TROUT IN NOR WA Y. 7 



the great Dogger Bank, see fish, apparently whiting, 

 by the score, in the bright clear water. On one occasion, 

 when I was having a counting match with a friend, he 

 taking all the fish he could see on one side of the bowsprit 

 and I on the other, we had an admirable view of the 

 under-water swimming of the birds known as divers. 

 There were three of them right in our path, and when we 

 got almost close to them they dived and were distinctly 

 visible for some time, using their wings in water just as 

 in air, and going almost as quickly in one element as in 

 the other. 



By half-past ten or so on Saturday morning we reach 

 Stavanger, but for some hours before that time, we have 

 been sailing between the mainland and the innumerable 

 islands which stud the coast from the Naze to the North 

 Cape, in calm water, where there is no fear of sea-sickness. 

 This passage among the rocks and islands is most 

 interesting, and occasionally exciting. In places, the ship 

 goes through channels which seem barely wide enough 

 for her passage, and turns and twists occur so rapidly in 

 the course, that one keeps running from side to side of the 

 vessel to see if she is not going to bump. 



Stavanger is an important town, built at the extremity 

 of a small fiord, where the tide is so slight, that houses and 

 warehouses are built right down to the water's edge, and 

 even into the fiord. These are all of wood, painted all 

 sorts of bright light colours, and roofed with red tiles ; 

 and the whole tOAvn being surrounded by wooded hills, 

 has a most picturesque appearance, which the splendidly 

 clear water of the fiord much increases. The water is so 



