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260 THROUGH NORWAY WITII A KNAPSACK.
beauty here. Grand mountains slope steeply down to
the water, thrusting forward sharp promontories,
between which are sheltered bays with verdant banks of
gently sloping cultivated land, with comfortable,
clean-looking farms dotted here and there. There is much
game hereabouts: Utne, I have no doubt, would be
a capital station for a sportsman.
The quiet, light-haired, characteristic Norsk people
prevail here. The dark Celtic-looking features which
were common from Sogndalsfjoren to Vik, have
disappeared again. With the true Scandinavian type of face
and head, there are combined more cleanliness, better
farming, and more of the aspect of comfort and simple
honesty. The red waistcoats, silver ornaments, and
plaited hair still prevail.
An Englishman, or a tourist of any country, is
evidently a great curiosity here. Many pass this way,
but they go by water ; the land-path is quite a byway.
The men and women were busy in the fields
gathering the harvest of oats and barley. They left their
work as I approached, and asked me many questions;
but their manner was so simple and unobtrusive that
there was no rudeness in their curiosity: indeed, many
of them took off their hats and stood uncovered when
I told them that I was an Englishman. When they
become better acquainted with travelling Englishmen,
this compliment, I fear, will be discontinued.
On two or three occasions when these gossiping
halts occurred near to a farmhouse, one of the girls
from among the group ran off, and speedily returned
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