The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1900-08-30
NEAR THE NORTH POLE.

| MIS-. odIdl Y. SneIHldu VI tnlS city by
her sister. Mrs. E. A. Fisher, on board
the steamship Kong Harold, on voy-
age along the coast of Norway and
around the North Cape:
DEAR SIsTER:-You will see by this
that l am on board the steamer way
up north of the Arctic Circle. You
must excuse the writing, for it is storm
ing and the boat is plunging fearfully.
We were in Trondhjem one day, July
18th. The air there was soft and balmy
and the mingled odorS of pine and salt
down the Fjord was lovely; at 10 o'clock
in the evening the moon was high in
the heavens, round and golden, while
the sun was just sinking in the western
horizon ball of fire. The sun does
not set here till half past ten, and at
half past eleven the whole western
| horizon was red and yellow, while the
water was the most brilliant that ever
saw. Near the coast, beyond the re-
fiction Of the sky, it was deep violet;
then it changed abruptly to a bright
red and from that shaded to pale rose
and Blended with the yellow and bright
blue
July Is was perfect day and the sea
was like glass. The scenery is magni-
ticent. Everything north of Trondhjem
is called the Nordland. sat up the
night of the 18th to see the sun rise 1t
set at l1.45 and rose again at 12.15. ]
never saw a sight equal to it. 1t even
surpassed the sunrise in the desert. The
coloring was gorgeous. The course of
the steamer lay near low-lying Chain
Of islands-rocky, and barren, and desc
| 1o+a clio nf 1,a1> TOT,
lone lighthouse. Just beyond these
islands the sea was bright rose, until
it blended at the horizon with the red.
orange. purple and green of the setting
sun. mingled with the bright gold of the
rising, while i'll the west the pale moon
kept guard. The setting was little
west Of north and the rising little
! east Of north so that colors blended.
This Is the only spot where it can be
seen to perfection, and they time the
steamer to arrive here at the exact
moment. We thread our way through
myriads of islands, and only for a few
| hours at time are we out on the open
sea. can tell very quickly when we
are, but it does not trouble me. though
a great many then make their offerings
to Neptune. Our trip so far has been
! very succeSsful: for the weather has
/ been perfect and we can stay on deck
| all the time, if we wish. The last two
steamers before us had very hard trips
and one of them could not land her
passengers at all We went ashore to
see the town of Tromso and the Lapps.
1t is very interesting place but the
Lapps are very smelly. We stopped at
Hamefest, the most northern town in the
world. a few hours. We visited the
! cI1rphpS and accaD1af1 a hin To
view. The night of July 18th we saw
the midnight sun. 1t did not sink below
the horizon at all. The captain anchored
where we could have a fine view between
two immense cliffs. Just before Il
O'Clock the sun came out from a cloud
and we had a grand view.
Our next stopping place was a whal-
| ing station. where we We're set ashore
| in the ships boat to see the whales
The fishermen had brought i'll five that
afternoon and the one that we meas
ured was 6S feet long. The English
| consul at Tromso lives here and has
charge of the works. His wife who is
a Norwegian, but speaks very good
English, met us-not at the wharf, but
! at the whale. She showed me box
with lily of diamonds on the top
presented her by the Emperor of Ger
many when he was here recently in his
yacht. His picture is on the inside of
| back to the ship, but as there is no
night there you do not know when to
| go to bed
We landed the night Of July 18th at
North Cape, but as the fog came on
| soon after leaving Hamefest, we
could not see even the shore l did not
| try to go up the rock, which is very
| steep and was afterwards glad | did
! not, for those who went came back
| tired, dirty looking set of people. We
left the Cape i'll dense fog and were
| obliged to steam slowly and stop often,
| as this is dangerous coast. The pass
ages through the fjords are very mar
row and intricate
The night of the 10th we sat up until
O'Clock to see the glaciers and the fine
scenery, that the captain ran out of his
way to show us. 1t is grand-high
cliffs where it is so narrow that the
boat almost touches them. Some of the
cliffs are straight up from the water q
600 feet, and the passages are so mar
row that you wonder how the boat is
to get through.
Half the people on our boat are
American, and there are many English
dllu hCilHdllo, q lev IIOul Noulll lA1liCd,
also Russian Count and Countess and
German Countess.
July 18th the captain landed us to see
a glacier 40 miles long, but we only
went to the beginning of it. We had
intended to visit a wonderful cave near
by in the afternoon, but were prevent
ed by heavy thunder shower.
We shall reach Trondhjem July 10Th,
and from there take boat as far as
Christiansund; thence by carriages to
Mode, or a little beyond to a point
where boats can be again taken through
the fjords to Bergen. The trip will
take more than week. After short
stay in Bergen we go to Stanenger and
from there to Germany.
Transfers in Real Estate.