Inserts . 3257 



sorry meal for so large an animal : T am also told that when one of 

 their comrades is killed or wounded, others instantly come up and 

 bear him away : I know not what degree of truth attaches to these 

 Norwegian accounts. 



The use made of this little creature by the inhabitants is strange 

 enough, but I believe it is perfectly true. The common and almost 

 the only intoxicating liquor of the country is a species of corn brandy, 

 which the peasants distil for themselves, and which is denominated 

 " Finkel ; " this is very strong, and being at the same time very cheap 

 (the price we paid for a quart bottle of it being about fivepence Eng- 

 lish), causes intoxication among the Northmen to be very frequent ; 

 and the men who act as your guides, your boatmen, your attendants 

 in hunting, your provision-bearers on the fjeld, always expect fre- 

 quent drams of "schnapps," or extra money (drikke-penge) to procure 

 for themselves their accustomed potions. Some of the peasants, in 

 making this brandy, thinking to give it an agreeable, sharp, pungent 

 taste, flavour it with the squeezed ants of which 1 am writing. The 

 idea is not a pleasing one to an English mind, but neither is the eat- 

 ing bread formed from the inner bark of the fir, as is done in some 

 parts of Scandinavia ; or the feasting on a dessert of the snails which 

 are exported so largely from some of the German villages, the inhabi- 

 tants of which gain their livelihood by the traffic ; neither does the 

 English palate relish the idea of the birds'-nest-soup from China, or 

 the ragout of puppy so much in vogue in the Celestial Empire ; and 

 we know an Englishman will generally turn up his nose at the favour- 

 ite dish of frogs of the Parisian epicure. But (C chacun a son gouV 

 is a good motto : let the Frenchman enjoy his frogs, the German his 

 snails, the Norwegian his squeezed ants, the Chinese his birds'-nest, 

 the Englishman his roast beef, for which he is so renowned abroad ; 

 though to show how little this Anglican dish is understood on the 

 Continent, I was once asked, to my inexpressible amusement, by a 

 waiter at a German hotel, who was proud that his carte a manger con- 

 tained the English dish, whether Monsieur would prefer "rost beef de 

 veau, ou rost beef de mouton ? " 



But I am sadly digressing from the Finkel and the squeezed ants. 

 I cannot say whether 1 have ever tasted any Finkel so flavoured ; I 

 certainly never noticed any remarkably pungent sharp taste, so per- 

 haps it never came in my way ; but I can affirm that all the Finkel I 

 drank (and I drank it every day) was extremely palatable : and in ho- 

 nour of it I gave the name of Finkel to my excellent poney, which, 

 after taking me for three months over Norway, a distance exceeding 

 IX. 2 N 



