ight days' voyage
whereby one might judge whether the whole affair was a "blind" or
otherwise. This youth was one degree less verdant than he with the
sticking eye-glass, but yet he had an opinion to offer upon every
topic of conversation, and was, as he believed, quite posted in all
national and political matters at home and abroad. If he lives for a
few years he will doubtless have less faith in his own wisdom, and
will exhibit less conceit to others.

There is but one day in the year when the phenomenon of the midnight
sun can be seen at the imaginary line which we designate as the
Arctic Circle, a point twenty-three degrees and twenty-eight
minutes from the North Pole; but by sailing some three hundred
miles farther northward to the North Cape, the projecting point of
the extreme north of Norway, it may be observed under favorable
circumstances,--that is, when not obscured by clouds,--for over two
months dating from the middle of May. Soon after passing the Arctic
Circle, fourteen hundred and eight geographical miles from the North
Pole, a singularly formed island is observed, called by the natives
Hestmandoe, or Horseman's Island,--a rocky and mountainous formation
of two thousand feet in height, more or less. On approaching the
island from the west, by a liberal aid from the imagination one can
discern the colossal figure of a horseman wrapped in his cloak and
mounted on a charger. It forms a well-known landmark to all
navigating the coast. The summit, it is believed, has never been
reached by human feet.

The fishing village or town of Bodoee, on the main-land, is one of the
regular stopping places for the steamers that ply on the coast. It
contains some fifteen hundred inhabitants, all toilers of the sea,
and is the chief town of Nordland. Some few of the houses are large
and comfortable, being of modern construction, forming a strong
contrast to the low turf-roofed log-cabins which are to be seen in
such close proximity to them. There is an ancient stone church here
which the traveller should find time to visit,--a quaint building,
with a few antique paintings upon the walls and an atmosphere of past
ages permeating its dim interior. Only the sacred rust of this old
temple makes it worthy of attention. In and about the humble
settlement lovely wild-flowers were observed in profusion,--an
agreeable surprise, for we had hardly expected to find these "smiles
of God's goodness" so far north, within the Arctic Ci