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at the seter all right a little after one a.m., where we found the 
elder girl still awaiting us. She soon got us a roaring fire of 
birch logs, made us coffee and Liebig, and did all in her power 
to make us comfortable. Then we slept the sleep of the weary 
till the sun was high in the heavens. Such was the first ascent 
of what is usually called the noblest mountain in Norway, and 
for many years had been considered impracticable. Others will 
try and have tried the mountain, and will sueceed, but it will 
never become a fashionable mountain—the last bit is too bad for 
that. I for one should never have attempted, alone, rocks such 
as those upon any other mountain, but it was the particular one 
upon which I had centred my energies, and those 508 feet which 
I climbed in solitude, I shall now always look back upon 
with a feeling of veneration, as they formed an event in my 
life which can neyer be forgotten, and although I have 
climbed more of the higher Norsk mountains than any other 
person, yet the ascent of none can leave such a vivid 
impression in my mind as this.” Mr. Slingsby then spoke 
of the attacks made on the mountain in 1820, by Keilhau 
and Boeck, and in 1821 by Naumann, the ascent by a Norwegian 
in 1880, and the death of Ténsberg in 1881, and concluded as 
follows:—“I fear that much of my paper will fail to be 
understood, and that the sport of mountaineering, which is the 
finest sport in the world, may be considered as a dangerous 
pastime. It is not so at all to those who understand their 
business, and who do not neglect certain well-known precautions ; 
but if it be undertaken by thoughtless and inexperienced men, 
without good guides to watch their every footstep, it is an 
extremely dangerous one. Though I say to all mountain lovers, 
‘Be up and be doing,’ I say to all, ‘ Do nothing rashly, pay due 
reverence to the rope where needed, as you value your life, and 
as you think of your friends at home. Be bold if boldness is 
required, but be boldest of all in your determination to turn 
back if you think the work foolhardy, or yourself not quite equal 
to the task, even if you are within twenty feet of the wished-for 
goal.’ It often requires more real courage—real moral courage— 
to turn back than to go on. Courage and obstinacy are not 
synonymous terms. This is no excuse for idleness and lack of 
common pluck. I merely want to impress upon my hearers the 
necessity of exercising constant care, prudence, and, above all, 
patience. Mountains claim our respect as well as our love and 
admiration, and are not to be treated lightly, else they may take 
vengeance, as they have done in past years. There is much 
new work yet to be done in Norway, and I hope that a good 
share of it will fall to the lot of Englishmen, but if so they must 
not waste time; our Norsk brothers are waking up from their 
lethargy ; the spirit of the Vikings, though sometimes dormant, 
