FOREST SCENES. 17 
ravines, through which poured imp2tuous 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 
form 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 glowing 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; aud 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.’ 
Tn another connection he gives the following account of 
the forest on the plains — 
c 
