for my guidance. I was to go in a straight line southward, and I would reach my destination. As much snow lay on the ground, I took a pair of skis and carried my clothes and books in a satchel on my back.

Within five minutes after starting, the air became filled with snow, so that I could not discover which was south or north. To go back was impossible, for no one lived by the fjord; the boat had gone back, and I stood alone in the solitary, mountainous wilderness. However, this did not frighten me, for I felt that I was directed by the Lord. I turned about to get the direction I had taken in the beginning, and then sighted ahead, as best I could, in the same direction to some bush or other natural object. This I repeated, over and over again, and in that fashion I traveled the whole fourteen miles in the midst of a terrific snow-storm. The snow was so soft that my skis sank down in it until I was in the snow almost up to my knees, and I could hardly see the end of my skis, as I brought them out of the snow. Naturally, my progress was slow.

Night came and darkness overtook me, but for me there was light, nevertheless. At nine o'clock that night I reached the shore. It was joy to take the skis from my feet and walk on the sand among the great rocks. I saw a house on the shore about a mile away. I went in there and asked for lodging. I was so overcome by weakness from the hard journey of the day that I could scarcely speak. The man in the house, however, understood what troubled me, and placed me in a chair by the warm stove; then he took my boots from off my feet, and brought me from the cellar a bowl of home-made malt beer. After I had become warmed, he asked me to sit up to the table and eat. I did this in a great hurry.

This poor fisherman's home was the only house on this side of the island. After I had eaten, the wife made the beds. She put clean sheets and pillow slips over a good straw mattress covered with an old boat sail in the corner of the one room in the house. After prayers, it seemed that they knew who I was. I was then made to sleep in their own bed, while they slept on the straw bed made in the corner.

The next morning we had a modest breakfast, and the man rowed me across the sound to the next island, and would not take the slightest pay for what he had done. I then walked across this island and found a man to ferry me across the next sound. For this service the ferryman demanded twenty-five cents. This was the last money that I had. I gave him the money and he set me ashore on a sand ridge that jutted out from the island into the water. He immediately rowed back to his own island. There I stood, alone, penniless and in a strange place. With a heavy heart I gathered up my satchel and my coat and looked around for my directions. There, as I looked, by my side and on the sand, lay a little pile of money in silver and copper coins, totaling nearly a dollar. I was so affected by this unexpected relief that I sat down on a stone and wept for gratitude.

I wondered how this money had been left, and came to the conclusion that some fishermen had probably been selling fish among the neighboring islands and had placed the money that they received, as is very common, in the bailing dipper of the boat; on their way back they had forgotten that the money was in the bailing dipper, and in bailing out the boat had thrown the money accidentally on the sand-ridge on which I had landed. However, it had happened. It was another testimony to me that there is One high above us, who sees and knows all things. He knew, no doubt, that I had paid out my last money, and therefore guided my boat so that I landed where this money had been lost. I was grateful to the Lord.

I continued my journey from island to island, and at last reached the island of Hasel, where I was received warmly by Captain Christian Hansen and his wife. This time he offered me a much better position in the fishery than I had the previous winter. I was to be with him during January, February and March. He was to furnish the fishing apparatus and my provisions, and we were to divide equally the products of my labor. I agreed to this and we sailed away.

We lived this winter also in the old log house, and all went fairly well. When the fishing season was ended, and the account was to be settled, I found that my share was about fifty dollars. I paid my debts and continued my journeys again.

VIII. I AM RELEASED FROM MY FIRST MISSION.

At last I came to the town Vardo in Finmarken, the most distant city in my field, where I remained a few weeks. While there I went out on the ocean and fished. Instead of nets, hooks and lines were used. The whole ocean was so filled with fish that it seemed as if it were a great pot in which fish were boiled. It was a common experience that heavily weighted fish lines could not get past the mass of fish.

On this trip I was arrested for preaching the gospel of Christ and brought by steamer to the city of Hammerfest, where sentence was pronounced on me; and from there, in another steamer to Tromso where I spent ten days in prison on a diet of bread and water. I learned many things from these seasons of imprisonment. I was a young man, healthy and strong, accustomed to moving quickly in my work, and I found that this diet of bread and water did not agree with me; especially as I was given a tiny piece of sour, heavy, dry, coarse bread, about the size of half of my hand, every twenty-four hours. As the days went by in prison, I must confess that I became very hungry and that it caused sleeplessness. I was able to sleep about two hours each night, and would awake weak and tired. I dreamed usually that I was feasting on an abundance of things to eat and drink and then would suddenly awake hungry and weak, dizziness and headache overmastering me. I lay on my hard bed hoping for the arrival of day because I could then divert my thoughts a little better. These seasons of imprisonment tired me severely. None can fully understand it unless he has experienced it himself. It brought to my mind the words of the Prophet Isaiah, "It shall even be as when a hungry man dreameth, and behold, he eateth; but he waketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and behold, he drinketh, but he waketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul has appetite: So shall the multitude of the nations be that fight against Mount Zion." I thought to myself that he who spoke those words had undoubtedly had experience in it.

During the month of July, in 1865, the third summer of my labors in Nordland, I received my release from this mission, from Elder George M. Brown, who then presided over the Norway conference. I wrote to all the Saints in Nordland's branch to meet in the historical place Bjarkoe at a stated time. All of the Saints came to the meeting, as also strangers. My sister in the flesh, Amelia, came there, also, and was baptized. We partook of the sacrament together, and for three or four days we had a most enjoyable time. At last, then, I bade farewell to my brethren, sisters and friends, and to Nordland with its many islands, fjords and great and beautiful mountains, forming a landscape so brilliantly equipped that it does not stand second to any that I have seen. The impressions which became stamped upon my mind during my mission up among the people of northern Norway, in the days of my youth, will never, I believe, leave me, for one might learn more up there than can be learned in a university.

Before I leave this extensive and valuable mission field, I will add my modest judgment of this great and beautiful country, with fjords and sounds, islands and high mountains covered with leafy trees, reaching down to the shore, with the background of high cliffs and barren mountains, covered with patches of trees and moss, where the Laps watch their great herds grazing in the small mountain valleys. All about, are every kind of feathered life, representing the birds of the ocean, among which the eider duck is