re stopped and addressed by
those who had escaped the mishap, were the monkeyism and perplexity of
man truthful to a degree.

Late in the afternoon we started on our journey. The road at every
corner unfolded the sublimest scenery, my imagination conceiving nothing
beyond the grandeur and wild magnificence of the rugged mountains whose
castellated peaks, gray and black with time and storm, were fretted into
all combinations of pinnacle and turret raised like fortifications out
of their perpendicular, blank sides. To allay the parching heat and
sombreness of scene, the roar of falling water reached the ear, and here
and there the eyes caught sight of wooden bridges clasping an angry
torrent. Enclosed by mountains of great height, shooting abruptly into
the air, the precipices both above and beneath the narrow highway were
most frightful to contemplate, and in many places it was overhung with
immense portions of rock. We were obliged to stoop in order to avoid
striking our heads against them, and to keep the middle of the road, no
other precaution being taken to hinder a restive horse from falling into
the hideous gulf, than one or two stones piled on each other. The sharp
turn of the road, too, would appear at a distance to terminate at the
edge of a precipice; but when the spot was reached, this was found to be
mere deception, the angular corners of the road being most acute; and,
should a horse plunge in turning, or back, no human interference could
stay an instantaneous death.

A difficult descent brought us to a valley, shut in on all sides by
lofty mountains; and stopping our jaded horses by a rivulet, we had time
to observe another ascent, as steep as any we had yet encountered in
Norway. Looking along a ravine on the left hand, far as the eye could
see, the blue mountains, capped with snow, upon whose eminences rested
the brilliancy of the setting sun, were contrasted grandly with the
gloom and shadow of the nearer valley. Leaping from rock to rock, even
from the mountain's peak, cascades poured down their waters in every
direction, sparkling like columns of molten silver through the dark
green foliage of the fir and pine.

We commenced the ascent. Left to themselves, our horses exercised much
sagacity in overcoming every difficulty; for, occasionally making a
strong effort, they would gain ten or twenty yards upwards, and then,
halting of their own accord, plant their fore legs entirely under them
to recover t