BROTTEM, AUNE, SLIPER, GJORA, SUNDALSOREN, ETC.
We had a splendid pony and quite a comfortable stolkjærre from Brottem to the next station, where we took the train to our resting-place for the night, a well-known fishing hotel at Storen. One of the excellent incidents of travelling in Norway is the service, which is exceedingly well done by women. They are so quick and clean and agreeable that they contribute to the enjoyment of one's wayfaring. The deft maids at the Storen hotel were no exception to the rule; but the place was not very sympathetic to us. We stayed only long enough for Nico to make one or two pictures of spots which pleased him. Then we began a long drive right across the country, half the distance off the main road, having as our destination the town of Molde. We lingered for weeks over our drive, staying for days at the various little stations which appealed to us specially by reason of that mystic attraction some spots have and others lack, which can neither be analysed nor explained.
At a place called Aune we left the main route, and here the road began to be exceedingly bad—far and away the worst we came across in Norway. Before this we were struck with the splendid way the roads are constructed and kept.
Our hearts were in our mouths one dusky evening as we galloped down the narrow road cut out of the precipitous side of a mountain: seven hundred feet below foamed and roared a torrent. We reached the valley in safety; but I had terrible dreams about frightened or unsteady ponies for nights afterwards.
At Aune we met two very handsome Norwegians, who were crossing the country on foot. They were taking a holiday in this way; but many poor students are obliged to make use of shanks' ponies for the strongest of reasons. This slow driving during long distances becomes very expensive, and I presume that the continual stoppages at hotels must be an important item. I mention these good-looking people, not because we found them very interesting, but because I was surprised all through Norway to find so few men with any of the external qualities of the Viking. I had imagined that the type was strongly implanted in the Norsemen. Even in build the majority are unsatisfactory. A careful study of statistics on the subject informed me that the Norwegians are the tallest European race; but I can only suppose that the average is brought up by a certain number of excessively tall men. Also, the Norseman is inclined to become fat early in middle life. On the whole, the middle class is not to be distinguished from the usual type of Dutchmen and Germans with which we are familiar. The women have been treated in a much kindlier fashion by Nature. Even those whose features do not actually admit of their being called handsome have such smiling frank faces that they are most pleasant to look upon. In using womenkind so extensively in the place of man-servants the Norwegians show wisdom and good taste.
COUNTRY-WOMEN SELLING BERRIES ON THE ROAD TO STOREN
From Aune we had a terrible drive over a road in the making. The old path was too bad to use at all; and the new road jerked us here up a foot, there down a foot, as the various processes gone through in levelling had been completed or not. At last we left the roadmakers behind us, and drove for some kilometres along the old road to a small station called Sliper, a terrible drive which by this time will, fortunately, have ceased to be possible.