70 TRONYEM. [Chap. I I I . Chap. I I I .] TRONYEM. 71
observed both thriving in the garden, now about
the same period of the year, but neither of them
nearly ripe. Peas and beans and the common
culinary vegetables were growing in the kitchen-
garden, in which were apple-trees that appeared to
be bearing well, but everything was in a backAvard
state. In 1815, Mr. Johansen planted a great
number of different kinds of flowering trees and
shrubs Avhich he had procured from Scotland ; many
of these had thriven pretty well, particularly the
laburnums, which Avere now full of blossom, and
not inferior in colour and size to any that may be
seen in England during the spring. T a v o oaks and
a solitary beech Avere evidently out of their element,
and neither of them likely ever to arrive at the dignity
of a tree; ash-trees, birches, and alders were
the most thriving, and the number of starlings that
had built their nests among them was quite incredible.
When scared by any sudden alarm, they
rose in such multitudes, that the whole atmosphere
around seemed to be darkened.
During my stay at Tronyem, at the house of Madame
Holmberg Avhere I lodged, I met with three
English gentlemen, Avho had arrived there from
Bergen. They Avere the only English travellers who
had reached Tronyem this summer, though I have
since been informed that several visited various
parts of NorAvay in the course of the year, and that
many returned on finding that the cholera had
reached Christiania. One of the aboA'e-mentioned
gentlemen, Avho Avas travelling alone, had crossed
a few of those numerous fiords on Avhich I had
embarked the preceding summer. The other tAvo
had come in a Norwegian vessel, coastwise, which
they had hired at Bergen; and one of these,
an officer in our cavalry, Avas recognised by me
to be Mr. Dann, an old school-felloAv at the
Charter-house, whom I had not had the pleasure of
seeing since I left—now ten years ago. I learnt
fi'om him th a t the passage of the Fille fi-eld, between
Christiania and Bergen, Avhich I had crossed
last summer, was now enveloped in snow, and that
it was not without some difficulty he had contrived
to reach Bergen; and that one or two travellers,
less venturous than himself, had given up the
journey over these mountains.
A Polish colonel, a tall handsome man, Avas
also a lodger at Madame Holmberg’s ; he had
been in the command of a regiment of cavalry
during the late wars, and had received a severe
Avound in the thigh, Avhich caused him to Avalk quite
lame. He complained to me that he was very
unhappy—that he had noAv no home to go to, and
had been induced to take a journey to Tronyem,
for the purpose of using the baths, from Avhich he
had been told he AA'Ould find benefit, in relieving
the sufferings he experienced from hisAvoimd, which
he had happily done; but he complained sadly of
the enormous expense of the baths. They are
similar, in most respects, to those Avell-kiioAvn
vapour-haths of Russia, and the same scrubbing
process is made use of; but as this gentleman Avas a