The Argosy — page 224: what you’re looking at

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

A bout. Norway. | 207 Soon after this we left the Lofodens, steered across for the island of Tromso, near the mainland, and reached it about eight o'clock on the Wednesday morning. The steamer had to wait here some hours, and everyone landed in detachments. Herr X., with his white umbrella, accompanied us in the last boat, and together we inspected the town. Tromso is very picturesque. Green hills, sometimes snow-tipped, surround the harbour, and the town is built at the foot of the slopes. The streets are wide and straight, and there is an air of great prosperity about the place: a sort of semi-pretence to fashion surprising in a spot so far north, after a long interval of fishing settlements, or towns that pretend to nothing. The ladies of Tromso walked about in costumes that might have owed their first existence to London or Paris—the ladies that crossed our path. For in all these towns, Throndhjem included, it was singular how few of the inhabitants declared themselves. Tromso with its 6,000 people, might, for all we saw of them, have contained less than 600. Outside the town we came.upon a family of Lapps, sitting upon a green bank, quietly eating their breakfast. ‘Two men, a woman, and a little child. -They were very small, with brown, withered faces and high cheek bones; the men without beard or whiskers, one of the distinguishing marks of the Lapp. There was a good humour and gentleness about them, a merry sparkle in their blue eyes, which redeemed their faces from the unpleasantness of that peculiar type— the low-caste features: small up-turned nose, wide mouth, and no particular development of brain. They talked to us in some unknown jargon; hard metallic voices, shrill and squeaky, men and women alike; rattling out their words so sharply that they sounded like a shower of stones falling upon a pavement. They had reindeer skins for sale, and red shoes or moccasins, turned up at the toes. The Lapps have a great eye to a bargain; have learned already the art of asking more than the value of their wares, and more than they intend to take. They will impose upon you if they can, and the cunning not to be mistaken in their little sharp faces is sufficient to put you upon your guard. They did their best this morning to drive a bargain with us, but not caring to be encumbered with a host of things during our walk, we were proof against their seducing offers. _As soon as they found they could sell us nothing, either at their price or our own, they grew sulky, turned their backs upon us, squatted down around their kettle, and would not be persuaded to give us another look or word. In short, they behaved like children. Nevertheless they were much impressed by Herr X.’s white umbrella, as well as by a puggaree one of us wore upon a straw hat. This puggaree had been a source of frequent amusement to the natives in different places, though it can scarcely be an uncommon article of costume amongst the travellers visiting Norway. At one of the stations we were especially entertained by a native on shore pointing CONNICOO© SS (CO) am