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TO MY MUCH-ESTEEMED FRIEND, THE PUBLIC.
TO MY MUCH-ESTEEMED FRIEND, THE PUBLIC.
My dear Public ,— I have frequently heard you remark, in that quaint and pithy manner so peculiarly your own, that “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” If you should happen to find the book which I here present to your notice to be really of such a character as your friend Jack might have written under these distressing circumstances, I am afraid I cannot plead this very sensible observation of yours as my excuse; for I must confess, which I do with thankfulness, that in my time I have
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INTRODUCTION.
INTRODUCTION.
Sketches in Norway and Sweden! Are they fact or fiction? are they to be instructive or simply entertaining? These are questions which the public has a right to ask, and which the author means to answer as truly as he can. He hopes there will be a little of both. At least, in making this selection from his own and his friends’ journals, he has had both these objects in his eye, and he trusts he has been able to keep his eye upon them both at the same time, and that without any very great amount o
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CHAPTER I. PREPARATIONS.
CHAPTER I. PREPARATIONS.
There is no saying more true than that “he who would make a tour abroad, must first make the tour of London.” There are miscellaneous articles of appropriate clothing to be got together; there are bags, knapsacks, portmanteaus, to be fitted. Above all, there are passports to be procured; than which no plague more vexatious, more annoying, or more utterly useless for any practicable or comprehensible purpose, has been devised by modern ingenuity. But if this is a necessary preliminary on ordinary
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CHAPTER II. THE VOYAGE.
CHAPTER II. THE VOYAGE.
Clear and joyous as ever a summer’s day came out of the heavens, was the 12th of June, 18—, when the good ship Walrus , with her steam up, her boats secured, and everything ready for sea, lay lazily at single anchor off Blackwall-stairs. The weather was as still and calm as weather might be. The mid-day sun, brilliant and healthful, imparted life and animation even to the black and unctuous waters, that all that morning had, in the full strength of the spring tide, been rushing past her sides. T
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CHAPTER III. THE SHIPWASH SAND.
CHAPTER III. THE SHIPWASH SAND.
One by one the travellers crept down to the cabin. It was as uncomfortable as cabins usually are, perhaps more so, as being more lumbered and more crowded; and the ordinary space for locomotion had been miserably curtailed by a large supplementary table, which the steward was lashing athwart ship for the dinner accommodation of the supernumerary passengers. These were standing about here and there, as helpless and uncomfortable as people always are on first starting, and were regarding one anoth
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CHAPTER IV. THE LANDFALL.
CHAPTER IV. THE LANDFALL.
“Nothing gives one so lively an idea of eternal, irresistible progress—of steady, inexorable, unalterable fate, as the ceaseless grinding of these enormous engines.” Thus moralised Birger, as, two days after the events recorded in the last chapter, he stood with his brother officer, the Captain, on the grating that gave air into the engine-room. “In joy or in sorrow, in hope or in fear, on they go—grinding—grinding, never stopping, never varying, never hurrying themselves:—the same quiet, irresi
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CHAPTER V. CHRISTIANSAND.
CHAPTER V. CHRISTIANSAND.
At the time the Walrus dropped her anchor, all seemed as still and lonely as if no sound had ever awakened the silence of the harbour. The chain cable, as it rattled through the hawse-hole, had even a startling effect, so solitary, so unusual was the sound. The place seemed as if it had been uninhabited since creation; for though the town lay close before it, the houses, low and lightless, looked like a collection of fantastic rocks; but scarcely had she felt the strain of her cable, when her st
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CHAPTER VI. THE TORJEDAHL.
CHAPTER VI. THE TORJEDAHL.
“And now for work,” said the Parson, as, somewhat late on the following morning they rose from a breakfast as substantial and plentiful as had been the supper of the night before. The ordinary meals of a Norwegian are, in fact, three good substantial dinners per diem, with their proportionate quantity of strong drink: one at nine or ten, which they call “Frökost”; one at two or three, which is termed “Middagsmad”; and one in the evening, called “Afton.” But, whatever they call them, the fare is
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CHAPTER VII. THE ENCAMPMENT MOSSE EURD.
CHAPTER VII. THE ENCAMPMENT MOSSE EURD.
“Rouse out, Birger, my boy,” said the Captain; “recollect we have got the Rapids of Oxea to pass before we get any breakfast, and that we have our breakfast to catch into the bargain. Come, come,” continued he, as Birger stretched himself on his Astrakan cloak, as if he was thinking of another spell of sleep, “‘shake off dull sloth, and early rise,’ as Dr. Watts says—see me rouse out those lazy hounds down there!” And that he did, in good earnest, by firing off both barrels within a foot of thei
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CHAPTER VIII. MAKING A NIGHT OF IT.
CHAPTER VIII. MAKING A NIGHT OF IT.
Many minutes had not expired, during which brief space the fishermen had been luxuriating in their dry clothes, when the boats were seen working their way back across the tail of the Aal Foss rapid, as they returned with the party from the right bank, which, after bobbing about on the ripples and cross currents, shot into their little harbour beneath the encampment. Birger came up the bank, half-laughing, yet looking as if he had been doing something he was ashamed of. “Where the deuce have you
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CHAPTER IX. THE HELL FALL.
CHAPTER IX. THE HELL FALL.
Whether the Spirits of the Flood and Fell considered themselves complimented by the homage which had been paid to them, or whether things would have turned out exactly the same had there been no offering at all, is a mystery of mythology which we will not take upon ourselves to determine. Certain it is, that when the next morning was ushered in with a soft westerly breeze and a dull cloudy sky, interspersed with bright transient gleams of joyous sunshine, such as salmon love, the Nyssar got the
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CHAPTER X. DEPARTURE FROM TORJEDAHL.
CHAPTER X. DEPARTURE FROM TORJEDAHL.
“Hallo! what is the matter now?” said the Captain, who had been out with his gun that morning, and on his return caught sight of the Parson sitting disconsolate on the river’s bank. By the waters of Torjedahl we sat down and wept. “What has gone wrong?” “Why, everything has gone wrong,” said the Parson peevishly; “look at my line.” “You do seem to have lost your casting line, certainly.” “Yes, I have, and half my reel line beside.” “Very tinkerish, I dare say, but do not grieve over it; put on a
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CHAPTER XI. THE MOUNTAIN MARCH.
CHAPTER XI. THE MOUNTAIN MARCH.
“How shall it be? Will you look your lay-lines to-day or to-morrow?” said the Parson, who, though not a little amused at the tilting between the rival champions, and by the manner in which Birger had suffered himself to be drawn into the squabble, began to think it had gone quite far enough for the future peace and unanimity of the expedition. “Come, Jacob, shoulder your knapsack, and march like a sensible Swede.” “There never was but one sensible Swede,” said Torkel, in a grumbling aside, “and
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CHAPTER XII. THE HOMESTEAD.
CHAPTER XII. THE HOMESTEAD.
Sunrise found the whole bivouac in a stir; the habits of the Norwegian are always early—at least in the summer time—and many of the parties had to travel to the yet distant sœters and wilder uplands: cows are not very fast travellers, and the load which a dairyman carries on his back when he is bound to those fjelds, which are inaccessible to carts, is by no means a light one: ponies sometimes carry the heavier loads, but this is not often, as they are useless in the fjeld life, and in the summe
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CHAPTER XIII. THE CHURCH.
CHAPTER XIII. THE CHURCH.
One reason why the fishermen were so anxious to reach Soberud was, that the next day was Sunday, and they wanted a day of rest, and a church to go to; and that was not to be met with, on the Torjedahl, nearer than Christiansand itself. Hitherto their church had been a remarkably tall fir-tree, which had, somehow or other, been overlooked by the wood-cutters, and stood some little way within the forest. It had been chosen on account of its fancied resemblance to a church spire, as it towered abov
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CHAPTER XIV. BREAKING UP THE ENCAMPMENT.
CHAPTER XIV. BREAKING UP THE ENCAMPMENT.
The whole party found their quarters in the Soberud valley so extremely comfortable, and the game so very abundant, that they were readily induced to prolong their stay; and the Parson struck up quite a friendship with the worthy Pfarrherr, and talked theology with the Candidatus. Torkel, who had had long, and, apparently, very interesting conversations with old Torgenson, the import of which did not transpire, had asked a temporary leave of absence, which was readily granted—the Parson having,
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CHAPTER XV. EIDER DUCK HUNTING.
CHAPTER XV. EIDER DUCK HUNTING.
The dawn was yet grey upon the mountains, and the light steaming mist was still resting on the glassy surface of the harbour, when the three boats slipped off noiselessly from the dockyard point. The fishing rods, now useless, had been landed, and the guns and rifles had taken their places, while the after-lockers were stored with cod lines and their gear, to say nothing of the långref that had done such good service at Mosse Eurd, and which was now converted into a spillet. The boats were well
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CHAPTER XVI. THE COASTING VOYAGE.
CHAPTER XVI. THE COASTING VOYAGE.
If an Englishman can ever enter into the feelings of a Neapolitan, and in any way connect the ideas of the dolce far niente with those of enjoyment, if he can ever bend that active, energetic mind of his, and that restless and industrious Anglo-Saxon body, to realize the faintest conception of the “paradise of rest,” in which the Buddhist places the sum of his felicity, it will be on board ship, after breakfast, on a calm, warm forenoon, and beyond the influence of the Post Office. SCENE ON THE
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CHAPTER XVII. GOTHEBORG.
CHAPTER XVII. GOTHEBORG.
Early rising is not pleasant at sea. Captain Basil Hall may talk of the joyous morning watch if he likes,—but there is nothing joyous in washing decks, and that is what most ships are occupied with at that hour. The Parson did not make his appearance on deck till after breakfast, and he was the first of the party. The steamer was now approaching the end of her voyage, for the land, closing on both sides, showed the estuary of the Gotha. Most of the party were not sorry for the conclusion of the
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CHAPTER XVIII. TROLLHÄTTAN.
CHAPTER XVIII. TROLLHÄTTAN.
“Birger, what is the Swedish for ‘Go to the devil?’ I cannot make these little brutes of boys understand me,” shouted the Captain, who was not in the best of humours, having already made half a dozen slips on very dangerous ground. In all Sweden, there is not a more slippery bit of turf than that which clothes the cliffs and highlands of Trollhättan. The bank along which he was scrambling to get a good view of the falls rounded itself off gradually, getting more and more out of the horizontal an
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CHAPTER XIX. GÄDDEBÄCK.
CHAPTER XIX. GÄDDEBÄCK.
The day had been oppressively hot, more actual heat, perhaps—reckoning by the degrees of Reaumur or Farenheit—than had been experienced on the fjeld of the Tellemark;—but that was dry, bracing, exhilarating heat, such as is felt on the mountain side; this was the moist, feverish warmth, caused by the sun’s rays acting on the wide expanse of the Wener Sjön and its marshy shores, and secretly and imperceptibly drawing up vapours, which would eventually fall in rain,—not, perhaps, on the spot from
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CHAPTER XX. WENERN.
CHAPTER XX. WENERN.
“The Night has covered her beauty. Her hair sighs on Ocean’s wind. Her robe streams in dusky wreaths. She is like the fair Spirit of heaven in the midst of its shadowy mist. “From the wood-skirted waters of Lago ascend at times grey-bosomed mists, when the gates of the West are closed on the Sun’s eagle eye. Wide over Lara’s stream is poured the vapour dark and deep. The Moon, like a dim shield, is swimming through its folds. “‘Spread the sail,’ said the King; ‘seize the winds as they pour from
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CHAPTER XXI. THE MEET.
CHAPTER XXI. THE MEET.
Evening had already begun to close in, and the dark branches of the firs, which for the last five or six miles had canopied the road, were beginning to grow darker still, when the carioles emerged from the great forest into a green park-like glade, studded with feathering clumps of birch and spruce; and rattled up to the door of the little inn that stood on the borders of it, which was the place appointed for the meet. The inn, which, after all, was little better than a post-house, was evidently
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CHAPTER XXII. THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE SKAL.
CHAPTER XXII. THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE SKAL.
The sun had not yet lighted up the spires of the fir-trees, when a buzz of voices and a shuffling of feet broke the slumbers of the head-quarters party. Länsman Matthiesen, true to his word, had not slept before he had picked out his fifty mountaineers, chalking their hats at the back with the letters “H.F.,” standing for hög fjeld, or the high forest, indicating the position they were to occupy. While Birger was still rubbing his eyes and kicking up Jacob to boil the morning’s coffee, Matthiese
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CHAPTER XXIII. THE SATTERVAL.
CHAPTER XXIII. THE SATTERVAL.
Avoiding the advanced column of the dref, which had halted just short of the watercourse, the Parson and his follower took a line nearly parallel to that of the hills. It is no easy thing to beat a Swedish forest, for there are every now and then thick-tangled brakes, and grass-grown svedgefalls, and occasionally, it may be, a little lake to break the line, causing perpetual halts, since one part must necessarily wait for another. But simply making a passage through a Swedish forest is almost as
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CHAPTER XXIV. MAKING ANOTHER NIGHT OF IT.
CHAPTER XXIV. MAKING ANOTHER NIGHT OF IT.
Probably their couches were softer than usual,—probably the fact of their being under a roof where the sun could not shine on their faces, might have prolonged their slumbers; but the fact is, the cock, had there been one at the sœter, which there was not, would have “had his boots on” [55] a very long while before either the Parson or his follower had opened their eyes; and when they did open them, it was some time before either of them could recollect where they were. Swedes are not over fond
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CHAPTER XXV. THE WATCH FIRE.
CHAPTER XXV. THE WATCH FIRE.
Sound and deep were the Parson’s slumbers, complete and absolute was his state of unconsciousness. Noises there were in the camp, no doubt, noises of every description: eight or ten people without any particular occupation, without any reason whatever for keeping silence—rather the reverse,—are apt to be noisy. But it was all one to him, the Seven Sleepers themselves could not have slept more soundly; and the next four or five hours were to him as though they had not been. His first perception o
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CHAPTER XXVI. BEATING OUT THE SKAL.
CHAPTER XXVI. BEATING OUT THE SKAL.
“Hillo, Moodie! what news?” said the Captain; “have a cup of coffee and a—a—chop,” as that individual strode down the pass from the side farthest removed from the skal looking—as, indeed, was very nearly the case—as if he had neither trimmed his beard nor washed his face since the beginning of the campaign. “Why, the news is, that you had better look out sharp, if you mean to do credit to my recommendation. I had a message from Bjornstjerna last night, that he meant to get the dref in motion an
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CHAPTER XXVII. THE BALL.
CHAPTER XXVII. THE BALL.
“Truly my brethren—truly my dear sisters—do you know how it seems to me—why it seems to me that no one can get along till he has taken a draught—How so? Eh? Your health, dear soul— Strike up with the fiddles! beat the drums! a stout pull at the pot! Fredman’s Epistle to Kajsa Stina, Karl Bellman. Fredman’s Epistle to Kajsa Stina, Karl Bellman. Never had the arches of the old forest rung with such shouts and screams, and roaring songs, and bursts of laughter, as they did on the evening of the gre
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CHAPTER XXVIII. THE WEDDING.
CHAPTER XXVIII. THE WEDDING.
It was the morning of the wedding-day, and that day, of course, Sunday. Autumn was a little advanced, but the sky was as serene, and the lake as still and as smiling as it was on that day on which the fishermen had last looked upon it. The Parson had strolled out with Birger, after a very hurried and uncomfortable breakfast,—the only time such a thing had ever occurred under the hospitable roof of Torgensen; this was not so much for exercise as for the sake of being out of the way of the good la
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CHAPTER XXIX. HOMEWARD BOUND.
CHAPTER XXIX. HOMEWARD BOUND.
The Haabet did not sail that night, which indeed was hardly possible, her Captain being employed in dancing, and making love, and singing, in the words of Karl Bellman,— Neither did the Haabet sail on the morrow, for the wind had chopped round to the south-west; neither did she sail the next day, for there was a dead calm;—there was plenty of time for leave-taking, and a leisurely journey to Christiansand besides, which was accomplished in the carioles—their last journey, as Tom feelingly remark
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