sh of wild strawberries, of very
small size but exquisitely fragrant flavour. The next station brought us
to Vasbunden, at the head of the beautiful Randsfjord, which was luckily
a fast station, and the fresh horses were forthcoming in two minutes.
Our road all the afternoon lay along the eastern bank of the Fjord,
coursing up and down the hills through a succession of the loveliest
landscape pictures. This part of Norway will bear a comparison with the
softer parts of Switzerland, such as the lakes of Zurich and Thun. The
hilly shores of the Fjord were covered with scattered farms, the
villages being merely churches with half a dozen houses clustered about
them.

At sunset we left the lake and climbed a long wooded mountain to a
height of more than two thousand feet. It was a weary pull until we
reached the summit, but we rolled swiftly down the other side to the inn
of Teterud, our destination, which we reached about 10 P.M. It was quite
light enough to read, yet every one was in bed, and the place seemed
deserted, until we remembered what latitude we were in. Finally, the
landlord appeared, followed by a girl, whom, on account of her size and
blubber, Braisted compared to a cow-whale. She had been turned out of
her bed to make room for us, and we two instantly rolled into the warm
hollow she had left, my Nilotic friend occupying a separate bed in
another corner. The guests' room was an immense apartment; eight sets of
quadrilles might have been danced in it at one time. The walls were hung
with extraordinary pictures of the Six Days of Creation, in which the
Almighty was represented as an old man dressed in a long gown, with a
peculiarly good-humoured leer, suggesting a wink, on his face. I have
frequently seen the same series of pictures in the Swedish inns. In the
morning I was aroused by Braisted exclaiming, "There she blows!" and the
whale came up to the surface with a huge pot of coffee, some sugar
candy, excellent cream, and musty biscuit.

It was raining when we started, and I put on a light coat, purchased in
London, and recommended in the advertisement as being "light in texture,
gentlemanly in appearance, and impervious to wet," with strong doubts of
its power to resist a Norwegian rain. Fortunately, it was not put to a
severe test; we had passing showers only, heavy, though short. The
country, between the Randsfjord and the Miosen Lake was open and
rolling, everywhere under cultivation, and apparently ric