S.

As there was in Christiania much to be seen that needed explanation,
the students were required to keep together, and several guides from
the hotel were obtained, to conduct the party to the various objects
of interest in the city. A walk through some of the principal streets
brought them to the new Parliament house, which is called the
_Storthingsbyggningen_. It is a fine building, but with nothing
remarkable about it. In the lower house, the students seated
themselves in the chairs of the members, and Mr. Mapps took the
speaker's desk.

"Christiania was founded in 1624, on the site of the ancient city of
Osloe, which was destroyed by fire. It is the residence of the king
during his sojourn in Norway, and the new palace, which you saw on the
hill, was completed for his use in 1848. The city, as you have seen,
is regularly laid out, and the buildings are either of brick or stone.
Formerly the dwellings were of wood, but the frequent fires caused the
adoption of a law that no more wooden buildings should be erected
within the precincts of the city. The place has considerable commerce,
and now contains nearly sixty thousand inhabitants.

"A street here is called a _gade_, and you observe that the street and
its name form one word, as Carl-Johansgade, or Charles John Street;
Kongensgade, or King Street; Kirkegaden, or Church Street. The same
word is used in German.

"The money of Norway is different from that of Sweden or Denmark. The
specie dollar, which is generally called a 'specie,' is the unit, and
contains five marks of twenty-four skillings each. A specie, or
_specie-daler_, as it is written, is worth about one dollar and eight
cents of our money. It is near enough for our purpose to say that a
mark is twenty-two cents, and a skilling one cent. The coins in
circulation are the mark, the two, the four, and the twelve skilling
piece. Species and half species are coined, but paper money is
generally used for large sums, each denomination being printed on a
particular colored paper.

"It is probable that the French system of weights and measures will
soon be introduced in Sweden and Norway; but now a Norwegian _pund_ is
one and one tenth pounds avoirdupois; a _fod_ is twelve and two
hundredths inches; and a _kande_ is three and three tenths pints."

Mr. Mapps descended from the rostrum, and after the party had looked
at the chamber of the upper house, and other apartments, they walked
to the king's palace-