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100% found this document useful (3 votes)
41 views79 pages

(Ebook) Advanced Unity Game Development: Build Professional Games with Unity, C#, and Visual Studio by Victor G Brusca ISBN 9781484278505, 9781484278512, 148427850X, 1484278518, 0bb58522-8258-442f-8f3b-2178ca91072a - The ebook is now available, just one click to start reading

The document provides information about various ebooks available for instant download at ebooknice.com, including titles such as 'Advanced Unity Game Development' by Victor G Brusca. It lists multiple ISBNs and links for each ebook, along with details on formats available for download. Additionally, it includes copyright information and acknowledgments related to the publication of the books.

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Advanced

Unity Game

Development

Build Professional Games with Unity,


C#, and Visual Studio

Victor G Brusca

Advanced Unity Game

Development

Build Professional Games with Unity,

C#, and Visual Studio

Victor G Brusca

Advanced Unity Game Development: Build Professional


Games with Unity, C#, and

Visual Studio

Victor G Brusca

Edison, NJ, USA

ISBN-13 (pbk): 978-1-4842-7850-5

ISBN-13 (electronic): 978-1-4842-7851-2

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-7851-2

Copyright © 2022 by Victor G Brusca

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the


Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned,
specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other
physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar
methodology now known or hereafter developed.

Trademarked names, logos, and images may appear in this book.


Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a
trademarked name, logo, or image we use the names, logos, and
images only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the
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The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service


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not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they
are subject to proprietary rights.

While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true
and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the
editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any
errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no
warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained
herein.

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Printed on acid-free paper

I’d like to dedicate this book to my Mom. Thank you so much for
buying me that Packard Bell 386DX2 66MHZ desktop with 8MB of

RAM, 2MB of video RAM, and multimedia CD-ROM. It was one of the

most important events of my life. I love you sooo much Mom.

Table of Contents

About the Author xiii

About the Technical Reviewer xv

Acknowledgments xvii

Chapter 1: Introduction and Getting Started 1


Setting Up Your Environment
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
����������� 3

Playing Hover Racers/Getting


Ready�����������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�� 5

Chapter Conclusion
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������� 7

Chapter 2: Game Specifications 9

Model: Car, Track, Sensor


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
��������������� 10

Model: Car, Boost, Jump, Bounce Modifiers


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������ 11

Chapter Conclusion
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������������ 15
Chapter 3: Base Class 17

Class Review Template


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������ 17

Class Review: BaseScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
��������������� 18

Static/Constants/Read-Only Class Members: BaseScript


�������������������������������
����������������������� 18

Class Fields: BaseScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
����������� 20

Pertinent Method Outline/Class Header: BaseScript


�������������������������������
������������������������������ 20

Support Method Details: BaseScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������������ 21

Main Method Details: BaseScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���������������������������� 22
Demonstration: BaseScript
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������� 23

Chapter Conclusion
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������������ 24

Table of ConTenTs

Chapter 4: Interaction Classes 27

Class Review:
BounceScript�������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
����������������� 28

Class Fields: BounceScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������� 28

Pertinent Method Outline/Class Headers: BounceScript


�������������������������������
������������������������ 30

Support Method Details: BounceScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������� 31

Main Method Details: BounceScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������������ 32

Demonstration: BounceScript
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
��� 36

Class Review: Road Script


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������� 37

Class Fields: RoadScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
����������� 38

Pertinent Method Outline/Class Headers: RoadScript


�������������������������������
���������������������������� 39

Support Method Details:


RoadScript��������������������������
�������������������������������
����������������������������� 39

Main Method Details: RoadScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���������������������������� 42

Demonstration: RoadScript
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������� 43

Class Review: WaypointCheck


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������� 44

Class Fields: WaypointCheck


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���� 46

Pertinent Method Outline/Class Headers: WaypointCheck


�������������������������������
��������������������� 47

Support Method Details: WaypointCheck


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
����������������� 48

Main Method Details: WaypointCheck


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
��������������������� 51

Demonstration: WaypointCheck
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
52

Class Review: TrackHelpScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
� 54

Pertinent Method Outline/Class Headers: TrackHelpScript


�������������������������������
��������������������� 54

Support Method Details: TrackHelpScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���������������� 55

Main Method Details: TrackHelpScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������� 57

Demonstration: TrackHelpScript
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������������������ 58

Chapter Conclusion
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������������ 60

Chapter 5: Advanced Interaction Classes 63


Class Review: CollideScript
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������ 63

Static/Constants/Read-Only Class Members: CollideScript


�������������������������������
�������������������� 64

Class Fields: CollideScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������� 65

Pertinent Method Outline/Class Headers: CollideScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������� 70

Support Method Details: CollideScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
��������������������� 71

vi

Table of ConTenTs

Main Method Details:


CollideScript��������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
80

Demonstration: CollideScript
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���� 90

Class Review: CarSensorScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������ 91

Static/Constants/Read-Only Class Members: CarSensorScript


�������������������������������
�������������� 92

Class Fields: CarSensorScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
��� 93

Pertinent Method Outline/Class Headers: CarSensorScript


�������������������������������
�������������������� 95

Support Method Details: CarSensorScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
��������������� 96

Main Method Details: CarSensorScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������ 100

Demonstration: CarSensorScript
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
��������������������������� 110

Chapter Conclusion
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���������������������� 111

Chapter 6: Helper Classes 113

Class Review: DestroyScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������� 113

Class Review: WaterResetScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�� 114

Pertinent Method Outline/Class Headers: WaterResetScript


�������������������������������
���������������� 114

Support Method Details: WaterResetScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
����������� 115

Main Method Details: WaterResetScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���������������� 116
Demonstration: WaterResetScript
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������� 117

Class Review: EngineWhineScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
118

Static/Constants/Read-Only Class Members: EngineWhineScript


�������������������������������
�������� 119

Class Fields: EngineWhineScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
��������������������������� 119

Pertinent Method Outline/Class Headers: EngineWhineScript


�������������������������������
�������������� 119

Main Method Details:


EngineWhineScript�����������������������
�������������������������������
���������������������� 120

Demonstration: EngineWhineScript
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
����������������������� 122

Class Review: LapTime


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���������������� 122

Class Review: LapTimeManager


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�� 124

Static/Constants/Read-Only Class Members: LapTimeManager


�������������������������������
���������� 125

Class Fields: LapTimeManager


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������������������
125

Pertinent Method Outline/Class Headers: LapTimeManager


�������������������������������
���������������� 127

Support Method Details: LapTimeManager


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
����������� 128

Main Method Details: LapTimeManager


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���������������� 130

Demonstration: LapTimeManager
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������������� 133
vii

Table of ConTenTs

Class Review: PopupMsgTracker


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
� 134

Demonstration: PopupMsgTracker
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������������� 135

Class Review: Utilities


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������ 136

Static Class Members: Utilities


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������������������
137

Demonstration: Utilities
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���������� 147

Class Review: CameraFollowXz


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
��� 148

Static/Constants/Read-Only Class Members: CameraFollowXz


�������������������������������
����������� 149

Class Fields: CameraFollowXz


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
149

Pertinent Method Outline/Class Headers: CameraFollowXz


�������������������������������
����������������� 150

Main Method Details: CameraFollowXz


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
����������������� 150

Demonstration: CameraFollowXz
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
��������������������������� 152

Class Review: WaypointCompare


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
� 152

Demonstration: WaypointCompare
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������������ 153
Chapter Conclusion
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���������������������� 154

Chapter 7: Input Classes 155

Class Review: CharacterMotorMovement


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������� 156

Class Review: CharacterMotorJumping


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���������������������� 157

Class Review: CharacterMotorSliding


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������������� 159

Class Review: CharacterMotor


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
����� 159

Class Fields: CharacterMotor


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�� 161

Pertinent Method Outline/Class Headers: CharacterMotor


�������������������������������
������������������� 162

Support Method Details: CharacterMotor


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������� 163

Main Method Details: CharacterMotor


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������� 165

Demonstration: CharacterMotor
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���������������������������� 171

Class Review: FPSInputController


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
171

Class Fields: FPSInputController


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���������������������������� 171

Pertinent Method Outline/Class Headers: FPSInputController


�������������������������������
�������������� 172

Main Methods Details: FPSInputController


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������ 173
Demonstration: FPSInputController
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
����������������������� 177

viii

Table of ConTenTs

Class Review: MouseLookNew


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���� 177

Enumerations: MouseLookNew
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
����������������������������� 178

Class Fields: MouseLookNew


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
� 178

Pertinent Method Outline/Class Headers: MouseLookNew


�������������������������������
������������������ 179

Main Method Details: MouseLookNew


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������ 180

Demonstration: MouseLookNew
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���������������������������� 181

Class Review: GameState (Touch Input Snippet


Only)�����������������������������
�������������������������������
��� 182

Chapter Conclusion
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���������������������� 183

Chapter 8: Menu System Classes 185

Class Review: BasePromptScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
� 186

Class Fields: BasePromptScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
����������������������������� 187

Pertinent Method Outline/Class Headers: BasePromptScript


�������������������������������
��������������� 188

Support Method Details: BasePromptScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���������� 189
Main Method Details: BasePromptScript
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
��������������� 190

Demonstration: BasePromptScript
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������������ 192

Class Review: GamePauseMenu


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�� 193

Pertinent Method Outline/Class Headers: GamePauseMenu


�������������������������������
���������������� 193

Support Method Details: GamePauseMenu


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
����������� 194

Main Method Details: GamePauseMenu


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���������������� 196

Demonstration: GamePauseMenu
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������������� 196

Class Review: GameHelpMenu


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
����� 197

Class Fields: GameHelpMenu


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
� 197

Pertinent Method Outline/Class Headers:


GameHelpMenu������������������������
�������������������������� 198

Support Method Details: GameHelpMenu


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������� 199

Input Handler Support Method Details: GameHelpMenu


�������������������������������
���������������������� 202

Main Method Details: GameHelpMenu


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������ 204

Demonstration: GameHelpMenu
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���������������������������� 209

Remaining Menu Classes


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������� 209

Chapter Conclusion
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���������������������� 210

ix

Table of ConTenTs

Chapter 9: Player and Game State Classes Part 1 211

Class Review: PlayerInfo


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������� 211

Class Review: TrackScript


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������ 212

Class Review: PlayerState


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������ 214

Static/Constants/Read-Only Class Members: PlayerState


�������������������������������
�������������������� 214
Class Fields: PlayerState
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������� 217

Pertinent Method Outline/Class Header: PlayerState


�������������������������������
��������������������������� 227

Support Method Details: PlayerState


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
��������������������� 229

Main Method Details: PlayerState


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������������� 236

Demonstration: PlayerState
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���� 260

Chapter Conclusion
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���������������������� 260

Chapter 10: Player and Game State Classes Part 2 263

Class Review: GameState


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������ 263

Enumerations: GameState
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������ 264

Static/Constant/Read-Only Class Members: GameState


�������������������������������
���������������������� 265

Class Fields: GameState


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
��������� 265

Pertinent Method Outline/Class Headers: GameState


�������������������������������
�������������������������� 271

Support Method Details:


GameState��������������������������
�������������������������������
��������������������������� 274

Main Method Details: GameState


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������� 285

Demonstration: GameState
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
����� 309

Chapter Conclusion
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���������������������� 309

Chapter 11: Making It Professional 311

Build Settings
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
312

Generic Platform
Settings����������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���������� 312

PC, Mac, and Linux Desktop Settings


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������� 313

Universal Windows Platform (UWP) Settings


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
��������� 313

iOS Settings
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���������������������������� 314

Android Settings
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
��������������������� 315

WebGL Settings
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���������������������� 315

Table of ConTenTs

Input Mapping
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������������������
315

UI/Menu System
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
��������������������� 317

Data Persistence
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������� 324
Memory Management
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������ 324

Sounds and Music


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������ 324

Static Objects
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������������� 325

Tags and Layers


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���������������������� 325

AI Opponents
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������� 325

Cameras
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�� 327
Project Performance
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
��������������� 327

Chapter Conclusion
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���������������������� 330

Chapter 12: Adding a New Racetrack 333

Track Environment and Cleanup Script


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
����������������������� 333

Hover Racers and the GameState Object


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������� 336

Track and Waypoint Objects


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
��������� 338

Jumps, Boosts, Menu Screens, and More


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������� 340

Chapter Conclusion
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
���������������������� 345

Chapter 13: Conclusion 347

Accomplishments
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
������������������������ 347

Acknowledgments
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
����������������������� 349

Where You Go from Here


�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������� 350

Saying Goodbye
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
�������������������������������
��������������������������� 351

Index 353

xi
About the Author

Victor Brusca is an experienced software developer

specializing in building cross- platform applications and

APIs. He regards himself as a self-starter with a keen eye for

detail, an obsessive protection of systems/data, and a desire

to write well-documented, well-encapsulated code. With

over 14 years of software development experience, he has

been involved in game and game engine projects on J2ME,

T-Mobile SideKick, WebOS, Windows Phone, Xbox 360,

Android, iOS, and web platforms.

xiii
About the Technical Reviewer

Pranav Paharia is a game developer who has been working

in the gaming industry since 2013. He is proficient with

game engines like Unity3D, Unreal Engine 4, and Cocos2dx.

He has built games for mobile devices, PCs, and VR in both

single-player and multiplayer genres. He has been very

passionate about playing games since childhood and, as he

grew up, pursued the science of game development. He has

also worked on a few game development books in the past

to share his knowledge about game development. Building

gameplay systems and game mechanics are just two aspects

of his vast work experience. His expertise in gametech


extends beyond making games; he’s also used it provide solutions in
various domains like education, medicine, military, emergency
training, AEC, VFX/animation and films.

The companies he’s worked with include Zaha Hadid, DRDO India,
Mediamonks, and Line Creative.

Currently, he works in the film and VFX industries in the field of


virtual production via game technology.

He loves photography, traveling, and reading.

You can contact him at [email protected].

xv

Acknowledgments

I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge the following people:

Special thanks to Katia Pouleva for fixing up the diagrams and


screenshots for this book. You are an amazing graphic artist. I love
you dearly, Elkus.

I’d like to acknowledge Carlo M. Bruscani. You are a very special


person to me and an important part of my life. I wouldn’t be the
person I am without knowing you. Thank you so much, Carlo. I love
you.

Lastly, I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge Jerry Lawson. Jerry


Lawson was an American electronic engineer. He is known for his
work in designing the Fairchild Channel F video game console as well
as leading the team that pioneered the commercial video game
cartridge. Thank you, Mr. Lawson; video games would not be the
same without you.

xvii
CHAPTER 1

Introduction and

Getting Started

Welcome to Chapter 1 of the Advanced Unity Game Development


text. Unity is a powerful game creation tool. In many ways, it’s
almost too powerful and complex. This makes it difficult for some
game developers to leverage the full potential of the software.

Documentation, books, and tutorials are a great way to lower the


learning curve.

Programming experience, especially in C#, and familiarity with Visual


Studio will also greatly improve your time working with Unity.

With all of these different training options available, many of them for
free, what does this book offer that the others don’t? What makes it
stand out from the pack? Well, in most cases, the aforementioned
learning material will show you how to accomplish a simple task in
Unity. They’ll show you a small unfinished game or demo to illustrate
the material at hand. This book differs from the rest in that it
contains a complete code review, in detail, of a full featured and
complete Unity game. This includes the following general topics:

• Code and Classes that run a Complete Game

• Code Structure Essentials

• Project Structure Essentials

• Level/Track Building

• AI Opponents/Players

• Full HUD and Menu System


• Music and Sound Effects

© Victor G Brusca 2022

V. G Brusca, Advanced Unity Game Development,


https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-7851-2_1

Chapter 1 IntroduCtIon and GettInG Started

• Player Preferences

• Touch, Mouse, Keyboard, Gamepad Input

• Models, Prefabs, and Scripts

This book will guide you through the game’s code, scripts, models,
prefabs, and overall structure all the while showing you how the code
works with the Unity engine to define a complete, refined, game in
Unity. At the conclusion of this text, you’ll have gained experience in
the following areas of expertise as you are guided through the
implementation of a hover car racing game:

• C#: Experience with classes, class management, and project-level

aspects of code-like centralization

• Unity Coding: Experience working with classes that extend the


Unity Monobehaviour class. Working with components in a
component-based game engine

• Visual Studio: Experience navigating projects, viewing, and editing


class files

• Unity C# Project Management: Experience working with a complete

Unity game and associated C# code


• Unity Environment: Experience navigating the models, prefabs,

resources, script files, and scenes of a complex Unity project

• Unity Project Management: Experience working with smaller scenes

and associated classes, prefabs, and models

We’ll review the details of the game’s functionality as well as key


concepts in Unity that we encounter throughout the journey. This will
give you a solid foundation on which to build your Unity game
development future. The general path we’ll take is as follows:

1. Review a model of the car, track, track features, and their


proposed interactions.

2. Review the code that powers the game. The code is separated into
the following groups:

a. Base Classes

Chapter 1 IntroduCtIon and GettInG Started

b. Interaction Classes

c. Advanced Interaction Classes

d. Helper Classes

e. Input Classes

f. Menu System Classes

g. Player and Game State Classes

3. Review of the following Unity-related topics:


a. Input Mappings

b. Scene Structure and Inactive GameObjects

c. GameObject Tags

d. Multiple Camera Setup

e. Scene Lighting

f. Music and Sound Effects

g. AI Opponents

h. Applying it all to a New Level/Track

At the end of the journey, you’ll have all the knowledge and
experience you need to make your next great game. Now that we
have an idea of what lies before us, let’s take the first step on our
journey and get our game development environment up and running.

Setting Up Your Environment

Before we can begin, we need to get our environment set up and


configured properly.

The first thing we’ll need to do is open up a browser and navigate to


the Unity website.

Navigate to www.unity.com and create a new account if you haven’t


already done so.

Complete this process and make sure you finish the account
verification steps, as you’ll need an active account before you can
begin with the included racing game project.

3
Chapter 1 IntroduCtIon and GettInG Started

At the time of this writing, the correct way to work with Unity is
through the Unity Hub application. This application acts as an
abstraction layer and centralization point for your Unity projects. The
software lets you manage multiple projects, each one using a
different version of Unity. Find the downloads page on the Unity site
and download the latest version of Unity Hub. Install the software.
Once that’s done, open Unity Hub and log in with the account you
just created.

Currently, Unity Hub will run on Windows, macOS, and certain


distributions of Linux. For a quick reference on how to install Unity
Hub and what operating systems are supported, navigate your
browser to the following URL:

https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/GettingStartedInstallingHub.html

Next up we’ll install the latest version of Unity. Open up Unity Hub, if
you’ve not done so already, and select the “Installs” tab on the left-
hand side of the screen. Select the latest version of Unity available
and choose the modules you want to install along with the Unity
editor.

For the purposes of this text, we recommend that you select only the
modules listed in the following. Of course, if you have your own
thoughts on what modules you want installed, please feel free to do
so. The only requirement we have is that “Visual Studio” is configured
as the default scripting IDE for the Unity editor. You can install Visual
Studio separately, but I’ll only provide instructions on how to install it
as a Unity module.

1. Under “Dev Tools,” select “Microsoft Visual Studio Community”;

this is required.
2. Select the native build module for your operating system. Choose
one of the following depending on your operating system:

a. Linux Build Support (IL2CPP or Mono)

b. Mac Build Support (Mono)

c. Windows Build Support (IL2CPP)

You can install new modules or uninstall existing ones through the
Unity Hub software. Select the “Installs” tab and then click the three
dots on the tiles of the target Unity editor version. Select “Add
Modules” from the context menu and you can customize the modules
installed for that version of the Unity editor. Try adding the
installation of the Android and WebGL build modules to your setup.
With them installed, you’ll have some interesting build targets to play
around with. Now that we 4

Chapter 1 IntroduCtIon and GettInG Started

have that taken care of, let’s grab a copy of the racing game project
associated with this text. Navigate your browser to the following URL:

www.middlemind.net/urgbook/[BOOK PUBLICATION
https://github.com/Apress/

Advanced-Unity-Game-Development]

Find the latest version of the game project. Compare the Unity
version listed with the current version of the Unity editor you just
installed. If the game project version is older, try to install that
version of the Unity editor using the process listed previously. If the
older version isn’t available in the list of Unity editor versions, then
install the oldest available version.

If you find yourself in the second circumstance, an older version isn’t


available, then I recommend following this process to upgrade the
game project. First, open the project with the older version of Unity
you’ve just installed. You should be prompted to upgrade the project.
Do so, and when the upgrade process is completed, save the project.
With that step done, perform the same steps except this time use the
newest version of the Unity editor you have installed. Save the
project once it’s done upgrading for the second time.

This approach will safely upgrade the project to the latest version of
Unity. Let’s open up the project and check on a few things. Once the
racing game project is done loading, open up the “Preferences”
window, “Edit” ➤ “Preferences”, and select the “External Tools” tab.
Make sure that the “External Script Editor” preference is set to “Visual
Studio.”

If you don’t see “Visual Studio” in the list of available editors, go back
and check the installed modules for your version of the Unity editor
and make sure that “Visual Studio”

is installed. If you’re still running into issues, reinstall the Unity editor
and make sure to select the “Visual Studio” module.

Playing Hover Racers/Getting Ready

Now that we got that little bit out of the way, let’s take the game for
a test drive while we have the Unity editor open. Let’s check to see
which scene has been opened, if any, by default. Look to the Unity
editor window’s title bar. The name of the currently opened scene
should be listed in the window title. If you see the word “Main13” or
“Main14”

listed in the title, then we’re good to go. If not, then we’ll have to
open the correct scene. Go to the “Project” panel, or if you don’t see
it, go to the main menu and select

“Window” ➤ “Panels” ➤ “Project” and open it.

Find the folder named “Scenes” and open it. Double-click the scene
named “Main13”.
Once the scene loads up, we’ll want to locate the “Game” panel. If
you can’t find it, follow 5

Chapter 1 IntroduCtIon and GettInG Started

the aforementioned steps to open it. Once the panel opens, select it
and you should see a mess of UI and menus on the screen. This is
fine. Locate the play button at the top, center, of the editor window.
Before you press play, let me review the game’s controls.

To control the direction of the car, move the mouse left and right. To
accelerate the car, press the up arrow on the keyboard. You can use
the left and right arrow keys to

“strafe” the car left and right. To slow the car down, use the back
arrow key. Ok, now that you’ve got the basics, press play and then
click inside the game to make sure the input is active. Click the “Track
1” button of the main menu and play a few races.

Now that you’ve had a chance to play the game, let’s stop referring
to it as “the racing game.” Let’s now call it “Hover Racers.” So from
now on, when you see the words “Hover Racers,” I’m most likely
referring to the project or the game depending on the context. I will
use the words car, player, current player, racer, hover racer, or race
car to describe the players of the game, both human and AI.
Depending on the context, this could mean the current player, the
human player, or any opponent player in the game. Be aware of the
context.

A little bit about the game. Hover Racers is a complete racing game
that supports three race types: easy, classic, and battle. Three
difficulties: easy, medium, and hard.

And it comes with two built-in tracks. As we’ve seen, the game has a
complete UI implementation including in-game HUD and menu
system. Furthermore, the game has background music, sound
effects, and win conditions. The main takeaway here is that the game
is refined, professional, and complete. It’s not a demo or a tutorial
project. It’s a complete game with a decent set of fully implemented
features.

By the conclusion of the book, you’ll have a complete understanding


of how the Hover Racers game works. At this point, you’ll be able to
view the project as more a piece of clay to be molded than a final
sculpture. You’ll be able to see the project for what it is and be able
to shape it as you add your own features using the knowledge you’ve
gained here. Furthermore, you can apply that knowledge to any Unity
game development project. Including your own, next great game.

We’ll review the vast majority of the code together, so you don’t
necessarily need to be proficient in C#, but some programming
experience is recommended. Here are a few tutorials you can read to
get a basic understanding of Unity, Visual Studio, and C#:

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en- us/dotnet/csharp/

tour- of- csharp/tutorials/

(introduction to C# tutorial)

• https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/getting- started/

(introduction to Visual Studio tutorial)

Chapter 1 IntroduCtIon and GettInG Started

• https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/LearningtheInterface.htm

(introduction to Unity editor)

• https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/CollidersOverview.html

(introduction to Unity collisions)


That brings us to the conclusion of this section. In the next section,
we will conclude the chapter with a summary of the material that
we’ve covered.

Chapter Conclusion

This brings us to the conclusion of this chapter. We actually covered a


fair amount of ground in this little introduction chapter. Let’s take a
look at what we’ve done so far: 1. Listed the Unity game
development topics that you’ll gain

experience with by reading and working through this text

2. Listed the general, overarching skills you’ll gain experience with


through the use of this text

3. Mapped out a plan to approach the material we need to cover

4. Set up our environment, including installing Unity Hub, the Unity


editor, and Visual Studio

5. Played Hover Racers

Now that we have all of that taken care of, we’re ready to start
reviewing the game’s code. But wait! We have to outline the game
we’re working on. Sure, we have a finished copy of the game, so this
seems a bit redundant, doesn’t it? Well, we need to really think of
this as a guided game review journey. As such, we’ll work on the
Hover Racers game specifications in the next chapter and we’ll review
the game’s code, in detail, in subsequent chapters.

CHAPTER 2

Game Specifications
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his Reverence, who anathematized the net-stealer. Nothing more came
of it till the next spring; when, upon the ice breaking, all the nets rose to
the surface, full of dead fish. Since then no fish has been found in the
lake. Mr. H—— might probably succeed in dissolving the charm.
“I see you are a fisherman,” said Mr. H——; “you’ll find the parson at
Mö, in Butnedal, a few miles off, an ‘ivrig fisker’ (passionate fisherman)
—ay! and his lady, too. They’ll be delighted to see you. They have no
neighbours, hardly, but peasants, and your visit will confer a greater
favour on them than their hospitality on you. That is a very curious
valley, sir. There are several ‘tomter’ (sites) of farm-houses, now
deserted, where there once were plenty of people: that is one of the
vestiges of the Black Death.”
On second thoughts, however, he informed me that it was just
possible that Parson S—— might be away; as at this period of the
summer, when all the peasants are up with their cattle at the Sæters,
the clergy, having nothing whatever to do, take their holiday.
CHAPTER IV.
Mine host at Dal—Bernadotte’s prudent benignity—Taxing the bill of costs—
Hurrah for the mountains—Whetstones—Antique wooden church—A wild
country—“Raven depth”—How the English like to do fine scenery—
Ancient wood-carving—A Norwegian peasant’s witticism—A rural rectory
—Share and chair alike—Ivory knife-handles—Historical pictures—An old
Runic calendar—The heathen leaven still exists in Norway—Washing day
—Old names of the Norsk months—Peasant songs—Rustic reserve—A
Norsk ballad.

Mine host at Dal, a venerable-looking personage, with long grey hair


floating on his shoulders, was a member of the Extraordinary Meeting of
Deputies at Eidsvold in 1815, when the Norwegians accepted the
Junction with Sweden. I and the old gentleman exchanged cards. The
superscription on his was—Gaardbruger Norgaard, Deputeret fra Norges
Storthing—i.e., Farmer Norgaard, A Deputy from Norway’s Storthing.
Another reminiscence of his early days is a framed and glazed copy of
the Grundlov (Fundamental Law) of Norway, its palladium of national
liberty, which a hundred and twelve Deputies drew up in six weeks, in
1814. Never was Constitution so hastily drawn up, and so generally
practical and sensible as this.
The Crown Prince, the crafty Bernadotte, with his invading army of
Swedes, had Norway quite at his mercy on that occasion; but the idea
seems to have struck him suddenly that it was as well not to deal too
hardly with her, as in case of his not being able to hold his own in
Sweden, he might have a worse place of refuge than among the sturdy
Norwegians. “I am resolved what to do, so that when I am put out of
the stewardship they may receive me into their houses.” So he assented
to Norway’s independence.
For my part, at this moment, I thought more about coffee than
Norwegian liberty and politics; but as it was nine o’clock, p.m., the good
people were quite put out by the request. Coffee in the forenoon, say
they, tea in the evening. As it was, they made me pay pretty smartly for
the accommodation next morning. “What’s to pay?” said I, striding into
the room, where sat the old Deputy’s daughter, the mistress of the
house, at the morning meal. She had not long ago become a widow,
and had taken as her second husband, a few days before, a grisly-
looking giant, who sat by in his shirt-sleeves.
“Ask him,” said the fair Quickly, thinking it necessary, perhaps, just so
recently after taking the vow of obedience, by this little piece of
deference to her new lord to express her sense of submission to his
authority. For my part, as an old traveller, I should rather say she did it
for another feeling. English pigeons did not fly that way every day, and
so they must be plucked; and the person to do it, she thought, was the
Berserker, her awful-looking spouse. The charge was exorbitant; and as
the good folks were regaling themselves with fresh mutton-chops and
strawberries and cream, while they had fobbed us off with eggs and
black bread and cheese—the latter so sharp that it went like a dagger to
my very vitals at the first taste—I resolutely taxed the bill of costs, and
carried my point; whereupon we took leave of the Deputy and his
descendants.
In one sense we had come to the world’s end; for there is no road for
wheels beyond this. The footpath up the steep cliff that looks down
upon the lake is only accessible to the nimble horses of the country.
“Hurrah!” exclaimed I, as I looked down on the blue lake, lying hundreds
of feet perpendicularly below us. “Hurrah for the mountains! Adieu to
the ‘boppery bop’ of civilization, with all its forms and ceremonies, and
turnpikes and twaddle. Here you can eat, and drink, and dress as and
when you like, and that is just the fun of the thing, more than half the
relaxation of the trip.” Why, this passion for mountain-travelling over the
hills and far away is not peculiar to Englishmen. Don’t the ladies of
Teheran, even, after their listless “vie à la pantoufle,” delight to hear of
the approach of the plague, as they know they are sure to get off to the
hills, and have a little tent-life in consequence? Didn’t that fat boy
Buttons (not in Pickwick, but Horace), cloyed with the Priest’s luscious
cheesecakes, long for a bit of coarse black bread, and run away from his
master to get it?
The precipitous path is studded at intervals with heaps of hones, or
whet-stones. I find that about here is the chief manufacture in all
Norway for this article. One year, a third of a million were turned out.
The next quarry in importance is at Kinservik, on the Hardanger Fjord.
Surmounting the ascent, we traverse swampy ground dotted with birch-
trees, and presently debouch upon one of those quaint edifices not to
be found out of this country—stabskirke (stave church), as it is called—
of which Borgund and Hitterdal Churches are well-known specimens. It
is so called from the lozenge-shaped shingles (staves), overlapping each
other like fish-scales, which case the roof and every part of the outside.
Smaller and less pretending than those edifices, this secluded place of
worship was of the same age—about nine hundred years. The resinous
pine has done its work well, and the carving on the capitals of the
wooden pillars at the doorway is in good preservation, though parts
have lately been churchwardenized.
“That is Eidsborg church,” said a young student, who had volunteered
to accompany me, as he was bound to a lone parsonage up the country,
in this direction. “This is the church the young lady on board the
steamer told you was so remarkable.”
After making a rough sketch of the exterior, we proceeded on our
journey. The few huts around were tenantless, the inhabitants all gone
up to the châlets. The blanching bear-skulls on the door of one of these
showed the wildness of the country we are traversing; while a black-
throated diver, which was busy ducking after the fish in the sedge-
margined pool close by, almost tempted me to load, and have a long
shot at him. As we proceed, I observe fieldfares, ring-ouzel, and chaff-
finches, while many English wild flowers enliven the scene, and delicious
strawberries assuage our thirst. Pursuing our path through the forest,
we come to a post on which is written “Ravne jüv,” Anglicè, Raven
depth.
“Det maa De see,” (you must see that,) said my companion, turning
off up a narrow path, and frightening a squirrel and a capercailzie, which
were apparently having a confab about things in general. I followed him
through the pine-wood, getting over the swampy ground by the aid of
some fallen trunks, and, in two or three minutes, came to the “Ravne
jüv.” It is made by the Sandok Elv, which here pierces through the
mountains, and may be seen fighting its way thousands of feet below
us. Where I stood, the cliff was perpendicular, or rather sloped inwards;
and, by a singular freak of nature, a regular embrasured battlement had
been projected forward, so as to permit of our approaching the giddy
verge with perfect impunity.
Es schwebt eine Brustwehre über den Rand
Der furchtbaren Tiefe gebogen
Sie ward nicht erbauet von Menschen-hand
Es hätte sich’s Keiner verwogen.

Lying flat, I put my head through an embrasure, and looked down into
the Raven’s depth.
“Ah! it’s deeper than you think,” said my companion. “Watch this piece
of wood.”
I counted forty before it reached a landing-place, and that was not
above half the way.
Annoyed at our intrusion, two buff-coloured hawks and a large falcon
kept flying backwards and forwards within shot, having evidently chosen
this frightful precipice as the safest place they could find for their young.
Luckily for them, the horse and guide had gone on with my fowling-
piece, or they might have descended double-quick into the sable depths
below, and become a repast for the ravens; who, as in duty bound, of
course frequent the recesses of their namesake, although none were
now visible.
What a pity a bit of scenery like this cannot be transported to
England. The Norwegians look upon rocks as a perfect nuisance, while
we sigh for them. Fancy the Ravne jüv in Derbyshire. Why, we should
have Marcus’ excursion-trains every week in the summer, and motley
crowds of tourists thronging to have a peep into the dark profound, and
some throwing themselves from the top of it, as they used to do from
the Monument, and John Stubbs incising his name on the battlements,
cutting boldly as the Roman king did at the behests of that humbugging
augur; and another true Briton breaking off bits of the parapet, just like
those immortal excursionists who rent the Blarney Stone in two. Then
there would be a grand hotel close by, and greasy waiters with white
chokers, and the nape of their neck shaven as smooth as a vulture’s
head (faugh!) and their front and back hair parted in one continuous
straight line, just like the wool of my lady’s poodle. How strongly they
would recommend to your notice some most trustworthy guide, to show
you what you can’t help seeing if you follow your nose, and are not
blind—the said trustworthy guide paying him a percentage on all grist
thus sent to his mill. Eventually, there would be a high wall erected, and
a locked gate, as at the Turk Fall at Killarney, and a shilling to pay for
seeing “private property,” &c. &c. No, no! let well alone. Give me the
“Raven deep” when it is in the silent solitudes of a Norwegian forest,
and let me muse wonderingly, and filled with awe, at the stupendous
engineering of Nature, and derive such edification as I may from the
sight.
At Sandok we get a fresh horse from the worthy Oiesteen, and some
capital beer, which he brings in a wooden quaigh, containing about half
a gallon.
On the face of the “loft,” loft or out-house, I see an excellent
specimen of wood carving. “That,” said Oiesteen, “has often been
pictured by the town people.” All the farm-houses in this part of the
country used to be carved in this fashion. One has only to read the
Sagas to know why all these old houses no longer exist. It is not that
the wood has perished in the natural way; experience, in fact, seems to
show that the Norwegian pine is almost as lasting, in ordinary
circumstances, as stone, growing harder by age. The truth is, in those
fighting days of the Vikings, when one party was at feud with another,
he would often march all night when his enemy least expected him, and
surrounding the house where he lay, so as to let none escape, set it on
fire.
The lad who took charge of the horse next stage was called Björn
(Bear), a not uncommon name all over Norway. It was now evening,
and chilly.
“Are you cold, Björn?” said the student.
“No; the Björn is never chilly,” was the facetious reply. The nearest
approach to a witticism I had ever heard escape the mouth of a
Norwegian peasant.
Two or three miles to the right we descry the river descending by a
huge cataract from its birthplace among the rocky mountains of Upper
Thelemarken. Presently we join what professes to be the high road from
Christiania, which is carried some twenty miles further westward, and
then suddenly ceases.
Long after midnight, we arrived at the Rectory House at ——, where I
was to sleep. Mr. —— was an intelligent sort of person, very quiet and
affable, and dressed in homespun from head to foot. After breakfast, the
staple of which was trout from the large lake close by, I offered him a
weed, which he declined, with the remark, “Ieg tygge,” I chew. The
ladies, as usual, are kind and unassuming, with none of the female arts
to be found in cities. A friend of mine, proud of his fancied skill in talking
Norsk, was once stopping at a clergyman’s in Norway, when he
apologised to the ladies for his deficiencies in their language. He was
evidently fishing for compliments, and was considerably taken aback
when one of them, in the most unsophisticated manner, observed,
taking him quite at his word, “Oh yes, strangers, you know, often
confound the words, and say one for another, which makes it very
difficult to comprehend them.”
Ludicrous mistakes are sometimes made by the Norwegians also. An
English gentleman arrived at a change-house in Österdal late one
evening, and was lucky in obtaining the only spare bed. Presently, when
he was on the point of retiring to rest, a Norwegian lady also arrived,
intending to spend the night there. What was to be done? Like a gallant
Englishman as he was, with that true, unselfish courtesy which is not, as
in France, confined to mere speeches, he immediately offered to give up
his bed to the “unprotected female,” who was mistress of a little English.
“Many thanks; but what will you do, sir?” “Oh! I will take a chair for the
night.” At this answer the lady blushed, and darted out of the room, and
in a few minutes her carriole was driving off in the darkness. What could
be the meaning of it? The peasant’s wife soon after looked into the
room, with a knowing sort of look at the Englishman. He subsequently
discovered the key to the enigma. The lady thought he said “he would
take a share,” and was, of course, mightily offended. So much for a
smattering of a foreign language. Doubtless, from that day forward, she
would quote this incident to her female friends as an instance of the
natural depravity of Englishmen; and this scapegrace would be looked
upon as a type of his nation.
The priest has some knives, the handles of which are of ivory, and
exquisitely carved in a flowing pattern. They cost as much as three
dollars apiece, a great sum. But the artificer, who lives near, is the best
in Thelemarken, the part of Norway most celebrated for this art. The
patterns used are, I hear, of very ancient date; being, in some instances,
identical with those on various metal articles discovered from time to
time in the barrows and cromlechs.
The walls of the sitting-room are hung with some engravings on
national subjects, e.g., “Anna Kolbjörnsdatter og de Svenske,” “Olaf,
killed at Sticklestad,” and “Konrad Adeler, at Tenedos.” Kort Adeler,
whose name lives in a popular song by Ingemann, was born at Brevik, in
1622, but took service under the Venetians, and on one occasion fought
and slew Ibrahim, the Turkish admiral. Ibrahim’s sword and banner are
still to be seen at Copenhagen. Adeler’s successor, as Norwegian
Admiral, was the renowned Niels Juel, the Nelson of the North.
I saw tossing about the Manse an old Runic Calendar, which nobody
seemed to care anything about. It was found in the house when the
parson came there, and appeared occasionally to have been used for
stirring the fire, as one end was quite charred. Without much difficulty I
succeeded in rescuing it from impending destruction, and possess it at
this moment. Some of these calendars are shaped like a circle, others
like an ellipse. They were of two kinds. Messedag’s stav (mass-day
stave) and Primstav. But the latter term properly applies to a much more
complex sort of calendar than the other. It contained not only runes for
festivals and other days, but also the Sunday letter or quarters of the
moon for every golden number. Its name is derived from prima luna,
i.e., the first full moon after the vernal equinox. The primstav proper
was generally four feet long. The almanack I here obtained is flat, and
figured on two sides, not as some of the old Anglo-Saxon calendars
were, square, and figured on four sides. It is shaped like a flat sword, an
inch and a half broad and half an inch thick, and is provided with a
handle. The owner of it appears to have been born on the 6th June, as
his monogram which is on the handle occurs again on that day. On the
broad sides the days of the week are notched, and on the narrow sides
there is a notch for every seventh day; i.e., the narrow sides mark the
weeks, the broad sides the days.
The day-marks or signs do not go from January to July, and from July
to December. On the one side, which was called the Vetr-leid, winter
side, they begin with the 14th of October, or “winter night,” and reach to
the 13th of April. On the other side, which was called the summer side,
they begin with the 14th of April “summer night,” and go to the 13th of
October. The runes, or marks distinguishing the days, are derived from a
variety of circumstances: sometimes from the weather, or farming
operations, or from legends of saints. But it must be observed that
hardly two calendars can be found corresponding to each other. Some
are simpler, others more complex. In some, one saint’s day is
distinguished, in others another. Winter then began with the old
Norwegians on the 14th of October; Midwinter was ninety days after—
i.e., on the 11th January, and Midsummer ninety-four days from the
14th of April.
The great winter festival in honour of Thor, on 20th January, was
called Höggenät, i.e.—slaughter-night.[4] This word is derived from
högge (to cut or hew), on account of the number of animals slaughtered
in honour of Thor. The word still survives in Scotland, in Hogmanáy (the
last night of the old year).
Snorro Sturlesen informs us that it was Hacon the Good, foster-son of
our King Athelstan, who made a law that the great Asa, or heathen
festival, which used to be held for three successive days in January,
should be transferred to the end of December, and kept so many days
as it was usual to keep Christmas in the English Church. His missionaries
being Northmen who had resided in England, like St. Augustine, the
Apostle of England, accommodated themselves to the superstitions and
habits in vogue among the people they came to convert. The great
banquets, where people feasted on the flesh of horses and other
victims, were turned into eating and drinking bouts of a more godly
sort; and the Skaal to Odin assumed the shape of a brimming bowl to
the honour of the Redeemer, the Virgin, and the saints. In their cups, no
doubt, their ideas would become at times confused, and many a
baptized heathen would hiccup a health to Odin and Thor. Even now, as
we have seen, after the lapse of so many centuries, much of the old
heathen leaven infects their Christianity.
We may here observe that the Norwegian word for Saturday is
Löverdag, i.e., washing-day, as a preparation for the Sunday festival, so
that the division of time into weeks of seven days must have originated
in Norway within the period of its conversion to Christianity. Herein,
then, they differed from the Anglo-Saxons, who called it Sæterndæg
(Saturns-day); while the South Germans called it after the Jewish
Sabbath, Sambaztag, now Samstag. The Scandinavians had exhausted
their great gods upon the other days. Sun and Moon, Tyr, Odin, Thor,
and Freya, had been used up, so they took the appropriate name
Löverdag, above-mentioned.
The following are the old names of the Norsk months:

Gormánaðr from Oct. 21 to Nov. 19.


Ýlir ” Nov. 20 ” Dec. 19.
Mörsúgr ” Dec. 20 ” Jan. 18.
Þorri ” Jan. 19 ” Feb. 17.
Goe, or Gœ ” Feb. 18 ” March 19.
Ein mánaðr ” March 20 ” April 18.
Gauk ” April 19 ” May 18.
Skerpla ” May 19 ” June 17.
Sólmánaðr ” June 18 ” July 22.
Heyannir ” July 23 ” Aug. 21.
Tvimánaðr ” Aug. 22 ” Sep. 20.
Haustmánaðr ” Sep. 21 ” Oct. 20.

Some of these names are very appropriate, e.g., Gormánaðr is gore-


month, when so many victims were slaughtered. Ýlir, or Jýlir, is the
month that prepares for Yule. Mörsúgr refers to the good cheer which
people sucked up at that period. Þorri is said to come from Þverra, to
get short, because the good things are then nearly run out. Gaukmánaðr
is Gauk’s (cuckoo’s) month. Sólmánaðr is the sun’s month. Heyannir is
hay-time. Tvimánaðr (from tvi, two) is the second month after
midsummer, while Haustmánaðr is harvest (scotticè) “har’st” month.
But our readers will think us becoming prosy, so we will mount the
cart, and discarding the society of the fat peasant woman who proposes
inflicting herself upon us, accept the kind offer of our intelligent student
to accompany us on our journey to Kos-thveit (Kos-thwaite, as we
should say in East Anglia), on the Lake of Totak.
“Are there any songs current in the mouths of the peasants here?” I
inquired, as we drove very slowly along a narrow road, through
morasses, studded with birch. “This is pre-eminently the old fashioned
part of Norway, so I suppose if they are anywhere they are here.”
“Oh, yes. There has been a student from Christiania wandering about
these parts lately, collecting songs for the purpose of publication. Many
of them are dying out fast. Some years ago, the girls used to improvise
over the loom. At weddings, lad and lass used to stevne (sing staves) in
amœbean fashion, on the spur of the moment.”
Some of these pieces are highly witty and satirical. But the bonders
are very averse to repeating them. One of them, on being asked by the
student to repeat a stave, replied, “Ieg vil ikke være en Narr for Byen-
folk:” (I won’t play the fool to amuse the city folks.)
Here is a specimen of one native to this part done into English.

STAVE.
A. Oh! fair is the sight to see,
When the lads and the lasses are dancin’;
The cuckoo, he calls from the tree,
And the birds through the green wood are glancin’!

B. Oh! ’tis fair in Vining-town,


When to kirk the lovers repair:
Of other light need they have none,
So light is the bride’s yellow hair.

A. Oh! fair is the sight I trow,


When the bride the kirk goes in,
No need of the torch’s glow,
So bright is her cherry chin.[5]

B. Her neck’s like the driven snow,


Her hair’s like the daffodil,
Her eyes in their sockets glow,
Like the sun rising over the hill.

The whole winds up with a description of the married life of the pair.
A. The cock he struts into the house,
The bonder gives him corn,
The flocks on the northern lea browse,
And the shepherd he blows his horn.

B. The shepherd the mountain ascends,


And the setting sun doth bide,
As blithe, when night descends,
As the bairns at merry Yule-tide.
CHAPTER V.
A lone farm-house—A scandal against the God Thor—The headquarters of
Scandinavian fairy lore—The legend of Dyrë Vo—A deep pool—A hint for
alternate ploughboys—Wild goose geometry—A memorial of the good
old times—Dutch falconers—Rough game afoot—Author hits two birds
with one stone—Crosses the lake Totak—A slough of despond—An
honest guide—A Norwegian militiaman—Rough lodgings—A night with
the swallows—A trick of authorship—Yea or Nay.

At Kos-thveit, on the lake Totak, stands a lone farm-house, the


proprietor of which procured me a man and a maid to row me over the
dreary waters, now rendered drearier by a passing squall which overcast
the sky. Pointing to the westward, where the lake narrowed, and
receded under the shadows of the approaching mountains, the ferryman
told me that yonder lay the famous Urebro Urden,[6] where the god
Thor, when disguised by beer, lost his hammer, and cleared a road
through the loose rocks while engaged in searching for it. Indeed, with
the exception of Nissedal, in another part of Thelemarken, which is
reputed as the head quarters of trolls and glamour, this gloomy lake and
its vicinity abound, perhaps more than any part of Norway, in tales of
Scandinavia’s ancient gods and supernatural beings. The man also
mentioned the legend of Dyrë Vo, which has been put into verse by
Welhaven.
The following version will give some idea of the legend—
The bonniest lad all Vinje thro’
Was Dyrë of Vo by name,
Firm as a rock the strength, I trow,
Of twelve men he could claim.
“Well Dyrë,” quoth a neighbour bold,
“With trolls and sprites, like Thor of old,
To have a bout now fear ye?”
“Not a bit, were it mirk,” said Dyrë.

Full soon, they tell, it did befal


That in the merry Yule-tide,
When cups went round, and beards wagg’d all,
And the ale was briskly plied:
All in a trice the mirth grew still:
Hark! what a sound came from the hill,
As a hundred steers lowed near ye.
“Well, now its right mirk,” quoth Dyrë.

Then straightway he hied to Totak-vand,


And loosened his boat so snell;
But as he drew near to the other strand
He heard an eldritch yell.
“Who’s fumbling in the churn? What ho!”
“But who art thou?—I’m Dyrë Vo,—
All in the moor, so weary;
And so dark as it is?” asked Dyrë.

“I’m from Ashowe, and must away


To Glomshowe to my lady;
Bring the boat alongside, and do not stay,
And put out your strength: so; steady.”
“You must shrink a bit first,” was Vo’s reply,
“My boat is so little, and you so high;
Your body’s as long as a tall fir-tree,
And, remember, its dark,” said Dyrë.

The Troll he shrunk up, quite funny to see,


Ere the boat could be made to fit him,
Then Dyrë—the devil a pin cared he
For Trolls—began to twit him.
“Now tell me, good sir, what giant you are.”
“No nonsense—you’ll rue it—of joking beware,”
Growled the Troll, so dark and dreary.
“Besides, it is mirk,” laughed Dyrë.

But the Troll by degrees more friendly grew,


And said, when he over was ferried,
“In your trough I’ll leave a token, to shew
The measure of him you’ve wherried.
Look under the thwarts when darkness wanes,
And something you’ll find in return for your pains;
And something you ll find in return for your pains;
A trifle wherewith to make merry.”
“For now it is mirk,” said Dyrë.

When daylight appeared, a glove-finger of wool


He found in the boat—such a treasure—
Four skeps it did take to fill it full,
Dyrë uses it for a meal-measure.
Then straight it became a proverb or saw,
Dyrë Vo is the lad to go like Thor
’Gainst Trolls, and such like Feerie.
“Best of all when it’s mirk,” thought Dyrë.

“Very deep, sir,” said the boatman, as I let out my spinning tackle, in
the faint hopes of a trout for supper.
“Was the depth ever plumbed?” inquired I.
“To be sure, sir. That’s a long, long time ago—leastways, I have heard
so. There was an old woman at Kos-thveit yonder, whose husband had
the ill-luck to be drowned in the lake. She set people to work to drag for
his body, but nowhere on this side of the country could she get a rope
sufficiently long for the work. So she had to send to the city for one. At
last they reached the bottom, and found the lake as deep as it was
broad, with a little to spare, for the rope reached from Kos-thveit to
Rauland, just across the water, and then went twice round the church,
which you see standing alone, yonder on the shore, three miles off.”
“Who serves that church?” inquired I.
“Vinje’s Priest,” he answered. “That was his boat-house we passed.”
We landed on the eastern shore of the lake, at a spot called
Hadeland, where a cluster of farm-houses were to be seen upon a green
slope, showing some symptoms of cultivation. Richard Aslackson Berge,
the farmer at whose house I put up, a grimy, ill-clad fellow, quite
astounded me by the extent of his information. Catching sight of my
wooden calendar, he immediately fetched an old almanack, which
contained some explanation of the various signs upon the staff. Fancy
one of your “alternate ploughboys”—as the Dean of Hereford and other
would-be improvers of the clod-hopping mind, if I remember rightly, call
them—fancy one of these fellows studying with interest an ancient
Anglo-Saxon wooden calendar; and yet this man Berge, besides this,
talked of the older and younger Edda, the poem of Gudrun, and, if my
memory serves me, of the Nibelungenlied. He had also read the
Heimskringla Saga. The promoters of book-hawking and village lending
libraries will be interested to hear that this superior enlightenment was
due to a small lending library, which had been established by a former
clergyman of the district. There was a pithiness and simplicity about this
man’s talk which surprised me.
“The wild geese,” says he, “come over here in the spring, and after
tarrying a few days make over to the north, in the shape of a snow-
plough.” Milton would have said, “Ranged in figure, wedge their way.”
Several old swords and other weapons have been dug up in the
vicinity, indicative of rugged manners and deeds quite in keeping with
the rugged features of the surrounding nature. On an old beam in the
hay-loft is carved, in antique Norsk—“Knut So-and-so was murdered
here in 1685”—the simple memorial of a very common incident in those
days.
For the moderate sum of four orts (three and fourpence) I hire a
horse and a man to the shores of the Miösvand. To the left of our route
—path there is none—is a place called Falke Riese (Falcon’s Nest), where
Richard tells me that his grandfather told him he remembered a party of
Dutchmen being located in a log-hut, for the purpose of catching
falcons, and that they used duen (tame doves) to attract them. This is
interesting, as showing the method pursued by the grandees of Europe,
in the days of hawking, to procure the best, or Norwegian breed. At one
time, this sport was also practised by the great people of this country.
Thus, from Snorro, it appears that Eywind used to keep falcons.
My guide, Ole, has been a soldier, but much prefers the mountain air
to that of the town.
“In the town,” says he, “it is so traengt,” (in Lincolnshire, throng,) i.e.,
no room to stir or breathe.
In the course of conversation he tells me he verily believes I have
travelled over the whole earth.
While the horse is stopping to rest and browse on a spot which
afforded a scanty pasturage, a likely-looking lake attracted my
observation, and I was speedily on its rocky banks, throwing for a trout
—but the trout were too wary and the water too still. While thus
engaged, a distant horn sounds from a mountain on the right,
sufficiently startling in such a desolate region. Was game afoot this
morning, and was I presently to hear—
The deep-mouthed blood-hound’s heavy bay,
Resounding up the hollow way.

Game was afoot, but not of the kind usually the object of the chase.
The Alpine horn was blown by a sæter-lad to keep off the wolves, as I
was informed. As nothing was to be done with the rod, I tried the gun,
and as we slope down through the stunted willows and birch copses
that patch the banks of the Miösvand, I fall in with plenty of golden
plover and brown ptarmigan, and manage to kill two birds with one
stone. In other words, the shots that serve to replenish the provision-
bag arouse a peasant on the further side, who puts over to us in his
boat, and thus saves us a detour of some miles round the southern arm
of the lake. As we cross over, I perceive far to the westward the snow-
covered mountains of the Hardanger Fjeld, which I hope to cross. The
westernmost end of the lake is, I understand, twenty-four English miles
from this. To the eastward, towering above its brother mountains, is the
cockscombed Gausta, which lies close by the Riukan Foss, while all
around the scenery is as gaunt and savage as possible. At Schinderland,
where we land, after some palaver I procure a horse to Erlands-gaard, a
cabin which lies on the hither side of the northern fork of the Miösen,
said to be seven miles distant. But the many detours we had to make to
avoid the dangerous bogs, made the transit a long affair. In one place,
when the poor nag, encumbered with my effects, sank up to his belly, I
expected every moment to see the hungry bog swallow him up entirely.
With admirable presence of mind he kept quite still, instead of
exhausting himself in struggling, and then by an agile fling and peculiar
sleight of foot, got well out of the mess.
The delay caused by these difficulties enabled me to bring down some
more ptarmigan, and have a bang at an eagle, who swept off with a
sound which to my ears seemed very like “don’t you wish you may get
it.” But perhaps it was only the wind driving down the rocks and over
the savage moorland.
The modest charge of one ort (tenpence), made by my guide for
horse and man, not a little surprised me. I did not permit him to lose by
his honesty.
Unfortunately, the boat at Erlands-gaard is away; so meanwhile I cook
some plover and chat with the occupants of the cabin. Sigur Ketilson,
one of the sons, is a Konge-man, (one of “the king’s men,” or soldiers,
mentioned in the ballad of “Humpty-dumpty.”) He has been out
exercising this year at Tönsberg, one hundred and forty English miles
off. The mere getting thither to join his corps is quite a campaign in
itself. On his road to headquarters he receives fourteen skillings per
diem as viaticum, and one skilling and a half for “logiment.” A bed for
three farthings! He is not forced to march more than two Norsk
(fourteen English) miles a day. The time of serving is now cut down one-
half, being five instead of ten years, and by the same law every able-
bodied person must present himself for service, though instead of the
final selection being made by lot, it is left to the discretion of one officer
—a regulation liable to abuse.
At last the boat returns, and embarking in it by ten o’clock p.m., when
it is quite dark, I arrive at the lone farm-house at Holvig. Mrs. Anna
Holvig is reposing with her three children, her husband being from
home. There being only one bed on the premises, I find that the hay
this night must be my couch. The neighbouring loft where I slept was a
building with its four ends resting, as usual, on huge stones. At intervals
during the night I am awoke by noises close to my ear, which I thought
must be from infantine rats, whose organs of speech were not fully
developed. In the morning I discover that my nocturnal disturbers were
not rats, but swallows, who had constructed their mud habitations just
under the flooring where I slept. “The swallow twittering from its straw-
built nest” may gratify persons of an elegiac turn; but under the
circumstances the noise was anything but agreeable.
“The breezy call of incense breathing morn,” in which the same poet
revels, was much more to my liking; indeed, one sniff of it made me as
fresh as a lark, and I picked my way to the house by the lake side, and
enjoyed my coffee. The little boy, Oiesteen Torkilson, though only eight
years of age, has not been idle, and has procured a man and horse from
a distant sæter. The price asked is out of all reason, as I don’t hesitate
to tell the owner. Before the bargain is struck, I jot down a few remarks
in my journal. With the inquisitiveness of her nation, the woman asks
what I am writing. “Notices of what I see and think of the people; who
is good, and who not.” Out bolts the lady, to apprise the man of her
discovery that “there’s a chield amang ye taking notes, and faith he’ll
print it.” My device succeeded. Presently she finished her confab with
the peasant, and returned to say that he would take a more moderate
payment.
I observed here, for the first time, the difference between the two
words “ja” and “jo.”
Have you seen a bear?—“Ja.” Haven’t you seen a bear?—“Jo.” I have
met educated Norwegians who had failed to observe the distinction. A
perfectly similar distinction was formerly made in England between “yes”
and “yea.”[7]
CHAPTER VI.
No cream—The valley of the Maan—The Riukan foss—German students—A
bridge of dread—The course of true love never did run smooth—Fine
misty weather for trout—Salted provisions—Midsummer night revels—
The Tindsö—The priest’s hole—Treacherous ice—A case for Professor
Holloway—The realms of cloud-land—Superannuated—An ornithological
guess—Field-fares out of reach of “Tom Brown”—The best kind of physic
—Undemonstrative affection—Everywhere the same—Clever little horses.

The path, I find, is at a higher level than I imagined, for, on reaching


a sæter, no bunker (sour milk, with a thick coating of cream) is to be
had, as the temperature is too low, the girl tells me, for the process of
mantling to take place.
The horse being exceedingly lazy, I administered a rebuke to him,
when he was not slow in returning the compliment, striking me with his
heels in the thigh. Luckily I was close behind him, or the thread of my
story might have been abruptly snapped.
Pine now begins to take the place of birch, and we descend very
rapidly into the valley of the Maan, pronounced Moan. To our right,
among the trees, is heard the roar of the famous Riukan foss, which at
one perpendicular shoot of nine hundred feet, discharges the waters of
the great Miösvand and other lakes into the valley.
Leaving my guide to rest for a space, I plunged into the forest, and,
after a precipitous descent, espy a cottage close to the falls. Here sat
two strangers, regaling themselves on wild strawberries and milk, while
the master of the hut was carving a wooden shoe, and the mistress
suckling a baby. The travellers both wore spectacles and longish hair,
and a pocket-compass depending from their necks. Each carried a beau
ideal of a knapsack, and I knew them at once to be German students.
After eating their meal, they observed that they had “yut yespeist,”
which stamped them at once to be from the Rhine; the pronunciation of
g as y being the shibboleth of detection. “Eine yute yebratene yans ist
eine yute yabe Yoddes” (a yood yoast yoose is a yood yift of Yod), is a
saying fastened on the Rhinelander by the more orthoepic Hanoverian.
But it is more than doubtful whether these good people will have any
opportunity in this country of tasting any such delicacy.
A few yards brought us to the magnificent amphitheatre of the
Riukan, on the further side of which we have the fall full in view. On the
face of the smooth, nearly perpendicular wall which shuts in the vast
arena to the right of us, is an exceedingly narrow ledge—
A bridge of dread,
Not wider than a thread—

along which foolhardy people have occasionally risked their necks, either
out of mere bravado or in order to make a short cut to the Miösvand,
which I left this morning. This is the famous Mari-stien—everybody
knows the legend about it—sadly exemplifying the fact that the course
of true love never did run smooth: how young Oiesteen fell from it on
his way to a stolen interview with Mary of Vestfjordalen, and she lost her
senses in consequence, and daily haunted the spot for years afterwards,
pale and wan, and silent as a ghost, and is even now seen when the
shades of evening fall, hovering over the giddy verge of “The
remorseless deep which closed o’er the head of her loved Lycidas.”
But as neither I nor the Teutons could see any possible good in risking
our necks for nought, and valued a whole skin and unbroken bones,
after assaying to take in and digest the wonderful sight, we presently
retraced our steps without setting foot on ledge.
Five miles below this is Dœl, where some accommodation, at a dear
rate, is to be obtained of Ole Tarjeison.
Next morning, the summit of Gausta, which rises just over the Maan
to the height of 5688 feet, and commands a magnificent view of the
district of Ringerike, is covered with cloud. But what is bad weather to
others, is good in the eyes of the fisherman. So, instead of lamenting
“the wretched weather,” I get out my trout-rod and secure some capital
trouts (at times they are taken here seven pounds in weight), part of
which I have sprinkled with salt, and put into the provision-bag, with a
view to the journey I purpose taking from hence across the Fjeld to
Norway’s greatest waterfall, the Vöringfoss, in the Hardanger.
While sauntering about, a printed notice, suspended in the passage of
the house, attracts my attention, which afforded a considerable insight
into the morals of the Norwegian peasant. It was dated April 18, 1853,
and was to this effect: The king has heard with much displeasure that
the old custom of young unmarried men running about at night,
sometimes in flocks (flokkeviis), especially on Sundays and saints’-days,
after the girls, while asleep in the cow-houses, has been renewed. His
Majesty, therefore, summons all Christian and sober-minded parents,
and house-fathers, to protect their children and servants from this
nocturnal rioting. He also calls upon them to keep the two sexes apart,
for the sake of order and good morals; and if the same shall be detected
conniving at these irregularities, they shall, for the first offence, be
mulcted one dollar seventy-two skillings; for the second offence, double
that amount, &c. The young men shall have the same punishment; and,
for the third offence, be confined from three to six months with hard
labour in a fortress. Girls who receive such clandestine visits, shall be
punished in like manner. Informers shall be entitled to receive the fine.
All Government officers are required to make known these presents.
This notice must be read at churches, posted in conspicuous places, and
sent about by messengers.
Here, then, I obtained the certain knowledge of a custom—similar to
one which still lingers in Wales—which I had suspected to be prevalent,
but the existence of which the inhabitants of the country, for some
reason or other, I found slow to admit. The above ordinance is a renewal
of a similar one made 4th March, 1778, from which it appears that the
immorality of “Nattefrieri” (night-courting) has long prevailed in Norway.
Eight English miles below this the Maan finds ample room and verge
enough to expatiate in the deep Tindsö, which is, perhaps, one of the
most dangerous lakes in Norway, being subject to frightfully sudden
storms; while the precipitous cliffs that bound it, for the most part only
afford foothold to a fly, or such like climbers. There is an old tale about
this lake, illustrative of the dangers to which a clergyman is subject in
the discharge of his duties. Many years ago, the parson of the parish
had to cross over the lake to do duty in the “annex church” at Hovind.
The weather was threatening; but his flock awaited him, and so he
started, commending himself to God and his good angels. Long before
he approached his destination, the wind had so increased in violence
that the boatmen were overpowered, and the boat was dashed to pieces
against the adamantine walls of the Haukanes Fjeld. All on board were
lost but the priest, who was carried by the billows into a small cleft in
the rock, far above the usual high-water mark. For three days he sat
wedged in this hole, from whence there was no exit. On the fourth day,
the winds and waves abated; and some boatmen, who were rowing by,
as good fortune would have it, heard the faint cry for assistance which
the captive gave, as he saw them from his “coin of vantage.” And so he
was rescued from his terrible predicament; and the notch in the wall still
goes by the name of the Prestehul, “Priest’s-hole.”
Bishop Selwyn, with his well-found yacht, sailing among the deep
bays of New Zealand, confirming and stablishing the Maoris in the
Christian faith, will have to wait a long time before he can meet with
such an adventure as the Tindsö priest. But then you’ll say, in winter
time it is all right, and the parson can dash along over the ice, defying
the dangers of the deep and the bristling rocks. Not so, however; there
are not unfrequently weak places in the ice, which look as strong as the
rest, but which let in the unfortunate traveller. Not long ago, five men
and a horse were thus engulphed. So in the Heimskringla Saga, King
Harold and his retinue perish by falling through the ice on the
Randsfjord, at a place where cattle-dung had caused it to thaw.
Giving up all thoughts of ascending the Gausta,—as I understand the
chance of a view from it in this misty weather is very precarious,—I hire
a horse from one Hans Ostensen Ingulfsland, to convey my luggage to
Waage, on the Miösvand. Hans was ill, apparently of a deranged
stomach and liver, and, with rueful aspect, consulted me on his case. All
the medicine he had was what he called a probatum, in a small bottle.
The probatum turned out to be a specific for the gravel, as I saw from a
label on the flask; so I gave him what was more likely to suit his case,
some blue pill and rhubarb.
Hans’ father used to entertain travellers, but his charges became so
high that all his customers forsook him; and M. Doel, who appears to be
in a fair way to imitate his predecessor, set up in “the public line.”
Hitherto the valley has been clear of cloud; and on arriving at Vaa, I
stop to rest, and sketch the distant smoke of the Riukan ascending from
its rocky cauldron towards heaven. Presently the mist, which had all the
morning hidden the “comb” of Gausta, threw off a few flakes; these
gradually extend and unite, and pour along the mountain-tops to my
left, and in a few minutes reach to and absorb the smoke of Riukan, and
hide it from view. Up boil the fogs, as if by magic, from all sides; and,
like the image of Fame, in Virgil, the vapour rises from the depths of the
valley, and reaches up to the sky. Doubtless it was the spirit of the
place, wroth at my profane endeavour to represent her shrine on paper;
and the sullen “moan” of the stream might, by an imaginative person,
have been supposed to be the utterance of her complaint.
In the foreground, intently watching my operations as he sits upon a
rock, is old Peer Peerson Vaa, who being over eighty, is past work, and
having no children, has sold his Gaard to one Ole Knutzen, on the
condition of having his liv-brod (life-bread)—i.e., being supported till his
death. This is not an uncommon custom in Norway. He is “farbro”
(uncle) to the man at Dœl.
Observe the simplicity of the language. So the Norsk for “aunt” is
“moerbro,”—mother’s brother.
I here obtain a dollar or two of small change, with which I am ill
provided. It is curious, by-the-bye, to see how one of these bonders
looks at half-a-dozen small coins before he is able to reckon the amount.
This is in consequence of the infrequency of money up the country.
As we ascend the Pass, I observe some dusky-looking birds, which
turn out to be ringouzels. According to a Norwegian whom I consulted
on the subject, they are the substitute, in a great measure, if not
altogether, in this part of the country, for the
Ouzel cock, so black of hue,
With orange-tawny bill,

whose plaintive song so delights us in Great Britain.


Several fieldfares, also, chattered in a startled and angry manner
as they rose from the low birch bushes, impatient, no doubt, for the
period, now fast approaching, when their young ones will be ready
to fly and start for Germany, one of their chief winter habitats,
where, under the appellation of “Krammets-vogel,” they will appear
in the bill of fare at the hotels. What an odd notion, to be sure, of all
these birds going so far to lie-in! What an infinity of trouble they
would save themselves if they stopped, for instance, during the
breeding period, in Germany or England! Aye; but then they would
be exposed to the depredations of “Tom Brown” and others of the
genus schoolboy, whose destructive and adventurous qualities
generally first develop themselves in the bird-nesting line.
One of the straps which fastened my luggage to the horse having
broken, my guide very soon constructs, of birch twig, a strap and
buckle which holds as fast as any leathern one I ever saw. This
fertility of invention is due to the non-division of labour. What could
an Englishman have done under similar circumstances?
Halvor Halvorsen, my guide, is a poor weakly fellow, and having
seen me prescribe for Ingulfsland, he asks me if I can do anything
for him. Good living and less hard work are all he wants; but,
unfortunately, while he has plenty of the latter, he gets but little of
the former. On his back is a great load of milk-pails, and some
provisions (potatoes and flad-brod) for his spouse, who is taking
care of a sæter, which we shall pass.
At length we arrive there: it is a cot of unhewn stone-slabs, and
before the door a lot of dried juniper-bushes, the only firing which
the desolate plateau affords. Gro Johannsdatter, a really pretty-
looking young woman, with delicate features, smiles in a subdued
manner as we enter, and thanks her husband quietly and
monosyllabically for bringing up the food. This, together with her
little boy, she proceeds to examine with inquisitive, eager eye. The
larder was doubtless nearly empty. She then gives her husband,
whom she had not seen for some time, a furtive look of affection,
but nothing more—no embrace, no kiss. How undemonstrative these
people are! It is a remarkable characteristic of the lower orders of
Norway, that, unlike their betters, they never think of kissing or
embracing before strangers. Compare this with those
demonstrations in Germany and France, where not the opposite
sexes, but great bearded men, will kiss each other on either cheek
with the report of popguns, regardless of bystanders.
Presently they go into the inner compartment of the hut, and then
at length I believe I heard the sound of a kiss. While she makes up
the fire, and boils some milk for her husband, who has many hours
of mountain still before him, I endeavour to take a slight sketch of
her and the abode.
No sooner does she become aware of my intentions, than, with
true feminine instinct, she begs me to wait a moment, while she
divests herself of an ugly clout of a kerchief which hides a very
pretty neck. The sketch concluded, she asks for a sight of it, and,
with a pleased smile, exclaims, “No, no; I’m not so smuk (pretty,
smug) as that.”
These châlets, by-the-bye, are not called sæter in this part of
Norway, but stol, or stöl. They are very inferior in accommodation to
those in the Hardanger district and elsewhere.
Beyond crossing a river, Humle-elv, when, by my guide’s
recommendation, I spring on the horse’s back, I find nothing noted
in my diary concerning the rest of the day’s journey.
These little horses will carry up and down steep mountains from
fifteen Norwegian Bismark lbs. (nearly two hundred weight English)
up to twenty-two. How the little nag, with my luggage and myself on
his back, managed to win his way over the stream, which was at
least two feet deep, and among the large slippery stones on its
bottom, it was difficult to divine. They are very cats for climbing,
though they do not share that animal’s aversion to water, which they
take to as if it was their natural element.
CHAPTER VII.
An oasis—Unkempt waiters—Improving an opportunity—The church in
the wilderness—Household words—A sudden squall—The pools of
the Quenna—Airy lodgings—Weather-bound—A Norwegian
grandpapa—Unwashed agriculturists—An uncanny companion—A
fiery ordeal—The idiot’s idiosyncrasy—The punctilious parson—A
pleasant query—The mystery of making flad-brod—National cakes—
The exclusively English phase of existence—Author makes a vain
attempt to be “hyggelig”—Rather queer.

It was already dark when we emerged from the morasses and


loose rocks, and lighted by good luck on the little patch of green
sward on the northern shores of the Misövand, adjoining the farm-
house of Waagen. On referring to the map, reader, and finding this
spot set down upon it, your imagination, of course, pictures a
regular village, or something of that sort; but this is not the case. A
couple of gaards, with a belt of swampy grass land, are all the
symptoms of man to enliven this intensely solitary waste of grey
rocks, bog, birch, and water.
The proprietors are Gunnuf Sweynsen and his brother Torkil,
together with one Ole Johnson, a cousin. Gunnuf is absent, guiding
the Germans across the Fjeld.
The best method to proceed is, I find, to take boat from here to
Lien, which is about twenty-four miles distant, at the very top or
north-eastern end of the lake; a horse must then be procured to
carry my effects for the other seventy English miles across the
mountains. A bargain is soon struck with Johnson, who has once
before traversed most of the route; and for the sum of eight dollars
(thirty-six shillings English) he undertakes to horse and guide me the
whole way to the Hardanger.
The stabur, or hay-loft, affords me a tolerable night’s resting-
place. There were no women-folk about to make things comfortable;
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