b A JOURNFY TO FINMARK. 



stormily agitated waves to obtain plentiful oblations. My 

 friend Wocke fared somewhat better, and he sometimes left 

 his berth and could eat and drink. 



In Christiansand, where our steamboat lay for half a day, 

 we first trod the Norwegian soil, and made a small excursion 

 to the north of the town. The town itself makes a favour- 

 able impression ; it lies quite flat on a sort of peninsula ; the 

 neigh bouiing cliffs and rocks are neither high nor very 

 rugged. Our Lepidopterological sport was rather poor, but 

 it furnished us one verj'- interesting species, to be mentioned 

 hereafter. In the evening we left Christiansand, and con- 

 tinued our journey through a true labyrinth of islands, rocks, 

 crags and sounds, where we could not sufficiently admire 

 the knowledge of our pilot, who could find his way through 

 with certainty. But I leave it to the skilful pen of a learned 

 tourist to describe the journey along the Norwegian coast, 

 which is so extremely interesting. We made short stoppages 

 enough, and I can still remember that on our subsequent 

 trip from Throndhjem to Hammerfest we stopped one-and- 

 forty times. Often we had to penetrate deep into a Fjord, 

 and afterwards to come out again by the same way, which 

 certainly did not make our journey a very expeditious one, 

 but often furnished us with veiy interesting glimpses of the 

 natural beauties of Norway. Most fortunately the passage 

 here is everywhere as smooth as on a stream, and but rarely 

 is the open sea perceived, or crossed for a short distance. On 

 tlie evening of the 9th of May we reached Bergen, vrhere 

 the ship remained the whole of the following day. Since on 

 the following morning, for a wonder, it did not rain, we were 

 able to make a small excursion in the neighbourhood of this, 

 the most considerable commercial town in Norway. With 

 the exception of the gardens, the immediate neighbourhood 

 of Bergen is almost entirely barren j the northern i ather steep 



