..."The Nordlander, has a touch of Nature's caressing softness in his character; 

when he can manage it, he is fond of living and dressing well, and lodging comfortably; 

with regard to delicacies, he is a thorough epicure. 
...Brought up in the midst of a nature so rich in contrasts and possibilities, 

and amidst scenes of the utmost variety, from the wildest grandeur to the tenderest beauty,

charm and fascination, the Nordlander is, as a rule, clever and bright, 

often indeed brilliant and imaginative. 

Impressionable as he is, he yields easily to the impulse of the moment. 

If there is sunshine in your face, there is sure to be sunshine in his. 

But you must not be mistaken in him, and take his good-nature for perfect simplicity.
Deep in his soul there lurks a silent suspicion, unknown even to himself, 

he is always like a watchful sea-fowl that dives at the flash of the gun, 

and before the bullet has had time to strike the spot where it just now lay on the water. 

He has been used from childhood to think of the unexpected, the possibility of all possible things 

in Nature, as a sword hanging over every peaceful, quiet hour, and he generally carries this instinct 

with him in his intercourse with his fellow-creatures. 

While you are talking to him, he may dive into his mind like the sea-fowl, 

but you do not suspect it, and are not therefore disconcerted. 

This introspection may occur while he has tears in his eyes, 

and in moments when he is most deeply affected... 

It is his nature, and he will always retain a dash of it, even when he has moved, 

with all his belongings, from natural into civilised surroundings. 

He eludes you, steals, with his imagination and his watchful suspicion, 

in, among, and around your thoughts; indeed, if he is a really talented Nordlander,

I believe that, without your suspecting it, he can go, with his hands in his pockets,
right through your mind, in at your forehead, and out at the back of your head. 

He would be invaluable as a detective or a diplomatist, if only he had more strength of character, 

and succumbed with less childish weakness to the influence of the moment; 

but these are unfortunately his weak points. 
Nature's contrasts in Nordland are too great and extreme for the mind of the race 

that lives there not to be exceedingly liable to receive permanent injury from them. 

The extreme melancholy and sadness which is found there in the poor man, 

has most undoubtedly its connection with and reason in these natural conditions; 

in the long winter darkness with its oppressive, overwhelming scenes 

that crush down the mind in light-forsaken loneliness; 

and in the strong and sudden impressions that, in the dark season as well as in the light, 

affect all too violently the delicate inner fibres of being.

...I understand that it is a disease of the mind, which no treatment, 

no intelligence or reflection can cure. 

A visionary is born with an additional sense of sight. 

Beside his two sound eyes, he has the power of looking into a world 

that others have only a suspicion of..."

From "The Visionary. Pictures From Nordland" by Jonas Lie

Translated from the Norwegian by Jessie Muir, Hodder Brothers, London, 1894