NOTES OF TRAVEL.

VOYAGE TO THE NORTH CAPE-LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN.

On the 7th of June, 1885, I took passage at Christiansand, on the Southwest coast of Norway, in the steamer Nordland, bound for the North Cape. The more usual and the better course for those who have not abundance of time on their hands, is to go by sea to Christiania, thence by rail to Throndhjem, and there take a vessel for the Cape.

At 10 P. M. we made our first landing which was at Egersund, 88 miles from Christiansand, and in the night stopped at Stavanger, 56 miles further. At 4 P. M. on the 8th, reached Bergen, where we remained 32 hours. This is a city of 45,000 inhabitants. About midnight of the 10th of June, we left Bergen. The next day, passed some very bold mountain scenery. The weather was cold, and we were for a while in a rough sea, but soon were quietly sailing along, inside the chain of islands which protect the voyager most of the way to the Cape.

June 11, arrived at Christiansund at 11 A. M., and in the evening at Throndhjem, a city of 30,000 inhabitants. Here we remained a day and a half. Sailing from Throndhjem on the 13th, we passed interesting mountain scenery. The mountains are not very high. The highest would not much exceed 3,000 feet, but they have a wild grandeur which gives them an imposing appearance. The mountain tops are much of the time covered with mist, leaving the imagination to picture them much higher than they are. Though it is cold and cloudy most of the time, there is something fascinating about the scenery and the surroundings, and the almost constant day. There is now scarcely any night at all. The day-light and twilight of to-day will last until midnight, and then the day-light and twilight of to-morrow will commence.

Soon after noon on the 15th of June, it became warmer, the sun shining brightly, which, for some days had been quite an uncommon occurrence. About 1 P. M. we crossed the Arctic Circle. We now knew that we were within range of the midnight sun, but did not expect to see it until the next day. Precisely at 12 o'clock, however, old Sol made his debut as promptly as if his appearance had been previously announced in the bills.

There he was, due north, on the horizon, between the mountains, somewhat shorn of his splendor, and resting quietly, as if to take his bearings and distances before resuming his course.

We were at Bodo, a place of about 2,400 inhabitants. The air was now clear and transparent, and all around the mountains rose in resplendent beauty, quiet and majestic spectators of the scene.

Tuesday, June 16. This has been a glorious day-the atmosphere clear and radiant-the sun shining mildly and steadily; his benign warmth being only the more grateful in contrast with the cold, cloudy and drizzly days which we had experienced-the sea calm and beautiful—the mountains rising in constant succession on every side, of every size and every shape, differing in everything except that all are of the everlasting granite-all standing there, grand, monumental witnesses of the ever constant, ever mysterious passage of the future into the past. The steamer was pursuing its winding way, among rocks and islands, stopping here and there to leave freight and passengers at coast settlements consisting each of some dozen or two of newly painted buildings. Many of the highest mountains were covered with snow. We passed to-day, the Luffoden Mountains, many of which have snow-covered summits.

Wednesday, June 17. Last evening we stopped at Stokmarknæs, where they were preparing for a fair, such as is annually held in these regions. There were a large number of small boats ready made to sell at the fair. This has been another splendid day. Toward evening, when some of the distant snow-covered mountains to the eastward, were lighted up, not by the setting sun, for it does not set any more, but by the sun near the horizon, the view was extremely beautiful. We are now at Tromsø, a handsome town of over 5,000 inhabitants, in the midst of a country so much more productive than anything we have lately passed, that it can almost be called agricultural. At 12 o'clock, when it would have been midnight, were there any night, the sun was plainly to be seen a little above the horizon.

Tuesday, June 18. The weather beautiful again, and not so cold. The mountains become more rocky-more destitute of vegetation. In the evening we came to Hammerfest, the northernmost town in the world. It is a place of about 2.500 inhabitants, built at the base of a mountain. It is nearly a hundred years old, though most of it has been built within the last 50 years. We were now near the Cape, and pushed on while the sea was quiet, for it is often very rough in this latitude, and here it is necessary to leave the chain of islands which have so long protected the vessel, and to put out into the open sea. On the way we passed a shore rising abruptly and perpendicularly to a great height, and on the rocks, all the way down, from the summit to the sea level, there was an immense number of sea-gulls, flying about, and making a noise which was plainly heard from the vessel. Here the whistle was sounded repeatedly, and cannon discharged several times in order to raise the echoes from the rocky shore, which were grand beyond description.

We now passed into the open sea. There was scarcely any motion of the waves, and we sailed smoothly along, past the place where a vessel was wrecked last year. Soon a dark, rugged, high, rocky cliff began to show its head, above the intervening rocks. We soon turned the point,

About

past

"And then uprose before me,
Upon the water's edge,

The huge and haggard shape,
Of that unknown North Cape,

Whose form is like a wedge."

nine o'clock of what would have been evening in other latitudes, we were passing the North Cape; its abrupt and rugged front rising before us, to the height of 970 feet. Sailing a little past it, the vessel was brought into a sort of cove and anchored, and we were rowed ashore in a small boat. I had been told I could not go to the top, as the the ascent was very difficult, and the path by which it was usually madę was now covered with deep snow. By availing myself, in some of the steepest places, of the aid of iron stakes which had been driven into the ground when King Oscar made the ascent in 1873, I succeeded in gaining the first summit. From this point there was a gradual ascent for some distance, to the monument erected by Oscar.

It consisted of a plain, handsome, granite obelisk, of four sides, upon a base of rough, granite rock. It contained the following inscription: "King Oscar II besteg Nordkap, d. 2 Juli, 1873."

[King Oscar II ascended the North Cape, July 2, 1873.]

From the monument I had a magnificent view of the sea, stretching out, like a floor of glass, in nearly every direction, while the sun was struggling to escape from clouds which were veiling its midnight lustre. To the right was a continuation of the rocky shore, extending far out into the sea, and opposite that, in the distance, with a portion of the sea intervening, was a row of hills or mountainous islands, lighted up by the sunlight behind the clouds.

We left the Cape at 1 o'clock on Friday morning, the 19th of June, retracing our course through the quiet North Sea to Hammerfest, where we arrived about the middle of the forenoon. There are four languages spoken at Hammerfest; the Norsk, (Norwegian), the Svensk, (Swedish), the Finsk, (Norwegian Laplandish), and the Kvensk, (Russian Laplandish.) At this time, 10 o'clock in the evening, the sun is shining out brightly, as we are pursuing our voyage.

Saturday, June 20. We are quietly and steadily retracing our course. Much of the mountain scenery is recognized as soon as it comes into view. Though it has lost somewhat of its novelty, it has by no means lost its beauty or its interest. Arrived this morning at Tromso. During the night, when I awoke, I saw the sun shining brightly.

On the 21st we arrived at Stokmarknæs, where they were preparing for their annual fair which is to commence to-morrow. A principle attrac

tion consisted of the boats before mentioned. They were of all sizes and prices from 50 kronors up to 600. They were all or nearly all entirely new, and presented a very picturesque appearance, as they were ranged along in the water and on the shore.

In the evening we came to Bodo. As this was within the Arctic Zone still, and was moreover the place where we first saw the midnight sun, we had strong hopes of having a repetition of the phenomenon. These hopes were strengthened by the fact that the sky was clear, and the atmosphere transparent. Most of the evenings since leaving Bod had been cloudy, and we now watched the north-western sky with mingled feelings of interest and excitement, knowing it would be the last opportunity.

It was about half past eleven, and the passengers were congregated on the deck of the vessel. The sun was not visible. It was behind a mountain that arose from an island in the sea, but the broad skirt of light on every side of the mountain, and over the top of it, indicated that the sun was not far distant, and the increasing brilliancy of the light gave promise of his appearance.

Soon the bright disk appeared in a notch of the mountain, and steadily grew upon the sight until about two-thirds of the surface had come into view, when it passed behind the easterly peak. But this covered but a small space on the horizon. If the sun was going east, as appeared to be the case, (it was now nearly due north), it would soon again emerge. Such proved to be the fact. Soon the luminous disk again made its appearance. It was now about ten minutes before twelve, and the watches were examined from time to time with intense anxiety.

Ten minutes proved to be ample time enough for the object of so much interest to emerge from his covert and to appear in all his glorious majesty. His appearance while passing along the mountain ridge, and

coming into view, was as curious and wonderful as it was brilliant. The sun appeared like a ball of fiery liquid in constant motion. Not only had it a wavy motion, within itself, apparently indicating it to be liquid, but it appeared to be revolving like the wheels that are exhibited in fire works. Thinking this might be an optical illusion, I inquired of other passengers, and found they saw it in the same way. They remarked concerning both the liquid and the circular motion. After watching it half an hour we retired, fully satisfied with the MIDNIGHT SUN.

On Wednesday, the 24th of June, we arrived at Throndhjem; and thus ended a voyage which, once made, there is no danger of forgetting. The pure and invigorating atmosphere-the sea, quiet as a river, winding its way among a net-work of islands-the splendid mountain scenery and picturesque settlements and villages along the coast-the novelty of constant day for more than a week, and of a fine view of the celebrated North Cape-all combine to make the voyage one of the pleasantest in one's life-time, and to impress it indelibly upon the memory

C. B. WAITE.

BOOK REVIEWS.

A TREATISE ON THE LAW OF LIS PENDENS; or the Effect of Jurisdiction upon Property involved in Suit. By John I. Bennett, L. L. D., Chicago: E. B. Myers & Co., 1887.

This work is one of great value to the profession, being, so far as we are aware, the first treatise upon the subject.

The style is clear, simple and concise, and is characterized throughout by a commendable modesty, the author contenting himself with stating the law as he found it laid down in the cases, of which some 1,500 are cited. These are all carefully arranged in alphabetical order.

In the first chapter, devoted to the origin and history of lis pendens, the author commences by giving the 12th ordinance or rule of Lord Chancellor Bacon, "for the better and more regular administration of justice in the chancery, to be daily observed, saving the prerogative of the court.” All of these rules are published in an appendix to this volume.

After defining the rule, and giving its early judicial history, he concludes that lis pendens was remotely derived from the Roman law; that it was in force, with slight modification, as a part of the body of the civil law; that it was transplanted from the civil law into the jurisprudence of the countries of Continental Europe; that the germ of it had been early inoculated into the jurisprudence of England, but that Lord Bacon "by his twelfth rule for the government of courts of chancery, first gave it efficiency and precision, as a part of the body of the common law of England." In subsequent chapters the author discusses the law of lis pendens, in its various aspects, in a manner that shows much labor and careful research. The treatise of Mr. Bennett cannot fail to be recognized by the bar as a valuable contribution to the literature of the law.