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370 COXE’S TRAVELS IN NORWAY.
came on, and I was fuddenly ftruck with a phenomenon, which never occurred to me
except in Switzerland, and which J at firft miftook for a meteor. Itwasa gleam of the
fetting fun, illuminating the fnow-capped fummits of the diftant mountains, and appear-
ing like a flame of fire fkirting the diftant horizon. ‘The air was clear, the ftars fhone
uncommonly bright, and feemed neareér to the eye than I had ever obferved them before,
except on the Swifs alps. :
We took up our abode during the night at Van, a village feated on an eminence,
and overlooking the Rands-Sion, a lake near fifty miles long, and fcarcely more than
two miles broad, embofomed in the mountains ; the floping banks fringed with wood,
and chequered with feattered cottages. ‘The next morning we ferried over the lake, and
coa{ted it about fix miles, the road afcending and defcending the precipices which over-
hang the water. We afterwards rowed over feveral {maller lakes, which fupply ftreams
that fall into the Rands-Sion. I obferved much peafe and fome corn {till ftanding, which
the peafants were cutting, and feveral fmall patches of hops; goats were browfing on
the fides of the rocks, and flocks of fheep pafturing in the vallics, among which many
were black.
In thefe parts the price of a milch cow is from feven to nine rix-dollars, (11. 8s. to
il. 16s.) and in winter, when fodder is fcarce and dear, one may be purchafed for 16s.
We met during this day’s journey numerous bullocks and horfes driving for fale to
Chriftiana. The bullocks fell from 21. to 21. 8s. per head ; and the horfes, which are
from thirteen to fourteen hands high, and remarkably active and lively, from al. to 81.
a-piece.
MWe next reached Gran or Granewolden, ftanding on an eminence in the mid{t of
an extenfive plain, looking down on feveral conical rocks, covered with firs, and re-
markable for two churches in the fame-church-yard, called the Two Sifters. Thefe
buildings feem of the fame date, and at a {mall diftance nearly refemble each other ;
one is built of ftone, the other white-wafhed. In one, dedicated to the Virgin, divine
fervice is performed only in Lent; in the other, facred to St. Nicholas, during the re-
mainder of the year. I could not learn by whom, or at what period, thefe twin churches
were conftructed.
The ftony roads having fhattered the wheels of my cart, we ftopped to repair it at.
Dahlin, near the northern extremity of the Rands-Sion, backed by a well cultivated and
well-inhabited mountain. This part of Norway is greatly infefted with bears and wolves.
The bears do much harm, not only killing cattle, but deftroying corn: the inftances are
very rare, which induce them to attack the human fpecies. ‘The fhepherds are ufually
followed by large dogs of the Newfoundland {fpecies, armed with collars of iron fpikes,
to preferve them againft the wolves, who frequently attack them, and endeavour to feize
them by theneck. The bears ufually fly from them. -
The roads of Norway had hitherto appeared to us, long ufed to the Swedifh roads,
exceedingly rugged, and fcarcely paffable with carriages, and both my companion and I
had been occafionally overturned ; but that we now paffed over mount Kiolway was fo
execrable, that the others were in comparifon fuper-excellent. I much queftion indeed
if any cart had ever pafled before we ventured to traverfe it. We afcended four Englifh
miles, and then defcended about the fame diftance, and were obliged to difmount and
fupport our carriages, in order to prevent them from overfetting, which, notwith{tand-
ing all our precautions, occafionally happened. During the firft part of the way we
paffed a few cottages; but further on all was wild and defolate, rocks clothed with pines
and firs, a dreary but fublime fcenery, commanding from the fummit a moft extenfive
profpeét ; to the fouth of the delightful country we had traverfed in our way to Dahlin,
190 the
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