you?" he
continued. "No," said I, "I always adopt the diet of the country in
which I travel."--"But you can't do it here!" he exclaimed in horror,
"you can't do it here! They have no wine, nor no white bread, nor no
fresh meat; and they don't know how to cook anything!" "I am perfectly
aware of that," I answered; "but as long as I am not obliged to come
down to bread made of fir-bark and barley-straw, as last winter in
Lapland, I shall not complain."--"You possess the courage of a hero if
you can do such a thing; but you will not start now, in this rain?" We
answered by bidding him a polite adieu, for the post-horses had come,
and our carrioles were at the door. As if to reward our resolution, the
rain, which had been falling heavily all the morning, ceased at that
moment, and the grey blanket of heaven broke and rolled up into loose
masses of cloud.

I mounted into the canoe-shaped seat, drew the leathern apron over my
legs, and we set out, in single file, through the streets of
Christiania. The carriole, as I have already said, has usually no
springs (ours had none at least), except those which it makes in
bounding over the stones. We had not gone a hundred yards before I was
ready to cry out--"Lord, have mercy upon me!" Such a shattering of the
joints, such a vibration of the vertebrae, such a churning of the
viscera, I had not felt since travelling by banghy-cart in India.
Breathing went on by fits and starts, between the jolts; my teeth struck
together so that I put away my pipe, lest I should bite off the stem,
and the pleasant sensation of having been pounded in every limb crept on
apace. Once off the paving-stones, it was a little better; beyond the
hard turnpike which followed, better still; and on the gravel and sand
of the first broad hill, we found the travel easy enough to allay our
fears. The two _skydsbonder_, or postillions, who accompanied us, sat
upon our portmanteaus, and were continually jumping off to lighten the
ascent of the hills. The descents were achieved at full trotting speed,
the horses leaning back, supporting themselves against the weight of the
carrioles, and throwing out their feet very firmly, so as to avoid the
danger of slipping. Thus, no matter how steep the hill, they took it
with perfect assurance and boldness, never making a stumble. There was
just sufficient risk left, however, to make these flying descents
pleasant and exhilarating.

Our road led westward, over high hills and