Page:Three Years in Europe.djvu/204

168 win back Alsace and Lorraine or cease to be Frenchmen.

There were some Swedes and Norwegians among us, and three Dutch ladies, who generally formed a group of their own; and there were one Swiss and one Hungarian and some Austrians I believe,—who all mixed with the German party. Such were our companions during our voyage to the North Cape!

On the morning of the 27th we found ourselves in the quiet town of Bodo; and we left that town for the Lofoden islands, the famous group of islands on the north-western coast of Norway. We rounded several of these beautiful islands and then entered into the Rafter Sund, when a magnificent panorama of hills, valleys and winding creeks burst upon our sight. Never have I witnessed a finer scenery than this wild panorama of fantastic and precipitous rocks and hills, islets and bays, creeks and valleys, which met us at every turn. Snow rested in patches over the hollows and crevices of these hills, glaciers sparkled in some places under the golden beams of the sun, and beauteous rills descended from rock to rock like streaks of sparkling silver. High hills rose precipitously from the sea, while little creeks winded at their foot. Farms and dwelling houses dotted the valleys, and green cultivated fields checkered the birch-covered hill sides. There is nothing like a regular village in the whole Norwegian coast, only scattered farms and houses,—three or four at one place,—and