The Argosy — page 143: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

128 About Norway. It was a steep climb of some 400 feet to the tunnel, the way over- grown with tangle and wild flowers. At length we reached the mouth of the cave. An enormous hole or tunnel about 60 feet high at the entrance startled us at the first moment by its huge proportions. The sides were so flat and perpendicular that they might have been cut by human ingenuity. The ground or floor of the tunnel was rough and uneven, strewn with immense rocks and boulders that in the course of ages have fallen from the roof. Few ventured to the other end; the gloomy journey of 530 feet was too rough, and even perilous for want of light, to be undertaken. Yet a few of us went through, and one solitary lady even got half way. Then her courage j | { pi Ih | dl a — ™ = =~ = : im : a) ~ . = = — a call - — - _— = ——_ a ed > = = —= = —_—= —_— —— = = = =—s=S —S= = = = — vil t th \ A LONELY SpoT (ROMSDAL). vanished, and she with it. The tunnel is 60 feet high at the east entrance, nearly 200 feet high in the centre, and 250 feet at the west opening. From the further end, looking upwards was like gazing into the ) roof of some grand cathedral of nature ; a temple in which the Druids might have performed their mystic rites to the chant of an ever beating sea. Far down at our feet was a tiny house and harbour, and a few boats lying peaceably at anchor. A stone in the wall to our left bore the name of Oscar, and above it a crown, traced by the king’s hand. The sea from this elevated point was inexpressibly beautiful, calm as a mirror, expansive, and gaining the repose of evening. A young flaxen-haired Norwegian who had landed with us had startled us by flying through the tunnel, jumping from rock to rock and stone to stone, almost with the speed of an arrow andthe sure- Gomicbooks Som