e presence of a barn-like structure
containing the pulping works, while the fall itself is utilized
to drive the machinery. And, it must be confessed, all this has
been brought about by an Englishman, for here at Hoenefos is made
the paper upon which is printed _Lloyd's Weekly_ and the _Daily
Chronicle_. Neither is the fact concealed, but rather boasted of in
large letters on the outside of the barn. But Norway can well spare
this one scrap from its storehouse of scenery, and the works find
regular employment for upwards of a hundred Norwegians.

The process of pulping is simplicity itself; the trees are felled in
the forests on the hillsides close by, and sawn into blocks. Aerial
wires stretch from the felling ground to the works, and the blocks
come swinging down in baskets, to be handed over forthwith to the
mercy of the machinery. With the aid of heavy crushers and a certain
amount of water the logs are soon reduced to pulp, which then floats
away into sifters, to be eventually rolled out into flat sheets.

An immense amount of this pulp is exported to England in sacks,
and is used for many other purposes besides paper-making.

Another thing which we get from Norway is ice. Most of those huge
blocks of ice which you see in the fishmongers' shops in the summer
have come across the North Sea, and ice-cutting is a very important
business in the winter months. The ice is obtained principally from the
mountain lakes, and in the vicinity of Christiania long wooden chutes
are erected from the mountain-tops to the edge of the fjord. Down
these the huge cubes travel, direct from their homes to the deck of
the boat, and thus save the cost of overland transport. They are sawn
most carefully, the dimensions being about two feet each way; rope
handles are then frozen into the blocks for facility of movement,
and the cubes are stored in ice-houses until the summer, by which
time they have lost almost half their original weight.

Next to timber, the chief export from the country is fish (including
cod-liver oil). The great fisheries are round the Lofoedden Islands
on the North-West Coast, well within the Arctic Circle, and it
is estimated that some 30,000 men and 6,000 boats are engaged in
capturing the cod from January to April each year. The fishermen
assemble from far and wide, and take up their residence for the
season in temporary huts, clustered together on the shores of the
islands. The work is arduous as well as danger