e number who must
sacrifice themselves as his escort to the land of bliss. So entire was
the reliance of these Heathens in the demands of their peculiar faith,
that they freely acted up to its extreme requirements while singing
songs of joy.

A general aspect of good order, thrift, industry, and prosperity
prevails at Christiania. The simplicity of dress and the gentle manners,
especially among the female portion of the community, are marked
features. No stranger can fail to notice the low, sympathetic tones in
which the women always speak; but though decorous and worthy, it must be
admitted that the Norwegian ladies, as a rule, are not handsome. One
sees here none of the rush and fever of living which so wearies the
observer in many parts of Southern Europe. The common people evince more
solidity of character with less of the frivolities of life. They may be
said to be a trifle slow and phlegmatic, but by no means stupid. The
most careless schoolboy, when addressed by a stranger, removes his hat
and remains uncovered until he has responded to the inquiry made of him.

Upon visiting a new city in any part of the world, one learns much of
the national characteristics of the people, and of other matters worth
knowing, by mingling unconventionally with the throng, watching their
every-day habits and by observing the stream of busy life pouring
through its great thoroughfares. More valuable information is thus
acquired than from visiting grand cathedrals, art galleries, or
consulting guide-books. Years of travel fatigue us with the latter, but
never with Nature in her varying moods, with the peculiarities of races,
or with the manners and customs of each new locality and country. The
delight in natural objects grows by experience in every cultivated and
receptive mind. The rugged architecture of lofty mountains, the aspect
of tumbling waterfalls, noble rivers, glowing sunsets, broad land and
sea-views--each of these has a special, never-tiring and impressive
individuality.

While enjoying a bird's-eye view of Christiania, from the heights of
Egeberg, a well-wooded hill in the southern suburb, it is difficult to
believe one's self in Icelandic Scandinavia,--the precise latitude of
the Shetland Islands. A drowsy hum like the drone of bees seems to float
up from the busy city below. The beautiful fjord, with its graceful
promontories, its picturesque and leafy isles, might be Lake Maggiore or
Como, so placid and calm is its