The Oxonian in Thelemarken, volume 1 (of 2) or, Notes of travel in south-western Norway in the summers of 1856 and 1857. With glances at the legendary lore of that district. — Reading Notes

ssion--The stirring of the blood--A bachelor’s wild scream of liberty--What marriage brings a salmon-fisher to--Away, for the land of the mountain and the flood--“Little” circle sailing--The Arctic shark--Advantages of gold lace--A lesson for laughers--Norwegian coast scenery--Nature’s grey friars--In the steps of the Vikings--The Norwegian character--How the Elves left Jutland--Christiansand harbour pp. 1-15

Disappointed fishermen--A formidable diver--Arendal, the Norwegian Venice--A vocabulary at fault--Ship-building--The Norwegian Seaboard--Sandefjord, the Norwegian Brighton--A complicated costume--Flora’s own bonnet--Bruin at large--Skien and its saw-mills--Norway cutting its sticks--Wooden walls--Christopher Hansen Blum--The Norwegian phase of religious dissent--A confession of faith--The Norsk Church the offspring of that of Great Britain pp. 16-28

A poet in full uniform--The young lady in gauntlet gloves again--Church in a cave--Muscular Christianity in the sixteenth century--A miracle of light and melody--A romance of bigotry--How Lutheranism came in like a lion--The Last of the Barons--Author makes him bite the dust--Brief burial-service in use in South-western Norway--The Sörenskriver--Norwegian substitute for Doctors’ Commons--Grave ale--A priestly Samson--Olaf’s ship--A silent woman--Norwegian dialects--Artificial salmon-breeding--A piscatorial prevision pp. 29-47

Mine host at Dal--Bernadotte’s prudent benignity--Taxing the bill of costs--Hurrah for the mountains--Whetstones--Antique wooden church--A wild country--“Raven depth”--How the English like to do fine scenery--Ancient wood-carving--A Norwegian peasant’s witticism--A rural rectory--Share and chair alike--Ivory knife-handles--Historical pictures--An old Runic Calendar--The heathen leaven still exists in Norway--Washing-day--Old names of the Norsk months--Peasant songs--Rustic reserve--A Norsk ballad pp. 48-68

A lone farm-house--A scandal against the God Thor--The headquarters of Scandinavian fairy-lore--The legend of Dyrë Vo--A deep pool--A hint for alternate ploughboys--Wild goose geometry--A memorial of the good old times--Dutch falconers--Rough game afoot--Author hits two birds with one stone--Crosses the lake Totak--A Slough of Despond--An honest guide--A Norwegian militiaman--Rough lodgings--A night with the swallows--A trick of authorship--Yea or Nay pp. 69-81

No cream--The valley of the Maan--The Riukan foss--German students--A bridge of dread--The course of true love never did run smooth--Fine misty weather for trout--Salted provisions--Midsummer-night revels--The Tindsö--The priest’s hole--Treacherous ice--A case for Professor Holloway--The realms of cloud-land--Superannuated--An ornithological guess--Field-fares out of reach of “Tom Brown”--The best kind of physic--Undemonstrative affection--Everywhere the same--Clever little horses pp. 82-96

An oasis--Unkempt waiters--Improving an opportunity--The church in the wilderness--Household words--A sudden squall--The pools of the Quenna--Airy lodgings--Weather-bound--A Norwegian grandpapa--Unwashed agriculturists--An uncanny companion--A fiery ordeal--The idiot’s idiosyncrasy--The punctilious parson--A pleasant query--The mystery of making flad-brod--National cakes--The exclusively English phase of existence--Author makes a vain attempt to be “hyggelig”--Rather queer pp. 97-113

Northwards--Social colts--The horse shepherd--The tired traveller’s sweet restorer, tea--Troll-work--Snow Macadam--Otter hunting in Norway--Normaends Laagen--A vision of reindeer--The fisherman’s hut--My lodging is on the cold ground--Making a night of it--National songs--Shaking down--A slight touch of nightmare pp. 114-128

The way to cure a cold--Author shoots some dotterel--Pit-fall for reindeer--How mountains look in mountain air--A natural terrace--The meeting of the waters--A phantom of delight--Proves to be a clever dairymaid--A singular cavalcade--Terrific descent into Tjelmö-dal--A volley of questions--Crossing a cataract--A tale of a tub--Author reaches Garatun--Futile attempt to drive a bargain pp. 129-141

The young Prince of Orange--A crazy bridge--At the foot of the mighty Vöring Foss--A horse coming downstairs--Mountain greetings--The smoke-barometer--The Vöring waterfall--National characteristics--Paddy’s estimate of the Giant’s Causeway--Meteoric water--New illustrations of old slanders--How the Prince of Orange did homage to the glories of nature--Author crosses the lake Eidsfjord--Falls in with an English yacht and Oxonians--An innkeeper’s story about the Prince of Orange--Salmonia--General aspect of a Norwegian Fjord--Author arrives at Utne--Finds himself in pleasant quarters--No charge for wax-lights--Christian names in Thelemarken--Female attire--A query for Sir Bulwer Lytton--Physiognomy of the Thelemarken peasants--Roving Englishmen--Christiania newspapers--The Crown Prince--Historical associations of Utne--The obsequies of Sea Kings--Norwegian gipsies pp. 142-160

From Fairy-lore to Nature-lore--Charming idea for stout folk--Action and reaction--Election-day at Bergen--A laxstie--A careless pilot--Discourse about opera-glasses--Paulsen Vellavik and the bears--The natural character of bears--Poor Bruin in a dilemma--An intelligent Polar bear--Family plate--What is fame?--A simple Simon--Limestone fantasia--The paradise of botanists--Strength and beauty knit together--Mountain hay-making--A garden in the wilderness--Footprints of a celebrated botanist--Crevasses--Dutiful snow streams--Swerre’s sok--The Rachels of Eternity--A Cockney’s dream of desolation--Curds-and-whey--The setting-in of misfortunes--Author’s powder-flask has a cold bath--The shadows of the mountains--The blind leading the blind--On into the night--The old familiar music--Holloa--Welcome intelligence pp. 161-187