The record-union., 1893-12-02

sopber Nero tiord. one of the crew of
Peters fathers boat.
II was well we had provided food and
blankets. The enthrallment of the saw
agely majestic scenery of the ford, the
lolterings at chasms, gorges and narrow
valley openings, where odd and fantastic
hamlets and half hanging clusters of
1arm buildings toppled at the edges of
Dreclplces, or seemed trembling from the
furies of roaring torrents, and, above all,
the meetings and partingS with quaint
peasant groups TO whom the shadOwy
1iord was the only highway ever known,
and who always shook hands with US as
though we were old and dear friends
they had not seen for a decade and never
expected 10 see, shouting and waving
"favels" To us as long as we were in sight,
brought us only to the real beginning of
our cliff journey when it was already
fairly night down there at the bottom of
the narrow walls of the ford
The place into which Peter dextrously
guided our boat was the most forbidding
and gruesome / ever had the fortune to
enter. From the middle OF the stream
the opening was wholly understandable
but my guide informed me that hundreds
more like it could be found among the
tremendous walls of the Norwegian
hords. Ii was practically a vertical
hssure 1000 feet high, and, perhaps, as
deep below the waters surface. One
edge was almost as smooth and rounded
as a hewn pillar for all its mighty hight.
The other cOrrespondingly followed,
would have closed against it, had the
same incOnceivable nature-force which
separated 1t set it again in place, with
perfect lamination and without an inch
Of variance or waste space. The two
edges OF these formations, reaching above
the clouds, were not fifteen feet apart at
the entrance, but away in there were
weird and awful depths, for while sight
could not penetrate them, the whispers.
murmurs, plaintive songs and hoarser
threnodies of falling waters, told the
wondrous story of erosions, displace-
ments, boat battles and all the elemental
struggles which the dead centuries had
known.
Not fifty feet from the entrance our
boat grated against shelving rock. 1t
was almost as level as a tioor but q few
inches above the water. Beyond this
the rock had, perhaps, centuries before
been eaten away or had given away.
forming a covered hollow like half of a
truncated cone. This spot, resem bling a
section OF the prehistoric bee hive huts OF
Ireland, was TO be our resting place TOR
the night-a place which had probably
sheltered more human beings, before me-
than the greatest and Oldest hotel in Nor
ay, and l thus learned of another inter-
Wing custom OF Norwegian Deasantrv,
eS l have before pointed out the tiords
As their real highways. Journeys OF
are dreds Of miles are still made by en-
@ @uun families or parties too poor, or too
TIRE y, to seek shelter and food at the
thrlII side hamlets. They have for cent
nora used these nature-buii stations.
u, uIles food, fuel and sheepskins for COW
1neII are brought with them in their
ering and water, the sweetest, purest.
oOa1S' water IN the world. is leaping or
coldesI g from every rock.
Il iI5A1ln 1h, had no sooner built CHEEKY fire
10 GO 90 ch haltlng party from immemo-
.;+i tUbi contributes to the public
si',I,,Iv anu IneIe IS always fuel at hand
IN . eApIaIhed. torch in hand, some
g. curious characteristics of this
oli,Itot VI ~" hosplce had ever beheld. A
'l.'l.i''o qus'l-i.0 norwegian inn without land
Eford El'',.t stat ION Without master, hotel with
ont host. on he same rocky level, but
inst arouhu projection OF the insure
wall. was a my paddock with little
walls, knee high, built OF loose stones
The source of certain un&ccountaDle
sounds / had already heard With dlre
torebodings were now made clear 1hree
tiny Norwegian COWS were nunchIhg
their green louder, and two OF the tlnlesG
calves [ mad ever seen, stood graVely pe-
side them, These might pelollg W tne
cragsman we were about 10 Nlslt, eIei
told me. In any event, mere Uho pG"s- '':'Sr-
antry, who often chanSeu l1o - = .i-c
places of their little herds, penneu tne
animals AT NIGHT. and the wise little
things. conscious as their masters OF tne
danger Of night-roamlng or hilssIeP,
never budged from the few square yarus
of rock to which they meekly led from
the boats.
Where we built our fire, fires had been
lighted since the time OF Harold haafIa-
gre. Ip a hole, or little chanl Der III lug
rock, were few rude iron uVeilslls MliIon WI ,ll
had, perhaps. been used for centuries Dy
these fiords Wavtarers, and another little
iudentiou in the wall served as a Soft ol
tolIbox, where those who felt able or Will
ing to do so, deposited lew ore, nearly
the smallest coin in the world, IN tribute
TO the eagle-nest farmer, thousands OF
feet above, TO whose possession thls
strange place was sort OF lower and
outer lodge. Having drawn our boat
upon the rock we slept within 1t. 1t was
a wakeiul night for ME. The soughing
of the wind through the narrow tiSsure
was full of ghostly plants and voices,
while the falling OF near, yet unseen wa
ters, of differing volumes from varying
nights, seemed almost to articulate with
wild speech and song, as ii the mighty
mythologic heroes OF \ NOrseland, in con-
course within this mysterious chasm,
were returned for a night to chant
their sagas there Of love, OF the chase and
OF war.
1t was late when we awoke. The calves
had mysteriously disappeared. Peter
was then sure they were Frederickson' S
on the clif1 top above. Their owner had
fbofr IF
disturbing us, had slung the little ami
mails over their shoulders and were now
scaling the nights with them. Peter said
we must make haste, rs the cows were 10
follow, and we should overtake the crags-
men at home before they began another
descent. With a bit OF food in our hands
we started, Peter in the van. The way
led for Il few hundred feet, past the crags-
mans boat house, along the edge Of what
was on three sides an almost vertical
hollow cube cut by nature from solid
stone. More than Il score Of waterfalls
could bc seen. Some seemed no larger
than q white ribbon Of lace waving down
the black rock sides. Others poured
from cups and hollOWs larger accumu-
lated volumes. And still others issued
like sp0uting tunnels from caveruOus
holes III the rocks. All fell in an i'm
mense pool of such great depth that the
discharge OF the waters from the black
cauldron WAS without ripple where they
mingled with those OF the ford.
The other side OF the mighty hollow
cube was broken into Irregular masses OF
rock, some plowed as smooth as though
polished by a lapidary, and between
these tremendous displacements were
powdered stone and delrius OF sand, SO l
knew that sometime, thousands OF years
ago. a parcel OF glaciers had tilted into
Ill \
gether perilous way for onr ascent. A
zigzag path, forming altogether dis
tance OF, perhaps, two miles, led up the
broken chasm side, and at three places
huge timbers mad been rugged for raising
and lowering. with rude windlasses, ami