her phenomenon that may rivet the observation of an
inhabitant of a more Southern latitude, and convey as much sublimity to
the mind, as it may be strange to the outward senses. I refer to the
appearance of a great Northern city at night. I shall not easily forget
Bergen, when for the first time, I walked through its streets at three
o'clock in the morning, and saw a bright sun in a blue sky shining over
it. Not a sound, beside my own footstep, disturbed the stillness; and
when I turned my eyes from the long, deserted avenues of streets and
closed windows of the houses, towards the mountains that droop sullenly
over the town, and sought there for some living sign to assure me that I
was not absolutely alone, not a bird or insect chirped or flitted on the
wing. I felt amid this desolation as if wandering in the fabled City of
Death; nor do I think that any man, the most elastic of disposition,
could bring to his heart any other feelings than those of awe and
sadness, when walking, as I did then, in the glare of day through the
thoroughfares of a populous city, he witnesses the silence and solemnity
that pervade it. I am glad that I have seen Bergen at midnight, for I
would see everything in this curious world; but the reflections that
troubled my mind were so much more than the sight was worth that I have
no desire to look again.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE DANGEROUS STRAITS--BRITISH SEAMANSHIP--THE GLACIERS
OF FOLGEFONDE--BERGEN--HABITS OF THE FISHERMEN--THE
SOGNE FIORD--LEERDAL--ARRIVAL AT AURON--A HOSPITABLE
HOST--ASCENDING THE MOUNTAINS--THE TWO SHEPHERDESSES
--HUNTING THE REIN-DEER--ADVENTURE ON THE MOUNTAINS
--SLAUGHTERING DEER--THE FAWN.

The time was now drawing to a close that we had purposed to spend in
Norway, because we desired to return to England and be present at the
regattas which usually take place towards the latter part of July, or
commencement of August along the southern coast of England; and
therefore it became necessary that we should move with more expedition
from place to place than we had hitherto done. A great many plans had
suggested themselves to us, and it was a wish to carry them out that had
enticed us in the first instance to Scandinavia; some we had already
fulfilled, but there were others as important in the list of pleasure
not yet realized. Moreover, our provisions, both for our personal use
and for the use of the yacht's company, were dwindling to scarcity; and
among these