the stream was about three inches deep. There I lay down on him,
picked up a stone and hammered his head with it, while the purling water
rippled pleasantly over my face.

The whole of this operation took me upwards of two hours. It will be
seen, therefore, that fishing in Norway, as I have said, cannot be
called "the gentle art."

One extremely interesting excursion that we made was to a place named
the Esse Fjord. The natives here were very hospitable and kind.
Besides that, they were fat! It would almost seem as if fat and
good-humour were invariably united; for nearly all the natives of the
Esse Fjord were good-humoured and stout!

The language at this place perplexed me not a little. Nevertheless the
old proverb, "where there's a will there's a way," held good, for the
way in which I conversed with the natives of that region was astounding
even to myself.

One bluff, good-humoured fellow took me off to see his house and family.
I may as well admit, here, that I am not a good linguist, and usually
left our ladies to do the talking! But on this occasion I found myself,
for the first time, alone with a Norwegian! fairly left to my own
resources.

Well, I began by stringing together all the Norse I knew, (which wasn't
much), and endeavoured to look as if I knew a great deal more. But I
soon found that the list of sentences, which I had learned from Murray's
_Handbook_, did not avail much in a lengthened conversation. My speech
quickly degenerated into sounds that were almost unintelligible to
either my new friend or myself! and I terminated at last in a mixture of
bad Norse and broad Scotch. I have already remarked on the strong
family-likeness between Norse and broad Scotch. Here are a few
specimens.

They call a cow a _coo_! A house is a _hoose_, and a mouse is a
_moose_! _Gaae til land_, is go to land, or go ashore. _Tak ain stole_
is take a stool, or sit down. Vil du tak am dram? scarcely needs
translation--will you take a dram! and the usual answer to that question
is equally clear and emphatic--"Ya, jeg vil tak am dram!" One day our
pilot saw the boat of a fisherman, (or fiskman), not far off. He knew
we wanted fish, so, putting his hands to his mouth, he shouted "Fiskman!
har du fisk to sell?" If you talk of bathing, they will advise you to
"dook oonder;" and should a mother present her baby to you, she will
call it her "smook barn"--her pretty bairn--smook being the Norse word
for "pret