60 SIK WILLIAM EAMSAY 



Sir Andrew Ramsay's family. His sketch book was in existence 

 quite recently and may be so still. He took particular pleasure 

 showing me from time to time a drawing he made of me while 

 I was bathing and supposed he was engaged in sketching the 

 surrounding scenery. 



After leaving Vossevangen we went by way of the Nerodal, 

 famous for its beautiful white labradorite felspar rocks, and 

 Gudvangen to Loerdal on the Sogne fjord, and thence crossed 

 from Skj olden into the Jotunheim, to see something of the great 

 alpine lakes and to climb Galdhopig, the highest peak in Norway. 

 R^dsheim, from which we made the ascent, is one of the most 

 delightful of Norwegian stations, where, at that time at all events, 

 Norwegian life could be seen in all its native simplicity, little if 

 at all spoiled by any contact with the outer world. R^dsheim, 

 in Norway as in Scotland the proprietor is often known by the 

 name of his farm or estate, found us a guide in Knut Volo, the 

 village shoemaker. We were in no way equipped for an alpine 

 climb, but Volo, after inspecting our boots professionally, and 

 strengthening them with some nails, undertook to go up the 

 mountain with us. The greater part of the ascent consisted of 

 a long walk, which presented no kind of difficulty until we came 

 to the great glacier which had several ugly crevasses to be crossed. 

 The upper part of the mountain was covered with a sheet of 

 frozen snow, over which we had to cut every step we took. We 

 astonished our guide by bathing in a small tarn high up on the 

 mountain. Large masses of ice were floating about in the water, 

 which was of course bitterly cold. Volo evidently thought we 

 were stark mad, the feeling which I am afraid our doings and 

 the doings of many other Englishmen abroad often arouse in the 

 foreigner. It was a foolish proceeding, and had we not been in 

 first rate physical condition at the time might have cost us dear. 



On emerging from the Jotunheim, we crossed into Gudbrandsdal, 

 and from Domaas made the ascent of Snehaetta, the second 

 highest mountain in the Dovrefjeld. This was one of the least 



