The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-01-04
NOR WAY.
,ion Sntnrdnn Repie,p.

0O6tn6 bhlQ WE'LL bhab bhu uuuuuiooo
earth" meant to Homer something very diff
ferent from that which 1t means to us. When
we read the words, they glide from our lips as
q mere poetic phrase; but to him the earth
was really something infinite, mysterious,
ooeuual with the heavens, not to be measured
or known by men. Nowadays, the earth
seems to most of us q very moderate affair,
as far as magnitude is concerned. That amia-
BILE writer, Mr.. Helps, feels its insignifcance
30 keenly that he cannot contain his
wonder that any one should care to be
famous, when his fame must necessarily
be confined to such speok in the
universe. We take an eight-inch globe in
our hands, and think that, compared with
infnity. there is not much odds between eight
inches and eight thousand miles. We turn it
over. and pass from one quarter to another
Europe. Asia, Africa, America, Australia, the
different oceans, in succession. How many
countries are there which, with an adequate
expenditure of money, we could not manage
10 see in half year How many OF which
we could not in an hour or two gain very
tolerabe notion by having recourse TO the
nearest libraryY Nevertheless, to people VINO
have thrown aside their books OF geography
and travel, who have even got to the end OF
lines of railway, and betaken themselves to
their own feet or to some other conveyance OF
not extravapsnt speed, it does sometimes
occur that the earth is, after all, OF rather
decent size But the effect differs very greatly
according to the country in which man
Journey lies. For instance, the Swiss tourist
is likely rather to underrate the earth's mag
nitude.
Perched on the top of the Jungfrau or
Monte Rosa, or even on the Faulhorn or the
Schilthorn, and really from these elevations
seeing not quite inappreciaole portion OF
the surface OF the globe, he is Inclined TO
think that he sees even more than he does
and moreover he in some degree uncon-'
sciously attributes to himself the command
ing altitude of his standing ground. And
though Switzerland does often Impress upon
man the feeling of his own diminutiveness,
vet it is his diminutiveness as compared with
the mountain masses around him, while he
does not at all appreciate how small these noun
tain masses themselves are when compared
with the entire world. On the other hand, a
large plain, or the ocean, from its sameness OF
aspect and want of salient points, always
appears in the recollection much smaller than
it really is; so that from neither of these is any
one likely to be impressed with q strong idea
of the extent of our glO9e.
But any man who really wished to gain
something of the Homerc feeling we would
send to such a country as Horway-a country
in which the features are large enough to
reduce the spectator to insignlicance, and
yet not so large but that they give hint of
unknown tracts behind, greater than them
selves; country where the forest and desolate
snow-feld in their vast ranges hem i'll the
traveller, sometimes showing their skirts,
sometimes altogether unseen, never to be
compTehended at one lance, yet, Just because
they cannot be so comprehended impressing
the imagination more vividly with the sense
OF an unknown righteousness. OF all the
differences between Norway and the Alps (and
two mount ainous countries could hardly
L. hs HhoN tllA
greatest. In Switzerland there is great
sublimity but very little mystery;
on the contrary, the interest of the
country is much increased by the
number of definite historic asso-
Citations connected with every part of it,
which, proving as they 40 how anciently and
widely celebrated country 1t is, exclude the
feeling of the unknown. The ancient castles
and quaint medieval towns; the memory of
great generals who have carried their armies
over the rocky and once dangerous passes, aud
thus formed turning points in the worlds
history, from the time of Hannibal to that of
Napoleon; the thought of Tell on the Lake of
Uri, and of Byron aud Rousseau by that of
Geneva-all these things remind us that man
here has not unsuccesstully contended with
nature; they diminish somewhat that feeling
of awe which comes upon US when We stand
consciously in the presence of superior
power. But in Norway nature has it all her
own way. Take, for instance the first stage
from Dombaas on the way to Molde. There is
nothing here that would be called frst-rate in
the way OF scenery, and a traveller who had
come up from the magnificent valley of Roms-
dal might even think it dull. The road from
Dombsas descends steep hill through pine
wood, crosses a roaring rocky stream at the
bottom, and then ascends another hill, from
which there is wide view over the main
coursa of the river and the glens that run
into it. The coloring is sombre, but not poor;
the whole area below, the slopes Of the hills,
and the distant glens are covered with innu-
merable pines, while above the pines are dark
moors terminating in the distant snow-felds.
You feel what q solitude 1t is not that there
may not be a house or two in view, for indeed
all the houses in Norway cluster round the
great roads; but apart from the road there is
no sign nor trace Of habitation. The size of
the rivers, again, is a constant source of sur
prise to the traveller in Norway. In very
short distance from their source they swell
into q size comparable to that of the great
est English rivers, and the causes of
this are not Immediately recognized in the
great rainfall of the district, the numerous
tributaries, and the large area OF drainage.
There is no better way of contrasting Nor
way with Switzerland than by taking in each
one of the most characteristic scenes. And as
in Switzerland there is perhaps no more
typical district than the Lake of Lucerne, aud
in particular the Bay of Uri, 80 in Norway
that branch of the Sogne ford which ends al
GudvaDgen, and the valley above it, may be
taken as one of those scenes which most strike
the traveller as unique and to be remembered.
And of these two, there can be no question
that for beauty, for picturesqueness, and even
for a pure and tranquil sublimity, the Bay ol
Uri is immeasurably the superior. The out
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