circumstances: "You know very well that no one can
hold office except those who belong to your State Church--neither a
Catholic, nor a Methodist, nor a Quaker: whereas in France, as I have
said, a Protestant may even become a minister of the Government." "But
we do not believe in the Catholic faith:--we will have nothing to do
with it!" screamed the Norwegian. "We are not discussing our creeds,"
answered the bishop: "I say that, though Norway is a free country,
politically, it does _not_ secure equal rights to all its citizens, and
so far as the toleration of religious beliefs is concerned, it is behind
most other countries of Europe." He thereupon retreated to the cabin,
for a crowd had gathered about the disputants, and the deck-passengers
pressing aft, seemed more than usually excited by what was going on. The
Norwegian shaking with fury, hissed through his set teeth: "How dare he
come here to insult our national feeling!" Yes, but every word was true;
and the scene was only another illustration of the intense vanity of the
Norwegians in regard to their country. Woe to the man who says a word
against Norway, though he say nothing but what everybody knows to be
true! So long as you praise everything--scenery, people, climate,
institutions, and customs--or keep silent where you cannot praise, you
have the most genial conversation; but drop a word of honest dissent or
censure, and you will see how quickly every one draws back into his
shell. There are parts of our own country where a foreigner might make
the same observation. Let a Norwegian travel in the Southern States, and
dare to say a word in objection to slavery!

There is nothing of interest between Alten and Hammerfest, except the
old sea-margins on the cliffs and a small glacier on the island of
Seiland. The coast is dismally bleak and barren. Whales were very
abundant; we sometimes saw a dozen spouting at one time. They were of
the hump-backed species, and of only moderate size; yet the fishery
would doubtless pay very well, if the natives had enterprise enough to
undertake it. I believe, however, there is no whale fishery on the whole
Norwegian coast. The desolate hills of Qvalo surmounted by the pointed
peak of the Tjuve Fjeld, or "Thief Mountain,"--so called because it
steals so much of the winter sunshine,--announced our approach to
Hammerfest, and towards nine o'clock in the evening we were at anchor in
the little harbour. The summer trade had just opened,