New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-08-22
Rayard TAYLOR in Northern Europe.
No. xxx.
GULDBRANDsDAL AND THE DoVRE
FIELD.

| co,r..,ooaspce Of The N. Y. Tribune
DRoNTHEM, Norway, July II, 1857.
Wa left Lillehammcr on q heavenly Sabblti
morning. There was scarcely a cloud in the sky
the air was wsrm and balmy, and the vordure OF
the valley, freshened by the previous days rain,
spsrkled and giittered in the sun. The MiOsen
Lake lay blue and still to the south, and the bald
tops Of the mountains which inclose Guldbrandsdal
stood sharp and clear, and almost shadOwless, in
the flood Of light which stresmed up tie valley.
OF Lilehammer, / can only say that it is common
place town Of about thousand inhabitants. 1t
had q cathedral and bishop some six hundred years
ago, no traces Of either of which now remain. We
drove out Of it upon splendid new road, leading
up the eastern bank Of the river and just high
enough on the mountain side to give the loveGest
views either way. Our horses were fast and spir-
tied, and the motion of our carrioles over the firm
ly uacadamized road was just sufficient to keep
the blood in nmble circulation. Rigid Sabbath
rians may be shocked at our travelling on that day
but there were few hearts in all the churches of
ChristendOm whose hymns of praise were more
sincere and deyOut than ours. The LOugen roared
an anthem for us from bis rocky bed; the noun
tain streams flashing down their hollow channels,
seemed Fastening to join it; the mountains them
selves stood silent, with uncovered heads and over
ALL the pale blue northern heaven looked lovingly
and gladly down-a smile of God upon the grateful
earth. There is no Sabbath worship better than
the simple enjoyment of such day.
Toward the close Of the stage, our road de-
scended to the banks of the LougeD, which here
falls in violent rapld-almost cataract-over
barrier Of rocks. Masses Of water, broken or
wrenched from the body of the river, are hurled
intermittently high into the air, scattering as they
fail, with fragments of ranbOws dancing over them.
In this acene, at once recognized the wild land
scape by the pencil Of Dahl, the Norwegian painter,
which had made such an impression upon me IN
Copenhagen. In GuldbrGndsdal, we found at once
what we had missed in the scenery of Ringerike-
swift, foamiDg streams. Here they leapt from
every rift of The upper crags, Frightening tho
gloom of the fir. woods which clothed the mountain
sides, Ike silver braiding upon funeral garment.
This valley is the pride Of Norway, nearly as much
for IFS richness as for its beauty and grandeur.
The houses were larger and more substantial, the
fields blooming, with frequent orchards of fruit
trees, and the farmers, in their Sunday attire,
showed in their faces little more intelligence than
the people we had seen on our way hither. Their
countenances had plain, hOmey stamp and of all
the large limbed, strong-bscked forms l saw, not
one could be called graceful nor even symmetrical.
Something awkward and uncouth stamps the cOun-
try people of Norway. Honest and supplemented
they are said to be, and probably are; but of native
refinement of feeling they can have little, unless
all outward signs Of character are false. The
women are for the most part positively ugly, and we
have seen but one or two faces which could be
called at all teerablc.
We changed horses at Mosh11s, and drove up
level, splendid road to HOlmen, along the river
bank. The highway, thus far, is entirely new, and
does great credit to Norwegian enterprise. There
is not better road m all Europe, and when 1t shall
be carried through to Drontheim the terrors which
this trip has for timid travellers will entirely disap-
pear 1t is pity that the sLyds system should not
be improved in equal ratio instead OF becoming
even more incOnvenent than at present. Ilolmen,
hitherto fast station, Is now no longer so, and the
came retrOgrade change is going on at other places
along the road. The waiting at the tiisigelSe sta
tions is the great drawback to travelling by skyds In
Norway. You must either wait two hours or pay
fast prices which the people are not legally emit
tied TO ask. Travellers may write complaints In
the space allotted in the postbOOks for such things,
but with very little result, if one may judge from
the perfect indifference which the stationmastcrs
exhibit when you threaten to do so. was the
other day tauntingly asked whether would not
write complaint. In Sweden, | found but one
instance of nattention at the stations, during two
months travel, and expected, from the boasted
honesty of the Norwegans, to meet with an equally
fortunate experience. Travellers, however, and
especially English are fast teaching the people the
usual arts of imposition Oh, you hard-sheiled'
unplastic, insulated Englshmen You introduce
towels and fresh water, and tea, and beef'steak
wherever you 90, it is true; but you teach high
prices, and swindling and insolence, likewise
A short distance beyond Holmen, the new road
terminated, and we took the old track over deep
SPURS of the mountain, rising merely to descend
and rise again. The Lougen River here forms
broad. tranquil lake. mile in width, IN which the
cpposite mountains were splendidly reflected. The
water is pale, milky green color, which, under
certain effects of light, has wonderful aerial
Transparency. AS we approached Losnas, after
this long and tedious stage, was startled BY the
appearance of steamer on the river. 1t is utter
ly impossible for any steamer to ascend the rapids
below Moshdds and she must therefore have been
built here We could discover no necessity for such
undertaking in the thin, scattered population, and
their slow, Indifferent habits Her Sudden appari-
ton in such place was like that of an omnibus In
| the Desert