aU earthly enjoyments are mixed with bitters, according to the
poet’s laying,
Omnis commoditas fua fert incommoda fe’etim,
f® the inhabitants of a mountainous country -may iu.gener^ be
faid to labour under more inconveniencies than others; as the
Country, in the firft place, .is: lefs fruitful, pie-suable ground being
but little in comparilbn with t^ie. waftes and deferts, The difpro-:
portion in many provinces, elpecially thole which are entirely
overrun with mountains, betwixt their-produce and the inhabitants
is very great, they being under a neceffity of procuring one
half of their luftenance out of the lea. In the -next place, ^the-villages
cannot be fo large, compact, and convenient as. in. other-
parts ; but the Houles lie le tte red among the valliefc, generally at
half or a quarter of a league diftance, although up the country
the farm-houles are both larger, and Hand thicker than, in the
vallies of Bergen, where. they are the lmatler, from the vaft exT
tent of the-mountains. In lome-places, as in the creeks in Ullantf
and Nordal, the peafants houfes Hand fo high,, an<$on the edge of
fuch a fteep precipice, that ladders are fixed, to climb un* fo,
th em; lo that when a prieft is fent for,- who is’unpra&ifedjn
the road, he rilks his life, and chiefly -in winter' when it,is llip-i
pery. In liich places a corps mull be let down, with I ropes, or
be brought on men’s backs, before it is laid in the coffin., ' The,
mail Iikewile in winter mull, ~ at fome diftance from Bergen,, bp.
drawn up ova: the fleepeft mountains. Under this head ofinm^ye-;
niences we may alfo reckon tKevgry difficult roads', extremely fojtQ
the day-labourers, but particularly to travellers, Who cannot "with- \
out terror pals feveral places even in the king’s, pad,' pygy ffie.fide$
of fteep and craggy mountains, an d o n ,w ^ s; which are either,
fhored up or fufpended by iron bolts faltened in the mountains*
and tho’ not above the breadth of a foot-path,' without any rails
on the fide, as indeed it is impoffible to .fix any; not to mention
the hidden riling of the rivers, which they rtruft hither wade thfb’,
or crofs over on ruinous bridges *. In this diocefe the bridges are^
not
* In the narrpw pafs of Naeroe, leading to;y$aas, is a, very,freiyfaj-kable;pie.de'off
antiquity, being a way fufpendfo on iron bolts, which the famous*ting Suerre,, in ’
the year 1200, or above fix hundred years ago, caufed to be fattened into the rocks,
BwiiPpfm : § : S W a I I mm
not built pf .auy .extraordinaiy ftrerigyh, being !afbd only by foot-
pafTengers, jtehprfemen.; for there .is up. ifoa'd for carts, and many
pe&fyatscMre.:is?|»o.;Jt#ye.ij^ lb eatj; whon they
come to Bergen, loch wkh?ama^iteBt,atf it, as . a ciirioUs. machine;
A fourth evil cefultirtg ffhm the manfrtsiris; and 'especially
in ffiigprovihGe, isithe ffelteir rthAseayitim and: clefts '.afford
to wild beafts of tiprey, which tehders it difficult to rexthpate
them. It is notjj eafy -fe^deferfBe what havock lynxes, -foxes;
bears, and elpecially wolves,1 make among the cattle, the goats;
hares, «and other..ufefiai aferials. In thfe. ehapietijafi the wild beafts
lhall give -a more particular a e c o w t^ : : Attoihei s a y
pernicious dwh is; tha*t the oatde,< goatef, &c. Wringing t® the
peafants^ qften fallvdown thepredpiees, and ate. dfeftroyed. Sdme-i
times they :make 'a' felSb ftep into a projection calfedra mountain-*
hamiperj-whefe they riaii neither.. afcendnbr defoend;i0n thisoeca^
fion atpeafant cheerfully ventures h-iis ttfe fbrba f l i ^ oKgbar;'-»d.
defending from the top o f a mountain fey airripe of foiiie hun-
dtedfathom, he flings his bodyjbria ©rofs-ftiek, till h e cat! fet his
foot OiS the pkee where his gbit is,’ rwhert he faftfells' it to the rope
1 fo be-^draivn up dbi^'Witii. himfdfo : rBut tile moll amazing’eft-
eumftance is, that he runsrthis With the'Help only of phe
fingle perfon/ wholholds ti^ehcT of the rope; or fafteSs ft tb-a-
ftphe, W there b&'cAie at hand. There atedflftances'of the aflrftant
himMfhavingheen'dfag|ed’dbWhXSM4 c-rfficing his life in fidelity
ti|?hi§ friend, on which o d 2 |fiW ^ ^ tT 'ITefix ih '
and
to make a p'Mtige for his army, dhifbtlds’fbi^hts cavalry, Which fcifel nothoffibiV
have’paffcd it,- had they -noi,been Nprway %prfefv iiiefe :being'.accuftoiried tf e lim b
“ y p P « vas-mmbly as,goats. I add, that jths molt dangerous, thoTnot the mo*
(Pseuk -road fI *3Ve in Nofoay, «
bfcogtWt antyvang in YoMers 5 idong-the frelh-water lake cjil^d Rattle Mios the
road „on % fide of the fteepJ and igCrpountaii, ‘ p, in fome plages' as'harrow "and
confinea as the nm-oweft path, andif two travAiersmeeting in the m«dit dp hi®
fee e^h oyher foonienough' t;q ftop where lhe„rojid will fufler tbhm to jh fi and
ch'anfce to meet m'the narrhweff parts/ it^ppears to me S i t dqls'to^ie'rswhem f
have, alked, that they.muft ftop &0ft,,witlipvit being jitdefomfs by,we another, or
™.d !-SlrT g .fQr W ^orfes’ OT 6V£Q co alight. The ,oniy .refoi/4/f caftitpagine
IAW:: - f o f
this fteep mountam^o? he drawn up by a ropefjif i^lp, be at hand* and thdi .to
W e doyn headlong’ mtp 'the lake, m-oider to .make room for ffieo tk r
yra^pei|o pafsi - '■ -W,
* O.f thefe.ffldaythbly, and'npt.Wieguent acc ents, o f a'map dr a bedQMmz
tome hundred fathoms » 0»; tKe.p*dbpc«, i t rs tkat,the air prpfles with
1 ,agT r / h,e bo? t s ™ they { y not ,.onIyP fuftocated
and deprived of life long before they re^h the groundj but' tfieir' belfi'« bhr'll
ART L ^ .. and