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288 THROUGH NORWAY WITII A KNAPSACK.
Dancing is the favourite amusement at these
gatherings, and the polka, or "polsk," as they call it, the
favourite dance. It was one of the common dances of
Norway long before its introduction into England. I
have heard some very animated accounts of these
merry-makings, the remembrance of which evidently
lasts through the summer; and if I may judge by the
blushes and laughter that have replied to my inquiries,
there is quite as much love-making at these " Yulekiks"
as at the saeters in summer-time.
I have already alluded to the length of time that
some of these bonder estates continue in one family.
Mr. Laing quotes some interesting instances of this.
Hrolf Blakar, of Blakar, in Lorn parish, " preserves a
head-piece or helmet complete, with an opening only
for the eyes, and parts of a coat of mail, a long sword,
and other articles of his ancestors; and a writing of
King Håkon Magnussen the younger, who lodged a
night in Blakar Gaard, in the fourteenth year of his
reign, anno 1364."*
In many instances the title-deeds by which the
existing families hold their estates are written in a dead
language, the old Norsk, or Icelandic.
Many of the relations of Rolf Ganger, the conqueror
of Normandy, and the ancestor of our Norman line of
kings, are still represented by their descendants, who
are peasant proprietors in Norway and Iceland. If
the royal families of Europe, and our aristocratic
families whose ancestors " came over with the Conqueror,"
* Laing’s "Residence in Norway," p. 2G0.
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