tiania. Some of the old men who come
from inland are particularly noticeable, forming vivid pictures and
artistic groups, with their long, snowy hair flowing freely about face
and neck in patriarchal fashion. They wear red worsted caps, open
shirt-collars, and knee-breeches, together with jackets and vests decked
by a profusion of silver buttons. The women wear black jackets, bright
red bodices, and scarlet petticoats, with white linen aprons. On the
street called the Strandgade many Norse costumes mingle like various
colors in a kaleidoscope.

The staple commodity of Bergen is dried fish, mostly cod, supplemented
by large quantities of cod-liver oil, lumber, and wood cut for fuel. A
considerable portion of what is called cod-liver oil is produced from
sharks' livers, which, in fact, are believed to possess the same
medicinal qualities as those of the cod. At all events, with this
object, sharks are sought for along the upper coast of Norway,
especially in the region of the Lofoden Islands, and their livers are
used as described. An average-sized shark will yield thirty gallons of
merchantable oil, but this article would not obtain a market except
under the more popular name of cod-liver oil. Catching sharks is not an
employment entirely devoid of danger, as they are large and powerful,
often measuring twenty feet and more in length. The shark, like the
whale, when it is first struck with the harpoon, must be given plenty of
line, or it will drag down the fishermen's 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 it is finally drawn to the side of the boat, a heavy, well-directed
blow upon the nose completely stuns the creature, and the capture is
then complete.

There are here some neat public squares, a public park, wherein a
military band plays occasionally, and half a dozen churches. There is
also a theatre, royal palace, musical institute, public library, and
museum; but there is hardly a trace of architectural beauty in Norway,
with the exception of the cathedral at Troendhjem, which is formed of a
mixture of orders, the Norman predominating. The Church of St. Mary at
Bergen is only interesting for its antiquity, dating as it does from the
twelfth century. Its curious and grotesque front bears the date A.D.
1118.

The shops are filled with odd antique articles, mostly for domestic use,