GALE. — NAMSEN FIORD. 23 



was negotiated in a very few minutes, and then, 

 "shaking the dust from our feet 11 on this wretched, 

 poverty-stricken village, we renewed our hammer- 

 ing against the N.E. wind outside. The wind 

 hung in this direction, i. e., straight in our teeth, 

 until the 15th, when it increased to a gale, against 

 which we could make no progress at all. We were 

 by this time off the coast of Norway, and recogniz- 

 ing the mountains as being those lying about the 

 mouth of the Namsen Fiord, I determined to get 

 inside for shelter until the gale should abate ; and 

 I thought that as we appeared likely to have the 

 Nor-Easter all the way, we might as well take the 

 opportunity of replenishing our fresh water and 

 fuel. We accordingly ran up this noble fiord, and 

 at 8 A.M. on the 16th cast anchor in a beautiful lit- 

 tle bay opposite to the gloomy precipices forming 

 the island of Otteroe. Most extraordinary laby- 

 rinthian clusters of islands and rocks lay on each 

 side of the entrance to this fiord, but the passage is 

 wide and clear, and being plainly laid down in the 

 excellent Norwegian government chart, we had no 

 difficulty about finding our way in. I set the crew 

 to gather firewood and fill the water tanks, while 

 we took a walk to the top of a neighboring pine- 

 clad mountain. The Norwegian summer was just 

 commencing, and every thing looked extremely 

 fresh and beautiful. 



The celebrated Namsen River runs into the head 

 of this fiord. This queen of rivers is well known 



