te the entire
animal stock which such a spot can boast, with perhaps a few domestic
fowls. These dwellings have been constructed of logs cut in some of
the sheltered gulches near at hand and drawn to the spot with
infinite labor, one by one. It would seem that such persistent and
energetic industry applied in more inviting neighborhoods would have
insured better results. What must life be passed in such an isolated,
exposed place, in a climate where the ground is covered with snow for
nine months of each year! Some few of these eyries have bridle-paths
leading up to them which are barely passable; and yet such are
thought by the occupants to be especially favored.

CHAPTER V.

Ancient Capital of Norway. -- Routes of Travel. -- Rain! --
Peasant Costumes. -- Commerce of Bergen. -- Shark's _vs._ Cod
Liver Oil. -- Ship-Building. -- Public Edifices. -- Quaint Shops.
-- Borgund Church. -- Leprosy in Norway. -- Sporting Country. --
Inland Experiences. -- Hay-Making. -- Pine-Forest Experiences. --
National Constitution. -- People's Schools. -- Girls' Industrial
School. -- Celebrated Citizens of Bergen. -- Two Grand Norwegian
Fjords. -- Remarkable Glaciers.

Bergen is situated some two hundred miles northwest of Christiania,
and may be reached from thence by a carriole journey across the
country over excellent roads, or by steamboat doubling the Naze. The
latter route, though three times as far, is often adopted by
travellers as being less expensive and troublesome. Still another and
perhaps the most common route taken by tourists is that by way of
Lake Mjoesen, Gjoeveg, the Fillefjeld and Laerdalsoeren, on the
Sognefjord. This is called the Valders route, and affords by far the
greatest variety of scenery. It involves railroad, steamer, and
carriole modes of conveyance, and in all covers a distance of at
least three hundred and fifty miles. It will be remembered that
Bergen was the capital of Norway when it was under Danish rule, and
was long afterwards the commercial rival of Christiania. Indeed, its
shipping interests we were informed still exceed those of the
capital, the verity of which statement one is inclined to question.
The period of its greatest prosperity was in the Middle Ages and
during the century when the great Hanseatic League flourished, at
which time there was a numerous German colony resident here. The town
appears very ancient, and naturally so, as it dates back to the
eleventh c