New-York daily tribune., 1857-10-06

mo VL0ch Wolo sonic patcoU " 0s'6ns groen PES
tuIe, starred with bstiercups, overhupg BY spIsn-
did peaA Of aarh-Ied roek. two thousand feet in
hight It was Hne frn,ispiece 70 the Lo!odea
scenery which now opened before us Running
aloUs the xaAt Of West and East Vaasoe, We hai
continual succes sion of the wildest and grandest
pstures--thOusandfee precipces, with surrets snd
nes dee Of rock piercing the shy, dazzias sno~-
fields, leahiDs away in catarscts which filed the
rsyines with foam, and mazes Of bald sea worn
rocks, which seem 20 have been thrown down from
the SCARED peaks in some terrible convusion of ns-
ture, Here and there We're hol,ows, afordins stony
pas,ursRe for few sheep and cows, and little
wooden fsher-huts stood on the shore in the arms
Of sheltered coves At the village of Svolver, which
ia built upon pile Of bare stones, we took on board
number Of ladies' in fashionable dresses, with bon
nets On tie backs Of their eads and suficency Of
cuubrous petiicoats to make up for the absence Of
hoops, which have not yet got further north taan
Drontheim In seeing these unexpected appari-
tioDs emerge from such wild corner of Chaos
could not but wonder at the march of modern Civ
ilzatioD Pianos in Lapfand, Partisan dresses among
the Lofodens, bilhard-tables in Hsmmerfest-
whittier .ha We turn, to find the Romance of the
North
We sailed, in the lovely nocturnal sunshine,
through the long river-bke channel-the Rssksund,
believe, il is called--between the islands Of East
Vasg6e and Hindoe, the hrges. Of the Lofodens.
For distance Of fifteen miles the strait was ia no
place more than mile in BREADTH while it was fire.
quehily less than quarter. The smooth water was
q perfect Mirror rejecting on one side the giant
chas, with their sorges chOked with snow, their
arrowy pinoacles and white hines Of falling water
on the other, hills tured to the summit with emer
aid velset. sprinked with pale groves of birch and
alder, and dotted, along their bases, with the dwell
ings Of the fishermen. 1t wss impossible 20 believe
that we were floating on an arm of the AtlAntic-it
was some unknown river, or lake high up among
the Alpine peaks. The silence of these shores addei
to the impression. Now and then white sea gull
futtered about the cliffs, or an elder duck padded
across some classy cove, but no sound was heard;
there was no sail on the water no human being on
the shore Emerging at last from this wild and eo-
chanting strait, We stood across bsy, opening
southwark TO the Atlantic TO the port of Steilo, on
one Of the es.er islands Here the broad front Of
the island ri,iBg against the roseate sky, Was one
swell Of the most glorious green, down to the very
edge of the sea, while the hills Of East-Vaagoe,
across the bay, showed only naked and defiant rock,
with summit fields of purpIe-tinted snow In splen'
dor of coloriDg the tropics we're again surpassed,
but the keen north wind obliged US to enjoy it in an
OvercOat.
Toward midnight, the sun was evidently above
the horizon, though hidden by intervening noun.
tans Braistsd and another American made va
rous exertiOns TO see 10, such climbing the fore
mast, but did not succeed until about one O'Clock,
when they were favored by break in the bills. Al
though we have daylight the whole twenty four
hours, travellers do not consider that their duty II
fulfilled unless they zee the sun itself, exactly ~
midnight In the morning. we touched at Tnron-
denses, on tho northern side Of Hnd0e, q beautiful
bay with green and wooded shores, and then, leav-
nQ the Lofodens behind US, entered tho archipelago
Of large islands which lines tho coast of Finmsrk.
Trough built on the ssme grand and imposing scals
as the Lofodens, these islands are somewhat less
Jagged and abrupt in their forms, and exhibit
much more luIuriant vegetation. In fact, since
ltaying the Namsen Fiord, near DrOnthem, one sees
very little timber until be reaches the parallel Of
69o. The long straits between Seojsn and Qvdo
and the mainland are covered with forests of birch
aud tuIfy slopes greeDer than England has ever
shown. At the same time the snow level was not
more than 500 feet above the sea and broad patches
lay melting on al the lower hills. This ABUNDANCE
Of snow seems q singular incOOgruity, when you
hook upon the warm Summer sky and tho dark
mellow juicy green Of the shore'. One fancles sha'
be is either sailing upon some lofty inland ske, I"
that the in these ATTITUDES must be many
thousand feet higher than in the Temperate Zone.
He csnpot believe that no is on the ssme platform
with Sicily and Ceylon.
After tip up the magnificent Msans Fiord, and
the sight OF some ea.green glaciers, We approached
TIomsoe, the capital Of Finmsrk. This is town
Of nearly 900 inhabitants, on small island in the
strait between Qvalo aud tho mainland. II was just
midnight when we dropped anchor, but, although
the snD was hidden BY range of sno~y hills IN the
portb, the day bght was almost perfect immedl-
stey CO commenced making sketch OF the harbori
with it's feet Of eOssSng vessels Some hussiaD
craft from Archangel, and Norwegian cutter car
ipg ak guns, were also at anchor before the town
Our French traveller, after amusing himself "ite
the idea of my commencing picture At sunset aod
finishing it at sunrise, started Of for morning 'au
bic over the bills. Boats sSarmed around the
stesmer; the coal lighters e,me of, our eIe" som
menced their work, and when the suns disc sp
peared, before one O'Clock, there wAs another DAY
inauguratsd. The night had vanished, mys'er'ocsly
no one could tell how.
The steamer lay at Tromsoe al say' snord'ng !"
an opportunity ~ visit an cncampment OF Lspps Id
T,,A.l shout faur miles 10 the eastward So