The Press.
London, England, 1857-07-25 00:00:00

On another occasion they sleep in a loft :

Next morning. without the trouble of rising, we could
see guides, ponies, and all ready, as if they bad been
standing there the whole night. By-the-bye, when do
Norwegians get up ? However early one wakes they
always have the start, and seem to reonire rest Its little as
food. Now began the difficulties of toilet in good earnest ;
each garment had to he handed up the ladder separately,
and it was most absurd to see two hardy mountaineers
climbing in turns with the greatest gravity on such an
errand, touching the linen as we should the finest Brussels
lace. Chen, as for ablutions, where was the de quoi ? At
the mention of a towel, the Kone pointed to the sheet,
which idea I suppose she had caught from the Crown
Prince ; hut meeting with great difficulty in the basin-and•
jug department, I did what all travellers should in Norway,
particularly after fatigue, adjourn to the fountain, " Un.
dinc•ize " in the clear stream, and return fresh and almost
strong enough for another fjeld.

The peasants appear to be extremely hos-
pitable and unselfish ; but of course English
travellers are rapidly spoiling them.
The Norse men and women tut very
shy. Nothing could induce them to
stand and be sketched ; but they took every
opportunity to study the English ladies.

One morning at Heft our unprotected
wakes up drowsily, and " a dim vision of fUr
" caps, silver buttons, white legs," rose before
her, mingled with subdued whispers, and
the words " English, fairy, no ! take care,
" hush !" "At length a hand was stretched
" forth to touch a lock of my streaming hair—
" the spell was broken—and opening my eyes
" wide, I saw a crowd creep stealthily away,
" looking at me till the last moment, when
" they closed the door softly as on a sleeping
" babe, and all was still." But if the men
are shy, the women are both shy and pugna-
cious. " Trying it on " in Norway is apt to
get an adventurous Englishman into a
scrape :

The tourists were quite delighted at having a female
Skyd, and one persuaded her to exchange places, when she
got down to walk up a hill, and to sit behind his carriole ;
at the same time, in the most polite manner, yielding
precedence to all the others. Presently, on nearing the
next station, what was the surprise at the polite man
having dis appeared with his carriole, and giving no signs
of coming! All waited and waited, nobody liking to go
back and look for him; when, after a most trying delay,
the truant was seen in the distance approaching slowly,
his hat very much over his eyes, and—is it possible ? yes !
—the waistless damsel standing high up behind with a
long pole iu a Damocles position over his head. " What
has kept you? do tell us," was the chorus, accompanied
by a grin from each; but as the respondent was still Jeep
in hat and mystery, and the pole threatened to wave over
the heads of us all, we appellants thought it prudent to
drive on to the next station, where, by tearing and quizzing,
the following particulars were elicited. I transcribe them
for the benefit of future fast ones.
The damsel was rather pretty, and the lane rather
shady ; so her companion thought he would " try it on " by
giving her a kiss, which must have been a tolerably smart
one, for it sent her off as far as the hedge, where she took
nut one of the long and heavy poles used in Norwegian
fences, and returned the compliment by battering him well
about the head and shoulders, then remounting, continued
in the defensive attitude, which formed such a very pleasing
tableau far spectators.

Plenty of adventures await the traveller in
Norway. Here is a forest one told with
spirit :

A victim had arrived at the farm with his horses, but
only one lady's saddle, of course secured for nay mother.
We bad entered the third phase of the journe3—the
forest. Hurrah for the three glories of Norwegian travel
The fjord ! the fjeld ! the forest ! Wild Graces of Scan-
dinavia—vast, rugged, grand, as befits a stern northern
queen of beauty. The ponies long to gallop beneath the
shade—one spring—they start. Now the non talk-
aboutables proved their usefulness : begging all nay
clothes in their ample folds, I at once mounted a /a
Zoarare, and can assure every one for a long journey
this attitude has double comforts; while mamma sat
twisted sideways on a saddle which would not keep its
balance, I was easy and independent, with a foot in each
stirrup; besides the scarlet having the most beautiful
effect through the green trees. We got on magnificently
till our guide suddenly pulled up at a farm in an opening
of the forest, and proposed our dismounting; what was it
for? Oh, he did not know the way any further. "
but you should have said so before—you cannot deposit us
here:" and we put in such a strong light the impossibility
of remaining in the midst of a lone wood, and making a
future home of the secluded farm, that, after deep con-
sultations with the proprietors on whose hands he wished
to leave us, it was concluded he should try another farm
across the wood, where two horses were kept by a very
sharp fellow who knew everything. So resignedly pene-
trating deeper into the piny arches, a rising piece of
ground showed at length the welcome sight of two horses
ploughing with a jaunty boy, who instantly entered into
the exchange plan with alacrity, as if it were the most
capital fun.
• • • • •
Duskiness soon came on; the twilight feebly pene•
trating the thick woods, and the hearty laughs of our guile
were the only cheering sounds. He was in the highest
spirits; my costume and attitude excited his warmest ad-
miration. He was under the impression they were the
last English fashion; and that great nation, which he
knew swayed the world from somewhere, seemed to rite in
his imagination in still more mysterious grandeur, and a
stray cigar nr two given him completed the illusion. What
would one think of two French ladies, or two of any other
nation, penetrating into the wildest recesses of Norway, and
finding out new roads for the natives ? Who but English
could do it? Madame Ida Pfeiffer has been rather active,
but she confesses to being skinny and wiry, and was able
to wriggle about unmolested ; the English or Americana
are rarely of that make, and so generally blooming and
attractive, that it must be a certain inborn right of con-
quest which makes them nearly always the first to pene-
trate into the arenna of countries triumphantly.
At length no light, even grey, was left. Dismounting
for a variety, we found it impossible to walk, as the forest
was full of small pools of water, into which we went
splashing every moment, and had to remount, and continue
for two hours in utter darkness, save when a friendly spark
flew from the cigar. There had been no path the whole
time, the horses going confidently on through the thickest
giades, and the lively man making little excursions on each
stile to reconnoitre, though be could see nothing, his
cheerfal hellos and our response uniting us again ; but as
the forest became thicker and thicker, it was with great
difficulty nc kept our heads on out shoulders, the branches
of the finesse continually trying to catch theta. 011

730

more dextrous than the rest, hooked my mother Absalom
like, the pony coolly continuing from under her; and it
was only by hearing the most frightful screams we were
aware of her suspended state, and, after groping about to
find and bring her to terra•ftrma, discovered the bonnet
had obligingly played the part of hair, and remained aloft.
1 must say ten hours were quite enough of this, the time
appearing doubled.
• • •

The moon did now and then faintly gleam through the
trees with a ghastly effect, hardly better than nothing,
and it was but lagging work altogether, when we were
startled by our jovial guide saying, " You had better make
haste, for this wood swarms with bears and wolves ;" and
though they were not likely to make an attack, the an•
nouncement gave one a very creepy feeling, and to each
large stump a horrid Bruin look, whilst the jovial fellow
kept bouncing suddenly out in front of the hortieti and
startling them with growls ! We were heartily glad to see
something like four walls within which we could retreat
again. After some knocking at the door, a fine old man
came out, and then hurried up his wife, who, j ust as our
worthy companion had said, provided us directly with one
of the nicest rooms and downiest of beds ; and 1 think we
never put our heads under the clothes with such a feeling
of relief, able at last to chuckle over the bears and wolves.
After some months' " fun " of this sort, ex-
ploring every explorablo part of Norway, the
two unprotecteds return to Copenhagen, and
enter once more upon town life with a zest
they had never before experienced, and of
course they give us a bit of Court scandal
about the Countess Danner :

To visit any of the palaces in the neighbourhood, except
as specimens of dull, ill•kept places, is waste of time. The
King resides very quietly in that of Fredrichshorg with
the Countess Danner, his morganatic wife, merely coming
t•) town for business, as his own princely relations and
various kingly neighbours object to the society of the lady
on account of her antecedents. She was a fascinating
milliner, who " took in " other people besides the ladies,
and her gauzy establishment catching fire one evening, its
aerial nature caused it to blaze up so very brilliantly that
it attracted the King in person, who for the first time saw
the fair mistress prematurely among the flames ; he could
do no less than offer her another residence, and she chose
that it should he in the palace, being then a clever woman
of about forty. She has great influence over the old easy-
going King, and has put a stop to all Court balls, as she
wishes none to take place without her presence, and on
that condition there would be a slight difficulty with the
corps diplomatique to begin with.
Driving into Hamburg, the unprotecteds
came to the conclusion that " all fun was
" over for this year, and now nothing remained
" but to go home to England : which we did
" vi& Berlin, having a pleasant little adventure
" with the Queen of Prussia in the gardens of
" Potsdam, when sketching the mill of Sans-
" Souci. Her Majesty, finding us to be English,
" was most pleasing, and questioned us with
" interest upon the novelty of two Unpro•
" tecteds ' exploring Norway. Stopping for a
" moment at Brussels, to purchase attire of
" the last fashion, as good there as in Paris,
" and more attainable, we arrived in England
" in time to wear it in honour of merry Christ-
" nuts."
It will be seen from these extracts that the
two unprotecteds enjoyed a very pleasant
tour. They roughed it like women when they
have made up their minds; and though we
may be inclined to think that the younger of
the two has brought home too much of the
primitive simplicity of Norway when we find
her writing of " jolly farmers," of " rifling, a 14
Zounve, in red inexpressibles," telling us first
where and when she bought the stuff, and why
. she selected red, " because it looked pretty
" among the trees," yet we shall not quarrel
with her; she has given us a lively, entertain-
ing book of Scandinavian sketeles which
we will venture to recommend to all autumn
Norway travellers.

L