8 GALE. — NAMSEN FIOED. 



lierrings, the first of tlie season, as they told 

 us. The other cohle conveyed a hungry- 

 looking two-year-old Leicester sheep, in 

 custody of his proprietor, a neighbouring 

 farmer who had heard of our necessities. 



The purchase of the sheep and the eight 

 herrings was negotiated in a very few minutes, 

 and then, "shaking the dust from our feet" 

 on this wretched, poverty-stricken village, we 

 renewed our hammering 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 recognising 

 the mountains as being those lying about the 

 mouth of the Namsen Piord, 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 re- 

 plenishing our fresh water and fuel. "We ac- 

 cordingly ran up this noble fiord, and at 8 a.m. 

 on the 16th cast anchor in a beautiful little 

 bay, opposite to the gloomy precipices forming 

 the island of Otteroe. Most extraordinary 

 labyrinthian clusters of islands and rocks lay 



