178 A Cruise on the S.Y. Vcctis 



all impressed witli tlieir menus. I'he next day we went on to 

 Mundal, where we visited some fme i^iaciers. ( )ne of these 

 periodically goes through the operation of what is called 

 " calving," and we were rather lucky to see this. .\ great mass 

 of ice and snow breaks away from the main glacier and tinnl)les 

 into the abyss. It looks just like a waterfall, when it is falling, 

 and we didn't at first realize what had happened. We now know 

 what an axalanche looks like. In the afternoon we called at 

 Balhomen, a very pretty little place in which a good many 

 English tourists spend the sunmier. As it was a hot afternoon, 

 the writer and another passenger decided to have a swim. We 

 had to borrow bathing dresses from the hotel, and when the 

 young lady brought them out to us, we found they had been 

 designed for the female figure. She knew no English, and we 

 were equally ignorant of Norwegian, so we had some difficulty 

 in understanding her directions for putting them on. However 

 difficulties were made to be overcome, and we finally managed to 

 get into them, and queer looking objects we looked. Our fellqw 

 passengers were very much amused. We dived off the pier, 

 aiid found the water like ice. Xeedless to say we didn't stop in 

 very long. It appears that the waters from a glacier empty into 

 the fjord close by. A brisk walk soon restored otu* circulation. 

 This was quite the most fertile bit of Norway we had yet seen. 

 Well planted orchards lined the roads, amonst which many of 

 our English birds were singing. A family party of Siskins 

 especially attracted my attention, a bird I had never met with 

 in the wild state at home. .\ few Bramblings were also seen. 

 In the evening we again moved on. reaching Laerdalsoren 

 before nightfall. We spent a day here and went for another 

 long drive into the country, but I have no especial recollections 

 of the trip. The next evening, after steaming all day in the 

 fjords, w-e reached Naes. On the way we passed through some 

 very fine scenery, and there was something of interest to look at 

 all the time. The ornithologists amongst us were interested in 

 the Black-throated and Red-throated Divers. Several j)airs of 

 both species were seen with their young. I have no doubt that 

 these birds breed in some of the land-locked indentations of 

 the fjords through which we were passing. At Naes we put in 

 a whole day, driving up the Romsdal Valley, quite one of the 



