FOREST SCENES. 17 



ravines, through which poured impetuous torrents, chaffing 

 against the smooth cliffs through which they had worn 

 their channels, and eddying round the detached masses 

 which obstructed their course. Clearings, signs of cultiva- 

 tion, and habitations of men, were, as may be supposed, 

 of rare occurrence. The tract we pursued could hardly 

 be called a road ; but trains of light, yet hardy, horses, 

 heavy laden with packs, scrambling up the passes, or 

 browsing on the rough herbage, while the rude drivers 

 were seated under the pines, smoking their short pipes, or 

 taking their repasts from the huge leathern pouches which 

 f >rrn the invariable equipment of the Norwegian, whether 

 travelling by land, or embarked on lakes or fjords. These 

 groups indicated that such roads were the only means of 

 communication between the towns and ports on the sea- 

 board.' But he shows that even there roads indicative of 

 great engineering skill and power were being created. 

 And having done so, he goes on to say : 



'The nature of the country precluded our having 

 extended views, and only as we were rapidly descending 

 towards a lake which presented in the foreground a wider 

 sheet of water than any we had yet seen, all gloVing in 

 the noontide sun, we caught sight of a fine range of hills, 

 I must not call them mountains, though their elevation 

 was considerable, and the outline bold and clearly defined, 

 stretching away to the north-west at a distance of some 

 thirty or forty miles. Just before we had met with the 

 first bed of lilies of the valley in their native habitat, 

 nestling in the shade of an alder copse ; and not a furlong 

 beyond we fell in with a herd of these delicate-looking 

 cows, diminutive in size, almost deer-shaped, dun-coloured, 

 and docile in their habits, with which we afterwards 

 became familiar, and which form the staple of the wealth 

 of those pastoral districts towards which we were making 

 progress. Every new object was hailed with fresh bursts 

 of delight/ 



In another connection he gives the following account of 

 the forest on the plains 



c 



