We cross over, early next morning, to Vikör. The elder boatman, seventy-nine years old, was a strange little, dried-up creature, dressed in a suit of dark-green, the ancient costume of Jondal. One of the party told him if he were to see him in the gloaming he should take him for a Tuss. Anyhow he had a great aversion to the priest, against whose profits he declaimed loudly.
“Only to think,” said he, “the parson got tithe of butter and calf-skins—yes, actually got a hundred and fifteen calf-skins every year, worth half-a-crown each, from Jondal alone!”
How beautiful the placid Fjord looked as we pulled up the smiling little estuary to Vikör, and gradually opened behind us the end of the great Folgefond peninsula!
Near Vikör is the famed Östudfoss, said to be the most picturesque waterfall in Norway. At all events, it is a very eccentric one. The stream, which at times is of immense volume, shooting from the well shrubbed cliff above, which projects considerably, makes a clear jump over a plot of green turf, on which a dozen people or more could stand without being wetted; in fact, right inside the fall. While I stood within this crystal palace, one of my Hibernian friends, who had approached the spot by another route, clambering up the rocks, mounted on to the platform,—
“Faith, and I’ve earned the pot of gold!” exclaimed he, breathless with exertion.
“How so?”
“Why, did ye never hear the proverb—‘If you catch hold of the rainbow you will get a pot of gold?’ Ye never saw such a thing; just below there, where the stream makes a shoot, I put me hand right into a rainbow—yes, clean into it.”
On our return we overtook a number of women, dressed in their best. The inventory is as follows: A lily-white, curiously-plaited head-dress, the “getting-up” of which must take an infinity of time and trouble; red or parti-coloured bodice, black gown, and stockings of the same colour, cut off at the ankle, while on the foot were white socks with red edging, and shoes with high leather insteps, such as were worn in the days of the Cavaliers. By their side were a lot of children, also in their best attire.
“Where are you all going to this fine day?”