Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1893-12-02

al t,ro charactctisuC auJeClsi Out III 50
S,,.1 a manner as always to pique and
aver TO satisfy the readers natural In
-, These are what have been
,s,med for better name the eagle
..,t farms. and the "saeters' or noun
,,in summer diaries.
Ga nras know no traveller writing in
an, language has ever visited the lor
49,, and while few have actually seen
.,,ter its environment and the strange
,,d lonely life at the same have never
h,en adequately described.
In sailing along the Norwegian coast
bom Bergen to the Loioden Islands,
o,e who is closely observant Of the
mainland scenery, and particularly II a
powerful feld.glass is used, will be sur.
otsed at the number Of utterly lonely
,sd Isolated habi,ations, seemingly
osrched against the gray crags at great
attitudes midway between sea and sky.
The larger number Of these are at least
1000 feet above the sea. To the eye Il
seems uncomfortable that place for even
,b,ir foundations could be secured. The
pieturc Is always the same. a line Of
HACK wall thousands Of feet high, "a
dent Of purple or a depression OF misty
blue where the spoek OF home Is built;
and then black aud somber crags behind
and above; and above and beyond these
the ghostly glacierhelds.
Because from distance their eerle
location, and the ragged, huddled struc'
lures which often surround the main
habialion, recall the nest OF the eagle
al 1.-The edge OF beetling crags, they have
come to be called "eagle.nest farms. Z"
Sometimes the eye will follow a black
line of assure descending from these
babl,atons TO a cavenous, rook.gorged
zap beside the water In this case a
little boat house may be seen upon the
rocks, and somewhere near winding,
puee.like line will trail upwards and In.
to the darkcning depths. This tells that
the eagle.ncst farmer Is fisherman.
too or has this means Of communication
with the outer world. but how he reaches
his home.pereh above how he subsis,s
no his desolatc habitation; snd what
manner Of folk these are who find con.
leniment in lives OF such endless soli'
lude danger and nature grudged susten.
anee, where conjectures which haunted
me until found means TO know
Above the elil walls OF the larger
and steiner hurds which penetrate the
mainland from the coast, the eaglc'nest
arms are even more numerous than
along the outer coast. This Is pafticu.
lafly tue Of portions Of the Hardanger.
sogae and Throndhjem hords. In the
lofdly Nero l'iord, a branch OF the Aur-
lands branch VI the Sognc. and In few
Instances In the Trondhjcm, they are AT
such lofty attitudes that they appear
Ike specks OF snow or ice or like posing
BIRDS upon edges Of the elill ! had
noticed a few located at prodigious
heights between Styyc and Holmcnas,
on the northern wall ctests OF this ford
which, all the way beyond Dyfsdal 10
ihe waterfall OF the Ytrc Baaken that
tnmbles 900 feet, Is like SOME black
and terrible waterway TO the realms OF
Ehlis; aud on landing at the pictu esque
station OF Bake, where snow.capped
mountains rise thousands OF feet sheer
above the village, leaving not a spare
loot between habltations and the tower.
INK walls Of stone, determined that
even II the endcavor should end In a
4
Norwegian eagle.nest farm.
-Four days passed az Bake, four days
OF contemplation OF scenery so sumbrc
and awful that II continually suggested
Tie internal. before ! found any one
either competent Or willing to act as a
guide. Then good fortune came TO me
10 the person OF a Swapping young iel.
low, native OF Gnndedal, who had
been lured away from his own mountain
home to Australia, and tired OF rowing
llie IN the antipodes was returning as
best he could, with look OF homesick.
ness In his eyes almost savage In ts
Intensity. The little he was to receive
as boalman, guide and interpreter,
would on our return pay his passage on
The iiord steamers around through Aur-
lands Ford 10 Fejos, and still leave him
as many dollars as peasants hard
labor Tor a whole year will give for say.
ing IN Norway. SO we were q happy
pair as we rowed In our small boat, hired
at Bake, to the northeast towards Styve
and Dyrdal's ice.helds above the clouds
could not have found In all Norway
more hitting companion for this parlic-
uiar adventure. Not so very long ago
ne old method OF stages by row.b0at
along many OF these iiords was still In
vogue, Travellers were then taken from
one station TO another In cumbrous
Alafp'pOlnied boats. The crew OF each
Would return with other passengers to
l' home'station; and frequently these
crews, rom stress Of travellers haste,
OF when hired by the week or month,
would make voyages the entire length
OF ford and us various lesser
branches.
THIS often brought the real Vikings OF
our generation, that Is, the jewellers on
WrEi, or creeks, along the fords, into
acquaintance with the peasant folk OF
another ford; and the athcr OF my
guide whose name VIC Peter Erickson,
Nd' The master OF such boat when
refer was a lad Those who dwelt At
ielQs had come TO not only know the
.o"ly OF Bake, but many had acquired
ile almost unconscious cunning OF the
INDIANS wood craft, or the coast sailors
uneNpiainable eighth sense of instructive
Consciousness OF location m fair
Healher or foul. This made clearer TO
ueae hollmen than an ordinance chart
Syfty hidden chasm, sequestered water
ai' OF unseen home nest upon the cfags;
WINE the very cragsman whom he had
ss' out to visit had been, IN the days be-
,4ie The steamers whistle awuke the
HeePlng echoes OF the sombre NWro
tloId' one OF the crew OF Peters fathers