Lake Lenongen (JW Edy plate 42)

No. XLII. LAKE LENONGEN.



Immense mountains, in long succession, whose northern sides are covered with snow, form the environs of this lake, which they nearly surround. They are most of them so excessively steep, and have so many tremendous precipices, deep holes, and fissures, that with common conveniences, it is almost impossible to ascend or descend them. In some of the fissures the surface of the ice or snow can but indistinctly be seen, although toward the end of winter, it is from thirty to forty feet thick on their margins, and so hard on the surface, as not to receive the impression of the shoe. In some places it has waves, like a glacier; in others, crevices resembling a plowed field, or plains not unlike a nursery ground, as it appears to be planted with young trees, which in fact, are the tops of tall pines, projecting above the snow. In places where a forest terminates on the edge of a precipice laden with snow, the protruding branches appear as if they were beautifully delineated, on a vast sheet of white paper. In the month of March, the snow begins to melt, and hundreds of waterfalls and rainbows, in every direction, are to be seen. During this season, the Norwegian is active at home, weaving, making or mending his clothes, shoes, boots, boats, and every other article wanted during the summer.
When the spring grass appears, the flocks and herds are seen in the vallies, and the remains of the farmer's benevolent sheaf are taken down from the granary door. A few general ideas of the climate of Norway, collected from a series of meteorological observations, by the Rev. Mr. Wilse, at Syderborg, are introduced in the description of Plate 25. Although the bare mention of a Norwegian winter, makes foreigners shudder, the natives speak of that season, howsoever inclement, as a wished-for source of delight. As soon as the snows are frozen hard on the surface, the sledge is kept in perpetual motion, and every inhabitant seems to have quitted the land, for the pleasures of the rivers and lakes. The women vie with each other in the splendid or fantastical decorations of their horses and apparatus, generally adorning the harness with small bells, and a profusion of ribbons, coloured tape, &c. They proceed with prodigious swiftness, forming a cavalcade, animated by general bustle and merriment. This is the only opportunity afForded to the grotesque upland peasant, for visiting distant towns, where he disposes of his stock of bear and other skins, game, fish, natural curiosities and ingenious carvings on wood, in form of walking-sticks, tobacco-pipes, snuff-boxes, &c. &c. On his return he purchases wine, liquors, tobacco, tools, nails, hats, shoes, needles, and other necessaries for domestic use. In great cities like Bergen, Drontheim and Christiania, it is curious to observe the different characters in the motley crowd, and particularly the rusticated mountaineers, who, being so much secluded from commerce with the world, are in a state of pure nature. The great influx of people presents the appearance of an annual fair, and such indeed the assemblage may be considered. Many benefits accrue from them to the shopkeeper, and it is said, that more articles are vended at this season, than during the rest of the year.