VI. CHAP tants avail themselves of this advantage. They keep about thirty milch cows, send a number of cattle for sale to Trönÿjem, and breed, besides, strong and useful horses, highly prized for their docility and hardihood'. None of the men living with our host were married. His own appearance was altogether that of a common peasant. The establishment of the farmers in this country seems to be much larger than with us in England.' At Drivstuen begins the more immediate ascent of the Dovrefield mountain. The mercury in Fahrenheit's thermometer, at mid-day, stood at 41°. Here they put four horses to our phaëton; providing us, also, with saddle-horses; as the next stage, to Kongswold, is exceedingly laborious and difficult; but the magnificent scenery repays a traveller for all the trouble it will cost him: it is in the highest style of Alpine grandeur, not to say horribly sublime. The author could not call to mind any part of Switzerland where the mountains and the rocks exhibit bolder features than (1) Von Buch's Travels, p. 99. Lond, 1813. (2) Von Buch describes it as "dangerous and painful in the highest degree." (See Trav. p. 98. Lond. 1813.) But he passed on the last day of April, and met with great difficulty, owing to the state of the ice, in crossing the stream. He says, "he was compelled to feel, that in spring no person travels in Norway." VI. he beheld in this stage ;-naked and tremendous CHAP. precipices of mica-slate on each side of the Passage, and the torrent of the Driva roaring below, in many an impetuous cataract'. All the tops of these towering crags were covered with snow, and often concealed by clouds, being also destitute of trees: but the lower parts were still enriched by the hardy birch, and nearer the bottom were willows and wild cherries.' The most beautiful and scarce plants were pen- Alpine dent among the rocks, especially of the genus Saxifraga'; and a species of Gentiana was still in flower, peeping above the snow. We found Salix lanata, guarded by its woolly coat, as if Plants. (3) In some places the mica-slate appeared to us to support clay-slate, which, from the nature of its separation into angular and prismatic masses, had an appearance resembling trap. This circumstance is not mentioned by Von Buch, to whose work the Reader is nevertheless referred for the best account of the geological phænomena of Norway. (4) "The valley is, in truth, surrounded by steep and savage rocks of a most alarming height. We can no longer measure their height from below; and the huge blocks at the bottom seem inconsiderable pieces, when compared with the surrounding masses. It is such another fissure as the Schöllenen at St. Gothard, or the abyss of the Hongrin above Château d'Oex. It is not a valley in which the mountains incline gently towards the plain; but a rent, which divides the mountains throughout the whole extent of their breadth."-Von Buch's Travels, p. 99. Lond. 1813, (5) Saxifraga nivalis; Saxifraga stellaris ; Saxifraga autumnalis; and Saxifraga oppositifolia. Nothing can be more elegant than the hanging clusters of the last, like pendent pearls upon the rocks. (6) "SALIX foliis integris utrimque lanatis subrotundis acutis." Linn. Flor. Lapp. p. 293. (368.) Tab. viii. fig. 10. et Tab. vii. fig. 7. Amst. 1737. VI. CHAP. wrapped in a pelisse of fur; also Salix herbacea; and such diminutive specimens of Betula nana, that the little circular leaves, smaller than upon the Lapland mountains, did not present surfaces of greater magnitude than those of split peas. The Gentiana nivalis was in seed: of this, as of many other seeds, we collected samples for our Botanic Garden at Cambridge. Just before the end of this stage of two Norwegian miles, we saw some very large icicles hanging from the rocks, six or seven feet long, and as thick as a Kongsvold. man's arm. We descended upon Kongsvold. This day, being that of the Sabbath, we found the inhabitants, as it is usual in Norway, all asleep. Five or six of the men came gaping out of a house; and upon our asking them if they had been sleeping, they all answered in the affirmative. Here they offered for sale the skins of large foxes, with very fine fur, at the rate of two dollars each. We had constantly inquired, in our route, for the skin of the Cat Goube, or Norwegian Lynx; and we asked for it at this place, but in vain. This animal is certainly rare at present in the country, although known to all the peasants. Kongsvold, surrounded by monstrous rocks, is one of the four "Field-stuer,' established on the Dovrefield, by King Eyestein, VI. in the year 1120, for the safety and comfort CHAP of travellers. We dined at this place: our servants arrived afterwards with the carriage, without meeting any accident. The horses that had been ordered came galloping up by themselves to the door of the inn, where they were fed with salt, which they seemed to eat very greedily. The Norwegians are almost as fond of salt as these horses. They have no idea of eating any thing quite fresh. The moment the butter comes from the churn, it is mixed with coarse lumps of salt. In one of the places where we halted for the night, a very fine trout was caught, which we were to have for supper; but the master of the house, as a matter of course, asked us whether we would not have it first salted. The family at this inn were all fair, fat, and rather handsome; the children particularly plump. One of the men had for his dinner, sour milk, oat-cake, cheese, and butter. All the men wore the same Grotesque coloured coat, cut in the same fashion; and the Nathis costume continues for a great distance along this route. It was a kind of livery, or uniform of grey cloth, with green worked button-holes. The coats were made in the form of full dress, with long waists, short skirts, and very long flaps to the pockets. We had some thoughts. habit of tives. CHAP. VI. of borrowing two of these suits, to help us out with our full dress at Petersburg, when we should arrive there; as the ukase, or order, of the Emperor Paul, for wearing such uncouth habits, even in a morning, had now been promulgated.' Our journey from Kongsvold to Jerkin, a Norwegian mile and a half, was less difficult, and the road good. Almost the whole stage consisted of an ascent over the most bleak Alpine region, covered with snow; first by a ravine, down which the Driva is precipitated towards the north, between immense perpendicular rocks, in a rent which hardly affords room for the water of the stream. "Great fragments, like pyramids and towns," says Von Buch', "have in some places fallen down, and completely choked up the valley." Afterwards, a wild and dreary prospect was presented to us-wild bogs, and deserts, where the drifting snow seemed to be contending with the driving clouds through which we passed. Posts, placed to mark the road, stood as evidences of the danger to which travellers are sometimes exposed in Boundary these aërial solitudes. A wooden gate, in the midst of the upmost level, serves to mark the and Agger boundary between the two great Governments between Trönÿem huus. (1) Travels through Norway, &c. p. 98. Lond. 1813. |