CHAP.

encouragement. We could but turn our thoughts homeward, and ask, what the Government of GREAT BRITAIN had ever done towards the advancement of mineralogical knowledge. At this moment there was not a single Professor of Mineralogy in any of our Universities: and it will be long indeed before the eyes of pedants, who bear so much sway in our places of public education, will be open to the importance of establishing Schools of Mineralogy. The very science itself, and all that belongs to it, is to them as a sense which they never enjoyed: whence it follows, that to reason with such persons of its advantages, is like talking of the blessing of light to one who has the misfortune to be born blind'.

The appearances of squalid poverty which disgrace the streets of Kongsberg were before alluded to: this place, like Christiania, swarms with beggars; who beset the door of the inn at which travellers arrive, forming together a mob

(1) These reflections are given as they occur in the author's Journal, They will, he hopes, be read with a reference to the time in which they were written. A very considerable alteration is now beginning to take place with regard to the study of mineralogy in Great Britain: but it is not too much to say, that the prodigious source of wealth which its due encouragement might open to our nation has not yet been adequately weighed by our Rulers. There is not one school established for the instruction of miners, in any of our mining districts.

VIII.

of most disgusting objects; each endeavouring CHAP. to extort money, as in France and Italy, and as it used to be in Ireland, especially in the streets of Dublin', by exposing to view distorted limbs, and deformity, and open sores; thrusting these revolting sights in the very faces of every stranger they meet. We were glad to get away from them; and set out again for Christiania; returning by the same road that we came, and sleeping the first night at Drammen.

In the church-yard at Drammen we observed that almost every grave was covered with a bed of flowers. Dr. Müller told us, that, in the summer season, these flower-beds upon the tombs have a very pleasing appearance; and that it is also customary, during the summer months, to scatter flowers upon the tombs. There is every reason to believe that the same Customs, customs prevailed among all the antient families of the Goths and Gete, and their descendants; because they are so strictly Grecian. Offerings of flowers were among the honours paid to the dead in Greece; and we have before noticed a similarity of customs between the Antient Greeks and the present Norwegians, in describing the

shewing the com

of the

mon origin

Greeks.

Teutons

(2) This nuisance in Dublin has been lately put a stop to.

VIII.

CHAP. marriage-ceremonies of the latter'. So, with regard to this practice of strewing the places of sepulture, we find that it was customary to strew the Grecian tombs with herbs and flowers; with amaranths; with roses'; with myrtle'; and most profusely with parsley'. Future travellers, pursuing this subject of the common origin of the Teutons and Greeks, will, in all probability, have to notice other more remarkable points of coincidence.

of the

There are many good houses in Drammen. The whole valley from Hogsund to this place is beautiful, and the soil seems very good. The Superiority mountains are covered with firs. We met a Norwegian great number of fine-looking country-girls upon Women. the road; most of them above the ordinary stature, and very handsome. In Sweden, we had remarked that the men were much superior to the women; but here we should make the contrary observation, and particularly among the higher classes. At Christiania we had met with many elegant-looking women; but scarcely any among the men, excepting the Ankers, who,

(1) See p. 235 of this Volume.

(2) Philostrat. Heroïc. cap. 19. p. 741.

(3) Anacreon. Od. liii. 25. Aristænet. I. Ep. 36. p. 162.
(4) Euripides, Electr. v. 323.

(5) Polyan. Stratag. v. 12. sect. 1. Suidas, in voc. Ztxívou orißuvas.

VIII.

being natives, had the air of gentlemen. The CHAP. custom of smoking, so universally prevalent, greatly contributes to their slovenly and dirty appearance. As we proceeded in our journey, we observed that most of the houses have little porches, which are generally ornamented with boughs of birch or of fir. The country-women, when engaged in their labours,—and they work harder than the generality of the men in our country,-wear nothing upwards but their shifts, which however are made higher than in England. Sometimes a coloured handkerchief is thrown loosely over their shoulders; but they have no stays, nor any other covering for the waist. The women, in many parts of Sweden, work in the same time attire, and look exactly like men toiling in their shirts.

properties

Borealis.

Near Drammen, that elegant plant, the Linnæa Medical Borealis, may be found in great plenty at an of the earlier season of the year. Its flowers, at this Linnea time, were all gone, but we found the remains of its seed-vessels in sufficient abundance to testify its situation here. It flowers in Norway in the months of June and July. Its medical properties are mentioned by Linnæus; but according to Gunner, whose Flora Norvegica was printed at Trönijem in 1766, the inhabitants of that city make use of an infusion of the Linnæa

CHAP.
VIII.

Condition

of the Peasants.

Borealis as an antidote in fevers. The same author also speaks of it as affording a remedy in other disorders'. The Norwegians call it Norisle; Noretle; and Narisle-grass.

The food of the labourers who work for gentlemen, or large farmers, in this country, consists of black rye-bread and salted butter or cheese, for breakfast; and boiled barley and a herring, or some other fish, with beer, for dinner. Once in a week, and sometimes twice, they have fresh meat. The common people in general live nearly in the same way, only not quite so well. Instead of beer, they have sour milk. Some, who have large families, are often in great distress. The men who work for gentlemen, or farmers, have generally a house found for them, rent free; for which they are always obliged to work for the master from whom they receive it, in preference to any other. These receive tenpence a day in summer, and eight-pence in winter; and, in harvest, a shilling, or fourteen

(1) Nidrosienses infuso contra febrem scarlatinam, vernacula Narisle (Norisle, Noretle, vel Narild) non sine salutari effectu utuntur. In Norvegia Australiori decoctum in usu est contra scabiem. Externe etiam vel fotu vel fumo febrem scarlatinam tollunt. Svecis foliorum infusum cum lacte specificum est in doloribus ischiadicis et rheumaticis, et fotu dolores pedum in ovibus tollunt." Flora Norvegica Gunneri, lxvii. p. 37. Nidrosiæ, 1766.