Peeps at Many Lands: Norway Part 1

Peeps at Many Lands: Norway.

by A.F. Mockler-Ferryman.

CHAPTER I

THE LAND OF THE VIKINGS

Who has not heard of the Vikings--the dauntless sea-rovers, who in the days of long ago were the dread of Northern Europe? We English should know something of them, for Viking blood flowed in the veins of many of our ancestors. And these fierce fighting men came in their ships across the North Sea from Norway on more than one occasion to invade England. But they came once too often, and were thoroughly defeated at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, when, as will be remembered, Harald the Hard, King of Norway, was killed in attempting to turn his namesake, King Harold of England, off his throne.

Norwegian historians, however, do not say very much about this particular invasion. They prefer to dwell on the great deeds of another King Harald, who was called "Fairhair," and who began his reign some two hundred years earlier. This Harald was only a boy of ten years of age when he came to the throne, but he determined to increase the size of his kingdom, which was then but a small one, so he trained his men to fight, built grand new ships, and then began his conquests. Norway was at that time divided up into a number of districts or small kingdoms, each of which was ruled over by an Earl or petty King, and it was these rulers whom Harald set to work to subdue. He intended to make one united kingdom of all Norway, and he eventually succeeded in doing so. But he had many a hard fight; and if the Sagas, as the historical records of the North are called, speak truly, he fought almost continuously during twelve long years before he had accomplished his task, and even then he was only just twenty-one years of age.

They say that he did all these wonderful things because a girl, named Gyda, whom he wanted to marry, refused to have anything to say to him until he had made himself King of a really big kingdom. He made a vow that he would not comb or cut his hair until he had conquered the whole country. He led his men to victory after victory, and at length fought his last great battle at Hafrsfjord (to the south of Stavanger). The sea-fight was desperate and long, but Harald's fleet succeeded in overpowering that of the enemy, and Sulki, King of Rogaland, as well as Erik, King of Hardanger, were slain. Then Harald cut and dressed his hair, the skalds composed poems in honour of the event, and for ever after he was known as Fairhair. He was truly a great Viking, and he did not rest content with the conquest of Norway alone; for he brought his ships across the North Sea and conquered the Isle of Man, the Hebrides, the Shetlands, and the Orkneys, and he lived to the age of eighty-three.

Then there are the stories of the two Olafs--Olaf Tryggva.s.son and Olaf the Saint, each of whom took part in many a fight on British soil, each of whom was the champion of Christianity in Norway and fought his way to the throne, and each of whom fell in battle under heroic circ.u.mstances, the one at Svold (A.D. 1000), the other at Sticklestad (A.D. 1030). To us it is interesting to know that King Olaf Tryggva.s.son, on one of his early Viking expeditions, was baptized in the Scilly Isles, that as his second wife he married an Irish Princess, and that for some time he lived in Dublin. To the Norwegians he is a Norse hero of the greatest renown, who during his short reign of barely five years never ceased to force Christianity on the heathen population, and who, at the age of thirty-one, came to an untimely end. His fleet was ambuscaded and surrounded, and when his men had made their last stand he refused to surrender. Neither would he suffer the ignominy of capture or death at the hands of his enemies; so, with shield and sword in hand, and in full armour, he leaped overboard, and immediately sank. For years afterwards his faithful people believed that he would appear again, and many fancied that, on occasions, their hero's spirit visited them.

Everyone knows the old triumphant line, "London Bridge is broken down," yet few are aware that the words are translated from an old Norse song, and fewer still could say who broke down the bridge. The story goes that this was accomplished by the other Olaf, afterwards known as St. Olaf. He and his Vikings had allied themselves with Etheldred the Unready against the Danes, who held the Thames above London Bridge. The bridge itself, which in those days was a rough wooden structure, was densely packed with armed men, prepared to resist the advance of the combined fleets. But Olaf drove his stout ships against it, made them fast to the piers, hoisted all his sail and got out his oars, and succeeded in upsetting the bridge into the river, thus securing victory for Etheldred. But that was before Olaf gained the throne of Norway. What he did as King of that country would take too long to tell here. Every district of Norway possesses legends bearing on his visits when engaged in converting the people to Christianity, and describing his powers of working miracles. Everywhere the name of St. Olaf still remains engraven on the country. His death, however, was that of a soldier--on the battle-field; and the lance which Norway's patron saint carried in his last fight may even now be seen by the altar in Trondhjem Cathedral.

It was St. Olaf's half-brother, Harald the Hard, who fell, as we have said, at Stamford Bridge, when attempting the invasion of England in 1066. But all this is history nearly a thousand years old, and the stirring tales of the Vikings are fully recorded, and may be read in the Sagas. Ten centuries have changed the order of things. To-day we have, in our turn, become the invaders, albeit full of peace and good-will; and over the same seas upon which once danced Long Ship, Serpent, and Dragon, our great ugly, smoky steamers now plough their way.

CHAPTER II

MODERN NORWAY

"Norroway over the Foam," as it used to be called, is a good land to go to and a beautiful land to look upon. It lies less than two days'

journey from our sh.o.r.es, so it is easy enough to reach. Away from the towns--and they are not many--everything is picturesque, grand, and majestic, and the country indeed looks (as the people firmly believed of it long ago) as if it might have been the playground of countless giants, who amused themselves by pulling up acres of land, letting the sea into the valleys, and pelting each other with mountains and islands. Thank goodness the giants have disappeared! But if they really did have a hand in fashioning Norway, they are to be congratulated on the result.

One of the first things one likes to know about a foreign country is its size. Well, Norway is just a little larger than the British Isles, and that part of it which forms the usual holiday touring ground of British and other people--_i.e._, from Trondhjem to the south--is no larger than England. The remainder of the country consists of a long, narrow strip running up into the Arctic Circle, and ending in Lapland in the Far North.

On three sides Norway is washed by the sea; on the other side she has two neighbours--Sweden from the south right away up to Lapland, and then Russia.

Now let us see what sort of a land it is. First, there are the fjords, stretching often a hundred miles or more inland from the sea-coast, sometimes with delightful fertile sh.o.r.es, at other times hemmed in on either hand by rocky cliffs rising two or three thousand feet sheer from the water. Then there are the mountains, which are everywhere; for, with the exception of Spain, Norway is the most mountainous country in Europe. And on their summits lie vast fields of eternal snow, with glaciers pushing down into the green valleys, or even into the ocean itself. Again, from these mountains flow down rivers and streams, now forming magnificent waterfalls as they leap over the edge of the lofty plateau, now rushing wildly over their rock-strewn torrent beds, until they reach the lake, which, thus gathering the waters, send them on again in one wide river to the fjord.

Such things lend themselves to create scenery which cannot fail to charm, and in one day in Norway you may see them all. Take, for instance, the famous view of the Naerodal from Stalheim, a place which every visitor to Western Norway knows well. Probably nowhere in the world is there anything to approach it in grandeur, for not only are there the great mountains forming the sides of the actual valley in the foreground, but away beyond appears a succession of other mountains, stretching far across the Sogne Fjord, even to the snowy peaks of Jotunheim.

People who live in such a land must needs be proud of it, and the descendants of the Vikings believe that there exists in the world no fairer country than their beloved Norge. [1] Maybe they are not far wrong. But these Northern people are not numerous, and they are not forced, for want of s.p.a.ce, to spoil their landscapes by studding the country-side with little red-brick cottages, for all Norway contains not one-half the number of inhabitants found in London. Under such circ.u.mstances the feeling of freedom is great, and the Norwegians claim that, as a nation, they are the freest of the free. Recent events would seem to justify the claim. Only the other day Norway dissolved the Union with Sweden with little difficulty, and of her own free-will cast herself loose from the light fetters with which, for nearly a century, she considered that she had been bound.

With Norway time has dealt kindly. In modern ages war has not ravaged her lands. The oldest living Norseman was born too late to fight for his country, and it is to be hoped that his grandsons and great-grandsons may continue to live in ignorance of the horrors which war entails. Yet are they all prepared to take up arms in defence of hearth and home, for each able-bodied man serves his time as a soldier, and doubtless, if occasion should arise, would prove to the world that the old Viking spirit within him was still alive.

It is, however, the sense of restfulness pervading everything that is Norway's charm, and even the ordinary bustle of life is unknown outside the towns. In the summer the beaten tracks of the country are practically in the hands of the foreign visitors, whose money helps not a little to support many a Norse family. In the winter things are different, as, except perhaps in Christiania, very few foreigners are to be met with, and the Norwegians live their own lives.

The towns are neither numerous nor large, and, with a few exceptions, are situated on the sea-coast. Perhaps a quarter of the whole population of Norway is to be found in the towns, the remainder consisting of country-folk, who live on their farms. What we term villages barely exist, and the nearest approach to them is a group of farms with a church in the neighbourhood.

Christiania, the capital of the country, is the largest town, and other towns of importance are Bergen, Trondhjem, Stavanger, Frederikstad, Tonsberg, and Christiansand, all busy seaports and picturesquely situated. But the interest of a country such as Norway does not lie in the towns, which, with their wide streets, stately buildings, well-stocked shops, hotels, restaurants, places of amus.e.m.e.nt, and crowded dwellings, do not differ very greatly from other European towns, and a townsman's life in his town is much the same all over the civilized world.

Town-dwellers in all Norway number no more than the inhabitants of Manchester, and though force of circ.u.mstance necessitates their living in the towns, their thoughts are ever of the country--of the fjeld, the fjord, the forest, the mountain lake, or the salmon river. In the summer nothing pleases them better than to tramp, with knapsack on back, for days on end, in the wilderness of the mountains, obtaining shelter for the night at some out-of-the-way mountain farm or at one of the snug little huts of the Norwegian Tourist Club. In the winter they have their sleighs, snow-shoes, toboggans, and skates to a.s.sist them in taking air and exercise, and in a Norwegian winter one does not live in a state of uncertainty as to whether the ice will bear or the snow be still lying on the ground when one wakes up in the morning.

So comfortable has travelling in Norway been made for foreigners that there is no difficulty in going anywhere. There is a railway from Christiania to Bergen, and another from Christiania to Trondhjem. There are regular steamers on all the fjords and along the coast, even up to the North Cape and beyond. Wherever there are roads there is a well-appointed service of vehicles and posting-stations, and wherever anyone is likely to go by steamer, road, or rail there are hotels.

CHAPTER III

THE PEOPLE AND THEIR INDUSTRIES

The greater number of the people are country-folk, who gain a living by farming, timber-working, or, when living near the sea, by fishing. Then there are a certain number of men who are soldiers by profession, and more still who are sailors--not fighting sailors, but serving on board the 8,000 merchant vessels which Norway possesses.

Everyone who lives in a Norwegian town is connected one way or another with some sort of trade or profession; and, of course, in the seaports there are always ships coming and going, unloading and loading, and so providing plenty of work for a great many men. In the towns also there are, as in every civilized town, men who follow regular professions--clergymen, merchants, bankers, lawyers, doctors, hotel-keepers, shop-keepers, and others, as well as Government officials, learned professors, literary men, and artists.

As a nation Norway cannot be considered wealthy, but the fact that she employs so many ships for trading purposes is perhaps a proof that she is fairly prosperous. There are few really rich Norwegians, and still fewer who are able to live as independent gentlemen on their estates; no man can claim the right to be called n.o.ble, for the n.o.bility of the country was abolished by law nearly a century ago, and since then equality has been the birthright of every Norseman. But no one can prevent money made in trade gradually finding its way into the pockets of a few capable men of business, and thus cla.s.s distinctions must be created. The majority of the Norwegians, however, are content to work and earn sufficient to maintain themselves and their families in fairly comfortable circ.u.mstances, and fortunately the products of the country enable them to do so.

The forests, covering as they do almost one-fourth of the area of Norway, are of immense value, and the timber trade is a source of income to a great number of the people. Much of it, of course, is used in the country itself, as the houses and bridges are mostly built of wood; but there is plenty left to be exported to England and other foreign countries, as anyone who visits the ports in the South of Norway can judge for himself. Between Christiansand and Christiania, for instance, one may see enormous stores of timber awaiting shipment, and one wonders how it will ever be shipped. Then, travelling among the forest-clad mountains, one finds the woodman busy with his axe, and the great bare tree-trunks being hauled down to the banks of the torrent or river, so as to float on the waters to the low country, and thence even to the sea-coast. Again, on lakes like the Randsfjord, the sight presented by the gathered logs, which have floated down from the mountains, and which are being rafted for their final voyage, is an extraordinary one. Acres and acres of floating timber cover the end of the lake, and the ma.s.sive trunks are packed so close that you might wander about on them at your will for hours.

But it is not only timber in a raw state that does so much for the prosperity of Norway, for a great trade is done also in matches as well as in wood-pulp. The latter is a comparatively modern industry, and its development has been rapid. Anyone who visits Christiania and has the opportunity of taking the little town of Honefos in his travels, should not fail to pay a visit to the pulping works. It is said that in Chicago one may see a herd of swine driven in at the front gate of a factory and brought out at another gate in the form of sausages. At Honefos trees go into the works and come out as paper, or very nearly so.

The waterfall, which gave a name to the place, is at the meeting of two rivers--one flowing from Spirillen Lake and the other from the Randsfjord, and was at one time beautiful. Now, however, its picturesqueness is marred by the presence of a barn-like structure containing the pulping works, while the fall itself is utilized to drive the machinery. And, it must be confessed, all this has been brought about by an Englishman, for here at Honefos is made the paper upon which is printed _Lloyd's Weekly_ and the _Daily Chronicle_. Neither is the fact concealed, but rather boasted of in large letters on the outside of the barn. But Norway can well spare this one sc.r.a.p from its storehouse of scenery, and the works find regular employment for upwards of a hundred Norwegians.

The process of pulping is simplicity itself; the trees are felled in the forests on the hillsides close by, and sawn into blocks. Aerial wires stretch from the felling ground to the works, and the blocks come swinging down in baskets, to be handed over forthwith to the mercy of the machinery. With the aid of heavy crushers and a certain amount of water the logs are soon reduced to pulp, which then floats away into sifters, to be eventually rolled out into flat sheets.

An immense amount of this pulp is exported to England in sacks, and is used for many other purposes besides paper-making.

Another thing which we get from Norway is ice. Most of those huge blocks of ice which you see in the fishmongers' shops in the summer have come across the North Sea, and ice-cutting is a very important business in the winter months. The ice is obtained princ.i.p.ally from the mountain lakes, and in the vicinity of Christiania long wooden chutes are erected from the mountain-tops to the edge of the fjord. Down these the huge cubes travel, direct from their homes to the deck of the boat, and thus save the cost of overland transport. They are sawn most carefully, the dimensions being about two feet each way; rope handles are then frozen into the blocks for facility of movement, and the cubes are stored in ice-houses until the summer, by which time they have lost almost half their original weight.

Next to timber, the chief export from the country is fish (including cod-liver oil). The great fisheries are round the Lofodden Islands on the North-West Coast, well within the Arctic Circle, and it is estimated that some 30,000 men and 6,000 boats are engaged in capturing the cod from January to April each year. The fishermen a.s.semble from far and wide, and take up their residence for the season in temporary huts, cl.u.s.tered together on the sh.o.r.es of the islands. The work is arduous as well as dangerous, for storms and heavy seas are of frequent occurrence, and tides and currents among the islands most treacherous. And here, close to the fisheries, is situated the dreaded whirlpool, the Maelstrom of renown.

But it is the people's living, and in a favourable season they make immense hauls. An ordinary catch for an ordinary day is 500 cod per boat, and a good day will double that number, though in such a case the boat has to make a second trip to bring the fish ash.o.r.e. A simple calculation will show that millions of cod are landed on the islands every day. Imagine the sight and imagine the smell!

The fish are split open and, after the roe and the liver have been removed, hung up on hurdles to dry. Some are sold to the fishing-smacks, which come to the islands to buy the fresh fish, and then salt it down in barrels, or take it away to dry elsewhere. Scores of bundles of dried cod, looking like slips of leather, may be seen for the remainder of the year on every wharf in Norway. Who eats it all is a mystery; but it goes to England and Spain in large quant.i.ties, and most of us have eaten it on Ash Wednesdays.

Cod's roe and liver are probably of more value than the fish from which they are extracted, and there are large factories for making cod-liver oil, not only at the Lofoddens, but also at other places on the coast. At Hammerfest, which boasts of being the northernmost town in the world, the whole air is laden with the nauseous fumes issuing from the steaming caldrons of boiling cod-liver oil.

The fish trade of Norway is not, however, confined to cod and the Lofodden Isles, for in many other parts fishing is the chief industry of the people, and hundreds of thousands of barrels of salted herrings and sprats leave the country every year, while sardines and anchovies are tinned or potted in the factories at Stavanger and other large seaports. The salmon, also, for which the Norwegian rivers are famous, are brought over to England packed in ice, and well repay the owners of the rivers.

Even in the depth of winter a good deal of sea fishing goes on through the ice of the frozen fjords. The fisherman erects a shelter of some kind to protect him from the biting wind, and within view of this he breaks two or three holes in the thick ice. In each hole his baited hooks are dropped down, the other end of the line being fastened to a simple contrivance of pieces of stick, which begin to waggle when a fish is hooked. On the Christiania Fjord numbers of these sporting fishermen are to be seen at work all through the winter, and judging by the frequency of their visits to their different holes, they must take a quant.i.ty of fish. It is cold work, however, sitting and watching for the signal to come from the hole, and one cannot help admiring the men's energy and keenness.

It is only natural that, living in a country where fish is so plentiful, the people themselves should be great fish-eaters, and the daily fish-markets at Bergen and other places on the coast are most interesting sights. As a rule the fish are brought to market alive in half-sunken canoes, towed astern of the fishing-boats, and at Bergen all the bargaining is done between the buyers on the quayside and the sellers in their boats.

In proportion to the population the variety of occupations in Norway is certainly great, and there are other industries besides those already mentioned. There is, for example, a considerable trade in skins and furs, in condensed milk, b.u.t.ter, and margarine, and in certain minerals and chemicals. Employment is found also for many men on the railways--in road-making, in boat and shipbuilding, in timber-dressing, in mechanical engineering, in slate-quarrying, in stone-cutting, and in mining (princ.i.p.ally in the silver mines at Kongsberg).

It would seem, therefore, as if there were plenty of work for the Norwegians to do, and they are willing workers. Abject poverty, as we know the term, has no place in Norway at present, for the country can support its people, thanks, perhaps, to the fact that the desire to emigrate to America and Canada is strong.