270 THROUGH NORWAY WITH THE VESEY CLUB. 
Dec., 1890. 
of logs supported on log trestles. The entrance hall ol a 
“ guest-house ” of a good Norwegian fjeld station is generally 
large, and strewn with small branches of pine and juniper 
mingled, the odour from which is pleasant, while they serve 
as a very effective mat. From this hall the reception rooms 
are entered. It will take years to efface from my memory the 
image of the drawing rooms at Kongsvold, their walls of the 
softest red, with the branches of ivy plants, growing in pots in 
the corners, trailed over them, lavishly furnished, and oh! so 
comfortable after a wet and tiring day. Those ivy plants are 
somewhat of a mystery to me. How do they manage to get 
them to grow so beautifully indoors? I can only answer the 
question by talking “ at large” about a short, extremely light 
summer, and an atmosphere of perfect purity ; but I suspect 
that winter guests are rare, and that in their absence the 
guest-rooms are practically unused, and the temperature is 
kept too low to stir the plants into weak premature 
growth. Of insect pests I saw not a trace. The soil 
used is intensely black, evidently almost a pure vegetable 
mould, and its surface is kept religiously stirred by a funny 
little miniature spade and rake, made either of bone or of 
brass. Probably the most important feature in a Norwegian, 
as in a German, room is its stove. In this respect the 
big drawing room at Kongsvold is exceptionally fortunate, 
for, in addition to the large closed stove, which is common 
with all rooms, it possesses a curious funnel-shaped, 
open fire-place, partly for heating, but mainly, I imagine, 
for the pleasure of the thing. Our journey was so wet 
that we had a duly appointed stoker, whose duty was 
to go ahead and fire up—not merely for the sake of the 
pleasant warmth, but mainly for drying purposes. Twenty- 
six more or less wet people, needed some drying, and our 
clothes and rugs were apt to overflow out of the kitchen 
department. A comic sight to be seen at every station, 
shortly after our arrival, was the stately stove, festooned 
about in all directions with six and twenty pairs of boots, 
more or less. Speaking of the “ stoker” reminds me to say 
that every male member of the party had some definite 
official functions, either temporary, or for the whole excursion ; 
and for each day, and each special expedition, a leader was 
appointed before the party left England. The stoker was not 
one of these original appointments. He was a result of the 
continued action of environment. Later on it became 
necessary to appoint a “ testimonial writer,” and this office 
was superadded to my botanical functions. I was not flattered 
thereby. A special gift for writing testimonials savours rather 
