History 145 



of them. Of the Christiania country, this almost goes 

 without saying, seeing that the capital of Norway lies 

 there. It need hardly be said that in heathen days 

 there was no such town as Christiania. In those days 

 the chief, or the only town, of the Vik country seems to 

 have been Tuna, the modern Tonsberg. In the early 

 days, however, of Norway's existence as a single king- 

 dom, the seat of monarchy rather lay in the Thrond- 

 hjem country. For there was held another Thing- 

 called the Ore Thing, which was always convoked for 

 the purpose of bestowing the crown on each fresh suc- 

 cessor to it, but for no other purpose. We can hardly 

 speak of the capital of the country lying at Throndhjem, 

 for there was no town in the country. Ore, at the 

 mouth of the Throndhjems fjord, was the place of 

 meeting for the Ore Thing, and nothing more. This 

 Throndhjem country is, like that of Christiania, fairly 

 level and very fertile, and forms, on the whole, a strik- 

 ing contrast to the great fjord districts — the Hardanger 

 and the Sogne country, which probably the traveller 

 will have first beheld. When we get up to the Thrond- 

 hjem Fjord, the rough cliffs and snow-capped mountains 

 have retreated or disappeared, and we find ourselves in 

 a district of fertile hills and valleys. This country 

 must have been very early inhabited by a hardy race 

 of yeomen-farmers, for the Throndhjem people play a 

 very conspicuous part in the history of Norway. 



It may, in truth, be said that Norway is divided by 

 Nature, and by the character of its inhabitants, into 

 three districts, and that this division is very noticeable 

 in reading early Norse history. The people who lived 

 in Viken lived opposite Denmark, and close to Sweden 



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