t we were Americans. "Why," said he, "there have only been
two Americans here before in all my life; and you cannot be a _born_
American, because you speak Norsk so well." "Oh," said I, "I have
learned the language in travelling." "Is it possible?" he exclaimed:
"then you must have a powerful intellect." "By no means," said I, "it is
a very easy thing; I have travelled much, and can speak six other
languages." "Now, God help us!" cried he; "_seven_ languages! It is
truly wonderful how much comprehension God has given unto man, that he
can keep seven languages in his head at one time. Here am I, and I am
not a fool; yet I do not see how it would be possible for me to speak
anything but Norsk; and when I think of you, it shows me what wonders
God has done. Will you not make a mark under your name, in the book, so
that I may distinguish you from the other two?" I cheerfully complied,
and hereby notify future visitors why my name is italicised in Ole's
book.

We bade farewell to the good old man, and rode down the valley of the
Maan, through the morning shadow of the Gousta. Our boat was in
readiness; and its couch of fir boughs in the stern became a pleasant
divan of indolence, after our hard horses and rough roads. We reached
Tinoset by one o'clock, but were obliged to wait until four for horses.
The only refreshment we could obtain was oaten bread, and weak spruce
beer. Off at last, we took the post-road to Hitterdal, a smooth,
excellent highway, through interminable forests of fir and pine. Towards
the close of the stage, glimpses of a broad, beautiful, and
thickly-settled valley glimmered through the woods, and we found
ourselves on the edge of a tremendous gully, apparently the bed of an
extinct river. The banks on both sides were composed entirely of gravel
and huge rounded pebbles, masses of which we loosened at the top, and
sent down the sides, gathering as they rolled, until in a cloud of dust
they crashed with a sound like thunder upon the loose shingles of the
bottom 200 feet below. It was scarcely possible to account for this
phenomenon by the action of spring torrents from the melted snow. The
immense banks of gravel, which we found to extend for a considerable
distance along the northern side of the valley, seemed rather to be the
deposit of an ocean-flood.

Hitterdal, with its enclosed fields, its harvests, and groups of
picturesque, substantial farm-houses, gave us promise of good quarters
for the night;