nd passing up
the rising ground, one reaches the Observatory, from whence a fine
view of Bergen and its environs is obtained. The dusky red-tiled
roofs crowded together, the square wooden towers of the churches
mingled with the public gardens dressed in warmest verdure, form
altogether a quaint and impressive picture. The town rises from the
bay nearly in the form of a crescent, nestling at the feet of the
surrounding hills on the west coast of Norway, between those two
broad and famous arms of the sea, the Sognefjord and the
Hardangerfjord. The first named indents the coast to a distance of
one hundred and six miles, the latter seventy miles,--the first being
north, and the last south of Bergen. The excellent situation of the
harbor and its direct steam communication with European ports give
this ancient city an extensive commerce in proportion to the number
of inhabitants, who do not aggregate more than forty thousand. A
large portion of the town is built upon a promontory, and between it
and the main-land on its north side is the harbor, which is rarely
frozen over owing to the influence of the Gulf Stream, while the
harbor of St. Petersburg, in about the same latitude, is annually
closed by ice for at least three months.

The staple commodity of Bergen is dried fish, mostly cod,
supplemented by large quantities of cod-liver oil, lumber, and wood
for fuel. It may not be generally known that a considerable portion
of what is denominated cod-liver oil is produced from sharks' livers,
which in fact are believed to be characterized by the same medicinal
qualities as are those of the cod. At any rate, with this object
sharks are sought for along the upper coast of Norway in the region
of the Lofodens, and their livers are employed as described. An
average-sized shark, we were told, will yield thirty gallons of good
merchantable oil, but the article could not obtain a market except
under the popular name of cod-liver oil. Catching the sharks is not
an employment entirely devoid of danger, as they are often found to
be large and very powerful, measuring from twenty-five to thirty feet
in length. The shark like the whale, when it is struck with the
harpoon, must at first be given plenty of line or it will drag down
the boat in its rapid descent to deep water. Sometimes the struggle
to capture the fish is a long and serious one, as it must thoroughly
exhaust itself before it will yield. When finally drawn to the side
of the