NORWAY.

Otago Witness, Volume 06, Issue 2899, 6 October 1909, Page 82

NORWAY.

By Maoiulaxda.

Norway is a l«nd that simply uses up all ian-gua-ge. Every adjective has been employed time and again before 24 hours have passed in the wondrous Land of the Midnight Sun. Other countries have Jakes, but net evic'a successions of ~"art- : .ladad waters as Norway can show, iountains can he found e!eewhere — higher mountains, too, — but not sucn nouiuuins a-3 those of "Norway, where the clouds drift u/htly hundred* oi feet oenea-tn t.i<<; pea:^s i./ey half oonoeal and half reveal. Xcr has -Sonray a monopoly of waterfalls, but here else can * ooz-jin t?s seen au on-ce. — i u-es within fifty feet cr twin waterfalls ..luirdering from aloft, while opposite,...r0.e tha wide ravins, yet a third springs jhi the clouded tops of a seemingly . c"-ending mountain range. -..•aveLiin^ Scots say: "It is like the best in our welt-loved land." Those from the > «"iss cantons find it Switzerland on a \ . .=>u>t scale. Devoted Frenchmen see resemblance to their own Alper> Maritimos. Antipodeans fird the duplication of their own famous fjords. No wonder Norway's exiled sons, toiling to ''rreke good" >n Landon sSnms, American slaughterhouses, Australian Dush, and on Canadiani ..prairies, turn their ey€6 homeward and marvel that the lust for gold can drive yet others forth. And yet it -nuft be a hitter land from vliich to wrest a living. Where else ian Richer gardens be i-een scarce a yard t>'j.i3Jv. or ha^-fiejds 'a- dozen fe-st hj fniit;- 1 In 2voiway every scrap of culti\nted land rmist be utilis*^. - be. it i-lan-J or •uountain lodge. _TLny houses arc- «*e:l standing on the edge of a laying torrent, over • which maidens pass jftiilcssiv on huge stf/'iiii-.g-siones, like bruldv.is. to- rra-p iVt s.Jn'.rt harvest' from j, tiny e-reene -reen iefet Vhai would be left to th-e birds in any other country. int it Is the wonder and" beauty of Norn'af, not its poverty, that the stranger sec 4. Tne magnificence of the scenery and t'ns danger of the routes traversed cjui hardly be forgotten. " Yet, the number of accidents is incredibly small, which speaks volumes for Chose who are the «,".ii<les, philosophers, and friends of the thousands ■who now annuallj flock to thii portion of Scandinavia, it can be i.o usrht tn.ua t-o engineer such tours as those of the Polyt?cm:c, ie- example, where a littie band 0 a cL/.s-n or so white-capped officials ;u range for the transportation of between tin ee. add four hundred people at a time, and of a very mixed ronopaay, &o lar as ability (not class) is concerned. He-re is a little old white-haired .lady with a ponderous husband, both eager to see everything, both entirely mcapaDle of ax-ran gin? for themselves or taking one of the planned ''walks" without ? considerable amount of aid. In the same party, equally determined to do all there is to be done, you will find a band of harum-boari.-'ii >"oua^ people — nvcdicaF ttudents, iinivei'iity fie^h-coji. th.c sons and daughters ci manu'taeturer?, a sprinkling of Ameri1 in j and colonial* — all eager to do and be t.o;.i<> from morning till niprht, all vigorous vitli youth and hpalth, stung to fresher activity by the cool air wafted from Nor- ■\\ c_ r '.aa snowfieUlfc, and glaciers. In addition there will be a i£w travelling fo? their lienlth — j. ciippled man, a woman with faa.ag e.yesight, desirous of seeinsr all tli3 beauties of the world before darknes.° tlo?es in upon her. And this oddlyasborted band must be entertained, mar-t.ia-Hed for walks, driven down canyons and along the brink of precipices, rowed across Jakes, helped up mountain paths, •humou-red, amused, and fed, no matter what the height may be above sea level, the difficulties of transportation, and the .vagaries of the w«ather. ! The national costume, which is still m up*, though not by any means exclusively, adds greatly to the effectiveness of Norway. A couple of fair-haired girls, raking hay with curiously-curved rakes, and clad in tlie short black skirt of the country, the embroidered apron, white blouse, and gay scarlet zouave with embroidered, threecornered breastplate-like centre, gay beaded belt, and coquettish, odd-shaped scarlet gimp and bead-trimmed little' red cap, look most picturesque seem among the shade of the white-stemmed birch trees or against a background of dark, frowning mountain or jagged cliff- . As for Norwegian houses, their prevail- { Ing characteristic seems cleanliness. The , boards are snowy white, and in the great i majority of cases the walls are plain pine, ! like the floors, wliicb heightens the general •effect. Varnish and paint seem practically unknown. For the most part these houses j are very quickly put up, as they are ; built of beams cut to measure and simply j dovetailed in ! { Every room in every building seems to have a bed in it, and sometimes two. | The odd part of them is that while they i masquerade as single beds in the eyes of the uninitiated, others know that when a handle is turned some mysterious sliding ■will occut, and the width of the couch be increased by a foot or so. There are beds even in the post office and some of the shops ; nor axe damsels in the least disturbed if, seeking someone to pay in a restaurant, a 'civstomer passing from one apparently public apartment to another through a doorless aperture interrupts them -changing their skirts ! The spinning wheel is an indispensable |»rf> of the equipment of a Norwegian noose, and its busy whirr is rarely silenced. { Another notable article of furniture if the marriage- cbeet. Sometimes there are jtwo. when the bride has been particularly wealthy. They tfre gorgeous, scarlet, oval-topped boxes, on which Norwegian scenes are painted among brass scrolls They are locked with huge ornatneotal keys foil six inche* long! There Ealso, in all except the ama-lkst cots, iasdnwtitig asaritoires and cup de, to «ay nothing of great beating >t*wes with f£» dramatis persons of Nortreguux legend* wrought in iron upon j

them. These reach Dearly to the ceiling. This is not where the cooking is done ; that is more likely over an open, cave-litee structure upon which a wood fire barns in some outhouse. Huge cauldrons containing unkittavrn mixtures swing from the blackened' iron hooks at all hoars oi the day, though the staple diet of the country seems to be cheese — ordinary cheese, goat's, milk ch-sese, and reindeer cheese. The bread is a euj-iously f.uir. wait/'-uioe t,u&stance, made once in three months! In the short northern summers the men find their livelihood on the mountain tops, except such as remaia to cater to the needs of the nocking tourists. They live with the herds, and *-cap harvests from the higher osaks, sending the produce to the fjordfide by means of stout wir.es, which roach from th-e- top to the bottom oi the heights. The pest fish and drive stolljaerr-cs. A stoilia'arre is the vehicle of the country, a light, two-wheeled Eirr.ange.ment. in which tvo per««x.s r-.n sit comfortably side by side. The driver stands behind o"r sit* on a seat at axt equal l3v-el, and the reins pass between the two occupants The j)onke that draw these stolljaerres ar-e rather small, but rturdy and surefoated. The thousands who travel by s-toiljaerre throughout "Norway should raise a monument to their honour, for it it the horses, voi tins men, who carry the tourist safely through their perils. They seem to know to an inch the width of the cart and the space necessary to keep Doth wheels on terra." firma. The^-inen are rarely able to remember that a stolljaerrs Jias t'n-o wheels, and Itat one mjist not be permitted to iang'e over a precipice, or the other tra.«-a against the mighty cfiny. They < T o rot lack "euteness," however.. dfspit-3 this limitation, and one clever 'ittLe. .'dodge h worth, recording. The .rh-iv-ers are . frerusntly mere boys,' barely into, their teene. and the Norwegians.havereeogn:®sd that nervous tourists prefer someon-s older. Therefore a staid-looking 7 .i.i.n will arm himself with the necessary lil.ie ticket, and come to the landing stage, then ruthlessly convey his prey to a stolljzene with an infant for a driver. This Infant ke&ps studiourJv out of sight until >uch timear the passengers are installedimd^r a carefully-buttoned cover ;• then he l^ipy to his place behind, and is hauled into line, while the staid individual hurries off to tepaat the trick foi yet a younger son !