harshly;
but when one finds the love of gain so strongly developed, so keen and
grasping, in combination with the four capital vices of the
Norwegians--indolence, filth, drunkenness, and licentiousness,--the
descent to such dishonest arts as I have described is scarcely a single
step. There are, no doubt, many districts where the people are still
untempted by rich tourists and sportsmen, and retain the virtues once
ascribed to the whole population: but that there has been a general and
rapid deterioration of character cannot be denied. The statistics of
morality, for instance, show that one child out of every ten is
illegitimate; and the ratio has been steadily increasing for the past
fifty years. Would that the more intelligent classes would seriously set
themselves to work for the good of "_Gamle Norge_" instead of being
content with the poetical flourish of her name!

The following day, from Naes to Green, was a continuation of our journey
down the Hallingdal. There was little change in the scenery,--high
fir-wooded mountains on either hand, the lower slopes spotted with
farms. The houses showed some slight improvement as we advanced. The
people were all at work in the fields, cutting the year's satisfactory
harvest. A scorching sun blazed in a cloudless sky; the earth was baked
and dry, and suffocating clouds of dust rose from under our horses'
hoofs. Most of the women in the fields, on account of the heat, had
pulled off their body-sacks, and were working in shifts made on the same
principle, which reached to the knees. Other garments they had none. A
few, recognising us as strangers, hastily threw on their sacks or got
behind a barley-stack until we had passed; the others were quite
unconcerned. One, whose garment was exceedingly short, no sooner saw us
than she commenced a fjeld dance, full of astonishing leaps and whirls
to the great diversion of the other hands. "Weel done, cutty sark!" I
cried; but the quotation was thrown away upon her.

Green, on the Kroder Lake, which we did not reach until long after dark,
was an oasis after our previous experience. Such clean, refined,
friendly people, such a neat table, such excellent fare, and such
delicious beds we had certainly never seen before. Blessed be decency!
blessed be humanity! was our fervent ejaculation. And when in the
morning we paid an honest reckoning and received a hearty "_lycksame
resa!_" (a lucky journey!) at parting, we vowed that the place shoul