The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1867-06-08

ny WILLIAM W. THOMAS. Jn.,
. L. s. Consul at Gothcnhnrg, Sweden.

! Late L. s. Consul at Gothcnbnrg, Sweden.
Imagine huge table land, rising 1900 10
/ 5000 feet sheer above the sea 49, one vast
! rock in fact bleak and barren. covered with
! snow, swept with rain, frozen IN winter.
. sodden in summer the home Of II few rem
deer and l.apps. and yen have Norway pro.
! pcr--nine tenhs Of the Norway that is shown
| on the map.
| But the rock is not whole; it is crack
| apart here and there, aud the assures show
! like slender veins over the country. The
| sides of these ravines are steep rs the cleft
| left By an axe, and their depths are always
| filed by foaming brook or river tnmDlIng
| along from the drenched table-land above
! to the sea. have looked up from tie bot.
! tom of one Of these valleys, and seen the
| perpendicular rock rise 5000 feet on either
/ side, and heaven show like 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 ii is on such bits OF earth that inhabited
| Norway is situated. and here live It's 700.
900 people. The land just round his door
| gives the Norwegian potatoes, rye. barley,
, and oats his cattle climb the sleeps above
! for every stray blade for the rest hetlepends
| upon the sea and river. Were it not for the
excellent fisheries along this northern shore.
| Norway would he unlnhabitablc.
THE MIDNIGHT Sun.
| One night in July, 1860, Hon j. II. Camp
| bell, late Ministerial StockholH,, two Mcssrs.
| Buckley, of Birmingham, and myself land
| ed on the shore Of a northern ford in lat.
| 60 deg. n. We assembled cIin' which rose
| bold about !, 900 feet above the sea. 1t was
stretched away in silent vastness at our feet
ha nj tS wr reached nttp
| airy look out; away in the north the hinge
old sun SWING low along the horizon, like
the slow beat Of the pendulum in the tall
| clock in our grandlathers parlor corner 80
! We all stood silent, looking at our watches.
/ When both hands came together al II. mid
nghl. the full round orb hung trumphantiy
| above the wave-a bridge of gold running
due north spanned the waters between ~
and him. There he Shone i'll silent majesty
which knew no setting. We iuvolunIariiy
| took of our hats; no word was SAID. Com
| bine, if YOU can, the most brilliant sunset
and sunrise You ever saw, and its beauties
will pale before the gorgeonscoloring whlt,h
now lit up ocean. heaven, and mountain
In half an hour the sun had swung up per
ceptbly on it,. beat, the colors changed to
those of morning, a fresh breeze rippled over
the ford, one songster after another piped
up in the grove behind us--we had slid into
another day.
THE NORWEGIANS,
| have said, rely much on theiE fisheries. -
In the extreme north, they Aepeni upon
them altogether. Long before you reach
Hammerfnst, town OF 1000 inhabitants,
even the fir, spruce, and pine cease-no-
thing stands the cold but a stnntcd birch,
the size OF currant bush. The dweIler,
here are 800 poor to import iood-they must
live on the fish they cash. They are too
poor to buy salt, and depend upon the sun
to dry their fish for them. The summer
may be !oggy-then the fish rot instead of
dry-and the unfortunate Mortimer must
live all winter on "r0iien fish. This IS no
exaggeration, and the result is there are
900 lepers whose flesh is rotting, whose
limbs are dropping off, one after the other,
in the hospital AT Bergen. This lcprosy
exists in no other country in Europe, and
is dirept!y caused by ,his pulrid diei Even
in the south the life Of the Norwegian is,
from birth to death, y hand,to hand fight
with Nature. The boughs OF the birch are
regularly cut and dried as winter fodder for
sheep, aud in hard seasons straw aud the
| inny bark Of wees must b. ground mp 10
help ont the oatmeal which makes the
Norselvan 5 bread