The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-09-30

| gone to the North Cape and back In mist and rain just few days before, It had occurred to us in planning our visit to Norway that cloudy weather i had to be taken into consideration. but we found that clear nights are the exception rather than the rule. espe- lcfally during the latter part of the sea- son.
 | Svolvaer is a qufet place in sum
 mer. but during January. February I and March its little harbor is full of
 fishing smacks for 30,060 men fish in the waters of the I.ofoden islands. l Cod Is the principal fish taken and i cod-liver oil is one of the chief prod ties of dried fish are shipped to
 southern Europe. while the fresh and l saited fish find a market in the British
 Isles and Germany.
 If one desires to see merely fjords. l glaciers. lakes and mountain streams,
 sufficient variety of each. Bergen.
 the principal city on the west coast.
 the second city in the country and a 1 former member of the Hanseatic league. is the seaport of this northern ! Switzerland. With the Sogne sjord
 on the north. Hardanger ford on the
 south and west and a chain of lakes |
 see every variety of scenery in three 1 days trip around Bergen. As we had
 but two days to spend there. we had
 to miss the northern fjord, but Har- ] danger the 21 smile ride across the mountains and the railroad from voss back to Bergen. furnished such a wealth of scenery that another day
 could hardly have added much to our enjoyment.
 Taking a boat at Bergen. we devot-
 ed eleven hours to winding about through Hardanger ford, and every
 moment presented some new attrac- 1 ton. These fJords seem to have been ] formed by a convulsion that opened great cracks in the mountains which 1 line the coast of Norway. in some | places the shores are precipitous cliffs reaching from the water upwards for 1 hundreds of feet, but for most of the way the banks slope back and arc ] covered with stunted pines and under i growth. Scattered all along the way are innumerable cascades and water- l fails. varying in width from few inches to many feet. At one place we counted eleven of these In sight at one
 time and we were never out of hear ing of. their music. Some of them are
 harnessed to little sawmills. At one
 point the boat halted within few i hundred yards of great glacier which i
 and from whose mouth, as from a l fountain. gushsd "a ceaseiess stream. 1 For ages this mass of ice has been slowly moving down from the noun-
 taifs. and every day tons upon tons
 melt and disappeaEs but It's losses at fits base aBe mane good at its top. and 1t
 lives on like the human race. ever dy- i ing and yet ever young
 Disembarking at Eide we took a
 four hours carriage ride, following d
 mountain stream to its source. cross-
 ing the range at an elevation of A
 thousand feet and descending along
 another stream to the lake upon which the village of Voss Is situated.
 From this point. scenic railroad.
 which passes through fifty-two tun-
 neIs in seventy miles, took us back to
 Bergen.
 1 As might be gathered from what ha already been said, Norway does not
 impress the tourist as farmers para disc although agriculture is first
 among her industries. The farms. as
 seen from the routes of travel, seem
 very diminutive and Are usually trl-
 angular in form and look like wedges 1 inserted in the cracks of the moun-
 tains Occasionally a valley is broad I enough to invite the cultivation of a | level piece of land-and the invitation was long ago accepted.
 | Potatoes grow we'll in Norway and are of excellent flavor On the coast 1 boats they furnished the staple. and I sometimes almost the only vegetable, l although the bill of fare often includ-
 ed seven different kinds of fish, nearly
 as many varieties of cold meat. half
 white, brown and bIack bread.
 l Rye. barley and wheat are grown
 in the southern districts, and grass
 everywhere. Owing to the frequent
 showers and the long days of summer.
 grass grows very rapidly. but as it is
 difficult to cure 1t. the people have
 adopted plan which looks peculiar
 to foreigners. They build frames that
 look like sections of a fence and the
 green hay Is hung upon the boards or wire. as the case may be. The lower rows. are protected from the rain by
 the upper one. and the air has access
 to tall of it.
 About three hours drive from Ber- gen there is a little wooded island on
 which the great Norwegian violinist. Ole Bull, built summer home where he was wont to retire at the conclu-
 sion of his tours and where at last he died. He was not only great admirer of American institutions and
 of the American people in general.
 daughter returns to Norway every
 year to celebrate May IT. Norway's | independence day. at her fathers home and with her fathers country men. The daughter is one of the
 many connecting links between the | two countries, and by her invitation,
 extended through our consul, MT. Cum ninghah. we had the privilege of vis- iting this historic spot. We were glad to do so, because Ole Bull was not only one of the great musicians of the last century. but he was one of | the greatest Democrats that Norway | has produced--a Democrat not in a partisan sense. but in that broader sense in which 1t describes one who
 believes in the people, trusts them
 and labors for their welfare.
 | / There are many public men in Nor way worthy of mention, but space forbids an enumeration of them.
 There Is. however. relic of great
 historic interest to which I must de-
 vote line. It Is the Viking ship, a
 thousand years old, now on exhibi- tion at Christiania. It was dug up
 twenty-five years ago and is fairly
 well preserved It gives one an idea
 of the ships used by those early sea- men of the north whose daring ex- plofts make fiction seem tame.
 It so happened that we arrived in
 Norway just In time to attend the coronation of King Haakon H.. and we had our first opportunity to see royalty on parade. The new king Is
 a son of king of Denmark. and his wife, Queen Maud, is daughter of the king of England. WASn. last year. Norway withdrew from her union with | Sweden, the crown was offered to a
 son of King Oscar but the offer was