The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-12-03

anu without an inch OF variance or waste
space. The two edges of these forma-
tons reaching above the clouds are not
hfteen feet apart at the entrance: but
away in there were weird and awful
depths; TO. while sight could not pene-
trate them the whispers, murmurs, plain
tive songs and hOarser threnOdieS of fall
ing waters, told the wOndrOuS story of
erosions, displacements, 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 floor, and but a
few inches above the water. Beyond this
the rock had perhaps centuries before
been eaten away or had given away, form
ing covered hollow like half. of a trun-
Gated cone. This spot, resem bling a sec
ton of the prehistoric bee hive huts of
Ireland, was to be our resting place for
the night-a place which had probably
sheltered more human beings before me
than the greatest and oldest hotel in
Norway; and l thus learned of another
interesting custom of Norwegian peasant
ry. AS | have before pointed out the
fordS are their real highways. Journeys
OF hundred of miles are still made by en-
tire families or parties 100 poor, or too
thrifty, to seek shelter and food at the
ford side hamlets. They have for centu-
Their food, fuel, and sheep-skins for COW
ering are brought with them in their
boats; and water, the sweetest, purest
cold water in the world, is leaping or
trickling from every rock.
Peter had no sooner built CHEEKY fire
for each halting party from immemorial
custom contributes to the public supply,
and there is always fuel at hand-than
he explained torch in hand, some of the
rl1ripUG cbar9 tp1i tics of this puaiDtast
hospice l had ever beheld. A genuine
Norwegian inn without landlord station
without master, hotel without host On
the same rocky level, but just around a
projection of the fissure-wall, was a tiny
paddock with little walls knee-high,
built of loose stones. The source of GER
tain unaccountable sounds / had already
heard with dire forebodings were now
made clear. Three tiny Norwegian cows
We're munching their green fodder, and
two of the tiniest calves ! had ever seen
stood gravelY beside them. These might
belong to the cragSman we were about to
visit, Peter told me In any event, here
the peasantry, who often changed the
grazing places of their little herds, penned
the animals at night; and the wise little
things, conscious as their masters of dan
ger of night-roaming or mistep, never
budged from the few square yards of rock
TO which they were meekly led from the
boats.
Where we built our fire, fire had been
lighted since the time of Harold Haar-
fagrC. In a hole or little chamber in the
rock We're a few rude iron utensils which
had perhaps been used for centuries by
these ford wayfarers and another little
indention in the wall served as a sort of
toll-box, where those who felt able or
willing to do so deposited a few ore, near
lY the smallest coin in the world, in trib-
ute to the eagle-neSt farmer, thousands
of feet above, to whose possessions this
strange place was sort of lower and
outer lodge. Having drawn our boat
upon the rock we slept within it. 1t was
a wakeful night for me. The soughing of
the wind through the narrow assure was
full of ghostly plants and voices; while
the falling of near yet unseen waters of
differing volumes from varying nights,
seemed almost artiCulate with wild
speech and song; as if the mighty mytho-
logic heroes of NOrseland i'll COncourse
within this mysterious chasm were re
turned from 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 F'redericksOn's on
the cliff top above Their owner had
come with companion, and without dis
turbing us had slung the little animals
over their shoulders and were now seal
ing the nights with them. Peter said we
must make haste as the cows were to fol-
low, 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 a few hundred feet past the crag-
man boat house. along the edge of what
was on three sides, an almost vertical hol-
low cube cut by nature from solid stone
More than a score of waterfalls could be
seen. Some seemed no larger than a
white ribbon of lace waving down the
black rock sides. Others poured from
cups and hOllows larger accumulated vol
umes. And still others issued like spout
ing tunnels from cavermous holes in the
rocks. All fell in an immense 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 ploughed as smooth as though
polished by lapidary, and between these
tremendous displacements were pow
dered stone and detritus of sand; so
knew that sometime, thousands of years
ago, a parcel of glaciers had tilted into
the Chasm and thus provided a not alto
gether perilous way for our ascent. A
Zig-Zag path, forming altogether a dis
tance. of perhaps two miles, led up the
broken chasm side; and at three places
huge timbers had been rugged for raising
and lowering, with rude windlaSses, ami
mails, with huge leather bands fastened
around their bodies, and all things that
could not climb or be carried on these
sturdy cragsmen's backs. Here then was
half the mystery Of these famous eagle
nest Norwegian farms removed. Peter
said they were all equally accessible,
both upon the coasts and the fiords They
have simply seemed inaccessible to those
travellers who make books from steamers
decks, and have been put among the
eagles, the clouds and the glaciers, in the
pictures, without so much as a rope and
swinging wicker basket to aid the read
ers Imagination in safe ascent.
We met the head farmer and his son on
their way back to the fiord-side paddock
near the upper edge of the chasm. was
much more of a curiosity to these good
folk than they to me; for | was the first
foreigner that had ever visited this, or,
so far as | can learn, any other, eagle
nest farm in Norway. Peter made them
know easily enough who he was, and
the greetings at the farmhouse, or
houses, for several branches of one
family were huddled in great roomv
houses along the plateau, We're rather an
ovation than welcome. | was alto
gether disappointed for ] had looked
forward to knowing in this experience
the uttermost desolation in which human
beings can sustain life. | was glad to find