again, and you have a crag-perched castle of the middle-ages,
with its watch-tower--the very counterpart of scores in Germany--and a
quaint Gothic chapel on the point beyond. The vertical strata of the
rock, worn into sharp points at the top and gradually broadening to the
base, with numberless notched ornaments and channels fluted by the rain,
make the resemblance marvellous, when seen under the proper effects of
light and shade. The lustre in which we saw it had the effect of
enchantment. There was a play of colours upon it, such as one sees in
illuminated Moorish halls, and I am almost afraid to say how much I was
enraptured by a scene which has not its equal on the whole Norwegian
coast, yet of which none of us had ever heard before.

We landed a single passenger--a government surveyor apparently--on the
heap of rocks beyond, and ran out under the northern headland, which
again charmed us with a glory peculiarly its own. Here the colours were
a part of the substance of the rock, and the sun but heightened and
harmonised their tones. The huge projecting masses of pale yellow had a
mellow gleam, like golden chalk; behind them were cliffs, violet in
shadow; broad strata of soft red, tipped on the edges with vermilion;
thinner layers, which shot up vertically to the height of four or five
hundred feet, and striped the splendid sea-wall with lines of bronze,
orange, brown, and dark red, while great rents and breaks interrupted
these marvellous frescoes with their dashes of uncertain gloom. I have
seen many wonderful aspects of nature, in many lands, but rock-painting
such as this I never beheld. A part of its effect may have been owing to
atmospheric conditions which must be rare, even in the North; but,
without such embellishments, I think the sight of this coast will nobly
repay any one for continuing his voyage beyond Hammerfest.

We lingered on deck, as point after point revealed some change in the
dazzling diorama, uncertain which was finest, and whether something
still grander might not be in store. But at last Nordkyn drew nigh, and
at three o'clock the light became that of day, white and colourless.
The north-east wind blew keenly across the Arctic Ocean, and we were
both satisfied and fatigued enough to go to bed. It was the most
northern point of our voyage--about 71 deg. 20', which is further north than
I ever was before, or ever wish to be again.

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE VARANGER FJORD.--ARCTIC LIFE.