he guide, who cried
out: "Here we are at our destination for to-night." I looked joyfully
round; alas! I could only see a few of those cottages which are never
observed until you almost hit your nose against one of them, as the
grass-covered walls can hardly be distinguished from the surrounding
meadow.

It was already midnight. We stopped, and turned our horses loose, to
seek supper and rest in the nearest meadow. Our lot was a less fortunate
one. The inhabitants were already buried in deep slumbers, from which
even the barking set up by the dogs at our approach failed to arouse
them. A cup of coffee would certainly have been very acceptable to me;
yet I was loath to rouse any one merely for this. A piece of bread
satisfied my hunger, and a draught of water from the nearest spring
tasted most deliciously with it. After concluding my frugal meal, I
sought out a corner beside a cottage, where I was partially sheltered
from the too-familiar wind; and wrapping my cloak around me, lay down on
the ground, having wished myself, with all my heart, a good night's rest
and pleasant dreams, in the broad daylight, {37} under the canopy of
heaven. Just dropping off to sleep, I was surprised by a mild rain,
which, of course, at once put to flight every idea of repose. Thus,
after all, I was obliged to wake some one up, to obtain the shelter of a
roof.

The best room, _i.e._ the store-room, was thrown open for my
accommodation, and a small wooden bedstead placed at my disposal.
Chambers of this kind are luckily found wherever two or three cottages
lie contiguous to each other; they are certainly far from inviting, as
dried fish, train-oil, tallow, and many other articles of the same
description combine to produce a most unsavoury atmosphere. Yet they are
infinitely preferable to the dwellings of the peasants, which, by the by,
are the most filthy dens that can be imagined. Besides being redolent of
every description of bad odour, these cottages are infested with vermin
to a degree which can certainly not be surpassed, except in the dwellings
of the Greenlanders and Laplanders.

June 18th.

Yesterday we had been forced to put upon our poor horses a wearisome
distance of more than fifty miles, as the last forty miles led us through
desert and uninhabited places, boasting not even a single cottage.
To-day, however, our steeds had a light duty to perform, for