is remembered
that the coast of Norway extends three hundred miles north of the Arctic
Circle, projecting itself boldly into the Polar Sea. Two hundred miles
and more of this distance is north of the Lofoden Islands. Now and then
portions of country are passed on the mainland, affording striking and
beautiful landscape effects, where valleys open towards the sea,
presenting views sometimes capped by glaciers high up towards the
overhanging sky, where they form immense level fields of ice embracing
hundreds of square miles.

The varied and ever present attractions of Norway to the artist are
many, and in a great measure they are unique, especially in the
immediate vicinity of the west coast. No two of the many abrupt
elevations resemble each other. All are peculiar; some like Alpine
cathedrals rear their fretted spires far heavenward, where they echo the
hoarse anthems played by the winter's storms. One would think that
Nature in a wayward mood had tried her hand sportively at architecture,
sculpture, and castle-building, constructing now a high monumental
column or a mounted warrior, and now a Gothic fane amid regions
strange, lonely, and savage. There are grand mountains and glaciers in
Switzerland and other countries, but they do not rise directly out of
the water as they often do in Scandinavia; and as to the scenery
afforded by the innumerable fjords winding inland amid forests, cliffs,
and impetuous waterfalls, nowhere else can we find such remarkable
scenes.

Like rivers, and yet so unlike them in width, depth, and placidity, with
their broad mouths guarded by clustering islands, one can find nothing
in nature more grand, solemn, and impressive than a Norwegian fjord. Now
and again the shores are lined for short distances by the greenest of
green pastures, dotted with little red houses and groups of domestic
animals, forming charming bits of verdant foreground backed by dark and
shadowy gorges. Down precipitous cliffs leap cascades which are fed by
ice-fields hidden in the lofty mountains. These are not merely pretty
spouts, like many a little Swiss device, but grand, plunging, restless
torrents, conveying heavy volumes of foaming water.

CHAPTER XVII.

As we advance northward, our experiences become more and more peculiar.
It seems as if humanity, like nature, is possessed by a certain
sleeplessness in these regions during the constant reign of daylight.
People are wide awake and busy at their vario