CASUAL VISITS TO NORWAY 169 



which is on the whole of a character that makes the 

 respect mutual. After five days' travel by land, sea, 

 and fiord, the Norwegian hotel seems a veritable home, 

 and you are quite ready to be predisposed in favour 

 of bed and board. It is not true that first impressions 

 are lasting, but they certainly go a long way ; and that 

 first tete-a-tete dinner with your host must needs be a 

 merry one. He probably is not so full of fishing as you 

 are, however keen he may be, for his rods have been 

 for weeks on the pegs under the little roof built for 

 them on the side of the house. Any wayfarer might 

 take them, but they are safe enough, with reels and 

 lines attached, in this country, where the honesty of 

 the people is proverbial. 



Conversation now, and at breakfast in the morning, 

 reveals a temporary check in sport. About a week 

 since there was a big storm, during which the thunder 

 rolled amongst the mountains, and the lightning flashed 

 upon the face of the fiords. Then followed three days 

 of warm winds, and these did what heavy rains do at 

 home. The river coming down in rolling flood through 

 the melting of the glacier at the head of the valley, 

 the migratory fish had seized the opportunity, to them 

 no doubt a welcome chance, and pushed up to the 

 higher reaches and even into the lake. But this par- 

 ticular river can wait, as an excursion is arranged for 

 my first day to another river in a branch fiord, some 

 eight miles distant. A little local steamer picks us up 

 at nine in the morning, and my host, to whom I shall 

 henceforth refer as G. P. F. (short for Guide, Philosopher, 

 and Friend), does not appear in his war paint. He pre- 

 tends that he wants an idle day, but he leaves his rod 

 at home simply that I may take the cream of what 

 sport is going ; hence, by and by, when the owner of 

 the river presses him to take his rod, he laughingly 



