FOREST SCENES. 15 
delicate oak fern; the rich fragrance of the pink flowers 
of the Linnaea borealis mingles with the resinous odour of 
the firs ; masses of lichens clothe the rocks; the graceful 
foliage of birch and aspen diversify the scene; and the 
stately spires of the spruces tower above all; whilst from 
out the silent forest, between the ruddy trunks, the eye 
wanders far away westward 
“To distant mountains, where a thousand peaks 
Flush to the crimson of the dawn’s first beam 
Or sparkle silver splendours to the moon,”’ 
We have no lack of sketches of Norwegian scenery from 
the pens of British tourists, by whom the country is 
generally described as a land, the most characteristic 
features of which are forests and fiords ; ‘ forests whose 
vastness, and shade, and solitude, and silence banish in 
an instant all associations with songs of birds, and gay 
scenery ;) and combined with these are ‘lakes whose 
deep seclusion puts to flight images of mere grace and 
beauty—valleys, which from their depth and gloom one 
might fancy to be the avenue to abodes of mere mysterious 
creation ; mountains, whose dim, and rugged, and gigantic 
forms seem like the images of a world which one might 
dream of but never behold.’ Thus is the country spoken 
of by one intrepid traveller, writing under the nom-de- 
lume of Derwent Conway; and in similar terms is it 
spoken of by others. 
Interspersed in many of the volumes referred to are 
beautiful little sketches of woodland scenery and of the 
woodland population. Derwent Conway's tour was made, 
if 1 mistake not, in 1827. The following sketches of 
woodlands and wilds I cite from a volume entitled Hambles 
in Norway in 1848 and 1849, by Thomas Forester, Esq., as 
being true still of many such places in Norway, notwith- 
standing the lapse of time which has occurred since the 
sketches were penned. 
‘To regain the valley of the Nid,’ he tells in one place, 
