the main road across Norway, and made an excursion to the
Voring-Foss, which lies beyond the Hardanger Fjord, about fifty miles
distant, in a south-eastern direction.

Vossevangen, in the splendour of a cloudless morning, was even more
beautiful than as a moonlit haven of repose. The compact little village
lay half buried in trees, clustered about the massive old church, with
its black, pointed tower, and roof covered with pitched shingles, in the
centre of the valley, while the mountains around shone bald and bright
through floating veils of vapour which had risen from the lake. The
people were all at work in the fields betimes, cutting and stacking the
barley. The grass-fields, cut smooth and close, and of the softest and
evenest green, seemed kept for show rather than for use. The bottom of
the valley along which we drove, was filled with an unbroken pine
forest, inclosing here and there a lake,

"Where Heaven itself, brought down to Earth,
Seemed fairer than above;"

while the opposite mountain rose rich with harvest fields and
farmhouses. There are similar landscapes between Fribourg and Vevay, in
Switzerland--finer, perhaps, except that all cultivated scenery in
Norway gains wonderfully in effect from the savage environment of the
barren fjelds. Here, cultivation is somewhat of a phenomenon, and a
rich, thickly settled valley strikes one with a certain surprise. The
Norwegians have been accused of neglecting agriculture; but I do not see
that much more could be expected of them. The subjugation of virgin
soil, as we had occasion to notice, is a serious work. At the best, the
grain harvests are uncertain, while fish are almost as sure as the
season; and so the surplus agricultural population either emigrates or
removes to the fishing grounds on the coast. There is, undoubtedly, a
considerable quantity of wild land which could be made arable, but the
same means, applied to the improvement of that which is at present under
cultivation, would accomplish far more beneficent results.

Leaving the valley, we drove for some time through pine forests, and
here, as elsewhere, had occasion to notice the manner in which this
source of wealth has been drained of late years. The trees were very
straight and beautiful, but there were none of more than middle age. All
the fine old timber had been cut away; all Norway, in fact, has been
despoiled in like manner, and the people are but just awaking to the
fact, tha