CHAP. of borrowing two of these suits, to help us out

VI.

with our full dress at Petersburg, when we should arrive there; as the ukase, or order, of the Emperor Paul, for wearing such uncouth habits, even in a morning, had now been promulgated.'

Our journey from Kongsvold to Jerkin, a Norwegian mile and a half, was less difficult, and the road good. Almost the whole stage consisted of an ascent over the most bleak Alpine region, covered with snow; first by a ravine, down which the Driva is precipitated towards the north, between immense perpendicular rocks, in a rent which hardly affords room for the water of the stream. "Great fragments, like pyramids and towns," says Von Buch', "have in some places fallen down, and completely choked up the valley." Afterwards, a wild and dreary prospect was presented to us-wild bogs, and deserts, where the drifting snow seemed to be contending with the driving clouds through which we passed. Posts, placed to mark the road, stood as evidences of the danger to which travellers are sometimes exposed in Boundary these aërial solitudes. A wooden gate, in the midst of the upmost level, serves to mark the and Agger boundary between the two great Governments

between

Trönÿem

huus.

(1) Travels through Norway, &c. p. 98. Lond. 1813.

of Trönijem and Aggerhuus.

CHAP.

VI.

Here the road reaches an elevation of four thousand five hundred and sixty-three English feet above the level of the sea. This is properly the head of the principal chain of the Dovrefield; and the elevation of the mountains here is by much the greatest in all SCANDINAVIA. This Pass exceeds in height almost all the known Passes over the Northern mountains. "But then the mountains which overtop the Pass!" says Von Buch'; who seems lost in wonder at the prodigious accumulation of Alps on Alps here presented. A mountain called Sneehättan rises far Snechättan. above the Pass, until its immense form is lost in the clouds. The traveller looks up to its summit, as from a deep valley, unconscious of the height upon which he stands. Mr. Estmark, with whom we afterwards became acquainted at Kongsberg, carried a barometer with him to the top of Sneehättan. Its summit had not before been reached by any man. He determined its elevation as being equal to eight thousand one hundred and fifteen English feet, nearly double that of Ben-nivis, the highest mountain in Great Britain: and he also ascertained that the whole of this stupendous mass

VI.

Jerkin.

CHAP. consists of mica-slate; of which substance the rocks are also composed in all the higher parts of the passage of the Dovrefield. Having at length gained the summit, we descended, for about the space of half an English mile, to the village of Jerkin; which is so situate beneath this eminence, that it was not visible to us until the moment before we reached the place. The inn was not so clean as the accommodations for travellers generally are in this route; and, as it generally happens in such cases, it was difficult to avoid imposition; indolence and want of principle being cousins-german. A demand of two dollars was made for our lodging only: this we refused to pay; and then they were satisfied with one dollar. We found, however, some tolerably good small beer: it was served in an earthenware brown mug, with a silver cover, holding a quart. The Norwegians are fond of finery: they like to have their tables and the windows of their apartments painted with showy colours: even the ceilings and beams of the roof are thus ornamented, and set off with blue and red colours. The tables are often painted in imitation of the coloured patterns of oil-cloth; and sometimes the sides of their rooms are lined with painted cloth. The houses are invariably roofed, or rather thatched,

with a thick covering of turf-sod, in which trees sometimes take root and grow; and hay is almost always gathered from the roofs of the houses. We have seen lambs turned for pasture upon the tops of their houses, after the grass has been mown; so that it may be fairly said in Norway, they mow the tops of their houses, and then turn their cattle on for the after-grass.' The galleries about these houses may remind the traveller of Switzerland; and the girls of the country braid their hair into long queues, and dress somewhat like the female Swiss peasants. From our windows we had a wide and dreary prospect of snow-clad summits and extensive plains, in which there is scarcely a vestige of a tree; except here and there, in places, where the dwarf alpine birch and creeping alder penetrate the snowy surface.

CHAP.

VI.

We left Jerkin, on Monday morning, October the seventh, for Fogstuen, a stage of two Norwe- Fogstuen. gian miles and a quarter. We were mounted on saddle-horses, and had three horses for the phaëton; but we soon found that there was no necessity for so much cavalry. A hard frost had rendered the road excellent, although covered with snow; and we travelled with as much expedition as in Sweden. Not a leaf now remained upon any of the dwarf plants peeping

CHAP. through the snow; nor was a tree to be seen

VI.

anywhere: all was airy alpine nakedness. We saw marks, in the snow, of the feet of animals, which we believed to be those of bears: other tracks, also, were visible, that seemed to have been made by wolves and foxes. Our horses disturbed some Sno-Ripas. We passed two lakes: one upon our left, called Af Soe; the other, named Vola Soe, upon our right. This last is connected with smaller lakes, extending to Fogstuen; whence the Folda river takes its rise, and proceeds eastward to the Glommen, which it joins near Lil Elvedal, just after passing Fredericsgaves copper-work. We found a neat little room at Fogstuen. The inn here is situate in a level valley: it is intended solely for the reception of travellers passing the mountain. Von Buch compares it to the Hospice of St. Bernard, because it is one of the highest habitations in the country, and buried, in a similar manner, in almost perpetual winter; but we had not yet attained the summit of Dovrefield. The ascent to the highest point was made after leaving Fogstuen for Tofte. In this journey, however, the road was so excellent, that we proceeded in our phaëton, which was drawn by The snow was about five inches

three horses.

in depth. We had a long ascent to the highest