to me so clearly that it is the air which
principally nourishes trees and plants as the flourishing appearance of
these pines. The firs, demanding a deeper soil, are seldom seen in equal
health, or so numerous on the barren cliffs. They take shelter in the
crevices, or where, after some revolving ages, the pines have prepared
them a footing.

Approaching, or rather descending, to Christiania, though the weather
continued a little cloudy, my eyes were charmed with the view of an
extensive undulated valley, stretching out under the shelter of a noble
amphitheatre of pine-covered mountains. Farm houses scattered about
animated, nay, graced a scene which still retained so much of its native
wildness, that the art which appeared seemed so necessary, it was
scarcely perceived. Cattle were grazing in the shaven meadows; and the
lively green on their swelling sides contrasted with the ripening corn
and rye. The corn that grew on the slopes had not, indeed, the laughing
luxuriance of plenty, which I have seen in more genial climes. A fresh
breeze swept across the grain, parting its slender stalks, but the wheat
did not wave its head with its wonted careless dignity, as if nature had
crowned it the king of plants.

The view, immediately on the left, as we drove down the mountain, was
almost spoilt by the depredations committed on the rocks to make alum. I
do not know the process. I only saw that the rocks looked red after they
had been burnt, and regretted that the operation should leave a quantity
of rubbish to introduce an image of human industry in the shape of
destruction. The situation of Christiania is certainly uncommonly fine,
and I never saw a bay that so forcibly gave me an idea of a place of
safety from the storms of the ocean; all the surrounding objects were
beautiful and even grand. But neither the rocky mountains, nor the woods
that graced them, could be compared with the sublime prospects I had seen
to the westward; and as for the hills, "capped with _eternal_ snow," Mr.
Coxe's description led me to look for them, but they had flown, for I
looked vainly around for this noble background.

A few months ago the people of Christiania rose, exasperated by the
scarcity and consequent high price of grain. The immediate cause was the
shipping of some, said to be for Moss, but which they suspected was only
a pretext to send it out of the country, and I am not sure that they were
wrong in their conjecture. Su