116 AN OCTOBER WALK IN NORWAY. [Dec. 



are all of small size, for there is but little root-hold. Birch, alder, 

 hazel, and juniper are the species most common on the lower slopes, 

 aud in places the larger birches are being cut down to furnish the 

 winter supply of fuel for the farms in the valley. Heavy bundles 

 of this cord-wood, as also of hay, alder branches, and other products 

 of the uplands, are very commonly transported to the valley Ijeneath 

 by means of a stout wire fastened firmly to stout posts at either end, 

 down which they slide with startling rapidity. 



Those travellers who stigmatize the great pine and fir forests of 

 Scandinavia as wearing a monotonous and depressing aspect, caunot 

 make a similar complaint of the hanging woods on the slopes of the 

 western fjords, such as that through which we are now passing. 

 The varied character of the vegetation forms a great charm, and so 

 brilliant are the hues of the foliage in autumn, that I have on several 

 occasions heard artists express a decided opinion that it would be 

 impossible to depict them satisfactorily on canvas. Here, overarch- 

 ing the path, are the bright green fronds of the ash, with its quaint 

 brown seed-pods, the crimsou clusters of the rowan, the olive-green 

 alder, the fruit-laden hazel, the tasseUed larch, the juniper blue with 

 berries, the scarlet and maroon foliage of the aspen, the ruddy boughs 

 and dusky needles of the Scotch fir, the stately plumes of the spruce, 

 whilst on every side the brilliant yellowing leaves of the silver birch 

 light up the woodland as with a gleam of golden sunshine. Nor is 

 the undergrowth much less glowing, for the bracken is everywhere 

 aflame, mosses and creeping plants of every conceivable tint clothe 

 the huge boulders, from under the shelter of which whole colonies 

 of oak and beech and parsley fern display their delicate fronds of 

 tender greenery; whilst the amber blossoms of the snapdragon, and 

 the purple scabious, keep alive a memory of the beauty of the 

 summer's flowers. 



The practical forester will find more to interest him in the mighty 

 fir forests which clothe the hills in Sa^tersdal and fiU the valley of the 

 Glommen, but the lover of nature will bend his steps in preference 

 to the hanging woods of the Hardanger and its sister fjords. 



A. G. GUILLEM.iKD. 



