3 FORESTRY OF NORWAY. 
7000 to 8000 feet high, being too steep to hold snow on 
their surface, and attracting powerfully the sun’s rays, the 
slight coating of snow is soon melted. We were disposed 
to linger long in view of this glorious spectacle, and it was 
with difficulty our guide drew us away. Our path lay 
down the Koldedal, soon coming among birch woods, and 
afterwards entering the most splendid fir forest I ever met 
with. Gigantic trees lay about in all stages of decay; 
some stood scathed, with naked arms bleaching in the 
weather; others were vigorous and of enormous growth. 
One we measured was nearly four feet in diameter. And 
to increase the grandeur of the forest scene, the peaks of 
the Hurungerne were seen rising above the pines in the 
background.’ 
Such are the woodlands of Norway. By one traveller, 
Norway is spoken of as a land ‘whose only charm is to be 
found in her dim mountains, her silent forests, and her 
lonely lakes.’ 
Another, Edward Price, an artist, who traversed the 
land and looked upon every scene with an artist’s eye, 
speaks of Norway as a country ‘which surpasses every 
country of Europe in the depths of its fiords, and in the 
grandeur of its forests and forest scenery.’ Having landed 
at a distant point, and traversed the land, chiefly on foot, 
seeing thus much which could not otherwise have been 
seen in the course of his tour, he reached the capital ; 
and of what he saw as he approached it he thus writes :— 
‘ Luxuriant pasturage and crops, giving rich promise of an 
abundant harvest, lay on every side. Wood was no longer 
the great staple of the land, but was scattered over a 
charming undulating country only in such quantity as 
served to shelter the fields and beautify the landscape ; 
nor was it now confined to fir, but included all the variety 
of trees which we are accustomed to find in the temperate 
altitudes. The Christiania Fiord, spotted with its islands, 
and seemingly environed with its finely wooded banks, 
formed innumerable bays and creeks, all calm and pellucid 
beneath the warni rays of the noonday sun.’ 
