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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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** I 4 o hot know in Scotland a valley bo beautiful as this of Vaerdal ; the crops of grain so rich and yellow ; the bouses-so substantial and thickly set ; farm after farm without interruption , each fully enclosed and subdivided with paling ; the grass fields of so lively a green , as free from weeds and rubbish , and as neatly shaven as a lawn before a gentleman ' s windows ; every knoll and all the background covered with trees , and a noble clear river running briskly through it . There is a reach or two at Nithsdale in Dumfries-shire , about Ellioch , which , on a
small scale , resembles this valley ; but the soft living green of the natural grass does not belong to , or is not long retained by , bur sown grass fields . Such verdure is to be seen in the Welch , but not so often in the Scotch valleys . " I find that all these beautiful little farms , with the substantial houses , and * that air of plenty and completeness about them which struck me' so
much on my way up this valley , are the Udal estates , and residences of the peasant proprietors , or bonder . They are small farms , usually of about forty or fifty acres , but each having besides a pasturag-e or grass tract in the Fjelde , where all the cattle that can be spared are kept through the summer , until the crops are taken in , and upon these outfarms there are houses and a regular dairy . This class of bonder aTe the most interesting people in Norway /'— -p . 92 .
It appears that the great mass of the Norwegian population ' may be divided into three classes . The islands and the extensive sea-coast support a race of peasantry called Strands sitters ; these have small farms generally held in life-rent , but their subsistence depends on fishing . The shores of the long narrow inlets of the sea , called fiords , extending sometimes a hundred miles into the country , are peopled by this hardy
race . The scenery of this portion of Norway is sublimely grand . The magnificent rocks on either side of the fiords approach each other within three or four miles , reflecting on the clear waters , which are generally smooth like an inland lake , dark fringes of tall pines that fix their roots wherever they can find soil sufficient for them . It is in the clefts and sheltered nooks of these rocks that the Strand-sitters have
their farms . Their substantial , comfortable houses , with the one or two bright-green fields ; the cows and sheep feeding ; the goats browsing above , and the fishing boat moored in its haven ; are described as diversifying , with a beautiful variety , the awful features of nature that surround them . Mirny kinds of the finest fish abound , and the cod and herring ; fisheries aie extensive and important . The inhabitants
are further supported by the game 01 the country ; the capercailzie , the ptarmigan , and the small species of bird called jerper , are plentiful . The rein-deer venison also is brought down to them from Lapland , chiefly through the intervention of the second class of the population , of which we are aBotit to speak . These are called J $ eldt * bt > nder , aridinbabit the wrtd
Untitled Article
JouHtoitvfa Retidente (^ Norway . 657
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1836, page 657, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2663/page/5/
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