32 FORESTRY UF NORWAY. 
the horses across the mouth of the Maan Elv. ‘Leaving 
the boat which was to await,’ says he, ‘ our return the next 
day, we set off up the West Fjord-dal towards the broad 
cone-like mass of the Gousta Fjeld, whose huge bulk, 6000 
feet in height, loomed grandly over the valley. The houses 
of Mael clustered about its little church, were scattered 
over the slope above the lake; and across the river, amid 
fields of grass and grain, stood another village of equal 
size. The bed of the valley, dotted with farms and groups 
of farm houses, appeared to be thickly populated ; but, as 
a farmer’s residence rarely consists of less than six build- 
ings—sometimes eight—a stranger would naturally over- 
rate the number of its inhabitants, The production of 
grain also is much less than would be supposed from the 
amount of land under cultivation, owing to the heads 
being so light. 
‘The pyramid, 1500 feet in perpendicular height above 
the mountain platform from which it rose, gleamed with a 
rich bronze lustre in the setting sun. The valley was 
now a more ascending gorge, along the sides of which our 
road climbed. Before us extended a slanting shelf, thrust 
out fromthe mountain, and affording room for a few 
cottages and fields; but all else was naked rock and 
ragged pine. . . . 
‘When we reached the little hamlet on the shelf of the 
mountain, the last rays of the sun were playing on the 
summits above. We had mounted about 20U0 feet since 
leaving Tind Lake, and the dusky valley yawned far 
beneath us, its termination invisible, as if leading down- 
ward into a lower world. Many hundreds of feet below 
the edge of the wild little platform on which we stood 
thundered the Maan in a clift, the bottom of which the 
sun has never beheld. Beyond this the path was imprac- 
ticable for horses ; we walked, climbed, or scrambled along 
the side of the dizzy steep, where, in many places, a false 
step would have sent us to the brink of gulfs whose 
mysteries we had no desire to explore. After we had 
advanced nearly two miles in this manner, ascending 
