"The girls at home have got hold of the tow-rope, I think,
my Lord," said Mr. Wyse, as we bounded along over the
thundering seas.
[Figure: fig-p192.gif]
By three o'clock next day we were up with Vigten, and
now a very nasty piece of navigation began. In order to
make the northern entrance of the Throndhjem Fiord, you
have first to find your way into what is called the Froh
Havet, - a kind of oblong basin about sixteen miles long,
formed by a ledge of low rocks running parallel with the
mainland, at a distance of ten miles to seaward. Though
the space between this outer boundary and the coast is
so wide, in consequence of the network of sunken rocks
which stuffs it up, the passage by which a vessel can
enter is very narrow, and the only landmark to enable
you to find the channel is the head one of the string of
outer islets. As this rock is about the size of a
dining-table, perfectly flat, and rising only a few feet
above the level of the sea, to attempt to make it is like
looking for a needle in a bottle of hay. It was already
beginning to grow very late and dark by the time we had
come up with the spot where it ought to have been, but
not a vestige of such a thing had turned up. Should we
not sight it in a quarter of an hour, we must go to sea
again, and lie to for the night, - a very unpleasant
alternative for any one so impatient as I was to reach
a port. Just as I was going to give the order, Fitz - who
was certainly the Lynceus of the ship's company - espied
its black back just peeping up above the tumbling water
on our starboard bow. We had hit it off to a yard!
In another half-hour we were stealing down in quiet water
towards the entrance of the fiord. All this time not a
rag of a pilot had appeared, and it was without any such
functionary that the schooner swept up next morning
between the wooded, grain-laden slopes of the beautiful
loch, to Throndhjem - the capital of the ancient sea-kings
of Norway.
LETTER XII.
THRONDHJEM - HARALD HAARFAGER - KING HACON'S LAST BATTLE -
OLAF TRYGGVESSON - THE "LONG SERPENT" - ST. OLAVE - THORMOD
THE SCALD - THE JARL OF LADE - THE CATHEDRAL - HARALD
HARDRADA - THE BATTLE OF STANFORD BRIDGE - A NORSE BALI
- ODIN - AND HIS PALADINS.
Off Munkholm, Aug. 27, 1856.
Throndhjem (pronounced Tronyem) looked very pretty and
picturesque, with its red-roofed wooden houses sparkling
in the sunshine, its many windows filled with flowers,
its bright fiord covered with vessels gaily dressed in
flags, in honour of the Crown Prince's first visit to
the ancient capital of the Norwegian realm.
