12 OSLO
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OSLO
ONE OF THE most remarkable things about the cruise was that each place was entirely different, and no two programmes arranged for us were alike. When we started, each port of call was merely a name for most of us, and we wondered if we should be very bewildered from seeing so many places in so short a time: now each one of them stands out clear and distinct in our memory and glows with a light peculiarly its own.
So Oslo, the last place that we came to, shines out as quite different from any of the others, and it certainly was one of the most beautiful, both in its physical aspect and in the welcome which was given us there.
To begin with, Norway was the only country where we saw mountains. All the rest, so far as we had seen them, were flat—the south coast of the Baltic flat and sandy, Helsinki and Stockholm flat and rocky. As we steamed up the fjord towards Oslo, the mountains rose up on either side of us, and it was quite as beautiful as the entrance to Stockholm: less smiling, and more majestic. Again it was an exquisite day, and we all crowded on deck, anxious not to lose a fragment of the beauty through which we were passing all too quickly, and trying to engrave it on our memories, to be remembered on dull, wintry days after our return.
We anchored off Oslo soon after midday on Friday, August 25th. The distance from Stockholm by sea is 830 miles, and this was the longest non-stop run we had. Oslo Harbour, like Helsinki, is full of islands, peninsulas, and inlets.
We were greeted on arrival by the Chief Scout, the Rev. H. Moller Gasmann, who was the Founder of the Movement in Norway in 5955. There are, as in Sweden, two Guide Associations, the "Y.W.C.A. Guides of Norway," who wear khaki, and the "Norwegian Girl Guides League," who wear dark blue. They have a joint committee for international purposes, and are on very friendly terms. The heads of both organizations came off to see us, Miss Josefine Barman, of the Y.W.C.A. Guides, and Miss Kari Aas, of the "blue Guides." The Chief Scout of Denmark, Admiral Karstensen, who was staying at the Royal Palace, also came off to meet us.
The Chiefs landed and inspected the fine body of Scouts and Guides assembled
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Photo] [M. Crowdy
SCOUT AND GUIDE CHIEFS OF NORWAY
Fröken Kari Aas The Chief Scout The Chief Guide Rev. H. Moller Gasmann Fröken Barman
THE CHIEF SCOUT INSPECTING NORWEGIAN SCOUTS AND GUIDES
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Photo] [E. Stone
THE VIEW FROM THE KOLSAS RIDGE, NORWAY
RECEPTION OF THE PRESS IN THE SHIP'S DRAWING-ROOM, NORWAY
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on the quay. Then they drove through Oslo to the Royal Palace to write their names in the book of the King and Queen, after which they went to a large hall, where a body of five hundred Scouters and Guiders were awaiting them. This again was something new, as nowhere else had the Chiefs an opportunity for meeting the Scouters and Guiders apart from the children, and of giving them a few words of encouragement in their work. They seemed to be a fine body of young men and women, and full of enthusiasm. At this meeting the Chief Scout and the Chief Guide were both presented with the Silver Fish of Norway (designed by Miss Kari Aas). This is the only Silver Fish which Lord Baden-Powell has ever had conferred upon him!
After this the Chiefs and their party were entertained at tea by Sir Charles and Lady Wingfield at the British Legation. H.M. the Queen of Norway, who was born Princess Maud of England, was present, having driven over from her summer residence. It was a charming informal gathering, and the children of Mr. Carnegie, Secretary of the Legation, were very delightful. One of his small boys was enthralled by the Chief Scout, and after Lord Baden-Powell had shown him the Wolf Cub sign, with the two fingers sticking up like ears, the child remained with his fingers glued to the side of his head during the whole of tea-time (except when he had to use one hand to eat with!) He begged the Chief Scout to come and live with him when he should be grown-up—just they two together—and the Chief Scout answered gravely that nothing would give him greater pleasure.
Meanwhile the British Scouters and Guiders had been offered a choice of three excursions, and all appear to have enjoyed themselves equally. One party, feeling energetic, went for a climb up a steep mountain ridge called Kolsas, which is extremely interesting geologically. Another party drove round Oslo in a motor bus, and visited an elementary school, and a very interesting home for crippled children, run on the most modern lines, with excellent instruction, especially in handicrafts.
The largest number were conducted in small batches to the "Norsk Folke Museum," on the peninsula of Bygdo. This is rather like Skansen only "more so." There is here a most interesting collection of old cottages and farmhouses, illustrating the evolution of the Norwegian home through the centuries, beginning with the most primitive form of round hut, where the smoke escapes through a vent-hole in the roof, and ending up with a comfortable house of the eighteenth century. There is also a very curious timber-built church, or "Stavkirche" of the twelfth century, brought from Gol in the Hallingdal district.
The most wonderful thing of all, however, is the Viking ship, supposed to date from A.D. 800, which was found at Oseberg twenty years ago, and which has been reconstructed out of nearly five thousand pieces. A special building has been built to house this and two other very old ships, and they can be seen from above and
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below. The Viking ship has most beautiful lines and her lofty prow has extraordinarily interesting carving on it. The ship was used for the burial of a great queen, and when found contained her skeleton and those of several of her attendants and tame animals, with all the vessels and utensils that were buried with her: these are all now in the National Museum.
An additional thrill was provided for those who visited the Viking ship, by the fact that they saw in the Museum a very tall, good-looking man, with a large dog, and that he turned out to be the King of Norway!
After the sight-seeing, the visitors all took the electric train up to Frognarseteren, which is a ski-ing station 1,545 feet above Oslo. As we went up in the train we saw the sun sinking behind wooded hills: the clouds were fringed with gold, and below us lay green plains, calm lakes, and the harbour gleaming like a sheet of burnished silver.
On a ledge on the hill-side the camp fire was laid. A small platform had been constructed for the displays, and there were a few rows of chairs for the principal guests. The thrilling sight was, however, to be seen by looking up the hill, for there, sitting one behind the other, as close as they could be packed, were several thousand Scouts and Guides. They wore no hats, and I have never seen such a mass of fine young heads, all of them with fair hair, all of them with eager, serious faces, all of them with eyes fixed on one point, the Chief Scout, who stood below them, and who spoke to them in English, which they nearly all of them understood. He told them that he had brought them a message from the British Scouts and Guides and he asked them whether he might take a message in return: "May I take them back your love?" asked the Piper of Pax. For a second there was a pause and then the whole hillside roared its assent.
Then came a short camp fire performance. We saw enacted the fairy tale of the Princess who could not be made to laugh: we saw the wicked little Trolls of the Norwegian mountains being won over by the power of the Guide Law, till they burst out of their brown skins and became green woodland sprites. Queen Maud of Norway, who had come quite informally and on the spur of the moment, sat with the Chiefs and listened to the performance, and at her own request, several Guiders were presented to her.
The lights of Oslo began to twinkle down below, and the black fir trees stood out sharply against the clear evening sky. Then ten fine Scouts came forward: they lit their torches silently at the camp fire, and holding them high above their heads, they lined up on either side of the platform. Between the two lines the Guides built up their national flag: first a white cross on a red ground, which is the celebrated Dannebrog of Denmark; then the dark blue cross superposed, which means Norway. The Chief of the Norwegian Scouts, Moller Gasmann, came forward to the edge of
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THE AUDIENCE AT THE CAMP FIRE, NORWAY
Photo] [M. Crowdy
OSLO FROM THE HARBOUR
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Photo] [M. Crowdy
THE "CALGARIC" AT OSLO
Photo] [W. M. Comber
THE VIKING SHIP
Photo] [M. Crouch
ON THE QUAY AT OSLO
Photo] M. Dalrymple
LEAVING OSLO
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the platform and at a sign from him all rose silently. Very simply, and in a deep, sweet voice, he began: "Our Father, which art in Heaven," and in a deep murmur the hill-side repeated it after him: then they sang, in mellow voices, the evening hymn of the Scouts and Guides, and that was the end of the camp fire, a fitting end to our wonderful cruise.
At midnight the Calgaric sailed for home.
Colonel
Murray
smells a
"dead Hindoo"
Drawn by H. E. C. Brickell
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