Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 309: New Series, Saturday, December 8, 1849Various
General
Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 309: New Series, Saturday, December 8, 1849
Various
Periodicals
Rising between six and seven, I found Elstad picturesquely situated
on a prominence commanding extensive views of the valley. The house
is black with age: the date 1670 appears by the door-check, showing
that these wooden edifices are more durable than might be supposed.
There is, however, no observable difference between this and more
modern houses as regards the internal arrangements or the size of the
apartments. All such things are stereotyped in Norway. We started
at seven, and had a fine morning drive along the valley, which is
enlivened by some cataracts of the river, and by the inpouring of
two fierce side streams--the Vola and Fyre. At Oden, while they were
procuring fresh horses, I obtained breakfast with some difficulty,
using some tea of my own, but indebted to the house for sugar, eggs,
and butter. The charge for all, besides Quist's breakfast, was a
mark (9½d.); and it probably would have been less if I had not been
regarded as an Englishman. In the space between this station and the
next, at a place called Toostamona (spelt as pronounced), I found a
detrital barrier across the valley, very much like that at Mosshuus,
but so little charged with large blocks, that I felt doubtful whether
it was a second moraine, the mark of a second position of the skirt
of the glacier, or the spoils of some side stream, the product of a
later though still ancient time. Things are now becoming very simple.
The internal economy of the stations is manifestly getting more rude.
When, after a stage is done, I give, at Quist's dictation, four or five
skillings to the man who has come to take back the horses--and four or
five skillings are only about three-halfpence--the poor fellow takes
off his cowl, thrusts a huge coarse hand into the carriage to shake
mine, and utters his 'Tak, tak' (thanks, thanks) with an _empressement_
beaming in his honest visage which affects while it amuses me, it being
impossible to see a fellow-creature so profoundly gratified by anything
so trifling, without at once seeing that his share of the comforts of
life must be small indeed, and feeling contrite at the recollection of
the very slight impression which blessings incomparably greater make
upon myself.
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