CHAPTER II 
BERGEN TO TROMSO 
June 4th.—lf I touch very lightly on these early days 
of our venture, it is only because so many who read this 
book will already know all about the coast of Norway— 
will know its towns and fjords. Why therefore should I 
tire them by descriptions of places and scenes familiar 
from the deck of the excursion steamer ? 
But Bergen was new to me; and as the University 
Museum was closed for repairs, I crossed the old fish- 
market bridge and found the little Hanseatic Museum. 
This relic of the German occupation under the Hansa 
League is charmingly quaint, and as a revelation of the 
life and doings of a master merchant at that time, it has 
a very distinct interest. Dear, dear, what sly old fellows 
they were! And so complete is this restoration that 
you want but little fancy to see it all: the traffic in 
commodities—bought with one set of scales but sold 
with another (a gain to the merchant either way) ;—the 
settlements at the office counter; the lapses into revel 
when business was over; the poor ’prentices, kept hard 
at it till late, winking at each other and peeping under 
their eyebrows as the red-heeled shoes go up the stairs. 
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