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182 THROUGH NORWAY WITII A KNAPSACK.
that the room was specially set aside for royalty; for
nothing else could have induced the hostess to have
shown me to an inferior apartment, after I had put on
the shirt-collar.
Veblungsnaesset is the port of the Romsdal, which
valley is the "lion" of all Norway: the Norwegians
themselves travel long distances to see it. In the
" Christiania Illustrated News," there are numerous
woodcuts of its finest scenic features, and every
Englishman who comes to Norway is told that he must
see it, and his expectations are raised to the highest.
This loud heraldry of scenic fame is a severe trial to
any place: it is like making a man mayor for the
third time; unless really great merits are possessed,
criticism is sure to he ruinously severe.
My next day’s journey proved, however, that the
Romsdal can safely bear this terrible ordeal of
much-repeated praise. It throws its gauntlet of defiance even
at the feet of the mighty Alps themselves; for it
combines in one valley so many of the elements of savage
grandeur. It is more like Glencoe than any of the
valleys of Switzerland; and is, in fact, remarkably like
Glencoe, but on a very much grander scale, with snow
and ice and countless waterfalls superadded. Not only
in the physical aspect of its dark, frowning rocks, but in
the gloomy record of slaughter does it resemble
Glencoe ; being closely associated with the story of the 900
Scotchmen who landed at Veblungsnaesset, marched
up this valley, Avere surprised, and all but two slain.
When I started, the conical peaks of the mountains
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