The mirror., 1923-01-25

passed for number, height and grandeur.
Scattered all over the country, on these
sites of natural power, are small saw
mills, -four mills, tanneries, wooden ware
and woodpulp mills and cooperative
dairies. Few of the rivers are navigabe
owing to their rapid fall. The lakes are
well supplied with boats many having
small steamers, or power boats, plying be-
tween villages. The lakes and fjords were
apparently formed during the Glacial
period They are immense assures of
great depth, into and between towering
cliffs and precipices. Over these pour
countless falls and cascades; volumes of
water from the snow-capped mountains
seeking an outlet into lower levels.
The main highways are well kept post
stations and rates for service between be-
ing regulated by law. Some of these high
ways parallel the railroad for short dis
tances; in places they are marvels of en-
gineering skill being blasted out of the
solid rock on the steep slopes. Many two
wheeled carts, called carioles, were OBJ
served along the roads, their sturdy, little
horses hitched between fills fully three feet
ahead of where it seemed horse ought to
be hitched. We were told that these two
wheeled vehicles were very comfortable to
ride in but we still have some doubts.
A rail journey of $50 miles brought us
to Trondhjem, a city of about $4,000,
situated on the River Mid, on the south
side of wide, deep, sheltering ford
which affords an excellent, natural harbor.
This is said to be the oldest city in Nor
way. The old cathedral, built in the
Twelfth and thirteenth centuries, had just
been extensively repaired and was an i'm
pressive sight. The clean, well kept streets
with their rows of substantially built
wooden buildings and the energetic activi
ties of the business section cause Trond-
hjem to be remembered as city of i'm
portant shipping and market interests.
From Trondhjem our trip extended
north by steamer along the coast In fact
boats are the only means of travel as there
are no railroads farther north. The main
land is sheltered from the Atlantic by
continuous stretch of islands through which
the boat wound its course making frequent
stops to unload mail and freight, or to
take and leave passengers. Many of the
landings were miles inland, reached by
abrupt turns that it seemed miraculous
that the boat could come so close to the
sheer, perpendicular rocks without danger
of striking bottom. No where else can
such rugged, stupendous, awe inspiring
combinations of sea and land be found as
among the fjords and along the coast of
Northern Norway.
The second day out, just after crossing
the Arctic Circle, stretch of open water
unprotected by islands was traversed
against stiff wind. The swell of the
Atlantic caused the boat to rise and fall
forciby until Vestfjord was entered where
the Lofoten Islands serve as a breakwater,
the channel being quite calm. While some
of these islands were barren rocks others
were abundantly blessed with wood and
meadow lands with some stretches of till
able soil. Wherever patch of land was
workable there stood cluster of wooden,
sod-thatched houses, or a community of
fishermen and their families. Norway is
rot a wealthy country and everybody
works, father included. To page 4, COL ~