, that causes this affinity to exist between us, for it has
happened altogether too often to be accidental. The King of Sicily,
some years ago, sent a party of troops to keep me company to Palermo.
Subsequently the King of Greece favored me with a large military
convoy to one of the Greek islands. After that I had an independent
supervision of various bodies of Turkish soldiers on board of
different vessels within the Turkish dominions. Recently Napoleon III.
sent down by the same train of cars, from Paris to Marseilles, about
four hundred of his troops for Algiers. Being detained at Marseilles
by some unforeseen circumstance, I had the pleasure of seeing these
men shipped off on the first steamer. I took passage in the next. By
some extraordinary fatality, for which there is no accounting, there
were upward of five hundred additional troops shipped on this vessel.
It was a consolation to know that a storm was brewing, and that they
would soon be all sea-sick. Before we got out of the Gulf of Lyons I
could have slain every man of them with a pocket-knife. It was
therefore with a spirit of resignation that I saw the Norwegian
soldiers come on board at Eidsvold. Fate had ordained that we should
travel together, and it was no use to complain. Besides, I liked their
looks. As stalwart, blue-eyed, jovial, and hearty-looking a set of
fellows they were as ever I saw in any country--men of far higher
intelligence and physical capacity than the average of soldiers in
Continental Europe. That these were the right sort of men to fight for
their country there could be no doubt. I have rarely seen finer troops
any where than those of Norway.

The Miosen Lake is sixty-three miles in length, extending from Minde
to Lillehammer, and varies in width from five to ten miles. The
broadest part is opposite to Hamar, nearly at the centre, and not far
from the island of Helgeo. The shores embrace some of the finest
farming lands in Norway; and after passing Minde, the sloping
hill-sides are dotted with pretty little farm-houses, and beautifully
variegated with fields and orchards. In many places, so numerous are
the cottages of the thrifty farmers hung in this favored region, that
they resemble a continuous village, extending for many miles along the
hill-sides. There is not much in the natural aspect of the country to
attract the lover of bold mountain scenery. The beauties of the shores
of Miosen are of a gentle and pastoral character, and