The record-union., 1893-11-11


less task OF bringing the valleys and
lords nearer together; geologists and
naturalists innumerable, with lmpoyer-
ished stores of specimens but so enthusl-
aStically eXuding with theories and con-
lectures about the glacier age and the mo-
raines that no peace shall come until
their discoveries, in book form, hnalIy
drilt to the terminal moralnes OF htera,
ture, the great Libraries cob-webbed
shelves; and everywhere, the frenzied
amateur photographer, pale with
energy and loss of sleep, and the lean,
lank, lone, lorn cyclist, bent with rheu-
matism, bumped from bronchitis ana IN
his scant attire as ineongruous specta-
Gle as a sllirtless ballet-dancer dropped
among Himalayan nights.
Through the entire length of the Har-
danger Fiord and its lesser outreaching
upper fiords there are the most extraor-
dinary variety OF scenery possible TO find
in an equal distance. Every station has
its glen or chasm or wider dai. Each OF
these pours its river or tumultuous tor
rent into the ford. Where the mountains
widen out into amphitheaters, there are
The circling wales frlnged at the top by a
horizon line OF polished or Jagged rock,
with lesser circle of savage debris be-
low, then a ieathery rim OF pine; below
this the emerald of the farms, with their
clusters OF softened gray old structures,
and then the foamlng river shooting from
the depths OF the vale, with the whitish
yellow line OF the mountain road beside
it and following all its tortuous wind
ings. and finally the hamlet, brown and
gray, at the very edge OF the blue waters
Of the ford.
Such valley scenes give sky as blue
as Italy's; suggestions of inaccessible and
frozen nights; the misty pearline tints
that lay in Tuscan wales like the rime of
ripened grape; soft and languorous lux
uriance such as half shrouds and half re-
veals the valleys of Cuba, and all the
mellow GuaintnesS of Netherland ham
let's at one glance. Where the station"
cluster of messy structures sets at the
mouth OF shadowy gorge there are cliffs
not hundreds bat thousands OF feet above,
glitter of foam like cameo setting TO
the black background, and now and
then, tar I'D the purpIing gorge shaft Of
glittering light. as if the focused beauty
OF some half-hid upland dale shot for an
instant between weird, cloud-reaching
walls.
Now for miles we sail between preci-
pices from 1900 to 5000 feet in hight.
The silence here is painful. From water
to sky there is neither branch of tree nor
blade of grass. Not even wild fowl
scream and circle here, and we are told
the water beneath us is deep-deeper far
than the noisy sea outside the skerries-
as the crags are lofty. Suddenly we turn
and face vale of almost tropical beauty.
Scarcely Is this contemplated before our
course carries our sight to a shore of
crags with valley line above; beyond
this feathery line Of forest; then an
edge of rock touched by the bright sun
light into masses OF FURNISHED bronze,
and far and high beyond is glittering
line of Quivering sapphire blue where
the trackless icefeidS Of the folgefOnd
seem throbbing and pulsing their yet
iadeless fires in the ghostly upper light.
And so on and so on to 0dde-"the
tongue of lsnd''-where you seem to have
come to the edge OF chaos-wOrld, and
where the brown hamlet, low lying and
backed by gorge and crag and foss and
hight, looks lazily out from its slumber-
GUS inns and shops pack along the blue
way you come upon one Of the finest
blended scenes of wave and mount and
sky to be found in all our good old globe.
What is true Of this grandest of all Nor
ways fords is true in particular, or in
more intense and impressive type, OF
Trondhjem, of Geiranger. of Sogne and of
all the lesser fiords.
TrOndhJem shows yaSter perSpectlveS
and drearler reaches OF sight, but still
possesses its measure of the wondrous
versatility of Hardanger, while it seldom
provides the tender valley views. Gel
ranger is maze of lovely wales and
glens, of cataracts above the clouds, OF
hamlets upon mountains with mount
aims above these, and OF waterfalls, high
est, slenderest, fiercest and most fiImy
In all the world, and so great in num-
Der that they are still unnamed and un-
counted.
The Sogne Fiord cannot but be re-
garded as the most stupendous and often
appalling continuous spectacle so far
on NJ IN hn troy in vi of
the habitable globe. 1t is practically a
sea waterway OF more than one hundred
miles in length, and with branches and
ramihcations of twice that distance split
through almost solid mountain walls
from 1000 to 5000 feet in hight. Its wa
ters are the deepest of all the Norwegian
fiords, while the shores afford infrequent
anchorage. If, by any means, the water
bed of the Sogne Fiord could become dry,
tourists could in many places look upon
almost perpendicular rocks from 5000 to
10000 feet above their heads. Few val
leys open upon the Sogne, but tremen-
dous chaSms are constantly appearing.
The peasantry here huddle in almost in
accessible places long distances apart,
and move TO and fro between their tiny
hamlets in boats built with rude sleeping
accommodations. At various places you
will see bits of shelving rock to which
their boats are tied at night. Near these
are tiny caves or rock assures used as
huts and as kitchens in these trips OF
overnight duration.
The scenery grows more grand and i'm
posing as you proceed up the ford, reach
| ing, perhaps, its most somber sublimity
in the Nero Fiord, one of its branches.
Another arm is the Fjaerlands Eiord,
near which are the vastest snowcaves and
icefields of Norway and the romantic viii
| lage of Balholmen, scene of FritbOf's
Saga where
Birch trees covered the mountain tops; on the
sunny hill-slopes
Ripened the golden barley, and rye waved
taller than giants;
and from its extreme eastern branch the
Ardals Eiord, the third great waterfall of
| w estern Norway, the mighty Nettifos is
reached, while through every opening to
| the north are seen the gigantic masses of
| the Jostedals glacier, the largest in Eu
/ rope and covering an area of five hundred
| square miles.
! In the amazing multiplicity of these
scenes Of beauty and grandeur there is
one that will remain fadeless in the trav
eler's memory. 1t is that one when in
the darkless night of these northern lati
/ tudes as your steamer creeps along down
! there in the almost blackened and abyss
NAL silence between these parted mount
ain walls you look through their riffs to-
wards heaven, and, knowing the night
/ time hour, are given an indefinite hint in
| the splendor of the light still lingering
tenderly upon mighty mountain peaks of
that promised region of endless Morning
Lands. EDGAR l.. WAKEMAN.
Gold Bugs.