3262 General Observations on Norway. 



the midst of the forests ; nor the very beautifully pencilled and deli- 

 cate-looking flowers, which we often found close to and even sur- 

 rounded by the snow. 



These forests are the resort of the elk, the bear, the wolf, the caper- 

 cailzie, the black-game, the hazel-grouse, besides a variety of smaller 

 birds, passed over by the sportsman but highly prized by the naturalist: 

 their immense extent, stretching over whole ranges of mountains, af- 

 fords a secure retreat to the most timid animals. I need only remark 

 that I drove through one such forest for nearly two hundred miles, and 

 that for the greater part of that distance it extended on my left hand 

 for fifty miles, without a single road for wheels through it, and on my 

 right it stretched in many parts for twenty or thirty miles over the 

 mountains ; and the extent, as well as the solitude of these dark som- 

 bre forests will at once appear. 



The rivers of Norway, so well known by report to every angler, are 

 amongst the most picturesque features of the country. They are all 

 mountain torrents, varying in size and volume of water, according to 

 the distance from their source and the number of tributary streams 

 which have joined them in their progress towards the fjords ; still, 

 however large, they are essentially mountain torrents, having all the 

 character of those noisy, headlong, brawling waters, dashing down the 

 rocks, and hurrying among the huge stones that form their bed, while 

 here and there they form the most magnificent waterfalls in Europe, 

 and perhaps in the world. Though Niagara and Schaffhausen may 

 boast a greater volume of water than any fall in Norway, yet they 

 want height to make them truly grand, indeed, their very width 

 detracts from their real altitude ; but many of these falls in Norway 

 combine the two great essentials of a perfect waterfall, — height and 

 volume of water. - What can be more stupendous and more perfectly 

 majestic than the rush of a considerable river over a precipice, mak- 

 ing a clear plunge of 900 feet into the depths below, as at the Voring- 

 Foss? Or what more glorious than a similar leap of 450 feet, as at the 

 Ejukan Foss, while the foam rises up again far above the top of the fall, 

 and a beautiful iris plays upon the spray, and the roar may be heard 

 for miles ? Or what more elegant than the Feigum Foss, a direct 

 jump of a considerable torrent of between 300 and 400 feet, the water 

 descending in flakes like the most beautiful lace, something like the 

 Terni fall in Italy, not dissolving into mere mist, as the comparatively 

 insignificant fall of the Staubach, in the well-known vale of Lauterbrun- 

 nen in Switzerland? Or what can surpass the Fiskum Foss on the Nam- 

 scn ; or, as a cataract, the Leer foss near Trondhjem ? Such as these, 



