it was already dark, and there was no track beyono Lippajarvi. This seemed prudent, and we therefore, with the old woman's help, set about boiling our meat, thawing bread, and making coffee. It was necessary to eat even beyond what appetite demanded, on account of the long dis- tances between the stations. Drowsiness followed repletion, as a matter of course, and they gave us a bed of skins in an inner-room. Here, however, some other members of the family were gathered around the fire, and kept up an inces- sant chattering, while a young married couple, who lay in one corner, bestowed their endearments on each Other, so that we had but little benefit of our rest. At midnight all was ready, and we set out. Long Isaac had engaged a guide and procured fresh deer in place of those which were fa- tigued. There was a thick fog, which the moon scarcely brightened, but the temperature had risen to zero, and was as mild as a May morning. For the first time in many days our beards did not freeze. A REINDEER JOURNJJY ACROSS LAPLAN D. ]]§ We pursued our way in complete silence. Our little car- avan, in single file, presented a strange, shadowy, mysterious appearance as it followed the winding path, dimly seen through the mist, first on this side and then on that ; not a Bound being heard, except the crunching of one's own pulk over the snow. My reindeer and myself seemed to be the only living things, and we were pursuing the phantoms of other travellers and other deer, who had long ago perished in the wilderness. It was impossible to see more than a hundred yards ; some short, stunted birches, in their spec- tral coating of snow, grew along the low ridges of the deep, loose snow, which separated the marshes, but nothing eke interrupted the. monotony of the endless grey ocean through which we went floundering, apparently at hap-haz- ard. How our guides, found the way was beyond my com- prehension, for I could discover no distinguishable land- marks. After two hours or more we struck upon a cluster of huts called Palajarvi, seven miles from Lippajarvi, which proved that we were on the right track. The fog now became thicker than ever. We were upon the water-shed between the Bothnian Gulf and the North- ern Ocean, about 1400 feet above the sea. The birches be- came mere shrubs, dotting the low mounds which here and there arose out of the ocean of snow. The pulks all ran in the same track and made a single furrow, so that our gunwales were generally below the sea-level. The snow was packed so tight, however, that we rarely shipped any Two hours passed, and I was at length roused from a half- Bleep by the evidence of our having lost the way. Long Isaac and the guide stopped and consulted every ft it mi- [20 NORTHERN TRAVEL nutes, striking sometimes in one direction and sometimes hi another, but without any result. We ran over ridges of heavy, hard tussocks, blown bare of snow, which pitched our pulks right and left, just as I have bumped over the coral reefs of Loo-Choo in a ship's cutter. Then followed deep beds of snow-drifts, which tasked the utmost strength of our deer, low birch thickets and hard ridges again, over which we plunged in the wildest way possible. After wandering about for a considerable time, we sudden- ly heard the barking of a dog at some distance on cur left. Following the welcome sound, we reached a scrubby ridge, where we were aaluted with a whole chorus of dogs, and soon saw the dark cone of a Lapp tent. Long Isaac arous- ed the inmates, and the shrill cry of a baby proclaimed that there was life and love, wen here. Presently a clumsy form, enveloped in skins, waddled out and entered into con- versation with our men. I proposed at once to engage a Lapp to guide us as far as Eitajarvi, which- they informed us wa3 two Norwegian (fourteen English) miles farther. The man agreed, but must first go off to the woods for his deer, which would detain us two hours. He put on his snow- Bkates and started, and I set about turning the delay to pro- fit by making acquaintance with the inmates of the tents. We had now reached the middle of the village ; the lean, wolfish dogs were yelling on all sides, and the people began to bestir themselves. Streams of sparks issued from the open tops of the tents, and very soon we stood as if in the midst of a group of volcanic cones. The Lapps readily gave us permission to enter. We lifted the hangi ig door of reindeer hide, crept in, stumbling A REINDEER JOURNEY ACROSS LAPLAND. ]2\ over a confused mixture of dogs and deer-skins, until w« found roou to sit down. Two middle-aged women, dressed in poesks, like the men, were kindling a fire between some large stones in the centre, but the air inside was still as cold as outside. The damp birch sticks gave out a thick smoke, vhich almost stifled us, and for half an hour wc could scarcely see or breathe. The women did not appear to be incommoded in the least, but I noticed that their eyes were considerably inflamed. After a time our company was increased by the arrival of two stout, ruddy girls of about seventeen, and a child of two years old, which already wore a complete reindeer costume. They were all very. friendly and bospitable in their demeanour towards us, for converse tion was scarcely possible. The interior of the tent wa„ hung with choice bits of deer's hide, from the inside of the flanks and shoulders, designed, apparently, for mittens. Long Isaac at once commenced bargaining for some of them, which he finally purchased. The money was deposited in a rather heavy bag of coin, which one of the women drew forth from under a pile of skins. Our caps and Russian boots excited their cuviosity, and they examined them with the greatest nnnuteness. These women were neither remarkably small nor remark- ably ugly, as the Lapps are generally represented. The ground-tone of their complexion was rather tawny, to be sure, but there was a glowing red on their cheeks, and their eyes were a dark bluish-grey. Their voices were agreeable, and the language (a branch of the Finnish) had none of that barbaric harshness common to the tongues of nomadic tribes. These favorable features, nevertheless, were far from recon 1^2 NORTHERN TRAVEL. eiling me to the idea of a trial of Lapp life. When I saw the filth, the poverty, and discomfort in which they lived, 1 decided that the present experience was all-sufficient. Roasting on one side and freezing on the other, with smart- ing eyes and asphyxiated lungs, 1 soon forgot whatever there was of the picturesque in my situation, and thought only of the return of our Lapp guide. The women at last cleared away several dogs, and made room for us to lie down — a more tolerable position, in our case ; though how a whole family, with innumerable dogs, stow themselves in the com- pass of a circle eight feet in diameter, still remains a mys- tery. The Lapp returned with his reindeer within the allotted time, and we took our leave of the encampment. A strong Bouth wind had arisen, but did not dissipate the fog, and for two hours we had a renewal of our past experiences, in thumping over hard ridges and ploughing through seas of snow. Our track was singularly devious, sometimes doub- ling directly back upon itself without any apparent cause. At last, when a faint presentiment of dawn began to glimmer through the /og, the Lapp halted and announced that he had lost the way. Bidding us remain where we were, he struck off into the snow and was soon lost to sight. Scarcely a quarter of an hoxir had elapsed, however, before we heard his cries at a considerable distance. Following, as we best could, across a plain nearly a mile in diameter, we found him at last in a narrow dell between two hills. The ground now sloped rapidly northward, and I saw that we had crossed the water-shed, and that the plain behind us must be the lake Jedeckejaure, which, according to Von Buch, is 1370 feet above the sea. A REINDEER JOURNEK ACROSS LAPLAND. 123 On emerging from the dell we found a gentle slope before us, covered with hard ice, down which our pulks flew like the wind. This brought us to another lake, followed by a similar slope, and so we descended the icy terraces, until, in a little more than an hour, some covered haystacks gave evi dence of human habitation, .and we drew up at the huts of Eitajaivi, in Norway. An old man, who had been watching our approach, immediately climbed upon the roof and re- moved a board from the chimney, after which he ushered us into a bare, cold room, and kindled a roaring fire on the hearth.- Anton unpacked our provisions, and our hunger was so desperate, after fasting for twenty hours, that we could .scarcely wait for the bread to thaw and the coffee to boil. We set out again at noon, down the frozen bed of a stream which drains the lakes, but had not proceeded far before both deers and pulks began to break through the ice, probably on account of springs under it. After being almost swamped, we managed to get up the steep snow-bank ind took to the plain again, making our own ruad over ridge and through hollow. The caravan was soon stopped, that the pulks might be turned bottom upwards and the ice scraped off, which, like the barnacles on a ship's- hull, impeded their progress through the snow. The broad plain we were traversing stretched away to the north without a break or spot of color to relieve its ghastly whiteness ; but toward the south-west, where the sunset of an unrisen sun Spread its roseate glow through the mist, arose some low mounds, covered with drooping birches, which shone against the soft, mellow splendor, like sprays of silver embroidered on rose-colored satin. 124 SOUTHERN TRAVEL. Our course, for about fifteen miles, lay alternately upon the stream (where the ice was sufficiently strong) and the wild plain. Two or three Lapp tents on the bank exhibited . the usual amount of children and dogs, but we did not think it worth while to extend the circle of our acquaintance in that direction. At five o'clock, after it had long been dark, we reached half a dozen huts called Siepe, two Norwegian miles from Kautokeino. Long Isaac wished to stop here for the night, but we resolutely set ourselves against him. The principal hut was filthy, crowded with Lapps, and filled with a disagreeable smell from the warm, wet poesks hang- ing on the rafters. In one corner lay the carcases of two deer-calves which had been killed by wolves. A long bench, a table, and a rude frame covered with deerskins, and serv- ing as a bed, comprised all the furniture. The usual buck- ets of sour milk, with wooden ladles, stood by the door. No one appeared to have any particular occupation, if we ex- cept the host's wife, who was engaged with an infant in reindeer breeches. We smoked and deliberated while the deers ate their balls of moss, and the result was, that a stout yellow-haired Lapp youngster was engaged to pilot us to Kautokeino. Siepe stands on a steep bank, down which our track led to the stream again. As the caravan set off", my deer, which had behaved very well through the day, suddenly became fractious, sprang off the track, whirled himself around on his hind legs, as if on a pivot, and turned the pulk completely over, burying me in the snow. Now, I had come from Muoniovara, more than a hundred miles, without being once overturned, and was ambitious to make the whole * REINDEER JI7I7RNET ACROSS LAPLAND. JQJ journey with equal success. I therefore picked myself up highly disconcerted, and started afresh. The very same thing happened a second and a third time, and I don't think I shall be considered unreasonable for becoming furiously angry. I should certainly have committed cervicide had any weapon been at hand. I seized the animal by the horns, shook, cuffed, and kicked him, but all to no purpose. Long Isaac, who was passing in his pulk, made some remark, which Anton, with all the gravity and conscientiousness of his new position of interpreter, immediately translated. " Long Isaac says," he shouted, " that the deer will go well enough, if you knew how to drive him." " Long Isaac may go to the devil !" was, I am sorry' to say, my profane reply, which Anton at once translated to him. Seating myself in the pulk again, I gave the deer the rein, and for a time kept him to the top of his speed, following the Lapp, who drove rapidly down the windings of the stream. It was quite dark, but our road was now somewhat broken, and for three hours our caravan swiftly and silently sped on its way. Then, some scattered lights appeared in the distance ; our tired deers leaped forward with fresher spirit, and soon brought us to the low wooden huts of Kau- tokeino. We had travelled upwards of sixty miles since leaving Lippajiirvi, breaking our own road through deep Bnow for a great part of the way. During this time oui deers. had not been changed. I cannot but respect the pro- voking; animals after such a feat. [20 NORTHERN TRAVEL. CHAPTER XI. KAUTOKEINO. A DAY WITHOUT A S0N. While in Dresden, my friend Ziegler had transferred to me a letter of introduction from Herr Berger, a merchant of Hammerfest, to his housekeeper in Kautokeino. Such a transfer might.be considered a great stretch of etiquette in thdse enlightened regions of the world where hospitality re- quires certificates of character ; but, in a benighted country like Lapland, there was no danger of very fine distinctions being drawn, and Ziegler judged that the house which was to have been placed at his disposal had he made the journey, would as readily open its doors to me. At Muoniovara, I learned that Berger himself was now in Kautokeino, so that I needed only to present him with his own letter. We ar- rived so late, however, that I directed Long Isaac to take us to the inn until morning. He seemed reluctant to do this, and I could not fathom the reason of Ids hesitation, until I had entered the hovel to which we were conducted. A single room, filled with smoke from a fire of damp birch sticks, was crammed with Lapps of all sizes, and of both sexes. There was scarcely room to spread a deerskin on the floor tthile the smell exhaled from their greasy garments and KAUTOKEINO. — A DAY WITHOUT A SUN. 127 iheir unwashed bodies was absolutely stilling. I have tra- velled too much to be particularly nice in my choice ot lodgings, but in this instance I instantly retreated, deter- mined to lie on the snow, under my overturned pulk, rather than pass the night among such bed-fellows. We drove on for a short distance, and drew up before a large, substantial log -house, which Long Isaac informed me was the residence of the Lansman, or magistrate of the dis- trict. I knocked at tho door, and inquired of the Norwe- gian 3ervant girl who opened it, where Herr Berger lived. Presently appeared a stout, ruddy gentleman — no less than Herr Berger himself — who addressed me in fluent English. A few words sufficed to explain everything, and in ten mi- nutes our effects were deposited in the guest's room of the Lansman's house, and ourselves, stripped of our Polar hides, were seated on a sofa, in a warm, carpeted room, with a bountiful supper-table before us. Blessed be civilization ! was my inward ejaculation. Blessed be that yearning for comfort in Man, which has led to the invention of beds, of sofas, and easy chairs: which has suggested cleanliness of body and of habitation, and which has developed the noble art of cooking ! The dreary and perilous wastes over which We had passed were forgotten. With hearts warmed in both senses, and stomachs which reacted gratefully upon our hearts, we sank that night into a paradise of- snowy linen, which sent a consciousness of pleasure even into the obli- vion of sleep. The Lansman, Herr Lie, a tall handsome man of twenty three, was a native of Altengaard, and spoke tolerable En- glish. With him and Herr Berger, we found a third per-- \28 NORTHERN TRAVEL. son, a theological student, stationed at Kautokeinc to leam the Lapp tongue. Pastor Hvoslef, the clergyman, was the only other Norwegian resident. The village, separated from the Northern Ocean, by the barren, uninhabited ranges of the Kiolen Mountains, and from the Finnish settlements on the Muonio by the swampy table-lands we had traversed, is one of the wildest and most forlorn places in all Lapland. Occupying, as it does, the centre of a large district, over which the Lapps range with their reindeer herds during the summer, it is nevertheless a place of some importance, both for trade and for the education, organization, and pro- per control of the barely -reclaimed inhabitants. A church was first built here by Charles XI. of Sweden, in 1660, al- though, in the course of subsequent boundary adjustments, the district was made over to Norway. Half a century afterwards, some families of Finns settled here ; but they appear to have gradually mixed with the Lapps, so that there is little of the pure blood of either race to be found at present. I should here remark that throughout Norwe- gian Lapland the Lapps are universally called Finns, and the Finns, Qndits. As the change of names, however, might occasion some confusion, I shall adhere to the more correct Swedish manner of designating them, which I ha-ve used hitherto. Kautokeino is situated in a shallow valley, or rather ba- Bin, opening towards the north-east, whither its river flows to join the Alten. Although only 835 feet above the sea, and consequently below the limits of the birch and the fir in this latitude, the country has been stripped entirely bare for miles around, and nothing but the scattering groups oi KAUTOKEINO. — A DAY WITHOUT A SUN. 129 low, dark huts, breaks the snowy monotony. It s with pjreat difficulty that vegetables of any kind can be raised. Potatoes have once or twice been made to yield eight-fold, but they are generally killed by the early autumn frosts be- fore maturity. On the southern bank of the river, the ground remains frozen the whole year round, at a depth of only nine feet. The country furnishes nothing except rein- deer meat, milk, and cheese. Grain, and other supplies cu all kinds, mu3t be hauled up from the Alten Fiord, a dis- tance of 1 12 miles. The carriage is usually performed in winter, when, of course, everything reaches its destination in a frozen state. The potatoes are as hard as quartz peb- bles, sugar and salt become stony masses, and even wine as- sumes a solid form. In this state they are kept until want- ed for use, rapidly thawed, and immediately consumed, whereby their flavour is but little impaired. The potatoes, cabbage, and preserved berries on the Lansman's table were almost as fresh as if they had never been frozen. Formerly, the place was almost entirely deserted during the summer months, and the resident missionary and Lans- man returned to Alten until the Lapps came back to their winter huts ; but, for some years past, the stationary popu- lation has increased, and the church is kept open the whole year. Winter, however, is the season when the Lapps are found at home, and when their life and habits are most char- acteristic and interesting. The population of JKautokeino is then, perhaps, about 800; in summer it is scarcely one- tenth of this number. Many of the families — especially those of mixed Finnish blood — live in wooden huts, with the luxury of a fireplace and chimney, and a window or two 130 NORTHERN TRAVEL. but the greater part of them burrow in low habitations o» earlh, which resemble large mole hills raised in the crust of the soil. Half snowed over and blended with the natural inequalities of the earth, one would never imagine, but for the smoke here and there issuing from holes, that human Beings existed below. On both sides of the stream are rows of storehouses, wherein the Lapps deposit their supplies and household articles during their summer wanderings. These structures are raised upon birch posts, each capped with a smooth, horizontal board, in order to prevent the rats and mice from effecting an entrance. The church is built upon a slight eminence to the south, with its low red belfry stand- ing apart, as in Sweden, in a small grove of birches, which have been spared for a summer ornament to the sanctuary. We awoke at eight o'clock to find a clear twilight and a cold of 10° below zero. Our stay at Muoniovara had given the sun time to increase his altitude somewhat, and I had some doubts whether we should succeed in beholding a day of the Polar winter. The Lansman, however, encouraged us by the assurance that the sun had not yet risen upon his resi- dence, though nearly six weeks had elapsed since his disap- pearance, but that his return was now looked for every day, since he had already begun to shine upon the northern hills. By ten o'clock it was light enough to read ; the southern sky was a broad sea of golden orange, dotted with a few crimson cloud-islands, and we set ourselves to watch with some anxiety the gradual approach of the exiled god. But for this oircumstance, and two other drawbacks, I should have gone to church to witness the Lapps at their religious exercises. Pastor Hvoslef was ill, and the service consisted KAUTOKEINO. — A DAY WITHOUT A SUN. J3J Duly of the reading of some prayers by the Lapp schoolmas- ter ; added to which/the church is never -warmed, even in the coldest days of winter. One cause of this may, perhaps,, be the dread of an accidental conflagration ; but the main reason is, the inconvenience which would arise from th thawing out of so ma.ny antiquated reindeer garments, an J the effluvia given out by the warmed bodies within them. Consequently, the temperature inside the church is about the same as outside, and the frozen moisture of the worship- pers' breath forms a frosty cloud so dense as sometimes to hide the clergyman from the view of his congregation. Pas- tor Hvoslef informed me that he had frequently preached in a temperature of 35° below zero. " At such times," said he, " the very words seem to freeze as they issue from my lips, and fall upon the heads of my hearers like a shower of snow." "But," I ventured to remark, "our souls are controlled to such a degree by the condition of our bodies, that I should doubt whether any true devotional spirit could exist at such a time. Might not even religion itself be frozen ?" " Yes,'' he answered, " there is no doubt that all the better feelings either disappear, or become very faint, when the mercury begins to freeze." The pastor himself was at that time suf- fering the penalty of indulging a spirit of reverence which for a long time led him to officiate with uncovered head. The sky increased in brightness as we watched. The orange flushed into rose, and the pale white hills looked even more ghastly against the bar of glowing carmine which fringed the horizon. A few long purple streaks of cloud nung over the sun's place, and higher up in the vault floated some loose masses, tinged with fiery crimson on theil 132 NORTHERN TRAVEL. lower edges. About half-past eleven, a pencil of bright red light shot up — a signal which the sun uplifted to herald his coming. As it slowly moved westward along the hills, increasing in height and brilliancy until it became a long 1 tongue of flame, playing against the streaks of cloud we were apprehensive that the near disc would rise to view When the Lansman's clock pointed to twelve, its base had become so bright as to shine almost like the sun itself; but after a few breathless moments the unwelcome glow began to fade. We took its bearing with a compass, and after making allowance for the variation (which is here very slight) were convinced that it was really past meridian, and the radiance, which was that of morning a few minutes be- fore, belonged to the splendours of evening now. The colours of the firmament began to change in reverse order, and the dawn, which had almost ripened to sunrise, now withered away to night without a sunset. We had at last seen a day without a sun. The snowy hills to the north, it is true, were tinged with a flood of rosy flame, and the very next day would probably bring down the tide- mark of sunshine to the tops of the houses. One day, however, was enough to satisfy me. You, my heroic friend* may paint with true pencil, and still truer pen, the dreary solemnity of the long Arctic night: but, greatly as I enjoy your incomparable pictures, much as * This was written in Lapland ; and at the same tijne my friend Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, of immortal memory, lay upon his death-bed, in Havana. I retain the words, which I then supposed would meet hia oye, that I may add my own tribute of sorrow for the untimely death of one of the truest, bravest, and noblest-hearted men I ever knew. KAUTOKEINO. — A DAY WITHOUT A SUN. 133 1 ioMur your courage and your endurance, you shall never trcapfc jne to share in the experience. The South is a cup which one may drink to inebriation ; but one taste from the icy goblet of the North is enough to allay curiosity and quench all further desire. Yet the contrast between these two extremes came home to me vividly but once during t-1: is journey. A traveller's mind must never stray too far from the things about him, and long habit has enabled me to throw myself entirely into the conditions and circumstances of each separate phase of my wandering life, thereby preserv- ing distinct the sensations and experiences of each, and pre- venting all later confusion in the memory. But one day, at Muonnvara, as I sat before the fire in the afternoon darkness, there flashed across my mind a vision of cloudless Egypt — palm-trees rustling in the hot wind, yellow moun- tain-walls rising beyond the emerald plain of the Nile, the white pencils of minarets in the distance, the creamy odour of bean-blossoms in the air — a world of glorious vitality, where Death seemed an unaccountable accident. Here, Life existed only on sufferance, and all Nature frowned with a robber's demand to give it up. I flung my pipe across the room and very soon, behind a fast reindeer, drove away from the disturbing reminiscence. I went across the valley to the schoolmaster's house to nake a sketch of Kautokeino, but the frost was sc thick on the windows that 1 was obliged to take a chair in the open air and work with bare hands. I soon learned the value of rapidity in such an employment. We spent the afternoon in the Lansman's parlor, occasionally interrupted by the viiits of Lapps, who, having heard of our arrival, were very 7 134 NORTHERN TRAVEL. curious to behold the first Americans who ever reached this part of the world. They came into the room with the most perfect freedom, saluted the Lfinsman, and then turned t« stare at us until they were satisfied, when they retired to give place to others who were waiting outside. We wer obliged to hold quite a levee during the whole evening. They had all heard of America, but knew very little else about it, and many of them questioned us, through Herr Berber, concerning our religion and laws. The fact of the three Norwegian residents being able to converse with U3 astonished them greatly. The Lapps of Kautokeino hwe hitherto exalted themselves over the Lapps of Karasjok and Karessuando, because the Lansman, Berger, and Pastor Hvoslef could speak with English and French travellers in their own language, while the merchants and pastors of the latter places are acquainted only with Norwegian and Swedish ; and now their pride received a vast accession. " How is it possible?" said they to Herr Berger, ''these men come from the other side of the world, and you talk with them as fast in their own language as if you had nevei spoken any other !" The schoolmaster, Lars Kaino, a one- armed fellow, with a more than ordinary share of acuteness and intelligence, came to request that I would take his por- trait, offering, to pay me for my trouble. I agreed to do it gratuitously, on condition that I should keep it myself, and that he should bring his wife to be included in the sketch. He assented, with some sacrifice of vanity, and came around the next morning, in his holiday suit of blue cloth, irimmed with scarlet and yellow binding. His wife, a short woman of about twentj-five, with a face as flat and round KAUTOKEHTO. — A DAY WITHOUT A SUN. J3g as a p'.atter, but a remarkably fair complexion, accompanied him, though with evident reluctance, and sat with eyes modestly cast down while 1 sketched her features. The cir- cumstance of my giving Lars half a dollar at the close of the sitting was immediately spread through Kautokeino, and before night all the Lapps of the place were ambitious to undergo the same operation. Indeed, the report reached the neighboring villages, and a Hammerfest merchant, who came in the following morning: from a distance of seven miles, obtained a guide at less than the usual price, through the anxiety of the latter to arrive in time to have bis por- trait taken. The shortness of the imperfect daylight, how- ever, obliged me to decline further offers, especially as there were few Lapps of pure, unmixed blood among my visitors. Kautokeino was the northern limit of my winter journey 1 proposed visiting Altengaard in the summer, on my way to the North Cape, and there is nothing in the barren tract between the two places to repay the excursion. I had already seen enough of the Lapps to undeceive me in regard to previously-formed opinions respecting them, and to take away the desire for a more intimate acquaintance. In fea- tures, as in language, they resemble the Finns sufficiently to indicate an ethnological relationship. 1 could distinguish little, if any, trace of the Mongolian blood in them. They are fatter, fairer, and altogether handsomer than the nomadic offshoots of that race, and resemble the Esquimaux (to whom they have been compared) in nothing but their rude, filthy manner of life. Von Buch ascribes the difference in Btature and physical stamina between them and the Finns to the use of the vapor bath by the latter and the aversion 136 NORTHERN TRAVEL. to water of the former. They are a race of Northern gip- sies, and it is the restless blood of thi3 class rather than any want of natural capacity which retards their civilisation. Although the whole race has been converted to Christianity, and education is universal among them — no Lapp being permitted to marry until he can read — they have but in too many respects substituted one form of superstition for another. The spread of temperance among them, however, has produced excellent results, and, in point of morality, they are fully up to the prevailing standard in Sweden and Nor- way. The practice, formerly imputed to them, of sharing their connubial rights with the guests who visited them, is wholly extinct, — if it ever existed. Theft is the most usual offence, but crimes o f a more heinous character are rare. Whatever was picturesque in the Lapps has departed with their paganism. No wizards now ply their trade of selling favorable winds to the Norwegian coasters, or mut- ter their incantations to discover Ihe concealed grottoes of silver in the Kiolen mountains. It is in vain,- therefore, for the romantic traveller to seek in them the materials fur weird stories and wild adventures. They are frightfully pious and commonplace. Their conversion has destroyed what little of barbaric poetry there might have been in their composition, and, instead of chanting to the spirits of the winds, and clouds, and mountains, they have become furious ranters, who frequently claim to be possessed by the Holy Ghost. As human beings, the change, incomplete as it is. is nevertheless to their endless profit; but as objects of in- terest to the traveller, it has been to their detriment. It would be far more picturesque to describe a sabaott of Lap- KAUTOKEINO. — A DAY WITHOUT A SUN. J 37 land witches than a prayer-meeting of shouting converts, yet no friend of his race could help rejoicing to see the latter substituted fur the former. In proportion, therefore, as the Lapps have become enlightened (like all other savage tribes), they have become less interesting. Retaining nearly all that is repulsive in their habits of life, they have lost the only peculiarities which could persuade one to endure the inconveniences of a closer acquaintance. I have said that the conversion of the Lapps was in some respects the substitution of one form of superstition for another. A tragic exemplification of this fact, which pro- duced the greatest excitement throughout the North, took place in Kautokeino four years ago. Through the preach- ing of Lestadius and other fanatical missionaries, a spiritual epidemic, manifesting itself in the form of visions, trances, and angelic possessions, broke out among the Lapps. It infected the whole country, and gave rise to numerous dis- turbances and difficulties in Kautokeino. It was no unusual thing for one of the congregation to arise during church ser- vice, declare that he was inspired by the Holy Ghost, and call upon those present to listen to his revelations. The former Lansman arrested the most prominent of the offend- ers, and punished them with fine and imprisonment. This begat feelings of hatred on the part of the fanatics, which soon ripened into a conspiracy. The plot was matured during the summer months, when the Lapps descended to- wards the Norwegian coast with their herds of reindeer. I have the account of what followed from the lips oi Pastor Hvoslef, who was then stationed here, and was also one of the victins of their resentment. Early one morning 138 NORTHERN TRAVEL. in October, when the inhabitants were returning from theii Bummer wanderings, he was startled by the appearance of the resident merchant's wife, who rushed into his house in a frantic state, declaring that her husband was murdered. He fancied that the woman was bewildered by some sudden fright, and, iti order to quiet her, walked over to the mer- chant's house. Here ht found the unfortunate man lying dead upon the floor* while a band of about thirty Lapps headed by the principal fanatics, were forcing the house of the Lansman, whom they immediately dispatched with their knives and clubs. They then seized the pastor and his wife, beat them severely with birch-sticks, and threatened them with death unless they would acknowledge the divine mission of the so-called prophets. The greater part of the day passed in uncertainty and terror, but towards evening appeared a crowd of friendly Lapps from the neighbouring villages, who, after having received information, through fugitives, of what had hap- pened, armed themselves and marched to the rescue. A fight ensued, in which the conspirators were beaten, and the prison- ers delivered out of their hands. The friendly Lapps, una- ble to take charge of all the criminals, and fearful lest some of them might escape during the night, adopted the alterna- tive of beating every one of them so thoroughly that they were all found the next morning in the same places where they had been left the evening before. They were tried at Alten, the two ringleaders executed, and a number of the others sent to the penitentiary at Christiania. This sum- mary justice put a stop to all open and violent manifesta- tions of religious frenzy, but it still exists to some extent, though only indulged in secret. KAUTOKr.IN J. — A JAY WITHOUT a. SUN. 139 We paid a visit to Paster Hvoslef on Monday, and had the pleasure of his company to dinner in the evening. He is a Christian gentleman in the best sense of the term and though we differed in matters of belief, I was deeply im- pressed with his piety and sincerity. Madame Hvoslef and two rosy little Arctic blossoms shared his exile — for this ia nothing less than an exile to a man of cultivation and intel- lectual tastes. In his house I saw — the last thing one would have expected to find in the heart of Lapland — a piano. Madame Hvoslef, who is an accomplished performer, sat down to it, and gave us the barcarole from Massaniello. While in the midst of a maze of wild Norwegian melodies. I saw the Pastor whisper something in her ear. At once, to our infinite amazement, she boldly struck up " Yankee Doo- dle !" Something like an American war-whoop began to issue from Braisted's mouth, but was smothered in time to prevent an alarm. " How on earth did that air get into Lapland !" I asked. " I heard Ole Bull play it at Christi- ania,'' said Madame Hvoslef, " and learned it from memory afterwards." The weather changed oreatlv after our arrival. From 23° OCT * below zero on Sunday evening, it rose to 8^° above, on Mon- day night, with a furious hurricane of snow from the north We sent for our deer from the hills early on Tuesday morn- ing, in order to start on our return to Muoniovara. The Lapps, however, have an Oriental disregard of time, and ag there was no chance of our getting off before noon, we im proved part of the delay in visiting the native schools and some of the earthen huts, or, rather, dens, in which most of tht inhabitants live. There were two schools, each contain- 140 NORTHERN TRAVEL. ing about twenty scholars — fat, greasy j ^ungskrs, swaddled in reindeer skins, with blue eyes, light brown or yellow hair, and tawny red cheeks, wherever the original colour could be discerned. As the rooms were rather warm, the odour of Lapp childhood was not quite as fresh as a cowslip and we did not tarry long among them. Approaching the side of a pile of dirt covered with snow, we pushed one after another, against a small square door f hung at such a slant that it closed of itself, and entered an ante-den used as a store-room. Another similar door ush- ered us into the house, a rude, vaulted space, framed with poles,' sticks and reindeer hides, and covered compactly with earth, except a narrow opening in the top to let out the smoke from a fire kindled in the centre. Pieces of reindeer hide, dried flesh, bags of fat, and other articles, hung from the. frame and dangled against our heads as we entered. The den was not more than five feet high by about eight feet in diameter. The owner, a jolly, good-humoured Lapp, gave me a low wooden stool, while his wife, with a pipe in her mouth, squatted down on the hide which served for a bed and looked at me with amiable curiosit}'. 1 contemplated them for a while with my eyes full of tears (the smoke being very thick,) until finally both eyes and nose could endure no more, and I sought the open air again. THE RETURN TO MUONIO VARA. J4J CHAPTER XII. THE RETURN TO MUONIOVARA. While at Kautokeino I completed my Lapp outfit by purchasing a scarlet cap, stuffed with eider down, a pair of bcsllinger, or reindeer leggings, and the homager, or bread, boat-shaped shoes, filled with dry soft hay, and tightly bound around the ankles, which are worn by everybody in Lapland. Attired in these garments, I made a very passa- ble Lapp, barring a few superfluous inches of stature, and at once realized the prudence of conforming in one's cos- tume to the native habits. After the first feeling of awk- wardness is over, nothing can be better adapted to the Polar Winter than the Lapp dress. I walked about at first with the sensation of having each foot in the middle of a large feather bed, but my blood preserved its natural warmth even after sitting for hours in an open pulk. The baellinger, fastened around the thighs by drawing-strings of reindeer sinew, are so covered by the poesk that one becomes, for all practical purposes, a biped reindeer, and may wallow In the enow as much as he likes without the possibility of a par- ticle getting through his hide. The temperature was, nevertheless, singularly mild when 17 it 142 SOUTHERN TRAVEL we set out on our return. There had been a violent storm of wind and snow the previous night, after which the mer- cury rose to 16° above zero. We waited until noon before our reindeers could be collected, and then set off, with the kind farewell wishes of the four Norwegian inhabitants of the place. I confess to a feeling of relief when we turned our faces southward, and commenced our return to daylight. We had at last seen the Polar night, the day without a sun- rise ; we had driven our reindeer under the arches of the aurora borealis ; we had learned enough of the Lapps to convince us that further acquaintance would be of little profit ; and it now seemed time to attempt an escape from the limbo of Death into which we had ventured. Our faces had already begun to look pale and faded from three weeks of alternate darkness and twilight, but the novelty of our life preserved us from any feeling of depression and prevented any perceptible effect upon our bodily health, such as would assuredly have followed a protracted experience of the Arctic Winter. Every day now would bring us further over the steep northern shoulder of the Earth, and nearer to that great heart of life in the south, where her blood pul- sates with eternal warmth. Already there was a perceptible increase of the sun's altitude, and at noonday a thin upper slice of his disc was visible for about half an hour. By Herr Berger's advice, we engaged as guide to Lippa jarvi, a 1 ,app, who had formerly acted as postmnn, and pro- fessed to be able to find his way in the dark. The wind had blown so violently that it was probable we should have to break our own road for the whole distance. Leaving Kautokeino, we travelled up the valley of a frozen stream. THE RETURN TO MUONIOVARA. 14JJ towards desolate ranges of hills, or rather shelves of the table-land, running north- east and south-we3t. They were spotted with patches of stunted birch, hardly rising above the snow. Our deer were recruited, and we made very gooa progress while the twilight lasted. At some Lapp tents, where we stopped to make inquiries about the ice, I was inneh amused by the appearance of a group of children, who strikingly resembled bear-cubs standing on their hind legs. They were coated with reindeer hide from head to foot, with only a little full-moon of tawny red face visible. We stopped at Siepe an hour to bait the deer. The sin- gle wooden hut was crowded with Lapps, orie of whom, apparently the owner, spoke a little Norwegian. He know who we were, and asked me many questions about America. He was most anxious to know what was our religion, and what course the Government took with regard to different sects. He seemed a little surprised, and not less pleased, to hear that all varieties of belief were tolerated, and that no one sect possessed any peculiar privileges over another. (It is only very recently that dissenters from the Orthodox Church have been allowed to erect houses of worship in Norway.) While we were speaking on these matters, an old woman, kneeling near us, was muttering prayers to her- self, wringing her hands, sobbing, and giving other evidences of violent religious excitement. This appeared to be a common occurrence, as none of the Lapps took the slightest notice of it. I have no doubt that much of that hallucina- tion which led to the murders at Kautokeino still exists among the people, kept alive by secret indulgence. Those missionaries have much to answer for who have planted the IH NORTHERN TRAVEL. seeds of spiritual disease among this ignorant and inipressi» Die race. The night was cold and splendidly clear. We were obliged to leave the river on account of rotten ice, and took to the open plains, where our deers sank to their bellies in the loose snow. The leading animals became fractious, and we were obliged to stop every few minutes, until their paroxysms subsided. I could not perceive that the Lapps themselves exercised much more control over them than we, who were new to the business. The domesticated reindeer still retains his wild instincts, and never fails to protest against the necessity of labor. The most docile will fly from the track, plunge, face about and refuse to draw, when you least expect it. They are possessed by an incorrigible stupidity. Their sagacity applies only to their animal wants, and they seem almost totally deScient in memory. They never become attached to men, and the only sign of recognition they show, is sometimes to allow certain persons to catch them more easily than others. In point of speed they are not equal to the horee, and an hour's run generally exhausts them. 'When one considers their size, however, their strength and power of endurance seem marvellous. Herr Berger informed me that he had driven a reindeer from Alten to Kautokeino, 1 \2 miles, in twenty -six hours, and from the latter place to Muoniovara in thirty. I was also struck by the remarkable adaptation of the animal to its uses. Its hoof resembles that of the camel, being formed for snow, as the latter for sand. It is broad, cloven «nd flexible, the separate divisions spreading out so as to f i-CEcnt a resisting surface when the foot is set down, and THE RETURN TO MUONIOVARA. l.Jjj falling together when it is lifted. Thus in sniw whore a horse would founder in the space of a hundred yards, the deer easily works his way, mile after mile, drawing the 3liding, canoe-like pulk, burdened with his master's weight, after him. The Lapps generally treat their animals with the greatest patience and forbearance, but otherwise do not exhibit any particular attachment for them. They are indebted to them for food, clothing, habitation and conveyance, and their very existence may therefore almost be said to depend on that of their herds. It is surprising, however, what a num ber of deer are requisite for the support of a family. Von Buch says that a 1 ,app who has a hundred deer is poor, and will be finally driven to descend to the coast, and take to fishing. The does are never made to labour, but are kept in the woods for milking- and breeding:. Their milk is rich and nourishing, but less agreeable to the taste than that of the cow. The cheese made from it is strong and not par- ticularly palatable. It yields an oil which is the sovereign specific for frozen flesh. The male deer used for draft are always castrated, which operation the old Lapp women per- form by slowly chewing the glands between their teeth until they are reduced to a pulp, without wounding the hide. During this journey I had ample opportunity of fami liarising myself with reindeer travel. It is picturesque enough at the outset, but when the novelty of the thing is worn off nothing is left but a continual drain upon one's patience. Nothing can exceed the coolness with which your deer jumps off the track, slackens his tow-rope, turns around and looks you in the face, as much as to say : '•' What are I4G NORTHERS TRAVEL. you going to do about it?" The simplicity and stnpioitj of his countenance seem to you to be admirably feigned, and unless you are an old hand you are inevitably provoked This is particularly pleasant on the marshy table-lands ol Lapland, where, if he takes a notion to bolt with you, your pulk bounces over the hard tussocks, sheers sideways down the sudden pitches, or swamps itself in beds of loose snow. Harness a frisky sturgeon to a " dug-out,'' in a rough sea, and you will have some idea of this method of travelling. While I acknowledge the Providential disposition of things which has given the reindeer to the Lapp, I cannot avoid thanking Heaven that I am not a Lapp, and that 1 shall never travel again with reindeer. The aberrations of our deer obliged us to take a very sinuous course. Sometimes we headed north, and sometimes south, and the way seemed so long that I mistrusted the quality of our guide ; but at last a« light shone ahead. It was the hut of Eitajiirvi. A lot of pulks lay in front of it, and the old Finn stood already with a fir torch, waiting to light us in. On arriving, Anton was greeted by his sister Caroline, who had come thus far from Muoniovara, on her way to visit some relatives at Altengaard. She was in company with some Finns, who had left LippajJirvi the day previous, but losing their way in the storm, had wandered about for twenty-four hours, exposed to its full violence Think of an American girl of eighteen sitting in an open pulk, with the thermometer at zero, a. furious wind and blinding snow beating upon her, and neither rest nor food far a day ! There are few who would survive twelve hours. yet Carol ine was as fresh, lively, and cheerful as ever, and THE RETURN TO MUONIOVARA. 147 immediately set about cooking our supper. We found a fire in the cold guest's room, the place swept and cleaned, and a good bed of deer-skins in one corner. The tempera- ture had sunk to 12° below zero, and the wind blew through wide cracks in the floor, but between the fire and the recip- rocal warmth of our bodies we secured a comfortable sleep— a thing of the first consequence in such a climate. Our deer started well in the morning, and the Lapp guide knew his way perfectly. The wind had blown so strongly that the track was cleared rather than filled, and we slipped up the long slopes at a rapid rate. I recognised the narrow valley where we first struck the northern streams, and the snowy plain beyond, where our first Lapp guide lost his way. By this time it was beginning to grow lighter, showing us the dreary wastes of table-land which we had before crossed in the fog North of us was a plain of un- broken snow, extending to a level line on the horizon, where it met the dark violet sky. Were the colour changed, it would have perfectly represented the sandy plateaux of the Nubian Desert, in so many particulars does the extreme North imitate the extreme South. But the sun, which never deserts the desert, had not yet returned to these solitudes. Far, far away, on the edge of the sky, a dull red glimmer showed where he moved. Not the table-land of Pamir, in Thibet, the cradle of the Oxus and the Indus, but this lower Lapland terrace, is entitled to the designation of the " Roof of the World." We were on the summit, creeping along her mountain rafters, and looking southward, off her shel- ving eaves, to catch a glimpse of the light playing on her majontic front. Here, for once, we seemed to look down on 148 NORTHERN TBAVEL. the horizon, and I thought of Europe and the'Tropics afl lying below. Our journey northward had been an ascent but now the world's steep sloped downward before us into sunshine and warmer air. In ascending the Andes or the Himalayas, you pass through all climates and belts of vege- tation between the Equator and the Pole, and so a journey due north, beyond, the circle of the sun, simply reverses the phenomenon, and impresses one like the ascent of a mountaii on the grandest possible scale. In two hours from the time we left Eitajarvi we reached the I .app encampment. The herds of deer had been driven in from the woods, and were clustered among the birch bushes around the tents. We had some difficulty in getting our own deer past them, until the Lapps came to our assistance. We made no halt, but pushed on, through deeper snows than before, over the desolate plain. As far as Palajarvi we ran with our gunwales below the snow-level, while the foremost pulks were frequently swamped under the white waves that broke over them. We passed through a picturesque gorge between two hills about 500 feet high, and beyond it came upon wide lakes covered deep with snow, under which there was a tolerable track, which the leading deer was able to find with his feet. Beyond these lakes there was a ridge, which we had no sooner crossed than a dismally grand prospect opened before us. We overlooked a valley-basin, marked with belts of stunted birch, and stretching away for several miles to the foot of a bleak snowy mountain, which I at once recognised as Lippavara. After rounding its western point and turning southward again, we were rejoiced with the sight of some fir trees, from which the snow had been THE RETURN TO MUONIOVARA. ] 4g ihakcn, brightening even with their gloomy green the white monotony of the Lapland wilderness. It was like a sudden gleam of sunshine. We reached Lippajftrva at twelve, having made twenty- eight miles of hard travel in five hours. Here we stopped two hours to cook a meal and change our deer, and then pushed on to reach Palajoki the same -night. AVe drove through the birch woods, no longer glorious as before, for the snow had been shaken off, and there was no sunset light to transfigure them. Still on, ploughing through deep seas in the gathering darkness, over marshy plains, all with a slant southward, draining into the Muonio, until we reach- ed the birchen ridge of Suontajarvi, with its beautiful tirs rising here and there, silent and immovable. Even the trees have no voices in the North, let the wind blow as it will. There is nothing to be heard but the sharp whistle of the dry snow — the same dreary music which accompanies the African simoom. The night was very dark, and we began to grow exceedingly tired of sitting flat in our pulks. I looked sharp for the Palajock Elv, the high fir-fringed banks of which I remembered, for they denoted our approach to the Muonio ; but it was long, long before we descended from the marshes upon the winding road of snow-covered ice. In vain I shifted my aching legs and worked my be- numbed hands, looking out ahead for the embouchure of the river. Braisted arid I encouraged each other, whenever wc were near enough to hear, by the reminder that we had iinly one more day with reindeer. After a long time spent in this way, the high banks flattened, level snows and ffoodf succeeded, and we sailed into the port of Palajoki. 15(3 NORTHERN TRAVEL. The old Finnish lafy curtsied very deeply as she recog« tiised us, and hastened to cook our coffee and reindeer, and to make us a good bed with sheets. On our former visit the old lady and her sons had watched us undress and get into bed, but on this occasion three buxom daughters, of age? ranging from sixteen to twenty-two, appeared about the time for retiring, and stationed themselves in a row near the door, where they watched us with silent curiosity. As we had shown no hesitation in the first case, we determined to be equally courageous now, and commenced removing our gar- ments with great deliberation, allowing them every oppor- tunity of inspecting their fashion and the manner of wear- ing them. The work thus proceeded in mutual silence until we were nearly ready for Tepose, when Braisted, by pulling off a stocking and displaying a muscular calf, suddenly alarmed the youngest, who darted to the door and rushed out. The second caught the panic, and followed, and the third and oldest was therefore obliged to do likewise, though with evident reluctance. I was greatly amused at such an unsophisticated display of curiosity. The perfect compo- sure of the girls, and the steadiness with which they watch- ed us, showed that they were quite unconscious of having committed any impropriety. The morning was clear and cold. Our deer had strayed so far into the woods that we did not get under way before the forenoon twilight commenced. We expected to find a broken road down the Muonio, but a heavy snow had fallen the day previous, and the track was completely filled. Long Isaac found so much difficulty in taking the lead, his deel aonstantly bolting from the path, that Anton finally relieved THE RETURN TO MUONIOVARA 151 him, and by standing upright in the pulk and thumping the deer's flanks, succeeded in keeping up the animal's spirita and farcing a way. It was slow work, however, and the sun, rolling his whole disc above the horizon, announced mid- day before we reached Kyrkessuando. As we drove up to the little inn, we were boisterously welcomed by Hal, Herr Forstroni's brown wolf-dog, who had strayed thus far from home. Our deer were beginning to give out, and we were very anxious to reach Muoniovara in time for dinner, so we only waited long enough to give the animals a feed of moss and procure some hot milk for ourselves. The snow-storm, which had moved over a narrow belt of jcountry, had not extended below this place, and the road was consequently well broken. We urged our deer into a fast trot, and slid down the icy floor of the Muonio, past hills whose snoAVS flashed scarlet and rose-orange in the long splendour of sunset. Hunger and the fatigue which our journey was producing at last, made us extremely sensitive to the cold, though it was not more than 2(J° below zero. My blood became so chilled, that I was apprehensive the extremi- ties would freeze, and the most vigorous motion of the mus- cles barely sufficed to keep at bay the numbness which at- tacked them. At dusk we drove through Upper Muonioniska, and our impatience kept the reindeers so well in motion that before five o'clock (although long after dark,) we were climb- ing the well-known slope to Herr Forstrom's house at Mu- oniovara. Here we found the merchant, not yet departed tc the Lapp fair at Karessuando, and Mr. Wolley, who welcom ed us with the cordiality of an old friend. Our snug room it the carpenter's was already warmed and set in order, and [52 NORTHERN TRAVEL. after our reindeer drive of 250 miles through the wildest parts of Lapland, we felt a home-like sense of happiness and oomfort in smoking our pipes before the familiar iron stove. The trip to Kautokeino embraced about all I saw of Lapp life during the winter journey. The romance of the tribe, as I have already said, has totally departed with their con- version, while their habits of life scarcely improved in tha least, are sufficiently repulsive to prevent any closer experi- ence than I have had, unless the gain were greater. Mr. Wblley, who had been three years in Lapland, also informed me that the superstitious and picturesque traditions of the people have almost wholly disappeared, and the coarse mys- ticism and rant which they have engrafted upon their im- perfect Christianity does not differ materially from the same excrescence in more civilized races. They have not even (the better for them, it is true) any characteristic and picturesque vices — but have become, certainly to their own great advant- age, a pious, fanatical, moral, ignorant and commonplace people. I have described them exactly as I found them, and as they have been described to me by those who knew them well. The readers of " Afraja r ' may be a little disappoint- ed with the picture, as I confess I have been (in an artistic sense, only) with the reality ; but the Lapps have lost many vices with their poetic diablerie, and nobody has a right ti complain. It is a pity that many traits which are really characteris- tic and interesting in a people cannot be mentioned on ac- count of that morbid prudery so prevalent in our day, which insults the unconscious innocence of nature. Oh, that one could imitate the honest unreserve of the ola travellers — the THE RETURN TO MUONIVARA. ,53 conscientiousness which insisted on telling not jniy the truth, but the whole truth ! This is scarcely possible, now ; but at the same time I have not been willing to emasculate my ac- counts of the tribes of men to the extent perhaps required by our ultra-conventionalism, and must insist, now and then, on being allowed a little Flemish fidelity to nature. In the de- scription of races, as in the biography of individuals, the most important half of life is generally omitted. 154 NORTHERN TH.AVKL CHAPTER XIII. ABOUT THE FINNS. We remained but another day in Muoniovara, afttr out l stout boy of fourteen to drive our baggage-sled. Every ojw EXPERIENCES OF ARCTIC WEATHER. ] 73 we met had a face, either frozen, or about to freeze. Such a Succession of countenances, fiery red, purple, blue, black al most, with whi te frost spots, and surrounded with rings of icy hair and fur, 1 never saw before. We thanked God again and again that our faces were turned southward, and that the deadly wind was blowing on our backs. Wheu wo reached Korpykila, our boy's face, though solid and greasy as a bag of lard, was badly frozen. His nose was quite white and swollen, as if blistered by fire, and there were fro- zen blotches on both cheeks. The landlord rubbed the parts instantly with rum, and performed the same operation on our noses. On this day, for the firpt time in more than a month, we saw daylight, and I cannot describe how cheering was the effect of those pure, white, brilliant rays, in spite of the iron landscape they illumined. It was no longer the setting light of the level Arctic sun ; not the twilight gleams of shifting colour, beautiful, but dim ; not the faded, mock daylight which sometimes glimmered for a half-hour at noon ; but the true white, full, golden day, which we had almost for- gotten. So nearly, indeed, that I did not for some time sus- pect the cause of the unusual whiteness and brightness. Its effect upon the trees was superb. The twigs of the birch and the needles of the fir were coated with crystal, and sparkled like jets of jewels spouted up from the immaculate snow. The clumps of birches can be compared to nothing but frozen fountains — frozen in full action, with their show- ery sheaves of spray arrested before they fell. It was a won- derful, a fairy w )rld we beheld — too beautiful to be lifeless, but ?very face we met reminded us the more that this was 174 NORTHERS TRAVEL. the chill beauty of Death — of dead Nature. Death was in the sparkling air, in the jewelled trees, in the spotless snow. Take off your mitten, and his hand will grasp yours like a vice ; uncover your mouth, and your fr6zen lips will soon acknowledge his kiss; Even while I looked the same icy chills were running through my blood, precursors of that drowsy torpor which I was so anxious to avoid. But no : it would come, and 1 dozed until both hands became so stiff that it was barely possible to restore their powers of motion and feeling. It was not quite dark when we reached Kuckula, the last sta- tion, but thence to Haparanda our horses were old and lazy, and our postillion was a little boy, whose weak voice had no effect. Braisted kept his hands warm in jerking and urging, but I sat and froze. Village after village was passed, but we looked in vain for the lights of Tornea. We were thoroughly exhausted with our five days' battle against the dreadful cold, when at last a row of lights gleamed across the river, and we drove up to the inn. The landlord met us with just the same words as on the first visit, and, strange enough, put us into the same room, where the same old Norrland merchant was again quartered in the same stage of tifsiness. The kind Fredrika did not recognise us in our Lapp dresses, until I had unrobed, when she cried out in joyful surprise, " Why, y6u were here before!" We had been so completely chilled that it was a long time before any perceptible warmth returned. But a gener* ous meal, with a bottle of what was called "gaminal scherry' (though the Devil and his servants, the manufacturers of chemical wine?, only knew what it was), started the flagging .i'EIUEXCES OF ARCTIC WEATHER. 175 circulation. We then went to bed, tingling and stinging in every nerve from the departing cold. Every one complained of the severity of the weather, which, we were told, had not been equalled for many years past. But such a bed, and such a rest as 1 had ! Lying between clean sheets, with my feet buried in soft fur, I wallowed in a flood of downy, deli- cious sensations until sunrise. In the morning we ventured to wash our faces and brush our teeth for the first time in five days, put on clean shirts, and felt once more like re- sponsible beings. The natives never wash when the weather is so cold, and cautioned us against it. The wind had fallen out the mercury again froze at 47° below zero. Neverthe- less, we went out after breakfast to call upon Dr. Wretholm, and walk over the Tornea. The old Doctor was overjoyed to see us again. " Ah !" said he, " it is a good fortune that you have got back alive. When the weather was so cold, I thought of you, travelling over the Norwegian f jailer, and thought you must certainly be frozen to death." His wife was no less cordial in her welcome. They brought us ale and Swedish punch, with reindeer cheese for our frozen noses, and insisted on having their horse put into the sled to take us over to Tornea and bring us back to dinner. The doctor's boy drove us, facing the wind with our faces exposed, at — 42°, but one night's rest and good food enabled us to bear it without inconveni- ence. Tornea is a plain Swedish town, more compactly built than Haparanda, yet scarcely larger. The old church is rather picturesque, and there were some tolerable houses which appeared to be government buildings, but the only things particularly Russian which we noticed were a Cos- 176 NORTHERN TRAVEL. Back sentry, whose purple face showed that he was nearly frozen, and a guide-post with " 1 50 versts to Uleaborg" upon it. On returning to the Doctor's we found a meal ready, with a capital salad of frozen salmon, bouillon, ale, and coffee. The family were reading the Swedish transla- tion of " Dred" in the Aftonblad, and were interested in hearing some account of Mrs. Beecher Stowe. We had a most agreeable and interesting visit to these kind, simple- hearted people. I made a sunset sketch of Tornea. I proposed also t& draw Fredrika, but she at once refused, in great alarm. " Not for anything in the world," said she, " would I have it done !" What superstitious fears possessed her I could not discover. We made arrangements to start for Kiilix the next day, on our way to Stockholm. The extreme temperature still continued. The air was hazy with the frozen moisture — the smoke froze in solid masses — the snow was brittle and hard as metal — iron stuck like glue — in short, none of the signs of an Arctic winter were wanting. Nevertheless, we trusted to the day's rest and fatter fare on the road for strength to continue the battle. INCIDENT? OF THE RETURN JOURNEY \1J CHAPTER XV. INCIDENTS OF THE RETURN JOURN'ET. We left Haparanda on the 30th of January. After six days of true Arctic weather — severer than any registered by De Haven's expedition, during a winter in the polar ice — the temperature rose suddenly to 26° below zero We were happy and jolly at getting fairly started for Stockholm at last, and having such mild (!) weather to travel in. Tho difference in our sensations was remarkable. We could boldly bare our faces and look about us ; our feet kept warm and glowing, and we felt no more the hazardous chill and torpor of the preceding days. On the second stage the winter road crossed an arm of the Bothnian Gulf. The path was well marked out with fir-trees — a pretty avenue, four or five miles in length, over the broad, white plain. On the way we saw an eruption of the ice, which had been violently thrown up by the confined air. Masses three feet thick and solid as granite were burst asunder and piled atop of each other. We travelled too fast this day for the proper enjoymen of the wonderful scenery on the road. I thought I had ex- hausted my admiration of these winter forests — but no, 178 NORTHERN TRAVEL. miracles will never cease. Such fountains, candelabra Gothic pinnacles, tufts of plumes, colossal sprays of coral, and the embodiments of the fairy pencillings of frost on window panes, wrought in crystal and silver, are beyond the power of pen or pencil. It was a wilderness of beauty ; we knew not where to look, nor which forms to choose, in the dazzling confusion. Silent and all unmoved by the wind they stood, sharp and brittle as of virgin ore — not trees of earth, but the glorified forests of All-Father Odin's paradise, the celestial city of Asgaard. No living forms of vegetation are so lovely. Tropical palms, the tree-ferns of Penang, the lotus of Indian rivers, the feathery bamboo, the arrowy areca — what are they beside these marvellous growths of winter, these shining sprays of pearl, ivory and opal, gleaming in the soft orange light of the Arctic sun ? At Siingis we met a handsome young fellow with a mous- tache, who proved to be the Ldnsman of Kalix. I was surprised to find that he knew all about us. He wondered at our coming here north, when we might stay at home thought once would be enough for us, and had himself been no further than Stockholm. I recognised our approach to Nftsby by the barrels set in the snow — an ingenious plan of marking the road in places where the snow drifts, as the wind creates a whirl or eddy around them. We were glad to see Nftsby and its two-story inn once more. The pleasant little hand-maiden smiled all over her face when she saw ua again. Nftsby is a crack place: the horses were ready at once, and fine creatures they were, taking us up the Kalix to Mansbyn, eight miles in one hour. The road was hard as a rock and smooth as a table, from much ploughing and rolling INCIDENTS OF THE RETURN JOURNEY. 179 The next day was dark and lowering, threatening snow, with a raw wind from the north-west, and an average tem- perature of 15° below zero. We turned the north-western corner of the Bothnian Gulf in the afternoon, and pushed on to Old Lulea by supper-time. At Perso, on the journey north, I had forgotten my cigar-case, an old, familiar friend of some years' standing, and was overjoyed to find that the servaut-girl had carefully preserved it, thinking ' I might return some day. We drove through the streets of empty stables and past' the massive church of Old Lulea, to the inn, where we had before met the surly landlord. There he was again, and the house was full, as the first time. However we obtained the promise of a bed in the large room, and meanwhile walked up and down to keep ourselves warm. The guests' rooms were filled with gentlemen of the neigh borhood, smoking and carousing. After an hour had passed, a tall, handsome, strong fellow came out of the rooms, and informed us that as we were strangers he would give up the room to us and seek lodgings elsewhere. He had drunk just enough to be mellow and happy, and insisted on delaying his own supper to let us eat first. Who should come along at this juncture but the young fellow we had 3een in company with Brother Horton at Mansbyn, who hailed us with: "Thank you for the last time!" With him was a very gentlemanly man who spoke English. They were both ac- companied by ladies, and were returning from the ball of Pitea. The guests all treated us with great courtesy and respect, and the landlord retired and showed his surly face no more. Our first friend informed me that he had been born and brought up in the neighborhood, but could not re- collect such a severe winter. 180 NORTHERN TRAVEL. As we descended upon the Lulea River in the morning we met ten sleighs coming; from the ball. The horses were all in requisition at the various stations, but an extra supply had been provided, and we were not detained anywhere The Norrland sleds are so long that a man may place his baggage in the front part and lie down at full length behind it. A high back shields the traveller from the wind, and upon a step in the rear stands the driver, with a pair of rein as long as a main-top-bowline, in order to reach the horse, who is at the opposite end of a very long pair of shafts. In these sleds one may travel with much comfort, and less dan- ger of overturning, though not so great speed as in the short, light, open frames we bought in Sundsvall. The latter are seldom seen so far north, and were a frequent object of curiosity to the peasants at the stations. There is also a sled with a body something like a Hansom cab, entirely closed, with a window in front, but they are heavy, easily overturned, and only fit for luxurious travellers. We approached Pitea at sunset. The view over the broad embouchure of the river, studded with islands, was quite picturesque, and the town itself, scattered along the shore and over the slopes of the hills made a fair appearance. It reminded me somewhat of a small New-England country town, with its square frame houses and an occasional garden. Here I was rejoiced by the sight of a cherry-tree, the most northern fruit-tree which I saw. On our way up, we thought Pitea, at night and in a snow-storm, next door to the North Pole. Now, 'coming from the north, seeing its snowy hills and house-roofs rosy with the glow of sur.set, it was warm and southern by contrast. The four principal towns 0/ INCIDENTS OF THE RETURN JOURNEY. J81 West and North Bothnia are thus characterised in an old verse of Swedish doggerel : Umea, the fine ; Piteii, the needle-making ; Lulea, the lazy ; and in Tornea, every' body gets drunk. We took some refreshment, pushed on and reached Abyn between nine and ten o'clock, having travelled seventy miles since morning. The sleighing was superb. How ] longed for a dashing American cutter, with a span of fast horses, a dozen strings of bells and an ebony driver ! Such a turn- out would rather astonish the northern solitudes, and the slow, quaint northern population The next day we had a temperature of 2° above zero, with snow falling, but suc- ceeded iu reaching Skelleftea for breakfast. For the last two or three miles we travelled along a hill side overlooking a broad, beautiful valley, cleared and divided into cultivated fields, and thickly sprinkled with villages and farm-houses. Skelleftea itself made an imposing appearance, as the lofty dome of its Grecian church came in sight around the shoul- der of the hill. We took the wrong road, and in turning about split one of our shafts, but Braisted served it with some spare rope, using the hatchet-handle as a marlingspike, so that it held stoutly all the rest of the way to Stock- holm. We went on to Burea that night, and the next day to Djekneboda, sixty miles farther. The temperature fluctu- ated about the region of zero, with a heavy sky and light snow-falls. As we proceeded southward the forests becamo larger, and the trees began to show a dark green foliage where the wind had blown away the snow, which was re- freshing to see, after the black or dark indigo hue they wear 9 182 NORTHERN TRAVEL. farther north. On the 4th of February, at noon, we pass* ed through Umea, and congratulated ourselves on getting below the southern limit of the Lapland climate. Thers is nothing to say about these towns ; they are mere village? with le3s than a thousand inhabitants each, and no peculiar interest, either local or historical, attaching to any of them Wc have slept in Lulea, and Pitea, and dined in Umea, — and further my journal saith not. The 5th, however, was a day to be noticed. We started from Angersjo, with a violent snow storm blowing in our teeth — thermometer at zero. Our road entered the hilly country of Norrland, where we found green forests, beauti- ful little dells, pleasant valleys, and ash and beech inter- mingled with the monotonous but graceful purple birch. We were overwhelmed with gusts of fine snow shaken from the trees as we passed. Blinding white clouds swept the road, and once again we heard the howl of the wind amone boughs that were free to toss. At Afwa, which we reached at one o'clock, we found a pale, weak, sickly young Swede, with faded moustaches, who had decided to remain there until next day. This circumstance induced us to go on, but after we had waited half an hour and were preparing to start, the weather being now ten times worse than before, he announced his resolution to start also. He had drunk four large glasses of milk and two cups of coffee during the half hour. We went ahead, breaking through drifts of loose snow which overtopped our sleds, and lashed by the furious wind, which drove full in our faces. There were two or three plows at work but we had no benefit from them, so long as INCIDENTS OF THE RETURN" JOURNEY. Jg3 we were not directly in their wake. Up and down went our way, over dark hills and through valleys wild with the storm, and ending in chaos as they opened toward the Botli- nian Gulf. Hour after hour passed by, the storm still in- creased, and the snow beat in our eyes so that we were com- pletely blinded. It was impossible to keep them open, and yet the moment we shut thein the lashes began to freeze to- gether. I had a heavy weight of ice on my lids, and long icicles depending from every corner of my beard. Yet our frozen noses appeared to be much improved by the exposure, and began to give promise of healing without leaving a red blotch as a lasting record of what they had endured. We finally gave up all attempts to see or to guide the horse, but plunged along at random through the chaos, until the pos- tillion piloted our baggage-sled into the inn-yard of Onska, and our horse followed it. The Swede was close upon our heels, but 1 engaged a separate room, so that we were freed from the depressing influence of his company. He may have been the best fellow in the world, so far as his heart was con- cerned, but was too weak in the knees to be an agreeable as- sociate. There was no more stiffness of fibre in him than in a wet towel, and I would as soon wear a damp shirt as live in the same room with such a man. After all, it is not strange that one prefers nerve and energy, even when they are dashed with a flavour of vice, to the negative virtue? 'if a character too weak and insipid to be tempted. Our inn, in this little Norrland village, was about :is comfortable and as elegant as three-fourths of the hotels in Stockholm. The rooms were well furnished ; none of the usual appliances were wanting; the attendance was all that 184 NORTHERN TRAVEL. could be desired ; the fare good and abundant, and the charges less than half of what would be demanded in the capital. Yet Stockholm, small as it is, claims to be for Sweden what Paris is to France, and its inhabitants look with an eye of compassion on those of the provinces. Norr- Iand, in spite of its long winter, has a bracing, healthy cli- mate, and had it not been for letters from home, facilities tor studying Swedish, occasional recreation and the other attractions of a capital, I should have preferred waiting in some of those wild valleys for the spring to open. The peo- ple, notwithstanding their seclusion from the world, have a brighter and more intelligent look than the peasants of Upp- land, and were there a liberal system of common school edu- cation in Sweden, the raw material here might be worked up into products alike honourable and useful to the coun- try. The Norrlanders seem to me to possess an indolent, al- most phlegmatic tempo, amont, and yet there are few who dc not show a latent capacity for exertion. The latter trait, perhaps, is the true core and substance of their nature; tho former is an overgrowth resulting from habits and circum- stances. Like the peasants, or rather small farmers, further north, they are exposed to the risk of seeing their summer's labours rendered fruitless by a single night of frost. Such a catastrophe, which no amount of industry and foresight can prevent, recurring frequently (perhaps once in three years on an average), makes them indifferent, if not reck- less ; while that patience and cheerfulness which is an in- tegral part of the Scandinavian as of the Saxon character, renders them contented and unrepining under such repeated INCIDENTS OF THE RETURN JOURNEY. )g«J disappointments. There is the stuff here for a noble peo« pie, although nature and a long course of neglect and mis« rule have done their best to destroy it. The Norrlanders live simply, perhaps frugally, but there seems to be little real destitution among them. "We saw sometimes in front of a church, a representation of a beg- gar with his hat in his hand, under which was an iron box, with an appeal to travellers to drop something in for the poor of the parish ; but of actual beggars we found none. The houses, although small, are warm and substantial, mostly with double windows, and a little vestibule in front of the door, to create an intermediate temperature between the outer and inner air. The beds, even in many of the inns are in the family room, but during the day are either con- verted into sofas or narrow frames which occupy but little space. At night, the bedstead is drawn out to the required breadth, single or double, as may be desired. The family room is always covered with a strong home-made rag car- pet, the walls generally hung with colored prints and litho- graphs, illustrating religion or royalty, and as many green- house plants as the owner can afford to decorate the windows. I have seen, even beyond Umea, some fine specimens of cac- tus, pelargonium, calla, and other exotics. It is singular that, with the universal passion of the Swedes for flo'.vers and for music, they have produced no distinguished painters or composers — but, indeed, a Linnaeus. We spent the evening cosily in the stately inn's best room, with its white curtains, polished floor, and beds of sumptuous linen. The great clipper-plows were out early in the morn- ing, to cut a path through the drifts of the storm, but it was 186 SOUTHERN TRAVEL. nearly noon before the road was sufficiently cleared to ena- ble us to travel. The temperature, by contrast with what we had so recently endured, seemed almost tropical— actually 125° above zero, with a soft, southern breeze, and patches oi brilliant blue sky between the parting clouds. Our deliv- erance from the Arctic cold was complete. CONCLUSION OF THE ARCTIC TRIP \&] CHAPTER XVI. CONCLUSION OF THE ARCTIC TRIP. On leaving Onska, we experienced considerable delay on account of the storm. The ■ roads were drifted to such an extent that even the ploughs could not be passed through in many places, and the peasants were obliged to work with their broad wooden spades. The sky, however, was wholly clear and of a pure daylight blue, such as we had not seen for two months. The sun rode high in the firmament, like a strong healthy sun again, with some warmth in his beams as they struck our faces, and the air was all mildness and balm. It was heavenly, after our Arctic life. The country, too, boldly undulating, with fir-forested hills, green and warm in the sunshine, and wild, picturesque valleys sunk between, shining in their covering of snow, charmed us com- pletely. Again we saw the soft blue of the distant ranges as they melted away behind each other, suggesting space, and light, and warmth. Give me daylight and sunshine, after all ! Our Arctic trip seems like a long, long night full of splendid dreams, but yet night and not day. On the road, we bought a quantity of the linen handker- jhiefs of the country, at prices varying from twenty-five to FS8 NORTHERN TRAVIX. forty cents a piece, according to the size and quality. Tha bedding, in all the inns, was of home-made linen, and I do not recollect an instance where it was not brought out, fresh and sweet from the press, for us. In this, as in all other household arrangements, the people are very tidy and cleanly though a little deficient as regards their own persons. Their clothing, however, is of a healthy substantial character, and the women consult comfort rather than ornament. Many of them wear cloth pantaloons under their petticoats, which, therefore, they are able to gather under their arms in wading through snow-drifts. 1 did not see a low-necked dress or a thin shoe north of Stockholm. " The damsel who trips at daybreak Is shod like a mountaineer." Yet a sensible man would sooner take such a damsel to wife than any delicate Cinderella of the ball-room. I protest I lose all patience when I think of the habits of our Ameri- can women, especially our country girls. If ever the Saxon race does deteriorate on our side of the Atlantic, as some ethnologists anticipate, it will be wholly their fault. We stopped for the night at Homas, and had a charming ride the next day among the hills and along the inlets of the Gulf. The same bold, picturesque scenery, which had ap- peared so dark and forbidding to us on our way north, now, under the spring-like sky, cheered and inspired us. At the Btation of Docksta, we found the peasant girls scrubbing (he outer steps, barefooted. At night, we occupied our old quarters at Weda, on the Angermann river. The next morn- ing the temperature was 25° above zero, and at noon rose to 39' - . It was delightful to travel once more with cap-lappete CONCLUSION OF THE ARCTIC TRIP. 189 turned up, fur collar turned down, face and neck free, and hands bare. On our second stage we had an overgrown, in- solent boy for postillion, who persisted in driving slow, and refused to let us pass him. He finally became impertinent, whereupon Braisted ran forward and turned his horse out of the road, so that I could drive past. The boy then seized my horse by the head ; B. pitched him into a snow-bank, and we took the lead. We had not gone far before we took the road to Hernosand, through mistake, and afterwards kept it through spite, thus adding about seven miles to our day's journey. A stretch of magnificent dark-green forests brought us to a narrow strait which separates the island of Hernosand from the main land. The ice was already soft- ening, and the upper layer repeatedly broke through under us. Hernosand is a pretty town, of about 2000 inhabitants, with a considerable commerce. It is also the capital of the most northern bishopric of Sweden. The church, on an eminence above the town, is, next to that of Skelef'tea, the finest we saw in the north. We took a walk while break- fast was preparing, and in the space of twenty minutes saw all there was to be seen. By leaving-the regular road, how- ever, we had incurred a delay of two hours, which did not add to our amiability. Therefore, when the postillion, fu- riously angry now as well as insolent, came in to threaten us with legal prosecution in case we did not pay him heavy damages for what he called an assault, I cut the discussior short by driving him out of the room, and that was the last we saw of him. We reached Fjal as the moon rose, — a globe of silver fire in a perfect violet sky. Two merry boys, 190 SOUTHERN TRAVEL. who sang and shouted the whole way, drove us like the wind around the bay to Wifsta. The moonlight was as bright as the Arctic noonday, and the snowy landscape flash- ed and glittered under its resplendent shower. From the last hill we saw Sundsvall, which lay beneath us, with ita wintry roofs, like a city of ivory and crystal, shining for us with the fairy promise of a warm supper and a good bed. On the 9th, we drove along the shores of the magnificent bay of Sundsvall. Six vessels lay frozen in, at a consider- able distance from the town. Near the southern extremity of the bay, we passed the village of Svartvik, which, the postillion informed us, is all owned by one person, who car- ries on ship-building. The appearance of the place justifi- ed his statements. The labourers' houses were mostly new, all built on precisely the same model, and with an unusual air of comfort and neatness. In the centre of the village stood a handsome white church, with a clock tower, and near it the parsonage and school-house. At the foot of the slope were the yards, where several vessels were on the stocks, and a number of sturdy workmen busy at their several tasks. There was an air of " associated labour" and the " model lodging-house'' about the whole place, which was truly re- freshing to behold, except a touch of barren utilitarianism in the cutting away of the graceful firs left from the forest and thus depriving the houses of all shade and ornament. We met many wood-teams, hauling knees and spars, and were sorely troubled to get out of their way. Beyond th6 bay, the hills of Norrland ceased, sinking into those broad monotonous u:id illations- which extend nearly all the way to CONCLUSION OP THE ARCTIC TRIP. ]§1 Stockholm. Gardens with thriving fruit-trees now began to he more frequent, giving evidence of a climate where mat has a right to live. I doubt whether it was ever meant that the human race should settle in any zone so frigid that fruit cannot ripen. Thenceforth we had the roughest roads which were ever made upon a foundation of snow. The increase in travel and in the temperature of the air, and most of all, the short, loosely-attached sleds used to support the ship-timber, had worn them into a succession of holes, channels, and troughs, in and out of which we thumped from morning till night. On going down hill, the violent shocks frequently threw our runners completely into the air, and the wrench was so great that it was a miracle how the sled escaped frac- ture. All the joints, it is true, began to work apart, and the ash shafts bent in the most ticklish way ; but the rough lit- tle conveyance which had already done us such hard service held out gallantly to the end. We reached Mo Myskie on the second night after leaving Sundsvall, and I was greeted with " Salaam aleikoom, pa Sidi ! " from the jolly old Tripolitan landlord. There was an unusual amount of travel northward on the following day, rnd we were detain- ed at every station, so that it was nearly midnight before we reached the extortionate inn at Gcfle. The morning dawned with a snow-stonn, but we were within 120 miles oi Stockholm, and drove in the teeth of it to Elf karleby. The renowned cascades of the Dal were by no means what I ex- pected, but it was at least a satisfaction to see living water, after the silent rivers and fettered rapids of the North. The snow was now getting rapidly thinner. So scant [92 NORTHERN TRAVEL. was it on the exposed Upsala plain that we fully jxpected being obliged to leave our sleds on the way. Even before reaching Upsala, our postillions chose the less-travelled field-roads whenever they led in the same direction, and beyond that town we were charged additional post-money for the circuits we were obliged to make to keep our runners on the snow. On the evening of the 13th we reached Rotebro, only fourteen miles from Stockholm, and the next morning, in splendid sunshine, drove past Haga park and palace, into the INorth-Gate, down the long Drottninggatan and up to Kahn's Hotel, where we presented our sleds to the valel-de-place, pulled off our heavy boots, threw aside our furs for the remainder of the winter, and sat down to read the pile of letters and papers which Herr Kahn brought us. It was precisely two months since our departure in December, and in that time we had performed a journey of 2200 miles, 250 of which were by reindeer, and nearly 500 inside of the Arctic Circle. Our frozen noses had peeled off, and the new skin showed no signs of the damage they had sustained — so that we had come out of the fight not only without a scar, but with a marked increase of robust vitality. I must confess, however, that, interesting as was the journey, and happily as we endured its exposures, I should not wish to make it again. It is well to see the North, even after the South ; but, as there is no one who visits the tropics without longing ever after to return again, so, I im- agine, there is no one who, having once seen a winter inside the Arctic Circle, would ever wish to see another. In spite uf the warm, gorgeous, and ever-changing play of colour CONCLUSION OF THE ARCTIC TRIP. 1"93 hovering over the path of the unseen sun, in spite of the dazzling auroral dances and the magical transfiguration of the forests, the absence of true daylight and of all signs of warmth and life exercises at last a depressing influence on the spirits. The snow, sc beautiful while the sunrise setting illumination lasts, wears a ghastly monotony at all other times, and the air, so exhilarating, even at the lowest tem- perature, becomes an enemy to be kept out, when you know its terrible power to benumb and destroy. To the native of a warmer zone, this presence of an unseen destructive force in nature weighs like a nightmare upon the mind. The inhabitants of the North also seem to undergo a species of hibernation, as well as the animals. Nearly half their time is passed in 3leep ; they are silent in comparison with the natives of the other parts of the world; there is little ex- uberant gaiety and cheerfulness, but patience, indifference, apathy almost. Aspects of nature which appear to be hos- tile to man, often develop and bring into play his best energies, but there are others which depress and paralyse hi3 powers. I am convinced that the extreme North, like the Tropics, is unfavourable to the best mental and physical condition of the human race. The proper zone of man lies between 30° and 55° North. To one who has not an unusual capacity to enjoy the experiences of varied travel, 1 should not recommend such a journey. With me, the realization of a long-cherished desire, the sense of novelty, the opportunity for contrasting extremes, and the interest with which the people inspire-! me, far outweighed all inconveniences and privations. In fact, 1 was n:>t fully aware of the gloom and cold in which I had 194 NORTHERN TRAVEL. lived until we returned far enough southward to trtjoy eigli* hours of sunshine, and a temperature above the freezing point. It was a second birth into a living world. Al- though we had experienced little positive suffering from the intense cold, except on the return from Muoniovara to Ha- paranda, our bodies had already accommodated themselves to a low temperature, and the sudden transition to 30° above zero came upon us like the warmth of June. My friend, Dr. Kane, once described to me the comfort he felt when the mercury rose to 7° below zero, making it pleasant to be on deck. The circumstance was then incomprehensible to me, but is now quite plain. I can also the better realise the terrible sufferings of himself and his men, exposed to a storm in a temperature of— 47°, when the same degree of cold, with a very light wind, turned my own blood to ice. Moat of our physical sensations are relative, and the mere enumeration of so many degrees of heat or cold gives no idea of their effect upon the system. I should have frozen at home in a temperature which I found very comfortable in Lapland, with my solid diet of meat and butter, and my garments of reindeer. The following is a correct scale of the physical effect of cold, calculated for the latitude of 65° to 70° North : 1 5° above zero — Unpleasantly warm. Zero — Mild and agreeable. 10° below zero — Pleasantly fresh and bracing 20° below zero —Sharp, but not severely cold. Keep your fingers and toes in motion, and rub your nose occasionally. 30° below zero — Very cold ; take particular care of youi nose and extremities: eat the fattest food, and plenty of it CONCLUSION OF THE ARCTIC TRIP. 195 40° below — Intensely cold ; keep awake at all hazards, muffle up to the eyes, and test your circulation frequently, that it may not stop somewhere before you know it. 50° below- -A struggle for life. * We kept a record of the temperature from the time we left SundsraL (Dec. 21 ) until our return to Stockholm. As a matter of interest, I sub join it, changing the degrees from Reaumur to Fahrenheit. We tested the thermometer repeatedly on the way, and found it very generally re- liable, although in extremely low temperature it showed from one to two degrees more than a spirit thermometer. The observations were taken at from 9 to 8 A. M., 12 to 2 P. M., and 7 to 11 P. M , whenever it was possible. Morning. Noon, Evening. December 21 . + 6 .. zero. tt 22 . + 6 .. — 3 ii 23 . —22 —29 —22 i« 24 . — 6 —22 —22 c« 25 . —35 —38 mer. frozen u 26 . —30 —24 —31 »< 27 (storm) —18 —18 —1? it 28 [storm) zero. zero. zero. —13 —22 tt 31 [storm) — 3 + 9 + 9 January 1, 1857 + 3 + 3 + 3 tt* 2 . — 6 — 6 — 6 it 3 , —30 —22 —22 u 4 . —18 .. —22 u 5 . —31 —30 —33 u 6 . —20 — 4 zero. « 7 . + 4 +18 +25 u 8 +18 .. —11 u 9 —28 —44 —44 « 10 [storm) — 5 .. — 2 u 11 (storm) — 2 zero. — 5 liMi KORTIIEIIN TRAVEL. January FaVuary Morning. Noon, Evenlmq. 12, 1857 (stoim) — 5 — 4 — 4 13 (storm) + 5 + 5 + 5 14 — 6 —13 — 6 15 — 8 —13 - 33 IG • . — 9 —10 -11 17 (fog) zero. zero. zero. 18 —10 —18 —23 19 (storm) — 3 — 3 — 9 20 +20 .- + 6 21 — 4 zero. zero. 22 + 2 — 6 —13 23 —13 — 3 —13 24 —15 —22 —44 25 mer. froz. —50? —42 mer. frozen 26 —45 —35 —39 27 . fi ozen —47 ? —45 —35 28 . ft ozen — 49 ? —47 —44 29 —477 —43 -^13 30 —27 —11 —35 31 —17 -16 — 7 1 zero. — 9 —13 2 + 2 + 6 zero. 3 zero. zero. zero. 4 — 9 zero. — 3 5 (storm) + 3 + 3 + 3 6 +25 +25 +13 7 + 14 + 18 +25 8 +25 +39 +22 9 + 5 +22 + 16 10 +25 +37 +37 11 +34 +34 +33 12 +32 +37 +23 13 +16 +30 421 14 +25 +30 +25 LIFE IN STOCKHOLM. 1 97 CHAPTER XVII. LIFE IN STOCKHOLM. The Swedes are proud of Stockholm, and justly so. No European capital, except Constantinople, can boast such pic- turesque beauty of position, and none whatever affords so threat a range of shifting yet ever lovely aspects. Travel- lers are fond of calling it, in the imitative nomenclature of commonplace, the "Venice of the North" — but it is no Ven- ice. It is not that swan of the Adriatic, singing her death- song in the purple sunset, but a northern eaglet, nested on the islands and rocky shores of the pale green Malar lake. The Stad, or city proper, occupies three islands, which lie in the mouth of the narrow strait, by which the waters of the lake, after having come a hundred miles from the west- ward, and washed in their course the shores of thirteen hun- dred islands, pour themselves into the outer archipelago which is claimed by the Baltic Sea. On the largest of these islands, according to tradition, Agne, King of Sweden, was strangled with his own golden chain, by the Finnish princess Skiolfa, whom he had taken prisoner. This was Sixteen hundred years ago, and a thousand years later, Bir lV8 NORTHERN TRAVEL ger Jarl, on the same spot, built the stronghold which was the seed out of which Stockholm has grown. This island, and the adjoining Riddarholm, or Island of the Knights, contain all the ancient historic landmarks of the city, and nearly nil of its most remarkable buildings The towers of the Storkyrka and the Riddarholm's Church lift themselves high into the air ; the dark red mass of the Riddarhus, or House of Nobles, and the white turrets and quadrangles of the penitentiary are conspicuous among the old white, tile-roofed blocks of houses ; while, rising above the whole, the most prominent object in every view of Stockholm, is the Slot, or Royal Palace. This is one of the noblest royal residences in Europe. Standing on an im- mense basement terrace of granite, its grand quadrangle of between three and four hundred feet square, with wings -(re- sembling, in general design, the Pitti Palace at Florence), is elevated quite above the rest of the city, which it crowns as with a mural diadem. The chaste and simple majesty of this edifice, and its admirable proportions, are a perpetual gratification to the eye. which is always drawn to it, as a central point, and thereby prevented from dwelling on what- ever inharmonious or unsightly features there may be in the general view. Splendid bridges of granite connect the island with the northern and southern suburbs, each of which is much greater n extent than the city proper. The palace fronts directly upon the Norrbro, or Northern Bridge, the great thorough fare of Stockholm, which leads to the Square of Gustavus Adolphus, flanked on either side by the palace of the Grown Prince and the Opera House. The northern suburb is the LIFE IN STOCKHOLM. J 99 fashi mable quarter, containing all the newest 3trects and the handsomest private residences. The ground rises grad- ually from the water, and as very little attention is paid to grading, the streets follow the undulations of the low Hills over which they spread, rising to the windmills on the outer heights and sinking into the hollows between. The southern suburb, however, is a single long hill, up the steep side of which the houses climb, row after row, until they reach the Church of St. Catherine, which crowns the very summit. In front of the city (that is eastward, and toward the Baltic), lie two other islands, connected by bridges with the north- ern suburb. Still beyond is the Djurgard, or Deer-Park, a singularly picturesque island, nearly the whole of which ig occupied by a public park, and the summer villas of the wealthy Stockholmers. Its natural advantages are superior to those of any other park in Europe. Even in April, when there was scarcely a sign of spring, its cliffs of grey rock, its rolling lawns of brown grass, and its venerable oaks, with their iron trunks and gnarled, contorted boughs, with blue glimpses of ice-free water on all sides, attracted hundreds of visitors daily. The streets of Stockholm are, with but two or three ex- ceptions, narrow and badly paved. The municipal regula- tions in regard to them appear to be sadly deficient. They are quite as filthy as those of New- York, and the American reader will therefore have some idea of their horrid condi tion. A few trottoirs have been recently introduced, but even in the Drottning-gatan, the principal street, they are barely wid< enough for two persons to walk abreast. The pavements are rough, slipperry, and dangerous both to man 200 NORTHERN TRAVEL. and beast. I have no doubt that the great number of crip pies in Stockholm is owing to this cause. On the other hand, the houses are models of solidity and stability. They are all of stone, or brick stuccoed over, with staircases oi stone or iron, wood being prohibited by law, and roofs of copper, slate or tiles. In fact, the Swedes have singularly luxurious ideas concerning roofs, spending much more money upon them, proportionately, than on the house itself. You even see wooden shanties with copper roofs, got up regardless of expense. The houses are well lighted (which is quite necessary in the dark streets), and supplied with double windows against the cold. The air-tight Russian stove is universal. It has the advantage of keeping up sufficient warmth with a very small supply of fuel, but at the expense of ventilation. I find nothing yet equal to the old fashioned fire-place in this respect, though I must confess I prefer the Russian stove to our hot-air furnaces. Carpets are very common in Sweden, and thus the dwellings have an air of warmth and comfort which is not found in Germany and other parts of the Continent. The arrangements for sleep- ing and washing are tolerable, though scanty, as compared with England, but the cleanliness of Swedish houses makes amends for many deficiencies. The manner of living in Stockholm, nevertheless, is not very agreeable to the stranger. There is no hotel, except Kahn's, where one can obtain both beds and meals. The practice is to hire rooms, generally with the privilege of hav- ing your coffee in the morning, and to get your meals at a restaurant, of which there are many, tolerably cheap and not particularly good. Even Davison's, the best and most LIFE IN STOCKHOLM. 201 fashionable, has but an ordinary cuisine. Rooms are quite dear — particularly during our sojourn, when the Diet wag in session and the city crowded with country visitors — and the inclusive expenses of living were equal to Berlin and greater than in Paris. 1 found that it cost just about as much to be stationary here, as to travel with post-horses in the Northern provinces. The Swedes generally have a cup of coffee on getting out of bed, or before, a substantial breakfast at nine, dinner at three, and tea in the evening. The wealthier families dine an hour or two later, but the crowds at the restaurants indicate the prevailing time. Din- ner, and frequently breakfast, is prefaced with a smtirgas (butter-goose), consisting of anchovies, pickled herrings, cheese and brandy. Soup which is generally sweet, comes in the middle and sometimes at the end of dinner, and the universal dessert is. preserved fruit covered with whipped cream. I have had occasion to notice the fondness of the Swedes for sugar, which some persons seem to apply to al- most every dish, except fish and oysters. I have often seen them season crab soup with powdered sugar. A favorite dish is raw salmon, buried in the earth until it is quite sod- den — a great delicacy, they say, but I have not yet been hungry enough to eat it. Meat, which is abundant, ia rarely properly cooked, and game, of which Sweden has a great variety, is injured by being swamped in sauces. He must be very fastidious, however, who cannot live passably well in Stockholm, especially if he has frequent invitations to dine with private families, many of whom have very ex lellent cooks. My Swedish friends all said, " You should see Stockholm 202 NORTHERN TRAVEL. in summer ! You have passed the worst part of the whole year among us, and you leave just when our fine days begin." I needed no assurance, however, of the summer charm of the place. In those long, golden evenings, which give place to an unfading twilight, when the birch is a network of silver and green, and the meadows are sown with the bright wild liowers of the North, those labyrinths of land and water must be truly enchanting. But were the glories of the Northern Summer increased tenfold, I could not make my home where 6uch a price must be paid for tbem. From the time of our arrival, in February, until towards the close of April, the weather was of that kind which aggravates one to the loss of all patience. We had dull, raw, cloudy skies, a penetrating, unnerving, and depressing atmosphere, mud under foot, alternating with slushy snow, — in short, every- thing that is disagreeable in winter, without its brisk and bracing qualities. I found this season much more difficult to endare than all the cold of Lapland, and in spite of pleasant society and the charms of rest after a fatiguing journey, our sojourn in Stockholm was for a time sufficiently tedious. At first, we lived a rather secluded life in our rooms in the Beridarebansgatan, in the northern suburb, devoting our- selves principally to gymnastics and the study of the Swed- ish language, — both of which can be prosecuted to more ad- vantage in Stockholm than anywhere else. For, among the distinguished men of Sweden may be reckoned Ling, the inventor of what may be termed anatomical gymnastics. His system not only aims at reducing to a science the mus« snlnr development of the body, but, by means of both ac- LIFE IN STOCKHOLM 203 tive and passive movements, at reaching the seat of .disease and stimulating the various organs to healthy action. In the former of these objects, Ling has certainly succeeded ; there is no other system of muscular training that will bear comparison with his; and if he has to some extent failed in the latter, it is because, with the enthusiasm of a man possessed by a new discovery, he claimed too much. His successor, Prof. Branting, possesses equal enthusiasm, and his faith in gymnastics, as a panacea for all human infirmi- ties, is most unbounded. The institution under his charge is supported by Government, and, in addition to the officers of the army and navy, who are obliged to make a complete gymnastic course, is largely attended by invalids of all ages and classes. Neither of us required the system as a medical applica- tion. I wished to increase the girth of my chest, some- what diminished by a sedentary life, and Braisted needed a safety-valve for his surplus strength. However, the profes- sor, by dint of much questioning, ascertained that one of ua was sometimes afflicted with cold feet, and the other with head-acber>, and thereupon clapped us both upon the sick list. On entering the hall, on the first morning of our at- tendance, a piece of paper containing the movements pre- scribed for our individual cases, was stuck in onr bosoms. On inspecting the lists, we found we had ten movements apiece, and no two of them alike. What they were we could only dimly guess from such cabalistic terms as " StSd- gangsl," " Krhu/pgg," " Sirnhang," or " Hagstrgvsitt? The hall, about eighty feet in length by thirty in height. was furnished with the usual apjMances for gymnastic oxer 01)4 NORTHEHN TKAVEL. ciscs. Some fifty or sixty patients were present, part of whom were walking up and down the middle passage with an air of great solemnity, while the others, gathered in va- rious little groups on cither side, appeared to be undergoing uncouth forms of torture There was no voluntary exer- cise, if I except an old gentleman in a black velvet coat, who repeatedly _ suspended himself by the hands, head down- wards, and who died of apoplexy not long afterwards ; every one was being exercised upon. Here, a lathy young man, bent sideways over a spar, was struggling, with a very red face, to right himself, while a stout teacher held him down ; there, a corpulent gentleman, in the hands of five robust as- sistants, was having his body violently revolved upon the base of his hip joints, as if they were trying to unscrew him from his legs ; and yonder again, an individual, suspended by his arms from a cross-bar, had his feet held up and his legs stretched apart by another, while a third pounded vig- orously with closed fists upon his seat of honour. Now and then a prolonged yell, accompanied with all sorts of bur- lesque variations, issued from the throats of the assembly. The object of this was at first not clear to me, but I after- wards discovered that the full use of the lung's was consider- ed by Ling a very important part of the exercises. Alto- gether, it was a peculiar scene, and not without a marked grotesque character. On exhibiting my matsedel, or " bill of fare," to the first teacher who happened to be disengaged, I received my first movement, which consisted in being held with my back against a post, while I turned my body from side to side against strong resistance, employing the muscles of the chest LIFE IN STOCKHOLM. 205 only. 1 was then told to walk for five minutes before taking the second movement. It is unnecessary to recapitulate the various contortions I was made to perform ; suffice it to say, that 1 felt very sore after them, which Professor Branting Considered a promising sign, and that, at the end of a month, I was taken off the sick list and put among the friskas, or healthy patients, to whom more and severer movements, in part active, are allotted. This department was under the special charge of Baron Vegesach, an admirable teacher, and withal a master of fencing with the bayonet, a branch of defensive art which the Swedes have the honour of orig- inating. The drill of the young officers in bayonet exer- cise was one of the finest things of the kind [ ever saw. 1 prospered so well under the Baron's tuition, that at the end of the second month I was able to climb a smooth mast, to run up ropes with my hands, and to perform various other previous impossibilities, while my chest had increased an inch and a half in circumference, the addition being solid muscle. During the time of my attendance I could not help but notice the effect of the discipline upon the other patients, especially the children. The weak and listless gradually straightened themselves; the pale and salbw took colour and lively expression ; the crippled and paralytic recovered the use of their limbs ; in short, all, with the exception of two or three hypochondriacs, exhibited a very marked im- provement. The cheerfulness and geniality which pervaded the company, and of which Professor Branting himself was the best example, no doubt assisted the cure. All, both teachers and pupils, met on a platform of the most absol uto 10 206 NORTHERN TRAVEL. equality, and willingly took turns in lending a hand wher- ever it was needed. I have had my feet held up by a for* eign ambassador, while a pair of Swedish counts applied the proper degree of resistance to the muscles of my arms and shoulders. The result of my observation and experience was, that Ling's system of physical education is undoubted- ly the best in the world, and that, as a remedial agent in all cases of congenital weakness or deformity, as well as in those diseases which arise from a deranged circulation, its value can scarcely be over-estimated. It may even afford indirect assistance in more serious organic diseases, but I do not believe that it is of much service in those cases where chemical agencies are generally employed. Professor Brant- ing, however, asserts that it is a specific for all diseases what- soever, including consumption, malignant fevers, and vene- real affections. One thing at least is certain — that in an age when physical training is most needed and most neglect- ed, this system deserves to be introduced into every civil- ised country, as an indispensable branch in the education of youth. 1 found the Swedish language as easy to read as it is dif- ficult to speak correctly. The simplicity of its structure, which differs but slightly from English, accounts for the former quality, while the peculiar use of the definite article as a terminal syllable, attached to the noun, is a great im- pediment to fluent speaking. The passive form of the verb also requires much practice before it becomes familiar, and the mode of address in conversation is awkward and incon- venient beyond measure. The word you, or its correspon- dent, is never used, except in speaking to inferiors ; wher LIFE IN STOCKHOLM 207 ever it occurs in other languages, the title of the person ad- dressed must be repeated ; as, for example : " How is the Herr Justizrad ? I called at the Herr Justizrad's house this morning, but the Herr Justizrad was not at home." Some of the more progressive Swedes are endeavouring to do away with this absurdity, by substituting the second person plural, tii, which is already used in literature, but even they only dare to use it in their own private circle. The Swedes, es- pecially in Stockholm, speak with a peculiar drawl and sing- ing accent, exactly similar to that which is often heard in Scotland. It is very inferior to the natural, musical rhythm of Spanish, to which, in its vocalisation, Swedish has a great resemblance. Except Finnish, which is music itself, it is the most melodious of northern languages, and the mel- low flow of its poetry is often scarcely surpassed by the Italian. The infinitive verb always ends in «, and the lan- guage is full of soft, gliding iambics, which give a peculiar grace to its poetry. It is rather singular that the Swedish prose, in point of finish and elegance, is far behind the Swedish poetry. One cause of this may be, that it is scarcely more than fifty years since the prose writers of ihe country began to use their native language. The works of Linnaeus, Swedenborg, and Other authors of the past century must now be translated into Swedish. Besides, there are two prose dialects — a con- versational and a declamatory, the latter being much more artificial and involved tlan the former. All public ad- iresses, as well as prose documents of a weighty or serious sharacter, must be spoken or written in this pompous and antiquated style, owing to which, naturally, the country is 208 NORTHERN TRAVEL. almost destitute of orators. But the poets, — especially men of the sparkling fancy of Bellman, or the rich lyrical in- spiration of Tegner, are not to be fettered by such conven- tionalities; and they have given the verse of Sweden an •ase, and grace, and elegance, which one vainly seeks in its prose. In Stockholm, the French taste, so visible in the mariners of the people, has also affected the language, and a number of French words and forms of expression, which have filtered through society, from the higher to the lower classes, are now in general use. The spelling, however, is made to conform to Swedish pronunciation, and one is amused at finding on placards such words as " trottoar," "salong," and " pavi/joiig:" No country is richer in song-literature than Sweden. The popular songs and ballads of the different provinces, wedded to airs as original and characteristic as the words, number many hundreds. There are few Swedes who cannot sing, and I doubt whether any country in Europe would be able to furnish so many fine voices. Yet the taste for what is foreign and unaccustomed rules, and the minstrels of the cafes and the Djurgard are almost without exception Ger- man. Latterly, two or three bands of native singers have been formed, who give concerts devoted entirely to the coun- try melodies of Sweden ; and I believe they have been tol- erably successful. In these studies, relieved occasionally by rambles over the hills, whenever there was an hour's sunshine, and by occa« nonal evenings with Swedish, Fjnglish, and American friends, we passed the months of March and April, waiting for the tardy spring. Of the shifting and picturesque views which LIFE fN STOCKHOLM. 209 Stockholm presents to the stranger's eye, from whatever point he beholds her, we never wearied ; but we began at last to tire of our ice-olation, and to look forward to the re- opening of the Gotha Canal, as a means of escape Day after day it was a new satisfaction to behold the majestic palace crowning the island-city and looking far and wide over the frozen lakes ; the tall, slender spire of the Riddar- holm, soaring above the ashes of Charles XII. and Gustavus Adolphus, was always a welcome sight; but we had seen enough of the hideous statues which ornament the public squares, (Charles XII. not among them, and the imbecile Charles XIII. occupying the best place) ; we grew tired of the monotonous perambulators on the Forrbro, and the tame- ness and sameness of Stockholm life in winter : and therefore hailed the lengthening days which heralded our deliverance. As to the sights of the capital, are they not described in the guide-books ? The champion of the Reformation lies in his chapel, under a cloud of his captured banners : opposite to him, the magnificent madman of the Norlh, with hun- dreds of Polish and Russian ensigns rustling above hi? heads. In the royal armory you see the sword and the bloody shirt of the one, the bullet-pierced hat and cloak of the other, still coated with the mud of the trench at Fredrickshall. There are robes and weapons of the other Carls and Gustavs, but the splendour of Swedish history is embodied in these two names, and in that of Gustavus Vasa, who lies entombed in the old cathedral at Upsala. When I had o-rasped their swords, and the sabre of Ozar Peter, captured at Narva, I felt that there were no other relics in Sweden which could make my heart throb a beat the faster, 210 NORTH EBN TRAVEL CHAPTER XVIII. MANNERS AND MORALS OF STOCKHOLM. As a people, the Swedes are very hospitable, and particu- larly so toward foreigners. There is perhaps no country in Europe where travellers are treated with so much kindness and allowed so many social privileges. This is fortunate, ast the conventionalities of the country are more rigid than thr laws of the Medes and Persians. Nothing excites greater scandal than an infraction of the numberless little formal- ities with which the descendants of the honest, spontaneous, impulsive old Scandinavians have, somehow or other, allowed themselves to be fettered, and were not all possible allowance made for the stranger, he would have but a dismal time of it. Notwithstanding these habits have become a second nature, they are still a false nature, and give a painfully stiff and constrained air to society. The Swedes pride themselves on being the politest people in Europe. Voltaire called them the " Frenchmen of the North," and they are greatly flattered by the epithet. But how much better, to call themselves Swedes ? — to preserve the fine, manly character- istics of their ancient stock, rather than imitate a people so alien to them in blood, in character, and in antecedents. MANNERS AND MORALS OF STOCKHOLM. gj ^ Those meaningless social courtesies which sit well enough upon the gay, volatile, mercuria.1 Frenchman, seem absurd affectations when practiced by the tall, grave, sedate Scan- dinavian. The intelligent Swedes feel this, but they are powerless to make headway against the influence of a court which was wholly French, even before Bernadotte's time. " We are a race of apes," said one of them to me bitterly. Gustavus III. was thoroughly French in his tastes, but the ruin of Swedish nationality in Stockholm was already com- menced when he ascended the throne. Stockholm manners, at present, are a curious mixture of English and French, the latter element, of course, being predominant. In costume, the gentlemen are English, with exaggeration. Nowhere are to be seen such enormously tall and stiff black chimney-pots (misnamed hats), nowhere such straight-cut overcoats, descending to the very heels. You might stick all the men you see into pasteboard cards, like a row of pins, so precisely are they clothed upon the same model. But when you meet one of these grim, funereal figures, he pulls off his hat with a politeness which is more than French : he keeps it off. perhaps, while he is speaking; you shake hands and accept his invitation to enter his house. After you are within, he greets you a second time with the same ceremonies, as if you had then first met; he says, " Talc fvr sist !" (equivalent to ; " thank you for the pleasure of your company the last time we met !") and, after your visit is over, you part with equal formality. At dinner the guests Btand gravely around the table with clasped hands, before pitting down. This is repeated on rising, after which they oow to each other and shake hands with the host and hostess. 212 NORTHERN TRAVEL. Formerly they used to say " I thank you for the meal,'' a custom still retained in Denmark and Norway. Not long ago the guests were obliged to make a subsequent visit oi ceremony to thank the host for hi3 entertainment, and lie was obliged to invite them all to a seconc dinner, in conse- quence thereof; so that giving one dinner always involved giving two. Fortunately the obligation was cancelled by the seoond, or the visits and dinners might have gone on alternately, ad infiiiitvm,. At dinners and evening parties, white gloves and white cravats are invariably worn, and generally white vests. The same custom is observed at funerals, even the drivers of the hearse and carriages being furnished with resplendent white gloves for the occasion. I have a horror of white cravats, and took advantage of the traveller's privilege to wear a black one. I never could understand why, in England, where the boundaries of caste are so distinctly marked, a gentleman's full dress should be his servant's livery. The chimney-pots are no protection to the head in raw or very cold weather, and it required no little courage in me to ap- pear in fur or felt. " I wish I could wear such a comfortable hat," said a Swede to me ; :i but I dure not ; you are a tra- veller, and it is permitted ; but a Swede would lose his position in society, if he were to do so." Another gentleman informed me that his own sisters refused to appear in the streets with him, because he wore a cap. A former English yonsu] greatly shocked the people by carrying home his own marketing. A few gentlemen have independence enough to *et aside, in their own houses, some of the more disagreeable features of this ;onventior.alism, and the success of two 01 MANNERS AND MORALS Ol' STOCKHOLM. 213 three, who held weekly soirees through the winter^ on a more free and unrestrained plan, may in the end restore somewhat pf naturalness and spontaneity to the society of Stockholm. The continual taking off of your hat to everybody you know, is a great annoyance to many strangers. A lift of the hat, as in Germany, is not sufficient. You must remove it entirely, and hold it in the air a second or two before you replace it. King Oscar once said to an acquaintance of mine, who was commiserating him for being obliged to keep his hat off, the whole length of the Drottning-gatan, in a violent snow-storm: "You are quite right; it was exceed^ ingly disagreeable, and I could not help wishing that instead of being king of Sweden, 1 were king of Thibet, where, ac- cording to Hue, the polite salutation is simply to stick out your tongue." The consideration extended to foreigners is, I am told, quite withdrawn after' they become residents ; so that, as an Englishman informed me, Stockholm is much more pleasant the first year than the second. The principle, on the whole, is about the same as governs English, and most American society, only in Sweden its tyranny is more severely felt, on account of the French imitations which have been engrafted upon it. I do not wish to be understood as saying a word in cen- sure of that genial courtesy which is characteristic of the Swedes, not less of the bonder, or country farmers, than of the nobility. They are by nature a courteous people, and if, throughout the country, something of the primness and formality of ancient manners has been preserved, it the rather serves to give a quaint and picturesque grace to society. The affectation of French manners applies prin- 10* J}!! NORTHERS TRAVEL. cipally to lite capital, which, both in manners and moral's can by no means be taken as a standard for the whole coun* try. The Swedes are neither licentious, nor extravagantly over-mannered: the Stockholmers are both. During the whole of our journey to Lapland, we were invariably treated with a courtesy which bordered on kindness, and had abundant opportunities of noticing the general amenity which exists in the intercourse even of the poorest classes. The bnly really rude people we saw, were travelling traders, especially those from the capital, who thought to add to their importance by a little swaggering. 1 recollect hearing of but a single instance in which the usual world-wide rules of hospitality were grossly violated. This occurred to an English traveller, who spent some time in the interior of the country. While taking tea one even- ing with a prominent family of the province, he happened to make use of his thumb and fore-finger in helping himself to a lump of sugar. The mistress of the house immediately sent out the servant, who reappeared after a short time with another sugar-bowl, filled with fresh lumps. Noticing thisj the traveller, in order to ascertain whether his harmless deviation from Swedish customs had really contaminated the whole sugar-bowl, sweetened his second cup in the same manner. The result was precisely the same : the servant was again sent out, and again returned with a fresh 3Upply The traveller, thereupon, coolly walked to the stove, opened the door, and threw in his cup, saucer, and tea spoon affecting to take it for granted that they never could be used again. Speaking of King Oscar reminds me that I should not MANNERS AND MORALS OF STOCKHOLM. 215 fail to say a word about this liberal and enlightened mon- arch. There is probably no king in Europe at present, wh« possesses such extensive acquirements, or is animated by a more genuine desire for the good of his kingdom. The slow progress which Sweden has made in introducing need- ful reforms is owing to the conservative spirit of the nobility and the priesthood, who possess half the legislative power. I do not believe there is a greater enemy to progress than an established church. Oscar is deservedly popular through- out Sweden, and I wish I could believe that his successor will exhibit equal intelligence and liberality. During my stay I saw all the members of the Royal Family frequently, and once had an informal self-presentation to the whole of them. I was descending the stairway of Kahn's Hotel one afternoon, when a tall, black-bearded, Frenchy gentleman coming up, brushed so close to me in the narrow passage that he received the full benefit of a cloud of smoke which I was ejaculating. It was the Crown Prince, as a servant whispered to me, but as my cigar was genuine Havana, and he is said to be a connoisseur of the article, there was no harm done. As I reached the street door a dragoon dashed up, preceding the carriages containing the Royal Family, who were coming to view Professor Enslen's panoramas. First, the Grown Princess, with her children ; she bowed gracefully in answer to my greeting. The Princess Euge- nia, a lady of twenty-seven, or thereabouts, with a thor- oughly cheerful and amiable face, came next and nodded, smiling. With her was the Queen, a daughter of Eugent Beauharnais, a handsome woman for her years, with the fork hair and eyes of her grandmother, Josephine. King 216 NORTHERN TRAVEL. Oscar followed, at the head of a company of officers md nobles, among whom was his second son, Prince Oscar, the handsomest young man in Stockholm. He wore his Admi ral's uniform, and made me a naval salute as he passed. The King is about medium height, with asymmetrical head, a bold, finely-cut nose, keen, intelligent eyes, and a heavy grey moustache. There was something gallant, dashing, and manly in his air, despite his fifty-seven years. He gave me the impression of an honest, energetic and thoroughly accomplished man; and this is the character he bears throughout Sweden, except with a small class, who charge him with being insincere, and too much under the influence of the Queen, against whom, however, they can find no charge, except that of her Catholicism. I was sorry to notice, not only in Stockholm, but more or less throughout Sweden, a spirit of detraction in regard to everything Swedish. Whenever I mentioned with ad- miration the name of a distinguished Swede, I was almost always sure to hear, in return, some disparaging remark, or a story to his disadvantage. Yet, singularly enough, the Swedes are rather sensitive to foreign criticism, seeming to reserve for themselves the privilege of being censorious. No amount of renown, nor even the sanctity which death gives to genius, can prevent a certain class of them from exhibiting the vices and weaknesses of their countrymen. Much the severest things which I heard said about Sweden, were said by Swedes themselves, and I was frequently tibliged to rely upon my own contrary impressions, to pro- tect me from the chance of being persuaded to paint things Worse tli an they really are. MANNEUS AND MORALS OF STOCKHOLM. 217 Just before leaving Stockholm I made application through the Hon. Mr. Schroeder, our Minister Resident, and Baron Lagerheim, for the privilege of an interview with the king. A few days previously, however, he had been attacked with that illness which has obliged him to withdraw from the labours of government, and was advised by his physicians to receive no one. He sent me a very kind message, with an invitation to renew my request as soon aa his health should be restored. Gentlemen who had oppor tunities of knowing the fact, assured me that his health broke down under an accumulation of labour and anxiety, in his endeavours to bring the question of religious liberty before the Diet — a measure in which he had to contend with the united influence of the clergy, the House of Peasants, whom the clergy rule to a great extent, and a portion of the House of Nobles. It is not often that a king is in advance of the general sentiment of his people, and in losing the ser- vices of Oscar, I fear that Sweden has lost her best man. The Crown Prince, now Prince Regent, is said to be amia- bly weak in his character, rather reactionary in his views, and very ambitious of military glory. At least, that is the average of the various opinions which I heard expressed con- eerning him. After speaking of the manners of Stockholm, I must not close this chapter without saying a few words about its mor- als. It has been called the most licentious city in Europe, and, I have no doubt, with the most perfect justice. Vienna may surpass it in the amount of conjugal infidelity, but cer- tainly not in general incontinence. Very nearly half the -registered births are illegitimate, to say nothing of the illc- 218 NORTHERN TRAVEL. gitimatc children born in wedlock. Of the servant-girla, shop-girls, and seamstresses in the city, it is very safe to say that scarcely ten out of a hundred are chaste, while, as rakish young Swedes have coolly informed me, many girls of respect- able parentage, belonging to the middle class, are not much better. The men, of course, are much worse than the women and even in Paris one sees fewer physical signs of excessive debauchery. Here, the number of :broken-down young men and blear-eyed, hoary sinners, is astonishing. I have never been in any place where licentiousness was so open and avowed — and yet, where the slang of a sham morality was bo prevalent. There are no houses of prostitution in Stock- holm, and the city would be scandalised at the idea of allow- ing such a thing. A few years ago two were established and the fact was no sooner known than a virtuous mob arose and violently pulled them down! At the restaurants, young blades order their dinners of the female waiters, with an arm around their waists, while the old men place their hands un- blushingly upon their bosoms. All the baths in Stockholm are attended by women (generally middle-aged and hideous, I must confess), who perform the usual scrubbing and sham- pooing with the greatest nonchalance. One does not wonder when he is told of young men who have passed safely through the ordeals of Berlin and Paris, and have come at last to Stockholm to be ruined.* * The substance of the foregoing paragraph was contained in a letter published in The New-York Tribune during my travels in the North, and which was afterwards translated and commented upon by the Swedish papers. The latter charged mo with having drawn too dark a picture W.C I therefore took some pains tc test my statements, both by means of MANNERS AND MORALS OP STOCKHOLM. 219 It is but fair to say that the Swedes account for the large proportion of illegitimate births, by stating that many un- fortunate females come up from .the country to hide their shame in the capital, which is no doubt true. Everything tha* ] have said has been derived from residents of Stockholm who, proud as they are, and sensitive, cannot conceal this liio Government statistics, and the views of my Swedish friends. I see no reason to change my first impression : had I accepted all that was told me by natives of the capital, I should have made the picture much darker. The question is simply whether there is much -Jifference between the general adoption of illicit connections, or the existence of open prostitu- tion. The latter is almost unknown ; the former is almost universal, the supply being kept up by the miserable rates of wages paid to female ser- vants and seamstresses. The former get, on an average, fifty rigsdaler ($13) per year, put of which they must clothe themselves : few of th,e latter can make one rigsdaler a day. These connections are also encour- aged by the fact, that marriage legitimates all the children previously bora. In fact, during the time of my visit to Stockholm, a measure was proposed in the House of Clergy, securing to bastards the same right of inheritance, as to legitimate children. Such measures, however just they may be so far as the innocent offspring of a guilty connection are con- cerned, have a direct tendency to impair the sanctity of marriage, and consequently the general standard of morality. This, the most vital of all the social problems, is strangely neglected. The diseases and excesses which it engenders are far more devastating than those which spring from any other vice, and yet no philanthropist is bold enough to look the question in the face. The virtuous shrinB from it, the vicious don't care about it, the godly simply condemn, and the ungodly indulge — and so the world rolls on, and hundreds of thou sands go down annually to utter ruin. It js useless to attempt the ex tirpation of a vice which is inherent in the very nature of man, and tha alternative of either utterly ignoring, or of attempting to check and •■egnlate it, is a question of the most vital importance to the whole Ira man race. 220 NORTHKRN TRAVEL. glaring depravity. The population of Stockholm, as is proved by statistics, has only been increased during the last fifty years by immigration- from the country, the number of deaths among the inhabitants exceeding the births by several hundreds every year. I was once speaking with a Swede about these facts, which he seemed inclined to doubt. "But," said I, "they are derived from your own statistics." " Well," he answered, with a na'i've attempt to find some compensating good, " you must at least admit that the Swed- ish statistics are as exact a3 any in the world !" Drunkenness is a leading vice among the Swedes, as we had daily evidence. Six years ago the consumption of brandy throughout the kingdom was vine gallons for every man, woman, and child annually ; but it has decreased consider- ably since then, mainly through the manufacture of beer and porter. " Bajerskt sV (Bavarian beer) is now to be had everywhere, and is rapidly becoming the favourite drink of the people. Sweden and the United States will in the end establish the fact that lager beer is more efficacious in pre- venting intemperance than any amount of prohibitory law. Brandy -drinking is still, nevertheless, one of the greatest curses of Sweden. It is no unusual thing to see boys of twelve or fourteen take their glass of fiery Jin /eel before din- ner. The celebrated Swedish punch, made of arrack, wine, and sugar, is a universal evening drink, and one of the most insidious ever invented, despite its agreeable flavor. -There is a movement in favor of total abstinence, but it seems to have made but little progress, except as it is connected with some of the new religious ideas, which are now preached throughout the country. MANNERS AND MORALS OF STOCKHOLM. 221 1 have rarely witnessed a sadder example of ruin, than one evening in a Stockholm cafe. A tall, distinguished-looking man of about forty, in an advanced state of drunkenness, was seated at a table opposite to us. He looked at me awhile, apparently endeavoring to keep hold of some thought with which his mind was occupied. Rising at last he staggered across the room, stood before me. and repeated the words of Bellman : " Sa vandra vara stora man* Fran ljuset ned til skuggan." * A wild, despairing laugh followed the lines, and he turned away, but came back again and again to repeat them. He was a nobleman of excellent family, a man of great intel- lectual attainments, who, a few years ago, was considered one of the most promising young men in Sweden. I saw him frequently afterwards, and always in the same condition, but he never accosted me again. The Swedes say the same thing of Bellman himself, and of Tegner, and many others, with how much justice I care not to know, for a man's faults are to be accounted for to God, and not to a gossiping public. • " Thus oui great men wander from the light down into the shades.' £22 NORTHEKN TII-1YE1. CHAPTER X. X. JOURNEY TO OOTTENBURG AND COPENHAGEN. I never knew a more sudden transition from winter to summer than we experienced on the journey southward finm Stockholm. When we left that city on the evening of the 6th of May, there were no signs of spring except a few early violets and anemones on the sheltered southern banks in Haga Park ; the gras3 was still brown and dead, the trees bare, and the air keen ; but the harbour was free from ice and the canal open, and our winter isolation was therefore at an end. A little circulation entered into the languid veins of society; steamers from Germany began to arrive ; fresh faces appeared in the streets, and less formal costumes — merchants and bagmen only, it is true, but people of a more dashing and genial air. We were evidently, as the Swedes said, leaving Stockholm just as it began to be pleasant and lively. The steamer left the Riddarholm pier at midnight, and took her way westward up the Malar Lake to Sodertelje. The boats which ply on the Gotha canal are small, but neat and comfortable. The price of a passige to Gottenburg, a distance of 370 miles, is about $8.50. This, however, does JOURNEY TO GOTTENTiURG AND COPENHAGEN. 223 tot include meals, which are furnished at a fixed price, amounting to $6 more. The time occupied by the voyage varies from two and a half to four days. In the night we passed through the lock at Soderteljc, where St. Olaf, when a heathen Viking, cut a channel for his ships into the long Baltic estuary which here closely approaches the lake, and in the morning found ourselves running down the .eastern shore of Sw ; eden,, under the shelter of its fringe of jagged rocky islets. Towards noon we left the Baltic, .and steamed up the long, narrow Bay of Soderkoping, passing, on the way, the magnificent ruins of Stegeborg Castle, the first mediae- val xelic I had seen in Sweden. Its square massive walls, and tall round tower of grey stone, differed in no respect from those of cotemporary ruins in .Germany- Before reaching Soderkoping, we entered the canal, a very complete and substantial work of the kind, about eighty feet in breadth, but much more crooked than would seem to be actually necessary. For this reason the boats make but moderate speed, averaging not more than six or seven miles an hour, exclusive of the detention at the locks. The country is undulating, and neither rich nor papulous before reaching the beau,tif al Roxen Lake, beyond which we en tered upon a charming district. Here the canal rises, by eleven successive locks, to the rich uplands separating the Roxen from the Wetter, a gently rolling plain, chequered bo far as the eye could reach, with green squares of spring ing wheat and the dark mould of the newly ploughed bar ley fields. Wh\Le the boat wag passing the locks, we walk ed forward to a curious old church, .called Vreta Klostei , The building dat.es from the year 1128, and contains the 224 NORTHERN TRAVEL. tombs of three Swedish king's, together with that of the Count Douglas, who fled hither from Scotland in the time of Cromwell. The Douglas estate is in this neighbour- hood, and is, I believe, still in the possession of the family, The church must at one time have presented a fine, vener- able appearance : but all its dark rich colouring and gilding are now buried under a thick coat of white wash. We had already a prophecy of the long summer days of the North, in the perpetual twilight which lingered in the sky, moving around from sunset to sunrise. During the second night we crossed the Wetter Lake, which I did not see : for when I rame on deck we were already on the Viken, the most beautiful sheet of water between Stockholm and Gottenburg. Its irregular shores, covered with forests of fir and birch, thrust out long narrow headlands which divide it into deep bays, studded with wild wooded islands. But the scenery was still that of winter, except in the absence of ice and snow. We had not made much southing, but we ex- pected to find the western side of Sweden much warmer than the eastern. The highest part of the canal, more than 300 feet above the sea, was now passed, however, and ad we des- cended the long barren hills towards the Wener Lake I found a few early wild flowers in the woods. In the afternoon we came upon the Wener, the third lake in Europe, b;;ing ane hundred miles in extent by about fifty in breadth. To the west, it spread away to a level line againsi #he sky ; but, aa I looked southward, I perceived two opposite promontories, with scattered islands between, dividing the body of water into almost equal portions. The scenery of the Wener has great resemblance to that of the northern portion of Laka JOURNEY TC GOTTENTHJRG AND COPENHAGEN. 225 Michigan. Further down on the eastern shore, the hill of Kinnekulle, the highest land in Southern Sweden, rises to the height of nearly a thousand feet above the water, with a graceful and very gradual sweep ; but otherwise the scenery s rather tame, and, I suspect, depends for most of its beauty upon the summer foliage. There were two or three intelligent and agreeable pas- eengers on board, who showed a more than usual knowledge of America and her institutions. The captain, however, as we walked the deck together, betrayed the same general im- pression which prevails throughout the Continent (Germany in particular), that we are a thoroughly material people, having little taste for or appreciation of anything which is not practical and distinctly utilitarian. Nothing can be further from the truth ; yet I have the greatest difficulty in making people comprehend that a true feeling for science, art, and literature can co-exist with our great practical genius There is more intellectual activity in the Free States than in any other part of the world, a more general cultivation, and, taking the collective population, I venture to say, a more enlightened taste. Nowhere are greater sums Bpent for books and works of art, or for the promotion of scientific objects. Yet this cry of " Materialism" has be- come the cant and slang of European talk concerning Amer- ica, and is obtruded so frequently and so offensively that 1 have sometimes been inclined to doubt whether the good breeding of Continental society has not been too highly rated. While on the steamer, I heard an interesting story of a Swedish nobleman, who is at present attempting a practical; 226 NORTHERN TRAVEL. protest against the absurd and fossilised ideas by which his class is governed. The nobility of Sweden are a3 proud as they are poor, and, as the father's title is inherited by each of his sons, the country is overrun with Counts and Barons who, repudiating any means of support that is not somehow connected with the service of the government, live in a con- tinual state of debt and dilapidation. Count R , how- ever, has sense enough to know that honest labor is always honourable, and has brought up his eldest son to earn his living by the work of his own hands. For the past three years, the latter has been in the United States, working as a day-labourer on farms and on Western railroads. His ex- periences, I learn, have not been agreeable, hut he is a young man of too much spirit and courage to give up the attempt; and has hitherto refused to listen to the entreaties of his family, that he shall come home and take charge of one of his father's estates. The second son is now a clerk in a mercantile house in Gottenburg, while the Count has given his daughter in marriage to a radical and untitled editor, whose acquaintance! was afterwards so fortunate as to make, and who confirmed the entire truth of the story. We were to pass the locks at Trollhatta in the middle of the night, bnt I determined to visit the celebrated falls of the Gotha River, even at such a time, and gave orders that we should be called. The stupid boy, however, woke up the wrong passenger, and the last locks were reached before the mistake was discovered. By sunrise we had reached Lilla Edet, on the Gotha River, where the buds were swelling on the early trees, and the grass, in sunny places, showed a little sprouting greenness. We shot rapidly down the swift JOURNEY TO GOTTEN BURG AND COPENHAGEN. 22? brown stream, between brown, bald, stony hills, whose forests have all been stripped off to feed the hostile camp-fires of past centuries. JBits of bottom land, held in the curves of the river, looked rich and promising, and where the hills fell back a little, there were groves and country-houses — but th pcenery, in general, was bleak, and unfriendly, until we drew near Gottenburg. Two round, detached forts, built accardr ing to Vauban's ideas (which the ,Swedes say he stole from Sweden, whqre they were already in practice) announced our approach, and before noon we .were alongside the pier. Here, to ,my great surprise, a Custom-house officer appeared and asked us to open our trunks. " But we came by the canal from Stockholm !" "That makes no difference," he replied; " your luggage must be examined." I then appealed to the saptain, who stated that, in consequence of the steamer's being obliged to enter the Baltic waters for two or three hours between Sodertelje and Soderkoping, the law took it for granted that we might have boarded some foreign vessel during that time and procured contraband goods. In other words, though sailing in a narrow sound, between the Swed- ish islands and the Swedish coast, we had virtually been in a foreign couivtry ! It would scarcely be believed that this sagacious law is of quite recent enactment. We remained until the next morning in Gottcnburg. This is, in every respect, a more energetic and wide-awake place than Stockholm, lit has -not the same unrivalled beauty -of position, but is more liberally laid out and kept in better order. Although the population is only about 40,000, its commerce is much greater than that of the capital, and so are, proportionately, its wealth and public spirit. 228 NORTHERN TRAVEL. The Magister Hedlund, a very intelligent and accomplished gentleman, to whom 1 had a letter from Miigge, the novelist, took me up the valley a distance of five or six miles, to a very picturesque village among the hills, which is fast growing into a manufacturing town. Large cotton, woollen, and paper mills bestride a strong stream, which has such a iall that it leaps from one mill-wheel to another for the distance of nearly half a mile. On our return, we visited a number of wells hollowed in the rocky strata of the hills, to which the country people have given the name of " The Giant's Pots." A clergyman of the neighbourhood, even, has written a pamphlet to prove that they were the work of the antediluvian giants, who excavated them for the purpose of mixing dough for their loaves of bread and batter for their puddings. They are simply those holes which a peb- ble grinds in a softer rock, under the rotary action of a cur- rent of water, but on an immense scale, some of them being ten feet in diameter, by fifteen or eighteen in depth. At Herr Hedlund's house, I met a number of gentlemen, whose courtesy and intelligence gave me a very favourable impres- sion of the society of the place. The next morning, at five o'clock, the steamer Viken, from Christiania, arrived, and we took passage" for Copen- hagen. After issuing from the Skargaard, or rocky archi- pelago which protects the approach to Gottenburg from the sea, we made a direct course to Elsinore, down the Swedish coast, but too distant to observe more than its general out- line. This part of Sweden, however — the province of Halland— is very rough and stony, and not until after passing tho Sound does one see the fertile hills and vales of * JOURNEV TO GOTTENBURG AND COPENHAGEN. 229 Scania. The Cattegat was as smooth as an inland sea, and our voyage could not have been pleasanter. In the afternoon Zealand rose blue from the wave, and the increas'e in the number of small sailing craft denoted our approach to the Bound. The opposite shores drew nearer to each other, and finally the spires of Helsingborg, on the Swedish shore, and the square mass of Kronborg Castle, under the guns of which the Sound dues have been so long demanded, appeared in sight. Jn spite of its bare, wintry aspect, the panorama wa3 charming. The picturesque Gothic buttresses and gables of Kronborg rose above the zigzag of its turfed out- works ; beyond were the houses and gardens of Helsingor (Elsinore)^-while on the glassy breast of the Sound a fleet of merchant vessels lay at anchor, and beyond, the fields and towns of Sweden gleamed in the light of the setting sun. Yet here, again, I must find fault with Campbell, splendid lyrist as he is. We should have been sailing " By tliy wild and stormy steep, Elsinore '." only that the level shore, with its fair gardens and groves, wouldn't admit the possibility of such a thing. The music of the line remains the same, but you must not read it ou the spot. There was a beautiful American clipper at anchor off the Castle. " There," said a Danish passenger to me, " is one of the ships which have taken from us the sovereignty of the Sound." " I am very glad of it," I replied ; " and I can only fl-onder why the mari time nations of Europe have so long Babmitted to such an imposition." "I am glad, also," said 11 J230 NORTHERN TRAVEL. » he, " that the question has at last been settled, and our pri- vilege given up — and I believe we are all, even the Govern- ment itgelf, entirely satisfied with the arrangement." I heard the same opinion afterwards' expressed in Copenhagen and felt gratified, as- an American, to hear the result attri buted to the initiative taken by our Government ; but I also remembered the Camden and Amboy Railroad Company, and could not help wishing that the same principle might be applied at hpmc. We have a Denmark, lying between New- York and Philadelphia, and I have often paid sana dues for crossing her territory. At dusk, we landed under the battlements of Copenhagen. "Are you travellers or merchants?" asked the Custom-house officers. "Travellers," we replied. "Then," was the an- swer, " there is no necessity for examining your trunks," and we were politely ushered out at the opposite door, and drove without further hindrance to a hotel. A gentleman from Stockholm had said to me : " When you get to Copenhagen you will find yourself in Europe :" and 1 was at once struclf with the truth of his remark. Although Copenhagen is bj no means a commercial city — scarcely more so than Stock- holm — its streets are gay, brilliant and bustling, and haye an air of life and joyousness which contrasts strikingly with the gravity of the latter capital. From without, it makes very little impression, being built on a low, level ground; and surrounded by high earthen fortifications, but its inte- rior is full of quaint and attractive points. There is already a strong admixture of the German element in the population, Hoftening by its warmth and frankness the Scandinavian reserve. In their fondness for out-door recreation, the Danes, JOURNEY TO GOTTF.NBURG AND (COPENHAGEN. 231 quite equal the Viennese, and their Summeivgardeii cl Tivoli is one of the largest and liveliest in all Europe. In costume, there is such a thing as individuality; in manners, somewhat of independence. The Danish nature appears to be more pliant and flexible than the Swedish, but I canno judge whether the charge of inconstancy and dissimulation, which I have heard brought against it, is just. With regard to morals, Copenhagen is said to be an improvement upon Stockholm. During our short stay of three days, we saw the prin- cipal sights of the place. The first, and one of the plea- santest to me, was the park of Rosenborg Palace, with its fresh, green turf, starred with dandelions, and its grand avenues of chestnuts and lindens, just starting into leaf. On the 11th of May, we found spring at last, after six months of uninterrupted winter. 1 don't much enjoy going the round of a new city, attended by a valet-de-place, and performing the programme laid down by a guide-book, nor is it an agreeable task to describe such things in catalogue style ; so I shall merely say that the most interesting things in Copenhagen are the Museum of Northern Antiquities, the Historical Collections in Rosenborg Palace, Thorwald- sen's Museum, and the Church of our Lady, containing the great sculptor's statues of Christ and the Apostles. We have seen very good casts of the latter in New-York, but one must visit the Museum erected by the Danish people, which is also Thorwaldsen's mausoleum, to learn the num< ber, variety and heauty of his works. Here are the casta of : between three and four hundred statues, busts and baa- JJ32 NORTHERN TRAVEL. reliefs, with a number in marble. No artist has e/er had so noble a monument. On the day after my arrival, I sent a note t > Hans Chris- tian Andersen, reminding him of the greeting which he had nee sent me through a mutual friend, and asking him to appoint an hour for me to call upon him. The same after- noon, as I was sitting in my room, the door quietly opened, and a tall, loosely-jointed figure eutered. He wore a neat evening dress of black, with a white cravat ; his head was thrown back, and his plain, irregular features wore an ex- pression of the greatest cheerfulness and kindly humour. I recognised him at once, and forgetting that we had never met — so much did he seem like an old, familiar acquaintance — cried out " Andersen !" and jumped up to greet him. '' Ah,'* said he stretching out both his hands, "here you are! Now I should have been vexed if you had gone through Copenha- gen and I had not known it." He sat down, and I had a delightful hour's chat with him. One sees the man so plain- ly in his works, that his readers may almost be said to know him personally. He is thoroughly simple and natural, and those who call him egotistical forget that his egotism is only a naive and unthinking sincerity, like that of a child. In fact, he is the youngest man for his years that I ever knew. " When I was sixteen," said he, " I used to think to myself, ' when I am twenty-four, then will I be old indeed' — but now I am fifty-two, and I have just the same feeling of youth as at twenty." He was greatly delighted when Braisted, who was in the room with me, spoke of having read his " Impro- visatore" in the Sandwich Islands. " Why, is it possible?" JOURNEY TO GOTTENBURG AND COPENHAGEN 233 he exclaimed: "when I hear of my bocks going so far around the earth, I sometimes wonder if it can be really true that I have written them." He explained to me the plot of his new novel. " To Be, or Not To Be," and ended by pre- senting me with the illustrated edition of his stories. " Now don't forget me," said he, with a delightful entreaty in hu voice, as he rose to leave, " for we shall meet again. Were it not for sea-sickness, I should see you in America ; and who knows but I may come, in spite of it ?" God bless you, Andersen ! 1 said, in my thoughts. It is so cheering to meet a man whose very weaknesses are made attractive Ihrough the perfect candour of his nature! Goldschmidt, the author of " The Jew," whose acquaint- ance I made, is himself a Jew, and a man of great earnest- ness and enthusiasm. He is the editor of the " North and South," a monthly periodical, and had just completed, as he informed me, a second romance, which was soon to be pub- lished. Like most of the authors and editors in Northern Europe, he is well acquainted with American literature. Professor Rafn, the distinguished archaeologist of North- ern lore, is still as active as ever, notwithstanding lie is well advanced in years. After going up an innumerable number of steps, I found him at the very top of a high old building in the Kronprinzensgade, in a study crammed with old Norsk and Icelandic volumes. He is a slender old man, with a thin face, and high, narrow head, clear grey eyes, and a hale red on his cheeks. The dust of antiquity does not lie very heavily on his grey locks; his enthusiasm for his stud- ies is of that fresh and lively character which mellows the 234 ■HOhl'HEIUt TRAVEL. whole nature of the man. I admired and enjoyed it, when, after being fairly started on his favourite topic, he opened Dne of his own splendid folios, and read me some ringing fetahzas of Icelandic poetry. He spoke much of Mr. Marsh, {rar former minister to Turkey, whose proficiency in the northern languages he considered very remarkable. RETURN TO THE NORTH.— CKIUSTIAMA '. 2,15 CHAPTER XX. BETDRN TO THE NORTH. — CHRISTIANIA. I was obliged t.o Visit both Germany and England, be- fore returning to spend the summer in Norway. As neither of those countries comes within the scope of the present work, I shall spare the reader a recapitulation of my travels for six weeks after leaving Copenhagen. Midsummer's Day was ten days past before I was ready to resume the journey and there was no time to be lost, if I wished to see the mid night suh from the cliffs of the North Cape. I therefore took the most direct route from London, by the way of Hull, Whence a steamer was to sail on the 3rd of July for Christiania. We chose one of the steamers of the English line, to our subsequent regret, as the Norwegian vessel's are preferable, In ntost respects. I went on board on Friday evening, and On asking fdr my berth, was taken into a small state-room containing ten. " Oh, there's only seven gentleman goin' in here, this time," said the steward, noticing my look of dis- may, " and then you can sleep on a sofa in the saloon, if fori like it better." On referring to the steamer's framed jertificate, I found that she was 250 tons' burden, and cod- 286 NORTHERN TRAVEL. structed to carry 17 1 cabin and 23U deck passengere ! Tht state-room for ten passengers had a single wash-basin, but 1 believe we had as many as four small towels, which was a source of congratulation. " What a jolly nice boat it is!" I heard one of the English passengers exclaim. The stew ard, who stood up for the dignity of the vessel, said : * Oh, you'll find it very pleasant; we 'ave only twenty passengers and we once 'ad heighty-four." - , In the morning we were upon the North Sea, rolling with a short, nauseating motion, under a dismal, rainy sky. " It always rains when you leave Hull," said the mate, " and it always rains when you come back to it." I divided my time between sea sickness and Charles Reade's novel of " Never too Late to Mend," a cheery companion under such circumstances. The purposed rowdyism of the man's style shows a little too plainly, but his language is so racy and muscular, his characters so fairly and sharply drawn, that one must not be censorious. Towards evening I remem- bered that it was the Fourth, and so procured a specific for sea-sickness, with which Braisted and 1, sitting alone on the main hatch, in the rain, privately remembered our Father- land. There was on board an American sea-captain, of Nor- wegian birth, as I afterwards found, who would gladly have joined U3. The other passengers were three Norwegians, three fossil Englishmen, two snobbish do., and some jolly, good-natured, free-and-easy youths, bound to Norway, with logs, guns, rods, fishing tackle, and oil-cloth overalls. We had a fair wind and smooth sea, but the most favour- able circumstances could not get more than eight knots an hour out of our steamer. After forty-eight hours, however RETURN TO THE NORTH. — CHRISTIANIA. 23? the coast of Norway came in sight — a fringe of scattered rocks, behind which rose bleak hills, enveloped in mist and rain. Our captain, who had been running on this route 3ome years, did not know where we were, and was for put- ting to sea again, but one of the Norwegian passengers of- fered his services as pilot and soon brought us to the fjord of Christiansand. We first passed through a Sk&rgaard — archipelago, or " garden of rocks,'' as it is picturesquely termed in Norsk — and then between hills of dark-red rock covered by a sprinkling of fir-trees, to a sheltered and tran- quil harbour, upon which lay the little town. By this time the rain came down, not in drops, but in separate threads or streams, as if the nozzle of an immense watering-pot had been held over us. After three months of drouth, which had burned up the soil and entirely ruined the hay-crops, it was now raining for the first time in Southern Norway. The young Englishmen bravely put on their water-proofs and set out to visit the town in the midst of the deluge ; but as it contains no sight of special interest, I made up my mind that, like Constantinople, it was more attractive from with- out than within, and iemained on board. An amphitheatre of rugged hills surrounds the place, broken only by a charm- ing little valley, which stretches off to the westward. The fishermen brought us some fresh mackerel for our breakfast. They are not more than half the size of ours, and of a brighter green along the back ; their flavour, how ever is delicious. With these mackerels, four salmons, custom-house officer, and a Norwegian parson, we set off at noon for Christiania. The coast was visible, but at a con- siderable distance, all day. Fleeting gleams Df sunshir*! 11* 238 NORTHERN TRAVEL. Bometimes showed the broken inland ranges of mountains with jagged saw-tooth peaks shooting up here and there; When night came there was no darkness, but a strong golden gleam, whereby one could read until after ten o'clock. We reached the mouth of Christiania Fjord a little after mid- night, and most of the passengers arose to view the scenery. After passing the branch which leads to Drammen, the fjord contracts so as to resemble a river or one of our island-stud- ded New England lakes The alternation of bare rocky islets, red-ribbed cliffs, fir-woods, grey-green birchen groves, tracts of farm land, and red-frame cottages, rendered this part of the voyage delightful, although, as the morning ad- vanced, we saw everything through a gauzy veil of rain. Finally, the watering-pot was turned on again, obliging even oil cloths to beat a retreat to the cabin, and so continued until Ave reached Christiania. After a mild custom-house visitation, not a word being said about passports, we stepped ashore in republican Norway, and were piloted by a fellow-passenger to the Victoria Hotel, where an old friend awaited me. He who had walked with me in the colonnades of Karnak, among the sands of Kom- Ombos, and under the palms of Philas, was there to resume our old companionship on the bleak fjelds of Norway and on the shores of the Arctic Sea. We at once set about prepar- ing for the journey. First, to the banker's who supplied me with a sufficient quantity of small money for the post-sta tions on the road to Drontheim ; then to a seller of carrioles of whom we procured three, at ii'36 apiece, to be resold to him for $24, at the expiration of two months ; and then to supply ourselves with maps, posting- bor k, hammer, nails RETURN TO THE NORTH. — CHRISTIANI *. 239 rope, gimlets, and other necessary helps in case of a break- down. The carriole [carry-all, Incus a non. lucendn, be- sause it only carries one) is the national Norwegian vehiclej and deserves special mention. It resembles a reindeer-pulk, mounted on a pair of wheels, with long, flat, flexible ash shafts, and no springs. The seat, much like the stern of a canoe, and rather narrow for a traveller of large basis, slopes down into a trough for the feet, with a dashboard in front. Youi single valise is strapped on a flat board behind, upon which your postillion sits. The whole machine resemble? an American sulky in appearance, except that it is spring- less, and nearly the whole weight is forward of the axle. We also purchased simple and strong harness, which easily accommodates itself to any horse. Christiania furnishes a remarkable example of the pro- gress which Norway has made since its union with Sweden and the adoption of a free Constitution. In its signs of growth and improvement, the city reminds one of an Amer- ican town. Its population has risen to 40,000, and though inferior to Gottenburg in its commerce, it is only surpassed by Stockholm in size. The old log houses of which it once was built have almost entirely disappeared ; the streets are broad, tolerably paved, and have — what Stockholm cannot yet boast of — decent side-walks. From the little nucleus o the old town, near the water, branch off handsome new streets, where you often come suddenly from stately three-story blocks upon the rough rock and meadow land. The broad Carl-Jahansgade, leading directly to the imposing white • front of the Royal Palace, upon an eminence in the rear oi the city, is worthy of any European capital. On the old 240 NORTHERN TRAVEL. market square a very handsome market hall of brick, id semi-Byzantine style, has recently been erected, and the only apparent point in which Christiania has not kept up with the times, is the want of piers for her shipping. A railroad, about forty miles in length, is already in operation as far as Eidsvold, at the foot of the long Miosen Lake, on which steamers ply to Lillehammer, at its head, affording an outlet for the produce of the fertile Guldbrandsdal and the adjacent country. The Norwegian Constitution is in almost all respects as free as that of any American state, and it is cheering to see what material well-being and solid pro- gress have followed its adoption. The environs of Christiania are remarkably beautiful. Prom the quiet basin of the fjord, which vanishes between blue, interlocking islands to the southward, the land rises gradually on all sides, speckled with smiling country-seats and farm-houses, which trench less and less on the dark evergreen forests as they recede, until the latter keep their old dominion and sweep in unbroken lines to the summits of the mountains on either hand. The ancient citadel 01 Aggershus, perched upon a rock, commands the approach to the city, fine old linden trees rising above its white walla and tiled roofs ; beyond, over the trees of the palace park, in which stand the new Museum and University, towers the long palace-front, behind which commences a range of villas and gardens, stretching westward around a deep bight of th fjord, until they reach the new palace of Oscar-hall, on peninsula facing the city. As we floated over the glassy water, in a skiff, on the afternoon following our arrival, watching the scattered sun-gleams move across the lovel? RETURN TO THE NORTH. — CITOISTIANIA. 241 panorama, we found it difficult to believe that we were in the latitude of Greenland. The dark, rich green of the fo- liage, the balmy odours which filled the air, the deep Hue of the distant hills and islands, and the soft, warm colors of the houses, all belonged to the south. Only the air, fresh without being cold, elastic, and exciting, not a delicious opiate, was wholly northern, and when I took a swim under the castle walls, I found that the water was northern too. It was the height of summer, and the showers of roses in the gardens, the strawberries and cherries in the market, show that the summer's best gifts are still enjoyed here. The English were off the next day with their dogs, guns, fishing tackle, waterproofs, clay pipes, and native language, except one, who became home-sick and went back in the next steamer. We also prepared to set out for Ringerike, the ancient dominion of King Ring, on our way to the Dovre-fjeld and Drontheiin. 242 NORTHERN' TRAVEL. CHAPTER XXI. INCIDENTS 0T CARRIOLE TRAVEL. Tt is rather singular that whenever you are about to start upon a new journey, you almost always fall in with some one who has just made it, and who overwhelms you with all sorts of warning and advice. This has happened to me so frequently that I have long ago oeased to regard any such communications, unless the individual from whom they come inspires me with more than usual confidence. While in- specting our carrioles at the hotel in Christiania, I was ac- costed by a Hamburg merchant, who had just arrived from Droutheim, by way of the Dovre Fjeld and the MiSsen Lake. " Ah," said he, " those things won't last long. That oil-cloth covering for your luggage will be torn to pieces in a few days by the postillions climbing upon it. Then they hold on to your seat and rip the cloth lining with their long nails; besides, the rope reins wear the leather off your dash board, and you will be lucky if your wheels and axles don't snap on the rough roads." Now, here was a man who had travelled much in Norway, spoke the language perfectly, and might be supposed to know something ; but his face betray ed the croaker, and I knew, moreover, that of all fretfully INCIDENTS OF OAEKIOLB TRAVEL. 248 luxurious men, merchants — and especially North-German merchants— are the worst, so I let him talk and kept my own private opinion unchanged. At dinner he renewed the warnings. " You will have great delay in getting horses at the stations. The only way is to be rough and swaggering, and threaten the people — and even that won't always answer." Most likely, 1 thought. — " Of course you have a supply of provisions with you?" he continued. " No," said I, " I always adopt the diet of the country in which I travel." — " But you can't do it here !' he exclaimed in horror, " you can't do it here ! They have no wine, nor no white bread, nor no fresh meat; and they don't know how to cook anything !" " I am perfectly aware of that," I answered ; " but as long as I am not obliged to come down to bread made of fir-bark and barley-straw, as last winter in Lapland, I shall not complain." — " You pos- sess the courage of -a hero if you can do such a thing ; but you will not start now, in this rain V We answered by bidding him a polite adieu, for the post-horses had come, and our carrioles were at the door. As if to reward our resolution, the rain, which had been falling heavily all the morning, ceased at that moment, and the grey blanket of heaven broke and rolled up into loose masses of cloud. I mounted into the canoe-shaped seat, drew the leathern apron over my legs, and we set out, in single file, through the streets of Christiania. The carriole, as I have already eaid, has usually no springs (ours had none at least), except those which it makes in bounding over the stones. We had not gone a hundred yards before I was ready to cry out — "Lord, have mercy upon me !" Such a shattering of the ^44 NORTHERN TRAVEL. joints, such a vibration of the vertebra;, such a churning of the viscera, I had not felt since travelling by banghy-cart in India. Breathing went on by fits and starts, between the jolts ; my teeth struck together so that I put away my pipe, lest 1 should bite off the stem, and the pleasant sensation A having been pounded in every limb crept on apace. Once off the paving-stones, it was a little better ; beyond the hard turnpike which followed, better still ; and on the gravel and sand of the first broad hill, we found the travel easy enough to allay our fears. The two skydsbondtr, or postillions, who accompanied us, sat upon our portmanteaus, and were continually jumping off to lighten the ascent of the hills. The descents were achieved at full trotting speed, the horses leaning back, supporting themselves against the weight ot the carrioles, and throwing out their feet very firmly, so as to avoid the danger of slipping. Thus, no matter how steep the hill, they took it with perfect assurance and boldness- never making a stumble. There was just sufficient risk left, however, to make these flying descents pleasant and exhilar- ating. Our road led westward, over high hills and across deep valleys, down which we had occasional glimpses of the blue fjord and its rocky islands. The grass and grain were a rich, dark green, sweeping into a velvety blue in the dis- tance, and against this deep ground, the bright red of the houses showed with strong effect — a contrast which wassub- iued and harmonised by the still darker masses of the ever- green forests, covering the mountain ranges. At the end of twelve or thirteen miles we reached the first post-station, at the foot of the mountains which bound the inland prospect INCIDENTS OF CARRIOLE Tl^ EL 245 from Christiania on the west. As it was not a "fast sta. tion, we were subject to the possibility (if wailing t^o or three hours for horses, but fortunately wore accosted on the road by one of the farmers who supply the skyds, and changed at his house. The Norwegian skyds differs from the Swedish skjuts in having horses ready only at the fast stations, which are comparatively few, while at all others you must wait from one to three hour3, according to the dis- tance from which the horses must be brought. In Sweden there are always from two to four horses ready, and you are only obliged to wait after these are exhausted. There, also the regulations are better, and likewise more strictly en- forced. It is, at best, an awkward mode of travelling — very pleasant, when everything goes rightly, but very an- noying when otherwise. We now commenced climbing the mountain by a series of terribly steep ascents, every opening in the woods disclosing a wider and grander view backward over the lovely Chris- tiania Fjord and the intermediate valleys. Beyond the crest we came upon a wild mountain plateau, a thousand feet above the sea, and entirely covered with forests of spruce and fir. It was a black and dismal region, under the low- ering sky : not a house or a grain field to be seen, and thus jre drove for more than two hours, to the solitary inn of Krogkleven, where we stopped for the night in order to visit the celebrated King's View in the morning. We got a tol- erable supper and good beds, sent off a messenger to the station of Sundvolden, at the foot of the mountain, to order horses for us, and set out soon after sunrise, piloted by the landlord's son, Olaf. Half an hour's walk through the for- 246 NORTHERN TRAVEL. est brought us to a pile of rocks on the crest d! the moun- tain, which fell away abruptly to the westward. At oui feet lay the Tyri Fjord, with its deeply indented shores and its irregular, scattered islands, shining blue and bright in the morning sun, while away beyond it stretched a grea semicircle of rolling hills covered with green farms, dotted with red farm-houses, and here and there a white church glimmering like a spangle on the breast of the landscape. Behind this soft, warm, beautiful region, rose dark, wooded hil's, with lofty mountain-ridges above them, until, far and faint, under and among the clouds, streaks of snow betrayed some peaks of the Nore Fjeld, sixty or seventy miles dis- tant. This is one of the most famous views in Norway, and has been compared to that from the Righi, but without sufficient reason. The sudden change, however, from the gloomy wilderness through which you first pass to the sunlit picture of the enchanting lake, and green, inhabited hills and valleys, may well excuse the raptures of travellers. Ringer- ike, the realm of King Ring, is a lovely land, not only as seen from this eagle's nest, but when you have descended upon its level. I believe the monarch's real name was Halfdan the Black. So beloved was he in life that after death his body was divided into four portions, so that each province might possess some part of him. Yet the noblest fame is transitory, and nobody now knows exactly where any one of his quarters was buried. A terrible descent, through a chasm between perpendicular sliffs some hundreds of feet in height, leads from Krogkleven to the level of the Tyri Fjord. There is no attempt here, nor indeed upon the most of the Norwegian roads we trav- INCIDENTS OF CA11RIOLE TRAVKl.. ^i? died, to mitigate, by well-arranged curves, the steepness of the hills. Straight down you go, no matter of how break- neck a character the declivity may be. There are no drags to the carrioles and country carts, and were not the native horses the toughest and surest-footed little animals in th world, this sort of travel would be trying to the nerves. Our ride along the banks of the Tyri Fjord, in the clear morning sunshine, was charming. The scenery was strik- ingly like that on the lake of Zug, in Switzerland, and we missed the only green turf, which this year's rainless spring had left brown and, withered. In all Sweden we had seen no such landscapes, not even in Norrland. There, however, the people carried off the palm. We found no farm-houses here so stately and clean as the Swedish, no such symmet- rical forms and frank, friendly faces. The Norwegians are big enough, and strong enough, to be sure, but their car- riage is awkward, and their faces not only plain but ugly. The countrywomen we saw were remarkable in this latter respect, but nothing could exceed their development of waist, bosom and arms. Here is the stuff of which Vikings were made, I thought, but there has been no refining or ennobling since those times. These are the rough primitive formations of the human race — the bare granite and gneiss, from which sprouts no luxuriant foliage, but at best a few simple and hardy flowers. I found much less difficulty in communicat- ing with the Norwegians than 1 anticipated. The language is so similar to the Swedish that I used the latter, with a few alterations, and easily made myself understood. The Norwegian dialect, I imagine, stands in about the same re- lation to pure Danish as the Scotch does to the English #48 NORTHERN TRAVEL. To my ear, it is less musical and sonorous than the Swedish though it is often accented in the same peculiar sing-song way. Leaving the Tyri Fjord, we entered a rolling, well-culti- vated country, with some pleasant meadow scenery. The arops did not appear to be thriving remarkably, probably on account of the dry weather. The hay crop, which the farmers were just cutting, was very scanty ; rye and winter barley were coming into head, but the ears were thin and light, while spring barley and oats were not -more than six inches in height. There were many fields of potatoes, how- ever, which gave a better promise. So far as one could judge from looking over the fields, Norwegian husbandry is yet in a very imperfect state, and I suspect that the resour- ces of the soil are not half developed. The whole country was radient with flowers, and some fields were literally mosaics of blue, purple, pink, yellow, and crimson bloom. Clumps of wild roses fringed the road, and the air was de- licious with a thousand odours. Nature was throbbing with the fullness of her short midsummer life, with that sudden and splendid rebound from the long trance of winter which she nowhere makes except in the extreme north. At Klakken, which is called a liluigelse station, where horses must be specially engaged, we were obliged to wait two hours and a half, while tbey were sent for from a dis- tance of four miles. The utter coolness and indifference of the people to our desire to get on faster was quite natural, and all the better for them, no doubt, but it was provoking to us. We whiled away a part of the time with breakfast, which was composed mainly of boiled eggs and an immense INCIDENTS OF CARRIOLE TRATEL. 249 dish of wild strawberries, of very small size but' exquisitely fragrant flavour. The next station brought us to Vas- bunden, at the head of the beautiful Randsfjord, which was luckily a fast station, and the fresh horses were forthcoming n two minutes. Our road all the afternoon lay along the eastern bank of the Fjord, coursing up and down the hills through a succession of the loveliest landscape pictures. This part of Norway will bear a comparison with the softer parts of Switzerland, such as the lakes of Zurich and Thun. The hilly shores of the Fjord were covered with scattered farni3, the villages being merely churches with half a dozen houses clustered about them. At sunset we left the lake and climbed a long; wooded mountain to a height of more than two thousand feet. It wa3 a weary pull until we reached the summit, but we rolled swiftly down the other side to the inn of Teterud, our des- tination, which we reached about 10 p.m. It was quite light enough to read, yet every one was in bed, and the place seemed deserted, until we remembered what latitude we were in. Finally, the landlord appeared, followed by a girl, whom, on account of her size and blubber, Braisted compared to a cow-whale. She had been turned out of her bed to make room for us, and we two instantly rolled into the warm hollow she had left, my Nilotic friend occupying a separate bed in another corner. The guests' room was an immense apartment ; eight sets of quadrilles might have been danced in it at one time.. The walls were hung with extraordinary pictures of the Six Days of Creation, in which the Almighty was represented as an old man dressed in a long gown, with a peculiarly good-humoured leer, suggesting a wink, on hii 250 NORTHERN TRAVEL face. I have frequently seen the same series of pictures in the Swedish inns. In the morning I was aroused by Brai- sted exclaiming, " There she blows!" and the whale came up to the surface with a huge pot of coffee, some sugar candy, excellent cream, and musty biscuit. It was raining when we started, and I put on a light coat, purchased in London, and recommended in the advertisement as being " light in texture, gentlemanly in appearance, and impervious to wet," with strong doubts of its power to resist a Norwegian rain. Fortunately, it was not put to a severe test; we had passing showers only, heavy, though short. The country, between the Randsfjord and the Miosen Lake was open and rolling, everywhere under cultivation, and ap • parently rich and prosperous. Our road was admirable, and we rolled along at the rate of one Norsk mile (seven miles) an hour, through a land in full blossom, and an atmosphere of vernal odors. At the end of the second station we struck the main road from Christiania to Drontheim. In the sta- tion-house 1 found translations of the works of Dickens and Captain Chamier on the table. The landlord was the most polite and attentive Norwegian we had seen ; but he made us pay for it, charging one and a half marks apiece for a break- fast of boiled eggs and cheese. Starting again in a heavy shower, we crossed the crest of a hill) and saw all at once the splendid Miosen Lake spread out before Us, the lofty Island of Helge, covered with farms and forests, lying in the centre of the picture. Our road went northward along the side of the vast, sweeping slope of farm-land which bounds the lake on the west. Its rough (ind muddy condition showed how little land-traval there is INCIDENTS OF CARRIOLE TRAVEL. 251 at present, since the establishment of a daily line of steamers on the lake. At the station of Gjovik, a glass furnace, situated in a wooded little dell on the shore, I found a young Norwegian who spoke tolerable English, and who seemed astounded at our not taking the steamer in preference to our carrioles. He hardly thought it possible that we could be going all the way to Lillehammer, at the head of the lake, by the land road. When we set out, our postillion took a way leading up the hills in the rear of the place. Knowing that our course was along the shore, we asked him if we were on the road to Sveen, the next station." " Oh, yes ; it's all right," said he, " this is a new road." It was, in truth, a superb highway ; broad and perfectly macadamised, and leading along the brink of a deep rocky chasm, down which thundered a powerful stream. From the top of this glen we struck inland, keeping more and more to the westward. Again we asked the postillion, and again received the same answer. Finally, when we had travelled six or seven miles, and the lake had wholly disappeared, I stopped and de- manded where Sveen was. '• Sveen is not on this road,'' he answered ; " we are going to Mustad !" " But," I exclaimed, " we are bound for Sveen and Lillehammer !" " Oh," said ho, with infuriating coolness, "yon, can go there after' wards!" You may judge that the carrioles were whirled arouud in a hurry, and that the only answer to the fellow's remonstrances was a shaking by the neck which frightened him into silence. We drove back to Gjovik in a drenching shower, which failed to cool our anger. On reaching the station I at once mjade a complaint against the postillion, and the landlord 252 NORTHERN TRAVEL cnlled a man who spoke good English, to settle the matter The latter brought me a bill of $ 2 for going to Mustad and back. Knowing that the horses belonged to farmers, who were not to blame in the least, we had agreed to pay for their use; but I remonstrated against paying the full price when we had not gone the whole distance, and had not in tended to go at all. " Why, then, did yju order horses foi Mustad ?" he asked. " I did no such thing !'' I exclaimed, in amazement. " You did !" he persisted, and an investiga- tion ensued, which resulted in the discovery that the Nor- wegian who had advised us to go by steamer, had gratui- . toudly taken upon himself to tell the landlord to send us to the Randsfjord, and had given the postillion similar directions ! The latter, imagining, perhaps, that we didn't actually know our own plans, had followed his instructions. I must say that I never before received such an astonishing mark of kindness. The ill-concealed satisfaction of the people at our mishap made it all the more exasperating. The end of it was that two or three marks were taken off the account, "fchich we then paid, and in an hour afterwards shipped ounelves and carrioles on board a steamer for Lillehfimnw. The Norwegian who had caused all this trouble o;,me along just before we embarked, and heard the story with the most sublime indifference, proffering not a word of apology, regret, or explanation. Judging from this Bpecimen, the King of Sweden and Norway has good reason to style himself King of the Goths and Vandals. I was glad, nevertheless, that we had an opportunity oi seeing the Miosen, from the deck of a steamer. Movin» over the £>assy pale-green water, midway between its shores INCIDENTS OP CAItRIOr.E TKAVEL. 253 we had a far better exhibition of its beauties than from the land-roud. It is a superb piece of water, sixty miles in length by from two to five in breadth, with mountain shores of picturesque and ever-varying outline. The lower slopes re farm land, dotted with the large guards, or mansions of the farmers, many of which have a truly stately air ; be- yond them are forests of fir, spruce, and larch, while in the glens between, winding groves of birch, alder, and ash come down to fringe the banks of the lake. Wandering gleams of sunshine, falling through the broken clouds, touched here and there the shadowed slopes and threw belts of light upon the water — and these illuminated spots finely relieved the otherwise sombre depth of colour. Our boat was slow, and we had between two and three hours of unsurpassed scenery before reaching our destination. An immense raft of timber, gathered from the loose lows which are floated down the Lougen Elv, lay at the head of the lake, which contracts into the famous Guldbrandsdal. On the brow of a steep hill on the right lay the little town of Lillehammer, where we were ere long quartered in a. very comfortable hotel. 12 264 HORTHEIIN TEAVEI* CHAPTER XXII. GULDBRANDSDAL AND THE DOVRE FIELD. We left Lillehammer on a heavenly Sabbath morning. There was scarcely a cloud in the sky, the air was warm and balmy, and the verdure of the valley, freshened by the previous day's rain, sparkled and glittered in the sun. The Miosen Lake lay blue and still to the south, and the bald tops of the mountains which inclose Guldbrandsdal stood sharp and clear, and almost shadowless, in the flood of light which streamed up the valley. Of Lillehammer, I can only say that it is a common-place town of about a thousand in- habitants. It had a cathedral and bishop some six hundred years ago, no traces of either of which now remain. We drove out of it upon a splendid new road, leading up the eastern bank of the river, and just high enough on the mountain side to give the loveliest views either way. Our horses were fast and spirited, and the motion of our carrioles over the firmly macadamised road was just sufficient to keep the blood in nimble circulation. Rigid Sabbatarians may be shocked at our travelling on that day ; but there were few hearts in all the churches of Christendom whose hymng of praise were more sincere and devout than ours. The GULDBRANDSDAL AND THE DOVRE FJELD 255 Long in roared an anthem for us from his rocky oed: the mountain streams, flashing down their hollow channels, seemed hastening to join it; the mountains themselves tood silent, with uncovered heads ; and over all the pale- >e northern heaven looked lovingly and gladly down— oinile of God upon the grateful earth. There is no Sab- bath worship better than the simple enjoyment of such a day. Toward the close of the stage, our road descended to the banks of the Lougen, which here falls in a violent rapid — almost a cataract— over a barrier of rocks. Masses of wa- ter, broken or wrenched from the body of the river, are hurled intermittently high into the air, scattering as they fall, with fragments of rainbows dancing over them. In this scene I at once recognised the wild landscape by the pencil of Dahl, the Norwegian painter, which had made such an impression upon me in Copenhagen. In Guld- brandsdal, we found at once what we had missed in the scenery of Ringerike — swift, foaming streams. Here they leapt from every rift of the upper crags, brightening the gloom of the fir-woods which clothed the mountain-sides, like silver braiding upon a funeral garment. This valley is the pride of Norway, nearly as much for its richness aa for its beauty and grandenr. The houses were larger an more substantial, the fields blooming, with frequent orch ards of fruit-trees, and the farmers, in their Sunday attire Bhowed in their faces a little more intelligence than the pec pie we had seen on our way thithsr. Their countenances had a plain, homely stamp; and of all the largc-limbtd, strong-backed forms I saw, not one could be called graceful, 256 NORTHERN TRAVEL. or evrge, down which the Lougen roars in perpetual foam. This pass is called the Rusten ; and the road here is exces- sively steep and difficult. The forests disappear ; only hardy firs and the red pine cling to the ledges of the rocks • and mountains, black, grim, and with snow-streaked sum- mits, tower grandly on all sides. A broad cataract, a hundred feet high, leaped down a chasm on our left, so near to the road that its sprays swept over us, and then shot un- der a bridge to join the seething flood in the frightful gulf beneath. 1 was reminded of the Valley of the Reuss, on the road to St. Gothard, like which, the pass of the Rusten leads to a cold and bleak upper valley. Here we noticed the blight of late frost on the barley fields, and were for the first time assailed by beggars. Black storm-clouds hung over the gorge, adding to the savage wildness of its scenery ; but the sun came out as we drove up the Valley of Dovre, with its long stretch of grain-fields on the sunny sweep of the hillside, sheltered by the lofty Dovre Fjeld behind them. We stopped- for the night at the inn of Toftemoen, long before sunset, although it was eight o'clock, and slept in a half-daylight until morning. The sun was riding high in the heavens when we left, and dark lowering clouds slowly rolled their masses across the mountain-tops. The Lougen was now an inconsiderable stream, and the superb Guldbrandsdal narrowed to a bare, bleak dell, likj those in the high Alps. The grefn-fields had a chilled, struggling appearance; the forests forsook guldbrandsd.il and the dovre fjeld. 261 the mountain-sides and throve only in sheltered spots at their bases ; the houses were mere log cabins, many of which were slipping off' their foundation-posts and tottering to their final fall ; and the people, poorer than ever, came out of their huts to beg openly and shamelessly as we passed. Over the head of the valley, which here turns westward to the low water-shed dividing it from the famous Romsdal, rose two or three snow-streaked peaks of the Hurunger Fjeld ; and the drifts filling the ravines of the mountains on our left descended lower and lower into the valley. At Dombaas, a lonely station at the foot of the Dovre Fjeld, we turned northward into the heart of the mountains. My postillion, a boy of fifteen, surprised me by speaking very good English. He had learned it in the school at Drontheim. Sometimes, he said, they had a schoolmaster in the house, and sometimes one at Jerkin, twenty miles distant. Our road ascended gradually through half-cut woods of red pine, for two or three miles, after which it entered a long valley, or rather basin, belonging to the table land of the Dovre Fjeld. Stunted' heath and dwarfed juni- per-bushes mixed with a grey, foxy shrub-willow, covered the soil, and the pale yellow of the reindeer moss stained the rocks. Higher greyer and blacker ridges hemmed in the lifeless landscape ; and above them, to the north and west, broad snow-fields shone luminous under the heavy folds of the clouds. We passed an old woman with bare legs and arm3, returning from a seter, or summer chalet of the shep herds. She was a powerful but purely animal specimen of humanity, — " beef to the heel," as Braisted said. At last a cluster of log huts, wi'h a patch of green pasture-ground 12 * 263 NORTHERN TRAVEL. about them, broke the monotony of the scene. It was Fogstuen, or next station, where we were obliged to wait half an hour until the horses had been caught and brought in. The place had a poverty stricken air; and the slovenly woman who acted as landlady seemed disappointed that we did not buy some horridly coarse and ugly woolen gloves of her own manufacture. • Our road now ran for fourteen miles along the plateau of the Dovre, more than 3000 feet above the level of the sea. This is not a plain or table land, but an undulating region, with hills, valleys, and lakes of its own ; and more desolate landscapes one can scarcely find elsewhere. Everything is grey, naked, and barren, not on a scale grand enough to be imposing, nor with any picturesqueness of form to relieve its sterility. One can understand the silence and 3ternness of the Norwegians, when he has travelled this road. But I would not wish my worst enemy to spend more than one summer as a solitary herdsman on these hills. Let anydis ciple of Zimmerman try the effect of such a solitude. The statistics of insanity in Norway exhibit some of its effects, and that which is most common is most destructive. There never was a greater humbug than the praise of solitude. : it is the fruitful mother of all evil, and no man covets it who has not something bad or morbid in his nature. By noon the central ridge or comb of the Dovre Fjeld ruse before us, with the six-hundred-year old station of Jerkin in a warm nook on its southern side. This- is re- nowned as the best post-station in Norway, and is a favour- ite resort of English travellers and sportsmen, who come hither to climb the peak of Snaehfttten, and fo stalk rein< GULDWlANr/SDAL AND THE DOVRE FJELD. 205 : cleer. I did not find tlie place particularly inviting. The two women who had charge of it for the time were unusually silent and morose, hut our dinner was cheap and well gotten up, albeit the trout were not the freshest. We admired the wonderful paintings .of the landlord, which although noticed by Murray, give little promise for Norwegian art in these high latitudes. His cows, dogs, and men are all snow-white, and rejoice in an original anatomy. The horses on this part of the road were excellent, the road admirable, and our transit was therefore thoroughly agreeable. The ascent of the dividing ridge, after leaving Jerkin, is steep and toilsome for half a mile, but with this exception the passage of the Dovre Fjeld is remarkably easy. The highest point which the road crossed is .about 4(500 feet above the sea, or a little higher than the Brenner Pass in the Tyrol. But there grain grows and orchards Dear fruit, while here, under the parallel of (52°, nearly all vegetation ceases, and even the omnivorous northern sheep can find no pasturage. Before and behind you lie wastes of naked grey mountains, relieved only by the snow-patches on their summits. I have seen as desolate tracts of wilder- ness in the south made beautiful by the lovely hues which they took from the air ; but Nature has no such tender fan- cies in the north. She is a realist of the most unpitying stamp, and gives atmospheric influences which make that which is dark and bleak still darker and bleaker. Black clouds hung low on the horizon, and dull grey sheets of rain Bwept now and then across the nearer heights. Snashntten, *o the westward, was partly veiled, but we could trace bia olunt mound of alternate black rock and snow nearly to tie 204 NORTHERN TRAVEL. apex. The peak is about 7700 feet above the sea, and waa until recently considered the highest in Norway, but the Skagtolstind has been ascertained to be 1 60 feet higher, and Snsehatten is dethroned. The river Driv came out of a glen on our left, and en- tered a deep gorge in front, down which our road lay, fol- lowing the rapid descent of the foaming stream. At the station of Kongsvold, we had descended to 3000 feet again, yet no trees appeared. Beyond this, the road fcr ten miles has been with great labour hewn out of the solid rock, at the bottom of a frightful defile, like some of those among the Alps. Formerly, it climbed high up on the mountain- side, running on the brink of almost perpendicular cliffs, and the Vaarsti, as it is called, was then reckoned one of the most difficult and dangerous roads in the country. Now it is one of the safest and most delightful. We went down the pass on a sharp trot, almost too fast to enjoy the wild scenery as it deserved. The Driv fell through the cleft in a succession of rapids, while smaller streams leaped to meet him in links of silver cataract down a thousand feet of cliff. Birch and fir now clothed the little terraces and spare cor- ners of soil, and the huge masses of rock, hanging over out heads, were tinted with black, warm brown, and russet orange, in such a manner as to produce the most charming effects of colour. Over the cornices of the mountain-walls, hovering at least two thousand feet above, gleamed here and there the scattered snowy johins of the highest fjeld. The pass gradually opened into a narrow valley, where we found a little cultivation again. Here was the post of Lvivstuen, kept by a merry old lady. Our uoxt stage do- GULDBRANDSDAL AND THE DOVRE FJELD. 2G3 scended through increasing habitation and culture to tie inn of Rise, where we stopped for the night, having the Di>vre Fjeld fairly behind us. The morning looked wild and threatening, but the clouds gradually hauled off to the east- ward, leaving us the promise of a fine day. Our road led over hills covered with forests of fir and pine, whence wo looked into a broad valley clothed with the same dark gar- ment of forest, to which the dazzling white snows of the fjeld in the background made a striking contrast. We here left the waters of the Driv and struck upon those of the Orkla, which flow into Drontheim Fjord. At Stuen, we got a fair breakfast of eggs, milk, cheese, bread and butter. Eggs are plentiful everywhere, yet, singularly enough, we were nearly a fortnight in Norway before we either saw or heard a single fowl. Where they were kept we could not discover, and why they did not crow was a still greater mys- tery. Norway is really the land of silence. For an inhab- ited country, it is the quietest I have ever seen. No won- der that anger and mirth, when they once break through the hard ice of Norwegian life, are so furious and uncontroll- able. These inconsistent extremes may always be reconcil- ed, when we understand how nicely the moral nature of man is balanced. Our road was over a high, undulating tract for two stages, commanding wide views of a wild wooded region, which is said to abound with game. The range of snewy peaks be- hind us still tilled the sky, appearing so near at hand as to deceive the eye in regard to their height. At last, we came upon the brink of a steep descent, overlooking the deep glen of the Orkla, a singularly picturesque valley, issuing from 266 NOKTllKItN TRAVEL. between the bases of the mountains, and winding away tri the northward. Down the frightful slant our horses plunged, and in three minutes we were at the bottom, with flower- sown meadows jn either hand, and the wooded sides of the glen sweeping up to a waving and fringed outline against the sky. After crossing the stream, we had an ascent as abrupt, on the other side; but half-way up stood the station of Bjserkager, where we left our panting horses. The fas stations were now at an end, but by paying fast prices we got horses with less delay. In the evening, a man travelling on foot offered to carry forbud notices for us to the remain- ing stations ; if we would pay for his horse. We accepted ; I wrote the orders in my best Norsk, and on the following day we found the horses in readiness everywhere. The next stage was an inspiring trot through a park-like country, clothed with the freshest turf and studded with clumps of fir, birch, and ash. The air was soft and warm, and filled with balmy scents from the flowering grasses, and the millions of blossoms spangling the ground. In one place, I saw half an acre of the purest violet hue, where the pansy of our gardens grew so thickly that only its blossoms were. visible. The silver green of the birch twinkled in the Bun, and its jets of delicate foliage started up everywhere with exquisite effect amid the dark masses of the fir. There was little cultivation as yet, but these trees formed natural orchards, which suggested a design in their planting and redeemed the otherwise savage character of the scenery. We dipped at last into a hollow, down which flowed one oi the tributaries of the Giiul Elv, the course of which we thence followed "to Drontheim. OILDBUASDtJDAL AND THE DOVRE FJELD. 2('i7 One of , the stations was a lonely guard, standing apart from the road, on a high hill. As we drove up, a horrid old hag came out to receive us. " Can I get three horses soon ?'' I asked. " No," she answered with a chuckle. " How Boon ?" " In a few hours," was her indifferent reply, but the promise of paying fast rates got them in less than one. My friend wanted a glass of wine, but the old woman said she had nothing but milk. We were sitting on the steps with our pipes, shortly afterwards, when she said : " Why don't you go into the house ?" " It smells too strongly of paint," I answered. " But you had better go in," said she, and shuffled off. When we entered, behold ! there were three glasses of very good Marsala on the table. " How do you sell your milk ?" I asked her. " That kind is three skillings a dram," she answered. The secret probably was that she had no license to sell wine. I was reminded of an incident which occurred to me in Maine, during the prevalence of the prohibitory law. I was staying at an hotel in a certain town, and jestingly asked the landlord : '■ Where is the Maine Law ? 1 should like to see it." " Why," said he, '-' I have it here in the house ;" and he unlocked a back room and astonished me with the sight of a private bar, studded with full decanters. The men folks were all away at work, and our postillion was a strapping girl of eighteen, who rode behind Braisted. She was gotten up on an immense scale, but nature had ex pended so much vigour on her body that none was left for hei brain. She was a consummate representation of health and stupidity. At the station where we stopped for the night, T could net help admiring the solid bulk of the landlady's 268 NORTHERN TRAVEL. sister. Although not over twenty four she must have weighed full two hundred. Her waist was of remarkable thickness, and her bust might be made into three average American ones. I can now understand why Miigge calls his ncroine llda " the strong maiden. " A drive of thirty-five miles down the picturesque valley of the Guul brought us to Dronthciru the next day — the eighth after leaving Christiania. DRONTHEIM.— V01 AGE UP THE COAST