New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1882-11-15
Norwegian Society.

OF course, the great object of = tour
in Norway, says the London Times, is
to witness the magnificent scenery Of
the tiords and lakes and mountain val
leys. In a general view the country re-
sembles Scotland, both in its ruggedness
and in its beauty, all the more that the
vegetation is very similar in the two
countries, the most common trees seen
on the higher ground being pine and
birch; but Norway'is Scotland manifold
in respect to the height and massiveness
and number of its mountains, of the
vastncss of its forests, and of the extent
and picturesqueness of its fiords and
coasts. In truth, the scenery of Norway
is quite bewildering in its wealth of
grandeur and its endless variety.
Lofty mountains, beetling craigs, frOwn-
ing heights, foaming cataracts, feathery
cascades, dense forests, soft peaceful
valleys, silvery lakes, follow one another
with rapidity that is overwhelming.
Even in the course of a single days
travelling you find one scene surprising
and celebrating another like the figures
in kaleidoscope. If this perplexes
you in the course of &single days jour
ney, what must the effect be in the
course of a tour of several weeks or
months? You think the Kragerorende
enchanting until you have seen Lake
Mjosen; you think the valley of the
Glommcnen magnificent until you have
run down the valley of the Gula. You
wonder whether anything can possibly
be any finer than the foot of the ROms-
dial until you have seen the Gejranger
ford. Nothing you think could surpass
the panorama of Mode, but it sinks in
to insignificance by comparison with the
towering peaks of the Dovrefjeld and
the far.stretching ranges of the Thele.
marken.
Il is the same to the waterfalls, which
are seen to the greatest advantage in
the end of June, when the foliage is full
on the trees, and when the streams are
swelled with melting snow. At first you
think it is necessary to take note Of
all the waterfalls you see, but you very
soon give that up as a hopeless task
when you find that in single day you
pass several hundreds of them, any one
of which would make the fortune of any
rural retreat in England. The cataracts
near Lillehammer seem very grand, but
those of Gula eclipse them. The Lerfos
near Trondhjem strikes you as mag
niticent sheet of water, but when you
have stood above the Slettafos of the
Romsdal, you forget all about its north
ern rival. The Slettafos itself, however,
is tame before the Voringfos at the head
of the Hardanger ford. and the Ringe-
dalsfos near Odde, and the grand but
distinctly seen Rjukanfos in Thele-
marker.
AS you thread the mazes of the west
coast, as you penetrate the Stor ford,
the Nord ford, the Sogne ford or the
Hardanger ford; or as you cross the
country by Gudbrandal or Valdres, or
Hallingdal, or Fumedal, or Thelemark-
en-, you are carried from scene to scene
of SURPRISING grandeur, and each scene
makes it difficult to remember that
which went before. There may be dis
advantages in this boundless richness
and constantly charming variety, but it
cannot be doubted that it maintains the
interest of tour in Norway at very
high level. You may travel for days
and weeks, over hundreds and thousands
of miles, by land and by lake, by ford
and by open sea, and never find the
scenery sink to tameness, never weary
of gazing on its wonders or OF, admirine
its beauties. The beauties of Norwegian
scenery, it may be inferred from this,
are confined to a few favored spots; they
are spread over hundreds of miles, and
they are both on the coast and in the in.
terror. TO explore the country thorough.
ly. so as to able to form judgment fol-
yourself as to what are the finest points
would occupy not months, but years.