FURTHER NOTES FROM NORWAY.

Press, Volume XLV, Issue 7158, 20 September 1888, Page 5

FURTHER NOTES FROM NORWAY.

A SPECIMEN OF THE CLIMATE.

SEEING THE MIDNIGHT SUN.

THE FIORDS COMPARED WITH NEW ZEALAND SOUNDS.

SOME SOCIAL JOTTINGS AND SPORT.

FARMING IN NORWAY.

[FROM OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.]

Gudvangen, Sogue Fiord, Norway, August 2nd, 1888. I was lately reading the latest edition of Mr Ruskin's "Stones of Venice." The bottom of each page was from an inch to an inch and a half deep in foot note, explaining how the learned author had found that in previous editions he had been guilty of the grossest mistakes, I felt at once the beauty of the great critic's candour, and I now take heart by bis example to confess that in my last letter I great 'over-estimated ihe worth of the Norwegian climate, seeing that for the last ten days it has been raining cats and dogs; for when it does rain in thi a country, it does the business thoroughly. Under such conditions one finds out at once the weak points in the system of carriole travelling here. Your legs, which are dangling down between the shafts, become a mass of mud. The loag hills exasperate you as the storm comes pelting into your face. And, finally, perchance you find the hotel for which you are making filled with and you possibly have tp put up with a shakedown in the passage,

But the term ■'Suner" requires ex- I pl_nation. There are four or five steamers which regularly leave England once or twice a season filled with tourists, whos e sole idea of beatitude seems to consist or seeing the midnight sun from the extreme northerly point of Europe. These steamers run over to Bergen, as the nearest place in Norway from England, and then journey northwards for five days till they reach North Cape, When they get there perhaps the midnight sun cannot be seen be. cause of the weather. Perhaps a landing on the cape cannot be effected because of the roughness of the sea. But anyhow the steamer immediately turns back, and plods away southerly for another five days, till it arrives at the Sogne and Hardanger Fiords, where the pick of the scenery really does lie. Here, to the horror and incalculable discomfort of individuals who are doing Norway in a sensible fashion, the trippers are .turned loose on shore for the first time in forties and fifties. It is their first real taste of the country, althougn they have left Newcastle or Hull for more than a fortnight and it is quite pathetic tp see bow they are surprised by little things which have almost grown into the daily life of travel, lers who took their departure from England at the same time by ordinary steamer. But the " suner " cannot indulge his longing to know something of native customs. Not- for him are the best of the waterfalls which are invariably to be found some distance in land. No, the orders of the Captain inexorable and he has to dash off to th e place where his vessel is waiting for him shortly to whisk him off once more across the North Sea. A friend of mine the other day counted fifty carioles. i.n a row making for such a trysting place, each vehiclecoptainingaself-constituted convict —as mel—ncholy a procession as could be found in Kong Oscar's dominions.

In my last letter I explained the topography of the best scenery in Norway, but for clearness sake 1 shall recapitulate. Imagine a rectangular piece of country about 100 miles east and west by abput fifty north and aoptby hounded on the north by the Sogne Fiord, and the south by the Hardanger Fiord, and oh ihe west by the sea. In the centre of the bjock lies Voaeevangen and on the sea coast Bergen, whioh is joined to Vpssevahgen by the only railway in the wilder of Norway. In these two fiords, or close on them, lies all that is best wdrfcfc seeing in this country; if the Somsdal district be excepted, which lies" by itself farther north along the coast/ which T hope to visit later. ! he key of the position is the littJe village ofVossevangen.When I last wrote I was at Odde on the Hardanger fi'iord, now l aiti at Gudvangen on the Sogne fiord, having travelled the distance between tbe two fiords by cariole, passing, of course, through the inevitable Vossevangen. Of further doings on the Hardanger I have but little to note except, perhaps, a visit to the Voringfos, a waterfall which divides with the Skjaggedalfos, the honors of being the finest in Europe. Of the latter fall I gave a description in my last letter. I trust your readers were properly thrilled by the perils undergone oy your correspondent in-his there. Luckily, the climb to the Voringfos is of the simplest character, though steep and long, so that there was nothing to may the pleasure of the expedition. Some people prefer one fall, some the other. The Voringfos has a larger volume of water, which shoots over a cliff about 6GGf t Into a cleft. Its position is solitary and grand. But the surroundings of the Skjaggedalfos are more romantic,"- the fall of the water higher, and, speaking for myself, I prefer it of the two.

So, too, with regard to the two great estuaries of N or way, some prefer one, some the other. For gloomy grandeur the Sogne carries away the palm; the scenery on the Hardanger is for the 'most part more soft and pleasing. As yet I have seen but little of the Sogne, but what I have is striking in the extreme. The valley, which runs inland for about eight miles from thisplace.'is a perfect marvel. It js quite narrow, but the cliffs oh each side tower up some "3000 ft or 4Qo9ft. In places the sides are. perfectly perpendicular, and the tops pf theni appear but a few degrees from ihe-zeriith. The valley stops abruptly in a cliff, down either! corner of which shoots a fine waterfall; j Up the centre of this cliff the Norwegian i road-makers —as skilful in their calling as j any in the world—have constructed a road 1 which, by steep gradients, leads to the! uplands beyond. Numerous other -water? j falls tumble over the sides of this wonder- j ful valley—in plates' you may count seven ' or eight at a time—and after rain the sound of rushing water Js above around you, and beneath you, in the j-iver that has cut its way through the centre: of the gorge. The valley Is called the Ncerodal, arid -when, once seen is not likely soon to be forgotten. ,' • . ' I have often been asked bow tbe fiords in Norway compare with those in New Jse<dand. To the latter, I am ashamed to say, I have never been; but a well-known Canterbury Government official, who has not been as negligent as I have, who has visited both the Sogne arid Hardanger fiords, and who is at the present moment in this country, has enabled mc to answer the question as far as it can be answered. For, in truth, it is difficult to compare places that are so very dissimilar in many respects. The sounds hi YSevr Zealand and the fiords here are so far alike that they are both inlets of the sea which are surrounded by mountains of about the same height. But here all likeness ends. Owing to the dampness of the climate the New Zealand sounds are flanked by hills covered with perpetual verdure. Nature insists on growing some sort of vegetation on every possible spot. .Even the cliffs are covered with moss, while beyond the primeval forest stretches in unbroken continuity. Here the fiords are compassed with hills of an almost barren character. Tbe cliffs are of a deep chocolate color, with occasional patches of short grass on them. The more rounded eminences are almost totally destitute of trees, and even shrubs are few and far between. So far the; advantage lies with the New Zealand sounds. But on the other hand, the fiords are much larger in extent. The sounds, if I mistake not, stretch only some ten or a dozen miles inland,.while the Sogne Fiord has a length of more than 100 miles, without counting the many smaller fiords leading from it. The Hardanger is about eighty miles long, Then again the fiords possess another great advantage over the sounds, in that the sides of the former are dotted with villages and cottages. These hot only serve to lend a human interest to the scene, but, as it were, afford a scale by which the real height of tbe mountains may be gauged.

hiff sides may be discerned lit—c f_rmsteads, some of them situated 2000 ft above the level of the water. I hey appear mere dots, and yet they are houses. Tou wonder how the people ever. got there, why having got there they do not incontinently tumble off into Uie water, and still more, how they can ever '■ consent to remain there. The children who are bred in these eyries are, it is said, tethered to the lintels of the doors when their parents are work-, ing; and when a person dies there is often not soil enough in the locality to alford him a deceut burial, bat the body has to be conveyed to the valley below, at great risk and trouble. And yet these people love their homes as tew other people do. Perhaps there is somet—ing attractive in the constant possibility oi a violent death through a fall over an abyss. Perhaps, when once you have lived in such r_rifled air, and enjoyed such extensive vistas, you'feel choked and oppressed when you descend to ordinary levels. Perhaps, too, these dwellers ia the clouds may weigh possibilities. If a crash through space is on the cards, on the other band they are free from lawn tennis elbows and legs, from bumpy practice wickets, from railway accidents, from bucking horses and a thousand other disagreeables which beset the life of people who live in lower air strata. Anyhow, there the people are, and there are their houses, and very picturesque the latter look, as also do the villages on the water s edge with their prim white churches and little landing stages. And mention of these villages leads roe to note tbe total absence of any signs about them or elsewhere of the existence of any sort of a squirarchy, or more opulent farmer class. Barring the hoteis, there are no houses in either of these fiords of the sbghtest pretentions. For one reason, no person who can afford to get away would be willing to face the winter in this out of the way region. Many of the hotelkeepers, even, live in Bergen such time as the touring season is not on. And indeed, when the snow is on the ground .it must be dismal work here. Then the law favors small tenures, and tends to keep the holders of the soil in a poverty-stricken condition. The allodial laws are peculiar iv the extreme, and seem to have been invented for the express purpose of seeing that the farmer is always in debt to the mortgagee ana the banks. He possesses the land, and that is about all he does. After tbe death of the last owner, provided that such owner has, by himself or by descent, held the land fortwenty years, a person in direct descent may always claim the land if he does so within three years. The descendant obtains the land at a low valuation, and has to provide security for tbe co-heirs obtaining their portion. This system is, of course, a direct incentive to a farmer to stick to his piece of ground, but, at the same time, it largely depreciates its value. If a person buys the land after the death of the last owner, his title only becomes indefeasible after the lapse of three years. Up to that time there is always a risk of a direct descendant jnaking his claim, The practical upshot of the matter is that the farmer is bound to the soil, while bis younger brothers are far better. off, receiving their share in money payments. Itis from these latter that the large body of Norwegian emigrants are drawn. Tbe eldest brother does his best, but tbe sou is poor, and there are large calls on biß purse. Ha endeavors to eke out a livelihood by fishing and wood-cutting, but the fates are against him, and he too frequently falls more heavily into debt year by year. Nor is be likely to extricate himself by the slightest display of enterprise or fertility of resource,, for the Norwegian farmer is a Conservative of tbe Conservatives, 1 and the system of farming pursued hy his fathers he is bound to stick to, Only one-fortieth of the country is avail, able for agriculture, and that is worked on very old-fashioned principles indeed. Not nearly grain enough tor the. copulation is grown in the country, and the.import of it —mounts to about —Jwt for every inhabitant per annum. Jt W generally co»t ceded that far more might be grown in Norway if only an improved system were adopted. I have, of course, seen .nothing: of the corn harvest, but the native management of the.bay harvest I have wondered at übeyqnd measure. The unevenness of the land naturally prevents the use of grass cutting —lachi—es drawn by horses, but the Norwegian; seyfche is a stunted, one-banded instrument, with a very short.thin blade* It is just the sort of instrument for working with on the mountain sides, but why mc it on the level? Then the method of making hay of the grass is peculiar, 1 It is hung out to dry, like wet linen, on long hurdles. At 'the present moment the whole .country looks as if a vast national steeplechase was on the point of coming off " Only enough grass l ie cut at one time to thoroughly .Stock the- hurdles; when this is prepared it is taken down and a fresh fat is cut. Naturally a process takes up a great deal of- time, but it is one tljst is adapted for a rainy summer in places wheie labor is cheap, for it obviates any chance of an entire crop being ruined: a lif tie only is cut at once, which is dried partly by what sun can be got and partly by the air freely circulating -through It. But the early part Of last ihontn was unusually dry and hot 5 the natives had not had such a good time for bay-making for years. Did they seise the fleh opportunity, cut their .grass at once* it on the ground and harvest it right the reel? Ifot a bit ot it. They still cut smallpatehes, and hang it upßtowly hud religiously on the traditional hurdle. And what is theconsequenoe t The weather haS changed, and the change finds the "grand national "still in full swing, and in full swing it will remain apparently for a long time to edme. just another item respecting the ha_ harvest. In. traveUipg tfarcragta cpa—try Ouo frpqrfy W m pß across '» wire stretching frpm a rough windlass at ypur feet right away Into the clouds. With infinite pains you trace out its course and find that the ether cud is attached to the tobofa neighbouring cliff. Down these wires the Norwegians shoot the grass they cut up above amoag the clouds. Fodder is so valuable in a country where animals have to be stalled all winter that every little patch of grass >s utilised. Ihe farmer -climbs along some mountain face by a path so precarious that it makes, one duite Sick even to look at it, reaches the diminutive plateau, cuts the crop, ties it in bundles, and shoots It dpwp the wire to the valley below, where it 'Is, duty prepared, and helps to swell the stqck c-f "winter" provender. '.-__'' Aa mentioned above, animals have to be housed, at least in these parts of Norway during the winter months, This is, of course, a severe handicap to the dairy interest, the principal farmipg interest in the country. From the middle of October to the Ist of jyiay hoth cqws horses— or rather ponies, for there are few or no ftorses—are stabled- The same is even the case with goats, if the winder happens to be a severe'one. Still, although fed solely on hay, for there is no turnip crop, the animals do wejl. and the yield oFmilk is plentiful.. There i are three sorts of cheese made from I cows' milk anUTwo from goats' milk. At the present time you see hup tew cows,- as i-bey are well up in the hills, or the-high plateaus on tbe.tpps ptthe htfU>, where ; _a» feed- is abundant. There the cheeses are wade, th® PJ^ a le; looking after living PP m those high regions during tbo summer months. J» <P?!fr mience ot this arrangement the population appears at tbU time orthe year more Bpsrae even Jthan it really is. In reabfcy _Tis estimated as being sixteen to $& square mile,' the totalJor, fcorway being Iveens, an immigrant ***<*§ with a language of their own. ' . - , ..< With regard to • the trade of the country, it is roaring, though slowly, on an upward grade, TweutyT&ve years a&o Norway imported 00 raw materials, now it does. Its priwwal exposfcs are beer, matches and sem# c cotton and wppllan goods. But the amount of accpmnbiwp capital in No>w»r » hut small, md the people generally are very poor- -A little goes a long way, and a man plight live here on a Small to*o»e ia comparative comfort. I have seen tfj stated that the reason why jpeopie **an hve so cheaply m Norway is that the style of living m vogue is below par, and tfc&t people even "1 good positions are satisfied! with one servant, and give no parties to speak of. But I fail altogether .tft.--t.ea. the matter in that light. Thficosfeo? necessaries is undoubtedly small. Beef only costs 6d a pound; labonr is Mtremely cheap, and house rent is moderate, Any-* body must at once be s*_*e;ot the latter 1 fact, for the houses are bnttfc of low-priced timber, and are erected.in a rough and ready fashion. The rate of salaries drawn by Government o-kaals is not a bad index of the wealth of any country, at least of any democratic country, such as this is. Such salaries are arranged by the representatives of tbe people on a scale to tally with the incomes of individuals to/ the same social position as the recipients of them. Now the following are salaries of some of the leading Norwegian Government officials, and it must further he borne in mind that most of the oftleers mentioned are entirely dependent on what is paid to tbem by the : ee_-ta*yv

The salary <tf the:_*__*» -Uniater to JS1100; that of each of the Cabinet Ministers is *660, The Lord Chancellor gets £553, the Judges of tbe Appellate Court each -400, The permanent heads of the Government depaxtme—fe rejoice each of them in an anno—l payment of £300. The average annual income of the Bishops, including value of residence, is £020. The Professors at the University at Christiana each recolj? £250, rising by increment to about £335. The average salary of a Governor of a province, including value Of residence, is only £34- A glance at tho above will give, one- a very _ur idea of what the upper circles in this country lire on. But the cost of travelling is a matter which, after all, strikes nearer home, and I have now been long enough in tbe count*- to give an opinion ou the subject, I certainly think that in no other civilised country could we travel at so moderate a. . »te. Six kronas. that *_,6s Bd, a day iconsidered a very high sum in the oountrjr districts for oue to pa? for hotel accommodation, everything included (except, of courstvbeer and wine). In very out of tbe way, places the price Is much lower. Their carriage-hire is x remarkably cheap. Last Thursday I drove about twenty miles in a carriole, and another twentyfour in a stolkjajre, _M_ther more pretentious conveyance, and paid altogether,' drivers* fees included, IfisM. For married people a very satisfactory custom prevailon the steamers which ply up and down the fiords, the wife only paging half fare. Speaking generally, 1 should say that io was just as cheap to travel in Norway as to live in England in the most ordinary Style—perhaps it would be more correcb to say that it is cheaper. A guide boo— which I have read states that Norwegians allow themselves SO kronas—about £4 9a— a week for travelling expenses, and that Englishmen should reckon on wanting? 100 kronas—about £5. lis. This calculation is evidently based on the supposition, that tbe travellers aire constantly on the move. If a man stops a week at one pi—oa and a few days at another, though living - , in the best style that the country provides, he would find his cxpensca ccune to some—ling less even than the amount suggested as likely to be required by native-born travellers. Ot course these halcyon days are sot likely to last for ever. It was a tradition of old that the grass never grew again on the spot where Attila had once placed his loot. On the other hand, let an Englishman only place his foot often enough on any ono given place, and a plentiful crop of high bills is sure to .be the result. As Norway becomes more and more known, Englishmen dock over to see its magnuice— b scenery in increasing numbers, it may be. irophecied with the greatest certainty that the cost of travelling will increase. Our compatriots have already taught the little boys at Bergen to run after their carriages calling oud" Penny, penny P As timegoes on they will also teach the land* lords of the country to call out "Pocnda« pounds 1" And now a word on the sport to bo obtained in this country, for it a* 9 " happy hunting ground" that many a macasts a longing eye across the North Settl Go on board any steamer starting for N_t* way from Hull or Newcastle, and yoa would imagine that the last day ot _*t* last salmon In these parts had most ©ear* tainly arrived, so numerous are tha enormous rods put on board, so complicated the fishing paraphernalia mixed up with the passengers' lug* gage. And how many of the owners of all this tackle are destined to see then-hopes realised » "Certainly not mow than 15 per cent. Tbe fishermen may be divided into two categories, namely, those who have hired salmon streams and those who have not, the latter being in the large majority. Of course if a, man has hired such a stream, he mostly knows what is before him—at least he is a fool if he does not. He can forecast that if the, weather and the state of the streams be favorable* he may reckon on landing - certain . number of fish. So much his inquiries oe big e-perienoe have led him to infer. He is to pay, say, £200 or £250 a season for a good stream, and he calculates that ho will get more out of the expenditure than he Wouldwere be topay -60 otffiO amttath for the privilege of a rod in a crack river In Scotland. Moreover, there wil t be greater variety about the sport, and he will not have to take up his post on a single stone all day t having previously drawn Iqts with five or six other people for his particular rock. He certainly may not have realised, if it Is his first season In this countryVwhafc it is to live for weeks In an out-of-the-way Norwegian hamlefe, with nothing* to loos at in tbe evenings his flies, and with not a soul who knows his language within hail. Bun that,-after all, Is a miner detail, and possibly he may belong to tho small category of people who do not easily grow tired of the—' own society. So, perhaps, the path of the man who has hired a salmon riv—J may be deemed to have _sllen in wo_> derfully.pleasant places. _ But how- iiboutl the* others who nook over with a general idea that at aU events, |f'they cannot get' any Salmon flrthlngL they are at least surfrfco get' excellent —"ons fishing, with perhaps an occasion—tsai!~io_ thrown in. Alas, for their plight, ia a' hard one. They would have done nv»e*a better to have stopped at home, and to have got them to Wales or tosorae bevbbling nannt in Devonshire. I have me* many of these dreame-s. and the longt*Bf they stay in this country tho longer dH their faces become. The case of- a gallaa h Jflajor is notably before mc. He read la tbo Pield that excellent trout fishing was to be obtained at E-W, on the Hardanger Fiord. Pos-lMf the brother quill-driver, who penned tha lines, bhd never been to Eidsatall. .Bimi tJaej "state—»enfc was enough to draw* Abe mail of tho aword, and he tool? tha fl*s*6 boat for Norway, and made straight £—? _wiei t-_iype——a to'_crl—e—ti t"_it ~Hteg^B jusfc as he waa returning to th© hotel after* his first day's fishing. His language wa* riot parliamentary, and lucky was the man of the pen that salt seas divided, toe two. I forget how many traps the majfeif toM roe he had counted in the lower mitt Of the stream, and fancy he must havo purposely minimised the also of tfee_sh he did succeed in catching. I met this gallant fisherman at several other places oh the Hardanger. and on every occasion he had; the same tale to tell. A little 1 f&tety good lake fishing he did fortnhafcaly obtain, but the streams were, he tola a% trapped to an extent that renderedY good Sport ; but of the question. ojkfatjpn of trapping wan regalatetf by Inspectors, ve t the operators managed to have it pretty much their own way by throwing stones into the mamcbaonela an- deepening the tide water where i-aea? •traps were set. No, if you have not hirejl a salmon 'river do not come to Norway foe That is your correspondent a Straight tip. , * .- ', ;. :'.. , As tor shooting, there are various Mnm of grouse here, as well as capercaibrfeand ptarmigan; also.- in parts, some rel'Meer andilfc ißut nriless yon get 8hooti~&on private, property you ,wlir probably nm thlhk h\ worth while to take out a Keens®, for'the : |?prvregians,detcrmmed, b> Mmp i their sport for themselves, impose, a gunta-T.or £H on aU foreigners wbp shoot"" over (government land, mxc themselves *acb shooting is free of eoe_ J"pr the roost part sportmen can only nuao elk' for a few weeks each year, as th|» animal Is becoming very scarce, and ereafi care is taken that the species should be tn ho SanS Of annlhifatSon. Game fa protected to the 16tb of A*fas*.