Varieties of those forest trees which we are accustomed to meet in more temperate latitudes, and studded with cottages, farm-houses, and country residences, indicating taste and comfort, if not luxury and wealth. The tide rushes into many of these fiords with great violence, especially on the north-western quarter of the peninsula. This is readily accounted for from the fact, that the interior basins are often very capacious, whilst the mouths by which the water flows in to fill them are frequently very confined. Opposite to Folden Fiord is the Melström, or Moskoeström, long celebrated as the most appalling whirlpool in Europe; but it owes much of its reputation to the exaggerated accounts of travellers. It is situated nearly at the extremity of the range of the Lofoten Islands, beginning between Moskoenæs and Moskoe, and exhausting itself between Varoo and Rost, the last of which is the most westerly of the Lofotens. The whirlpool is simply caused by the rushing of the ocean, as the tide rises and falls, between this chain of islands, which impedes its course like the narrow mouths of the fiords. The relative position of the surrounding islands causes the Maelström to form a large circle; and the great inequalities of its bottom, which, from a few fathoms, deepens suddenly in many parts to 200, increase the violence of the current.

The interior of Norway is traversed by a succession of mountain ranges, called Fjeldes, whence the Cumberland term Fell, designating an elevated tract of ground. Some geographers have divided the Scandinavian Alps into groups, a classification which appears to be more fanciful than real. Those which intersect Norway, extending from the southern extremity of the country to Cape North, the most northerly point in Europe, are called the Dofrines; and the most considerable of these ranges is the Dovre Fjelde, lying between the sixty-second and sixty-third parallels of north latitude. Travellers are proverbially prone to give exaggerated descriptions of the physical features of the countries which they traverse; and from this cause our ideas of the height of the Norwegian mountains, and the sublimity of the scenery which they present, have hitherto been pitched rather above the truth. Mr Laing, in his excellent account of the country, thus describes this great natural feature of Norway. "The Dovre Fjelde here (at Jerkin, on the northern verge of the range) may be from twenty-four to twenty-eight miles across. When we give things their real names, we take away much of their imaginary grandeur. The Dovre Fjelde sounds well, and we fancy it a vast and sublime natural feature. It really is no more than a fell, like those of Yorkshire or Cumberland; an elevated tract of ground, whence run waters in opposite directions, and which forms the base of a number of detached hills of moderate elevation. In fact, as a scene impressing the traveller with ideas of vast and lonely grandeur, the tract from the waters of the Tay to those of the Spey, by Dalmarnock, Dalshanny, and Pitmain, greatly surpasses it. You are indeed 3000 feet above the level of the sea; but that is not seen; it is a matter of reflection and information. You look down upon nothing below you, and look up only to hills of moderate elevation. Schneeboette alone comes up to a mountain in magnitude: it is 7300 feet above the level of the sea; but this fell is 3000 at this farm-house (Jerkin, where Mr Laing resided), which is about twelve miles from the base of Schneeboette. The actual height of this mountain, therefore, for the eye, is about the same as that of Ben Nevis, about 4300 feet, with the disadvantage of gaining its apparent height by a slow rise from the fell. There is a considerable mass of snow in a hollow on the bosom of Schneeboette, but not more than remains for great part of the summer on hills in Aberdeenshire, and nothing like a glacier. The head and shoulder are clear of snow. The most remarkable feature of this mountain tract is, that the surface of the fell, and of Schneeboette to its summit, is covered with, or more properly composed of, rounded masses of gneiss and granite, from the size of a man's head to that of the hull of a ship. These loose rolled masses are covered with soil in some places, but in others they are bare, just as they were left by the torrent which must have rounded them, and deposited them in this region."

Mr Laing was informed by one of the officers employed in the trigonometrical survey of Norway, that Schneeboette is not the most elevated of the Norwegian mountains, and that, in all probability, Hurung Fjelde exceeds it by about 700 feet. The names of the other elevations to the south and west of Dovre Fjelde, are Lang Fjelde, Stagen Fjelde, Sogne Fjelde, Ska- gen Fjelde, Fille Fjelde, Hardanger Fjelde, and some others which need not be named. The Hurunger, the Fille, and the Hardanger Mountains, running into the sea at the Naze of Norway, form, with the Dovre Mountains, one vast triangular range, with its apex at Lessoe, and its base overflowed by the ocean in the height called the Shagerrak.

There are a number of lakes in Norway, the largest of Lakes, which is the Myosen, a splendid sheet of water, about rivers, and eighty miles in length and from one to ten in breadth. Its scenery has been classed with the pastoral or beautiful, rather than with the sublime. Its shores are well cultivated, and, with the exception of a few rough promontories dipping into the lake, the slopes are easy, and yield fine crops of oats, bear, flax, pease, and potatoes. Its direction, like that of a great many of the lakes and rivers in Norway, is from north-west to south-east, crossing the sixty-first parallel of north latitude. The depth of the Myosen varies greatly; but it is considered as shallower than most of the other Norwegian lakes. The depth in the lower parts is not more than forty fathoms, often it is much less; but in the upper part it has been found to exceed a hundred. Yet even this is nothing in comparison with the depth of the other lakes, particularly of the Fanund Soe, which is reputed to be unfathomable; a distinction always allotted to the deepest lake in every mountainous country. A large stream, called the Vormen Elv, issues from the southern limit of Lake Myosen; and at Sunde, which is its northern extremity, it forms a communication with Lake Lossness, or Lossness Soe, by the Lossen Elv or River, which derives its name from the lake. Into this lake flows a river which rises in the Dovre Fjelde range of mountains, and appears to be the one alluded to by Mr Laing in the following passage. "The stream which runs through Gulbrandsdal and the Myosen, and reaches the sea at Frederikstad, being the same I left at Lien, comes down from the hills at or near Lessoe, and is there divided into two branches, one of which, as above stated, runs into the Myosen, and the other into the North Sea at the fiord in

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1 Glaciers, however, are not unknown in Norway. Mr Lloyd, in his Field Sports of the North of Europe, observes, confirming what Mr Laing says in reference to Schneeboette, "There were no glaciers on Schneeboette, though such are to be found on several others of the Norwegian mountains. Jusadalstreen, or Sneebreen, as well as Folgefonden, Mr Forsell says, are the greatest glaciers in Europe." This we are inclined to consider as a great exaggeration. We learn from another authority, Mr Edward Forbes, that one of the glaciers, forming a branch of the great Folgefond, is yearly diminishing in size; a remarkable circumstance, but by no means an anomaly.

2 Laing's Residence in Norway, p. 52-3.

Generally speaking, all the mountains of the Fjelde tract slope gently towards the Baltic and the north-east, whilst towards the north-west they are steep and abrupt, and in some instances almost perpendicular from the top to the bottom. Norway. Romsdal amt, in which the town of Molde is situated, thus including in its delta between four and five degrees of latitude, and all the west and south of Norway. The course of this little river from Lesse to the sea is very important, as it gives precision to our ideas of the shape and direction of the Dovre Fjelde, and its connection with the Hurunger, the Fille, and the Hardanger Mountains. This river must therefore have a course of probably one hundred miles in a north-westerly, and above two hundred and fifty in a south-easterly direction. It is in several parts of its course of considerable breadth, and at more than one hundred miles from its embouchure is described as a large dark-coloured and rapid river. A still larger stream is the Glommen, called by way of distinction Stor Elven, or the Great River, from its being the largest in Norway. It rises in the government of Drontheim, not far from Ovesund Lake, through which it runs; and it afterwards traverses the extensive government of Christiania, flowing through Osterdaelen and Hedemarken, passing Kongsvinger, and finally falling into the sea at Fredericksstad, after a course of not less than three hundred miles, all in Norway. From the heart of this continent it opens an easy communication with the ocean, and through its means the produce of the interior is brought down to the coast. At about two hundred miles from the sea it is described as a fine majestic stream, two hundred yards in breadth. Navigation, however, is obstructed by numerous falls, one of which, not far from its mouth, is called the cataract of Sarpen, the roar of which is heard at a great distance. There are other falls on the same river; but the most stupendous natural phenomenon of this description is situated upon the opposite side of the mountain range, on streams which flow into the North Sea. Mr Lloyd describes the falls of Rinkanfos and Voringfoss as particularly grand, the first having a perpendicular descent of 450 feet, and the second of 900 feet, the body of water in both cases being very considerable. Mr Forsell, in giving some statistical information regarding Norway, mentions other falls even more stupendous than these. There are many other lakes and rivers in Norway besides those which we have described, amongst which we may mention the Torris Elv, called the Odderen Elv during part of its upper course, a large stream, which enters the sea at Christiansand; the Topdals, which falls into the sea near the same place; the Louven Elv, which rises in the Hardanger Fjelde, traverses several long, narrow lakes, passes through Kongsberg, and enters the sea near Naugig, in latitude 59°; and between this stream and the Lossen, which lies considerably to the north-east, there is more than one large river. A multitude of streams also run into the North Sea. The most important of these is the Namten, which, from its exit out of the lakes that give rise to it, has a course of about ninety miles. From the ground sloping with more rapidity upon this side of the mountain chain than on the other, the water-courses must be considerably steeper. "Few countries in the world," says the traveller just mentioned, "present such sublime natural scenery; its numerous lakes and rivers, its magnificent cataracts, its boundless forests and solitary wilds, where silence seems to brood eternally, its terrific precipices, its smiling valleys, and its towering alps covered with everlasting snows, impress the mind of the traveller always with admiration, and often with awe." The forests of Norway, as is well known, are large and numerous; but they do not appear to be so extensive as those of Sweden. In the southern parts of Norway, indeed, and up as far as Drontheim, the supplies of timber are very considerable; but to the north of the latter place, and along the sea-coast, as well as on the mountain ranges, wood is not plentiful, many parts of the country being perfectly destitute of it. Norway, however, from the district of Drontheim southwards, may be considered as a country abundantly supplied with gigantic forests of magnificent trees, amongst which the pine, birch, and aspen, are the most celebrated and the most valuable to the inhabitants.

The prevailing rocks found in Norway belong to the primitive and transition series. The west coast is wholly composed of primitive rocks, gneiss and mica slate greatly predominating. Secondary rocks occur but rarely, and alluvial deposits are not so abundant as in many other less extensive regions. Contrary to the general belief of geologists, granite is but a rare rock. When it appears, it is frequently in veins traversing the primitive stratified rocks, or running parallel with beds or strata; and sometimes it is found spread over the surface of mica slate, as at Forrig; or irregularly associated with clay slate and diallage rock, as in the island of Magefors. But by far the most abundant rock in Norway is gneiss, all the others of the primitive series appearing to be subordinate to it. Extensive tracts of country, and long mountain ranges, seem to consist almost entirely of gneiss. In some parts it abounds in veins of rose and milk quartz, in iron ores, in garnets, sometimes the precious, but most frequently the common garnet, and other minerals. Mica slate, however, which rests upon and alternates with the gneiss, is far from being so generally distributed, as is also the case with the clay slate. In some places steatite occurs in beds, and is quarried in slabs to be used for different purposes. Quartz rock, various hornblende rocks, and limestone, occur in beds subordinate to the gneiss and mica slate. One side of the valley of Shalheim, situated between Bergen and Sognefjord, is bounded by hills of snow-white quartz, which are almost bare, and present mural precipices, having a very singular appearance at a distance, from their shining-white colour. Gabbro or diallage rock occurs in great quantities, connected with clay slate, in the island of Magefors, and in other parts of Norway. The class of transition rocks contains, besides graywacke, alum, slate, limestone (combined with some tremolite), and other rocks well known to mineralogists as belonging to the following series:—1. Granite, which sometimes contains hornblende; 2. syenite, which contains a beautiful Labrador variety of common felspar, and numerous crystals of the gem named zircon; 3. porphyry, and associated with it various trap-rocks allied to basalt and amygdaloid. All the mountains, and especially those of the south, contain a great number of minerals sought after in collections, and of metals valuable to man, amongst which may be mentioned gold, silver, iron, copper, cobalt, and others. The mines of silver in Norway are situated at Kongsberg, but although they once afforded rich returns, they now scarcely repay the labour bestowed on them. Large masses of native silver have been found here, one of them, now in the Museum of Copenhagen, weighing upwards of five hundred pounds. The Kongsberg mines abound with mineralogical curiosities, of which the most remarkable is native electrum, a natural alloy of gold and silver. There is a gold mine at Edsvald, in the district of Rommarge, and mines of lead and silver in that of Jarlsberg; but they have not been wrought to any extent. The copper mines of Norway are chiefly situated in the northern division of the kingdom. The most considerable are those of Raerass, which were discovered in 1644, at the base of the Dovre Fjelde Mountains.

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1 Field Sports of the North of Europe, vol. ii. p. 295. 2 Professor Jameson in Murray's Geography, p. 768; and a communication from Mr Forbes. 3 Elliot's Letters from the North of Europe, p. 103. other copper mines are from fifteen to twenty leagues from Drontheim, at Quikne, Laekken, Selboe, and in the district of Christiania at Fredericksgave or Foledel. The principal iron mines are situated in Southern Norway; and of these the most distinguished are those of Arundal and Krageroe. The mines of Arundal are celebrated for the richness of their mineralogical treasures. Many of these are rare, such as botryolite, dahlolite, wernerite, scapolite, and moroxite; besides abundance of epidote, actinolite, coccolite, and colophonite. The ore (magnetic iron ore) is found in beds of gneiss, of which the country is chiefly formed. The mine of Laurig, in the vicinity of the town of that name, affords annually 28,000 quintals of bar iron, and 6000 quintals of cast iron. The establishment of the same kind at Moss affords annually 10,000 quintals of bar and cast iron. Other mines, situated in various parts of the country, likewise yield large quantities of this valuable metal; and the whole produce of the Norwegianian mines has been estimated at about 150,000 quintals annually. The mines of cobalt, which are worked at Modum and Fossum, are extensive, but not very deep. There is a mine of plumbago and black lead at Engledal. The mines of alum, which are worked in the mountain of Egeberg, near to Christiania, afford not only a sufficiency for the consumption of the Danish states, but some for exportation. Norway possesses quarries of granite, marble, millstone, whetstone, slate, and clay. Granite is exported to Holland, and marble and other minerals to Denmark.

Norway possesses an island called Berend Island, situated between Spitzbergen and North Cape, which presents some interesting features to the geologist. It is about thirty English miles in circumference, and is composed of a formation totally different from the primary rocks of which the Norwegian peninsula, and, it is understood, Spitzbergen, and other polar islands, consist. The whole island appears to be one entire mass of coal. It is not the fossil-wood brown coal, or surturbrund, found in Iceland, Germany, and some parts of the west of England, but mineral coal. Quantities of it have been brought to the mainland by vessels sent to hunt the white bear and the walrus, which abound in the icy region where Berend Island is situated.

Some valleys in Norway give abundant indications of their having been lakes of fresh water, which were either gradually drained as the land became elevated, or, bursting the barriers that confined them, suddenly laid their basins dry. Mr Laing describes one of these in the following passage:

"On ascending the steeps which bound the flat alluvial bottom of the valley on each side, and which consists generally of banks of gravelly soil, one is surprised to find a kind of upper terrace of excellent land, cultivated and inhabited like the bottom, and consisting of the same soil, a friable loam. This terrace rests against the primary rocks of the Fjelde, which are here limestone, marble, and gneiss, or rock of the micaceous family, of which the laminae are singularly twisted and contorted; and the terrace has evidently been the bottom of an ancient lake which has been bounded by these Fjelde ridges." The same traveller gives an account of one of these ancient sea-beaches, which, in other countries besides Norway, are calculated to arrest the attention and excite the wonder of the observer of nature. He is speaking of the Snasen Vand, a lake some sixty or seventy miles north from Drontheim.

"About seven miles inland from the present sea strand, at the head of the fiord, and about sixty feet above the present high-water level, there is an ancient sea-beach of a very remarkable character. Above the house of Fossum, and forty feet higher than the lake of that name, the sea-shells are so abundant that they might be applied to agricultural purposes, and they lie close to the surface."

At another place in the neighbourhood there is a large bed of shells, which have been used in mending the road for a considerable distance towards Snasen Vand. "They are entire; the upper and under ones of the mussel, cockle, and clam are united, and the mussels grouped together, as in the living state; so that this bed has clearly been the spot upon which the animals lived." From these and other indications, it is concluded, that a shore in a direction nearly parallel to that of the present one of the Drontheim Gulf, and on a level at least sixty feet higher, has existed at a recent geological period. These beds are not covered with any thickness of decayed vegetable soil, and the shells retain in part their natural hue and enamel. The land, therefore, has been elevated at no very distant period; at what rate per century has not been determined as to this side; but the Swedish philosophers assert, that the change of level in the Gulf of Finland is at the rate of four feet and a half in a hundred years. Such could not have been the case on the shores of Norway washed by the North Sea; for the relative position of known points upon the line of the sea-shore, to the present level of the sea, are by historical evidence ascertained to have changed little if any during a thousand years. The change of level may have been local, or it may have gone on more rapidly at one time than at another.

Earthquakes have been repeatedly experienced in Norway, at least seven having occurred within the last forty years. History records one which occurred at Drontheim on the 18th of July 1686, and another on the 1st of April 1692. On the 14th of September 1344, the river Guul disappeared in the earth; and on its bursting out again, destroyed forty-eight farms, and 250 human beings. About the same time a great earthquake took place in Iceland. Indeed the whole aspect of this country bears evidence to the fact, that at some period, or more probably at different periods, its surface has been elevated, depressed, and shattered by great convulsions.

It would occupy too much space to enumerate in detail Botany, the characteristic plants of Norway. The vegetation of the west coast is very similar to that of Britain, but in the south and east there is found a completely different Flora, approximating to that of Denmark and Germany. The cause of the remarkable difference between the Flora, and also the Fauna, of the two coasts, is probably to be referred to the absence of tides on the south coast. This circumstance seems to exercise an important influence on the character of the natural productions of the country; and we the more especially refer to it, as it seems to have been hitherto entirely overlooked by naturalists. At Bergen the tide falls six or eight feet, but on the south coast it does not fall six inches.

The animal kingdom of Norway requires some notice. Zoology. As population has increased, the wild animals have of course gradually disappeared, and the bear and the wolf are no longer the terror of the traveller, as they were wont to be. In winter, indeed, they may sometimes be found in disagreeable proximity to a stranger who intrudes within their range; but they are in general timid, and only formidable in herds. In Norway the bear retires to his den, which is generally some sheltered hole in the rocks of the Fjelde, in November, and remains in a state of inactivity, without food, it is said, until April. Indeed many of the smaller animals, the field-mice, the lemmings, and, Mr Laing conjectures, many of the birds, pass the winter in this climate in a state of occasional torpidity. The wolves are not so dangerous animals as those of the south of Europe. They rarely attack a man, but they will carry off a dog at his side; and they often commit serious havoc amongst the domestic animals. The loss of sheep, calves, cows, and foals, in certain parishes, during the season when they are at pasture, is sometimes immense. Bears also commit depredations of the same kind, but not nearly to the same ex- Norway. tent, as the wolf, which, when he gets into a herd, bites and tears all that he can overtake. The elk is now very rarely to be met with, and in all likelihood will soon disappear from this part of Europe. It is described as a magnificent animal, being often seventeen hands in height, and sometimes exceeding in size the largest horse. But such splendid specimens are now seldom or never seen. During winter it resides chiefly in hilly woods; but in summer it frequents swamps and the borders of lakes, often going deep into the water to escape the stings of gnats and other insects, and to feed without stooping. With its enormous horns it turns down with great dexterity branches of trees, in order to feed upon the bark; and these are also used as shovels to get at pasture when it is covered with snow. The glutton or wolverine, so called in America, is reckoned a Norwegian animal. Its total length is not more than two feet and a half, and it flies from the face of man. It feeds chiefly upon beasts which have been accidentally killed; but it will hunt small animals, such as meadow-mice, marmots, and the like, and occasionally attack disabled animals of a large size. Although not fleet, it is very industrious, and does great injury to the small fur trade in the northern parts of Europe. The rein-deer, which is found in considerable numbers on the Hardanger Fjelde and the Sogne Fjelde, and the diversified qualities of which are so beautifully adapted to the bleak and inhospitable regions in the north of Norway, will be found described in the article Lapland. The beaver, although not extinct, is rare, and lives solitary, not, like the American beaver, in society. A particular kind of dog, with a remarkably fine, soft, and glossy fur, is bred for its skin, which is made into pelisses for winter wear. Besides the wild and tame reindeer, red deer are pretty numerous in some districts. The fox and the lemming are abundant in some parts, particularly in the north. A multitude of birds inhabit the coasts of the ocean, and Norway furnishes a considerable part of the eider-down, so well known to the luxurious in couches. Game is plentiful; the principal birds being called the tylder, roer, ryper, and jerper. The tylder is the bird known of old in Scotland by the name of capercailzie, but now extinct. The cock is a noble bird, of the size of a turkey-cock, with a bill and claws of great strength. The roer is the female, and in size, plumage, and appearance so different from the male, that it has received a different name in the language. The ryper is the same as the Scottish ptarmigan, but larger and better clothed. Its flavour, however, is inferior to the game of the Scottish hills. But the jerper is a more delicate bird for the table than any of our game. It is of the grouse species, and about the size of a full-grown pigeon. The silence of the forest solitudes is occasionally broken by the sweep of the eagle's or the heron's wing; but the traveller in Norway is generally struck with the limited number of small birds which he meets in the course of his ramblings. Magpies, the Royston crow, and swallows, are common; but the lark, linnet, thrush, blackbird, robin, and some others common to Great Britain, are little known here. Hares and squirrels are in considerable abundance; and there are some other quadrupeds and birds no strangers to the country, but they are of too little importance to require any particular mention. Amongst domestic animals may be mentioned the horse, goat, sheep, and cow; the goose, the duck, and the turkey, which are also found wild. Of horses there is a small breed very general in Norway, and another of a larger size, which is much esteemed for its swiftness and sureness of foot. "These Norwegian horse are beyond all praise," says Mr Laing; "they scamper down hills as steep as a house roof, and in going up hill actually scramble. They have no objection whatever, if you have none, to any path or any pace; they are the bravest of horse kind." They are fed entirely upon hay, which, although merely withered grass, appears to be more substantial than ours, from the wind and powers of the horses which live upon nothing else. The sheep are shaped like deer, having long legs and small muzzles. Numbers of goats and cows are kept, the milk which they yield being very rich, and highly esteemed. Fish abound in the seas, lakes, and rivers of Norway; and the inhabitants not only derive a considerable portion of their subsistence from fishing, but it also forms an important article of export. Amongst the insects of Norway, the gnat, or rather mosquito, is found exceedingly annoying. They are in greatest abundance and most venomous in the north. The furia infernalis, so called from the dreadful effects which follow from its bite, frequents the marshes or boggy grounds. The acute pain and inflammatory swelling which its bite produces are removed by a curd poultice, which is said to be an infallible cure. The entomology of the south of Norway is very similar to that of the south of England, whilst that of the west resembles the entomology of Scotland.

From the general elevation of the land, the climate is of course rendered more severe than would naturally belong to a country under the same parallel the general elevation of which was more nearly on a level with the ocean. The winters are long and very cold; but, as in all northern climates, their length and severity are in some measure compensated by the great heat, and consequently rapid vegetation, in summer. Towards the east, and in the interior, the winter is longest, the cold, generally speaking, always increasing towards the north. The effects of the sea-breezes upon the general temperature of the coasts of all countries are well known. Winter, however, is very pleasant and salubrious; for although the air is cold, it is dry and bracing, not damp and raw. But the western part, especially about Bergen and along the coast, is proverbially rainy, owing probably to the high mountains, which attract the clouds wafted from the ocean. But the country behind this barrier is on that account particularly dry, perhaps somewhat too much so. In Norway the weather is in general more steady than in Britain; it is either good or bad for considerable periods. The summer season is delightful, and very warm. In narrow glens it is too hot during the middle of the day; but the morning, evening, and midnight hours are charming, and peculiar to this country. The sun is below the horizon for so short a time that the sky retains the glow and the air the warmth and dryness, which are as grateful to the eye as they are pleasing to the feelings. Summer lingers long in this country; and, in general, it is an unbroken series of beautiful days. The disagreeable season is the spring, April and May, when, in the transition from winter to summer, the snows are suddenly melted, and the ground is rendered uncomfortable for travelling. Damage is sometimes done by the rapid swelling of the torrents and rivers. When the white covering of winter disappears, vegetation bursts forth at once, and advances with astonishing rapidity.

The following account of the climate of Norway, divided into several districts, is abridged from a popular book of travels: From latitude 58° to 59° the average temperature is about 45° of Fahrenheit, and there is no constant snow region; between 59° and 60° the average temperature is 44°; and between 60° and 61° it is 43° on the sea-coast and 41° in the interior. The mountains of the Hardanger Fjelde and Fille Fjelde lie within this division, and also the great Lake Myosen. From 61° to 62° the average temperature is 40°; a degree farther north

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Journey through Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, by H. D. Inglis, p. 262-3. the heat is about a degree less; and of course it continues to decrease as we proceed towards the North Cape.

The luxuriance of vegetation being abridged by the length and severity of the winter, the soil is thus indirectly rendered comparatively sterile. In America the immense forests are continually enriching the mould with their decaying foliage; but in Norway the paucity of alluvial tracts, the prevalence of rock, seldom far beneath, and often forming the surface, together with the want of vegetable decomposition, materially detract from the quantity as well as the quality of the soil. In some parts it is very rich; and the valleys, in particular, are celebrated for their luxuriant fertility. But much of the soil is thin, and obstructed by rocky knobs rising above its surface, and interfering with the labours of the husbandman. "I have not, indeed," says Mr Laing, "seen in Norway twenty acres of arable land in one field, without some obstruction from knobs of stone." Excepting in the extreme northerly divisions of the country, agriculture is prosecuted with considerable spirit and success.

"In Norway," says Mr Laing, "the trees of the pine tribe are called furu and gran. Furu is our pine (Pinus sylvestris), and gran is our fir (Pinus abies); the one is the red wood and the other the white wood of our carpenters. There are whole districts which produce only furu, others only gran; and this seems not exactly regulated by latitude or elevation. The zones at which different trees cease to grow appear to be a theory to which the exceptions are as numerous as the examples. In Romsdal amt, at Fanne Fiord, near Molde, in latitude 62° 47' north, and with a medium temperature of only 4° of Reaumur (41° of Fahrenheit), pears, the bergamot, gravenstein, and imperial, and also plums, come to perfection; and the walnut-tree often bears ripe fruit. Hazel and elm in the same amt form continuous woods, as at Egedal. Yet the gran disappears altogether, although in the same degree of latitude it grows at an elevation of 1000 feet above the sea in the interior of Norway, and even in latitude 69° in Lapmark. It has been found a vain attempt to raise it in Romsdal amt, a locality in which the following trees and bushes grow readily; Canadian poplar, balsam poplar, horse-chestnut, larch, elder, yew, roses of various sorts, lavender, box, laburnum, white thorn, and ivy. Larch brought from Scotland appears to thrive. There must be something in the nature of the plants not connected with elevation or latitude that determines the growth of the gran and furu?" Mr Laing mentions instances sufficiently striking to prove that the "theory of the zones of elevation at which different species of trees will or will not grow must be taken with caution, as it does not satisfactorily cover all the facts observable in this country." In another place he observes, that "wood of considerable size grows as far north as the valley of the Namsen, the largest of the Norwegian rivers, about 120 miles from Drontheim. It grows in sheltered situations in Nordland and Finnmark, far north as Alten Fiord (latitude 70°), but of diminutive size, and in such limited quantity that it is thought necessary to preserve it for the use of the inhabitants, and its exportation is prohibited." Trees in the valley of the Namsen are large enough for building material and the masts of ships. In another place Mr Laing says, "I did not expect certainly to be charmed with the crops in the sixty-fifth degree of north latitude; but the vegetative power, whatever be the cause, is more vigorous here than in the north of Scotland. Some of the largest establishments of saw-mills in Norway are supplied with trees from the forests around the Snassen Vand. Of ordinary productions, as ye, oats, bear, flax, hops, there appeared to be great crops. This may well be in a soil and climate which raises such noble forests. Behind the house I inhabited is a standard cherry-tree bearing ripe fruit. It would be a rarity in Scotland to raise them unless against a wall, even eight degrees of latitude south of this." Here Mr Laing found hops cultivated as a crop, whilst flax ripened so as to be fit for seed. The mountain and common ash are here scarce; the aspen, wild cherry, birch, and the pine tribes, being the trees, and the juniper, wild raspberry, and wild rose, the bushes, which generally prevail.

Taking the river Namsen as a boundary line separating the productive from the unproductive part of Norway, the country lying to the south of it may be considered as capable of producing, in favourable situations, the grains and fruits of England, and these, too, often in the highest degree of perfection. Most kinds of fruit are abundant, but the greatest favourite is the cherry. The crop of cherries is scarcely ever known to fail; and in proof of the abundance of this fruit, it may be mentioned, that the Norwegians preserve it in great quantities, and use it in many culinary operations. Amongst the fruits growing wild are strawberries, raspberries, cloudberries, cranberries, and various other kinds of berries. The three first mentioned are considered as delicious, and they are eaten both when freshly gathered, like cultivated strawberries, and after being preserved.

The principal products of the Norwegian farm are oats, rye, wheat, bear, hops, flax, a kind of bearded spring grain, potatoes; and a large portion of every farm is set apart to grow grass for the cattle and horses. The grass for the most part is natural, sown grasses for hay being very little cultivated. The land, after a bear crop following potatoes, is left to sward itself with natural grasses for four years, and to form the hay land, so that the proportion of grass to arable land is much greater than in our farms. The natural grasses do not attain any length, and they are shaven as close to the ground as a bowling-green. The fields are not what is called top-dressed, as with us. The scythe in use is much shorter in the blade than that of Great Britain, and it answers the purpose much better. Potatoes, which appear to occupy the place of turnips with us, have been much cultivated since 1812 and 1813, when bad crops, together with the war then raging, reduced many to the use of bark-bread. Large quantities of spirits, called Norwegian brandy, are distilled from potatoes. A small enclosure for hops is attached to every farm-house; but carrots, onions, cabbage, and all garden vegetables, are little used. Probably the short interval between winter and summer allows little time for attending to any but the essential crops. The hop flourishes with little attention under the sixty-fourth parallel; a striking fact, when we consider that this plant is delicate and precarious in the south of England. But there are doubtless families of plants, as there are races of animals, more hardy, or at least more exempt from disease, than others of the same species, and thus enabled to endure the rigours of a stern climate. In farming operations, ditching, draining, and clearing land of vegetable and other obstructions, are prosecuted with great spirit and success. Agriculturists are continually adding to the quantity of arable land in the country by thus redeeming the soil from its original wild state. However, from causes already mentioned, Norway is not capable of furnishing the means of subsistence to any considerable population. Generally speaking, only the glens of the country are inhabited. On the dividing ridges there is little or no cultivation, and indeed no soil to cultivate, but only rounded masses of gneiss and micaceous rocks, with juniper, fir, aspen, birch, and beech, growing where they can amongst the stones.

Mr Laing gives a very minute account of a Norwegian farm rented by a Scotchman; and as he considers it "fitted to be the representative of a large portion of the estates into which this country is divided," we shall abridge his description, retaining all the essential parts. Land in Norway. Norway is measured by the maeling, which contains forty-nine square ells, the ell containing two feet, and the Norwegian foot being three per cent. longer than ours. Thus the English acre of 43,560 square feet contains four maelings and four tenths. Each farm may be considered as consisting of three divisions. The first is the infield, or what we should call the mains, or home acres, enclosed for the crops and the best hay. The next is the mark or outfield, also enclosed, and affording the out-pasture for the cattle. Parts of it are occasionally fenced off, and broken up for grain, and, when exhausted, are left to sward themselves; so that when the cattle are sent to the Fjelde in summer, some hay is got from the mark. There is often a still rougher piece of ground divided from the mark, as a range for goats and young cattle, called the out-mark.

The third division is the seater. This is a pasture or grass farm often at the distance of thirty or forty miles up in the Fjelde, to which the whole of the cattle and dairy-maids are sent for three or four months in summer. The huts on these seaters are substantial buildings, with every accommodation necessary for the dairy; and butter and cheese are accordingly made in very considerable quantities. When speaking of farms of so many maelings, the scatter and mark are not included in the measurement, but thrown in as appendages. "The farm of my countryman," says Mr Laing, "consists of 1276 maelings, or 290 English acres; but this does not include the seater, which happens here to be on the hills immediately behind the farm, is covered with fine trees, and is of a defined boundary, extending about a Norwegian mile (seven English miles) in circuit. On the measured land 148 acres are cleared; but, being farmed in the Norwegian style, one third only bears crops of corn and potatoes. The remainder is always in grass or hay, for the winter support of the cattle. It is natural grass, not top-dressed with manure, and is mown when not above the length of one's finger, so that the proportion of arable land that must be given up to keep the cattle in winter is enormous. It is the system of farming in this quarter; 142 acres outside of the 148 infield are half cleared, being fenced off and ploughed in patches. It bears good grass, but is encumbered in some places with brushwood and stones."

"This farm supports twenty cows, seven horses, and a score or two of sheep and goats. The accommodation for cattle is excellent. They stand in a single row in the middle of a wide house, with partitions between each, and room before and behind greater than is occupied by the animal itself. The cow-house is lighted by glass windows on each side. The cattle stand on a wooden floor, below which is a vault, into which the dung is swept by a grated opening at the end of each stall." All the cowhouses in Norway are constructed on this large and convenient scale; and neither cows nor horses require litter, which is a great saving of fodder. Besides, they are kept perfectly clean, with comparatively little trouble. The annual rent of this farm was two hundred dollars, or L.37. 10s. sterling, and the amount of taxes paid was L.6. 14s. 5½d., nearly one sixth of the rental, which appears very heavy. But this is nearly all that is paid in any shape; the indirect taxes, such as our excise and custom-house duties, being inconsiderable. It includes tithe, and all charges connected with the church establishment, poor rate, and so forth. Such a property as that now described is considered worth about 4000 dollars. From 2500 to 4500 dollars include, it appears, the prices of all ordinary estates, and anything very much above or below would be an exception to a general rule. As to the dwelling-houses on such estates, the material for building is so easily obtained that there is really no difference between the residence of a public functionary, of a clergyman, or of a gentleman of large property, and that of a bonde or peasant proprietor. The Norwegians are the best lodged people in Europe, Mr Laing says; but there is little show, and no magnificence which can well be dispensed with in such a country. The division of property among children prevents the erection of splendid mansions, or anything more expensive than is proportioned to the property upon which they stand. The harvest work in this district," continues our traveller, "and I believe all over Norway, is well done; and parts of their management might be adopted with advantage in our late districts, where so much grain is lost or damaged almost every autumn by wind or rain. For every ten sheaves, a pole of light strong wood, about the thickness of the handle of a garden rake, and about nine feet in length, is fixed in the ground by an iron-shod borer; it costs here almost nothing. A man sets two sheaves on the ground against the stem, and impales all the rest upon the pole, one above the other, with the heads hanging downwards." This is certainly a mode very superior to ours; and they have likewise a better way of cutting it, by which little of the grain is lost. But for an account of this process, and other farming operations, we must refer to Mr Laing's work (pp. 96, 106).

The breed of cattle in Norway is fine boned, thin skinned, and kindly looking; the colour is generally white, sometimes mixed with red, but seldom entirely black. The head and muzzle are as fine as in our Devonshire breed. There is so little coarseness about the head or neck of the bull, that the difference between him and the ox is less observable than in our breeds. The cattle are all very carefully attended to, and form an important branch of the husbandry, as dairy produce enters much into the food of every family, and is more certain in this climate than that of grain. The cows, sheep, and goats are more tame and docile than they are in Britain, from the constant care and attendance bestowed on them during the long period which they must stand within doors; and the Norwegians are remarkably kind to their domestic animals. Goats are a favourite stock, and on every farm appear to be much more numerous than sheep. The goat will eat and thrive on the shoots of the dwarf birch, beech, and young fir; but the sheep will not, and in winter it requires some hay. The goat then gets a bundle of dried leaves and shoots of the beech, which only cost the trouble of collecting and drying them. Every farmhouse at this season is surrounded with bundles of these withered branches and leaves of beech tied together, and stuck upon poles to dry. The goat, too, gives some milk in winter, when that of cows is scarce; and from the uncommon richness of milk in Norway, this small quantity can bear to be increased with water, without materially deteriorating it.

Irrigation is carried on in many parts to an extent quite unknown in this country. Hay being the principal winter support of live stock, and both it and corn, as well as potatoes, being liable, from the shallow soil and powerful reflection of sunshine from the rocks, to be burned and withered up, the greatest exertions are made to bring water from the head of each glen, along such a level as will give the command of it to each farmer at the head of his fields. This is done by conducting water in troughs made of the half of a tree roughly scooped out, from the highest perennial stream amongst the hills, through woods, across ravines, along the rocky and often perpendicular sides of the glens; and from this main trough lateral branches shoot off to each farm. The farmer distributes this supply by moveable troughs amongst his fields, watering each rig successively. The quantity of land traversed by these artificial water-courses is very great.

In winter, when agricultural operations are suspended, the Norwegian employs himself in making all the imple- ments, furniture, and clothing, which his family may require; thrashing out the crop, attending to the cattle, distilling his potatoes, brewing, driving about to fairs, or paying visits. The heaviest of his occupations is driving wood out of the forests, or bog-hay from the Fjelds, where it is made in summer by those who attend the cattle. The distillation of spirits from potatoes is general throughout Norway, grain not being in such abundance as to allow of its consumption in this way. By far the greater part of the spirits used in the country is made in families, not in regular distilleries; every common bonde, or peasant proprietor, distilling his own few barrels. It is part of the women's work, like cheese making or brewing, and is carried on once a week or once a fortnight, on every guard, for the sake of the wash and refuse to the cattle, as well as for the spirits. The most profitable way of distilling potatoes," says Mr Laing, "is with a mixture of crushed wheat and malt, or, instead of wheat, rye or any other kind of grain. The best proportions are these:— To six heaped barrels of potatoes, weighing seventy-eight stones of sixteen pounds each, nine and a half stones of wheat or other corn, and five of malt from bear or big. If more of any of the parts be taken, the wort or liquor to be distilled is too heavy, and is apt to burn or singe in the still. By this proportion the smallest distilling, as a barrel or half a barrel at a time, is regulated. The crushed grain and malt are first mixed in about a hundred and twenty quarts of water, heated to 50° of Reaumur, or 144° of Fahrenheit, and no higher. The potatoes being perfectly steamed (brought to such a state as to be fit for eating), are crushed between two rollers, and, as they leave the rollers, are shovelled into the vat in which the fermentation is to take place." "Boiling water to the extent of about four hundred and fifty quarts is then poured into the vat, and is cooled down with cold water to 20° Reaumur, or 77° Fahrenheit, at which the mash of wheat and malt is added to it; the vat is then immediately covered up as tightly as possible, and left to ferment." After fermentation has ceased, distillation immediately commences, the process being conducted in the usual way. Somewhat more than eighteen quarts English, of a strong fiery spirit, destitute of any disagreeable taste or smell, is produced from the barrel of potatoes. Of its exact strength Mr Laing was unable to form any judgment.

In Norway there is no restriction on mills, every man who chooses having a right to erect one, without entailing upon himself any feudal burden, such as service, suit, or feu, for he is the superior of his own lands. These mills are very numerous in the country, being not only necessary to almost every farm, but for sawing timber for exportation, as well as for home consumption.

The thrashing machines in general use amongst agriculturists are similar in construction to those of Scotland; and some have grinding machinery attached to them. There is an institution of a very peculiar nature, which is quite common all over Norway. In this country there are no merchants equivalent to our corn-dealers, nor are there any weekly markets held for the sale of grain. There are no middle-men between the grower and the consumer, and any surplus grain which the farmer may have is stored up in what may be called corn-magazines, which are just large warehouses erected in various parts of the country, as the necessities of the inhabitants require them. What grain the farmer thinks he will not require he conveys in sledges to these places, and for every eight bushels which he deposits, he receives nine at the end of twelve months; in short, he lays it out at interest; and has an increase of one eighth per annum. If, however, he has none deposited, or overdrawing, he pays for the quantity received in loan at the rate of one fourth of increase per annum; so that for every eight bushels which he takes he pays back ten at the end of twelve months, or at that rate for whatever time he may have the loan. This is, in fact, a savings' bank for corn, and is probably the most ancient of these institutions. There being no corn-merchants is decidedly a material check upon the prosperity of agriculture; for, from the want of a ready market where he might dispose of his produce, and the consequent comparatively small inducement which he has to store it up in these magazines, the farmer naturally wastes it, or does what is probably worse, distils it into ardent spirits. But these institutions are exceedingly useful to the Norwegians as they are circumstanced; and were it not for them, many might be placed in great difficulties, for want of seed or bread when a bad season disappointed their hopes of a supply from their own fields. The small profit which occurs upon these transactions defrays the necessary expenses of building and keeping up the magazines, which are entirely under the management of the bonde or peasant proprietors. However, under such a system, husbandry can never become what it is in Great Britain, a manufacture of corn, beef, and other provisions, carried on by a class of individuals who pay a very high rent for the premises on which they work, and embark large capitals in the business. In Norway the bulk of the farmers have no rent to pay, the property being their own; the articles which their farms produce constitute nearly the whole of the food or raiment which they and their people require; and there are not, as in other countries, considerable masses of population in towns and villages, who, not being producers of food themselves, must obtain it from those who are; so that the farmer is less dependent upon money-bringing crops than is the case with us. If he raise what is sufficient for his own household consumption, with a little surplus for sale to pay the taxes, and for the purchase of a few luxuries, all the purposes of farming are served with him. This is partly owing to the state of property in Norway.

Property in Norway is held by what is called the udal state of or edel system of rights, not from any superior, not even property, from the king, but, as the possessors proudly express it, by the same right by which the crown itself is held; consequently there is no acknowledgment, real or nominal, as feu-duty or reddendo, paid. In this country all lands are theoretically said to be held from the king; and, according to Sir Edward Coke, we have no allodial lands. In Norway estates are allodial, the absolute property of the owner; they are therefore possessed without charter, and are subject to none of the burdens and casualties affecting land held by feudal tenure direct from the sovereign, or from his superior vassal. There is, in short, a total negation of the feudal principle; there is neither superior nor vassal, so that the military service which the latter paid to the former in consideration of the land which was granted appears never to have existed in Norway; and as this constituted the foundation of the law of primogeniture, so, where such service was entirely unknown, there was no necessity for that law, which consequently remained equally unknown. In all feudal countries the eldest male heir has to pay an acknowledgment to the feudal superior on his entering as vassal in the land. But udal, or noble land, as the word signifies, not being held for military service to a superior, no delectus personae as to who should inherit it was competent to any authority, and consequently no preference of the eldest male heir could grow into the law of succession to land. Hence the land came to be equally divided amongst all the surviving children, male and female. There appears, however, to be a species of entail connected with the udal tenure. If the udalman in possession should alienate to a stranger, the next of kin has a right of redemption on paying the price of the land. This is called the Odelbaarn's Ret, and all the kindred of the udalman in possession Norway are what is called Odelsbaarn to his land, or, in other words, have a certain right in the order of consanguinity. By recent enactments, this right of redemption has been limited in its exercise to a period of five years; and it is provided that all improvements, as well as the original price, must be paid for.

The equal partition of property amongst children by the udal tenure has prevented the accumulation of property in large masses; but, as might have been expected by theorists, it has not led to subdivisions of estates to an injurious extent. "The division of the land appears not," says Mr Laing, "during the thousand years it has been in operation, to have had the effect of reducing the landed properties to the minimum size that will barely support human existence. I have counted from five and twenty to forty cows upon farms, and that in a country in which the farmer must, for at least seven months in the year, have winterhouses and provender provided for all the cattle. It is evident that some cause or other, operating on aggregation of landed property, counteracts the dividing effects of partition among children." In another place Mr Laing says, "The estates of individuals are generally small; and the houses, furniture, food, comfort, ways and means of living, among all classes, appear to me to approach more nearly to an equality to one standard than in any country in Europe. This standard is far removed from any want or discomfort on one hand, or any luxury or display on the other. The actual partition of the land itself seems, in practice, not to go below such a portion of land as will support a family comfortably, according to the habits and notions of the country; and it is indeed evident that a piece of ground without houses upon it, and too small to keep a family according to the national estimation of what is requisite, would be of no value as a separate property. The heirs accordingly either sell to each other, or sell the whole to a stranger, and divide the proceeds. The duty of the Sørenskevær, or district judge, consists chiefly in arranging this kind of chancery business, and all debts and deeds affecting property are registered with him."

The cause which, according to Mr Laing, has prevented excessive subdivision, is, "that in a country where land is held, not in tenantry merely, as in Ireland, but in full ownership, its aggregation by the deaths of co-heirs and by the marriages of female heirs among the body of landowners, will balance its subdivision by the equal succession of children." This is undoubtedly true, and, when taken in connection with other facts, may sufficiently explain the case. Mr Laing informs us that the standard of living is high in Norway; or that the population is much better clothed, lodged, fed, and generally provided for, than our labouring and middling classes in the south of Scotland. The dwelling-houses of the meanest labourers are divided into several apartments, and have wooden floors and a sufficient number of good windows, with some kind of out-house for cattle and lumber. Their food and clothing are equally good and substantial. Now it seems quite clear that a people habituated to such a standard of subsistence and comfort will not only not suffer their condition to sink indefinitely below it, but, by prudence and foresight in the contraction of marriage and the raising of a family, will keep down their numbers considerably within their means of subsistence. In Norway that condition which secures respectability to a common man, is one in which he commands not only all the comforts, but most of the luxuries of life, common to the country; and the natural desire of all mankind to keep up caste, to maintain themselves in that station in which they were born, not to decline from it, and fall, as it were, out of the ranks, will operate as a most powerful check upon the minute subdivision of land. There are other causes in operation to which our circumscribed limits will only admit of our adverting. These are the ancient and confirmed habits of the people, which may be taken into account as a corollary of the preceding proposition; and the absence of impediments, such as fines on alienation, or imposts of any kind, in the way of sale or conveyance. Where such fines exist, the difficulties of re-uniting land which has been subdivided are great and annoying. But in Norway, when an udalman dies, the co-heirs do not break up the estate left to them into six or eight, or any other number of estates, corresponding to the number of children; which would at once reduce the standard of living of the whole of them below that to which they were accustomed. They appear either to sell to each other, which is easily effected in the absence of fines and other burdens on conveyance of property; or they make a joint-stock business of it, till circumstances permit some of the members to dispose of their shares to those who may remain, and employ the capital in such an advantageous manner as will secure them in that comparative independence and affluence to which they were all their lives accustomed. The diffusion of property in Norway is no doubt very great, compared with its diffusion in this country, but not so compared with Canada. The following table will facilitate comparison:

| Country | Population | Proprietors | Proportion of Proprietors to Population | |---------------|------------|-------------|----------------------------------------| | Scotland | 2,093,456 | 8,961 | 1 to 222 | | Norway | 910,000 | 41,656 | 1 to 22 | | Lower Canada | 512,000 | 57,891 | 1 to 9 |

These small estates are scattered on the sides of glens, lakes, and fiords, over a vast extent of country, and, generally speaking, are situated at great distances from towns.

There are two classes of landholders in Norway; those who have farms larger than they themselves can cultivate, and those who exclusively farm their own estates. These constitute the bulk of the population. The first are called proprietors, a sort of conventional term, equivalent to our esquire; the smaller landholders who work upon their own estates are called bonder, a term, as appears, nearly equivalent to feuar in Scotland. The incomes of the former seldom exceed eight hundred or nine hundred dollars, although there are some who possess as much as three or four thousand pounds sterling per annum. The Norwegian valleys are crowded with bonder farms, which are very numerous throughout the country, and, with their look of plenty and completeness, may compete with the richest and most beautiful in Scotland. Mr Laing draws a very pleasing and interesting picture of this class of people, whose comfort and happiness may indeed be inferred from a short statement of facts. They are owners of their own little estates, which produce all the necessaries of life, and afford a surplus for the payment of taxes and the purchase of luxuries. They have no feu-duty nor other incumbrance on their property, except the scot or land-tax, which, although heavy, renders every thing used by a family so much cheaper, the indirect taxes being little or nothing. They are exceedingly well lodged, and the families live abundantly; the manner of living, indeed, is pretty much the same amongst all classes. These, and the comfortable assurance, that in case of death the udalman leaves his wife and family provided for, are certainly calculated materially to promote human happiness. "This class," says Mr Laing, "are the kernel of the nation. They are in general fine athletic men, as their properties are not so large as to exempt them from work; but large enough to afford them and their households abundance, and even a superfluity, of the best food." Besides the bonder or agricultural class, properly so called, who occupy all the most fertile lands in the country "from the shore-side to the hill foot," whereon corn will grow, there is another class called Fjelde bonder, who form a connecting link, as it were, between the class above described and the wandering Laplander. They also possess land, and have houses, which, although small, are comfortable; but being above the level of the corn growing country, their situation is not so favourable, nor is their condition equal to that of the other small proprietors. The Fjelde bonder are "the hewers of wood and drawers of water" in Norway; but they still possess property in cattle as well as in land, and they are described as extremely hardy and active, and as having more robust frames than the agricultural bonder. There is yet another class of the population, which is altogether distinct from any of the preceding, consisting entirely of fishermen, whose social condition must be considerably inferior to that of the others.

In the provinces of Nordland and Finnmark, which occupy the northern part of Norway, beyond the river Namsen, agriculture is but a secondary business, and fishing may be said to occupy most of the attention of the inhabitants. The crops of grain are too inconsiderable and precarious to afford them the means of subsistence, and the riches of the deep are brought in as a compensation for the poverty of the land. The winter fishery in the Lofoden Islands, from the middle of February to the middle of April, and the summer fishery over all the coast, which in some branch or other gives employment for the remainder of the year, furnish the inhabitants with the means of purchasing the necessaries which they require. The fish trade is a very curious monopoly. It does not belong to Norway as a whole, but is in the possession of Bergen, Drontheim, Christiansand, and one or two other towns of minor note. Those who manage the business as merchants or shop-keepers, are licensed burgesses of these towns; and each has a certain tract of coast or circle belonging to his shop or factory, within which no other person is entitled to buy or sell. These privileged traders pay a certain tax, and are besides obliged to receive and entertain travellers; and their exclusive privilege has become hereditary, attached to the house or factory in which it may be exercised by a duly privileged trader. The average value of the winter fishery has been estimated at Ls.86,500 sterling; and as the number of inhabitants in the two provinces is only about 80,000, the trade of Nordland and Finnmark with the rest of Norway is at the rate of little more than twenty shillings a head. The merchants send out vessels furnished with articles required in the country, and receive the produce of their eight weeks' fishery in payment. In fact, these distant provinces are connected with the rest of the country for just two months in the year, and that only through a few merchants in two or three towns. During the other ten months the trade is left entirely in the hands of the Russians, who feed the population, and receive in return all that their industry produces in the fishing. The privileged Norwegians take no more brandy, colonial produce, or such other articles as are wanted, than what is sufficient to pay the persons who fish for them for eight weeks; their further supplies the inhabitants obtain from Russia. Were the trade free to all the natives of Norway, as it is in every country where trade has flourished, there would have been a body of Norwegian traders to and from these provinces, carrying on every branch in which employment and profit could be found and realized. Instead of this, the business is almost entirely in the hands of strangers, and Norway receives little or no benefit from her own possessions. To the absurdity of such a monopoly it would be difficult to find a parallel in the history of commercial restrictions.

The fishing business itself is conducted in a peculiar manner. Every twenty or thirty of the fishing companies have a yacht, or large tender, which conveys the provisions, nets, lines, and other articles, to the Lofoden Islands, the great scene of the Norwegian fishery, and brings back the produce. The stations are all correctly defined by marks on the coast, and by judicious regulations confining line-fishers to the inside, and net-fishers to the outside. In 1827, which was a medium year, there were 2916 boats fishing in eighty-three different stations, accompanied by 124 yachts or tenders, the number of men employed being 15,324 in all. The produce was 16,456,620 fish, which would amount to about 8800 tons dried; there were also 21,530 barrels of cod oil, and 6000 of cod roe. When this fishing ends, the seafaring peasantry of this part of the country, as we have already said, are employed by the Russians; the others return to their homes, and catch sethe (gadus virens) or herrings. The herring fishery is very judiciously managed; so much so, indeed, that the Norwegians have beaten the Scotch herring curers out of the markets of the Baltic, as they deliver fish better assorted, and of superior quality. Besides these important general fisheries, there is in every creek of the fiords, even at a hundred miles up from the ocean, abundance of cod, whitings, haddock, flounders, sea-bream, and herrings, caught for daily use and for sale by the seafaring peasantry. The rivers and lakes are likewise well supplied with fish, which may indeed be said to constitute the basis of a Norwegian repast.

The manufactures of Norway are too unimportant to detain us long. Wood and fish are the chief produce of the country; and these find their way to every part of Europe, chiefly in Norwegian vessels, which in return bring home whatever foreign articles are required, at the cheapest possible rate of freight. The import duties are very moderate. Articles which have been in use, and are not intended for sale, as furniture, books, clothes, or household goods, are not subject to duty. Before the importer pays his duties, he is allowed to take his goods to his own warehouse and shop, upon giving security for the amount of the duties ascertained by the custom-house officers at landing; he also keeps an account of his sales, and pays the duty every three months upon the quantity which appears to have been sold. This must be of great advantage to the dealer in a country so poor as Norway, since it leaves his capital entirely free for active employment. Coffee, sugar, tea, a little French brandy, and French and Spanish wines, a little tobacco, (for the Norwegians smoke less than any other continental people), and a limited quantity of spiceries, are the principal articles for which the house-keeper has to disburse money. The other necessaries of life are produced by themselves. Shoes, furniture, clothes, and the like, are all made at home. Looms are at work in every house in the country; carding, spinning, and weaving forming constant occupations of the female part of the household. Woolen cloth, substantial but coarse, excellent bed and table linen, and checked or striped cotton or linen for female apparel, are the ordinary fabrics produced. These homemade stuffs, including boots, gloves, and in bad weather great-coats, clothe the greater part of the inhabitants, and more comfortably than is the case with the lower and middling classes of people in most other countries. The upper ranks, or the people of condition, dress as in other parts of Europe; and as living and lodging are nearly on a level amongst all the respectable classes, the peasant proprietor, and those more wealthy than he is, this wearing of foreign articles by the latter, and home-made stuffs by the former, would seem to constitute a kind of conventional distinction between them. This is not the place to speculate on the general economy of these family manufactures; it seems, however, to be extremely well adapted to the Norwegians, Norway, as they are circumstanced, both in regard to climate and social relationship.

The principal articles of export are timber, bark, iron, copper, fish, and some others. The principal articles of import are corn, colonial produce, woollen, linen, and cotton goods, wine, brandy, &c. Salted and pickled fish, one of the staple products of Norway, is principally exported from Bergen. In the year 1833, there were exported from this place, of dried fish or stock fish, 22,620,992 pounds, and of salted and dried fish 4,802,000 pounds. The deals of Christiania have always been held in the highest estimation; a consequence of the excellence of the timber, and of the care with which the sap-wood and other defective parts are cut away. Like many other branches of the trade of Norway, that of preparing wood was formerly fettered by pernicious restrictions; the saw-mills being licensed to cut a certain quantity only, and the proprietors bound to make oath that it was not exceeded. But this absurd regulation no longer exists. British manufactured goods are admitted into Norway on moderate duties, and are very generally made use of. The imports from Norway were,

| Item | 1831 | 1835 | |-------------------------------------------|------------|------------| | Bark for tanning and dyeing | 48,131 cwt. | 20,043 cwt. | | Iron | 377 tons | 377 tons | | Goat-skins | 16,219 number | 7,837 number | | Smalls | 205,849 lbs | 90,563 lbs | | Battens and hatten ends | 8,439 grt. hund. | 3,415 grt. hund. | | Deal and deal ends | 10,457 do. do. | 4,704 do. do. | | Masts, yards, and the like, under twelve inches | 4,826 do. do. | 6,842 do. do. | | Timber | 23,527 loads | 30,146 loads |

These are the principal articles; but there were some others, amongst which may be reckoned one million of lobsters. The exports to Norway were,

| Item | 1831 | 1835 | |-------------------------------------------|------------|------------| | Coffee | 535,491 lbs | 310,459 lbs | | Indigo | 7,765 lbs | 8,631 lbs | | Pepper | 8,189 lbs | 1,920 lbs | | Pimento | 4,981 lbs | 4,348 lbs | | Rum | 4,585 galls | 6,248 galls | | Muscovado sugar | 3,169 cwt. | 1,298 cwt. | | Tobacco | 366,024 lbs | 175,338 lbs | | Cotton wool | 83,566 lbs | 39,227 lbs | | Coal | 3,774 tons | 5,602 tons | | Cotton cloth | 434,744 yards | 691,320 yards | | Earthenware | L3,402 | L4,502 | | Cutlery | L2,648 | L3,646 | | Soap and candles | L2,938 | L3,802 | | Woollens | L13,000 | L17,229 | | Salt | 92,150 bushels | 147,057 bush. | | Wheat | 1,283 qrs. | | | Barley | 24,471 qrs. | |

In some articles our trade with Norway has declined, but the amount of British and Irish produce and manufacture exported to that country has steadily increased, as the following statement will show. Our exports were, in 1827, L39,129; in 1828, L53,582; in 1829, L64,234; in 1830, L63,926; in 1831, L58,580; in 1832, L34,528; in 1833, L55,038; in 1834, L61,998; and in 1835, L79,278.

Were the discriminating duty on Norwegian and Baltic timber repealed, our commercial relations with the whole north of Europe would be greatly extended. Compared with the Swedish customs-duties, those of Norway are moderate, the import duties seldom exceeding two per cent. ad valorem. In 1831 they amounted to L161,840 inwards, and to L47,381 outwards, making in all L209,221. To these should be added L27,436 received on account of tonnage duties, lights, and sundries. The weights and measures of Norway are the same as those of Denmark.

With regard to money, the principal silver coin in circulation (for there are none of gold) is called a species dollar, which is divided into one hundred and twenty skilings. There are also half species, one fifth species, one fifteenth species, and what is denominated skillemynt or small change, that is, four and two skilling pieces of silver, and also one and two skilling pieces of copper. The dollar is worth three shillings and tenpence sterling at the present rate of exchange (1837). There are, besides, notes of one dollar, half a dollar, and twenty-four skillings, all printed on white paper. The notes of five dollars value are on blue paper, those of ten dollars on yellow paper, and those of fifty on green paper. This is, we think, a very wise and convenient arrangement.

The Norwegian finances are in a flourishing condition, the revenue having latterly increased considerably. The Bank of Norway, which was founded in 1816, has its head office in Drontheim, with branches in the principal towns, and is under the direction of five stockholders, with a council of fifteen representatives of the other proprietors. The transactions of this bank are conducted upon a principle totally opposite to that of the Scotch and other banking establishments. It is there considered as a first principle that the bank should hold only available securities, as bills or bonds at a short date, or payable at a short notice, for its issues or advances. The national bank of Norway is therefore a bank for landed property, and discounts mercantile bills and personal securities only as a secondary branch. Its chief business is advancing its own notes, upon first securities over land, any sum not exceeding two thirds of the value of the property, according to a general valuation made in the year 1812. The borrower pays four per cent. for what he draws, and is bound to pay also five per cent. of the principal yearly. This kind of bank is exceedingly well adapted for the wants of the country; and their paper can scarcely be considered as less secure than their silver. Since it commenced business, discussions have more than once taken place regarding the return of the bank to cash payments, as it was originally agreed that after the lapse of a certain period it should begin to pay its notes in cash. This has not been found practicable, although the maximum has been reduced to 125 paper dollars for 100 of silver; but the paper dollar has for a considerable time been at 118 for 100 silver on the exchange of Hamburg. The bank is able to provide for all its notes in silver; and the question recently agitated in the Storting was, whether its course of 125 paper for 100 silver dollars should not now be reduced to par, 100 paper for 100 silver, which has not been agreed upon.

The Norwegian army consists of some twelve thousand troops of all arms, besides which there are thirty thousand militia enrolled. Two companies belonging to each regiment in the Norwegian service are trained to the use of the skidor or skate. This corps, called the skilboreb, move with singular agility and speed, and, whilst skating along with the greatest velocity, perform their military evolutions with uncommon precision. The army is at the disposal of the king, as far as its services can be rendered available in Scandinavia; it cannot, however, be sent beyond the limits of the peninsula without the special permission of the Storting. The king has the nomination of the superior officers of the army, as well as of some few of the first civil officers under the government; that of others rests with the Storting. Norway is governed by a viceroy, appointed by the king of Sweden; Christiania, the capital of the country, being the seat of government. She contributes nothing towards the expense of the Swedish government beyond a trifling annual allowance to the royal family; but she supports all her own civil and military institutions. In the year 1825 the population of Norway amounted to 967,959. According to the census of 1835, it was 1,098,291, being an increase of 130,332 in ten years. The town population of 1825 was 112,778, and in 1835, 125,139, being an increase of 12,361 in the same period; and that of the country amounted in 1825 to 855,181, and in 1835 to 973,152, being an increase in ten years of 117,971. It is quite clear, therefore, that the great bulk of the population is engaged in agricultural pursuits; trade, manufactures, and the other occupations employing but a very limited number. The town population is confined to thirty-eight places, only nine of which have more than 3000 inhabitants, and only two reach 20,000. Besides, in the whole of these, with the single exception of Bergen, a considerable proportion of the inhabitants are partially engaged in agriculture. During these ten years, no manufacture has been produced fit to be exchanged for the commodities of other countries. The staple trade in wood, which formerly gave employment to a large portion of the inhabitants, has latterly been in a very depressed state, from the restrictive duty already referred to. The increase of population, therefore, has chiefly taken place amongst the agricultural classes; and the additional food raised for their support, together with the admitted advance of the people during these ten years, is to be attributed partly to additional tracts of land having been taken in, and partly to improved methods of cultivating the old soil. The country has unquestionably made great progress under its own peculiar legislation; and taxes have gradually been reduced.

The kingdom of Norway is divided into four sees or stifts, each of which is divided into a certain number of districts, corresponding to its size and importance, and these again into parishes, of which there are 336 in the country. The dioceses are Aggershus, containing Christiania, the capital; Christiansand, the largest town in which bears the same name; Bergen, containing the large and important city of the same name; and Drontheim, which contains the city of Drontheim, situated on the south shore of a great fiord of the same name; the northern territories of Nordland and Finnmark, which goes also by the name of Drontheim, being presumed to be in the same see. The stifts are thus distributed. Christiansand occupies the southern extremity of the country; Bergen and Aggershus occupy, the former the western, and the latter the eastern side of Norway, where it is widest, extending over its whole breadth in that quarter, and being separated by the great mountain chain; still farther north lies Drontheim, which is succeeded by Nordland and Finnmark, the most northerly region of Norway, and of which the reader will find some account in the article Lapland. Each district, called a fogderie or bailiwick, is under a foged, who has charge of the collection of taxes, police, and all executive functions in his district. Besides this public functionary, there are military officers, who have official residences in the district; and the amtnan, and sorenskrivere or judge ordinary. Christiania, Bergen, Drontheim, and the other large towns in Norway, will be found described each under its own respective head in this work.

The Norwegians enjoy more political liberty than any other European nation. The parliament, called the Storting, is chosen by the owners or life-renters of the land who have attained the age of twenty-five years complete. The minimum value which gives a vote is a hundred and fifty dollars, or L50, a value which, from the large diffusion of property, renders the suffrage nearly universal. To render the elector himself eligible as a representative, it is only necessary that he should be thirty years of age, have resided ten years in Norway, and be altogether unconnected with the state. The voters choose electing men, one to every fifty voters in towns, and one to every hundred voters in counties. The elective franchise is not connected with the place, but with the number of electors; and expands or contracts as they increase or diminish. If numbers change, the power of choosing electing men changes also; and as the Storting bears a proportion to the number of electing men, the number composing the Storting likewise varies; but the variation cannot be great, indeed seldom more than two or three. By this self-acting system of parliamentary reform, places which increase obtain a direct voice in the making of laws, whilst such as decrease below fifty electors must join another district. The electing men, on a day fixed by law, choose their representatives, and the body thus elected forms the Storting. The proportions of members chosen is founded on the principle, that the towns in Norway should as nearly as possible return one third, and the country two thirds, of the whole body, which must not consist of less than seventy-five, nor of more than one hundred members. Each district elects as many substitutes as it elects representatives, to provide against death and other casualties. The Storting is chosen every three years, and is assembled only once in three years, when it sits for three months, or until the business be despatched. The 1st of February is the day of meeting fixed by law. An extraordinary Storting may be convened by the king, but its acts must be confirmed by the next regular Storting. After some preliminary business, such as electing a president, speaker, and secretary, the Storting divides itself into two chambers. One fourth of its whole number is formed into a second chamber, called a Lagthing, or division, in which the deliberative functions of the legislative body are vested. This chamber appears to be equivalent to a house of peers, but its powers are much more confined. No bill can be introduced there; it must come from the other house, which is called the Odelsting, or house of commons. The Lagthing can only deliberate upon what is sent to it, and approve, reject, or send back the bill with proposed amendments. It is also the court before which, aided by the Hoieste Ret Court, an independent branch of the state, the lower house may impeach ministers of state. As the Storting of 1836 consisted of ninety-six individuals, the Lagthing comprised twenty-four members, and the Odelsting seventy-two. Mr Laing thus speaks of the Norwegian parliament. "The Storting consists, in fact, of three houses, the Lagthing of twenty-four members, the Odelsting of seventy-two, and the entire Storting consisting of the whole ninety-six united in one house. In this latter all motions are made and discussed; and, if entertained, are referred to committees to report upon to the Storting. The report, when received back from a committee, is debated and voted upon; and if approved, a bill in terms of the report is ordered to be brought into the Odelsting. This house entertains or rejects the proposed bill, frames and discusses the enactments if it is not rejected in toto, and sends it up to the Lagthing or upper house, to be deliberated upon, approved, rejected, or amended." In regard to the passage of bills through these two houses, the practice of the Norwegian parliament does not differ materially from that of our own, except in the more limited functions of the Lagthing, the king having only a suspensive veto. But if a bill pass through three successive Stortings, it becomes the law of the land without the royal assent. This was exemplified in the case of the bill, already mentioned, for the abolition of hereditary nobility. The duties of the Storting need not be minutely specified; they may easily be inferred. The members are paid for their services; and no executive officer of government can sit in either house.

For legal purposes, the whole country is divided into Jurisprudence four stifts or provinces; and these are further subdivided into sixty-four judicial districts, each of which last compr- Norway. hends several prestigilds or parishes. To each of these divisions there is a distinct tribunal, with a supreme court of ultimate appeal for the whole kingdom, established at Christiania. The lowest court, which is strictly one of equity, not of law, is the court of mutual reconciliation or agreement held in every parish, and over which presides a commissioner, who is elected every three years by the householders, and holds his court once a month, receiving a small fee. Every case or law-suit whatsoever must pass through this preliminary court, where no lawyer or attorney is permitted to practise. Each party states his own case; and if by the judgment or advice of the commissioner the parties are brought to agree, his opinion is duly registered in another court held in the parish, and it has all the validity of a final decision. If, however, the litigants are not satisfied, they carry their case to the lowest legal court, that of the sorenskriver, or sworn writer, which is held in every parish of every district once in every quarter. The sorenskriver's court is of great importance. Besides judging civil and criminal matters, it is the court of registration affecting property in the district, and also for ascertaining the value of and succession to the property of deceased persons. The court next above is the stift-amt court, or that of the province, and is thus constituted. It consists of three judges with assessors, is stationary in the chief town of each province, and is the court of appeal from all the lower tribunals of the province, having at the same time the revision of their administration. It must likewise sanction their decision in criminal matters before sentence can be pronounced. There is, lastly, the Holeste Ret Court of final appeal. It consists of seven judges, and, by the ground law, is one of the three estates of the constitution, being independent of the executive and legislative branches. To this court appeals are carried in the last resort, from the stift-amt courts, in criminal as well as civil cases.

The Norwegian system of jurisprudence presents some remarkable features, not the least important of which is that the judge is responsible for his legal decision; and in a case of appeal to a higher court, he must there defend his judgment, being liable in damages for a wrong decision. This principle involves a high responsibility, and must occasion some individual annoyance, as well as expense; but it does not prevent able lawyers from becoming candidates for judicial functions; and beyond all doubt it is of great advantage to the public in giving certainty to the law, and in preventing as well as remedying erroneous decisions. The punishment of death was abolished by the Danish government about the latter end of the last century, a measure of questionable expediency in this country, at least where the secondary punishments are by no means perfect. But the punishment which is found the most effective, and which forms one of the most distinguishing characteristics of the country, is that of the "loss of honour." From the earliest times this has been a specific punishment in the criminal law of Norway, standing next in degree to the loss of life. "The possession of property," says Mr Laing, "naturally diffuses through all classes the self-respect, regard for character and public opinion, circumspection of conduct, and consideration for others, which flow from and are connected with the possession of property, and render these influential on the morals, manners, and mode of thinking of the whole body of the people." There is and has always been much more of the real business of the country in the hands of the people of Norway, and transacted by themselves, than is possessed by the inhabitants of any other European nation. Now, as the "loss of honour" involves exclusion from all the functions which naturally devolve upon them, the punishment is very severely felt, and looked upon, even by the humblest peasant, with the greatest dread. Imprisonment is regarded by the great bulk of the population as light compared with the sentence of dishonour; and the prevalence of such a high tone of feeling regarding a check to crime, which in other countries is altogether ineffectual, is a phenomenon in social polity highly to the credit of the Norwegians.

The Norwegian church is in principle and doctrine Lutheran, and remains as it was originally moulded after the subversion of the ancient faith, unaltered by the spirit of innovation, and unviolated by the hand of power. It is essentially ceremonial, almost as much so as the Roman Catholic. The altar is decorated with crosses and images, and the priest, arrayed in embroidered robes of velvet, celebrates high mass under that name. To maintain the ceremonial with decent splendour, as well as to support the clergyman in a respectable manner, it is necessary that the parishes should be of considerable size. There are in Norway 336 prestigilds or parishes; and many of these are exceedingly large, extending in some parts from the sea-coast to the Swedish frontier, and containing from 5000 to 10,000 inhabitants. This is certainly a low provision for religious instruction; but the people, generally speaking, are scattered all over the country, not clustered in towns and villages; and although individually they are not affluent, they are at least respectable, notwithstanding that as a whole they are poor. Under such circumstances, parishes must necessarily be large. There are five bishoprics in Norway, each of which has in it a suitable number of inferior clergymen. The patronage is in the hands of the five bishops and the Norwegian council of state, a committee of which has charge of all the affairs of the church. By judicious arrangements the abuse of patronage is prevented. Amongst the regular clergy there is one who has the superintendence over the concerns of four or five of the adjoining parishes; and the state of the church-property buildings, and the manner in which clerical duties are discharged, come under his cognizance. He communicates with the bishop of the diocese, and has a small allowance for performing these services, as dean or proctor. This appears to be the only dignity in the church, with the exception of that of bishop. The incomes of the clergy are derived from tithes, commuted into a payment of grain, glebe farms, one of which the widow has for her life, offerings, and dues. These incomes in country parishes vary from 800 to 1600 dollars; but in large towns, or thickly settled parishes, they are higher. The bishops, says Mr Laing, have about four thousand dollars each. In proportion to the other professional classes in the country, the clergy are well paid, and the church has always been the first profession to which talent is naturally directed. The clergy are laborious and zealous in the discharge of their duty, the church service forming the smallest part of it. They have school examinations, Sunday schools, and other institutions for the promulgation of Christian knowledge. Mr Laing's impression is, that the Norwegian clergy are a highly educated body of men, being all acquainted with the literature of Europe, and some of them celebrated for their classical attainments. It is a peculiar characteristic of the Norwegian church, that there is no dissent from it; there are no sectarians in the country. This arises partly from the church having no temporal power, no political existence as a part of the state, no interests jarring with those of the other members of the community. In political rights and privileges the clergy are on a footing with the rest of the inhabitants, and are represented in the Storting, like other citizens. The Lutheran religion is part of the state, but not the ministers who teach it. One chief cause of the influence of the ministers of religion, and the absence of dissent, is the high consideration in which the right of confirmation is held. The person who has passed this ordeal is regarded as having received a moral as well as a religious diploma, which capacitates him for an office of trust and responsibility. In connection with religion, we may mention the singular fact, that Bibles are remarkably scarce. Mr Laing could not obtain a copy of the Old or New Testament from the only bookseller in Drontheim, which contains 12,000 inhabitants, nor from the book-dealers at the fair of Levanger. The reason assigned for this remarkable deficiency in the sacred writings in a country attentive to religion, and sufficiently supplied with the catechism and the book of common prayer as used in the Norwegian church, is, that the Bible Society of London at one time sent over a great supply, and drove the regular dealers from the market by underselling them. In consequence of this they are now afraid to speculate in such a precarious stock.

Education is very generally diffused; but the standard of excellence is rather low, reading and writing constituting nearly the whole. It is provided for in the country parishes by an arrangement similar to that of Scotland. There are parochial schoolmasters, of whom some have fixed residences, and others live for one half of the year in one place, and for the other half in another. A small tax is levied from each householder, and every adult pays a small personal fee. There is a considerable degree of intelligence evinced in some of these communities; but the schools are too widely scattered over a thinly peopled country to be equally beneficial to all. It may be mentioned, that the clergy pay particular attention to the diffusion of education. The higher department of university education at Christiania is exceedingly expensive; and, besides, there is not such a demand for educated men in the medical, legal, and commercial professions, as in more densely-peopled and commercial countries, the tendency of which undoubtedly is to raise the standard of intellectual proficiency amongst all classes of the community. Those belonging to the learned professions are not numerous, because the demand is not great, and the supply is adjusted accordingly. The restrictions on the free exercise of trade and industry also operate with great force in depressing general education. Before a person can enter upon any medical or legal employment, before he can manufacture, buy, or sell as a merchant, he must obtain peculiar privileges from a corporate body. "As the expense of preparation," says Mr Laing, "and the small number of prizes to be obtained, place the higher and learned professions out of the reach of the main body of the people, as objects of rational ambition, for which they might endeavour to bestow superior education upon their children, so the restrictions and monopoly system shut them out from various paths and employments for which ingenuity, with ordinary useful education, might qualify them." With such a legislature as Norway possesses, it is to be hoped that these fetters upon the industry and intelligence of the country will not be allowed to remain much longer unremoved.

From the general diffusion of periodical publications, Mr Laing is led to infer that the Norwegians are a reading people. What is of great importance to the community is, that the press is by law perfectly free. There is no duty on newspapers, of which upwards of twenty are published; seven or eight in Christiania alone, and all in extensive circulation. Every little town has its local newspaper; and from the importance attached to local subjects there discussed, the bulk of the community are the purchasers, not the educated few. In type and paper they are superior to the French or German papers, and much ability is shown in conducting them. "Such newspapers as the American people read," says Mr Laing, "would not find readers in this country." There is no scurrility nor personal abuse displayed by those who write in them; yet the most entire freedom of discussion exists, public men and public measures being handled freely but decorously, and with a strict eye to the general good. There is no tax upon advertisements; and a measure to allow all periodical publications to be transmitted free of postage was lately negatived, only because the revenue of the post-office had been appropriated to certain specific purposes for the three years next ensuing. Some newspapers which are supposed to be particularly favourable to government are allowed by royal favour to pass free of postage at present, and no doubt is entertained that ere long all will be placed upon the same footing. A number of periodical and occasional works besides newspapers are published. There are two weekly magazines in great circulation; several monthly journals devoted to literature, antiquarian, agricultural, and military subjects; and in almost every newspaper there is the announcement of some new work or translation. Yet the literature which ought strictly to be considered as Norwegian is not yet of a very high order compared with that of other countries. But the mind of the country is advancing; and literature, which is young in Norway, will advance along with it.

The inhabitants of Norway are very polite in their manners, as well to each other as to strangers. They are and partial to theatrical representations, so that the drama holds a high place in their estimation; and, besides the public theatres, there are societies of amateur performers in all the larger towns, and even in some of the villages. In music, dancing, and dress, the Norwegian females are by no means deficient. They have pleasing voices, and in every family of every station singing and dancing are constantly practised in the long winter evenings. Music is taught in the country by the organist attached to each parish. In the winter regular fairs are held, at which Swedes and Laplanders attend for disposing of goods. Christmas is kept in great style, and there are other festivals and various amusements which serve to relieve the tedium of winter and spring. The 17th of May, also, being the anniversary of their independence, is celebrated both at home and abroad by every Norwegian, and with marked propriety. Mr Laing gives a favourable account of the state of morals in Norway; but, without impugning so high an authority, if we are to take bastardy as a test, the statement is not borne out by the facts. The proportion of illegitimate to legitimate children is as one to five, which is as high as in London or Paris. But the evils entailed upon society by illegitimacy are partially alleviated by the state of the law in respect to this. Children are not only rendered legitimate by the subsequent marriage of the parents, as in Scotland, but the father, previously to his contracting a marriage with another party, may, by a particular act, legitimize them. The Norwegians are at all events a very hospitable, honest, industrious, and peaceable people.

The government of Norway, aware of the value and importance of steam navigation, is making great and judicious exertions to promote it. This is a country where it is calculated to produce its greatest benefits, from the manner in which the peninsula is traversed by long arms of the sea, penetrating sometimes to its very centre. Steam-vessels are now seen plying on these fiords; they are commanded by naval officers; the fares are moderate; and in all that regards the comfort of passengers they rival our own. Roads and bridges are kept in a state of excellent order; a circumstance likely to happen in a country of proprietors, whose common interest it is to keep them in repair. There are no tolls in Norway; the principle of the farmers and others is to work in concert, and to keep up establishments for the common benefit.

The worst feature, perhaps the only thoroughly bad one, in the institutions of Norway, is, that the trade is not free. Each trade is monopolized by a sort of guild or fraternity, by which even country dealers are licensed. The pernicious effects of such a system we have sufficiently shown Norwich: when treating of the fisheries; and we shall close our account of this interesting country with the following observations, extracted from a work of great authority on such subjects:

"The principle of equal partition of land among all the children, retained in Norway from the earliest period, prevailed also in England before the conquest. A relic of it remains in the law of gavelkind, still existing in Kent. The different effects produced on society by the retention of that law in the one country, and its general disuse in the other, are remarkable. In Norway, chiefly by its operation, a high standard of sufficiency has been preserved among the middle and labouring classes. Population has been prevented from increasing too rapidly by the fear which people have of falling below the general standard. There has, therefore, been a continual prevalence and diffusion of ease and well-being. But, on account of the absence of great inequalities of condition, and therefore of many of the usual stimulants to exertion, society has been kept at a low level. Great social freedom has indeed always existed, in consequence of the land being in the hands of the mass of the people; but there has been a want of ability, until a very recent period, to combine for the preservation of their political independence. During their earlier history, their political liberties were often variable and uncertain. After the union of their crown with that of Denmark in 1380, it appears that the Danish nobility gradually encroached upon their privileges; for when, in 1660, the crown and the people combined against the nobility, and abolished the states in Denmark, a similar revolution also took place in Norway; and that country continued under absolute government until the establishment of its constitution in 1814. Their udal laws trained them in the management of their own affairs, and produced that feeling of self-respect which the possession of property, and of land in particular, is calculated to give. These, together with the civil institutions preserved or introduced whilst they were under the Danish crown, prepared them for the large measure of freedom to which they have now attained. The evil of their udal system is its tendency to obstruct the development of intellect, and to keep society stationary. But since 1814 they have made great progress. Stimulants to mental activity are now no longer wanting. Their continual collision with Sweden, the problem of their internal restrictions on trade and commerce, the routine of their government, and the wholesome struggles always arising in a free state, will supply them. Their land will become more productive, by the application of science to its cultivation; their trade will also be expanded. If we open our ports to their timber, which we may one day see accomplished, their wealth will increase. And, according to the experience of the last twenty years, wealth will not materially disturb the peculiarities of their social system."