The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-21

ferred to tiny craft apparently de- signed for troll, then to a row boat only to exchange it for the quaintrille or uuainter stolkioerre with a pretty girl for d driver and his luggage roped to the rear of the vehicle. Nor is this all, for frequently snow bound ascents are en- countered and then the horses are yoked
 to sledges and the music of tinkling bells
 adds to the joy of the jaunt.
 | Travel in Norway is companioned by as
 much and strict a code of etiquette as is often observed in our American ball rooms and it's infractions are few and lar between Where the road displays the
 slightest dust it is considered exceeding
 lv bad form for one vehicle to overfake
 another the first applicant secures the
 best steed which Is always placed nearest
 the stable door, and when the traveller
 does his own driving, if he obeys the ln-
 function of the sign board be good to
 the beast" he receives at the successive
 station good character" from the girl
 of his vehicle, which insures prompt ana
 willing service. All tolls and ferries are
 paid by the passenger and 1T he IS late in reaching the station where ordered
 horses are in attendance he must pay
 waiting due.
 The Norwegians are a particularly hon.
 
 mankind possess the same virtue, which trait is manifested in the extreme at the public waysde restaurants. where there is no attendance and travellers help them selves reporting to the bar maid what they have eaten
 First-cass hotels, except at the most fashionable resorts are rare, but the bed rooms of all the hostelries, though plain, are scrupulously clean. While cafes are to be found in the larger Swedish towns, they are almost unknown in Norway and vice versa where the table q d'hote is a stranger in Sweden, 1t prevails nniver- sally in Norway. where between meals It is often difficult to obtain anything to ca. except tea and bufered bread or bis cults In northern Sweden one has to provide a veil as protection from the rnats. but in Norway the pests are con- spicuous hy their absence In either coun- try old travellers always supply them selves with a stock of fety pins to De used in keeping scanty sheets from part ing company with the blankets or shrink l ing into a whisp.
 The west coast of Norway is bounded by a continuous line of islands. the in- lhabitanNs of which live by fishing, but farming is carried on to considerable | extent by the natives who have built sub | stantial farm houses upon an exceedingly | fertile. strip of land which lies between | the fiords and the base of the noun tains Here bloom the lines, ashes. | horse chestnuts and the cherries and many of the houses are literally covered with the honeysuckle, and vet not a mile
 away are little villages planted in val | leys so narrow that for many months in | the year the inhabitants never see the sun. These valleys are threaded by creeks called vilSer and they were the i homes from whence came the famous vikings whose expeditions of plunder ex- tended as far as Constantnople and who l discovered Vinland (America) 800 years | in advance of Columbus.
 One of the most interesting features of the country is the Lofoten Islands. yer Iitable archipelago in miniature. covered | with snow and a green moss which pos sesses a peculiar luminosity in damp
 weather much resembling the rays of
 phosphorus. Some of the cliffs rise d- rectly from the water to a height Of several thousand feet and when large
 ships anchor at their base they are | dwarfed to tho dimnWiveness of nut 1 shells. A strange characteristic of these | islands is that despite their high lati-
 tude the climate is so mild that sheep
 rcmain in the opea the entire year | through I have seen these islands h l April at the close of the fishing season when 5000 boats accommodated sa.ooo fish ermen who had focked hither from the whole west coast of Norway. Here are caught cod. herring. oysters and lobsters. the handling of which supports a poDu- | lation of over 1e0.0oa souls. The cod and herring come in shoals and are invariably | attended by a whale to each shoaL The
 cod fishing annually yields some sI.0n.ooo
 while zeariv 2.ooo.noo lobsters arc shipped i each year 10 Fngland alone
 | The fish are caught with nets and hand
 lines whi~h are hooked as ranidly as the 1 line can he lowered. The annual catch | reaches 2n.een 0Hn fish. The heads are
 cut off and dried hv fire. after which they are pulyerized and converted into fish
 guano, but many of the heads of the