New-York tribune., 1889-10-13
THE ORIENTAL CONGRESS.
: CLOSING SESSIONS IN CHRlSTIANIA-A
ROUND OF FESTIVITIES.

all the honors Of state and most Of the members
left this city last night upon special train, which
was to carry them to the great Falls Of Troll
haettan and thence TO Gothenburg, where they
will disperse TO the twenty-five countries or
more from which they came. The last hours OF
the session were little crowded, nearly oil Of
Tuesday had been taken for an excursion 70 the
cascades of Hoenefos, that number OF papers
were only read by their titles; the more I'M
portsnt will appear in the minutes of the Con-
eress. Tuesday morning, as we marched IN pro-
cession 10 the Western Railway station light
rain was falling, for the first time since our
gathering, which threatened TO mar the DAY S
festivities. The weather has throughout been
serene and perfect 10 degree which is surprising
in Scandinavia at this time of the year; as it
was, the rain ceased before long, and the ex-
cursion proved the merriest Of the whole series
The conpanv was recruited by large accessons
fron, Norway all OF whom had to paw for the
dav4s excursion which was free TO foreign guests
and 10 REQUIRED a long train to carry TO our
destination. The railway is very circuitous, and
a carrag road the hills is less than half as
long, and is said TO be one Of the most beautiful
drives IN the south OF Norway; believe that some
Of the Kings guests were taken by that route,
joining us on our arrival The region through
which we rode is very charming in this early
autumn weather the trees being in all their glory
of turning foliage and the hillsides covered with
mountain ash. full of bright red berries. The
road goes through a diversified hilly country,
partly along the course Of swift ACCOMPLISHMENTS
partly through fertile green valleys. where the
harvests were being gathered. There is a great
deal of water-power available for manufacturing
purposes and mills are scattered along the course
Of the Drsmmens Elven. the most considerable
stream Of this region, which followed for
number of miles Many of these mills were for
the manufacture of wood-pulp, used in paper
making, which forms important article of ex-
port from Norway. The steamer on which am
TO return Will carry more than 500 tons of this
product to the United States.
Ascending this broken river we passed for
nearly twenty miles along the western border of
Tyri Fjord. a large freshwater lake in the midst
Of rolling country spreading out broadly on all
Sides the lake itself is sentinelled by bold head
lands covered with tall nr-trees the most char
acteristic feature of Norwegian scenery. At the
towns of Drammen Hongsund and Villersund were
throngs of people on the platforms to the
passing of the train. They doubtless missed the
presence Of our Moors and Arabs, who had broken
down under the too-exacting demands Of Western
hospitality, and had remained behind for the
day My Norwegian companion inquired Of one
of the schoolboys in the crowd why he was at
the station at that hour, and was told that all
the schools had been dismissed in order TO
zee the Congress pass through. Nothing could
be franzor or simple than the goodwill
Of the people who were gathered at the railway
stations, and with whom conversed time
allowed There was an ingenious heartiness and
Rindliness in the Norwegian people, who gath
cred in holiday array to greet us. which very
attractive and which has been manifest all
occafons where we have come in contact with
them. They have been reading of the Congress
in the newspapers for two weeks, and their curl
osity was thoroughly aroused TO see the much
advertised assembly, the chief objects of their
inquiry being u" the Turks and " Professor Max
Muller"
| would here animadvert upon the excessive
slowness of Scandinavian railway trains. which
surpasses anything know Of at home or abroad
Our train for instance, was a special one, not
subject TO ordinary interruptions and intended to
make the best use of valuable time but its
age rate of speed was about eighteen miles an hour
and on the other roads by which we travelled
the rate was no better The roads are managed
by the Government and to pay a small dividend
upon their cost but not maintained for speed,
at any rate. Perhaps ought not TO complain
as the only railway charges we have had 10 pay
since reaching Sweden upon the trains from
fare.
Our welcome at Hoenefos was very elabOratey
prepared the stations and its surroundings were
bright with bunting, and we marched under an
arch formed of two great Norwegian flags over the
road to the cascades which was rather muddy, to
be sure, but lined with banners, pennants, and
trce-tOps arranged to form long bowery avenue
The students OF the public schools preceded us
in procession, music and flags were in the line.
and from the houses along the way bouquets were
showered down upon US by the fair
Inhabitants of the place The procession neared
the great cascades and slowly marched
over the bridge which crosses the stream directly
IN front of them. They are really impressive and
inspiring, a large foaming of water descending
over broad steps Of dark rock to the rapids below
which rush downward for a long distance We
made no stop at the falls but pressed on to the
Glatved Hotel, a large Alpine-loolcin building
within sight of the cascades. In front Of the
hotel Yves set up great tent containing places
for the whole company at tables which bore
most elaborate dinner, for which we were quite
ready, as the most of the company had not tasted
food for eight hours. There was a military band
from Christiania which had played frequently
on the train came and it performed while
eating The surrounding hills were
covered with people from the out-districts," of
whom thousands had come to the place by special
excursions ID see The festivities Of the day. After
dinner we were served with coffee outside the
tent, and an excellent mixed chorus sang from the
balcony OF the hotel There was a general spirit
of hilarity re1gnng in the train as we rode back
70 town
The journey was broken at Drammen. which
we reached a little before 10 o'elocN and found
The night fairly ablaze with light; the long bridge
over the river which was crowded with spectators
had all its arches outlined in gas-iets. and
numerous embcms made in the same way sur
rounded the railway platform. Across the river
was the decoration which planned upon the