KAMTSCHATKA. 303 



fish to the Russians, and dry to the merclmnt, and 

 returnint*; with meal and "'rain. Wlio woukl re- 

 present Finmark as dreary and miserable, if he saw 

 tlie beautiful situation of the Bay of Talvig ? 



** About mid-day we crossed the nine short 

 English miles from Talvig to Altengaard, the seat 

 of the head magistrate (^Amtmaii)^ in the inmost ])art 

 of the Fiord. This gaard is also an object of sur- 

 prise. It is situated in the middle of a wood of 

 high Scotch firs, in a green meadow, with noble 

 views through the trees, of the Fiord, of the points 

 which project beyond one another into the water, 

 and, finally, of the fields of Seyland and Lang- 

 fiord. The trees around are so beautiful, and so 

 diversified ! We see through the boughs, on the 

 opposite side of the water, the foaming stream 

 which descends from the rocks, and communicates 

 perpetual motion to the saw-mills ; and in the 

 Fiord, and in Refs-botn, every hour that the sun 

 advances in its course, liglits up some new gaard 

 to us. The habitation is a villa, not a country- 

 house built for the dust of law papers, or for the 

 management of law-suits. It appears, when we 

 enter the wood from the beach, as if we were 

 transported to the park of Berlin ; and when the 

 perspectives down the Fiord open on us, it then 

 seems as if we were viewing Italian distances, or 

 one of the lakes of Switzerland." (Leopold Von 

 Buch*s Reise durch Norwegen und Lappland, &c. 

 p. 485.) 



