The arrangement and display of the stores are simple, and the wares
very beautiful, though not of home manufacture. Very few factories
exist here, and every thing has to be imported.
I was much shocked at the raggedly-clad people I met every where in
the streets; the young men especially looked very ragged. They
rarely begged; but I should not have been pleased to meet them alone
in a retired street.
I was fortunate enough to be in Christiania at the time when the
Storthing was sitting. This takes place every three years; the
sessions commence in January or February, and usually last three
months; but so much business had this time accumulated, that the
king proposed to extend the length of the session. To this
fortunate accident I owed the pleasure of witnessing some of the
meetings. The king was expected to close the proceedings in
September. {49}
The hall of meeting is long and large. Four rows of tapestried
seats, one rising above the other, run lengthways along the hall,
and afford room for eighty legislators. Opposite the benches a
table stands on a raised platform, and at this table the president
and secretary sit. A gallery, which is open to the public, runs
round the upper portion of the hall.
Although I understood but little of the Norwegian language, I
attended the meetings daily for an hour. I could at least
distinguish whether long or short speeches were made, or whether the
orator spoke fluently. Unfortunately, the speakers I heard spoke
the few words they mustered courage to deliver so slowly and
hesitatingly, that I could not form a very favourable idea of
Norwegian eloquence. I was told that the Storthing only contained
three or four good speakers, and they did not display their talents
during my stay.
I have never seen such a variety of carriages as I met with here.
The commonest and most incommodious are called Carriols. A carriol
consists of a narrow, long, open box, resting between two immensely
high wheels, and provided with a very small seat. You are squeezed
into this contrivance, and have to stretch your feet forward. You
are then buckled in with a leather apron as high as the hips, and
must remain in this position, without moving a limb, from the
beginning to the end of your ride. A board is hung on behind the
box for the coachman; and from this perch he, in a kneeling or
standing position, directs the horses, unless the temporary resident
of the box should prefer to take the reins himself. As it is very
unpleasant to hear the quivering of the reins on one side and the
smacking of the whip on the other, every one, men and women, can
drive.
