ck of
your head. He would be invaluable as a detective or a diplomatist, if
only he had more strength of character, and succumbed with less childish
weakness to the influence of the moment; but these are unfortunately
his weak points. I am speaking now of the strong trait in the national
character as it shows itself in the more conspicuous natures, and would
not be misunderstood to mean that men of character are not to be found
in Nordland too--many a time, perhaps oftener than elsewhere, they are
hardened into something grand.

In a native Nordland family there will generally be found--such, at
least, is my belief--some drops of Fin blood. It has been remarked
elsewhere that in the Sagas, when the greatest peasant races in
Halgoland were spoken of as descended from half-trolls, or
mountain-ogres, this only meant Finnish descent. Our royal families were
of Finnish extraction, and Fin was a good-sounding name borne by the
greatest men in the land--for instance, Fin Arnesen. [One of Olaf the
Holy's most trusted men.] Harald Haarfager and Erik Blodoexe both married
Fin maidens. The mystic sense-affecting influence which has been
ascribed to them, was only the erotic expression of the great national
connection between the two differently derived elements; the
fair-haired, blue-eyed, larger-minded and quieter Norwegian, and the
dark, brown-eyed Fin, quick of thought, rich in fancy, filled with the
mysticism of nature, but down-trodden and weak in character. The Fin,
to this very day, goes as it were on snow-shoes and sings minor strains,
while many a Norwegian, in his pride of race, little suspects that he
has any connection with that despised people.

There is also, in my experience, a great difference in our national
character, which depends upon whether the crossing has taken place with
the weak Laplander, or with the well-grown, strong, bold Fin. It makes a
difference in temperament, as great as between minor and major in the
same piece of music. That touch of rich colour in our nation, of which
the poet Wergeland's endless wealth of imagery and flight beyond logic
are a representation, is certainly Finnish--at any rate, there is very
little of it in our old Sagas. And it can be understood from this, what
grandeur of nature the Fin has added to the Norwegian character. The Fin
admixture has been a great and essential factor in the composition of
the mental qualities of our people at the present day.

I have often talk