s with moss of intensely verdant hue. The high slopes
of the hills are covered with Alpine moss, and the upper cliffs with
snow, whose yielding tears, persuaded by the warm sun, feed
opalescent cascades; while below and all about the ship are the deep
dark waters of the Polar Sea. Neither the majestic Alps, the glowing
Pyrenees, nor the commanding Apennines ever impressed us like these
wild, wrinkled, rock-bound mountains in their virgin mantles of
frost. The sensation when gazing in wonder upon the far-away
Himalayas, the loftiest range on the earth, was perhaps more
overpowering; but the nearness to these abrupt cliffs, volcanic
islands, mountains, and glaciers in boreal regions made it seem more
like Wonderland. The traveller looks heavenward from the deck of the
steamer to see the apex of the steep walls, stern, massive, and
immovable, which line the fjords, lost in the blue sky, or wreathed
in gauzy mantles of mist-clouds, as he may have looked upward from
the deep, green valley of the Yosemite at the lofty crowns of Mount
Starr King, El Capitan, or Sentinel Dome. On again approaching the
main-land the varying panorama is similarly impressive, though
differing in kind. It will be remembered that the coast of Norway
extends three hundred miles north of the Arctic Circle, projecting
itself boldly into the Polar Sea, and that two hundred miles and more
of this distance is north of the Lofoden Island group. Now and then
reaches of country are passed affording striking and beautiful
landscape effects, where valleys open towards the sea, affording
views sometimes capped by glaciers high up towards the overhanging
sky, where they form immense level fields of dazzling ice embracing
hundreds of square miles. The enjoyment of a trip along the coast is
largely dependent upon the condition of the weather, which is
frequently very disagreeable. In this respect the author was greatly
favored. The absence of fog and mist was remarkable, while the water
most of the time was as smooth as a pleasure pond. With a heavy,
rolling sea and stormy weather, the trip northward from Bodoee, and
especially among the Lofodens, would be anything but enjoyable.
Sometimes fancy led us to gaze lazily over the bulwarks into the
mirroring sea for long distances, where mountains, gorges, foaming
torrents, and sheer precipices were even more sharply depicted than
when gazing directly at them. A feeling of loneliness is sure to
creep over the solitary