CHAPTER XII.THE HARDANGER FJORD.
A Sabbath at Vik—Road Building—Visit to the Vöringsfos—Odde on the Sörfjord—Excursion to the Skjæggedalsfos—The Bruarbræ—From Odde by Steamer to Bergen.
A Sabbath at Vik—Road Building—Visit to the Vöringsfos—Odde on the Sörfjord—Excursion to the Skjæggedalsfos—The Bruarbræ—From Odde by Steamer to Bergen.
We met at Eide a Norwegian-American, a gentleman of wealth and intelligence from Wisconsin, who was revisiting his native land accompanied by his American wife, after an absence of twenty-six years; and during all our stay upon the Hardanger fjord we enjoyed the pleasure of their company, which was of especial benefit, as Mr. L. still spoke Norwegian as well as when he first left his native land.
We left Eide on a small steamer at eight o’clock in the evening, and steaming down a narrow branch of the fjord came to a beautiful point of view at Utne, where four arms of the Hardanger fjord branch out in as many different directions. We proceeded up the east arm,called the Eidfjord, its shores rocky and abrupt, with the ever-grand mountain background, and in the mellow twilight, softening the sharp outlines of cliff and peak, steamed onward for two hours until we arrived at a little village called Vik.
The next day was the Sabbath, and as we sat before our comfortable inn, there appeared far down the fjord, first one row boat and then another coming from the little bays at the sides, until there was a long procession of over twenty boats, some containing a dozen people; each boat was rowed by six or eight oars, with a man or woman at each oar, keeping perfect time, and furnishing a beautiful sight as the oars dipped, and then rose from the water, all together. The boats slowly advanced up the fjord, bringing the farmers and their families from their isolated homes scattered along the mountain sides, to the simple service in the little stone church at Vik.
The women wore the prettiest of all the Norwegian costumes, the most striking feature of which is the head covering of snow-white linen stiffly starched and plaited into narrow flutings, forming a small cap on the crown of the head with a wide protruding fold at each side back of the ears; it then extends downthe back, gradually tapering to a point. The usual sleeveless red bodice, gayly embroidered, was worn over a loose white waist fastened at the throat with quaint silver brooches with many pendants. The boats were drawn up along the shore, and the women and girls, after landing, before going to the church, stopped to adjust their caps and put the finishing touches to their toilette, the same as their sisters in all parts of the world. After the service, the men and women, old and young, gathered in groups on the shore or before the little houses, and passed a few hours in gossip concerning the meagre events of the week; then one boat after another received its occupants and was rowed down the fjord, the families returning to their lonely homes, probably not to leave them during the week.
The chief attraction near Vik is the Vöringsfos, a magnificent waterfall (the wordfosmeaning fall), which requires from eight to ten hours, on the part of good walkers, for an excursion there and back. We started early one morning, and after a walk of twenty minutes over a neck of land between the fjord and the lake, were rowed in an hour to the opposite end of the lake. The mountains enclosing the lake rise precipitously, and along one side aroad is being built, which seemed to us an immense undertaking; but the Norwegians are as good road-builders as the Swiss, and are nothing daunted by the obstacles of nature.
They had blasted great sections of rock from the base of the mountain, and breaking them into smaller fragments, piled them up so as to form the foundation of a road bed rising out of the water; in places they had tunnelled through great masses of rock that had slipped from the mountain side and were too large to be removed by blasting, and in others had blasted into the mountain, so that the road passed beneath masses of overhanging rock. One hundred men had been at work for six months, and had constructed about two miles of road. A man has a contract for clearing the mountain side of all boulders and detached rocks, which are liable to fall upon the road when completed and destroy life; we saw a group of men, high up the mountain, who were evidently making arrangements to topple a massive boulder into the lake below. This part of the enterprise seems a responsible undertaking, particularly if the blame of future landslides is to be laid to the contractor.
The road is projected to extend for fifty miles until it joins a road in the south; andthey pointed out its intended course, over and among the mountains, where no one would imagine it could be built; yet had we viewed some of the famous Alpine passes before the present well-made roads crossed them, we would probably have equally doubted the accomplishment of the undertaking.
From the lake it is a walk of over two hours to the fall; after passing a cluster of farm houses, the path ascends an old moraine, and continuing beside a river with many foaming rapids, we came to the rough path constructed by the Norwegian Tourist Club. We ascend over smooth ledges and through a wild gorge, in which are scattered great boulders; then the path mounts the side of a rocky cliff, at the base of which flows a river, and as we advance we hear the roar of falling water and finally the upper part of the fall comes into view; we here cross the river by a frail swinging suspension bridge, and the grand waterfall is before us.
It comes over the head of a ravine in one perpendicular leap of four hundred and seventy-five feet, into a great basin, enclosed on three sides by bare and lofty walls of rock; the rush and roar of the white mass of foaming water is tremendous, especially as one descends over theloose, slippery rocks towards the bottom of the ravine on the opposite side of the fall, where the perpendicular walls send back the reverberations of the falling water. A dense cloud of spray rebounds against the wall, appearing, as it rises, like another fall; as we climbed over the rocks towards it, the suction of the air currents nearly bore us from our feet, and we could hardly breathe. The Vöringsfos is considered the second finest fall in Norway, and fully does the view of it repay the fatigue of the long walk.
The fall is formed by a large mountain stream, flowing over an elevated plateau until it plunges into the gorge. The natives had observed the column of spray rising above the fall, and this led to its discovery in 1821; it was always viewed from above until the Tourist Club constructed the path up the ravine.
Near the fall is a rude wooden house of two rooms, where a woman lives during the summer to sell refreshments to visitors. As we sat at the table enjoying our lunch, Mr. L. entered into conversation with her in Norwegian, and learned she was a widow; with much feeling she told him that her son, her only child, had gone to America, and was then attending Northfield College in Minnesota. When Mr. L. informed herthat Northfield was not far from his home, that on his return he would visit her son and tell him of this meeting, and also promised to assist him, the mother’s joy was unbounded, and with repeated expressions of thankfulness she sent messages to her far distant son.
The horses in Norway are as sure-footed as those in Switzerland. One can make the journey on horseback both to and from the fall; it seemed a difficult undertaking for a horse to travel over such a path as we came up; on our return, as we stepped down from rock to rock like a flight of steps, and descended over steep slippery ledges, it seemed very hazardous to think of riding over them; but the horses are accustomed to the path and never fall, nor do accidents occur.
A rough and narrow path ascends the side of the ravine in such steep zigzags that it appears utterly impossible for a horse to go over it, yet our guide told us that horses came down the path loaded with great bundles of hay, cut on the plateau above.
We reached Vik just eight hours from the time we started. We returned to Eide by the same steamer, this time enjoying the scenery by the bright morning light, and, changing to a larger steamer, we proceeded down themost beautiful arm of the Hardanger, called the Sörfjord. This fjord is in great contrast to the Sogne and more northern fjords, for their walls of bleak and barren rocks are here replaced at many points by fertile and wooded sides, and the scenery is much softer and milder in character, though there are not lacking elements of grandeur, from the snowy mountains and overhanging glaciers. The beauty and variety of its scenery render it one of the most enjoyable of all the fjords. Its sides are dotted with many farm houses, some perched upon apparently inaccessible heights amid a little patch of green, their inmates living a happy and contented life, their few wants all supplied; on the east side are several pleasant settlements, with hotels for summer travellers, and well-cultivated fields sloping to the water; on the west side the great Folgefond glacier, spreading over a plateau thousands of feet high, crops over the grey rock in places, extending its crystal mass towards the fjord, while cascades formed by the melting snow flow down the lofty cliffs.
At last we perceive in the distance a small church tower; the fjord gradually narrows till it is but a few hundred yards wide, and ends at the village of Odde.
The Norwegians are very primitive in their nomenclature, applying to a place a name signifying its geographical description; thus Odde means a tongue of land, and we find it is built on a small extent of land between the fjord and a lake; Eide signifies an isthmus, Vik a creek, Naes a promontory, Mo a plain; and, the same names often recurring, in speaking of a place one must always mention the fjord upon which it is situated, to distinguish it from many others of the same name.
Odde is a favorite resort of all travellers in Norway, and its hotels are filled with guests during the summer, for it is but a day’s journey by steamer from Bergen, and is the terminus of the land route from Christiania, through the province of Thelemarken. It consists of a few houses and stores, scattered along its main street and the shore of the fjord; a small church stands in a green churchyard, and there are two hotels—one a large modern establishment, the other an enlarged inn near the steamboat pier, kept by Ole Proestsgaard, a good-hearted old farmer, where we found excellent food and comfortable rooms, with beautiful views down the fjord, and of the snowy Folgefond and encircling mountains. In the evening, as we promenaded the chief street of the village, the travellers driving up instolkjærres, the groups about the hotel piazzas brightly illuminated with lights in colored globes, and the guides and carriole boys in the street, formed an animated scene.
In the large show windows of two shops were life-size figures of peasant girls dressed in bridal costumes, with the heavy bridal crowns of gold or silver upon the head, and an abundance of brooches with pendants, with which they are adorned for the occasion; there were also figures in the national costume, with the pretty plaited head-dress. It is said that the peasants view with disfavor this reproduction of themselves in shop windows; and many of the younger women have cast aside the national costume, and have imitated the dress of their city and foreign visitors.
Within the stores were costumes, wood carvings, antique jewelry, furniture, and many interesting articles for sale,—all at high prices; for Odde is altogether too frequented a resort, and its inhabitants have enjoyed the patronage of travellers during too many seasons, to enable one to purchase at less than three times the cost of similar articles in more out-of-the-way places farther north. The graceful head-dress was for sale arranged in a compact roll, but we found it such a complicated affair, that withouta Norwegian girl to put it together, we knew our manly intellects could never sufficiently grasp its mysteries of arrangement to enable us to show it to home friends; and as none of the girls would agree to go to America with us, or throw themselves in like a chromo with the head-dress, we relinquished the idea of buying one. The bridal crowns are handed down from generation to generation, and as they are made of genuine gold and silver, with much elaborate workmanship, they are often valued at over $200.
On returning to our hotel we heard a lady upon the piazza exclaim, “Why, here are some old friends!” and we were greeted by a party of sociable Scotch people, with whom we had previously travelled in the North, who appeared so rejoiced to see us that it seemed almost like meeting home friends, and gave an added pleasure to our stay at Odde.
During the day Odde is almost deserted, for nearly all the guests at the hotels take their lunch and go fishing, or start on an excursion, early in the morning, returning at seven o’clock to dinner.
It numbers many attractive excursions and places of interest to be visited, at the head of which properly stands the trip to the famouswaterfall called the Skjæggedalsfos, a word that no one is expected to pronounce except after patient practice with a native. A bonnie Scotch lassie called it theSkedaddle fos, which showed she was acquainted with American colloquialisms; yet as Noah Webster states that the word “skedaddle” is of Swedish and Danish origin, it may be first cousin to this lengthy Norse word.
The hotels furnish guides for the trip to the Skjæggedalsfos, a guide going with each boat-load of not more than six persons, and lunches are put up for the entire party. The day we made the excursion two parties went from our hotel, and three from the other, making a company of thirty people in all, including the guides; the parties started at different hours, so we were not all at the waterfall at the same time. We left at eight o’clock in the morning, and were rowed down the fjord for an hour, crossing the mouth of a river flowing into the fjord in a wide cascade, just beyond which we landed, and, mounting a steep bank, began our walk of two hours and a half over a rough path, continually ascending, until it reaches an elevation of eighteen hundred feet above the fjord.
There are beautiful views backward of the fjord below, and the mountains rising heavenward till they are crowned by the pure snow mantleof the Folgefond, with its numerous glaciers descending over the mountain sides; as the path ascends high up the sides of the ravine, we have charming views of the river rushing below, with its series of cascades. Part of the way our course is through woods, and then we mount over smooth ledges and steps cut in the rock, a long and wearisome walk amid grand but desolate scenery, till the path descends, and we arrive in a field where haymakers are at work, near a small lake, across which we are rowed.
We land near a roaring cascade, the discharge of the large lake beyond, and, walking over the narrow neck of land, we embark in boats with extra oarsmen, for a row of an hour and a half up a lake, five miles long, situated fifteen hundred feet above the level of the fjord.
The lake is surrounded by lofty mountains, in places covered with snow, rising abruptly from the dark water. There is no sign of life, save now and then a fish leaping for a second out of the water, and a few birds cleaving the air; the eternal stillness is only broken by our voices and the resounding echoes sent back by the walls of rock. As we slowly advance up the lake, we see, at the end of a gorge at the left, two waterfalls called the Tyssestrenge, comingover the side of a precipice more than five hundred feet high, which midway in their course unite in one fall, resembling in the distance two strings, as their name implies; their rocky surroundings are very grand and abrupt in formation, and they appear to be inaccessible.
As we round a projecting headland, the never to be forgotten view of the Skjæggedalsfos bursts upon us, descending in one unbroken leap of five hundred and thirty feet, the water as it comes over the cliff shooting out into the air like rockets, then falling in a white drapery of foam over the dark rocks, and rebounding in clouds of mist. Approaching nearer, we perceive the numerous smaller cascades at the sides, and the opposite cliff, whose smooth surface, bathed in eternal spray, gleams in the sunlight like molten silver.
We land and advance over a rocky path by tedious climbing, till we stand near the base of the fall, drenched with its mist, and nearly stunned by the deafening roar and rush of the seething water; but the rebounding mist prevents one seeing the whole extent of the fall, and the distant view is, by far, more beautiful. The water at last reaches the lake by a wide cascade of deep green color, falling over a high ledge of rock, where it is churned into foam.
We gathered on the grass near the rude sæter, and ate our lunch with appetites stimulated by our hard walk, with a view of the finest waterfall in all Europe before us, surrounded by imposing mountain scenery; then embarking in the boat we were rowed down the lake, our eyes, until the last moment, fastened upon the grand cataract, whose foam appeared whiter from the contrast with its dark background and savage environment.
We returned over the rough path, which seemed more fatiguing than before, as the bright afternoon sun shone upon us, and the incentive that had urged us on was now removed. In the various parties were several Scotch and English girls, who were splendid pedestrians, enduring the tiring walk much better than the gentlemen, and who, with glowing cheeks and sparkling eyes, were the first to reach the boats on the fjord. We were rowed back to Odde, arriving at the hotel just at dinner time, having occupied eleven hours in the trip; though the trip is very fatiguing, and should not be undertaken unless a person is a tolerably good walker, yet the labor and exertion are fully repaid by the view of the magnificent waterfall, and the beautiful scenery along the route.
A visit to the glacier called the Bruarbrærequires five hours for the round trip. A winding road ascends from Odde, beside a small stream full of rapids, till it reaches a lake across which you are rowed and enter a narrow valley with several farms, while a river flowing through it foams among the rocks. Before you, closing the head of the valley, is the Bruarbræ, descending from the great Folgefond, a projecting ridge of rock dividing the glacier as it flows downward into two streams, which afterwards unite, thus forming a large central moraine. The glacier is traversed by deep crevasses, is very dirty, and covered with stones, and in beauty bears little comparison to the pure-white Svartisen in the far North.
At the sides and in the stream are great piles of rocks, brought down by the glacier as it has crowded its way between the green sides of the valley; it ends in an ice arch whose depths are a beautiful deep blue, whence issues the turbid stream which later forms a river flowing to the lake. The distant view of the glacier is by far the finest, as one looks upon its whole extent, stretching from the ice regions into the fertile valley, the mass of snow and ice glistening in the sunshine, appearing much cleaner and whiter than when viewed close at hand.
We enjoyed many pleasant walks by themountain-locked lake, over the smooth road extending along its side, in places blasted into the precipitous rock, and with numerous waterfalls coming over the cliffs. This road extends into Thelemarken, an interesting province, that the time at our disposal would not permit us to visit.
In walking along the shore of the fjord, among the scattered houses comprising the village we saw long pieces of the strong homespun cloth, many yards in length, swaying back and forth in the breeze as they hung outside the house, suspended from a beam projecting from an attic window. They had been dyed a dark blue, and were left in the open air to dry until the color became fixed. The Norwegians, both men and women, were clothed in this stout homespun, and it not only looked well, but appeared to have excellent wearing qualities.
One night a steamer arrived soon after midnight, and we were awakened from peaceful slumbers by a great commotion and rushing about; our first thought was that the hotel was on fire, but we soon discovered that the excitement was caused by the arriving guests; the tramping up and down the uncarpeted stairs and over our heads was deafening, the thin partitions and floors rendering every sound audible.We heard every movement of the occupants of the room above us, walking about in their heavy boots, and we drew a sigh of relief when the last tramp had sounded and the boots were pulled off; then silence reigned until we were awakened to take an early steamer, and in turn awoke the late arrivals.
We left Odde at seven o’clock in the morning, on a twelve hours’ journey to Bergen. We passed down the lovely Sörfjord with its grand and varied scenery, stopping at the most important stations, and finally reached Eide, which was our third visit to the place, as all the steamers on the branching arms of the Hardanger fjord include Eide in their route. Then we proceeded down the main arm of the fjord, stopping at Norheimsund just long enough to give us a good view of its charming situation, amid picturesque scenery, causing us to wish we were to remain there several days.
As we continued upon our journey we passed a bridal party of several boat-loads of peasants, from the little farm houses up the mountain side, who were rowing to the nearest village for the celebration of the ceremony. In the stern of one of the boats rowed by six oarsmen, sat the bride, adorned with her golden crown, and beside her the bridegroom, who worea short coat with many bright buttons; the musicians stood at the prow and the sound of music and singing floated across the water.
At a small island called Terö we had a most striking view of the crystal mass of the Folgefond, spread out upon a plateau five thousand feet above the fjord, with offshoots from the immense glacier cropping over the sides of the steep cliffs. We passed through a very narrow channel, and among a multitude of islands, where the intricate navigation demands great skill on the part of the pilot; and thus the day was spent in journeying among islands, grand rock formations, and barren mountains, till we entered a wide fjord, and the houses and shipping of Bergen appeared in the distance.
BERGEN.