The Press. — London, England, 1856-08-16 00:00:00

AUGUST 16, 1856. N ittrature. The Oxonian in Yorway. By the Rev. Frederick Metcalfe, M.A. Two Vols. London : Hurst and Blaokett. Wx have to thank Mr. Metcalfe for a couple of very amusing volumes. He has made several trips to Noiway, and has here given to the public the fruits of his experience. He is a keen angler, and at the same time an intelligent ob server— gifted with excellent powers of descrip tion, and a quick perception of humour. Hence his notices of Norwegian scenery, and of the manners and social state of the people, are of a kind to attract all classes of readers. His good humour and healthful appreciation of novel scenes and adventures made him in different to the discomforts which have severely tried the temper of less lighthearted travellers. Mr. Metcalfe takes his readers from Hull, — where a steamer starts every Friday in sum mer for the North Sea,—to Christiania, and thence overland through some of the grandest mountain scenery in the world to Bergen. Hotel accommodation, however, is scanty on this route; meat is rarely to be obtained the whole distance of three hundred miles. No thing is to be met with but " porridge, por ridge, porridge." Yet the people thrive on their meagre diet ; for though their growth is slow—lads of eighteen not being bigger than English boys of fourteen—yet they become stalwart men before their growth is finished. is there are no public conveyances by this route travellers have to hire a small gig, called a cariole, for which one•third of the cost is de manded for a three months' tour. The ex pense is not ruinous, as the whole cost of these vehicles when new does not amount to more than 51 or 61. Posting is equally cheap : On the principal post.routes of Norway there are now what are called fast stations, where horses are procurable within ten minutes of your arrival. For this expedition you pay one-half more ; the whole expense being at the rate of about 2id. per English mile, which is just three. farthings less per mile than the price which used to be pain England for a horse and guide in the year of grace There is some good fishing on this route in the Ranzfiord Lake ; but the people, according to our author, were quite ignorant of fly-fishing until they saw an Englishman practising it a few years ago, when they quickly caught the art. From Bergen a steamer plies to Chris tiansund ; and on the voyage the author, according to his wont, indicates good fishing stations, and details the experience he has acquired during his previous visits. English wealth is making some impression upon the simple habits of the people. The little town of Molde—a coaling station—will easily be found on the map, some forty miles south of Christiansund Here— The Rauma, which flows into the head of the Romsdal Fjord, is a noted salmon stream. The chief fishing quar ters are at Feva, where a couple of Englishmen, who rent the fishing, may always be found in the summer. The river above this, which after having long been confined in its rocky straight-waistcoat and madly dashed itself about to its heart's content, is suddenly let loose and permitted to expatiate in a large and roomy pool, quiets down wonderfully under the change of treat ment. Here, then, is the great resort of the salmon, who rest for a considerable time at the spot, before braving the terrors of the rapids above. Lord P. caught upwards of thirty salmon in this pool in one afternoon, some years ago. It lies under the shadow of the Witch-Peaks and Romsdals Horn, so that the sun is never long on the water, and you may generally take salmon here, when elsewhere it is out of the question. I was at this spot on the day of the eclipse in 1852; but so bright and hot was the weather that not even in the pool would the salmon stir, though tempted by whatever of gorgeous or sombre in the way of flies Eaton or Jones, or amateur skill, could produce. But no sooner did this eclipse begin than the salmon began to rise, and the sport was capital. A huge fellow soon lay panting on the grass, the mpolia ()pima of the occasion. If I remember rightly, he weighed thirty-six pounds. Fine salmon were also cap tured this year, many miles higher up the stream. In an out of the way nook of the Lange Fjord, called Eridsfjord, there is a salmon stream, little known indeed, but where I have captured fish of twenty-eight pounds. Here an Englishman has recently purchased a property, with the right of fishing in some of the best pools. The whole course of the river is not above three miles termi nating at that di s t ance f rom th e Fj or d i n a l a k e f our t een miles long, up to which the salmon run for the purpose of spawning. Were not scenery a drug in this country, it would be worth while to dwell on the glories of this lake, its waterfalls, glaciers, &c., as well as on the splendid trout-fishing in another lake beyond. THE PRESS. Much of the best fishing has been monopo lised by English anglers, but to the north in numerable fjords and rivers exist, where the sportsman is perfectly free to follow his plea sure. Mr. Metcalfe spent one season at the Malanger Falls, some miles north of Tromsoe : When I first new this valley, we pitched oar tents for a time in the forest on the edge of the Malanger Fall. And never, perhaps, were fishermen located in a grander spot. In front of us rose the lis-Lind, with its glacier; and at our feet, circled in by sombre pine -woods, lay the vast pool which the ever•flowing waters had in the course of ages scooped out for themselves. What a luxury it was, when we rose from our birch•leaf beds of a morning, to plunge into the cool depths of an inlet, on one side of this amphi theatre ; and then, in the evening, after our supper of broiled salmon, as we smoked our pipes over the embers, how we used to linger before turning in, to feast our eyes once more on the sight, or chat over the triumphs and re• verses of the day. If the weather was bright, we reposed by day and fished by night. Here is one of the adventures which anglers love to relate : Next day, at the very first cast, a magnificent fellow rushed at the fiy, coming clean out of water in his eagerness to be possessed of it. The moment he felt the prick of the hook, he wu up stream and alongside the boat with the speed of a bullet. Of course the line became slack. "Oh! my unlucky stars, I've lost him," I ejaculated, wind • ing up the line disconsolately. " But no! He must be on—pull gently ahead, Peer." I was right—well hooked, not a doubt of it. Finding himself in restraint, the fish tried all sorts of expedients to get free. Up he flow in the air, and down I sunk the point of my rod, or be must have snapped the gear. Then down he dived into the deepest part of the pool, and had I not held him firmly, he would have sawed the line off against the sharp rocks. Nothing would induce him to come into my little bay before mentioned. At last, he started away for the top of the rapids, and after sticking there, immovable as a stone, for some minutes, suddenly darted down stream, Peer rowing after him furiously. All at once the fish anchored under a large stone, in the centre of the torrent. " Now to land," I cried, winding up line with all my might, as we passed below the stone. A small back-stream was close at hand, and jumping ashore, I pulled him into this, before he knew where he was. He at once became bothered, and I saw it was all over with him. A glorious prize he was, thirty-two pounds English. "En bras Fangat !—a famous catch ! Krogtisk !—hook fish !" cried Peer. He was, in fact, a male fish, as was evident from the hook at the end of his lower lip. I never in all my fishing experience saw so short and broad a fish for the weight. On another occasion I had hold of a fish nearly as large; but he broke the treble gut in a second. The sides of the pool were fringed with mighty heaps of drift-wood. Nobody ever need this driftwood, though there was enough to have supplied all Oxford with faggots for several winters. The bark was peeled off, and the wood was blanched and smoothed by, the friction of the waters, as if by the action of sand-paper. Glorious bon. fires we used to make of it in front of our tent. The fire place was composed of large square stones, and built with nice skill. We have a little anticipated the course of the author's travel. From Christiansund he steamed to Trondjem, the ancient capital of Norway, and thence northward by the coast to the Malanger Gulf, as above described. Here he seems to have experienced some of his best sport : On the night of the 17th July I caught a twenty-two pounder, another of twenty-one, and n third of fifteen. Landing, I then scrambled over the drift-wood, and tried the artificial minnow close to the fall. I speedily caught a two and a half pound trout. Before long another sharp tug came at my line. At first, in the boiling waters it was difficult to know what denomination of fish had taken my bait. But, after a severe struggle, a char. six pounds weight by my steelyard, la) upon the rocks; his sides glistening resplendently with rich orange tints, reminding me of his Welsh appellation, equivalent to red-belly. In the course of the night I took a trout of exactly the same weight, at the same spot. One day, on the Baran, must always be marked with a white stone in my piscatorial annals. I had caught twe or three tolerable salmon, when, on crossing the centre of the pool, I hooked a fish which made off on the instant with such precipitancy that it required the utmost exertion of the rower to keep up with him. He went half a mile down stream without stopping for a moment. Pretty well for a beginning, thought I ; this must be a real monster of the deep. The moment I attempted to guide him, he started away again with prodigious strength. Holding him was no child's play. I was bathed in perspiration from top to toe. Half a dozen times did I jump ashore where the trees growing on the bank permitted it, in hopes of per- suading him to follow me; and as often did I jump into the boat again, and follow him down stream with might and main, without catching the slightest glimpse of his personal appearance. We had gone this way for upwards of a mile to the place where the two rivers join. Tho illustrious stranger was apparently as vigorous as ever. When, in one of his desperate hinges, he rushed into some quiet water near the junction. I believe he intended, by way of change, to run up the other river. But Joh was out of the boat, and in the water, gaffing him, before he found out his mistake. As he had kept out of sight all through the chase, we could only judge of his size by his:strength, 783 which was enormous. He was a sea•tront, with the louse upon him, just under twenty pounds ! The largest I had ever seen or heard of; the sport such as I can hardly hope to have again. Then be takes the reader further northward still, to Hammerfest, and round North Cape. His steamer sketches agreeably enliven his volumes : The most amusing character on board remains to be noticed. He was a portly man, under fifty years of age. His face, which was decorated with large grey mustachios, had been eminently handsome, but had, apparently, be come bloated by intemperance. Around his waist was a belt, on which hung a case containing a couteau•de-chaise, ornamented with rich silver mountings. Presently, his servant brought him a costly fur cloak and a meerschaum pipe, and retired with a profound obeisance. This must, thought I, be a Magnifico of the first water. " Who is that ? " - I inquired of one of the passengers. " That is the celebrated Danish Count R. Did you never hear of him before ? He comes regularly to Norway every year for the purpose of shooting bears." Before long, the Count having discovered that I was an Englishman, came up with the air of a nabob, whiffing away at his superb pipe, which he took care to hold with the right hand, which blazed with rings. " Sare," began he, throwing back his cloak, so as to exhibit the "lustre rare" of his chains and other decora tions to the fullest effect. " I understand you are an Englishman." I assented. " And you?" "lam a Dane. But I talk English, you see. I have been in England. I have read Bulvare. I have read " Ernest Maltravers." I have shot a bear. I am not a liar." I was somewhat overpowered by this address; but bowed a polite acquiescence. A " humorous Englishman " was on board— we are inclined to suspect Mr. Metcalfe himself was the man—who sported with the Count as dexterously as ever angler played with a salmon : The humorous Englishman had joined us while the Count was rattling on in this braggadocio vein. There was a twinkle in his eye which indicated mischief, I thought. The Count had by this time mounted his hobby again. His bear-hunting exploits were the theme of his eloquence. He had heard there were many bears north- ward, so he was going thither to show the poor Norwegians how to hunt those animals. " La chasm, la chasae, sere, it is a noble employment. It is superior to every thing else. What does Horatius say ?-- Menet sub Jove frigido Venator tenera conjugis immemor Seu visa est eatulis cerva tidelibus Seu rupit teretes Marsus aper plagas.' " "Very apt quotation," interposed my mischietbrewing friend. " Dangerous seas, these, Count," he went on, looking at some rocks to seaward, from the base of which there ascended, every now and then, a jet of foam nearly as high as the fountains at Versailles. " You remember that quotation, don't you ? Patres conscripti took a boat and sailed to Philippi. Trumpeter unus ant cot= qui scarlet habebat, Et breeches purpureos, with a trumpet as long as my elbow Cum Longo periwig, tied an with the tail of a dead pig. Ventus surgebat, et botum overtarnebat. Umnes drounderunt qui swim away non potuertint.' " As he repeated this sublime effusion with much emphasis, taking care to speak the Latin words more dis tinctly than the dog-Latin, the Count, who listened with great attention, evidently became puzzled, as well he might. But he put a good face on it, and said,— " Noble passage, indeed! I don't remember to have heard it before; but your pronon ci-a-ciron is so different from mine. Very well ! never mind ! " I should here say that these four English words, " Very well, never mind," were constantly in his mind. He seemed to ttink that there was some peculiar wit in them. " Have you seen my dog?" exclaimed the Count. " First-rate animal. I bought him in Regent-street, from a man who was leading him in a string. He is a, what •;ou call it? pointerre." I thought that a—" pointerre," sold in Regent-street to a Danish Count, must be an animal worth seeing. So we went forward to the fore part of the vessel, where all our dogs were kept. The Count's dog was a rough-haired red dog, apparently a mongrel between an Irish setter and a pointer. " Here he is, sere ! ' Qualls aut Melanins ant fultas Lacon Agam per alias sure aublata Dives Quiecunque preasedet fera.'" he spouted in grandiloquent tones. " But you are not going to use him to catch wild beasts, surely ? " " No, no ! of course not," he answered, a little testily, " I was only quoting Horatian on dogs. He is a pointerre, I shall use him on the Fugellagd, the rype, you know. How do you call it in English ?" "Ptarmigan," I replied. " Oh, ah ! How you spell that word ?" I spelt it for him. " Very difficult language that English. What an odd pronon-ci-a-ci-on." At a later period of the voyage, I found the Count in hot dispute with the humorous Englishman on the merits of his dog. " I tell you, sere, it must be a good dog. I paid seven guineas for it in London. Yes, sere, in Itegent•street. It is very well known that Regent-street is the best place for buying them. It is a thorough-bred pointerre, and will point at the charlatan; I mean the tarlatan. No bettor