His Cows Are On The Hills During
The Summer; Fowls Are Far Too Great A Luxury For Him; And His Bread
Is Scarcely Eatable:
It consists of large round cakes, scarcely
half an inch thick, and very hard; or of equally large cakes
scarcely as thick as a knife, and quite dry.
The only eatables I
found were fish and potatoes; and whenever I could stay for several
hours, they fetched milk for me from the hills.
The travelling conveniences are still more unattainable; but these I
will mention in a future chapter, when my experience will be a
little more extensive.
August 26th.
I could not see the situation of the town of Bolkesoe till daylight
to-day, for when I arrived the darkness of night concealed it. It
is situated in a pretty wooded vale, on a little hill at whose foot
lies a beautiful lake of the same name.
The road from here to Tindosoe, about sixteen miles, is not
practicable for vehicles, and I therefore left my carriol here and
proceeded on horseback. The country grows more quiet and
uninhabited, and the valleys become real chasms. Two lakes of
considerable size form an agreeable variety to the wildness of the
scenery. The larger one, called the Foelsoe, is of a regular form,
and above two miles in diameter; it is encircled by picturesque
mountains. The effect of the shadows which the pine-covered
mountain-tops throw on the lakes is particularly attractive. I rode
along its shores for more than an hour, and had leisure to see and
examine every thing very accurately, for the horses here travel at a
very slow pace. The reason of this is partly that the guide has no
horse, and walks beside you in a very sleepy manner; the horse knows
its master's peculiarities by long experience, and is only too
willing to encourage him in his slow, dull pace. I spent more than
five hours in reaching Tindosoe. My next object of interest was the
celebrated waterfall of Rykanfoss, to reach which we had to cross a
large lake. Although it had rained incessantly for an hour, and the
sky looked threatening, I at once hired a boat with two rowers to
continue my journey without interruption; for I anticipated a storm,
and then I should not have found a boatman who would have ventured a
voyage of four or five hours on this dangerous lake. In two hours
my boat was ready, and I started in the pouring rain, but rejoiced
at least at the absence of fog, which would have concealed the
beauties of nature which surrounded me. The lake is eighteen miles
long, but in many parts only from two to three miles wide. It is
surrounded by mountains, which rise in terraces without the least
gap to admit a distant view. As the mountains are nearly all
covered with dark fir-groves, and overshadow the whole breadth of
the narrow lake, the water seems quite dark, and almost black.
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