Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1867-06-20
The Norwegians--A Strange Coun-
= ~ .,.,.l4 49, - try. 90 -.5..s.t@


A letter on Norway, written by W. W.
Thomas, late United States Consul at
Gothenburg, Sweden, describes that far
northern country, and its peculiar phenom-
ena:4 d9Sf9s 'rasd qnons ~ so ".
Imagine huge table-land, rising from
5000 to 5000 feet sheer above the sea-
one vast rock, in fact, bleak and barren,
covered with snow and swept with rain,
frozen in winter, sodden in sumlner-the
home ola few reindeer and Lapps, andyou
have Norway proper-nine-tenths of the
Norway that is shown on the map.
But the rock is not whole: it is cracked
apart here and there, and the assures show
like slender veins over the country, The
sides of these rayinesi are steep as the
cleft left By an axe, and their depths are
always filled by a foaming brook or river
tumbling along from the drenched table
land above TO the sea. have looked up
from the bottom of one of these valleys
and seen the perpendicular rock rise 5000
feet on either side, and heaven show like a
strip of blue ribbon. Wherever in these
dales there lies bit of earth 'twixt rock
and river, there the Norwegian peasant
has built his cot, and it is on such bits OF
earth that inhabited Norway is situated,
and here lives it's 1900, 900 people. The
land Just around his door gives the Nor
wegian potatoes, rye, barley and oats; his
cattle climb the sleeps above for every
straw blade; for the rest, he depends upon
the sea and river. Were it not for the
/ excellent fisheries along the Northern
4 shore, Norway would be uninhabi;able.,s
! The Norwegians rely much on their
fisheries. Tn the extreme north,' they de-
/. pend upon them altogether. Long before
| YOU reach Hammcrsfest, town OF 2, ,ooo
Inhabitants, even the fir, spruce and pine
. cease-nothing stands the cold but a stunt
cd birch the size Of currant BUSH The
dwellers here are too poor to import food
| thev5 must live on the fish they catch
They are too poor to buy salt, and depend
upon the sun to dry their fish for them
The summer may be foggy then the fisi
/ rot instead of dry, and the unfortunate
Mortimer must live all winter on r"rotter
fish" This is no exaggeration, and tn
/ result is there are nine hundred ieper'
whose flesh is rotting, whose limbs arr
dropping off, one after the other, in th'
hospital at Bergen. This leprosy exists II
| no other country in Europe, and is directl,
caused by this putrid diet Even in tn
1 south, the life of the Norwegian is, from
birth to death, hand-to-hand fight witt
nature. The boughs of the birch are reg
1 ularly cut and dried as winter fodder TO
1 sheep, and in hard seasons straw and tn
Inner bark of trees must be ground up t
hcln out the oatmeal which makes tn
: Norseman's bread.
Iii is said that thousands of these Nor
wegians are willing and anxious to com
to this country. They have heard OF 1t
advantages through American s.emlgratio
) agents, and also from their friends in thi
country, but many Of them cannot accun
, ulate means to make the journey. Th
: correspondent proposes to have their pas
sage money advanced, the emigrant pledg
ing himself to work given time in consif
Grafton therefor, on his arrival. There ar
] Norwegian settlements in wisconsin, an
$ perhaps in other states, and they are
! hardy, industrious and useful population.