from Christiania to Bergen^ in the Summer of\S9X. S09 
^ree in the afternoon ; at Bolkesio Heia, a height of 1765 feet, 
it stood at 20* (77* F.) at a quarter past four ; and at Bolkesio, 
a height of 1240 feet, at 19° (74!|* F.), half an hour past five 
I determined, therefore, to remain at this latter place till next 
morning, and to make several astronomical and magnetic obser- 
vations, for which the beauty of the weather and this singularly 
favourable resting-place, gave me so good an opportunity. Af- 
ter my instrnments were unpacked and set up, young and old 
of both sexes, from the grandmother trembling with age to the 
four year-old boy, in his bare shirt, on account of the heat, crept 
up to the sextant, which stood on a low foot on the ground, to 
view the coloured images of the sun. They were particularly 
delighted to see these images approach one another, or separate 
from one another, as the sun descended. The women especially, 
both here and on all other occasions, broke out into repeated ex- 
clamations of wonder at this sight. 
The hypochondriac inhabitant of towns, the functions of 
whose body are half suspended by his sedentary employment, 
and the vivacity of wliose mind is often sunk in unsocial egotism 
and half cultivation, should now and then take a journey to a 
mountainous country. The functions of the body are not more 
quickened by the pure air of the mountains and the exertions of 
the journey, than the mind is exhilarated by the grand scenery 
of Nature, and the uncorrupted character of the amiable people 
who inhabit them. Honesty, frankness, naivete, a good under- 
standing, a cheerful temper, and an uncommon tact for what is 
becoming in conduct, are the characteristics of these children of 
nature. The stranger is immediately addressed with the bro- 
therly Thou. Rank and titles are unknown to them. They are 
anxious to learn his name, especially his Christian name, and his 
purpose ; not as a couple of foreign travellers thought, fro^n sus- 
picion, but because, by means of the name and other circumstan- 
ces, they endeavour to fix an event interesting to them in their 
memory ; for, in these rempte regions, the arrival of a stranger is 
* I have observed here, as vreU as in other places, that in narrow mountain 
tracts, the general rule does not always hold that the heat decreases as we rise 
higher. This has sometimes an unfavourable effect on our barometrical measure-^ 
merits, 
