354 No7^ivay mid the Norwegians 



On the fjords and lakes there exist water stations, 

 which supply four-oared boats on much tlie same con- 

 ditions and terms as the conveyances are supplied 

 by land. But, owing to the increase in the number of 

 steamers which ply along the coast, this kind of water- 

 posting is, comparatively speaking, very little used. 



In the appearance of the Norse people themselves, 

 the traveller who is full of reminiscences from the 

 Sagas, or has heard much talk of hardj^ Norsemen, 

 is liable to be disappointed. The men are generally 

 thickly and strongly built, but they are certainly 

 not men of exceptional height. The Swedes are on 

 the whole, a much finer race ; indeed, the Swedes 

 are said to have the greatest average height of any 

 European nation. In ]SI orth Germany, again, the men are 

 much finer-looking than the Norsemen ; and they are 

 so too, I think, in Yorkshire, and indeed in most of the 

 northern counties of England (at any rate in the eastern 

 ones), and in the eastern counties of Scotland. Probably 

 ^le finest men of the nation are drained away by emi- 

 gration. Certainly it has been my own experience that 

 the only Norsemen of exceptional size that I have met 

 in the country were returned emigrants. 



With regard to two other matters, the national cos- 

 tume and the food, the casual visitor to Norway is 

 somewhat liable to be deceived. As is the case in 

 Switzerland, the national costume is kept up in Nor- 

 way to a great extent for the benefit of travellers. The 

 tourist finds the picturesque Hardanger costume very 

 prevalent among the hotel waitresses throughout the 

 country, thus extending into regions to M'hich by 



