l over Norway are to be
found ski clubs, formed for the purpose of encouraging snowshoeing
as a pastime, and for sending competitors to the great annual meeting
at Christiania.

These snowshoe competitions are most interesting and exciting; and the
pluck, endurance, and daring which they bring out are remarkable. They
take place on the hills just outside Christiania, and are attended by
every man, woman, and child who can reach the spot. On the first day is
held the long-distance race, and on the second the jumping competition,
only winners in the former being allowed to enter for the latter.

Every English boy knows what it is to take part in a cross-country
run of half a dozen miles. The Norwegian test is something more
formidable--about fifteen miles of rough, mountainous country,
over hill and dale, through forests, and as often as not down rocky
precipices, all half buried in snow; in the runner's hand a staff, and
on his feet his ski, six or eight feet long. The course is carefully
marked out beforehand by tying pieces of coloured rag to branches and
rocks, and it is a point-to-point race throughout. Every district sends
its champion, and there are frequently as many as eighty competitors,
who are started one after another at intervals of a minute. Except,
however, for expert ski-runners who can follow the course, it is not
an interesting race to watch, as one only sees the start or the finish,
to learn subsequently who covered the distance in the shortest time.

The appearance of the men as they come in is sufficient proof of
the terrific nature of the test. So bathed in perspiration are they
that they might have been running a "Marathon" race in the height
of summer; and so parched are their tongues that they can scarcely
speak. Lucky the skier who, during his run, chances on an unfrozen
forest pool whereat he may quench his thirst by deep draughts of what
the Norwegian terms "goosewine"--our "Adam's ale."

But the second day's sport is of a different kind; the whole thing
is visible to the spectators, who from first to last are subjected
to thrills of wild excitement. The ground selected for the contest
is the side of a somewhat steep hill, and the snow must be in proper
condition--deep, and not having a hard-frozen crust. The competitors
assemble on the summit, and at the bottom of the slope--perhaps a
hundred yards from the starting-point--is a large enclosed space,
around which stand the spectators. Half