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ALBERT R. MANN
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AGRICULTURE AND HoME ECONOMICS

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CORNELL UNIVERSITY

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Cornell University

Library

The original of this book is in
the Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.

http:/Awww.archive.org/details/cu31924002881161

INTERNATIONAL FORESTRY EXHIBITION.

WORKS ON FOREST SCIENCE.

By tae REV. J. C. BROWN, LL.D.
o
Eprssurcw : OLIVER & BOYD.

Lonpon : SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., anp W. RIDER & SON.
MontreaL: DAWSON, BROTHERS.

A
=

I.—Introdcuction to the Study of Modern Forest
Economy. Price 5s.

In this there are brought under consideration the exten-
sive destruction of forests which has taken place in Europe
and elsewhere, with notices of. disastrous consequences
which have followed—diminished supply of timber and
firewood, droughts, floods, landslips, and sand-drifts—and
notices of the appliances of Modern Forest Science success-
fully to counteract these evils by conservation, planting, and
improved exploitation, under scientific administration and
management.

Extract FROM PReracy.—‘ At a meeting held on the 28th of March
last year (1883), presided over by the Marquis of Lothian, while the
assemblage was representative of all interests—scientific, practical, and
professional—it was resolved :—‘‘That it is expedient in the interests
of torestry, and to promote a movement for the establishment of a
National School of Forestry in Scotland, as well as with a view of
furthering and stimulating a greater improvement in the scientific
management of woods in Scotland and the sister countries which has
manifested itself during recent years, that there should be held in Edin-
burgh, during 1884, and at such season of the year as may be arranged,
an International Exhibition of forest products and other objects of
interest connected with forestry.” It was then moved, seconded, and
agreed :—‘‘ That this meeting pledges itself to give its hearty co-opera-
tion and patronage to the promotion of an International Forestry Exhibi-
tion in Edinburgh in 1884; and those present resolve to give their best
efforts and endeavours to render the Exhibition a success, and of such
importance and general interest as to make it worthy of the name of
International.” ; ;

It is in accordance with this resolution, and in discharge of obligations
which it imposed, that this volume has been prepared.’

2

II.—The Forests of England; and the Management of
them in Bye-gone Times. Price 6s.

Ancient forests, chases, parks, warrens, and woods, are
described ; details are given of destructive treatment to
which they have been subjected, and of legislation and
literature relating to them ‘previous to the present
century.

Exrract From Prerace.—‘ Contrast with this [the paucity of works
in English on Forest Science], the richness of Continental languages in
literature on such subjects. I have had sent to me lately O/versight of
Svenska Skogsliteraturen, Bibliografiska Studieren of Axel Cnattingius, a
list of many books and papers on Forest Science published in Sweden ;
I have also had sent to me a work by Don José Jordana y Morera,
Ingenero de Montes, under the title of Apuntes Bibliographico Forestale,
a catalogue raisonné of 1126 printed books, MSS., &c., in Spanish, on
subjects connected with Forest Science.

‘Iam at present preparing for the press a report on measures adopted
in France, Gerinany, Hungary, and elsewhere, to arrest and utilise drift-
sand by planting them with grasses and trees ; and in Der Huropaeische
Flug-sand und Seine Cultur, von Josef Wessely General Domaenen-
Inspecktor, und Forst-Academie-Direktor, published in Vienna in 1873,
I find a list of upwards of 100 books and papers on that one department
of the subject, of which 30, in Hungarian, Latin, and German, were
published in Hungary alone.

‘ According to the statement of one gentleman, to whom application
was made by a representative of the Government at the Cape, for infor-
mation in regard to what suitable works on Forest Economy could be
procured from Germany, the works on Forst- Wissenchaft, Forest Science,
and Forst- Wirthchaft, Forest Economy, in the German language may be
reckoned by cartloads. From what I know of the abundance of works
in German, on subjects connected with Forestry, I am not surprised
that such a report should have been given. And with the works in
German may be reckoned the works in French.

‘In Hermann Schmidt’s Fach Katalogue, published in Prague last
year (1876), there were given the titles, &c,, of German works in Forst und
Jagd-Literatur, published from 1870 to 1875 inclusive, to the 3lst of
October of the latter year, amounting in all to 650, exclusive of others
given in an appendix, containing a selection of the works published
prior to 1870. They are classified thus :—General Forest Economy, 93 ;
Forest Botany, 60 ; Forest History and Statistics, 50; Forest Legislation
and Game Laws, 56; Forest Mathematics, 25; Forest Tables and
Measurements, &c., 148; Forest Technology, 6; Forest Zoology, 19;
Peat and Bog Treatment, 14; Forest Calendars, 6; Forest and Game
Periodicals, 27 ; Forest Union and Year Books, 13; Game, 91; Forest
and Game in Bohemian, 44. In all, 652. Upwards of a hundred new
works had been ee annually. Amongst the works mentioned is
avolume entitled Die Literatur der letzten sieben Jahre (1862-1872) aus

3

dem Gesamnutgebiete der Land-und Forst-wirthschaft mit Einschluss der
landw. Geweber u. der Jagd, in deutscher, franzdsischer u englisher
Sprache Herausy. v. d. Buchandl, v. Gerold and Co., in Wein, 1873, a
valuable catalogue filling 278 pages in large octavo.

‘This volume is published as a small contribution to the literature of
Britain, on subjects pertaining to Forest Science.

‘It is after due consideration that the form given to the work— that
of a compilation of what has been stated in works previously published
—has beep adopted.

III.—Forestry of Norway. Price 5s.

There are described in successive chapters the general
features of the country. Details are given of the geo-
graphical distribution of forest trees, followed by discussions
of conditions by which this has been determined—heat,
moisture, soil, and exposure. The effects of glacial action
on the contour of the country are noticed, witb accounts
of existing glaciers aid snow-fields. And information is
supplied in regard to forest exploitation and the transport
of timber, in regard to the export timber trade, to public
instruction in sylviculture, and to forest administration,
and to ship-building and shipping.

Exrract FRoM Prerace.—‘In the spring of 1877, while measures
were being taken for the formation of an Arboretum in Edinburgh, I
issued a pamplet entitled he Schools of Forestry in Hurope: a Plea
for the Creation of a School of Forestry in connection with the Arboretum
in Edinburgh. After it was made known that arrangements were being
carried out for the formation of an International Exhibition of forest
products, and other objects of interest connected with forestry, in Edin-
burgh with a view to promoting the movement for the establishment
of a National School of Forestry in Scotland, and with a view of
furthering and stimulating a greater improvement in the scientific
management of. woods in Scotland, and the sister countries, which has
manifested itself during recent years, the council of the Kast Lothian
Naturalists’ Club resolved on having a course of lectures or popular
readings on some subject connected with forestry, which might enable
the members and others better to profit by visits to the projected Exhibi-
tion, and which should be open to the public at a moderate charge, . The
conducting of these was devolved upon me, who happened to be vice-
president of the club. The following treatise was compiled from
information then in my possession, or within my reach, and it constituted
the basis of these lectures.’

4

IV.—Finland : its Forests and Forest Management.
Price 6s 6d. ;

_In this volume is supplied information in regard to
the lakes and rivers of Finland, known as The Land of a
Thousand Lakes, and as The Last-born Daughter of the
Sea ; in regard to its physical geography, including notices
of the contour of the country, its geological formations
and indications of glacial action, its flora, fauna, and
climate; and in regard to its forest economy, embracing a
discussion of . the advantages and disadvantages of
Svedjande, the Sartage of France, and the Koomaree of
India; and details of the development of Modern Forest
Economy in Finland, with notices of its School of Fores-
try, of its forests and forest trees, of the disposal of its
forest products, and of its legislation and literature in
forestry are given.

Extract From PREFACE.—‘I happened to spend the summer of 1879
in St. Petersburg, ministering in the British and American Chapel in
that city, while the pastor sought relaxation for a few months at home.
I was for years the minister of the congregation worshipping there, and
I had subsequently repeatedly spent the summer among them in similar
circumstances. I was at the time studying the Forestry of Europe ;
and I availed myself of opportunities afforded by my journey thither
through Norway, Sweden, and Finland, by my stay in Russia, and by
my return through Germany and France, to collect information bearing
upon the enquiries in which I was engaged. On my return to Scotland
I contributed to the Journal of Forestry a series of papers which were
afterwards reprinted under the title Glances at the Forests of Northern
Europe. Yn the preface to this pamphlet I stated that in Denmark
may be studied the remains of forests in pre-historic times ; in Norway,
luxuriant forests managed by each proprietor as seemeth good in his own
eyes; in Sweden, sustained systematic endeavours to regulate the
management of forests in accordance with the latest deliverances of
modern science; in Finland, Sartage disappearing before the most
advanced forest economy of the day; and in Russia, Jardinage in the
north, merging into more scientific management in Central Russia, and
Réboisement in the south. This volume is a study of information which
I then collected, together with information which I previously possessed,
or ci subsequent ly obtained, in regard to the Forests and Forestry of
Finland.

Translation of Extracts from Letters from Dr A. Buomegvist, Director
of the Finnish National School of Forestry at Evois :—‘On my return
from Salmos three weeks ago I hail the great pleasure to receive your
volume on the Forests and Forest Management in Finland. I return

5

you grateful thanks for the gift, and no less for publishing a description |
of the forestal condition of our country. It is with sentiments of true
gratitude I learn that you had previously taken part in a work so
important to our country as the preparation of a new edition of the New
Testament in Finnish. Your descriptions of our natural scenery are
most excellent and interesting. Personally I feel most interest in your
accounts of Koomaree. I value it much, and not less so your concurrent
final conclusion in regard to the effects of the exercise of it in Finland.’

Translation of Statement by M, De La Gryz, in the Revue des
Eaux et Férets of January 1884 :—‘ In an address delivered some weeks
since at a banquet of exhibitors in the French section at Amsterdam,
M. Herisson, Minister of Commerce, expressed an intention to publish
a series of small books designed to make known to French merchants
foreign lands in a commercial point of view. If the Minister of Commerce
wishes to show to our merchants the resources possessed by Finland, he
need not go far to seek information which may be useful to them, they
will be found in a small volume which has just been published by Mr
John Croumbie Brown.

‘ Mr Brown is one of those English ministers, who, travelling over the

world in all directions [some at their own cost], seeking to spread the
Word of the Lord in the form of Bibles translated into all languages,
know how to utilise the leisure left to them at times while prosecuting
this mission. Some occupy themselves with physical science, others with
archeology, some with philology, many with commerce ; Mr Brown has
made a special study of sylviculture. He has already published on this
subject many works, from amongst which we may cite these : Hydrology
of South Africa ; The Forests of England ; The Schools of Forestry in
Hurope ; Réboisement, in France; Pine Plantations on Sand Wastes in
France.
. ‘His last book on Finland is the fruit of many journeys made in that
country, which he visited for the first time in 1833, but whither he hag
returned frequently since that time. Mr Brown gives narratives of his
voyages on the lakes which abound in Finland, and his excursions in the
immense forests, the exploitation of which constitutes the principal
industry of the country. The School of Forestry at Evois has furnished
to him much precise information in regard to the organisation of the
service, and the legislation and the statistics of forests, which, added
to what he had procured by his own observation, has enabled him to
make a very complete study of this country, poetically designated The
Land of a Thousand Lakes, and which might also justly be called The
Kingdom of the Forest, for there this reigns sovereign.’ -

V.—Forest Lands and Forestry of Northern Russia.
Price 6s 6d.

Details are given of a trip from St. Petersburg to

the forests around Petrozavodsk on Lake Onega, in

the government of Olonetz; a description of the forests

6

on that government by Mr Judrae, a forest official of
high position, and of the forests of Archangel by Mr
Hepworth Dixon, of Lapland, of the land of the Samoides
and of Nova Zembla; of the exploitation of the forests
by Jurdinage, and of the evils of such exploitation; and
of the export timber trade, and disposal of forest products.
In connection with discussions of the physical geography
of the region information is supplied in regard to the
contour and general appearance’ of the country ; its flora,
its forests, and the palaeontological botany of the regions
beyond, as viewed by Professor Heer and: Count Saporta ;
its fauna, with notices of game, and with copious lists of
coleoptera and lepidoptera, by Forst-Meister Gunther, of
Petrozavodsk.

Extract From Prerace.—‘In the spring of 1877 I published a
brochure entitled The Schools of Forestry in Europe: a Flea for the Crea-
tion of a School of Forestry in connection with the Arboretum in Edin-
burgh, in which with details of the arrangements made for instruction in
Forest Science in Schools of Forestry in Prussia, Saxony, Hanover,
esse, Darmstadt, Wurtemburg, Bavaria, Austria, Poland, Russia,
Finland, Sweden, France, Italy, and in Spain, and details of arrange-
ments existing in Fdioburgh for instruction in most of the subjects in-
cluded amongst preliminary studies, I submitted for consideration the
opinion, ‘‘ that with the acquisition of this Arboretum, and with the ex-
isting arrangements for study in the University of Edinburgh, and in
the Watt Institution and School of Arts, there are required only facil'-
ties for the study of what is known on the Continent as Forest Science
to enable these Institutions conjointly, or any one of them, with the
help of the other, to take a place amongst the most completely equipped
Schools of Forestry in Europe, and to undertake the training of furesters
for the discharge of such duties as are now required of them in India, in
our Colonies, and at home.”

‘This year has seen world-wide arrangements for an International
Exhibition of forest products and other objects of interest connected
with forestry in Edinburgh, ‘‘In the interests of forestry, and to pro-
mote a movement for the establishment of a School of Forestry in Scot-
land, as well as with a view of furthering and stimulating a greater im-
provement in the scientific management of woods in Scotland and the
sister countries which has manifested itself during recent years,”

‘The following is one of a series of volumes published with a view to
introduce into English forestal literature detailed information on some
of the points on which information is supplied to students at Schools of
Forestry on the Continent ; and to make better known the breadth of
study which is embraced in what is known there as Forstwissenscaft, ov
Forest Science.’

7

VI.—French Forest Ordinance of 1669 ; with Historical
Sketch of Previous Treatment of Forests in France.
Price 4s.

The early history of forests in France is given, with de-
tails of devastations of these going on in the first half of
the seventeenth century ; with a translation of the Ordi-
nance of 1669, which is the basis of modern forest econo-
my; and notices of forest exploitation in Jardinage, in La
Methode & Tire et Aire,andin La Methode des Comparti-
ments,

Extract rrom Prerace.—‘ ‘‘ The Celebrated Forest Ordinance of
1669 :” Such is the character and designation generally given at the
present day to the Ordinance in question. It is known, by reputation
at least, in every country on the Continent of Europe; but, so far as is
known to me, it has never before been published in English dress. It
may possibly be considered antiquated ; but, on its first promulgation, it
was welcomed, far beyond the bounds of France, as bringing life to the
dead ; and I know of no modern system of Forest Exploitation, based on
modern Forest Science, in which I cannot trace its influence. In the
most advanced of these—that for which we are indebted to Hartig and
Cotta of Saxony—I see a development of it like to the development of
the butterfly from what may be seen in the structure of the chrysalis ;
and thus am I encouraged to hope that it may prove suggestive of bene-
ficial arrangements, even where it does not detail what it may be deemed
desirable to adopt.

‘In my translation I have followed an edition issued with Royal ap-
proval in 1753, with one verbal alteration to bring it into accordance
with certain older approved editions, and with another verbal alteration
to bring it into accordance with editions issued in 1699, 1723, 1734, and

1747.’

Translation of notice by M. Dz La Grrx for July 1883 in the: Revue
des Eaux et Férets: ‘England, which with her immense possessions in
India, in Canada, and in the Cape of Good Hope, is beyond all question
a State rich in forests, has never up to the present time given to this
portion of her domains more than a very moderate share of her attention ;
but for some years past public opinion is becoming alarmed, in view of
the immense devastations which have been committed in them, and the

” forest question coming forward spontaneously has become the subject of
numerous publications : amongst which, after the excellent monthly
collection, the Journal of Forestry and, Estate Management, comes the
Translation of the Ordinance of 1669, which has just been published by
Mr John Croumbie Brown. This translation of a monument of juris-
prudence, well known in France, but which has never before been repro-
duced in English, has furnished to Mr Brown an opportunity of giving a
‘historical sketch of French Forest Legislation, and an exposition of the

8

different methods of exploitation followed in our country. Drawn from
the best sources, and commented on with talent, these documents form
an elegant volume, which the author has made the more complete by
binding with it a summary of the treatise he has published on the
Forests of England.’

VII. —Pine Plantations ou Sand Wastes in France.
Price 7s.

In this are detailed the appearances presented by the
Landes of the Gironde before and after culture, and the
Landes of La Solugne; the legislation and literature of
France in regard to the planting of the Landes with trees ;
the characteristics of the sand wastes; the natural his-
tory, culture, and exploitation of the maritime pine, and
of the Scots fir; and the diseases and injurious influences
to which the maritime pine is subject.

- Extracts From Prerace.—‘ The preparation of this volume for the
press was undertaken in consequence of a statementin the Standard and
Mail, a Capetown paper, of the 22d July 1876, to the effect that in the
estimates submitted to Parliament £1000 had been put down for the
Cape Flats, it was supposed with a view to its being employed in car-
rying out planting operations as a means of reclaiming the sandy tracts
beyond Salt River.

‘This volume was originally compiled in view of what seemed to he
required at the Cape of Good Hope. It has been revised and printed
now, as a contribution towards a renewed enterprise to arrest and
utilise gand-wastes which stretch from Table Mountain to the Hottentot
Holland Mountains; and additional information is forthcoming if it
should be desired.’

VIII.—Reboisement in France; or, Records of the Re-
planting of the Alps, the Cevennes, and the
Pyrenees, with Trees, Herbage, and Bush,
with a view to arresting and preventing the de-
structive consequences of torrents. Price 12s.

In this are given a résume of Surell’s study of Alpine
torrents, of the literature of France relative to Alpine tor-
rents, and of remedial measures which have been proposed
for adoption to prevent the disastrous consequences fol-

9

lowing from them—translations of documents and enact-
ments, showing what legislative and executive measures
have been taken by the Government of France in connec-
tion with réboisement as a remedial application against
destructive torrents—and details in regard to the past,
present, and prospective aspects of the work.

Exrract FRoM Prerace.—‘ In a treatise on the Hydrology of South
Africa I have given details of destructive effects of torrential floods at
the Cape of Good Hope and Natal, and referred to the measures adopted
in France to prevent the occurrence of similar disastrous floods there.
The attention of the Legislative Assembly at the Cape of Good Hope
was, last year, called by one of the members of the Assembly to the
importance of planting trees on unproductive Crown lands. On learn-
ing that this had been done I addressed to the editor of the Cape Argus
a communication, of which the following is a copy :—

‘“T have before me details of destructive effects of torrents which have
occurred since I left the Colony in the beginning of 1867. Towards the
close of that year there occurred one, the damage occasioned by which
to roads and to house property at Port Elizabeth alone was estimated at
from £25,000 to £30,000. Within a year thereafter a similar destructive
torrent occurred at Natal, in regard to which it was stated that the
damage done to public works alone was estimated at £50,000, while the
loss to private persons was estimated variously from £50,000 to £100,000.
In the following year, 1869, a torrent in the Western Province occa-
sioned the fall of a railway bridge, which issued in loss of life and loss
of property, and personal injuries, for one case alone of which the rail-
way proprietors were prosecuted for damages amounting to £5000. In
Beaufort West a deluge of rain washed down the dam, and the next
year the town was flooded by the waters of the Gamko ; and the next
year, 1871, Victoria West was visited with a similar disaster. Such are
the sums and the damages with which we have to deal in connection
with this question, as it affects the case; and these are only the most
remarkable torrents of the several years referred to. I have spoken of
millions of francs being spent on réboisement in France, and some may
-be ready to ery out, ‘ Nothing like such an expenditure can be under-
taken at the Cape!’ Perhaps not; but the losses occasioned by the
torrents seem 40 amount at present to about a million of francs in the

-year. This falls in a great measure on individuals, that would fall on
the community ; and the community in return would benefit by water
retained to fertilize the earth, instead of being lost in the sea, and by
firewood and timber being grown where now there is none. These are
facts well deserving of consideration in the discussion of the expediency
of planting Crown lands with trees.” :

“Towards the close of last year, 1874, still more disastrous effects
were produced by torrential floods. According to the report given by
one of the Colonial newspapers, the damages done could not be esti-

mated at much less than £300,000, According to the report given by

10

another, the damage done to public works alone was estimated at
£350,000,—eight millions, seven hundred and fifty thousand francs, And
my attention was called anew to the subject.

*On addressing myself to M. Faré, Director-General of the Administra-
tion of Forests in France, there was afforded to me every facility I could
desire for extending and verifying the information I had previously col-
lected in regard to the works of réboisement to which I have referred.
Copies of additional documents were supplied to me, with copies of
works sanctioned by the Administration, and arrangements were made
for my visiting and inspecting, with every assistance required, the works
begun and the works completed ; and thus I have been enabled to sub-
mit a much more complete report than it would otherwise have been in
my power to produce,

‘While the compilation I have prepared owes its publication at this
time to the occurrence of the inundations of last year at the Cape of

Good Hope, the publication has been undertaken in the hope that in
other countries besides South Africa the information may be turned to
practical account.’

Translation of extract from letter to the author by M. ALEXANDRE
SvRELL, /ngenieur des Ponts e Chausses, chairman of the Compagnie des
Chemins des Fer du Midi et du Canal lateral a la Garonne, and author of
Htude sur les Torrents des Hautes- Alps, Ouvrage Couronne par ? Academie
des Sciences en 1842 :—‘ You are rendering an eminent service to society
in callivg the attention of serious thinkers to the subject of réboisements
and gazonnements. It is a vital question affecting our descendants,
specially in southern climates, there are useful truths which have to be
diffused there, and you have fulfilled this duty amongst your country-
men,

‘In France public opinion, long indifferent, is now sufficiently en-
lightened on the question, and much has been done.

‘I have been able to establish in the course of a recent journey
that, throughout a great part of Switzerland, in Styria, in Carinthia,
and in the Tyrol, the same phenomena which have issued in the desola-
tion of our French Alps are beginning to produce the same effects.
There have been recognised a number of extinct torrents which had
originated in the destruction of the forests. If people go on sleeping,
and the administration or the communes do nothing to arrest the evil,
posterity will have a sad inheritance devolved upon it.

‘You have given, with very great clearness, a résumé of what I have
done in France, be it by my works, or be it by my workings, for the re-
generation of our mountains.’

‘Translation of extract from letter by the late M. Ernest Cézanne, Jn-
genieur des Ponts et Chausses, Représentant des Hautes Alpes al Assemblée
‘Nationale, and author of Une Suite to the work of M. Surell. ‘The
post brought to me yesterday your very interesting volume on Réboise-
ment. Lat once betook myself to the perusal of it ; and I am surprised
that a foreigner could digest so completely such a collection of our
French documents drawn from so many diverse sources, The problem

11

of réboisement and the regeneration of the mountains is one of the most in-
teresting which man has to solve, but it requires time and money, and
with the authorities and political assemblies, technical kuowledge which
is as yet but very sparingly possessed. It is by books so substantial as
yours, sir, that public opinion ‘can be prepared to face the importance
of this great work.’

IX.—Hydrology of South Africa; or Details of the
Former Hydrographic Condition of Cape of Good
Hope, and of Causes of its Present Aridity, with
Suggestions of Appropriate Remedies for this
Aridity. Price 10s.

Tn this the desiccation of South Africa, from pre-Adamic
times to the preseat day, is traced by indications supplied
by geological formations, by the physical geography or the
general contour of the country, and by arborescent pro-
ductions in the interior, with results confirmatory of the
opinion that the appropriate remedies are irrigation,
arboriculture, and an improved forest economy: or the
erection of dams to prevent the escape of a portion of
the rainfall to the sea—the abandonment or restriction of
the burning of the herbage and bush in connection with
pastoral and agricultural operations —the conservation and
extension of existing forests —and the adoption of measures
similar to the rébotsement and gazonnement carried out in
France, with a view to prevent the formation of torrents,
and the destruction of property occasioned by them,

M. Jules Clavé, of world-wide reputation as a student
of Forest Science, wrote in the Revue des Deux Mondes of
lst May 1882 :—

[Translated.] ‘Since the first travels of Livingstone, the African
continent, hitherto inacessible, has been attacked on all points at once.
By the north, and by the south, by the east, and by the west, hardy
explorers have penetrated it, traversed it, and have dragged from it
some of its secrets. ‘Travellers have paid tribute and done their work
in opening up a path ; it is now for science and civilisation to do theirs,
in studying the problems which present themselves for investigation ;
and in drawing ia the current of general circulations the peoples and
lands, which appear as if destined to stand outside; and in causing to

12

contribute to the increase of social wealth the elements of production
previously unknown. Thus are we led to receive with interest works
which can throw a new light on the condition of regions which may
have been known for a long time, and which make known the conditions
of their prosperity. It is under this title that the work of the Rev. J. C.
Brown on the Hydrology of South Africa appears deserving of notice ;
but it is so also from other points of view. Mr Brown, after a previous
residence in the colony of the Cape, whither he had been sent in 1844
as a missionary and head of a religious congregation, returned thither
in 1863 as Professor of Botany in the College of South Africa, and he
remained there some years. In both of these positions he had occasion to
travel through the colony in all directions, and had opportunities to col-
lect most valuable information in regard to its physical geography. Mr
Brown on going out to the Cape knew nothing of the works which had
for their object to determine the influence of forests on the climate, on
the quantity of rain, and on the river-courses in Europe ; he had never
heard mention of the work of M. Surell on the torrents of the Alps, or
of that of M. Mathieu on forest meteorology, nor of those of M.
Domontzey, Costa de Bastelica, and so many others on the subject of
réboisement ; and yet in studying by himself, and without bias, the
climatic condition of South Africa, he came to perceive that the dis-
turbances in the regularity of the flow of rivers within the historic
period should be attributed in a large measure to the destruction of
forests ; and he meets in agreement on this- point the savants whose
names have been mentioned. We have thougnt it might not be with-
out interest to readers of the Revue to l:ave in the lines of Mr Brown a
collection of phenomena which, in their manifestation at any speci-
fied point are not less due to general causes, the effects of which
may be to make themselves felt everywhere where there may be
existent the same conditions than to aught else.’ And there follows a
lengthened article in illustration.

X.—Water Supply of South Africa, and Facilities for
the Storage of it. Price 18s 6d.

In this volume are detailed meteorological observations
on the humidity of the air and the rainfall, on clouds, and
winds, and thunder-storms; sources from which is derived
the supply of moisture which is at present ‘available for
agricultural operations in the Colony of the Cape of Good
Hope and regions beyond, embracing the atmosphere, the
rainfall, rivers, fountains, subterranean streams and reser-
voirs, and the sea; and the supply of water and facilities
for the storage of it in each of the divisions of the colony

4

13

—in Basutoland, in the Orange River Free State, in
Griqualand West, in the Transvaal Territory, in Zululand,
at Natal, and in the Transkei Tervitory.

Extract FRoM Prerace.—‘ Appended to the Report of the Colonial
Botanist at the Cape of Good Hope for 1866 was an abstract of a Memoir
prepared on the Hydrology of South Africa, which has since been
embodied in a volume which has been published on that subject, and an
abstract of a Memoir prepared on Irrigation and its application to
agricultural operations in South Africa, which embraced a Report on
the Water Supply of the Colooy ; its sources, its qnantity, the modes of
irrigation required in different circumstances, the facilities for the adop-
tion of these in different districts, and the difficulties, physical and
other, in the way of works of extensive irrigation being carried out
there, and the means of accomplishing these which are at command.

‘In the following volume is embodied that portion of the Memoir
which related to the water supply, and the existing facilities for the
storage of this, with reports relative to this which were subsequently
received, and similar information in regard to lands beyond the Colony
of the Cape of Good Hope, which it has been sought to connect with the
Colony by federation, or otherwise ; and the information relative to
irrigation has been transferred to a Report on the Rivers of the Colony,
and the means of controlling floods, of preventing inundations, of
regulating the flow of rivers, and utilising the water by irrigation
otherwise.

‘In the series of volumes to which this belongs its place is immedi-
ately ‘after that on the Hydrology of South Africa, which contains
details of the former hydrographic condition of the Cape of Good Hope,
and of causes of its present aridity, with suggestions of appropriate
remedies for this aridity; and it has been prepared to show that, not
in a vague and general use of the terms, but in strict accordance with
the statement, the severe, protracted, and extensive droughts, and
destructive floods and inundations, recorded in the former volume, find
their counterpart in constantly alternating droughts and deluges in
every district of the Colony,—and that, in every so-called division of it,
notwithstanding the deluges, there were protracted sufferings from
drought, and, notwithstanding the aridity, there ig a supply of water
at command, with existing facilities for the storage of the superabundant
supply which at present proves productive of more evil than good.’

Statement by Reviewer in Zuropean Mail :—‘ Dr Brown is well known
at the Cape, for in the exercise of his duties he travelled over the prin-
cipal part of it, and much, if not indeed the substance, of the bulky
volume before us, has been before the Cape public in the form of Reports
to the local Government. As these reports have been commented upon
over and over again by the local press there is little left for us to say
beyond the fact that the author reiterates his opinion that the only
panacea, for the drought is to erect dams and other irrigation works. for
the storage of water when the rains come down. There can be no doubt

14

that this is sage and wholesome advice, and the only question is, who
is to sustain the expense? Not long ago, sonewhere- about the time
that Dr Brown was prosecuting his labours, it will be remembered that
General Wynard said that ‘‘ Nature had furnished the cups if only
science would take the trouble to make them secure.” It is but to
repeat an oft-told story that with a good supply of water South Africa
would be une of the finest of nature’s gardens, and would be capable of
producing two crops a year, in addition to furaishing fodder for sheep
and cattle. The question of the water supply for irrigation and other
purposes has been staved off year after year, and nothing has been done.
It is not too much to say, however, that the question must make itself
felt, as it is one of the chief factors in the ultimate prosperity of South
Africa, The author is evidently ia love with his subject, and has con-
tributed a mass of facts to Hydrology which will be useful to all coun-
tries of an arid character.’

XI.—Forests and Moisture; or Effects of Forests on
Humidity of Climate. Price 10s.

In this are given details of phenomena of vegetation on
which the meteorological effects of forests affecting the
humidity of climate depend—of the effects of forests on
the humidity of the atmosphere, and on the humidity of the
ground, on marshes, on the moisture of a wide expanse of
country, on the local rainfall, and on rivers—and of the
correspondence between the distribution of the rainfall and
of forests—the measure of correspondence between the
distribution of the rainfall and that of forests—the distri-
bution of the rainfall dependent on geographical position,
or determined by the contour of a country—the distribution
of forests affected by the distribution of the rainfall—and
the local effects of forests on the distribution of the rain-
fall within the forest district.

Extracts From Prerace.—‘ This volume is one of a teries. In the
first of the series—a volume entitled—published last year, Hydrology
of South Africa ; or, Details of the Former Hydrographic Condition of
the Cape of Good Hope and of Causes of its recent Aridity, with Sugges-
tions of appropriate Remedies for this Aridity.

‘This volume, on the effects of forests on the humidity of the atmos-
phere and the ground, follows supplying illustrations of the reasonable-
ness of the suggestion made in regard to the conservation and extension

of forests as 2 subordinate means of arresting and counteracting the
deseccation and aridity of the country.’

15

Exrracrs rrom Lerrers to the author from the late Hon. George P.
Marsh, Minister of the United states at Rome, and author of The
Harth as Modified by Human Action :—‘I am extremely obliged to you
for a copy of your Réboisement in France, just received by post. I hope
the work may have a wide circulation. . . . Few things are more
needed in the economy of our time than the judicious administration of
the forest, and your very valuable writings cannot fail to excite a
powerful influence in the right direction. . . .

‘T have received your interesting letter of the 5th inst., with the
valuable MSS. which accompanied it. I will make excerpts from the
latter, and return it to you soon. I hope the very important facts you
mention concerning the effect of plantations on the island of Ascension
will b2 duly verified.

. . . ‘TI put very little faith in old meteorological observations,
and, for that matter, not much in new. So much depends on local
circumstances, on the position of instruments, &c.—on station, in short,
that it is oaly on the principle of the tendency of some to balance each
other that we can trust to the registers of observers not known to be
trained to scientific accuracy. Even in observatories of repute, meteoro-
logical instruments are seldom properly hung and guarded from dis-
turbing causes. Beyond all, the observations on the absorption of heat
and vapour at small distances from the ground show that thermometers
are almost always hung too high to be of any value as indicating the
temperature of the stratum of the atmosphere in which men live and
plants grow, and in most tables, particularly old ones, we have no
information as to whether the thermometer was hung five feet or fifty
feet from the ground, or whether it was in any way protected from heat
radiated from near objects.’

Extract Lerrer from the late Professor Henry, of the Smithsonian
Institution, Washiugton :—‘ The subject of Forest Culture and its in-
fluence on rainfall is, just at this time, attracting much attention in the
United States. At the last meeting of the American Association for the
advancement of science a committee was appointed to memorialise Con-
gress with reference to it. Several of the Western States Governments
have enacted laws and offered premiums in regard toit. The United
States Agricultural Department has collected statistics bearing on the
question, and we have referred your letter to that establishment,

‘The only contribution that the Smithsonian Institution has made to
the subject is that of a series of rain-fall tables, comprising all the obser-
vations that have been made in regard to the rainfail in the United
States since the settlement of the country ; a copy of this we have sent
to your address.

“It may be proper to state that we have commenced a new epoch,
and have, since the publication of the tables in question, distributed
several hundred rain gauges in addition to those previously used, and to
those which have been provided by the Government ia connection with
the signal service.’ S

These notices and remarks are cited as indicative of the importance
which is being attached to the subject discussed.

16

Extract From LEtrer to the author from Lieut.-Col. J. Campbell
Walker, Conservator of Forests, Madras, then Conservator-in-Chief of
Forests, New Zealand; author of Report on State Forests and Forest
Management in Germany and Austria:—‘I am in receipt of yours,
along with the notices of your works on Forestry, by book post.
I think very highly of the scope of the works, and feel sure that they
pi similar works will supply a waut much felt by the Indian forest
officers.

‘It contains many important data which I should have vainly sought
elsewhere, and it will be regarded by all competent judges as a real
substantial contribution to a knowledge of the existing surface, and the
changes which, from known or unknown causes, that surface is fast
undergoing.’

Copies of any of these Works will be sent post-paid to
any address within direct Postal communication with
Britain, on receipt by Dr Joun C. Brown, Haddington,
of a Post-Office Order for the price.

FORESTRY IN NORWAY:

NOTICES OF THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

OF THE COUNTRY.

COMPILED’ BY

JOHN CROUMBIE BROWN, LL.D.,
Formerly Lecturer on Botany in University and King’s College, Aberdeen ;
subsequently Colonial Botanist at Cape of Good Hope, and Professor
of Botany in the South African College, Capetown ; Fellow of the
Linnean Society ; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society ; and
Honorary Vice-President of the African Institute of Paris.

EDINBURGH:

OLIVER AND BOYD, TWEEDDALE COURT.
LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO,
Anp WILLIAM RIDER & SON.
MONTREAL: DAWSON BROTHERS,

1884,

ADVERTISEMENT,

‘0

In the Spring of 1877, while measures were being taken
for the formation of an Arboretum in Edinburgh, I issued
a Pamphlet entitled The Schools of Forestry in Europe :
a Plea for the Creation of a School of Forestry in Connection
with the Arboretum at Edinburgh. After it was made
known that arrangements were being carried out for the
formation of an International Exhibition of forest products,
and other objects of interest connected with forestry, in
Edinburgh, with a view to promoting the movement for
the establishment of a National School of Forestry in
Scotland, and with a view of furthering and stimulating a
greater improvement in the scientific management of
woods in Scotland, and the sister countries, which has
manifested ithelf during recent years, the Council of the
East Lothian Naturalists’ Club resolved on having a
course of lectures or popular readings on some subject
connected with forestry, which might enable them and
others better to profit by visits to the projected Exhibition,
and which should be open to the public at a moderate
charge. The conducting of these was devolved upon me,
who happened to be Vice-President of the Club.

iv ADVERTISEMENT.

The following treatise was compiled from information
then in my possession, or within my reach; and it consti-
tuted the basis of the lectures. I had a mixed audience
of ladies and gentlemen, tradesmen and young men and
maidens still pursuing their studies. The technical
information was laid upon the table for consultation by
members of the Club or others at their convenience; the
other portions only were read. It is published as a sequel
which may be found useful as an introduction to another
volume entitled Introduction to the Study of Modern Forest
Economy, which was lately published in accordance with a
resolution formally adopted by promoters of the Exhibi-
tion to give their best efforts and endeavours to render
the Exhibition a success.

In Norwegian names I have followed, I consider, the
principles of English orthography, but I have not altered
the orthography adopted in passages by others which I
have so largely quoted.

JOHN C, BROWN.

Happrneton, Ist July, 1884.

CON TEN Ts,

0.

CHAPTER I.—General Features of the Country, . 41-8

Description of Northern Scandinavia, by M. du Chaillu
(p. 1) ; Christiania and Torristal Rivers (p. 3); Skager
k and Christiania Fiord (p. 6).

Cuapter II.—Forest Scenes, : . 9-22

The Glommen and Floating Timber (p. 9); Description of
Forests by M. Guillemard (p. 11); Descriptions by
Derwent Conway (p. 15); Thomas Forester (p. 15);
and Edward Price (p. 22).

Cuaptrer IIl.—WMountain Plateaux and Mountain
Ravines, . . % F . . 23-36

Christiania to Vest Fiord (p. 23) ; The Marie Stege (p. 25) ;
The Rinkan Foss (p. 29).

CHAPTER IV.—Geographical Distribution of Trees in
Norway, . : : ‘ ‘ . 37-49

Reports on the Subject (p. 37); Details by Dr Broch
(p. 39); by M. Marny (p. 48).

CHAPTER V.—Conditions on which depend the Dis-
tribution of Vegetation, . : ; ‘ . 50-57

Views of .Forbes (p. 50) 3 Schow (p. 51); Illustration by
Schleiden (p. 54).

CHAPTER VI.—Conditions Affecting the Geographical
Distribution of Plants and Trees in Norway, . 58-62

CONTENTS.

PAGH
CHAPTER VII.—Temperature, . : : . 63-72

Illustrations by Schleiden (p. 64); Meteorological Obser-
vations in Norway (p. 67); Isothermal Lines (p. 69).

CuapTer VIII.—Rainfall and Moisture, . . 73-81
Rain (p. 73); Moisture (p. 77); Foggy Days (p. 80).

CHaPTer IX.— Rivers, ‘ . : ‘ . 82-88

Natural History of Rivers (p. 82); Notices of Rivers by
Dr Broch (85).

CHAPTER X.—Lakes, . F : ‘ ‘ . 89-96

The Miosen Lake (89}; Notice of George P. Bidder (90);
Depths of Lakes (94).

Cuaprern Xl—Winds, . . . «97-102
Thunder Storms (p. 98) ; Storms of Wind (99).

CHAPTER XII.—Geological Formations, ‘ 103-113

Limitation of Habitat of Plants by Composition of the
Soil (p. 104) ; Geological Formation in Norway (p. 108).

CHAPTER XILI.— Mountains and Fjelds, . 114-134

Affect of Altitude on different Species of Plants (p. 114);
Barometric Pressure of Atmosphere in Norway (p.
121); Altitude of Land (p. 123-132); Detailed Infor-
mation in regard to the Mountain Systems of Norway
(p. 124); Characters of Fjelds or High-lying Plateaux
(p. 129).

CHAPTER XIV.— Zemperature and Altitudes of
Snow-Fields and Glacvers, ‘ ‘ ‘ 135-137
Characteristics (p. 134), and Altitudes of these (p. 136).

CHAPTER XV.—Mechanical Action of Glaciers, 138-163

Description of Sogne Fiord (p. 139); View from the
Sogndal (Pe 143); Waterfalls and High land behind
(p. 144); Remarkable Depths in the Fiord (p. 145);
Indications of Glacial Action (p, 146); Striae an
Moraines (p. 157).

CONTENTS. vii

PAGE

CHAPTER XVI.-—Appearances Presented by Glaciers
and Snow-Fields, ‘ 164-175

The Justedal Glacier (p. 164) ; Motion of a Glacier (p. 166) ;
The Ringedal Waterfall (p. 168); Description of
Veblungsnaesset (p. 171); The Stiggevand (p. 174).

CHapTeR XVII.—Saeter Life, . : : 176-189

Description of the Nisservand (p. 176) ; Account of Saeters
or Mountain Cheese Farms (p. 178); Saeter in the
Valdal (p. 179); Roeldal Saeter (p. 182).

Cuarter XVIII.—Valleys, P : . 190-194
Valleys in the Guldbranbsdal (p. 190).

CHAPTER XIX.—Forest Exploitation, and the Trans-
port of Timber, and Export Timber Trade, 195-2038
Exploitation Determined to some Extent by the Land

Tenure (p. 195) ; Glissoirs or Artificial Shoots (p. 196) ;
Floatage (p. 198); Export Timber Trade (p. 200).

CHAPTER XX.—Shipbuilding and Shipping, . 204-211

Type of Boat Maintained (p. 204); Ancient Boats (p. 205) ;
Modern Shipping (p. 207).

CHAPTER XX1.—Forest Devastation, . : 212-219

Illustration Supplied by State of Forests in Romsdal
(p. 212), and in Prefectures of Lister and Mandal
(p. 218).

CHAPTER XXI].—Remedial Measures, . : 220-227
Sylviculture at Agricultural School at Aas (p. 227) ; Staff of

Officials in the Forest Service of the Government (p.
227).

AUTHORITIES CITED.

Aas, p. 38; Anprews, p.41; Batrour, pp. 69, 114, 118; BaRTu, p.
$8; Brocu, pp. 37, 39, 40, 43, 58, 69, 73, 76, 83, 96, 98, 108, 121, 161,
190, 198, 207; Van Buon, p. 137; Building News, p. 49; AN OLD
Busuman, p. 134; Budget Report, p. 225; Campsett, p. 131; Du
CHAILLU, pp. 1, 23, 139, 164, 179; Esmarx, p. 154; Ecclesiastes, p. 170;
Forzes, pp. 83, 124, 134, 155, 161; Forester, pp. 15, 198 ; Forest Lands
of Finland, p. 148; Forests and Moisture, pp. 74, 151 ; Founcer, p. 219;
Frost and Fire, pp. 5, 154, 177, 198 ; Gzrxre, pp. 149-150 ; GUILLEMARD,
p. 11; Hamburg Correspondent, p.205; Huzn, p.62; Herswet, p. 182;
Houiet, p. 39; Hydrology of South Africa, p. 75; Lovpon, p. 393
Mappew and Srracuy, p, 117; Marnry, p. 48; Meyer, p. 120;
MEsDELL, p. 38; Monretms, p. 204; Price, p. 22; Ramsay, p. 148 ;
Réboisement in France, p. 158; Revsousz, p. 200; Samson, p. 413
Saporta, p. 62; Scuiorrz, p. 38); ScHLErpEN, pp. 54, 63, 104;
Scuow, p. 51; ScHUEBLER, p. 37; Spectator, p. 90; BayaRp Taylor,
pp. 29, 180; Witrams, pp. 26, 93,171,191. ~

FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

eae) ecm:

CHAPTER I.
GENERAL FEATURES OF THE COUNTRY,

M. Du CHALLU, in his volume entitled The Land of the
Midnight Sun, writes :—‘ There is a beautiful country far
away towards the icy north. It is a glorious land; with
snowy, bold, and magnificent mountains; deep, narrow,
and well-wooded valleys; bleak plateaux and slopes; wild
ravines; clear and picturesque lakes; immense forests of
birch, pine, and fir trees, the solitude of which seems to
soothe the restless spirit of man ; large and superb glaciers,
unrivalled elsewhere in Europe for size; arms of the sea,
called fjords, of extreme beauty, reaching far inland in the
midst of grand scenery ; numberless rivulets, whose crystal
waters vary in shade and colour as the rays of the sun
strike upon them on their journey towards the ocean,
tumbling in countless cascades and rapids, filling the air
with the music of their fall; rivers and streams which, in
their hurried course from the heights above to the chasm
below, plunge in grand waterfalls, so beautiful, white, and
chaste, that the beholder never tires of looking at them;
they appear like an enchanting vision before him, in the
reality of which he can hardly believe. Contrasted with
these are immense areas of desolate and barren land and
rocks, often covered with boulders which in many places
are piled here and there in thick masses, and swamps and
moorlands, all so dreary, that they impress the stranger
with a feeling of loneliness from which he tries in vain to
escape. There are also many exquisite sylvan landscapes,
ae)

2 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

so quiet, so picturesque, by the sea and lakes, by the hills
and the mountain sides, by the rivers and in the glades,
that one delights to linger among them. Large and small
tracts of cultivated land or fruitful glens, and valleys,
bounded by woods or rocks, with farm-houses and cottages,
around which fair-haired children play, present a striking
picture of contentment. Such are the characteristic
features of Scandinavia, surrounded almost everywhere by
a wild and austere coast. Nature in Norway is far bolder
and more majestic than in Sweden; but certain parts of
the coast along the Baltic present charming views of rural
landscape.

‘From the last days of May to the end of July, in the
northern part of this land, the sun shines day and night
upon its mountains, fjords, rivers, forests, valleys, towns,
villages, hamlets, fields, and farms; and thus Sweden and
Norway may be called “The Land of the Midnight Sun.”
During this period of continuous daylight the stars are
never seen, the moon appears pale, and sheds no light
upon the earth. Summer is short, giving just time enough
for the wild-flowers to grow, to bloom, and to fade away,
and barely time for the husbandman to collect his harvest,
which, however, is sometimes nipped by a summer frost.
A few weeks after the midnight sun has passed, the hours
of sunshine shorten rapidly, and by the middle of August
the air becomes chilly and the nights colder, although
during the day the sun is warm. Then the grass turns
yellow, the leaves change their colour, and wither and
fall; the swallows, and other migrating birds, fly towards
the south ; twilight comes once more; the stars, one by
one, make their appearance, shining brightly in the pale
blue sky; the moon shows itself again as the Queen of
Night, and lights and cheers the long and dark days of
the Scandinavian winter. The time comes at last when
the sun disappears entirely from sight ; the heavens appear
in a blaze of light and glory, and the stars and the moon
pale before the aurora borealis,’

GENERAL FEATURES OF THE COUNTRY. 3

It is now some years since I visited Norway and
Sweden; but I still keep up communication with friends
interested in forestry in both countries. I was at that
time going to St. Petersburg to preach in the British and
American chapel, while the minister sought a little
relaxation at home. I commenced my ministry in that
city. I had frequently acted in like manner as the locum
tenens of others, my successors, there. On most occasions
of my doing so I have made the journey by different
routes ; and on several of these I have given attention to
the forestry of the countries through which I passed. By
a desire to see something of the forests and forestry of
Norway and Sweden, my route on this occasion was
determined.

I sailed from Leith for Copenhagen. We had a rough
passage across the German Ocean. We reached Christian-
sand at six o’clock in the morning; and I determined to
disembark, A steamer for Christiania had sailed shortly
before our arrival, but there was another in port which
was to sail the following morning, and thus I had the day
at my disposal. I walked first to the cemetery, and after
breakfast, returning thither, I rambled about on the Lovers’
Walk—a walk adjacent, extending over miles of well-kept
footpaths, winding about interminably upon rocks and
rising ground to the left of the land as you approach by
sea; and I found some of the views of the fiord, and cf
adjacent fiords, dotted with islands, exceedingly beautiful.
After dinner I took a sail by a small steamer up the
Torristal river, returning by seven P.M. This little voyage,
a similar one up the Topptal river, and one which would
have taken me out in the fiords, were all recommended to
me. My choice was made capriciously. I believe, from
what I was told, that I would have found either of the
others equally pleasant, but different. I found my morning
ramble and my afternoon trip together a good preparation
for visiting more extensively the beautiful and romantic
scenery of Norway.

On my return voyage on the Torristal river I met with

4 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

a timber merchant, who had that day completed the
purchase of a ship-load of wood which was still
growing in the forest; and who courteously and frankly
informed me in regard to the transaction. The farmer, a
small landed proprietor, had engaged, on terms agreed
to, to fell, prune, and deliver in the river the quantity of
wood required, in logs of a specified average length and
girth. All the débris remained his property, and might
be cut up for firewood and used or sold, or otherwise
disposed of as he might please. And the logs would be,
when delivered and accepted, floated down to Christian-
sand, and shipped by the purchaser.

I have used the expression farmer or small landed
proprietor, for such is the character of most of the inhabi-
tants of this district. The banks of the Topptal river are
dotted with houses, and with mansions, which speak of
greater wealth or more extensive possessions ; and many of
the farmers are dependent on the cutting and sale of wood
to enable them to pay their rent. The logs I found to be of
but limited dimensions, and I asked the timber merchant
if the exploitation adopted did not tend to devastate the
woods. ‘Look,’ said he in reply, ‘there are young trees
growing in every corner down to the water’s edge on both
sides of the river, throughout the whole course of our
voyage. And so is it for miles inland. As fast as we fell
others grow.’ I called his attention to the small size of
the logs, and told him of what was being done in Sweden
and: elsewhere for the conservation and improvement of
forests ; but he only laughed, as if that were a thing alto-
gether unnecessary here, and one which it would be ridicu-
lous to propose, and he called my attention to the floats
of timber we were constantly passing.

At one mill at Christiansand it is said 70,000 trees are
thus floated down and sawn up every year, and there are
several other saw-mills in the town. At Vigelund, about
ten miles above the town on the Torristal river, a little way
above the rapids of the river to which the steamer goes,

GENERAL FEATURES OF THE COUNTRY. 8

there is another saw-mill. At the fall on which this mill
stands may be seen what I shall hereafter have occasion
to refer to as characteristic of the water transport of
timber trees in Norway. The author of a volume entitled
Frost and Fire, describing the passage of this fall by trees,
says :—‘ At every moment some new arrival comes sailing
down the rapids, pitches over the fall, and dives into a
foaming ground pool, where hundreds of other logs are
revolving and whirling about each other in creamy froth.
The new comer first takes a header, and dives into some
unknown depth, but presently he shoots up in the midst
of the pool, rolls over and over, and shakes himself till he
finds his level, and then he joins the dance. There is
first a slow sober glissade eastward across the stream to a
rock which bears the mark of many a hard blow. There
is a shuffle, a concussion, and a retreat, followed by a
pirouette sunwise, and a sidelong sweep northwards up
stream towards the fall. Then comes a vehement whirling
over and over, or if a tree gets his head under the fall,
there is a somersault, like a performance in the Halling
dance. That is followed by a rush sideways and westward,
when there is a long fit of setting to partners under the
lee of a big rock ; then comes a simultaneous rush south-
wards, towards the rapid which leads to the sea, and some
logs escape and depart, but the rest appear to be seized
with some freak, and away they all slide eastwards again
across the stream to have another bout with the old bat-
tered pudding-stone rock below the saw-mill; and so for
hours and days logs whirl one way, in this case against the
sun, below the fall, and they dash against the rounded
walls of the pool. Such is the effect of these concussions
that above the fall it has been found necessary to protect
the rock against floating bodies so as to preserve the way
of the stream. It threatened to alter its.course and leave
the mill dry, for the rock was wearing rapidly. Lower
down, nearer the sea, is a long, flat marsh, between high,
rounded cliffs; and there these mountaineers, floating on
to be sawn up, form themselves into a solemn funeral

6 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

procession, which extends for miles ; and it may be noticed
that the course of this stream of floats is always longer
than the course of the river’s bed; for the water is slowly
swinging from side to side as it flows, and the floats show
the course of the stream and its whirling eddies.’

The Halling dance referred to is a Norwegian dance,
reminding one at once of the sailors’ hornpipe and the
Highland fling, but still more vigorous and exbausting to
the dancer, being diversified with somersaults such as are
here alluded to.

On my return to Christiansand in the evening I at once
took possession of my berth on board the steamer, which,
like others in which I have sailed on these northern seas,
was more luxurious in its arrangements than are those in
many of the sea-going steamers on the British coast.

We sailed at three o'clock in the morning, and from that
time, till near nine o'clock in the evening, with the excep-
tion of about an hour and a half in the middle of the
day when we left the coast, we were the whole way sailing
onwards among islands, rounding them and passing them
as if on a pleasure trip-—there being always rocks to sea-
ward to break the roll of the waves, and secure for us
placid waters,—and looking in on every village on the
coast, while breakfast, dinner, and supper were served
with all the northern whets and appetisers of which many
a one has heard.

Steamers from Britain to Christiania generally avoid
the coast, so that this sight is lost until they enter the
Christiania Fiord. Such as is the fiord, such was the
whole course, with the trifling exception of the hour and
a half spoken of. I was reminded of a voyage through
tbe Thousand Isles of Lake Ontario in America; but the
scene was different. Here the islands are rocks, not rocks
rough and rugged—but rocks of granite planed down
and smoothed by glacial action, more like clean and white
and sparkling banks of mud than are rocks on a sea-gitt
shore. It required no ettort aud but little fancy to picture

GENERAL FEATURES OF THE COUNTRY. q

them as an-ocean bed rising above the sea, when, according
to the Hebrew cosmogony, God said, “ Let the waters of
the earth be gathered together, and let the dry land
appear.” And again, “Let the earth bring forth grass,
the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit
after his kind: and it was so.”

There, were the bare, rounded granite rocks, without a
blade of vegetation ; there, were others with only a lichen,
or a.moss, or a grassy, or a flowery green spot. The
former was on a dry rock, the latter on any crack or
hollowed basin; and there, where there was a wider rent
or a cup-like basin containing a handful of earth, a sapling
tree ; and there, an island not much larger, covered with
trees to the water’s edge, and there, larger islands, or the
main land, with high rising hills clothed with wood and
forests beyond. Again and again I felt that day as if I
were alone with God, or rather with His works, as His
work is described by Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs :
‘When there were no depths, I was brought forth ; when
there were no fountains abounding with water. Before
the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought
forth: while as yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields,
nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When He
prepared the heavens: when He set a compass upon the
fice of the depth : when He established the clouds above:
when He strengthened the fountains of the deep: when
He gave to the sea His decree, that the waters would not
pass His commandment: when He appointed the founda-
tions of the earth.’

The effect was heightened by the general absence of
animal life, excepting at the towns and villages. Once or
twice a cow was seen, once or twice a bird on the wing,
and once a realisation of Kingsley’s picture of the sea-gull
on the All-alone stone far out at sea! This was as we
left the islands shortly after noon. There were four gulls
struggling to maintain their footing on a little projecting
rock far out at sea, washed over by a waye produced by
our passing vessel. And here and there a solitary house,

8 FORESTRY OF NORWAY,

neat painted and clean, might be seen, or an island where
there was none but the highway of the sea,as if man were
only beginning to appear upon the earth.

Tn travelling thus far one meets chiefly with a stalwart
race of yeomen, presenting very much the same general
appearance as do Americans in rural districts in the
United States, or as do substantial Dutch boors in the
inland districts of the colony of the Cape of Good Hope.
But in’ Christiania there is a museum of Scandinavian
curiosities, amongst which are life-size figures of Nor-
wegian peasants in picturesque national costumes, which 1
had previously seen do good service’ at one of the Inter-
national Exhibitions, either that at Paris in 1867, or that
at Vienna in 1873—and which have been secured for
permanent exhibition here. I may mention in passing
that I was struck with the resemblance of many of the
Norwegians of all classes, both men and women, to
personal friends of my own in Scotland. I have named a
dozen, and might have named scores of friends whose
figure, gait, and countenance I found completely repro-
duced ; and I have never found this in other lands,

CHAPTER II.
FOREST SCENES,

From Christiania I took a trip towards Drammen, and
saw what Norway is under cultivation; and a journey
towards Aarnaes and Charlottenburg gave me, in the first
part of that journey, an opportunity of seeing under cloud
and rain, Norway in a similiar condition to that of our
moorland districts in Britain. As if the former trip had
shown what the earth was when the earth was young—
inhabitated by man and cultivated, but young—this seemed
to show what appearance the earth puts on in old age;
and in journeying from Aarnes towards Charlottenburgh I
found yet another aspect presented.

There are extensive districts in the vicinity of Glasgow,
of Newcastle, and of Durham, where it appears to be
coal, coal, coal, and iron and coal, but chiefly cual, which
constitute there the one article of transport and products
of the locality.

In America, again, in travelling through the so-called
oil district lying between Pittsburg and the eastern shores
of Lake Ontario, it is oil, oil, oil—oil everywhere,—what
seem interminable trains of waggons, but oil cisterns all
of them, and pipes like large water pipes or drain pipes—
all conveying oil.

Here it is wood, wood, wood, or perhaps I should say
timber, timber and wood, everywhere. Wood by the road-
side, trucks laden with wood, wood piled at the stations
and on the fields, and last of all a river covered with
wood and floating timber,

This is the Glommen, here a broad river, and apparently

10 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

deep; near the railway bridge by which it is crossed, the
logs have been collected into floating islands of wood,
begirt and confined by a chain, of which the links are
logs, logs with a hole bored at either end, and tied one to
another by withes. As we proceed we see the river
bearing hundreds and thousands of logs onward to this
gathering-place. The size of the river, compared with the
size of these, suggests the idea of some boys having
emptied into a brook a hundred, or a thousand, or-a
hundred thousand boxes of matches, and we looking on
seeing them floating away. Again and again we came
upon a little fall, one of three or four feet, and there the
logs came tumbling down sometimes sideways, sometimes
slanting, sometimes head foremost, kicking up their heels
in the air.

The river is broad, it comes curving along through
woodlands, these partly concealed; and I felt as if I
could realise the graphic picture given by Hugh Miller
of a river in pre-Adamic times bringing down the forestal
products which afterwards were converted into fields of
coal, .

The Glommen is the principal river in Norway. It
orginates in the lake Oresund, under the 62° of north
latitude, and runs southward about 90 miles through a
rugged channel full of cataracts and shoals. One of its
confluents is the Worm, which flows through Lake
Myosen. Before their confluence it is as large as the
Thames at Putney, and about 20 miles below this it flows
into the sea at Frederickstadt. Its highest cataract is
that of Sarpen, which is 60 feet perpendicularly, and is
pot far from its influx into the sea.

In regard to Norwegian forests, I have heard a tourist in
Norway complain that be had seen none. He had seen
what I bad seen of Bohus Bay and Christiania Fiord. He
had visited Myosen Lake, and, if I mistake not, gone as
far as Lillehammer, but he had only seen such like young
woods as I have described as seen on the Torrisdalelv. [

GENERAL FEATURES OF THE COUNTRY. il

should scarcely have used the term complain—it was
rather disappointment than complaint which was expressed,
for he had perceived the fact that all forests of easy access
had been subjected to exploitation, repeated again: and
again, so soon as the trees of the renewed forest had
attained a size which gave them a marketable value,
which was long before they could attain to the growth of
what are known as forest urees.

Mr A. G Guillemard, with whose graphic accounts of
his Forest Rambles in many lands are enriched the pages
of Forestry, thus tells of the forests of Norway :—

‘If it were not for the broken character of the country,
which is everywhere diversified by mountain ranges, undu-
lating plains of small area, on which the peasants grow fair
crops of barley, oats, and potatoes, and deep ravines, down
which broad blue torrents, beloved of trout and salmon
fishers, plunge madly in their seaward course, the forest
scenery of Southern Norway might be deemed somewhat
monotonous. There is but little variety of foliage, for
Norwegian timber trees are few in number of species.
Those most common are the spruce and Scotch fir, both
of which attain a great size in favoured localities, both in
point of altitude and girth. In many places one may
observe magnificient specimens of spruce firs of from a
~~ hundred to as much as a hundred and fifty feet, in height,
and of exquisite symmetry and grace. When of this great
height, however, they lose some portion of their beauty of
form by reason of the lower branches having decayed, and
either having fallen off from the parent stem or become
denuded of foliage. The Scotch firs suffer still more in
this respect, and all that attain any great height are bare
of branches for the lower sixty or eighty feet, rearing
straight ruddy trunks crowned with wide-spreading
boughs, thickly clad with dark-green needles. In the
magnificent forests of pine and fir which clothe the
Sierra Nevada range in California—to my mind the most
_ beautiful forests in the world, those of tropic countries not

13 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

excepted—the trees wear a different aspect. The moun-
tain slopes are, perhaps, rather less thickly timbered, and
the trees consequently get more light, air, and breathing
space; but, however this may be, the individual trees show
a healthier growth and far more abundant leafage. Again
and again, when riding along a dim trail in Californian
forest country, I have reined in my horse to gaze in silent
admiration at matchless specimens of spruce and silver
fir, far exceeding a hundred feet in altitude, and yet
preserving a profuse leafage from butt to summit, the
lower branches, decorously sweeping the ground, being as
green and luxuriant as the tiny twigs far aloft in the sun-
light, and each tree being absolutely perfect in symmetry,
and one of the most beautiful of Nature’s creations in
point of elegance of outline and tracery of foliage. Very
probably the shallowness of the soil all over Norway,
except in the alluvial valleys, will account for this compara-
tive sparseness of foliage ; for it is far more noticeable on
the higher ground, many of the trees in the ravines and
valleys, when the soil is deeper and the situation less
exposed, being of very luxuriant growth. Other species
of pine and fir are rarely met with, though I found the
silver fir growing well in numerous clumps between Eide
and Vossevangen to the north of Hardanger fiord. Beech,
oak, and elm, grow fairly in places, but cannot be classed
among Norweigan forest trees: they are mainly to be
found near the towns, and especially in the environs of
Christiania and Bergen. In Northern Norway these
species are unknown. The birch is found in almost every
district, as also the mountain ash, and the alder and
aspen grow freely in the valleys.

‘The sylvan scenery of the lightly-timbered lowland
valleys can hardly be surpassed in point of variety of
detail, brilliancy of colouring, and tranquil loveliness.
The valley which trends north-east from Vossevangen to
Stalheim, at the head of the world-famous Nerodal,
affords on a fine day in autumn an exquisite series of
views of this character. The road, terraced along the

FOREST SCENES. 13

lower slopes of the foot-hills on the northern side, is never
more than a quarter of a mile distant from the broad blue
river, which for mile after mile flows through a string of
picturesque lakelets whose gleaming waters reflect in
vivid outline the groups of stately spruces on the tiny
islands and jutting promontories. In the pure mountain
air and beneath a glowing sky, whose depth of blue would
almost bear comparison with that of California, the
brilliant colouring of the northern landscape in early
autumn, when the first night-frosts are beginning to paint
the woods, must be seen to be realised. England’s
‘autumn gold’ is charming indeed beneath an October-
sun, but its tints are, comparatively speaking, sober and
sad, Norway's gold is bright and red and glowing, and
cheers as well as charms. The sunlight streaming down
through the interlacing boughs of the firs shines on the
glossy dark leaves and scarlet clusters of the moltebere
spangling the surface of the ground in bright parterres,
and lights up joyously the exquisite shades of green,
ruddy-brown, and deep crimson of the mosses and the
varied purple and silver grey of the lichens which clothe
the masses of granite lying here and there amidst the
undergrowth. Where the woodland opens out down by
the river bank, the bracken is already yellowing and the
purple of the heather gives signs that its beauty is on the
wane. The lower leaves of the aspen, tremulous in the
light air which is always breathing above the river, are
turning red-brown under the influence of the chill nights ;
the cotton plants in the tiny swamps are waving their
white plumes in- token of surrender; even the hardy alder
has a touch of bronze on its foliage, and the mountain ash
is everywhere gorgeous with its pendulous clusters of
crimson berries. Up the slopes of the hills, amongst the
dark green of the spruces, and the ruddy trunks of the
Scotch firs, the silver birches are aflame with the brilliant
yellow of their fading leaves ; everywhere the brightness
of the colouring makes the landscape joyous.

‘Tn spring and early summer the eye of the traveller is

uu FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

delighted with a wealth of flowers instead of berries. The
Alpine azalea lights up the ground with its profuse display
of rosy blossoms, and the purplish-white flowers of the
Anemone vernalis, and the exquisite pale cream-coloured
lily of the valley (Smilacina bifolia) give the floor of the
valley an aspect of wind-driven foam. The flora of Alpine
heights and lowland plains are found flourishing together
‘in vigorous profusion, wild pansies, blue-bells, and ragged-
robins being interspersed amongst the bright pink of the
Silene acaulis, the snowy spikes of Saxifraga cotyledon, and
the heavenly blue of the Alpine Veronica, In Norway the
lovers of flowers, mosses, and lichens will find a grand field
for study. On the Dovre Fjeld range alone botanists have
obtained specimens of as many as 200 mosses, 150 lichens,
50 Alg@, and more than 400 phanerogamous plants and
ferns. |

‘The open, park-like scenery of the lightly timbered
country charms the eye more than the sombre aisles of the
vast fir forests. Eastward of the Dovre Fjeld, where the
undulating country slopes away from the Sneehetten and its
sister snow-peaks, the traveller on his way north to Trond-
hjem skirts for many miles a mighty forest of spruce and
Scotch fir. From the little posting station of Garlid,
perched on a sunny spot above a brawling trout stream,
the eastward view is singularly impressive. An immense
tract of country is embraced in the landscape, and away
to the blue horizon nothing but trees and sky can be seen,
the swelling hills everywhere clad with a dense growth of
timber and presenting a strangely stern and dusky aspect
even in the brightest sunshine. Cross the river, strike
boldly into the heart of the forest, and you will find that
its appearance from afar is belied by a close insight of
its dim recesses. Here propinquity, not distance, lends
enchantment to the view. The huge trunks of the firs
are not so thickly grouped that the sunbeams cannot
chequer with bright patches the needle-sprinkled ground.
Here are broad tracts of the beautiful stag’s-horn moss
and the bright moltebere plant, clumps of woodsia and the

FOREST SCENES. 15

delicate oak fern; the rich fragrance of the pink flowers
of the Linnaea borealis mingles with the resinous odour of
the firs ; masses of lichens clothe the rocks; the graceful
foliage of birch and aspen diversify the scene; and the
stately spires of the spruces tower above all; whilst from
out the silent forest, between the ruddy trunks, the eye
wanders far away westward

“To distant mountains, where a thousand peaks
Flush to the crimson of the dawn’s first beam
Or sparkle silver splendours to the moon,”’

We have no lack of sketches of Norwegian scenery from
the pens of British tourists, by whom the country is
generally described as a land, the most characteristic
features of which are forests and fiords ; ‘ forests whose
vastness, and shade, and solitude, and silence banish in
an instant all associations with songs of birds, and gay
scenery ;) and combined with these are ‘lakes whose
deep seclusion puts to flight images of mere grace and
beauty—valleys, which from their depth and gloom one
might fancy to be the avenue to abodes of mere mysterious
creation ; mountains, whose dim, and rugged, and gigantic
forms seem like the images of a world which one might
dream of but never behold.’ Thus is the country spoken
of by one intrepid traveller, writing under the nom-de-

lume of Derwent Conway; and in similar terms is it
spoken of by others.

Interspersed in many of the volumes referred to are
beautiful little sketches of woodland scenery and of the
woodland population. Derwent Conway's tour was made,
if 1 mistake not, in 1827. The following sketches of
woodlands and wilds I cite from a volume entitled Hambles
in Norway in 1848 and 1849, by Thomas Forester, Esq., as
being true still of many such places in Norway, notwith-
standing the lapse of time which has occurred since the
sketches were penned.

‘To regain the valley of the Nid,’ he tells in one place,

16 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

‘we had to cross a tract of country of the wildest character.
It was for the most part densely covered with the primz-
val forest. In many places the tall spruce towered to the
height of from 100 (as I calculated) to 150 feet, and were
of unusual girth; and the great bulk of the giants of a
former generation, which lay mouldering in slow decay,
told that no hand of man had been there, as in districts
more accessible, to appropriate the statliest of the products
of the wilderness. Nature reigned in all her solitary
majesty: her operations were uncontrolled. Every age
was there; from those lofty piles standing erect in the
ripe fulness of their majestic forms, to the young growth
that, springing up in every clearance over which the
tempest had swept, told of their direct descent from the
atriarch of a hundred years, whose crumbling ruins they
shrouded with a graceful shrubbery. We count the races
of man: who shall say how many generations have here
successively germinated and sprung up in youthful vigour
and beauty, in a maturer age have hung out from their
feathered boughs those pendent tassels of cones, the seed
pods of which were destined to perpetuate their species—
have ripened, decayed, and gone to dust—since the epoch
of the great catastrophe which moulded these wild regions
into their present form, and left their bared surface to the
gentle and uniform operations with which vegetation—
following in the track of ruin—effaces its hardest features,
and renews the face of the earth? Touching images from
the earliest times have been drawn from the fall of the
leaf, as in successive years the short-lived progeny of a
single season are thrown of from their parent stems. How
much more striking the contemplation of the processes of
nature in growth, decay, and reproduction, on the scale on
which it is presented in the depths of a primeval forest !
‘The general character of the country was irregular, with
no leading valleys and few levels of any extent. We
mounted ridges of the steepest declivity, where the stunted
pines told of the elevation at which we had arrived, to
plunge on the other side far down into the depths of dark

FOREST SCENES. 17

ravines, through which poured imp2tuous torrents, chaffing
against the smooth cliffs through which they had worn
their channels, and eddying round the detached masses
which obstructed their course. Clearings, signs of cultiva-
tion, and habitations of men, were, as may be supposed,
of rare occurrence. The tract we pursued could hardly
be called a road; but trains of light, yet hardy, horses,
heavy laden with packs, scrambling up the passes, or
browsing on the rough herbage, while the rude drivers
were seated under the pines, smoking their short pipes, or
taking their repasts from the huge leathern pouches which
form the invariable equipment of the Norwegian, whether
travelling by land, or embarked on lakes or fjords. These
groups indicated that such roads were the only means of
communication between the towns and ports on the sea-
board.’ But he shows that even there roads indicative of
great engineering skill and power were being created.
And having done so, he goes on to say :—

‘The nature of the country precluded our having
extended views, and only as we were rapidly descending
towards a lake which presented in the foreground a wider
sheet of water than any we had yet seen, all glowing in
the noontide sun, we caught sight of a fine range of hills,
I must not call them mountains, though their elevation
was considerable, and the outline bold and clearly defined,
stretching away to the north-west at a distance of some
thirty or forty miles. Just before we had met with the
first bed of lilies of the valley in their native habitat,
nestling in the shade of an alder copse; aud not a furlong
beyond we fell in with a herd of these delicate-looking
cows, diminutive in size, almost deer-shaped, dun-coloured,
and docile in their habits, with which we afterwards
“became familiar, and which form the staple of the wealth
of those pastoral districts towards which we were making
progress. Every new object was hailed with fresh bursts
of delight.’

Tn another connection he gives the following account of
the forest on the plains —

c

18 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

‘ Crossing the cultivated grounds we immediately entered
a forest, the features of which were of an entirely different
character fiom those we had passed in the earlier part of
the day. The surface was nearly level for the whole space
we traversed that evening and the early stage of the
morrow—a distance of eighteen or twenty miles. It lay
along the left bank of the Nid, which on its other shore
washed the base of that long range of perpendicular cliffs
which we had marked from our last station. There was
no undergrowth, except where we occasionally crossed
water-courses, which discharged themselves into the river.
The banks of these were profusely hung with alder and
birch. The boles of the tall pines were also clear of
boughs to the height of fifty or sixty feet. Upwards,
their tapering stems and spreading branches were of a
bright resinous hue, to which the rays of the setting sun
gave additional lustre, in singular contrast with the hoary
cast of the scaly trunks below, to which the shades of
evening already imparted a deeper tint. The trees
appeared as regularly set out as if they had been artifi-
cially planted and thinned— one looked in vain for those
giants of the forest which had before attracted our notice.
No prostrate masses, moulding in gradual decay, told the
tale which had before led us to moralise on the processes
of nature and the revolutions of time. The rocky steeps,
the rough and tangled brake, all which before had given
that air of savage wildness to the forest, were here want-
ing. But still the sandy plains which we were now tra-
versing had a character of magnificence peculiarly their
own. The wider extent of the same unbroken line cano-
pied above by that dark mass of spreading foliage ; those
countless columns, which, far as the eye could reach in
every direction, mile after mile, stood tall, erect, dignified
—supporting that living roof; these long drawn vistas,
through the receding arches of which one ‘sought in vain
to penetrate the depths of that vast solitude ; the deepen-
ing gloom still chequered by the rays which the setting
sun shot athwart the trees; the silence unbroken save by

a

FOREST SCENES. 19

the roar of the river, our constant, though for the most
part unseen companion, as it hurried down the frequent

rapids;—all this gave a new and solemn phase to our
thoughts.’

But there is yet another picture needed to illustrate
fully the forest scenery of Norway;. and this the volume
which I have cited supplies. The author subsequently
writes :—‘ Before we take leave of the valley of the Nid,
I must endeavour to give a brief sketch cf its most strik-
ing scenes, On the skirts of the forest we again struck
the river, flowing silently, deep and glassy, with a strong
current to the southward. But we could just perceive,
and our ears received distinct intimation, that its character
was about to change. Having crossed a ferry just below
some rapids, over which it was tumbling in angry con-
fusion, the wild roar of the waters increased. About a
mile above, the whole body of the river is projected over a
ledge of rocks, forty or fifty yards in width, which dams
up the breadth of the channel. As yet, however, only the
upper edge of the fall was visible. Seen at a distance,
above a screen of firs, the long white sheets of foaming
water, stretching from bank to bank, appeared like folds
of linen extended on the racks of a bleaching ground.
There are three successive falls, of which the principal and
most precipitous, where the river, confined in deep clefts,
turns a sharp angle, may not exceed fifty or sixty feet in
height. But though that is insignificant compared with
many others which we afterwards saw, the depth of the
fall itself is not the only ingredient in the grandeur of
such a scene. The broad sheet, and comparatively small
elevation of this, put me somewhat in mind of the falls of
Schaffhausen. But its most remarkable feature was the
immense quantity of timber which, having floated from
the upper country, was here carried down the current.
The enormous logs, first whirled, fearfully booming, against
the rocks that narrowed the channel, were then hurled
over, and plunged into the boiling foam below, At the

20 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

foot of each fall a perfect barrier of pines was formed, to
which many were added while we stood witnessing the
struggle. Some, eddying in the whirlpools, seemed des-
tined never to get free; one almost wondered how any
escaped: numbers were broken up, and some never
recovered. The whole shore below the falls was strewed
with the giant bulk, disjecta membra, of these spoils of the
forest, thus arrested in their progress to the sea.

‘Felled and sledged to the nearest stream during the
winter, no sooner is its frozen channel set free by the
returning spring, and swelled by the influx from the dis-
solving snow, than the timber, thus left to its fate, begins
its long journey Borne down by the foaming torrents
which lash the base of its native hills, far in the interior ;
hurried over rapids ; taking in its onward course along the
shores of winding lakes, or slowly dropping down in the
quiet current of broad rivers, the accumulated mass is
brought up at last by a strong boom placed across the
stream, where it discharges itself into navigable waters.
It is then sorted, appropriated by the merchants to whom
it is consigned, and shipped for foreign ports. One would
wonder how it ever reached the place of its destination,
or how, of the numerous owners, each could recognise his
own, But I was given to understand that the logs are
branded with the owner’s mark before they are committed
to the stream; and I observed that during their passage
down the lakes they. were collected into immense rafts,
curiously framed and pinned together ; but so unwieldy
and unmanageable are the masses, that but little can be
done in the way of navigation beyond fending them off
the shores and rocks, and keeping them in the current.
Some of the timber is said to be two years in finding its
way to the coast.’

Tn accordance with this narrative is that already given
of what was seen at Vigelund, on the Torrisdal river,
flowing into the Fiord at Christiansand.

To resume the narrative by Forester :—

FOREST SCENES. 2)

‘A turn in the road brought us in view of a scene of
desolation on a magnificent scale. Fire had done its work
of devastation, and, running up the tangled banks of a
wild ravine, had penetrated far into the vast recesses of
the forest. The jagged and charred stems of the pines,
snapped asunder at various heights—the blackened and
calcined rocks—the screen of shrivelled spray that hung.
withered from the half-burnt trees at the line where the
conflagration had stayed its devouring course, formed a
spectacle among the most striking that can be conceived.
‘lhe scene of wreck enabled us to form some faint idea of
what it must have been when the conflagration was at the
height of its fury, passing in its conquering strength from
tree to tree, spreading through the tangled branches,
climbing in wreaths of flame the tall stems, till it over-
topped the highest summits—amidst volumes of smoke
and jets of sparks, and the crackling and roaring of the
destroying element, and the crash of falling trees, as one
after another came to the ground.’

With one other sketch of forest scenery I close. It is one
from the vicinity of Hurungerne, and is of Skagastéls-Tind,
the highest mountain ia Norway, reaching a height of 7670
English feet, situated in the Koldedal, or Cold Valley :—
‘It was a snowy walk of ten or twelve miles to Koldedal,
into which we slid from the fjeld at a frightful velocity
down a snow-drift. Some fine éends [corresponding to the
aiguilles of Swiss scenery—pointed rocks projecting to a
great height] rise over Koldedal. The view from the foot
of the first descent was inconceivably grand. The clouds
occasionally concealed the whole horizon, and then, break-
ing, revealed the jagged peaks of Hurungerne rising above
them in wild, fantastic confusion, and Skagastéls-Tind.
Beneath, a bell-shaped snowy valley penetrated into the
mountains, and was closed by a vast glacier. Almost all]
the points were black and bare, rising like aiguilles from
the masses of snow which overspread the lower ranges of
the fjelds; the summits themselves, though they are from

3 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

7000 to 8000 feet high, being too steep to hold snow on
their surface, and attracting powerfully the sun’s rays, the
slight coating of snow is soon melted. We were disposed
to linger long in view of this glorious spectacle, and it was
with difficulty our guide drew us away. Our path lay
down the Koldedal, soon coming among birch woods, and
afterwards entering the most splendid fir forest I ever met
with. Gigantic trees lay about in all stages of decay;
some stood scathed, with naked arms bleaching in the
weather; others were vigorous and of enormous growth.
One we measured was nearly four feet in diameter. And
to increase the grandeur of the forest scene, the peaks of
the Hurungerne were seen rising above the pines in the
background.’

Such are the woodlands of Norway. By one traveller,
Norway is spoken of as a land ‘whose only charm is to be
found in her dim mountains, her silent forests, and her
lonely lakes.’

Another, Edward Price, an artist, who traversed the
land and looked upon every scene with an artist’s eye,
speaks of Norway as a country ‘which surpasses every
country of Europe in the depths of its fiords, and in the
grandeur of its forests and forest scenery.’ Having landed
at a distant point, and traversed the land, chiefly on foot,
seeing thus much which could not otherwise have been
seen in the course of his tour, he reached the capital ;
and of what he saw as he approached it he thus writes :—
‘ Luxuriant pasturage and crops, giving rich promise of an
abundant harvest, lay on every side. Wood was no longer
the great staple of the land, but was scattered over a
charming undulating country only in such quantity as
served to shelter the fields and beautify the landscape ;
nor was it now confined to fir, but included all the variety
of trees which we are accustomed to find in the temperate
altitudes. The Christiania Fiord, spotted with its islands,
and seemingly environed with its finely wooded banks,
formed innumerable bays and creeks, all calm and pellucid
beneath the warni rays of the noonday sun.’

CHAPTER III.
MOUNTAIN PLATEAUX AND MOUNTAIN RAVINES.

AmonosT the export timber ports of Norway, Avendal,
Drammen, Christiania, and Fredrickshold, an important
place is held by Drammen, the harbour of which is always
crowded with tiers of shipping, with huge piles of timber
on the wharfs, and vast rafts of timber afloat upon its
waters. From this port some 110,000 tons of timber are
annually shipped to England, Holland, and France.

After reaching Christiania my first excursion, I have said,
was towards Drammen. There M. du Challu had been
before me; and instead of telling here of what I saw,
beyond stating that I greatly admired the trim cottages and
well kept fields through which the train passed on leaving
the capital, I would take my readers further in the wake
of M. du Challu, in the journey which he made through
Drammen and Konsberg to the west coast. Of which he
has left an account, in which he tells with pleasure of the
peculiar costume and habits of the Saetersdal, and of the
Lemarken, of which there are two divisions. He tells of a
drive of twenty miles from Konsberg, which brought him
to a forest on a plateau 1700 feet above the level of the
sea, whence descending a ravine through a dark wood, he
found suddenly burst into sight the farm of Bolkesko,
1240 feet above the level of the sea, of which he writes :—
‘I know of no farm in Norway so picturesquely situated,
and none with such peculiarly superb landscape. It was
nestled among fir-clad hills, whose dark colour contrasted

with the green meadows and fields which they surround.
The place was partly hemmed in by barren mountains, on
which were patches of snow. Here in a steep valley two
lakes apparently overlapping each other are noticed: the

24 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

Bolke, of a triangular shape, 1000 feet; and a little beyond
this the Tol, 690 feet above the sea level. Everywhere
little streams trickled down the hill-side, filling the air
with the sweet music of their waters. The house and its
inhabitants he found to be not less interesting than the
house was beautifully situated. About seventeen miles
west of this farm he came upon the lower end of Tin
lake, upon which there plies a little steamer; and he
tells :—‘ The shores of the lake are thoroughly Norwegian,
-with rugged mountains covered with forests to their very
tops. Toward the northern portion of the western shore
‘one enters a part of the lake called Vestfiord, running east
and west; the scenery increases in beauty, the landscape
reminding one of the Hardanger. Leading from this fiord
is a fine narrow valley called Vestfiordal, on the left of
which Gaustad rises 6000 feet high. It is celebrated for
the Ryukandfoss, at its end, one of Norway’s highest and
most beautiful waterfalls. The valley terminates abruptly,
closed by gigantic walls, but the spray of the turbulent
waters is seen long before the fall is reached. The
Ryukandfoss [reeking or smoking waterfall], plunges into
a chasm from a height of 780 feet over a perpendicular
ledge on the table-land. It is formed by the river Maan,
which rises in the Mjoes Vand. The sight is appalling as
the eye seeks the depth below amidst the roar of the
waters: it is a fascinating spot.’

Perhaps we too may find it fascinating, so fascinating
as to lead us to loiter by the way, and forget the length
of the journey which is before us; but I do not suppose
any one will find the time mis-spent.

To make more intelligible the account of this region
which I have to give, I may premise that in the northern
portion of Norway the land presents the appearance of
table-lands, or comparatively level plateaux, cut up by
what may be called ravines rather than valleys, which are
sometimes more than a thousand feet in depth ; these can
only. be crossed by zigzag tracks or roads, descending the

MOUNTAIN PLATEAUX AND MOUNTAIN RAVINES, 93

precipitous declivity on one side, crossing a streamlet at
the bottom, and ascending in a similar zigzag way a
corresponding precipitous ascent on the other; and in
places, that of isolated hills and mountains, scattered
about in what looks like studied confusion, sometimes
standing apart and alone, but as frequently in groups of
more or less irregularity, and of greater or less extent ;
and sometimes, but that rarely, taking a form not unlike
@ mountain range. Towards the south the country
assumes gradually a more level aspect, but it does so
without losing altogether its hilly character. The result
of the whole is that about two-thirds of the country is at
an elevation of upwards of 2,000 feet above the level of
the sea, which is considerably above the range of forest
trees in that land. And so far south as this, plateauz,
fjelds, or fields of high altitudes cut up by deep ravines
may be found.

Of the ravines by which the blocks of the high-lying
table land are separated, a definite and probably correct
conception: may have been formed from what has been
stated. They, and the fjelds with which they are con-
nected, are characteristic of the region in which they
exist. Most, and perhaps all of them, may be crossed in
the way spoken of, by zig-zag descending and ascending
footpaths, at some place or another; but many, if not
most of them, are at other points impassable; and of the
appearance presented by them throughout a great part of
their extent an illustration is supplied by what is known
in this locality as the Marie Stege, or Mary’s Ladder, near
to this Ryukand Foss. Marie, whose name is given to the
‘precipice, lived on a farm situated on the side of a moun-
tain, which there blocks up the valley. According to the
facts of the case, in the local story, as told by Williams :
‘The ordinary track by which the lower part of the valley
may be reached ascends about a thousand feet over the
ridge of this mountain, and then, of course, a corresponding
descent has to be made. But the river—how does that
find its way down the valley? There must be some way

26 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

for it, Yes; there is a deep clift, a great chasm, more
than a thousand feet (some say two thousand) feet in depth.
Ages had passed away, and nobody had dreamed of any
other way to reach the lower valley than that over the
mountain ; but Marie, whose lover lived below, had heard
of a plot by his rival to waylay him as he came by a track
over the-ridge to visit her, so she tried the dreadful preci-
pice, and found that by clinging with fingers and toes to
the little ledges of the rock she could pass in a direct line
along the face of it. She thus warned her lover of his
danger, and enabled him to meet her secretly and safely
by traversing the giddy path she had discovered ; and the
lovers evaded—as lovers always do —both the cruel father
and his accomplice, the wealthy rival. By this path they
met as -usual, until at last detected; and then Ejotein
Halfoordsen, the lover, was prevailed upon to fly in order
to escape new plots upon his life. In the course of years
the father died, the rival ceased to persecute, and Ejotein
returned with fame and wealth. He came by the shortest
way. Marie saw him coming, and called his name aloud ;
he raised his arms and waved his hands as a signal of
recognition, and by doing so was overbalanced and fell.
She watched his falling body till it disappeared in the
foam of the Rinkan Foss; when the dark veil of madness
fell over her mind, and fulfilled its beneficent intent by
shutting out a knowledge too horrible for endurance !’

Williams having come to the farm, got a little girl to
guide them to the edge of the precipice, whence a distant
view of the Foss is obtained, and to show him the begin-
ning of the track leading to the descent to the Stege
itself—which, however, she had been forbidden to go near.
‘I then,’ says Williams, ‘ proceeded along what I supposed
to be the Marie Stege, a ledge of rock trodden with foot-
slips, varying from six inches to a foot in width, with a
sloping wall of rock above and the chasm below; this
continued until I came to a part where there are two tracks,
one apparently leading over the hill, the other direct to the

i encase wall of the precipice, which is seen a little
urther on, rising to a fearful height overhead, and pro-
ceeding downwards to the gulf below, with an unbroken
smoothness that looks utterly hopeless : but I determined
‘to go on as long as there was any vestige of a track.
Following thus the marks of footsteps, I came out at last
upon the edge, but upon the face of the precipice, which
is formed by the splitting down of the barrier mountain
before referred to; it was a giddy path, but I kept along
it, placing my feet upon the worn ledges, and clinging to
others above until I came to a tree which grew upon a
ledge similar to those 1 had stepped upon, but much
wider, and which seemed to be the end of the track I was
following. Some initials cut upon the tree, as triumphant
indications of the carvers’ exploit in reaching it, rather
confirmed the notion that I had only followed a track
leading to this as a station for viewing the waterfall and
the whole of the great chasm, which are well displayed
from this point.

‘Concluding that such was the case, and that the other
ascending track leads to the Marie Stege, I was about to
return, when I saw, far away below me, standing on a
large table of rock, five student-looking young men, with
a peasant, who appeared to be their guide: they hailed
me, and I returned their salutation, but could not hear
what they said. Then the peasant took off his shoes, left
them, and presently reappeared, moving along the face of
the precipice like a fly upon a wall. His means of
adhesion were totally unintelligible from the distance, but
as he approached I perceived that he was clinging by
fingers and toes to narrow ledges of rock, from one to
four or five inches in width. At last’ he reached me,
and asked me whether I would accompany him back,
which I consented to do, though it appeared rather a
dangerous exploit. I found, however, that it was much
easier than it appeared to be from the distance. The rock
has a perpendicular lamination, and doubtless a cleavage
to which the formation of the chasm is due; the abrupt

db FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

termination of these lamine form ledges, which, though
very narrow, are perfectly firm and safe, affording a reli-
able foothold without the slightest tendency to slippiness ;
besides these there is an abundance of similar ledges,
affording firm fingerhold, which, though but an inch wide,
give a most comfortable assurance of safety to the climber,
who, bending the hands claw fashion, clung to them with
the finger ends. I would rather, under such circumstances,
have a firm two inch foot ledge, aud one inch of such
finger hold, than an eighteen inch pathway with nothing
for the hands. At about half-way | stopped to contem-
plate the scene, which is magnificent, and its grandeur is
heightened by the peculiar position from which it is seen.

‘ Imagine yourself “holding on by your eyelids,” as the
sailors have it, in the manner just described, to the face of
a precipice which rises overhead some five hundred or six
hundred feet, the upper part being, in fact, quite out of
sight ; then, with great care, and some fear and trembling,
you turn yourself round, gradually placing your heels on
‘the former position of your toes, removing your hands, one
at a time, from your clutching place, and finding a lower
ledge upon which to rest the wrist-end or heel of the
hand. Having anchored yourself thus, and keeping your
back quite flat against the rock (as any leaning forward
would be fatal), you look in the direction of the upper
part of the valley, and see far below, and far away, a dark
chasm, partly hidden by branches of trees; through this
the river flows, and as it comes nearer reaches a wider
opening of the gorge, advancing towards the edge of a
precipice, over which it rolls to a gully of its own cutting,
and then pitches down an unknown depth, for a white
cloud hides the bottom of the dark abyss, and rises high
into the sunshine. This is the perpetual spray—the
reeking, or “rinken,” from which the name of the fall is
derived. You may, however, estimate the depth of the
fall, for, looking down the grey wall to which you are
clinging, you see that its gully terminates in dark, quiet
water. This is the same water that a few minutes ago

MOUNTAIN PLATEAUX AND MOUNTAIN RAVINES, 29

was tearing down and thundering so furiously, and partly
ae again to form the ever hanging, though ever falling
cloud.’

On arriving at the end of the Marie Stege, and landing
upon the platform of rock where the five tourists stood,
Williams was congratulated on what they considered his
narrow escape: they being under the impression that when
they saw him turn round to look at the waterfall he had
reached a point from which he could neither advance nor
recede. And they were surprised when they learned the
truth—nor is this to be wondered at, as viewed from their
position, where the ledges are quite invisible, and both the
height above and the depth below are fairly seen, it must
be a somewhat thrilling sight to witness the crossing of
the Marie Stege—far more so than to do it. ,

The broad platform of rock affords by much the best
view of the fall, and those who come from below have
no occasion to cross the Marie Stege, except for its own
sake.

But where is Du Challu? He is on and away, and by
this time half way up the beautiful Fiord of Hardanger.
We cannot overtake him; but we may encounter him
again on the Sogne Fiord further to the. north, situated
between this and the forests of Romsdal county, of which
mention has been made. Seeing that our leader has gone
on let us tuke another look at the fall. This waterfall is
frequently visited by tourists, but it is generally, as men-
tioned by Williams, approached from below. Bayard
Taylor wlio did so gives the following description of the
scene in his volume entitled Northern: Travel. Writing
of his journey towards the Tindso, he says:—‘ During
this stage of twelve or thirteen. miles the quality of our
carioles was tested in the most satisfactory manner. Uphill
and down, over stock and stone, jolted on rock, and
wrenched in gulley, they were whirled at a smashing rate,
but tough ash and firmly-welded iron resisted every shock.

30 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

For any other than Norwegian horses and wheels it
would have been hazardous travelling.* It was dark when
the new horses came ; and ten miles of forest lay before
us. We were ferried one by one across the Tind Elv on a
weak, loose raft, and got our carrioles upa frightful bank
on the opposite side by miraculous luck. Fortunately, we
struck the post-road from Hetterdal at this place, for it
would have been impossible to ride over such rocky bye-
ways as we had left behind us, A white streak was all
that was visible in the gloom of the forest. We kept in
the middle of it, not knowing whether the road went up,
down, or on a level, until we had gone over it, At last,
however, the forest came to an end, and we saw Tind Lake
lying still and black in the starlight.

‘In the morning we took a boat with four oarsmen for
Mael, and the mouth of the Westfiord-dal, on which lies
the Rinkan Foss. There was no end to our wonderful
weather. In rainy Norway the sky for once had forgotten
its clouds. One after another dawned the bright Egyptian
days, followed by nights soft, starry, and dewless. The
wooded shores of the Long Tind Lake were illuminated
with perfect sunshine, and its mirror of translucent beryl
broke into light waves under the northern breeze. . . .
The highest peaks rise to the height of 2000 feet, but
there is nothing bold and decided in their forms, and after
the splendid fiords uf the western coast the scenery appears
tame and commonplace. The boatmen pulled well, and
they slept at Ole’s gaard, situated on a turfy slope, sur-
rounded with groves, above the pretty little church of Dal,
halfway between Mael and the cataract. They arrived
here about four o’clock, when the sun was about resting
his chin on the shoulder of the Gousta; and they mist
visit the fall and return.

* Such excursions must be made in Carrioles, the usual conveyance of the country
They may be described as very low seated long gigs, capable of seating only a single
person, who sits in a half-reclining posture. This is placed on very long shafts, which
are more orless elastic, and, extending behind for a considerable length, supply a
resting place for luggage, and for the lad who may have to fetch back the conveyance
or the horse to the station whence it may have been hired.—J. C. B,

MOUNTAIN PLAIFAUX AND MOUNTAIN RAVINES. 351

‘ Having refreshed themselves with a bottle of Bavarian
beer, and ordered supper and bed, they pressed on. There
were still ten miles to the Rinkan, and consequently no
time to be lost. The valley contracted, squeezed the
Maan between the interlocking bases of the mountains,
through which, in the course of uncounted centuries, it
had worn itself a deep groove, cut straight and clean
into the heart of the rock. The loud perpetual roar of
the vexed waters filled the glen; the only sound except
the bleating of goats clinging to the steep pastures above
us. The mountain walls on either hand were now so high
and precipitous that the bed of the valley lay wholly in
shacow ; and on looking back its further foldings were
dimly seen through the purple mists; only the peak of
the Gousta, which from this point appeared entire and
perfect.

‘The valley of the Maan, apparently arich and populons
region, is in reality rather the reverse. Jn relation to its
beauty, however, there can be no two opinions. Deeply
sunken between the Gousta and another bold spur of
the Hardanger, its golden harvest fields, and groves
of birch, ash, and pine, seem doubly charming from the
contrast of the savage steeps overhanging them, at first
scantily feathered with fir-trees, and scarred with the
tracks of cataracts and slides, then streaked only with
patches of grey moss, and at last bleak and sublimely bare.
The deeply channelled cone of the Gousta, with its
indented summit, rose far above us, sharp and clear in
the thin ether; but its base, wrapped in forests, and wet
by many a waterfall, sank into the bed of blue vapour
which filled the valley.

‘Noon brought us to Hakenaes, a distance of twenty-one
miles, Here we stopped to engage horses to the Rinkan
Foss, as there is no post station at Mael.’ They were
informed that the horses would be at Mael as soon as
they, and they resumed their seats in the boat.

They arrived first, and lay upon the bank for some
time after arriving there, watching the postillions swim

32 FORESTRY UF NORWAY.

the horses across the mouth of the Maan Elv. ‘Leaving
the boat which was to await,’ says he, ‘ our return the next
day, we set off up the West Fjord-dal towards the broad
cone-like mass of the Gousta Fjeld, whose huge bulk, 6000
feet in height, loomed grandly over the valley. The houses
of Mael clustered about its little church, were scattered
over the slope above the lake; and across the river, amid
fields of grass and grain, stood another village of equal
size. The bed of the valley, dotted with farms and groups
of farm houses, appeared to be thickly populated ; but, as
a farmer’s residence rarely consists of less than six build-
ings—sometimes eight—a stranger would naturally over-
rate the number of its inhabitants, The production of
grain also is much less than would be supposed from the
amount of land under cultivation, owing to the heads
being so light.

‘The pyramid, 1500 feet in perpendicular height above
the mountain platform from which it rose, gleamed with a
rich bronze lustre in the setting sun. The valley was
now a more ascending gorge, along the sides of which our
road climbed. Before us extended a slanting shelf, thrust
out fromthe mountain, and affording room for a few
cottages and fields; but all else was naked rock and
ragged pine. . . .

‘When we reached the little hamlet on the shelf of the
mountain, the last rays of the sun were playing on the
summits above. We had mounted about 20U0 feet since
leaving Tind Lake, and the dusky valley yawned far
beneath us, its termination invisible, as if leading down-
ward into a lower world. Many hundreds of feet below
the edge of the wild little platform on which we stood
thundered the Maan in a clift, the bottom of which the
sun has never beheld. Beyond this the path was imprac-
ticable for horses ; we walked, climbed, or scrambled along
the side of the dizzy steep, where, in many places, a false
step would have sent us to the brink of gulfs whose
mysteries we had no desire to explore. After we had
advanced nearly two miles in this manner, ascending

MOUNTAIN PLATEAUX AND MOUNTAIN RAVINES, 33

rapidly all the time, a hollow reverberation, and a glimpse
of profounder abysses ahead, revealed the neighbourhood
of the Rinkan. All at once patches of lurid gloom
appeared through the openings of the birch thicket we
were threading, and we came abruptly upon the brink of
the great chasm into which the river falls.

‘The Rinkan lay before us, a miracle of spraying splen-
dour, an apparition of unearthly loveliness, set in a frame-
work of darkness and terror befitting the jaws of hell!
Before us, so high against the sky as to shut out the
colours of sunset, rose the top of the valley, the level of
the Hardanger table-land, on which a short distance
further lies the Mios Vand, a lovely lake in which the
Maan Elv is born. The river first comes into sight a mass
of boiling foam, shooting around the corner of a line of
black clitfs which are rent for its passages, curves to the
right as it descends, and then drops on a single fall of 500
feet into a hollow cauldron of bare black rock. The water is
already foam as it leaps from the summit; and the succes-
Sive waves, as they are whirled into the air, and feel the
gusts which for ever revolve around the abyss, drop into
beaded fringes in falling, and go fluttering down like
scarfs of the richest lace. It is not water but the spirit
of water. The bottom is lost in a shifting snowy film, with
starry rays of foam radiating from the heart, below which,
as the cloud shifts, break momentary gleams of perfect
emerald light. What fairy towers of some Northern
Undine are suggested in those sudden flashes of silver
and green! In that dim profound, which human eye can
but partially explore, in which human foot shall never be
set, what secret wonders may still lie hidden! And
around this vision of perfect loveliness rise the awful
walls wet with spray which never dries, and crossed by
dazzling turf from the gulf below our feet, until still
further above our heads, they lift their irregular corners
against the sky.

‘I do not think I am extravagant when I say that the
Rinkan Foss is the most beautiful cataract in the world,

D

34 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

I looked upon it with involuntary suspension of the breath
and quickening of pulse, which is the surest recognition
of beauty. The whole scene, with its breadth and grandeur
of form, or its superb gloom of colouring, which enshrines
this one glorious flash of grace, and brightness, and loveli-
ness; is indelibly impressed upon my mind. Not alone
during that half hour of fading sunset, but day after day,
and night after night, the embroidered spray-wreaths of
the Rinkan were falling before me.

‘We turned away reluctantly at last, when the emerald
pavement of Undine’s palace was no longer visible through
the shooting meteors of silver foam. The depths of West-
fjord-dal were filled with purple darkness ; and the perfect
pyramid of the Gousta, lifted upon a mountain basement
more than 4000 feet in height, shone like a colossal wedge
of fire against the violet sky. By the time we reached
our horses we discovered that we were hungry, and, leaving
the attendants to follow at their leisure, we urged the
tired animals down the rocky road. The smell of fresh-
cut grain and sweet mountain hay filled the cool evening
air; darkness crept under the birches and pines, and we
no longer met the home-going harvesters.’

It was between nine and ten ere they reached Dal; and
in the dark they disturbed the sleepers in more than one
gaard before they reached their resting place. There
every arrangement was made for their comfort. There
was a white cloth on the table in the guest’s house, some
roast mutton, potatoes, and beer, in praise of all which
the traveller waxes eloquent, graced the board, but there
was only emptiness when they arose—they had consumed
all. In the upper room there were beds with linen fresh as
youth, and aromatic as spring; ‘and,’ says he, ‘the peace
of a full stomach and clear conscience descended upon our
sleep.

‘In the morning we prepared for an early return to
Mael, as the boatmen were anxious to get back to their
barley fields. I found but one expression in the guest's
book—that of satisfaction with Ole Tergensen, and cheer-

MOUNTAIN PLATEAUX AND MOUNTAIN RAVINES. 33

fully added our amen to the previous declarations. :
‘ We bade farewell to the good old man, and rode down
the valley of the Maan, through the morning shadow of
the Gousta. Our boat was in readiness ; and its couch of
fir boughs in the stern became a pleasant divan of indol-
ence after our hard horses and rough roads. We reached
Tinoset by one o'clock, but were obliged to wait until four
for horses. The only refreshment we got was oaten bread
and weak spruce beer. Off at last, we took the post road
to Hitterdal, a smooth excellent highway, through inter-
minable forests of fir and pine. Towards the close of the
stage glimpses of a broad, beautiful, and thickly settled
valley glimmered through the woods, and we found our-
selves on the edge of a tremendous gully, apparently the
bed of an extinct river. The banks on both sides were
composed entirely of gravel and huge rounded pebbles.
the masses of which we loosened at the top, and sent
down the sides, gathering as they rolled, until, in a cloud
of dust, they crashed with a sound like thunder upon the
loose shingles at the bottom, 200 feet below. It was
scarcely possible to account for this phenomenon by the
action of spring torrents from the melted snow. The
immense banks of gravel which we found to extend for a
considerable distance along the northern side of the
valley seemed rather to be a deposit of an ocean flood.
‘Hitterdal, with its enclosed fields, its harvests, and
groups of picturesque farm-houses, gave us promise of
guod quarters for the night; and when our postillions
stopped at the door of a prosperous-looking establishment
we congratulated ourselves oa our luck. But—Never
whistle until you are out of the woods!’ They met with
sorry welcome, sorry entertainment, and sorry fare. ‘We
did not ask for coffee in the morning, but as soon as we
could procure horses, drove away hungry and disgusted
from Bamble-Kaasa and its respectable inhabitants. We
passed the beautiful falls of the Tind Elv, drove for more
than twenty miles over wild piny hills, and then descended
to Kengsberg, where Fru Hansen comforted us with a

36 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

good dinner. The next day we breakfasted in Drammen,
and in baking heat, and stifling dust, traversed the
civilised country between that city and Christiania.’

The peculiar feature of the physical geography of the
country, thus brought under consideration, gives character
to the exploitation of the forests, in connection with the
bringing out of the timber, as will afterwards be detailed.

CHAPTER IV.
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF TREES IN NORWAY.

In 1876 there was published a valuable report on The
Kingdom of Norway and its People, by Dr. O. J. Broch,
a distinguished statistician of European reputation, and
President of the Norwegian Commission for the Interna-
tional Exhibition in Paris in 1878, in which was embodied
a sketch of the vegetable products of Norway, including
forest trees. And in 1879 there was published as a con-
tribution to the jubilee connected with the 400th anni-
versary of the founding of the University of Copenhagen,
A Report on the Distribution of Plants in Norway, by Dr.
F. C. Schuebeler, Professor of Botany in the University of
Christiania, in which is supplied much additional informa-
tion in regard to forest trees, indigenous or cultivated, in
Norway, with plates illustrative of the appearance of
these and of the form and venation of their leaves. There
are given with this report, charts illustrative of the moun-
tainous region of the country; of the coast lands of
northern Norway; of the temperature throughout Europe
on Ist January, and in the month of July ; of the lines of
minimum temperature throughout north-eastern Europe ;
of rainfall; of the humidity; and of the geological strata
superimposed on the primitive rocks. And in the report
is embodied the longitude and latitude of the most
northern localities in Norway in which have been ob-
served the indigenous growth, or cultivation, or flowering,
or fruiting—it being specified which it is—of well-nigh
4000 different plants found there. Along with this there
was issued a large map of the kingdom of Norway in four
sheets, illustrative of the same, together with a corres-

38 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

ponding map in one sheet, with coloured indications of
the forests of coniferous and of broad-leaved trees in the
kingdom. And subsequently there was issued by the
Directory of Forest Administration in Christiania three
forest maps of different districts of the county of Christiania.
From these it appears that broad-leaved trecs are found
chiefly in the west and the north-west portion of the
kingdom, though by no means confined to these, and
-mostly on the borders of rivers and lakes, and skirting the
lower fringes of coniferous forests; while the forests of
coniferous trees are densely diffused over the south-east,
and sparsely scattered over the extreme north of the
kingdom.
_ Besides these I have before me a Report by the Forest
Directory for the period 1875-1880; a Report on the
Nature and Condition of Forests in Finmark, by Forest-
Inspector Barth; a Report on the Nature and Condition
of the Forests in the Guldbrandsdalen, by the same author ;
a Report on the Condition of the Woods in the Water-
courses of the Arendal, by Forest-Inspector Mejdell; a
Report on the Condition of the Forests in Romsdals
County, by J. Schioetz; and Reports by A. T. Gloersin ;
and of Examination of Forests in Stavanger and the
borders of Bergenuus County. Also reports on the Econo-
mical Condition of the Kingdom by Prefects of nineteen
Prefectures, for the years 1861-65 ; similar reports for the
years 1866-70; and a Report made by Forest-Assistant
Aars, to the Department of the Interior, on the Condition
of the Forests in the Prefecture of Lister and Mandal,
published in successive numbers of the Christiansand
Stiftsavis,in the latter months of 1870, containing sadden-
ing accounts of the reckless and hopeless destructions
which were then, and had been for some time, going on in
the forests.
From the whole it appears that the true forests of
Norway are composed almost entirely of the Norway
spruce fir and the Scots fir. It is only exceptionally that
some other trees, such as the alder, the beech, and the

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF TREES. 39

oak, though not numerous, are found forming little
woods,

Of the pine, Pinus sylvestris, Dr Broch reports that it
is found everywhere throughout the country ; in the south
to an elevation of 950 and 900 metres; on the Nordre-
Guldbrandstal, 62° N. lat., to 900 and 800 metres; in the
Diocese of Drontheim, 63° to 65° N., to 650 and 500
metres; in the prefecture of Nordland to 550 and 350
metres; but in Finmark, 70° N. rarely at more than 200
metres above the level of the sea.

The Norway spruce fir is generally known as Abies com-
munis. According to Hullet, this generic name is derived
from, and is of the dialect of, the Celtic Abetoa, whence
come Abiete Italian, Abeto Spanish, &c. Hesychus,the Greek
grammarian, calls it A44én. According to others, the name
is derived from-the Latin Abeo to spring—and has been
given in reference to its lofty and aspiring habit—or the
Greek Ajios, a pear tree or a pear, the name being givea

‘to this tree in reference to the form of its fruit! Amidst
etymological derivations so varied I have no choice. By
some it is alleged to be identical with the Abzes excelsa of
De Candolle. It is known as the Fichtenbaum of Germany,
the Absete of Italy. I have found it spoken of as identical
with the Sapin of France; but the Sapin communis, the
silver fir of England, known by several other names in
different districts, is the Picea pectinata, D. Don, and the
Abies pectinata of De Candolle ; while to the Abies excelsa
of De Candolle, the Abies Picea of Millaw, the Picea eacelsa
of Lank, is given the name of Sapin rouge, Sapin gentil,
Sapin épicéa, &e., and now generally the name Epicéa
commune

Some confusion, says Loudon, exists in the works of
modern authors respecting the silver fir and the spruce,
partly, as it would appear, from the circumstance of
Linnzus having made an erroneous application of .the
names given to these trees by Pliny. The tree which

40 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

Theophrastus calls Aale, Pliny calls Abies, and Linnzus
Pinus picea, while the tree that Pliny calls Picea, which is
our spruce fir, is named by Linnzus Pinus abies. ‘This
tree is found principally,’ writes Dr. Broch, ‘in the eastern
portion of the country and in the diocese of Droutheim.
On the west coast it is now met with growing wild to the
south of 62° N., but it is found in plantations in many
other places. It is only in the interior of Hordaland at
Mo, an annex of Hosanger, 60° 48’ N.; and at Voss 66,
38’ N., that it is met with in a wild state. To the north
of Cape Stat it is found along with the pine even
on the islands along the coast to 65° N. lat.; beyond
that it becomes more rare; and it ceases to form forests
somewhere near the Arctic Circle. In east Finmark, on
the contrary, it is found in Syd-Varanger, near the lake
Kjolmejare, 69° 30’ N. lat.; but in separate trees or in
quite small groups. In certain localities in southern
Norway the fir attains on mountains almost the same
elevation as the pine, but, as a generai rule, its limitation
of vegetation is from 60 to 100 metres below the limit of
that tree.

‘In Southern Norway the pine and the fir attain to their
greatest dimensions, but continually the trees of great size
are becoming every year more rare, in consequence of the
felling of the large trees increasing with the improvement
of roads, and of means of transport. In illustration of the
magnitude attained, there was felled some years ago at
Lom, in Nordre-Gulbrandsdalen, 61° 53’ N., at an
elevation of 560 metres, a pine, the trunk of which
near the ground had a diameter of 1:2 metre, 4
feet, and a diameter of 0°5 metre, 20 inches, at a
height of 16 metres, or 53 feet 4 inches. At Nordre-
Aurdal, and Valders, 60° 57’ N., there stand still two pines
called the Svesterfuruer, or Sister Pines, of which the
larger, measured in 1864, had a height of 28 metres, 93
feet 4 inches, and a diameter of 1 metre, 40 inches, at the
height of 1 metre from the ground. In Northern Norway,

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF TREES. 41

and especially in Finmark, these trees have less height,
but they present a considerable girth.

‘In Drangedal, in the bailiwick of Bamble, 59° 6 N.,
there has been measured a fir 31 metres, 103 feet in
height, and 0°76 metre, 66 inches, in diameter, at 21
metres, 70 feet, from the ground. In 1864, there was
felled in Hurdal, 60° 24’ N., at an altitude of 350 metres,
a fir having a height of 34 metres, 103 feet, and at 1
metre~from the ground a diameter of 1°07 metre, 47
inches. There may be counted in it 170 concentric
rings; and it was estimated that it must have been from
175 to 180 years old. In Selbo, 63° 15’ N., there was
felled in 1877 a fir having a height of 33 metres, and a
diameter of 1 metre, 40 inches, at 1 metre from the
ground.

‘The time required by the fir and the pine to attain
the dimensions of building timber, and timber for export,
naturally varies much, according to. the conditions of
growth in which they find themselves. In Southern
Norway it may be reckoned that a pine of from 100 to 150
years’ growth may furnish trees of 5 metres or 17 feet, and
of 33 centimetres or 13 inches diameter at the small end.
In the forests of Vinger and Odal, 60° to 61° N., in the
valley of the Glommen, their concentric rings measured |
centimetre, nearly half-inch ; in the northern part of the
valley of Osterdal, on the other hand, it requires from 4 to
6 to measure 1 centimetre; the rings of the fir being less
compressed from 2 to 4 often measure 1 centimetre. In
young trees the augmentation of girth as elsewhere
diminishes continuously with age.’

In a paper transmitted under date of September 21,
1874, to the Department of State at Washington, General
Andrews, Minister from the United States to Sweden,
draws attention to the fact that a thing may be reckoned
as worth what under favourable circumstances, it takes to
produce it, and reports :—Mr. Samson, a highly intelligent
Norwegian gentleman, who has made a large fortune in

42 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

the timber trade, informed me some time ago that, ac-
cording to a calculation he had made, pine and spruce
timber actually costs, and is worth much more than the
price at which it is sold. His theory is, that an acre of
ground timber is worth the same that the lowest or
nominal price of wild land—say 1 dol. an acre—would
amount to, as an invested capital, drawing interest at the
expiration of the period required for timber to develop.
‘In the report on Swedish forest culture, accompanying
my letter No. 166, says he,‘it was shown that on the
northerly part of Sweden, 200 years, and in poorer soils
300 years, are required for the pine to grow to good
timber. In the south part of the country 100 years are
sufficient.’ He says that 1 dol. invested at 5 per cent.
interest per annum will double in 20 years. In 40 years
it will be 4 dols. ; in 60 years, 8 dols.; in 80 years, 16 dols. ;
in 100 years, 32 dols.; in 120 years, 64 dols.; in 140
years, 128 dols.; in 160 years, 256 dols.; in 180 years,
512 dols.; in 200 years, 1024 dols.; and this he makes
the cost of production as thus calculated.

He goes on to say:—‘ Assuming that one hundred and
eighty years are required for the growth of pine timber
in the north-west part of the United States, these
figures would seem to show that the pine forests of the
United States are bringing to hand trees sold and con-
sumed at a price very much below their actual value’ I
know that the same thing has occurred in other countries
besides America, and that in many cases the tree was
worth to the country, as a tree, a great deal more than the
price obtained for it as woud!

In the narrative of what I saw in sailing from Christian-
sand to Christiania, I have intimated that close upon the
level of the sea, on the shores of the Skager-Rack, and on
islands there, and the coast of Bohu’s Bay, and of the
Christiania Fiord, the conifere give a character to the
scenery. But, as has been stated, these are not the only
kind of trees found indigenous in Norway. There has

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF TREES. 48

been given on no mean authority a statement to the effect
that, in Norway, journeying from north to south, and
in some parts of the country in descending from a great
elevation to the valley or plain, we pass through successive
zones, which have been characterised as the zone of per-
petual snow, where only a few ice plants, lichens, and
mosses grow; the zone of the willow and birch ; the zone
of the pine and fir; the zone of the oak; the zone of
the beech ; and the zone of the cultivated fields. The
statement may be useful as a memorandum; but, if
great stress be upon it, it may break down. I have only
found it true to the extent that there are here birch weods,
or forests, reaching further north than any forest of pine
or fir, though trees of these may be found in the same
latitude; that willows are found in higher latitudes than
these ; and that there are forests of fir and pine further
north than oaks; and oaks further north than beeches;
and beeches growing further north, and at a high ereleva-
tion, than general cultivation has extended. But beyond
an indication of these facts, I think the statement cited
may mislead.

To the northernmost zone is assigned, as a character, its
production of the birch, Betula odorata, Bechet. It flour-
ishes throughout the whole country; but it is in west
Finmark that it appears forming veritable forests; else-
where it is found, as a tree which delights in the light,
very frequently dispersed over clearings in pine and fir
forests, and besides, on lands completely cleared of woods.
The altitudinal limits of this tree are in Southern Norway
about 1,100 metres; in the diocese of Drontheim from
600 to 700 metres ; and in Finmark from 300 to 400 metres
above the level of the sea, The birch is in Norway a tree
of fine growth, and often takes an elegant form, with the
exterior branches pendant in long clusters, measuring as
much as 5 metres, or 17 feet. The birch may attain to
a great age. It is not rare to meet with birches
from 20 to 25 metres, 67 to 84 feet, in height, and 1:5
metres, 5 feet, diameter at the ground. The crown may

44 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

stretch on all sides more than 10 metres, or 43 feet from
the trunk. Besides the wood being used in carpentry, and
as firewood, the external white bark is employed in the
manufacture of a great many articles, and for roofing,
being then covered with earth or turf.

This tree, and especially the form with long pendant
branches, is the ornament of the valleys of Norway ;
certain specimens in isolated groups having acquired by
their beauty a widespread fame, and are protected not only
by the proprietors, but by the whole population of the
valley, who are proud of them. They have generally par-
ticular surnames, borrowed ordinarily from the property to
which they belong; one famous specimen is the Holsbirk,
so called from the nature of the estate, Hols, Rennebu, in
Orkedal, in the prefect of Sondre-Drontheim, 62° 58’ N.;
the height of it is 25 metres, 83 feet 4 inches ; the diameter
is 1:09 metres, or 3 feet 4 inches, at 1°5 metres, 5 feet from
the ground.

The willow of Norway, Salix caprea, known in Britain
as the great round-leaved willow, is very much diffused
over the forest regions of Norway, and even beyond the
elevation above the level of the sea attained by the fir
and the pine; and, as intimated, it may be seen to flourish
in higher latitudes, or at least as far north as either of
these trees. It grows at Hammerfest, 70° 37’ N., but only
as a shrub or bush; and the allied tree, the aspen, Populus
tremula, is likewise spread over the whole of Norway. In
the south part of the country it may be met with, but in a
dwarfed condition, at an altitude of 900 metres above the
level of the sea. In the lower-lying country it attains a
height of 30 metres, and even at Atlen, 70° N., in Fin-
mark, it may attain to 18 metres, or 60 feet. Of Osiers,
there are in Norway about 20 wild species, the greater part
of them taking the form of bushes. They grow to a great
altitude on the mountains, principally on moist slopes.
In southern Norway, on spots a little sheltered, they may
be found 1500 metres above the sea level,

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF TREES. B

Tn the same zone may be observed the growth of the alder,
Alnus incana, D, ©., known in England as the hoary-leaved
alder. It is met with very frequently so far north as West
Finmark, where it may be seen with a height of 20 metres,
66 feet 8 inches, and a diameter of 30 centimetres at the
level of the ground; and it grows to almost the same alti-
tude as the beech.

The Alnus glutinosa, Gent., the common alder of Britain,
is much less frequently met with. It flourishes always in
low valleys along the banks of streams and a humid soil.
It is scarcely to be met with above an altitude of from 250
to 300 metres; and its Polar limit is 64° N. lat.

Of the oak, two species are found growing wild in Nor-
way, the sessile fruited oak, Quercus robur, W., and the
common oak, Q. pedunculata, W. The latter is found on
the west coast up to 63° N.; but the planted oak, up to
66° N. In the southern parts of the country it scarcely
ever extends beyond 300 metres above the level of the sea.
There are small forests of the common oak on the coast
between Arendal and Flekkefiord, on the shore of the
diocese of Bergen, and in Romsdal.

The beech, Fagus sylvatica, L., when planted, flourishes
up to Stegen in Nordland, 67° 56’ N.; and at Drontheim,
63° 26’ N., its seeds come to maturity. Asa wild tree, it
is not met with beyond 61° N. Even in the southern
parts of the country it does not extend beyond 250 metres
above the level of the sea. It forms small forests near
Tonsberg, near Larvik, near Arendal, and a little north of
Bergen, at Swim, an annex of Hardanger, 66°35’ N. At
this point is found the most northern forest of wild beeches
in the world.

The elm, Ulmus montana, S., the wych elm of Britain, is
met with up to the 67° of north latitude. Its limit of
elevation is generally from 500 to 600 metres above the
level of the sea. At Solvorn, near one of the branches in

46 FORESTRY OF NORWAY. t

the interior of the Sogne fiord, it forms quite exceptionally
a little forest ; elsewhere it is met with in small clumps
or growing solitarily. It may attain to 32 metres
in height. In Finmark, at Alten, 70° N., elms are met
with which have attained to 8 metres, or 27 feet, in height,
and 40 centimetres, or 16 inches, in diameter.

The ash, Fraxinus excelsior, L., is found growing wild
up to the Molde, in Romsdal, 62° 44’ N.; but planted, it
grows very much further north, and it ripens its seeds
even within the Arctic Circle. In the south of Norway it
flourishes up to 500 metres of altitude, and may attain a
height of 30 metres, or 100 feet; while here and there
may be seen trunks which at 40 inchesabove the ground have
a diameter of from 1°5 to 18 metres—from 5 feet to 6 feet.

The lime, Zilia parvifolia, Ehrh., known in Britain by
the designation the small-leaved lime-tree, extends in the
east of Norway to Gl° N.; but on the west coast to 62°
N. It affects principally low-lying countries ; but isolated
trees may be found up to 500 metres above the level of
the sea. Planted, it grows up to 64° N., and even up to
Stegen, in Nordland.

The maple, Acer platanoides, L., known in Britain as the
Norway maple, extends in Eastern Norway, in Sondre,
Guldbrandsdal, to 61° 25’ N., and to an altitude of 260
metres above the level-of the sea, though in the south it
scarcely extends above 300 metres. Planted, it is found
to the top of the Ramenfiord, in Nordland, 66° 18' N,

The hazel, Corylus avellana, L., is met with pretty fre-
quently in a wild state on the low-lying lands to the south
of the Droutheim fiord. Further to the north it becomes
more rare, It is met with, however, up to Stegen, in
Nordland, 67° 56’ N., where its fruit still ripens, In the
south of Norway it grows to an elevation of 500 metres
above the level of the sea.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF TREES. 47

The mountain ash, Sorbus aucuparia, L., Pyrus aucu-
paria, Gaerton, is very frequently met with everywhere in
Norway, and in an ordinary summer its fruit comes to
maturity. On mountains it extends to the limits of the
birch, where it stops. With its branches of red berries,
which offer a food greatly sought after by birds in great
numbers, it gives to the mountain slopes in winter a
peculiar and animated appearance.

In supplying such details we are drifting away from the
eonsideration of what are generally know as forest trees to
what are generally known as wild fruits; and why not?
With these may be mentioned several others.

The crab apple, Pyrus malus, L., is met with here and
there in a wild state up to the island of Yteros, on the
Drontheim fiord, 63° 49' N.; in the south it does not
extend above 500 metres of altitude.

The gean, or wild cherry, Prunus avium, is met with in
the interior of the Sogne fiord, at Urnes, where there is a
small wood of it, 12 metres, or 40 feet high, and 30 centi-
metres, or 20 inches in diameter.

The bird-cherry, Prunus padus, L., is generally diffused
throughout the whole of Norway, even to the Tanaelv ; in
East Finmark, 70° 20' N., its fruit ripens. In South
Norway it attains the altitude attained by the pine, and
sometimes it extends to a higher elevation.

The blackthorn, or sloe, Prunus spinosa, L., is found in
South Norway, up to 60° N.

The barberry, Berberis vulgaris, L., shows itself in a
sub-spontaneous state in many places up to 64° N. ,

The gooseberry, Ribes grossularia, L., is found here aud
there in a sub-spontaneous state in low-lying countries up
to 63° N,

The red currant, Ribes rubrum, L., is found pretty
generally spread over the whole of the country up to the
eastern frontier of Finmark; and on mountains it grows
beyond the limits of the pine.

The juniper, Juniperus communus, L., generally presents

48 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

itself as a bush in shrub form, and from 3 feet to 6 feet
6 inches in height; but in certain plains up to Selbo, in
the perfecture of Sondre Drontheim, it assums a fine
conical form, and the proportions of a tree; and it attains
to a height of 12 metres, or 40 feet. It is found every-
where up to the North Cape. It climbs up the moun-
tains, passing the limits of the birch, and attains, like
some of the osiers, an altitude of 1500 metres above the
level of the sea,

The following are the various times of the flowering of
trees and arborescent shrubs reared in the environs of
Christiana, 59° 55’ N., 10° 50’ E. of Greenwich :—

Alnus incana, J.C. ... April 6-10 ; Syringa vulgaris, L. ... June 2- 6

‘orylus avellana, L.... 4, 6-10 | —— chinensis Willd .... ,, 10-14
Salix Caprea, L. ++ 9, 22-30 | Juniperuscommunus,L, ,, 4- 8
Ulmus montana, L. ... May 4- 8 | Crategus, sanggin.Pall. ,, 4-8

Betula glutinosa,Wallr. ,, 14-18 | —~—— sacantha,L. ,, 14-18
Acer Platanoides, L..... ,, 14-18 | Rhamus cathartica, L. ,, 8-12
Larix Europea, C. ... ,, 20-24 Frangula, L. ,, 8-12
Quercus pedunculata... ,, 24-30 | Cytisus alpinus, Mell. », 14-18
Pinus sylvestris, L. ... 5, 24-80 | Rosa canina, L. ... «1 4) 18-22
Abies excelsior, D.C.... ,, 24-381 | —— rubiginosa, L. ... ,, 26-30

Fracxinus excelsior,L.... June 1- 4 | Robinca pseudo-acacia ,, 26-30
Mi sculus Hippocastanum,L.,, 1- 4 | Sambucus nigra, L. ... July 1- 4
Sorbus aucuparia, L.... ,, 2-6 | Ligustrum vulgare, L. » 48
— hybrida, L. we oy7 4&8 | Tiliaparvifolia, brn... ,, 8-12

The forests in Norway, according to a statement by
M. F. L. Marny, in a volume treating of the forests of
Europe, are extensive; but they are to a great extent
suspended along the Scandinavian Alps, which separate
this country from Sweden. The birch reaches there an
altitude of 365 metres. In the diocese of Bergen the fir
has still the gigantic proportions seen in the forests of Swit-
zerland and Germany ; but more to the north its size is
diminished to stunted proportions, and at the Polar Circle
it has totally disappeared; whilst in Swedish Lapland it
advances yet to two degrees beyond this. In Norway
the birch serves as a ladder to vegetation; it is the
measure/of its energy, and marks by the different states

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF TREES, 49

through which it passes, in proportion as it rises in alti-
tude, the degree of weakness of vegetative life. To the
weeping birch succeeds the betula acer, which replaces the
white birch; after which comes the birch of the prairies,
which passes in its turn through different gradations of
size, and which at the Polar Circle is nothing more than a
_stunted shrub, of pyramidal form, and covered with moss.

In a paper on European forests, which appeared in the
Building News for. 1878, it is stated:—‘ The total area of
forest- producing land in Norway is computed at about
37,000,000 acres, but in this survey considerable so-called
forest land consists of comparatively unproductive rocks,
swamps, and moors. The pine and fir, even more than in
Sweden, constitute the riches of the Norwegian forests.
The Scotch fir is found up to the most northern latitudes,
and grows there up to a height of 3,400 feet above the
sea level. The spruce fir ceases near the Arctic Circle.
The forests are principally situated in the east of Norway,
near Christiania, Hamar, Trondhjem, and Christiansand.
Those of Bergen have long since been exhausted. In the
_ western districts of the country forests can hardly be said

to exist. As in Sweden, strict forest laws are now in
force, but the mischief done in former times by indiscri-
minate felling will take a long time to repair.

CHAPTER V.

CONDITIONS ON WHICH DEPEND THE DISTRIBUTION
OF VEGETATION.

Tr a map of the world were coloured with tints represent-
ing the number of varieties, or species, or genera, of
different plants, growing on different localities, it would
be found that the tints representing many of these would
be deep in certain localities and apparently shaded away
in others—as if there were certain marked centres, where
the greatest number of the genera, or of the species of
different plants occurs, and the number of these dimin-
ished as we receded from these centres, ending, perhaps,
in solitary representatives of them in some distant country.

Similar, probably, would be the result of so colouring
and shading a map in accordance with the numbers of the
plants of any one species growing in different localities.
And this might sometimes correspond with the tinting
and shading on the other map; but more frequently, per-
haps, it would be very different. In some localities where
there is a great variety of species, there may be a
comparatively small number of individual plants of some
or all of these species; in others, a great number of the
plants, but all of one or of few species; and in others a
great number both of plants and of species.

Professor Edward Forbes, a distinguished naturalist of
great promise, who perished in all the leaves of his spring,
considered that there were such centres as I have spoken
of, and that in all probability these were the localities in
which these several species of plants first appeared ; that
thence they spread ; that in some cases thence they might
probably have been traced continuously from the centres
to the most remote regions in which they are found,

CONDITIONS ON WHICH DISTRIBUTION DEPEND. 51

spreading, as does the fairy ring extend itself, but with
this difference that instead of dying out in the centre, and -
‘on the ground on which they first grew, they continued to
grow, and to grow it may be with increased luxuriance, in
the locality in which they have longest been produced and
reproduced abundantly; and that in some of the out-
posts where they now grow isolated from their congeners,
they may have been severed from the centres whence
they sprung by geological changes, such as the elevation
or the depression of intervening land. ;

_1 am aware that these views have been opposed by
Schouw and others; but the facts, upon the observation
of which they are founded, remain the same and unim-
pugned; it is these with which I am concerned; my
allusion to the views of Forbes is only incidental ; and they
are cited in aid of my illustration. Schouw, it is stated by
Professor Balfour, considered that the existence of the same
species in far distant countries is not to be accounted for
on the supposition of a single centre for each species.
The usual means of transport, and even the changes which
have taken place by volcanic and other causes, are inade-
quate, he thought, to explain why many species are common
to the Alps and the Pyrenees, on the one hand, and to the
Scandinavian and Scotch mountains on the other, without
being found on the intermediate plains and hills; why the
flora of Iceland is nearly identical with that of the Scan-
dinavian mountains; and why Europe and North America,
especially the northern parts, have various plants in com-
mon, to which they have not been communicated by human
aids. Still greater objections to this mode of explanation, he
thinks, are founded on the fact that there are plants at the
Straits of Madgalhaeris, and in the Falkland and other
Antarctic islands, which belong to the flora of the Arctie
pole; and that several European plants appear in New
Holland, Van Dieman’s Land, and New Zealand, which
are not found in intermediate countries. Schouw, there-
fore, supposes that these were originally not one but many
primary individuals of a species.

52 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

Without homologating these views in any way I avail
, myself of this as a contribution in aid of my illustration.
I find it equivalent to an allegation that there have been
not one but many centres of distribution whence species
of plants have been dispersed; and I find it at once
equally convenient, and more in accordance with the views
Tentertained in regard to the successive development of
vegetation upon the earth, to look at this fact through
Forbes’ theory applied to the genus, and through that of
Schouw applied to species. And I may further remark that
neither do the views advanced by Forbes and Schouw, nor
observed facts, necessitate the supposition that the disper-
sion from a recognised centre took place in a regular
ever-extending continuous circle. Even the fairy ring to
which I have alluded, though maintaining generally the
circular form, shows not a continuous regular circular out-
line; often it is broken and it assumes something of a
horse-shoe shape, sometimes it bulges out in the form of an
oval or an ellipse, and in almost every case the regularity
of the figures assumed, whatever it may be, is broken by
void species, or by projections, or by both; and in the
wider field of nature we find on the ascent of a lofty
mountain that there are linear zones of different forms of
vegetation ; while, from the summit, may be seen on the
plain, well-defined patches of vegetation conformed to
particular geological formations, curved and winding
lines of vegetation lining the course of some river or
streamlet, or it may be, in a well-defined straight line
traversing the plain, and ascending and crossing the moun-
tains beyond, covering, but confined to a geological dyke,
of different material, filling a crack or rent on the super-
ficial stratum of the ground—a phenomenon of not unfre-
quent occurrence.

In view of this the geographical: distribution of all
plants, including trees—solitary trees, and trees of dense
forests, continuous or far apart, may occasionally be
attributed to dispersed seeds having alighted on soil
favourably conditioned and favourably situated for the
vegetation of the trees there found.

CONDITIONS ON WHICH DISTRIBUTION DEPEND. $3

Provision exists for the dispersion of seeds by the fall of
the fruit, by the carrying power of the wind of rivers, and of
the sea, by the adhesion of them to the hair of beasts and
the feathers of birds, by the voiding of them uninjured by
animals which have eaten the fruit in which they were
produced, and by man, purposely, or without design, in
his migrations and his journeyings. But of the seeds thus
dispersed, millions, and it may be the vast majority, alight
where there are awanting one or more of the conditions
under which alone they can germinate, grow, flower, fruit,
and bring that fruit to perfection; and if this be the case
with one or other of these conditions, there the plant, herb,
or tree will not be produced, and permanently retain posses-
sion of the place: only where everything is favourable can
a foothold for the plant be obtained and maintained. I say
obtained and maintained for even where a plant may suc-
ceed in obtaining a foothold, it may subsequently be dis-
placed in the struggle for possession with other plants
better adapted for growth in the existing condition of the
locality at any time. The resulting geographical distribu-
tion of plants, herbs, or trees, in any land at any time is
the result of the influence of two conflicting operations,—
dispersion and repression acting like the centrifugal and
centripetal phenomona of gravitation, keeping the planet
and satellite in their orbits, and the stone in the sling.

But there is another aspect of the subject which is not
without its interest to the student of botany, and in so far
to the student of forest science, which is suggestive of
differences in conditions in different localities or at
different times. The vegetation of any region may be
sparse, or it may be abundant; but also under either of
these conditions the plants of any kind (genus) may be
uniform or varied, nearly uniform, or greatly varied;
presenting in the locality few or many different forms
(species). There may be in any locality, as respects the
former, abundant or sparse vegetation, but as respects
the latter, a poor or a rich flora; profusion of individual

54 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

plants, but few varieties of species; or comparatively few
plants, but amongst these great variety.
' I may state in illustration that at the Cape of Good
Hope we have arich flora, but a rich vegetation would
scarcely be a correct description of what is here to be
seen. Of coniferous plants, such as are the cabbage and
the wallflower, there are 17 genera, and one of them,
the heliophila, is represented by upwards of 60 species.
There are upwards of 100 species of crassula. Of the
fig marigold, or mesembryanthum, there are upwards of
300 species. Among Cape bulbs there are of iris-like
plants alone upwards of 20 genera—all of them, I may
say, represented by several species. Of Cape heaths
there are between 300 and 400 species described. Of
pea like plants there are upwards of 80 genera ; and of
some of these, from 25 to upwards of 100 species are
described by Dr Harvey as flora capensis ; and of compos-
tae, or daisy-like plants, there are 154 genera, and of these
there are 1000 different species.
We have here a rich flora, but it does not follow that
there is a rich and luxuriant vegetation. Continuous turf
is almost unknown ; bush there is in plenty ; and there are
fields of cereals and mesembryanthema, but there is
nothing like the luxuriance of vegetation to be seen in
many a wood and thicket, and winding lane in Britain.
And different conclusions must be arrived at according
as we may adopt one or other of different principles in
estimating the richness of a district in its flora and vege-
tation—according as we look to the number of orders of
plants growing there, or to the number of genera of plants
belonging to any one or more orders, or to the number of
species of any of these genera, or to the number of specimens
of these genera and species. a
By Schleiden, writing on this subject, it is remarked :—
‘The information we have obtained in regard to the so-
called habitations—the place of growth and the native
country of a plant—has enabled us to give an orderly
arrangement to our conceptions relative to the distribu-

CONDITIONS ON WHICH DISTRIBUTION DEPEND. 55

tions of plants, but much remains intricate and unex-
plained. ‘

‘Tn considering this subject, there are two essentially
different. points which have to be distinguished.

‘The heath plants occur on dry, sunny, sandy plains;
they extend from the Cape of Good Hope, through Africa,
Europe, and Northern Asia, to the extreme limits of vege-
tation in Scandinavian Siberia ; these plants are distributed
on this great region in such a manner that South Africa
has innumerable distinct species, of which, however, never
more than a few individuals grow side by side; and that
then, towards the north, the number of species suddenly
diminishes in an important degree, while the number of
individuals increases—the common heather, Calluna
vulgaris, overspreads whole countries in millions of single
individuals.

‘In the first place, we readily see that only the first
determination, that of the occurrence, relates necessarily to
each individual; while, on the contrary, the range of
extenstons and the mode of distribution indicate courses
which have scarcely any importance in reference to the
single individual, but very great in relation to the larger
groups of plants which we call species. genus, &c.

‘From this it follows that the former only—the occur-
rence of, plants—is related wholly, while the other two are
related but partly, to conditions explicable by physical
influence ; yet we must, at first keep more to that arrange-
ment, since it is strictly logical, which will remain fixed
for inealculably long time, while of course the last only
holds good for the existing condition of science; and when
we review the various influences upon which the life and
healthy vegetation of a plant are, according to our present
physiological knowledge, dependent, we quickly find that
only a small number of physical forces are as yet detected
by us in their action on the organism; and that, on the
other hand, a proportionately large number baffle our
endeavours after a more accurate comprehension of their
action, although we may safely assert that the life of the

56 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

plant is, and must be, as much dependent on them as upon
the others.’

He goes on to say:—‘ The operation is a3 yet a com-
plete mystery to us, and many of the at present wholly
incomprehensible conditions in extension and distribution
of species may sooner or later find sufficient explanation in
these influences.’ Since this was written, the carefully
made and well digested observations of Darwin have
thrown no little light upon the subject, and introduced a
method of study which is likely to throw yet more upon
the subject in all its bearings.

‘We find again,’ says he, ‘indications of the undoubted
fact that the distribution of all plants is naturally regu-
lated by law, but what laws we cannot evolve, and it looks
as if it were wholly the result of caprice that particular
plants are distributed widely over the globe, while others
must be cribbed in the narrowest spot, as,eg., the Wulfenia
found only on the Corinthian Alps; that particular
families like the Compositae flourish abroad over the whole
earth, while others like poppies and the palms only occur
between very definite degrees of latitude on either side of
the equator, the Protoceae only in the southern hemisphere,
the cactus tribe only on the western half of the earth.

‘Just as inexplicable is the mode of distribution of the
families of plants. While the palms diminish in numbers
from the equator into a higher latitude, the Compositae
attain their highest development in the zones of mean
temperature, their number of species diminishes from
these in both directions equally towards the equator and
towards the pole; while finally, the grasses increase con-
staatly from the equator towards the pole.

‘Having spoken of the increase of grasses as we proceed
from the equator towards the poles, it is necessary that I
should explain the mode of consideration according to
which the distribution of the families is usually deter-
mined. Of sedges, to take that family as an illustration,
the species found in the flora of France amount to 134;
the species in the flora of Lapland, on the contrary, only

CONDITIONS ON WHICH DISTRIBUTION DEPEND. 57
to 55. France is therefore unquestionably richer in species
than Lapland.

‘But the matter stands in a somewhat different light
when we consider these plants in relation to the total
vegetation of the two countries; and since it is by this
means we come to comprehend the characteristic of the
region of vegetation, we can only allow this mode of consid-
eration tu be valid. Now France possesses altogether about
4,500 planerogamous plants, and the sedges constitute only
1-27th of these; the phanerogamia of Lapland are confined
to some 500 species, and 1-9th of these are sedges. The
sedges are therefore a much more essential part of the
Lapponic flora than of the French, the former baving a
relatively larger number of species than the latter. And
this it is alone that is understood by the increase ‘of
species in a given direction.’

CHAPTER VI.

CONDITIONS AFFECTING THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBU
TION OF PLANTS AND TREES IN NORWAY.

In Norway, as is the case everywhere, the distribution of
forests, and of different kinds of forest trees, is effected, and
I may say determined, by conditions varying in different
districts, predominant amongst which are heat and mois-
ture, and wind and soil.

From a knowledge of the natural history of different
kinds of trees there may be learned much in regard to
these conditions in the several localities in which they grow,
much more than can be stated and proved in a few words,
for it is not simply the sum of different measurements
such as are applicable to these conditions, but the reflex
aud complicated influence of one and another of these upon
one and another of them, upon which the ultimate result
depends,—and on variations in some of them at different
periods, embracing, amongst others, the periods of the
germination of the seed, of the expansion of the leaf, of
the formation of the flower, of the casting of the pollen,
and of the maturing, and the falling of the fruit. By
stating, however, the characteristics of different localities
in connection with these conditions, there may be made a
contribution towards a collection of facts which may be
interesting to the general reader, and not without value
to some youthful student of forest science; and this I
shall attempt, citing and translating facts embodied in the
report by Dr. Broch, to which I am indebted for much of
what I have advanced in regard to the geographical dis-
tribution of the trees,

‘Speaking generally,’ says Dr. Broeh, ‘the Norwegian
flora presents little variety. The gneiss, granite, and

CONDITIONS AFFECTING DISTRIBUTION, 59

other like hard rocks, which constitute the principal mass
of the ground present, like the clay, a vegetation somewhat
uniform, essentially composed of a small number of species
combined and diffused in immense masses.

~ ‘But it is not the same in the plain, where the earth is
more friable. In the high mountainous lands there are
often met with great and small oases of friable schists
which often present the appearance of flower gardens in
the midst of rocky deserts covered with mosses and heaths.
It is there that the Arctic flora has its principal domain.
Resembling greatly that of Greenland and Spitzbergen,
it is specially characterised by species of plants diffused
in great quantities, such as the Dryas octopetal, L.; the
Sali reticulata, L.; the Carex rupestras, All.; the Thalictrum
alpinum, L,, &c. This schistose flora has everywhere a
character pretty easily recognised. It does not stand mild
winters. There, where the mountains are too near the sea,
the schist is poor in species, and these Arctic oases of
flowers are met’ with, and found to abound, in those regions
in which the highest mountains, and the most extensive
névés of snow, protect them against the hurtful sea air
brought by the west winds.

‘It is thus that a colony of Arctic plants shows itself to
the east of Folgefoun, in Hardanger. In Lem, in Bage,
and on the Dovrefjeld, and in its mountains, there is found a
rich Arctic flora protected, against the influence of the sea
by the néyé or snowfield, and by the Joetunfjelde. In the
north it is only in Salten and in Swedish Lapland that a
characteristic Arctic flora is to the same degree protected
against the sea winds by the high mountainous regions,
and the great névés of Sulitelma. In Finmark, in fine, is
found a rich Arctic flora to the east of the high mountains
and the great névés of the peninsula of Lyngen.

‘Very different from this is the Boreal Flora, which
equally shrinks from the climate of the coast, although it
is found to the west and to the east of the mountain
ridges. It is on the great masses of stones at the base of
precipitous mountain walls that it is met with in the

60 FORESTRY oF NORWAY.

lower lying regions of the south. In the midst of hazels,
elms, limes, and other broad-leaved trees, one often meets
with a rich boreal flora, and this equally with the former
has a uniform character. A group which approximates
the boreal flora, but which is very distinct in its develop-
ment, is the sub-boreal flora, In all the lowest lying parts
of eastern Norway there is found from the level of the
sea to an altitude of from 300 to 500 metres, and princi-
pally on the calcareous and dry schistose mountains of
the Silurian formation, numerous species of plants which
are neither met with in the higher regions nor on the
west sides of the mountains.

‘Further, the Norwegian flora has three other distinct
groups of plants which depend on the humidity and on
the ‘climate of the coast. One of these, the Sub-Artie, is
developed in the shady valleys there, and on the mountain
expanses, kept moist by the melting of the névés. There
prevail the Archangelica officinalis, the Mulgedium alpinum,
the Aconitum septentrionale, the Ranunculus aconitifolius,
the Valeriana sambusifolia, the Struthiopteris germanica, and.
many other plants. These have no dread of the coast.

‘ The second, the Atlantic group, seeks by preference the
humid districts of the littoral of Bergen. It comprises—
the lex, the Digitalis, the Erica cinerea, the Bunium flecuosum,
the Hymenophyllum Wilsont, the Hyperichum palchrum, the
Polystichum oriopteris, and many others.

‘The third, the Sub-Atlantic group, affects by perference
the lowest lying districts and the most southern of the
diocese of Christiansand. It comprises the Gentiana
pneumonanthe, the Sanguisorba officinalis, the Petasites alba,
the Teucirum scorodonia.

‘The Norwegian flora, it thus appears, is composed of
many groups of plants, each of which group is composed
of species which have a somewhat, and pretty striking
analogous development. But the species constituting these
groups are never met with intermixed ; and one may find in
the same district, for example, near Christiania, which has
a flora very rich in these representatives of the greater.

CONDITIONS AFFECTING DISTRIBUTION. 61

number of these groups; but in certain places they present
themselves in a number of species and of individual plants
giving to the vegetation of the place its particular
character.

‘When on a map there are marked the districts in
which the different groups of plants principally predo-
Minate we discover that with the one exception of the
most common species the development of groups is not
continuous. The Arctic flora only shows itself it its
characteristic form, here and there, in scattered colonies,
separated by extensive species in which the Sub-Arctic
predominates. The boreal flora also presents itself
scattered over the low-lying districts of the eastern portion
of the country around the Christiania fiord, and the Miosen
lake, then at a distance to the west, beyond the Lang-
fjelde, near the inland branches of the fiords of the
western littoral, and lastly on the low lying lands on the
north of the country. On the intermediate low lying coasts
the Atlantic flora reigns. This is equally with the others
isolated by the greater part of the Atlantic species find-
ing themselves in the south-west portion of Sweden, but
not around the Christiania Fiord. Some which have only
been fuund on the west coast of Norway, find theinselves
again only on the west and the south coast of the German
Ocean.’

Dr Broch goes on to say:—‘The present flora of
Norway cannot have always existed there. At a
geological period, which is not very distant, the pen-
insula, up to the most remote plateaux of the land, was
covered with a bed of ice and snow, overlooked only by
the bare summits of some few of the most elevated moun-
tains. At this time the trees, shrubs, and plants, which
now beautify the valleys could not have lived. They
existed, however, anterior to the so-called glacial period
on other parts of the terrestrial globe. They have been
found in a fossil state in beds of coal deposited prior to
this period. It is an immigration from other countries

62 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

which has produced the existing flora by degrees as the
melting of the ice went on. This fact is finally established
by the circumstance that Scandinavia—at least, in what
relates to plants of higher orders—has scarcely one cer-
tainly distinct species which is entirely awanting in other
countries. The statement I give is that of a careful and
accurate statistician resident in the country, with every
source of information open to him, and every facility for
forming a correct judgment at his command,

Special attention has been given by Count Saporta,
and by the late Professor Heer, of Zurich, to the indica-
tions of the primary migration of plants in and from the
North of Europe preserved in fossil remains: the former
following up and expounding the views of the latter with
all due honour to him, respectfully taking the position of
a sympathetic approver and expositor of his views.
According to them, vegetation originated in the Arctic
Circle, spread southwards as the earth cooled, extending
to the tropics—the hardier plants retained possession of
boral regions, when others disappeared under a reduced
temperature, and such alone it may be returning and
regaining possession of the ground subsequent to the wide
spread destruction of vegetation in the north in the glacial
period. These views, aiid facts upon whith they are
based, I have detailed in a volume entitled Forest Lands
and Forestry of Northern Russia (pp. 192-235).

CHAPTER VII.
TEMPERATURE

OF the several conditions upon which depends the
geological distribution of plants that which is most
easily recognised, and most generally observed, is tem-
perature. There are hardy arborescents, such as the
gooseberry, the currant, and the cherry, which uever fruit
im warm countries; and there are tropical and sub-tropical
fruit trees such as the bread-fruit, the love apple, the
banana, and the grape, which may fruit with us in a hot-
house, but not in the open air. During the meeting of
the British Association in Aberdeen, in 1859, at which time
T held the Chair of Botany in King’s College, I was visited
by a Polish savant, Professor Bialoblotsky, who was desirous
of particular information in regard to the temperature of
the district. Having stated generally his enquiry, he
said:—‘I have observed indications of the prevailing
temperature. I see the furze flourishes luxuriantly ; and
I know of course that the cold is by no means severe. I
have also remarked that the walnut grows well, but does
not fruit; and I know thus something of the limit of
heat in summer both as to degree and duration. But
there are several details in regard to the duration of
intermediate temperatures, and of the maxima and minima
of which I wish to be informed, and also details of con-
ditions under which they occur.’

So may one learn elsewhere much in regard to tempera-
ture from observation of the vegetation.

_ The following statements by Schleiden, formerly Pro-
fessor of Botany at Jena, and afterwards at Dorpat, taken

64 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

from his volume entitled The Plant: a Biography, supplies
interesting illustrations of what has thus been advanced : —

‘If from the snow-covered ice plains of the extreme
north, where the red snow algae alone reminds us of the
existence of vegetable organisation, we turn towards the
south, a girdle first expands before us, in which mosses
and lichens clothe the soil, and a peculiar vegetation of
low plants, with. subterranean perennial stems, and
generally large handsome flowers, the so-called Alpine
plants, gives a special character to nature. Almost all
the plants form little flattened separate tufts; Pyrola,
Andromeda, Pedieularis, Cochlearia, poppies, crowfoots, and
others, are the characteristic genera of this flora, in which
no tree, no shrub, is found. Leaving this region, which
botanists call the region of mosses and saxifrages, we go
southward, and at first we see little low bushes of birches,
then more compact woods, into which the pines and
other coniferous trees assemble, and we at last find our-
selves in a second great zone of vegetation, which is
characterised by the woods consisting almost exclusively
of conifers, which thus impress a peculiar character upon
the flora ; firs and pines, Siberian stone pines and larches,
form great widely extended masses of forest ; by brooks
and on damp soil occur the willow and the alder. On
hi lls grow the reindeer lichen and the Iceland moss. In
the cranberry, cloudberry (Rubus Chamaemorus), and the
currant, nature gives spontaneously, though sparingly, food ;
and a rich flora of variegated flowers serves for the decora-
tion of the zone, which stretches in Scandinavia to the
northern limit of the cultivation of wheat, but in Russia
and Asia almost to Kazan and Yakutsk; this we may
call the zone of the conifers. To the south of this zone
in Norway, so far north even as in the neighbourhood of
Dr onthiem, lat. 64° 15’, the culture of fruit begins,
though sparingly; soon appear the sturdy oak and woods
of beech. In about the latitude of Frankfort-on-the-Maine,
50, 9', another tree joins company, which, in its bold
p icturesque mode of branching, takes its stand beside the

TEMPERATURE, 65

oak, which in the beauty of its foliage, as well as the
utility of its fruit, it far surpasses, the noble chesnut.
‘The Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Caucasus, form the
southern limit of the zone, in the more eastern portion of
which the lime and the elm contribute greatly to the
composition of the forest. In the hop, the ivy, and the
clematis, we find here the first representative of the
tropical climbers, The smiling green of the meadows
alternates with the gloomy shadows of the forest, and man
has taken possession of the earth, restricting the wild
vegetation of the earth to that absolutely needful for wood
and hay, and rich crops reward his industry.

‘Leaving this zone of the deciduous woods to scale the
rocky barrier of the Alps, suddenly there appear quite
different plants; with the great woods of trees, the coria-
ceous shining leaves of which last through the mild winter,
and round the mighty slopes of which climb the vine and
_ flame-coloured begonias, unite the similar bushes of
myrtle, tinus, arbutus, and pestialico [pestalozzia ?]

‘Here and there the dwarf palm is met with; labiate
plants and crucifers, and fair-flowered rock roses replace
in summer the spring flora of scented hyacinth and nar-
cissus; but rarely, even on the most favoured spots, is the
eye dazzled by the brilliancy of evergreen leaves, or the.
glaring play of colour on the naked, jagged mountain
chains, or gladdened by the mild radiance of verdant
meadows. In recompense, mankind has, in this zone of
evergreen woods, seized upon the first of the Hesperides.
a ‘The land where the citrons blow ;

Through the dark-green leaves the gold oranges glow.’

‘Crossing the narrow straits of Gibraltar, and following
the western coast of Africa, we soon reach the Canary
Islands, on which we find that around sycamores twine

mighty cissus stems, while capers and bauhineas interlace
in the thickest of balsamic shrubs. The slender date-palm,,,
soars, aloft, and the baobab grows up into gigantic masses
Seok. The wondrous cactus-like forms of the leafless

F

66 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

spurges, distinguished by their poisonous or pleasant-
flavoured sweet milk, as the case may be, manifest a
peculiar formative power in nature; and the dragon-tree,
in the garden of Crotava, in Teneriffe, a gigantic arbores-
cent lily plant, shows itself the growth of thousands of
years.

‘We have thus passed through six different zones of
vegetation, in which we have found the continually
increasing temperature calling forth ever a different, and
ever a more luxuriant vegetation.

‘If, in the warm region we have reached, we ascend
one of the mountains found there—say the Pic of Teyde—
we shall find that we pass through similar zones, but in
order they are reversed.

‘Man has taken possession of the soil of the plain at the
base of the mountain, and dislodged the original vegeta-
tion. Through vineyards and maize-fields we ascend, till
the shades of the evergreen bay-laurel surround us. Trees
of the lace-bark tribe and similar plants succeed; we
wander for a time through a zone of evergreen forest trees.
At a height of 4000 feet we lose the plants which had so
far accompanied us.

‘A very small number of peculiar plants mark a quickly
traversed zone of deciduous trees, and we come among the
resinous trunks of the Canary pine.

‘A zone of conifers shields us from the sun’s rays up to
a height of 6000 feet; then the vegetation suddenly
becomes low ; from humble bushes it passes into a flora
which has all the characteristics of the Alpine plants, till
finally the naked rock sets a limit to all organic life, and
no snow and ice bedeck the summit of the mountain, only
because its height of 12,236 feet does not, in a position so
near the tropics, extend up to the region of eternal snow.

‘Counting by the limits of vegetation, we have resur-
veyed, in a few hours’ climb, the wide way from Spitzber-
gen to the Canaries—an extent of more than fifty degrees
of latitude.

‘In the whole way, downwards towards the south, and

TEMPERATURE. 67

upwards towards the summit of Teyde, vegetation varies
conformably with the climatal conditions; and we can
almost account for the observed distribution of plants by
the mere increase and diminution of heat. If we extend
our research further, we can even name particular plants
which are found in particular northern latitudes, and in
lower latitudes again regularly occur at particular heights
on the mountains’

The geographical distribution of trees in Norway, which
has been detailed, is to a very great extent the result of
difference of temperature; and that this is the case will
probably be admitted by all. But under this general
zonclusion there are numerous phenomena, causes, effects,
conditions, and results included. The results are the
results of temperature under varied conditions, including
amongst others, distribution in time, atmospheric pressure,
and cloudy and cloudless skies. I have no intention to
discuss here phenomena of meteorology and their effects
on vegetation, and the effects of vegetation upon these.
My present purpose extends only to the repeating of infor-
mation collected in regard to facts and phenomena, and
like the bricklayer’s labourer, handing these over to others
to make of them what use they may. But for the
further information of the general reader, I may cite some
views in regard to the process of vegetation which I think
may be interesting, and which I consider substantially
sound.

It is a generally recognised fact that heat is necessary
to vegetation, and that without this, differing in the case
of different plants, they will not grow, or if they grow
they do not flower, or if they flower they do not fruit,
or if they fruit they do not mature their seed, or if they
mature their seed, the seed does not germinate and repro-
duce the plant. But to give explicitness to such state-
ments it is necessary to distinguish things which differ.
The average heat of the summer is something different
from the average heat of the year; the average heat of

68 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

the summer, and the average greatest heat of the summer,
are not the same thing ; the average cold of winter, and
the average greatest cold of winter, may be very different ;
and the greatest degree of heat, or the greatest degree
of cold, is not indicated by either the average greatest
heat or the average greatest cold. A very much higher
temperature than the average may be necessary to the
maturing of fruit or seed, and the occasional occurrence of
of a degree of cold, considerably in excess of the average
degree of-cold, may prove fatal to plants which could
have withstood even a lower average cold, without
detriment.

It may be accepted as a general statement that heat
promotes vegetation, and that cold itself, a negative thing,
operates negatively in checking it, inasmuch as it is an
absence of the heat requisite for vigorous vegetation ;
but greater cold, amounting to frost, may prove positively
destructive by freezing the sap, which in its expansion
bursts the sap vessels, as the expansion of water freezing
in pipes bursts these pipes. A heat in excess of the range
of temperature within which a tree flourishes may limit
its reproduction by seed by causing it to go all to wood ;
and a degree of cold in excess of that range may limit its
capabilities of bringing its seed to maturity, producing,
it may be, only a stunted growth; while an excess of
cold beyond what would be followed by such a result may,
as has been stated, kill the tree by the rupture of sap
vessels through the expansion of the sap in freezing,

Dr Broch has collected details of observations of the
temperature of Norway in respect of all of these particulars.
He states that it is only of late years that observations
such as are desired have been made. There exist for
certain places a complete, long-continued series of obser-
vations. But these stations were limited in number;
and though sufficient for the localities at which they were
made, and as such valuable, the geographical distribution
of these stations was not the one most favourable .for

TEMPERATURE, 69

obtaining the general results desired; and some of them
do not even embrace all the elements of the climatic.
conditions of the locality.

In the close of 1860 there were established five stations
for meteorological observations on the coasts of Southern
Norway, and some years later another was established at
Dovre, in the interior of the country. In 1866 there was
organised a Meteorological Institute; and additional
stations were established ; and now fifty-five Norwegian
stations send regularly their observations to the Institute.
They are pretty equably distributed over the country,
principally along the coasts; and several of the most
recently established of them have communicated observa-
tions of no small value in their bearing on the climatology
of Norway.

Meteorologists have on maps connected with a line
places at which the mean—or, as many would call it, the
average—temperature is the same. The lines thus pro-
duced are called isothermal lines—lines of the same heat.
‘It is found,—I quote Dr Balfour—‘that while at the
equator these correspond nearly with the lines of latitude,
as we recede from the equator the two are widely separ-
ated. They run in curves, rising in their course from the
east of America towards the west of Europe, and sinking
towards the south in the interior of Europe. The yearly
isotherm of 50° passes through the latitude of 42° 30’ on
the east of America, 51° 30’ in England, 47° 30 in Hun-
gary, and 40° in Eastern Asia. This want of conformity
between the isothermal and latitudinal lines will be easily
understood when we consider that a place having a mode-
rate summer and winter temperature may have the same
annual mean as one having a very cold winter and a very
warm winter. But even this isothermal curve is not
uniform: it is marked by numerous minor curves.

According to Dr Broch, the isothermal lines in Norway
follow as a general rule the configuration of the coasts,
being affected, on the one hand, by the temperature of the

70 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

ocean, and on the other side by that of the lofty moun-
tain masses and chains of mountains, which follow the
general direction of the shore.

The central point of the lowest mean annual tempera-
ture in the peninsula of Scandinavia is at a point inter-
mediate between the Varanger fiord and the Gulf of
Bothnia. There, as in Finnish Lapland, the mean annual
temperature 1s as low as —3° = 26°6° Fahr.

The yearly isotherm of —2° = 28-4° Fahr., include in
Norway the south part of the parishes of Kautokeino and
of Karasjok, in the interior of Finmark. Farther to the
south, the miners’ village of Roros and its vicinity has
also that mean temperature.

The isotherm of 0° = 32° Fahr., passes to the north of
the Bay of Varanger, embracing the whole of Varanger,
and the whole interior of the prefecture of Finmark ;
thence it curves towards the south-west, following gener-
ally the chain of the Kjoelen to the prefecture of North
Drontheim, comprising of the prefecture of Tromso only
the most elevated mountain parts situated towards the
Lake Altevard. From the boundary of Nordland and
North Drontheim it bends to the east, enters Sweden, and
finally directs itself by a slight turning towards the bottom
of the Gulf of Bothnia, whence it goes on to the east in
Russian Finland. Further to the south, the isotherm of
0° = 32° Fahr., circumscribes in Southern Norway an oval
Space, comprising the south-east portion of the prefecture
of Sondre-Drontheim, the north part of the valley of
Osterdal, so far as the northern extremity of the Lake
Stromsjoe, in the valley of Rendal, and lastly, towards the
west, the Alpine region of Rundane.

Nearly 18 per cent. of the whole area of Norway has
a mean annual temperature not exceeding 0°, or 32° Fahr.,
the freezing point of water.

While the isotherm of 0° C., or 32° Fahr., encloses thus
two separate portions of the country, the isotherm of + 2°
C., say 36° Fahr., forms a single continuous line. It takes
its rise to the north’ of the North Cape, and proceeds

TEMPERATURE. 7

along the shore of Finmark by the outlying islands. It
then traverses the prefectures of Tromso and of Nordland
on its way towards the interior of the country, about mid-
way between the coast and the mountain chain of Kjoelen.
In the prefecture of North Drontheim it bends further
inland from the coast, so that the upper part only of the
valley of Namdal and of the Findlider finds itself on the
east. side—the coldest side of this line. Touching then
the eastern frontier of the kingdom to the east of the
lower part of Drontheim fiord, the line inclines toward
the south-west, and encircles the Drontheim and Dovre
fjelds. Thence it follows the line of the watershed of the
Langefjeld, keeping in the same direction by places a
little to the west, on to Giver-Telemark, the higher moun-
tain of which it slightly grazes, Then it passes off, with a
general direction towards the north-east, and almost in a
straight line to the north of Lakes Kroederen and Speri-
ten; cuts the Randsfiord and the Miosen a little to the
south of the church of Elverm, ia Cisterdal, to pass on
into Sweden towards the east. It eontinues its principal
direction towards the north-east, until it crosses the Gulf
of Bothnia at its contraction between the Umea, in
Sweden, and Carlely, in Finland.

In Norway this isothermal line comprises about 140,000
square kilometres, having a population of about 190,000
inhabitants,

Around this isotherm of + 2° C. there group other iso-
therms of a higher temperature. These succeed one
another at short distances on the west side, but at much
greater distances on the east side. On the north coast
the colder air from the Arctic Ocean forces the isotherms
to deviate a little more from each other on the two sides
than they do further to the south.

The isothermal line of 4° C., say 39° Fahr., follows the
coast line from the prefecture of North Drontheim to the
valley of Romsdal. It passes along thea within th coast,
at a distance of from 3) to 40 kilometres. It bends

72 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

inwards in passing all the great fiords, and follows the
general direction of the coast to the Christiania fiord,
whence it goes off to the east a little beyond Christinia,
and enters Sweden. Seat

The isotherm of 6° C., say 43° Fahr., follows a like
direction to the middle of the Christiania fiord, where
it diverges to the south-east, and passes thus into
Sweden.

The isotherm of 7° C., say 45° Fahr., follows the coast
line from Cape Stat, inflecting a little in the Sogne fiord,
and again much more to the head of the Hardanger fiord ;
it cuts the Jederon and continues to the Naye, to follow
thence the coast, passing hard bygthe town of Arendal,
whence it takes a south-easterly direction, traversing the
Kategat, Southern Sweden, and the Baltic, to the coast of
Pomerania. Thus it may be seen that the shore of Nor-
way, from the Drontheim fiord to the Christiania fiord,
has a mean average temperature of from 6° to 7° C., or
40° to 45° Fahr. In some favoured spots on the Hardan-
ger fiord, and in the counties of Jederen and Lister, the
mean annual temperature is higher, ranging from 7° to
8° C. The mean annual temperature of Norway may be
estimated at 2°5° C., or 36°5° Fahr. The mean annual
temperature of Christiania is 5° 16’ C., or 41°25° Fahr. ;
in the course of the last forty years it has varied from 4°
to 6°5° C., or 39°2° to 43°79 Fahr.

CHAPTER VIII.
RAINFALL AND MOISTURE.

Nor less marked than the influence of heat on vegetation
is the influence of moisture. We have found, as may be
found to be the case in Norway, and it is the case in
many other lands, that many of the forests exist, and
many of the forests of particular kinds of trees exist, only
along the banks of rivers. It may be the case that,
besides the moisture existing in the soil and in the atmo-
sphere of such localities, there are other conditions of these
combining with this to secure this result ; but no one can
doubt that most prominent amongst the conditions is the
humidity which there prevails. Elsewhere much of the
moisture which is required for vegetation is supplied by
the rainfall; and to the measure of this in different locali-
ties attention is given by the students of Forest Science.

The distribution of rain in Norway, it is reported by
Dr Broch, is in all seasons very much the same. The
most rainy region comprises the shore and the fiords from
Bergen to Cape Stat; the measure of the annual rainfall
there is about 2 metres or 80 inches. At Boemmel fiord
the coast begins to rise, whilst otherwise its general direc-
tion presents conditions favourable to the production of
rain; from this fiord to Cape Stat it consequently falls in
greater quantity than elsewhere. To the north of Sogne
fiord the Justedalsbrae, or braes of the Justedal, act as a
powerful refrigerator, the west side of which is the most
rainy region in Norway, while the country to the east of
this is the most dry. On the coast of the Nordland the
rains are also considerable in some places; the névé, or

vet FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

snow field, of Svartis, between Ranen and Salten, plays
also there an important part in producing like results.
Further to the north the temperature is so low that the
quantity of rain falling there can never equal that of
Southern Norway; nevertheless, the condensation of
vapour occurring there with great frequency, the number
of rainy days is considerable. On the coasts from the
Romsdal to the Skudesnaes, and at Christiansand, the
annual rainfall measures about a metre or 40 inches, while
at Tromso and at Christiania it is only about a half of
that; and on the mountains of the Dovrefjeld it is only
about a third of that quantity.

When studied in connection with forestry, the distribu-
tion of the rainfall, both in time and in space, demands
attention. Ina volume entitled Forests and Moisture ; or,
Effects of Forests on Humidity of Climate,* I have shown
that while the geographical distribution of the rainfall has
to some extent determined the distribution of forests, one
effect of forests, when created, has been to affect the local
distribution of rain in time and quantity, and in space. In
a well-wooded land the rainfall may be found to be diffused
in showers over a great part of the year; while in a land
otherwise under similar conditions, but devoid of forests
and other vegetation, the rain falls only at distant inter-
vals—months or years apart—and falls in torrents. And
again, in. the former case, the rainfall may be generally
diffused over the whole area of the district ; in the latter
it may fall in torrents here and torrents there, leaving
extensive regions unvisited by rain for long. Numerous

* Forests and Moisture ; or, Effects of Forests on Humidity of Climate.—In which
are given details of phenomena of vegetation on which the meteorological effects of
forests affecting the humidity of climate depend,—of the effects of forests on the humi-
dity of the Srnpepaeees on the humidity of the ground, on hes, on the moi ‘eof
a wide expanse of country, on the local rainfall, and on rivers,—and of the correspond-
ence between the distribution of the rainfall and of forests,—the measure of corres:
pondence between the distribution of the rainfall and that of forests,—the distribution
of the rainfall dependent on a er renee determined by the contour of a
country,—the distribution of forests affected by the distribution of the rainfall,—and
the local effects of forests on the distribution of the rainfall within the forest district.
Edinburgh : Oliver & Boyd. London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co.

RAINFALL AND MOISTURE, 45

instances of such irregular distribution and its consequences
te given in a volume entitled Hydrology of South
rica,*

Along the whole coast of Norway it is the autumn
which furnishes the greatest quantity of rain 3 at Chris-
tiania it falls in the month of August. In the central part
of the country the rainfall is least in spring.

The number of rainy days is generally proportionate to
the quantity of the rainfall. Still the rainy days are
relatively numerous in northern Norway, and likewise at
Christiania. On the Dovrefjeld the days of rain in the
course of the year are 90; on the coast of the Skager Rack
the number is from 90 to 100; at Bodoe, Tromso, and
Vardo, about 120; at Skudesnaes, at Christiania, on the
coast of the Romsdal, and of Heligoland, about 140; at
Bergen and in the fiords to the north of that town, and
also at Vesteraolen, about 160; at the Lofoden Islands,
180. Thus it appears that in the interior of the country
one day of rain in four may be counted on; while at the
Lofoden Islands one day of rain in two, taking the whole
course of the year, may be reckoned on.

Connected with this, there is another point deserving
attention. In point of fact, though it may not be gener-
ally remarked, the light is one of the important influences
promoting vegetation, as well as heat and moisture. And
the number of cloudy days is closely related to the num-
ber of days on which rain falls.

It is found the effect of the so-called rainfall on the

* Hydrology of South Africa ; or, details of the former Hydrographic condition of
the Cape of Good Hope, and of causes of its present aridity, with suggestions of appro-
priate remedies for this aridity.—In which the desiccation of South Africa, from pre-
Adamic times to the present day, is traced by indications supplied by geological forma-
tions, by the physical geography or general contour of the country, and by arborescent
productions in the interior, with results confirmatory of the opinion that the appropriate
Temedies are irrigation, arboriculture, and an improved forest y ; or the
of dams to prevent the escape ofa portion of the rainfall to the sea,—the abandonment
or restriction of the burning of the herbage and bush in connection with pastoral and
agricultural operations,—the conservation and extension of existing forests,—and the
adoption of measures similar to the reboi t and g carried out in
France, with a view to prevent the formation of torrents and the destruction of property
occasioned by them.—London: Henry §. King & Co. 1875.

46 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

distribution and growth of trees is different when the
deposit is in the form of snow from what it might have
been had it been in the form of rain; therefore this also
demands attention.

‘At Vardo rain falls during 54 days, and snow during
71 days of the year. The Dovrefjeld has 41 days of rain
and 48 of snow. In all other places at which observations
have been made rain falls much more frequently than
does snow. At Christiania the days of rain are double
those of snow; at Bergen the number is five times as
great, and at the Lofoden Islands 1'5 times greater.

As might have been anticipated, the greatest quantity
of snow falls in the winter. The summer months are
generally exempt from snow, even in Finmark ; at Vardo
there is no fall of snow in July and August. This is also
the case at Bodo. At the Lofoten Islands, on the contrary,
snow may fall any day, even in the months of July and
August, snow falling in each of these months upon an
average three times in ten years. In Southern Norway
the months of June, July, August, and September are
free from snow.

At Vardo, and on the Dovrefjeld the number of days of
rain and of snow are about equal in May and in October;
elsewhere it isso in the beginning of April and in Novem-
ber; and on the west coast it is only so in the month of
March. At Bergen the number of the days of rain is in
excess of that of the days of snow.

The quantity of rain falling in a day is pretty variable.
Least considerable in the central part of the country, it is
there calculated on the mean of the year, about 4 mm.,
16 inches; it increases towards the coast At Vardo and
Bodo it is about 6 mm., ‘24 inches; at Christiansand,
Skudesnaes, and Sandoesund, from 7 to 8 mm.; at Bergen
and Mandal, about 11 mm., ‘44 inches. It is pretty nearly
proportionate with the annual rainfall, and with the num-
ber of rainy days. We may thence evolve the general
law that in these places in which there is the greatest
abundance of rain, this is attributable to the.combination
of the three elements—frequency, force, and duration.

RAINFALL AND MOISTURE. 77

But it is not by rainfall alone that vegetation is pro-
moted. Account should be taken of the dew, and not of
the dew only, but of moisture in the atmosphere, which is
to the eye invisible, In a very ancient record anent cos-
mogony we read :—‘The Lord God had not caused it to
rain upon the earth, and there was nota man to till the
ground ; but there went up a mist from the earth, and
watered the whole face of the earth.’ I cite this in illus-
tration of the fact that, for a long time indeed, it has been
a recognised fact that a mist or dew may promote vegeta-
tion. Dry as is a London fog, a Scottish mist is a connect-
ing link between this and the drizzling rain. I have
already had occasion to report the observations made on
the frequency of mists at different seasons in different
parts of Norway.

The mist, the cloud, the dew, and the rain, are all pro-
duced by a fall of temperature, rendering the air incapable
of sustaining in its composition a quantity of moisture
which was previously there, but invisible; and it may
sometimes be more important to determine the humidity.
of the atmosphere than the rainfall, this being only a
deposit of surplus moisture in excess of what the air could
sustain in solution.

While the pressure of the atmosphere is measured by its
equivalent.in the weight of the column of mercury in the:
barometer, the quantity of vapour in the air is measured
by its tension, which is also so determined.

Taking the mean of the whole year, the greatest quan-
tity of aqueous vapour in the atmosphere of Norway is
found on the coast from the embouchure of the Christiania:
fiord to the island of Karmoe, where its tension is 6°5 mm.
A tension of 6° mm. extends over the middle of Christiania
fiord, over the Boemmel fiord to Bergen, at Stat, and on
the coast of Romsdal. The tension of 5 mm. passes a
little to the north of Christiania, over the Inner-Sogne to
the east of the Drontheim fiord, and away to the north,.
following the coast of Nordland, up to the Lofoden Islands, :
The-vapour tension in the interior of Southern Norway;”

78 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

in the interior of Nordland, and on the coasts of the pre-
fectures of Tromso and of Finmark, is between 5 mm. and
4 mm. In the environs of Roros, in Southern Norway,
and in the interior of Finmark, it scarcely exceeds 4 mm.

‘The quantity of aqueous vapour appears thus to depend
primarily on proximity to the coast, where it is greatest ;
but it depends also on the latitude and difference of tem-
perature thus produced. ,

In the winter season the hygrometric lines are substan-
tially similar to those of the mean of the year, In
January the tension is that of 4 mm. at Christiansand,
Bergen, Sondmor, Christiansand, and Bodo; 3 mm. in
Smalenene, Inner-Sogne, Stjordal, and Sengen; 2 mm.
on the Dovrefjeld, in the interior of Finmark, and in
South Varanger.

In summer the quantity of aqueous vapour is much
more considerable than in winter, and the distribution of
it over the country is somewhat different. In July the
line of tension of 10 mm. passes through Mandal and
Tonsberg, and over this extent it is in the month of July
that the greatest quantity of aqueous vapour throughout
the year is found. The line of tension of 9 mm. passes
outside the west coast from Skudesnaes to Cape Stat,
and there inclines to the north-east, taking a direction to
the east of Alesund, and towards Christiansand. Thence
it inclines towards the south, descending towards Inner-
Sogne, Hardanger, it proceeds towards the east to
Drobak, and finally passes into Sweden. The great
inflection of this line indicates the excess of aqueous
vapour on the west coast relatively to the interior
regions of the fiords in Sogne and Hardanger. These
regions, viewed in regard to the hygrometric condition,
approximate that of the interior, where the line indicates
a region relatively deficient in moisture. The transition
from the embouchure to the head of the Christiania fiord
is very much marked; there the tension diminishes from
10°5 mm, to 86 mm.; it is the greatest variation seen in
Norway. The line of tension of 8 mm, in July passes

RAINFALL AND MOISTURE. 79

over the islands of Vestrealen towards the east. That of
75 mm. passes over Tromso and South Varanger. .

The annual variations of the aqueous vapour tension
accords well with those of the temperature of the air,
and especially with those of the sea. At all the stations
the greatest quantity of vapour is found in August, and
the least in winter. P

The most considerable variation of aqueous tension
manifests itself on the Christiania fiord, on the eastern
part of the country, and on the Drontheim fiord, where it
amounts tc 7mm. The least variation is seen along the
west coast where, from the Jederan to Vadso, it keeps
itself within 5 and 5°5 mm.; on the coasts of the Rems-
dal it is still less. In this respect the contrast between
the continental climate and that of the coast manifests
itself in the same way as the annual variation seen in the
atmospheric temperature. On the high mountains of the
Dovrefjeld both the quantities and the variations are less
than they would be at the level of the sea.

The diurnal variation on the west coast is conformed to
that of the temperature. At Christiania, on the contrary,
the maximum tension is in the evening, which is especially
remarkable in summer, when the diurnal variation is
greatest,

Thé mean relative humidity of the year is greatest at
Vardo, 85 per cent., and also on the coast from Mandel to
Skudesnes, being more than 80 per cent. Itis a little less at
Tromso, Christiansand, Alesund, and Bergen, 78 to 79 per
cent., and it falls to 72 per cent. at Christiania. Asa
general rule, there the relative humidity is greater on the
coast than in the interior of the country. It seems to be
the same in Sweden, the coast of which, on the Balltic,
shows a humidity very great compared with that of
Norway.

In winter it is the west coast of Norway, from Cape
Stat to the North Cape, which shows relatively least
humidity, while this goes on augmenting steadily towards

30” FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

the Gulf of Bothnia. In January the relative humidity
is at Tromso and at Bodo only 77 per cent., at Stat 80
per cent.; but at Christiania it is 88 per cent., at Vardo
90 per cent., and on the east coast of Sweden about 96
per cent. This proportion, which is the opposite of that
of the whole year, is mainly attributable to the high
winter temperature of the coast, and the low winter
temperature of the interior.

In summer thé shore from Vardo to Cape Stat, and to
the Jederen, has the greatest relative humidity, more than
80 per cent., while the central part of the peninsula has a
pretty dry atmosphere, the relative humidity of which is
only from 50 to 60 per cent. .

The variation of this relative humidity is a little irregu-
lar on the west coast. It is, on the contrary, more regular
to the east of the Naze, and in the diocese of Drontheim.
The month of May is remarkable in S: uthern Norway as
being the dryest of all the months. Everywhere the
greatest humidity occurs in the winter season, On the
west coast it is considerable in August, but diminishes
again in October. In the western part of the country,
and in the diocese of Drontheim,' it has its minimum in
winter and its maximum in winter without any marked
interruptions in the regularity of its increase and diminu-
tion. The annual variation of relative humidity is
greatest in the eastern part of the country, where it
exceeds 30 per cent. It amounts to 20 per cent. in the
Drontheim fiord; it is a little under 15 per cent. along
the Skagerack, at Bergen, Inner-Sogne, and Fosen; and
below 10 per cent. at Skudesnaes, on the coast of the
Romsdal, at the Lofoden Islands, and on the coast of
Finmark.

The number of foggy days varies with different locali-
ties. While at Vardo there are 18 in the year, in the
Lofoden Islands 13, in Christiansand 7, and the Dovre-
fjeld 10, in Aolesund, Skudesnaes, Mandal, and Sandosund
there'are 20, in Bergen 40, and in Christiania. , ;

And the annual: variation is characteristic, In ‘the ‘

RAINFALL AND MOISTURE. 8l

eastern part of the country, from Cape Lindesnaes to
Christiania, the greatest number of foggy days occurs in
winter; there are almost none insummer, On the western
coast, on the contrary, and on to Vardo in the north, the
prevalent fogs occur almost exclusively during summer.
At Bergen they are distributed pretty equably over the
whole year; but it is in June that they are most frequent.
The foggy season then is in winter in the eastern part of
the country ; it is in summer in the western.

CHAPTER IX,
RIVERS.’

I HAVE had occasion oftener than once in giving pre-
ceding details to make mention of the circumstance that
many of the forests in Norway, and more especially the
forests of broad-leaved trees, are situated in river basins,
lining the river bed. In South Africa I have often seen
that from some little eminence, whence the traveller could
survey an extensive plain, one could trace the venation of
it by river beds by the well-marked line of trees upon the
banks; and I find a similar appearance is presented by
the forest maps of several divisions of Norway.

It is on moisture in the atmosphere derived from the
sea to a great extent by evaporation on which vegetation
depends. Even when sustained in solution, and invisible,
this is absorbed by the soil, which has a great affinity for it.
The power of the air to sustain water in solution varies
with varying temperature ; and a fall in temperature may
occasion a deposit of the surplus beyond what can be
sustained, which deposit may, according to circumstances,
take the form of cloud, of mist, of dew, of rain, of snow, or
of hail. The soil, also, can only retain-a definite quantity
of moisture, varying with its constituents, and the excess
which may reach it at any time passes off in streamlets,
brooks, and rivers. In this respect the rain and the
river are alike—they are the drainage off of water in
excess; but in this also they are alike—they may convey
moisture from where it is not required to some other
place where it may be utilised in the promotion of vege-
tation, And all along a river from its rise to its flow into
the sea, the reservoir of the world, the banks to a

2

RIVERS. 3

distance varying with circumstances are moist, though at
a greater distance the ground may be arid and sterile.
‘To this is attributable the growth of those trees in the
situations indicated.

But these rivers have attractions for others besides
students of forest science.

It is the wild and varied scenery produced by rock and
river, fiord and forest, and mountain and lake, which makes
Norway interesting to mavy British tourists, while its
salmon fishings in rivers and lakes makes it also attractive
to others.

‘Of all the contrasts which Norway presents to other
mountainous countries,’ says Forbes in his volume entitled
Norway and its Glaciers, ‘the abundance of running
water is perhaps the most striking to a stranger; its
noble rivers, and its impressive waterfalls, are perhaps the
‘features of the scenery most generally dwelt upon, and
many tourists seem to make the latter the sole and main
object of their search. This I think is a mistake. A
cascade is a noble object as forming part of a landscape,
but it is often situated so as to be well seen only when
every other part of the landscape is excluded. If dwelt
upon exclusively it becomes a mere lusus naturae, not an
element of scenery ; and if made the exclusive object of a
laborious journey, it can scarcely fail to disappoint. I have
‘not seen the most celebrated falls of Norway, for my other
objects of enquiry did not lead me near them ; but having
visited those of other countries I have come to the con-
‘clusion that, setting aside the curiosity and variety of a
lofty cascade, small’ waterfalls, unexpectedly discovered

-in picturesque situations, convey a truer sense of pleasure
and beauty to the mind than the thundering shoots which
tumble often into nearly inaccessible gorges. In the
former class Norway abounds beyond calculation ; running
water of a bright and sparkling green is seen on every
side, at least in the valleys ; it pours over cliffs often in a

‘single leap, but more frequently, and more effectively, in a

84 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

series of broken falls, spreading laterally as it descends,
and rivetting the attention for a long while’ together in
endeavouring to trace its subtile ramifications. The
sound is rather a murmur than aroar, so divided are the
streams, and so numerous the shelves of rock tipped with
foam ; whilst a luxuriant vegetation of birch and alder
overarches the whole, instead of being repelled by the
wild tempest of air which accompanies the greater
cataract. At other times single threads of snow-white
water stretch down a steep of 2000 feet or more, connect-
ing the fjeld above and valley below; they look so slender
that we wonder at their absolute uniformity and perfect
whiteness throughout so great a space—never dissipated
in air, never disappearing under débris ; but on approach-
ing these seeming threads we are astonished at their
volume, which is usually such as completely to stop the
communication from bank to bank. ,
‘The source of this astonishing profusion of water is to
be found in the peculiar disposition of the surface of the
country. The mountains are wide and flat, the valleys
are deep and far apart. The surfaces of the former receive
and collect the rain, which is then drained into the narrow
channels of the latter; and as the valleys ramify little, but
usually pursue single lines, and are wholly disconnected
from the fjelds by precipitous slopes, it follows that the
‘single rivers which ‘water those valleys represent the
drainage of vast areas, and are supplied principally by
streamlets which, having run ‘long courses over the fjelds,
are at last precipitated into ravines in the form of cas-
cades. The system might be represented in a homely
way by great blocks of houses in an old-fashioned town,
the roofs of which collect and transmit the rain-water by
means of communicating gutters, until, on reaching. the
street, the whole falls by means of open water-spouts,
-flooding the waterways below. :
‘But there is also another reason for this striking abun-
dance of water. The fall of rain is large, if not excessive,

over a great part of Norway. It is also, no doubt, greater

RIVERS, 85

on the fjelds than in the valleys of the interior. The
height of the. mountain plateau is such as to be covered
more.or less with snow during two-thirds of the year or
more; during the period the rivers and cascades are,
comparatively in many cases, absolutely dry. The vast
accumulations of autumn, winter, and spring, are to be
thawed during the almost constant warmth of the long
summer days. In this season alone the interior of Norway
is usually visited, and we see the result in the amount of
drainage concentrated into that brief season. In the Alps,
no doubt, a similar cause is active, but the comparative
want of cascades is explained by the absolute want: of
.table-lands, and the infinitely ramified character of the.
valleys. In the Pyrenees, which have a still more ridge-
like character than the Alps, the cascades are more
numerous, but yet far more scanty,’

By Dr Broch it is reported in regard to the rivers of
Norway —I give a free, but substantially correct transla-
tion of his statements :—

‘From the position of the mountains the large rivers can
only flow from north to south, or south to north. Affluents
and small rivers on the west coast alone flow in a different
direction. All the rivers of south Norway flow through a
chain of. lakes generally of considerable size, and almost:
always elongated in the direction of the river’s course.
They are often so narrow that they may be considered
only expansions of the rivers where their depth, which is
often very considerable, does not impart to them the
character of lakes. These lakes form reservoirs which
receive. and modulate the flow of the rivers, and with a
view to. increase this effect there has been established
moveable dykes at the embrochure of some lakes,

‘The rivers of Norway experience a pretty regular flood,
produced in the end of May and in June by the melting
of snow in the valleys and on the elevated plateaux. The
magnitude of this flood is very variable and depends not
onlyon the quantities of snow.which may have fallen in

86 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

different localities in the course of the winter, but also,
and perhaps still more, on the rapidity with which the
snow is melted under the heat of spring and summer. In
the southern portion of Norway the period of the summer
stolstice in 1860 everywhere produced the greatest floods
witnessed in the course of the century. On the high
mountains the summer heat does not tell with effect till
later, producing ordinarily towards the end of July a
second, but lesser, flood. The great névés and the ever-
lasting glaciers of the high mountains, the lower extremity
of which is being continuously melted by the heat of the
sun, produce flowing affluents in winter and in summer
alike; the affluents from lower lying lands, on the con-
trary, diminish, and the lesser of them cease even to flow
during the winter.

‘In autumn again, towards the end of August, and in
September, and during the first days of October, there is
generally a flood, but of lesser magnitude, produced by
the abundance of rain, or of snow which melts at once
through the action of warmer currents of air. This
autumn flood is ordinarily much less than the spring
floods; but for all that it may assume great proportions.
Thus, for example, in the beginning of the month of
October 1795, the autumn flood in Southern Norway
attained everywhere almost the same magnitude as the
great spring flood of 1860.

‘This spring flood is of great importance for the floatage
of. wood, which in the forest districts is carried on so long
as the affluents have water enough for the purpose. An-
insufficent flood occasions great loss and damage to the
proprietors of forests and to all engaged in timber trade.
But a flood too strong may equally occasion difficulties in
the floatage of the wood.

‘Tn the western part of Norway the rivers are shorter
and receive their affluents from the névés and glaciers. It is
only in the valley of Romsdal, and in the two prefectures
of Drontheim, that we meet again with large rivers. These
have fewer lakes, and the flood is more violent, and often

RIVERS. 87

causes considerable destruction. The same may be said
of the greater part of the rivers of the prefectures of
Nordland and of Tromso.

‘ The Glommen is the greatest river in the Scandinavian
peninsula, if we leave out of account the continuous or
successive rivers in the water course of the Klarelv, the
Venern, and the Gotely, in Sweden. The Glommen has a
length of 567 kilometres, and a basin of 40,400 square
kilometres. Its most important affluent is the Vormen,
which flows from the Lake Miosen—which has for its
principal tributary the Guldbrandslagen, which has its
source from the Lesjeskogsvand, on the line separating
the Guldbransdal and the Romsdal. Where it joins the
Glommen at Naes, in Romerike, the Vormen has almost
equal dimensions with those of the Glommen—its length
there being 322 kilometres, and its basin measuring
17,050 square kilometres, while the length of the Glommen
above the confluence is 485 kilometres, with a basin of
19,880 square kilometres. . . . A little above its
embouchure the Glommen divides into two branches,
the larger of which falls into the sea, traversing the town
of Fredrikstadt, the lesser, immediately to the west of
this.’

Of the wood floated on this river I have had occasion
to give some account in a preceding chapter [ante p. 10].

The Dramselv, the second river in Norway, passes
through Drammen, and falls into the Drammen fiord, a
branch of the Christiania fiord. It is formed by the con-
fluence of the water course of the Rands fiord and the
Begna immediately above the Tyri fiord, in which the.
Dramselv has its source. Above that the water course of.
the Rands fiord. calculated by the principal river Dokka,
flowing from the plateau of the Oplande, has a length of.
141 kilometres, and a basin of 3710 square kilometres;
while that of Begna, which has its source in Filefjeld, has
a length of 193 kilometres, and a basin of 4800 square
kilometres. A little after its issue from the Tyri fiord the
Dramselvy receives its affluent, Hallingelv, from the Hemse-

88 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

dals fjeld and the Hallingsdal fjeld, with a length of 186
kilometres, and a basin of '5230 square kilometres. In
itself the Dramselv has a length of 263 kilometres, and a
basin of 16,890 square kilometres,

’ The rivers of Finmark, the Altenelv and Tanaely—the
latter-of which is, after the Glommen and the Dramselv,
the third greatest river in Norway—do not themselves
expand into lakes, but they receive affluents from a great
many small lakes, and they pass through some others.
‘The river Patsjoka is the flow to Varanger fiord of the
‘great’ lake Enare, measuring 2530 square kilometres,
situated in Finnish Lapland at an altitude of 250 metres.

In my account of my visit to Christiansand mention is
made of the Toppdal river, and: the Torristal, or Otterdale
river,

Of the Topdalselv, debouching’ to the east of Chris-
tiansand, it is stated that it is the discharge of the eastern
part of the mountains of Sstersdal, and has a length of
136 kilometres, with a basin of 1,900 square kilometres.

Of the Otterelv, the river I visited, and which debouches
into the western part of Christiansand, he states that it
flows from the midst of the mountains of the Ssetersdal,
receiving affluents from the Byklefjeld, the most southern
part of the Langfjeld, and that it has a length of 226
kilometres, with a basin of 3,660 square kilometres.

Of the waterfalls in Norway mention has been made
again and again in preceding chapters. Of such the most
remarkable, on account of the quantity of water, and at
the same time, the most important, in consequence of its
proximity to the sea, is the Sarpfoss, formed by the Glom-
men near its embouchure. The flow of this mass of water
varies from 100 to 150 cubic metres per second in winter,
and from 2000 to 3000 cubic metres per second when the
river is in flood ; and some years it has amounted to 4000
cubic metres, The mean flow may be estimated at 800
cubic metres per second. The perpendicular height of
the fall of Sarpfoss is 21 metres,

CHAPTER X.
LAKES.

A MARKED feature of Norwegian scenery not to. be -over-
looked is the lakes. There, as elsewhere, lakes- are, as
they are generally—I had almost said universally—a mere
expansion of a river.. Seldom, if ever, is its. source only a
spring in its depths. One or. more rivers or rivulets flow
into it and feed it, filling the hollow or valley to .over-
flowing, and a different name may be given to: the.out-
flowing stream than. that borne by any one of the feeders,
but this does not affect the fact that the lake is only an
expansion of one of these, and a receiver of its affluents at
that place.

A lake known to most tourists in Norway is the Miosen
lake, not far from Christiania, lying by the highway.
leading thence to the Dovrefjeld and the western coast.
The Miosen lake is reached from Christiania by a railway
which passes through a rich fertile valley, with a pretty
river winding along it, and then plunges through some
dense forests of tall pines, with stems so straight and
uniformly tapering that they appear like huge fishing-
rods. Their bark has a fine rich colour, which reflects
the sunlight, and fills the whole atmosphere between the
labyrinth of bare poles with a warm tinge, similar to that
produced by stained-glass windows in the aisles of a
Gothic cathedral.

The Eidsvold station of the railway is beautifully situated
on:the river which flows from the Miosen lake to the Glom-
men;:and thence a steamer, formerly owned chiefly by one:
of our:countrymen, famous in his day, by . whom: the. rail:

30 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

way was constructed, sails to Lillehammer, at the northern
extremity of the lake. The Miosen is a long, narrow lake,
not unlike our Windermere, but on a larger scale; being
some seventy miles in length. The mountains that form
its basin rise to a height of about 2000 feet at their visible
summits; their form is not remarkable, but their sides,
sloping down to the lake, are covered with rich emerald
verdure, rivalling, if not excelling, our own green fields,
and even those of Ireland. These slopes are backed by
fine woods of birch and mountain ash, and dotted about
them are the wooden farm-houses. Altogether, the Miosen
is a beautiful lake, though not exciting rapture. About half
way on the lake. is the site of the ancient town of Stor-
Hammer—Stérr signifying large, and Hammer the same
as our ham or. hamlet. The ruins of its old cathedral
remain, and near it, or, I believe, including it, is the farm
of George P. Bidder, once the famous calculating boy,* and

* From time to time there haye appeared such prodigies of boys who seemed not to
calculate but to see, as many men see, that 1 and 1 are 2, that 2 and 3 are 5, what are
the sums and products of numbers greater far than these. Such was Jididiah Buxton,.
such was Terah Colburn. The latter has left us a memoir of his life and achievements.
On one occasion he was asked to name the square of 999,999, which he stated to be
999,998,000,001. He multiplied this by 49 and the product by the same number, and
the total result he then multiplied by 25, the two latter operations being comparatively
simple from the proportions which 25 and 50 bear to 100, He raised with ease the figure
8 to the sixteenth power. He named the squares of 244,999,755 and 1,224,998,775. He
instantly named the factors 941 and 263, which would produce 247,488. He could dis-
cover prime bers al it as soon as d. In five, ds he calculated the cube
root of 413,993,348,677.' But he admits that George Bidder was even more remarkable
in some ways than he was; he could not extract roots or find factors with so much easo
and rapidity as he, but he was more at home in obstruse calculations.

At three years of age George Bidder answered wonderful questions about the nails in
a horse's four shoes, At eight, though he knew nothing of the theory of ciphering, he
could answer almost instantaneously how many farthings there were in £868,464,121:

An octogenarian who saw these stat its in the Spect bseq ly sent to that
ore the following t of his recollecti of two interviews which he had with
im when Bidder was a little boy :—‘In the autumn of the year 1814, I was readin
with a private tutor, the Curate of Wellington, Somersetshire, when a Mr Bidder called
upon him to exhibit the calculating power of his little boy, then about eight years old, who
could neither read nor write. On this occasion he displayed great facility in the mental-
handling of numbers, multiplying readily and correctly two figures by two, but failing
in attempting numbers of three figures. My tutor, a Cambridge man, Fellow of his
college, strongly recommended the father not to carry his son about the country, but to
have him properly trained at school. This advice was not taken, for about two years
after he was brought by his father to Cambridge, and his faculty of mental calculation
tested by several able mathematical men. I was present at the examination, and began
it with a sum in simple addition, two rows, with twelve figures in each row. The boy
gave the correct answer immediately, Various questions, then, of considerable
ifficulty, involving large numbers, were proposed to him, all of which he answered
promptly and accurately. These must have occupied more than an hour. There wa |

LAKES, 91

subsequently one of the great English lords of Norway,
with a very eligible interest in that snug little railway and
the Miosen navigation.
Not far from the western extremity of the Miosen lake
is the prettily situated village of Lillehammer. From
Lillehammer the tourist may proceed northwards to
Trondhjem, or westwards to Bergen and Hardanger, or
through the Guldbransdal to’ Dovrefjeld. This is.
described by Williams as a vast undulating moorland,

then a pause. To test his memory, I then said to him, Do you remember the sum in
addition I gave you?” To my great surprise he repeated the twenty-four figures with
only one or two mistakes. It is evident, therefore, that in the course of two years his:
powers of memory and calculation niust have been gradually developed. He could not
explain the process by which he worked out long and intricate sums. He did not
appear at all overworked. As soon as a question was ed he sed himself with
whipping a top round the room, and when the examination was over he said to us,
“* You have been trying to puzzle me, I will try to puzzle you. A man found thirteen
cats in his garden. He got out his gun, fired at them, and killed seven. How many
were left?” ‘‘ Six,” was the answer. ‘ Wrong,” he said,— “‘ none were left. The rest
ran away.” I mention this to show that he was a cheerful and playful boy when he was
about ten years old, and that his brain was not overtaxed.’

Such powers in a boy supply no indication that he will be distinguished in after life.
Many have lost the trick by which the calculations are made while they are yet young,
most have proved in after life nothing beyond more of average power, and none of them,
it is said, have exhibited the slightest tincture of genius in mature life.

Bidder, after being for a time a world’s wonder, had the good sense to study carefully ~
to qualify himself for the profession in which he engaged; he became a civil engineer
of some eminence ; he evjoyed the confidence and esteem of Robert Stephenson; and
rose to be president of the Institute of Civil Engineers. He has been dead for some.
years.

In further illustration of what has been done in mental arithmetic, I cite the follow-
ing extracts from letters from Dr John Wallis, of Oxford, to Mr Thomas Smith, B.D.,-
Fellow of Magdalene College, which are preserved in the Classical Journal, vol. xi.,
No, 21, p. 179, and were republished in the Sp tor of J: -y 4, 1879 :—

‘December 22, 1669.—In a dark night, in bed, without pen, ink, or paper, or any-
thing equivalent, I did by memory extract the square root of 30,000, ), ,
00000, 00000, , 00000, 00000, which I found to be—1,77205, 08075, 68077, 29353,
Jeré, and did the next day commit it to writing.’ A :

‘February 18, 1670.—-Joannes Georgius Pelshower (Regtomontanus Boruseus), giving
me a visit, and desiring an example of the like, I did that night propose to myself in
the dark, without help to my memory, a number in 53 places, 24681357910121411131516
132017192122242628302325272931, of which I extracted the square root in 27 places—
157103016871482805817152171 proximé, which numbers I did not commit to paper till he
gave me another visit, March following, when I did from memory dictate them to him. .
Yours, &c.’ :

In Bayle Dr Wallis is described as a man of very great attainments, with a peculiar
character for deciphering, and altogether very ful in life. The correspondent of
the Spectator remarks :—‘The naivété of the feré and proximé is charming, and also the
confession that he did not commit the appalling row of figures to paper, but dictated
them a month afterwards to his friend from memory. These feats are perhaps not
so difficult as multiplying 15 figures by 15, for while of course it is easy to remember
such a number as three thousand billion trillion being nothing but noughts, so also it-
may be noticed that there is a certain order in the row of 53 figures; the numbers
follow each other in little sets of arithmetical progressior—(2, 4, 6, 8), (1, 3, 5,7, 9),
(10, 12, 14), (11, 13, 15), (16, 18, 20), and so on; not regularly, but still enough so to
render it an immense assistance to a man engaged in a tal calculation,’ % 2

92 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

between three and four thousand feet. above the sea level.
It has no particular claims to the picturesque, and the
absence of great rocky masses deprives it of any savage
grandeur though it is sufficiently desolate. The, tints of
the abundant reindeer moss,.or rather; lichen (Cenomyce.
rangiferina), are in many parts very beautiful.; especially
where a rounded heap of earth-eovered boulders is over-
grown with it.. It.is:dry and crisp, forming a luxurious
mountain couch ; it varies. from. straw-colour, through a
pale buff, to a bright orange and red brown. Its habit is
to grow on the :dry, well-drained ‘spots, while peat: moss
occupies the swampy localities.*

Du Challu, in his work entitled The Land of the Mid-
night Sun, has given a graphic sketch of reindeer grubbing
under the snow for this article of their food; and he has
given a genial account of the domestic life of the farmers
in Guldbrandsal.

--In continuation of his journey, after describing Jerkin
and the hospitalities of the hostelry there, Williams says:-—
‘ Walking on the fjeld the view of Schneehaettan is rather
‘fine from its highest ridge. This mountain, long regarded
the highest in Norway, is not so imposing as might be
expected from its height, 7,620 feet above the sea; but it
is only 4,500 feet above Jerkin, and 3,520 above this
point, which is 4,100 feet above the sca level, and said to
be the highest carriage road in North Europe. The
ascent appears very easy from here—a long ridge stretch-
ing gradually down from the summit like Goat Fell in

* The botanic name of the lichen, Cenomyce, is derived from kenos, empty, and
mykos, a minute fangs, and has been given in allusion to the hollowness of the little
fungus receptacles with which it is studded. This constitutes for the greater part of-
the year,.and especially in winter, the food of the vast herds of potudeat on which |
the Laplanders further to the north are dependent for support—hence comes its popular
name. Linnaus tells that no vegetable grows throughout Lapland in such abund:
as this, especially in woods of scattered pines, where for very many miles together the
surface of the sterile soil.is covered with it as with snow. On the destruction of forests
by fire, when no other plant finds nutriment, this lichen springs up and flourishes, and
after a few years attains its greatest size. Here the reindeer are pastured, and whatever
may be the depth of snow during the long winters of that climate, they have the power
of penetrating it and obtaining their 1 ‘y food. Li has given a beautiful
description of this lichen, and of the animals whose support it is,in the Flora La; aca,
carr ee Ag found in ar? ela and bs species found growing on

e Cupped conomyce, C. py: &—is sometimes employed by the poor in. the.
cure of the hooning-cough-—-Louden. ye y Pe

‘LAKES. Bs)

Arran. But appearances from. such a distance are little
to be relied on, especially about the region of the snow
line. Professor Forbes, who is no novice in mountaineer-
ing, describes the ascent. as very troublesome, on account
of the deep sludgy snow-pits between the boulders.

‘The road now plunges into ‘a deep valley in company
with’ the river Driv, which roars and foams among the
rocky masses that restrain. its course. The amount .of
water at this elevation gives evidence of the extent of the
fjeld, and of the quantity of snow that is thawing around
Schneehaettan. Many small lateral streams pour into the’
valley, cutting deep gutters in the rocks over which they
fall. Several of these flow directly from the patches of
snow that fill the hollows above. There is a curious and
very pretty effect produced by a peculiar formation of the
mountains on the other side of the river. Each ridge of
rock runs down nearly parallel with the valley, and forms
a long slender-pointed high-backed promontory ; one side
of the promontory ridge being nearly perpendicular, and thus
a little blind glen is formed into which the rocky promontory
‘would about fit if it were reversed. These glens are evenly
curved, and smooth, covered with rich grass, and :dotted
with shrubs and. lilliputian birch trees. They are very
numerous, much alike, and occur at rather regular inter-
vals, giving quite a character to the valley, and contrasting
‘beautifully with its general wildness: any one of them
would form a-subject for a charming little picture. The
scenery is very fine all down this ravine to Drivstuen.
The river makes some fine cascades, and several minor
ones are formed by the streamlets which tumble into it
from the snow patches, Bs

The character of the scenery changes below Drivstuen,
where, instead of wild broken rocks, the road passes over
-an almost park-like green sward. . . . My next
day’s walk was through a rich cultivated valley,: with
snowy mountain peaks ahead. Murray says the Schnee-
haettan is visible here, but unless my maps and: compass
deceive me considerably this must be a mistake,

BA FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

‘ A little before reaching Ovne, or Aune station, there
‘were some of the most magnificent banks of pansies I ever
beheld. ‘Several patches of above a hundred square yards
were covered with an unbroken carpet of these beautiful
little flowers, the variety, richness, and harmony of their
colours were most exquisite; they saturated the atmo-
sphere around with a delicious aroma, which was almost
intoxicating in its concentration. Ilay down upon them
‘and slept for an hour or two, the sunbeams poured upon
me with a roasting heat, the rooks were cawing above, and
the river tumbling below, though yesterday and this
‘morning it was freezing, and the snow patches were still
visible in all the hollows of the craggy rocks above. I
‘dreamed of Oriental vapour baths, otto of roses, and
beautiful primroses just imported from the snowy
‘ Caucasus, and selling in Covent Garden for a few shillings
‘per dozen.’

Schneehaettan is visible near Staen, about fifteen
miles below the place where Murray speaks of it. It is
a more picturesque object from this point than from the
~Dovre fjeld. A number of other snowy peaks are also
‘visible. Lakes are pretty numerous in Norway, but they
‘are comparatively small. While in Sweden there are 34
lakes of more than 100 square kilometres in size, in
Norway there are only 52 which exceed 25 square kilo-
metres. The superfices of all the lakes of Norway is 7600
square kilometres, or 2'4 per cent. of the whole area of the
country, while in Sweden lakes constitute 10 per cent. of
‘the area of the country. They abound most in Southern
Norway. There, in eight prefectures, is found-one-half of
the superficies of the lakes of the whole country; and they
constitute 4 per cent. of the area of these prefectures.
‘Many of the Norwegian lakes are of considerable depth,
so much so, that over wide districts the bottom is below
the level of the sea. Sometimes even they are deeper
than are the greater adjacent fiords. Thus the great lake
of Norway—the Miosen—has a depth of 457 metres, even
in the low water of winter. Its surface is then only 121

“LAKES, 3

metres above the level of the sea, consequently its basia,
over a great extent, is 330 metres (1110 feet) below the
level of the sea, which only attains to this depth in the
‘ outer portion of the Christiania fiord. 2

_The Storsjo, in the valley of Rendal, has a length of 35
kilometres, and an area of 47 square kilometres. It empties
its waters into the Glommen. Its altitude is 257 metres,
its depth is 301 metres, its basin sinks 44 metres (147
feet) below the level of the sea, from which, by the course
of the Renelv and the Glommen, it is 340 kilometres
distant.

The Tyri fiord, with an altitude of 64 metres, has a
depth of 281 metres, so that the bottom is 217 metres
(723 feet) below the level of the sea.

Many small lakes situated near the interior extremity
of the deep fjords of the prefecture of Bergen and Roms-
dal have a depth as great as that of the fiords to which
they are adjacent. Thus the Horningdalsvand in the
prefecture of Romsdal, at an altitude of 56 metres, with
an area of 57 square kilometres, has a depth of 486
metres, so its bottom is 429 metres, 1,430 feet below the
level of the sea, from which it is distant only 10 kilometres.
On the south-west coast, in the low lying level country of
Jaderen, there are lakes ot fresh water, separated from the
sea by only banks of sand, with which they have nearly
the same level. The largest of them, the Orrevand,
measures 11 square kilometres.

It may be premature to speak of the means by which
valleys of such depth have been dug, or ploughed out of
the solid earth. But the subject will not be overlooked ;
it will be discussed in the chapter entitled Mechanical
Action of Glaciers, Here it is deemed sufficient to
intimate that these are considered as valleys occurring in
the thalweg or bed of a river or a rivulet, which was filled
before the stream could continue its course beyond, and
which are kept full by supplies equivalent to some extent
to the current. or delivery passing on.

206 FORESTRY*OR NORWAY.

. ‘-Avtabulated list of eighty rivers and main, water-courses of
‘Norway, their names) and length; the superficial: area of the
‘fluvial ‘basin, and the debouchure of the same, and, a like

tabulated list of about aihundred and fifty of the principal
lakes in :Norway, ‘their. names, locality,: superficial . area,
engin and:altitude,are: given by Dr Broch in his:report
on these.

CHAPTER XI.
WINDS.

AN important and manifold influence on the distribution
of forests, and of different kinds of forest trees, is exercised
by the winds.. By means of these seeds of trees are widely
dispersed ; they are thus borne to bare spots in the forest;
and to bare lands beyond ; and the winds thus contribute
where local conditions are favourable, to give extension to
the distribution of forests, and of different kinds of forest
trees. But frequently their operation is also destructive.
By successively stripping a tree, young or old, of its
foliage, the tree is starved and it dies ; by: bringing breezes
from the sea charged with salt they kill many kinds of
trees, and thus prevent the growth of such along the coast ;
by breaking off-a. bough or a twig. they: give access to
moisture, and to germs of fungi, either of which may.
prove fatal to the tree; by blowing vapours from a kiln
they may occasion the death of an extensive forest patch;
by spreading a: forest fire they may devastate a whole
country side; and by a gale or cyclone they may lay low
trees the growth of centuries. Ges
But not less important, on the other hand, is the action
of forests as’ a windbrake ‘giving. shelter to dwellings and
cultivated fields ; and in arresting malaria ; and in prevent-
ing the drifting of loose sand, which otherwise might render
sterile fertile Jands.. In view of such effects the conserva
tion and extension of forests has in many countries been
made subject of legislation and government administration
in which the rural economist is not less directly interested.
than is the student of forest science. :

, In some countries to the south of Norway much atten-
H

98 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

tion is given, both in forest legislation and in forest
administration, to the conservation of forests on mountain
tops as a means of giving shelter to lower-lying lands to
leeward, and as a means of preventing the formation of
mountain torrents. Ihave no reason to suppose that the
subject commands like attention in Norway. But meteoro-
logical observations of storms and prevalent winds, and of
atmospheric pressure are not awanting, and in view of the
relation of winds to forests, I cite some of these report
by Dr Broch, 2 hie
Thunder storms and storms of rain are comparatively
rare in Norway. They principally occur in the summer
months. The winter storms fall almost exclusively on the
west coast, from the Naze to Andenaes, in Vestrealen ;
they come in heavy gales from the west. ee
. The thunder storms come as a general rule with wind
from the south and the south-west, of a high temperature,
and loaded with aqueous vapour. They proceed often in
a regular course across the country, and sometimes advance
with a great extent of breadth, for example, from the Naze
to Vest: fiord. Their mean rate of advance is 40 kilometres
per hour, in a direction from south-west to north-east.
The greater part of them are accompanied by great. whirl-
winds along the south border. A portion of the storms
are occasioned by the great heats which are produced in
the interior of the country. These are amongst the least
violent,
_ The storms of Norway are everywhere greater and more
frequent on the coast than in the interior. In the eastern
part of the country, where they only appear in summer,
there may be two or perhaps three in a year. They are
also of like frequency in the interior, especially on the
north part of Lake Miosen, as they are on the coast. It
is on the shore, from the Naze to the Sogne fiord, that
they are of greatest frequency in Norway; six or seven
have been seen in the course of a year. From the Sogne
fiord to the Drontheim fiord they are comparatively rare.
They. are more frequent in the region which extends from

WINDS. 99

the Drontheim fiord to the Arctic Circle. To the north of
the Arctic Circle their frequency diminishes considerably ;
and on the coast of Finmark thunder is never heard excep-
ting in very hot summers. In South Varanger, on the
contrary, the summer storms are more frequent, and there
thunder is heard as often as in Southern Norway. 6
. Lightning rarely strikes the ground, still it causes many
accidents in the course of years, especially in winter
thunder storms; and on the coasts of Southern Norway
many churches have been struck by lightning.

The occurrence of thunder storms has a marked diurnal
time during summer. The greater number are in the
afternoon, and there are fewest during the night. During
winter the nocturnal storms seem to be as frequent as
those which occur during the day, The hail accompany-
ing thunder storms in Norway is in quantity insignificant.

Next in importance to thunder storms and storms of
rain, are storms of wind. These storms attain their
greatest frequency in Norway in the month of November,
during which there may be 4°5 days of storm counted on.
They are least frequent in summer, when, they average ‘8
days per month. This frequency increases in autumn and
decreases in spring in a regular way. There is no marked
frequency of storms during or immediately after the
equinoxes. . ;

“The frequency of storms and the force of the wind
follow the same law. The frequency attains its maximum
on the coasts of Nordland and of Finmark, where there are
on an average 46 in the year; the west coast follows with
an average of 27 per annum; their number diminishes on
the coast of the Skagerack, where there occur about 15 in
the course of the year; and lastly, in the interior they are
comparatively rare, numbering in Christiania from 2 to 3,
and on the Dovre mountains from 5 to 6 a year. .

The direction followed by them is generally that of the
dominant winds: here let it suffice to state that from
Christiania to Vardo, coming generally in winter, they

100 ‘ FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

come almost always from the south-west. On the west
coast they blow most frequently from the south or the
south-west, but also pretty frequently from the west or
from the north-west. At the Naze storms from the west
predominate, and on the coast of the Skagerack those from
the south and south-west.

Storms from the south-west are the most prevalent over
the whole land; and next to these are those from the
west. Storms from the east are the most rare; and
storms at sea are much more frequent than storms on the
land.

In peculiar circumstances, as when in winter the cold of
the continent is very intense, and the contrast between it
and that of the sea very great, there may spring up very
strong land winds. These come down, especially in
Southern Norway, where thé climate of the interior and
that of the coast come pretty near, and where the current
of air seeks the fiords, which set free a heavy. cold air;
this cold air precipitates the warmer séa vapours, ‘which
spread themselves over the water in a thick cold mist. It
is in these circumstances that the greatest degree of cold
is experienced on the coast, although pretty often during
a time of calm the temperature of the interior comes down
much lower.

From winter to summer the direction and force of the
usual winds so varies that the information to be supplied
may eludicate but little. On the west coast and in
Southern Norway, from Skudesnaes to Vardo, and on the
the embouchure of the Christiania fiord,winds from thesouth
and south-west predominates. At Lister and at the Naze
west winds, and at Christiania winds from. the north,
prevail. For the whole country it is the south-west wind
which is the predominant wind; next to these are winds
from the south; the winds least frequent in Norway are
those from the east.

In winter the predominant winds are—from Christiania
to the Naze, the nort-east ; at Lister, the east; along the
west coast, the south ; from Cape Stat to Drontheim?fiord

WINDS. 101

the south-west and the south-east ; on the Dovrefjeld, the
south ; at Folden, the south-east ; at the Lofoden islands,
the -west-south-west ; at Andenzs, the south-south-east ;
at Vardo, the south-west. In other words, the dominant
winds follow the direction of the coast, keeping the land
on the right hand.

The tendency of the winds to go along the course is so
strong that in both seasons there are twice as many winds
blowing along the shore as against it. This preponderating
influence on the coast seems to lose itself pretty rapidly’
as the landward distance from the shore increases; and’
tabulated observations at Utsire, 59° 18’ N.E. Geenwich,
and at the outer-lying Lofoden islands, show that the
winds there blow so equably in all directions that none
have a marked preponderance. In other stations, on the
re it is easy to indicate the normal direction of the
wind,

The force of the wind is much more considerable on
the coast than in the interior of the country. On the
coasts of Finmark, at the Lofoden islands, and at Utsire—
that is to say, at the places most exposed to sea winds, the
furce of the wind has its maximum. The mean force of
the wind there amounts to that of a pretty strong breeze ;
in the interior of the country, on the contrary, it scarcely
amounts to that of a very gentle wind. At Bergen, and
on the coast of the Skagerack, the wind has the force of
a moderate breeze. At Skudesnaes the wind blows
with a mean force three times that experienced at
Christainia.

It is in winter that winds on the coast attain their
greatest force, and that calms are least frequent, while
during that season the feeblest winds and calms prevail in
the interior of the country. In summer it is exactly the
reverse. At this season calms on the coast are most
frequent, and the winds are weakest; while in the
interior, provided always the distance from the sea be
not too great, the winds are strongest and calms the most
rare, The difference in the force of the wind in summer

2 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

aod in winter is much greater on the coast than in the
interior of the country.

: The-diurnal variation in the force of the wind is very
little marked in winter; it is more pronounced in summer,
and especially in the eastern portion of the country is this
the case. The force of the wind attains its maximum
about 2 P.M.; it sinks to its minimum during the night.

. Thus there is on the coasts of Norway a perfect contrast
between the direction of the winds in summer and in
winter. -The chief occasion of this must be sought in the
alternate distribution of the pressure of the air on the
central portion of the Scandinavian peninsula. In winter
the air experiences a condensation which causes an onward
current of winds issuing from it; and in summer a rari-
faction which attracts a current of air or of wind towards
the locality.

For all this information I am indebted to Dr Broch’s

report. .

CHAPTER XII.
GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS.

THat the geographical distribution of vegetables is greatly
affected by difference of soil in different localities is patent
to all ; and that these differences are attributable largely
to underlying geological formations may be readily ad-
mitted. ome

‘There are plants, such as the lousewort, the butterwort,
and the marsh marigold, which we never find growing ex-
cepting on marshy spots ; there are others, such as the ling
and the heather, which we find only on what are known as
heath-lands, which: consist largely of peat soil; there are
others, such as the coltsfoot, found only on clay land;
others like the oyster plant, only on sand; and others, as
are most of those with which we are conversant, are found
only on what is called garden soil. And agriculturists,
with all:the appliances of modern science at their com-
mand, find it not only more profitable, but almost necessary,
if they would secure remuneration for their outlay of
money and labour, to confine themselves to the culture of
certain crops on light lands, and of others on heavy lands,
and it may be of others still on varieties of these as
numerous as the notes of the gamut.

A carefully conducted analysis of any plant by burning,
and by a chemical analysis of the ashes, may be made to
show that there were in the plant besides carbon and
moisture, which may have been obtained in one way of
another from the atmosphere, mineral substances which
must have been obtained from the soil; and an analysis of
the soil, made before the growth of the plant and after,
may be made to show that what the plant got the soil

104 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

lost. From this it may be inferred that unless what
has been thus withdrawn, or its equivalent, be restored by
the decomposition of rocks allowed to go on while the
land lies fallow or is utilised by the culture of some
other kind of crop, or by a supply of it in manure, the
soil will sooner or later become exhausted of these constitu-
ents ; and observation has shown that then the land will
no longer yield that crop.., So is it with land altogether
devoid of constituents required in the production of the
same or. other vegetables. And thus is the geographical
distribution of trees, and of arborescent as well as of herba-
ceous plants, to a great extent determined:

It may be instructive to bear in mind that what is
required for the growth and reproduction of a plant, the
seed of which has found its way to any spot, is not only
heat and moisture, but these in quantity, defined within
a limited range, varying in many cases with the successive
stages of germination, growth, flowering, ripening of the
fruit, and the casting of the seed, a departure from which
at any one of these stages, or at some stages intermediate
between them, imperilling the result. But not less essen-
tial and necessary to the continued growth of the plant is
a soil supplying in appropriate form and in appropriate
quantities the nutriment required by the plant.

‘The beautiful indigenous plant, the “lady's slipper,”
grows, says Schleiden, ‘over all parts of the Swiss Fore
Alps, where the soil is formed of the Alpine limestone;
it accompanies the whole Swabian musselkalk, and dis-
appears suddenly when we come to the sand of the Jura
and keuper formations on this side of the Danube. It
‘next makes its appearance on the musselkalk of Turin-
gia, and comes down with that on the Werr as far as the
neighbourhood of Gotlengen, and it leaps over the
Bunter sandstone of the lower Hichsfeld, and the gran ‘te o
the Upper Hartz, and it again gladdens the eye «. the
wanderer on the calcareous formations eastward of the
Brocken.

GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 105

‘It is sought in vain over all the clay and sand formations
of the northern German plains, till, in the extreme north,
it again shows itself in Rugen, where the chalk rocks of
Arkend and Stubbenkammer lift their heads,

‘Again, on the western coast of France, there grow various
insignificant-looking shore plants, species of the -Salsola
and Salicornia, which the inhabitants use to obtain soda
from the ashes. When we travel from thence toward the
east, we everywhere miss these little plants, even when
searching most carefully, and merely one or other of them
makes its appearance in places where the soil is moistened
by some salt spring. At last we arrive at the great steppes
of the south-east of Russia, which in summer are covered
with a thick crust of salt, and here these plants are found
growing in the same abundance and luxuriance as in the
west of France.

‘On the northern coast of Germany the little pale
maiden pink grows upon the arid sand downs, and is
universally distributed over the sandy plains of northern
Germany; but these are succeeded by the granite, clay,
slate, and gypsum of the Hartz, the porphyry, and the
musselkalk of Turingia, and our little pink 1s not met with
again till we arrive on the keuper sand plains, on the
further side of the Maine, surrounding the venerable city
of Nuremberg. It extends. further south through. the
Palatinate, till the musselkalk of the Swabian Alps
again sets a limit to it, but it leaps over these and the
whole Alpine region, and at last appears again on the sandy
soils of Northern Italy. How is it these plants everywhere
disdain the richest soils in their range of geographical
distribution, and are conformed to perfectly determinate
geognostic formations? Must not the lime, the salt, the
sand, or rather the Silex, have a most distinct influence
in the matter? |

«In regard to soil science has gone astray in the most
varied and opposite directions. So late as the commence-
ment of the present century there were men who asserted
that plants could themselves form all their organic and

106 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

inorganic constituents out of the air and distilled water;
and there were superficial experiments which seemed to
countenance the idea. Subsequently the error lay in the
other extreme, for there was manifested a disposition to
ascribe a peculiar flora to each geognostic formation.

‘The truth seems to lie between the two extremes.
‘Whenwe find that the ashes of tobacco, of clover, of lucerne,
contain more than 20 per cent. of lime and magnesia salts,
we cannot be surprised if we do not meet with them on
pure sandy soils containing scarcely a trace of lime; but-it
would be drawing a false conclusion from this to say that
the musselkalk, or the -keuper limestone, or the Jura
limestone, or. any other calcareous stratum of any given
formation is exactly the proper soil for these plants.

‘That a plant like the great sugar tangle (Laminaria
saccharina), which is so rich in soda, iodine, and bromine,
occurs only in the sea, and not in fresh water, where soda
is very sparingly, and iodine and bromine not at all
present, is certainly easily conceivable. But it is certain,
at the same, time, when we decide upon the soils on a
large scale, according to geognostic principles, that there
are very few plants characteristic of particular constituents,
and this relation is, indeed, neither very natural nor neces-
sary. In the next place it may be asserted that all plants
contain the same constituents in their ashes, but in very
different proportions.

‘On a soil, therefore, composed purely of one kind of
earth—eg., lime, silex, or gypsum—no plant at all could’
flourish. Every soil that bears plants contains also in its
composition all the substances required by all plants, only
the proportions differ, and the predominance of silex, lime,
or common salt, must consequently favour especially the
growth of grasses, pulses, or other plants, although these
are by no means exclusively confined to the proper sandy
or calcareous soils, or to the sea-side. In reference to this
point,’ says Schleiden, ‘I know really no other plants than
the carbonate of lime plants, the gypsum and salt, plants,
which I could bring forward in evidence.

GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 107

«The mechanical condition’ and physical peculiarities of
the soil will also be found to modify the effects of the
influential circumstance already referred to, and contribute
to:chain particular plants to particular soils, or to facilitate
their dispersion.

« €There are plants which will only settle on unbroken
rocks, and which, when the other conditions coincide, spring
from these rocks to our walls, like the wall rue spleenwort
(Asplenium Ruta muraria), a little fern, the name of
which. denotes its station. Others occur only where
weathering has broken up the solid rock into small frag-
ments—drift plants, which, clinging to mankind, select
rubbish heaps, which most resemble their natural station :
the great nettle and the henbane serve as examples.

: ‘Lastly, other plants grow only where the ‘rocks have
been reduced to fine powder in sand, or in the fine-
grained clay produced by chemical decomposition. The
so-called. German sarsaparilla, the sea weed (Ammophila
arenaria), is an example of the first condition, but there is
no definite condition corresponding to it in the vicinity of
human habitations.

- *Clay, on the other hand, stands beside the black sub-
stance, humus, resulting from the decomposition of organic
matter. Both rich in soluble salts important to vegeta-
tion, both distinguished in their property of absorbing.
from the atmosphere, and their conveying to the root of
plants, gases and aqueous vapour, they cause, single or in
combination, the most luxuriant vegetation. And we thus
obtain three stages in reference to the qualities of the soil
~——pure earths, wholly devoid of vegetation; mixed earths,
without clay or humus, with an arid but characteristic.
vegetation ; and lastly, soil rich in clay and humus, with
the greatest. abundance and variety of plants.

‘Even in the north the eye of the uninstructed observer
is struck by the greater richness and stronger development
of the vegetable kingdom, from the argillaceous, basaltic,
and porphyritic soils; and under the tropical sun, simple
quartz sand is a desert, if water, and therein foreign

108 ‘ FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

matters, be not furnished to it. Witness the Great Sahara
and the Sahara-of the South?

In view of.such observations as these made elsewhére,
the student of forest science, in studying phenomena pre-
senting themselves for consideration in Norway, may be
disposed to give his attention for a little to the geology of
the country, aud to the distribution of trees in relation to
this. For the following sketches of both, I am indebted
to the report by Dr Broch. It is only because of the-free-
ness with which I happen to have abbreviated and trans-
lated his statement that I do not mark it as translation. —

- The fundamental rock which consist of gneiss in-primi-
tive schists—mica ‘schist,:tale schist, pot stone; quartzose
schist, quartzite, -&c., appears on the.coast of the Miosen
lake and of the. Christiania fiord, from Elveram to thé
south of the plateau of the Oplande, and in continuation
to the south, It is traversed by small eruptive masses of
old -granites, partly in chains, partly in masses, which in
the Solor and the Odal take all the direction from N.N.W.
to S.S.E. The frontier region of the Odal, the Finskog,
and the wooded ridges of the Vinger, consist of eruptions
of this kind, and especially of ‘striated granite. These
eruptions form wooded ridges of little elevation, and often
also of little breadth.: Elsewhere they are .met with in
various districts, and are generally wooded. They are
often accompanied by gabbro, consisting of hyperstene;
labradorite, and nerite;- and metallic ores or metallic
veins and deposits are not awanting. .

. Elsewhere there are met with masses of granite of later
eruption seen in islands lying outside of the Drontheim
fiord, and elsewhere. And in some adjacent islands may
be seen the fundamental rock covered with an envelope
of sandstone grit and conglomerate.

‘The granites, which cover an area of 23,000 square
kilometres, inclose, especially in the depth of valleys,

arts. more or less distinctly marked, kinds of islands
where the fundamental rock makes its appearance. . And

GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 109

in these, as in all the eruption rocks, there are often seen in
the granite mass quite small fragments, with sharp edges of
this fundamental rock. The granites of this great rock
collection are partly granulated, partly striated. The old
granite presents an appearance by no means attractive,
especially on the mountains of the Setersdal. It forms
there bare rugged cliffs and fields sown only with blocks
of stone, and here and there covered with with marshes,
In the lower lying countries, especially to the east, better
sheltered from.the sea winds, this granite supplies, on the
contrary, an excellent ground for forests,

Immediately after the great upturnings of the ground
which accompanied the’ eruptions of the old granite, or
perhaps while these eruptions were still occurring, there
was produced.'the taconic formation, composed of three
distinct strata or layers, resting in discordant non-conform-
able ‘stratification on the fundamental rock. The lower
of the layers, particularly distinguished ‘by the quantity
of fragmentary rock contained in it, has been called the
Sparagmitic. layer from the name given to:one of these
rocks, Sparagmite is a pudding stone or conglomerate,
sometimes reddish, sometimes grey, in colour, consisting
of fragments of felspar and quartz, often intermixed with
broken talcose scales.

Where the quartz prevails, and is not covered with a
vegetable soil, the ground is arid, as on both banks of the
Glommen, from the Marafjeld to the valley of the Lille-
elvdal. In districts sheltered from the wind, however, the
Sparagmite offers a ground pretty favourable for forest
vegetation. -

The stratification of it is disposed in some places in
inclined beds, or on plateaux in horizontal layers, On
the Rundane these latter are cut up into pyramidal moun-
tains, the sides of which make apparent the horizonial
layers. “

The great quantities of fragments of felspar and quartz
seem to. be the result of the decomposition of the old
granite. The mica is found in like broken siate-in the

110 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

argilaceous schists of this layer. Above, on its surface,
the layer presents on many parts a hard conglomerate,
erratic blocks of quartz in which appear to have come
from ancient quartzose mountains in like manner destroyed,
and among these blocks are also found fragments of the
old:granite, pure and simple.

No fossils have been found in this layer; but it is
considered as the base of the taconic formation, and it lies
in a position divergent from that of the horizontal strata
on vertical layers of. the. fundamental rock. Fossils have
been found at Hogberg, near the river Klara Elv, to the
south of Kvitvolfjeld.

Sandstone is met with on the surface of the sparagmitic
land in the part to the east of Trysel, whence are obtained
the famous white stones bearing that name.

On the sparagmitic formations in the western part of
the plateau of the Oplande rests the second layer of the
taconie formation, composed of argilaceous micaceous
schist and limestones, with rarely occurring débris of nas-
cent animal organisms. From the most distinctly charac-
teristic portion of this layer composed of black argilaceous
schist containing petrifractions of dictyonémes—a species
of bryozoes ; and from species of the genus of trilobytes
called olenus being found in the limestone, this layer has
received the designation dictyonema schists and olenus
limestone, It corresponds to the period of the Potsdam in
the United States. It covers an area of 4,500 square
kilometres. The argilaceous schist is readily disenti-
grated, and produces excellent pasture land on the moun-
tain summits, and in many valleys a rich arable land.
The same may almost be said of the limestone, the fertility
of which, from the decomposition of animal remains, is
considerable.

Tn some places, as on the west shore of the Christiania
fiord, at the Skien fiord, to the south of Kongsberg, and
both banks of the south part of the Miosen lake, the
layer of argilaceous schist lies immediately on the funda-
mental rock,

GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. il

Above this layer, in some mountainous region, is found
the third, known as high mountain quartz, with transition
schists, and beds of. dolomite and gneissic schists. The
high mountain quartz is sterile and poor. as. ;

These layers are in many places traversed by great
subsequent eruptions of gabbro [basalt ?], of. which are
formed a multitude of mountain summits and plateaux.
The rock thus produced is composed mainly of granite,
syenite, and greenstone, and metaliferous minerals are
found: collected in many places on the confines of this
rock. On the Dovrefjeld are found more recent eruptions
of trap.

The schistose and limestone region, along the limits of
the wall of exterior granite, manifests transformation in a
way perfectly evident. Their broken or inclined beds
seem. metamorphosed, each according to its primitive
nature, in a manner analogous to what may be seen in
the comparatively much more accessible and more explored
silurian region of the Christiania fiord. The calcareous
stones have crystallised into marble, the argillaceous
schists and the sandstones have become schists of mica-
ceous gneiss, Garnet is often found developed in the
schists ; and at the Kjeringfjeld, to the south of the Sor-
folden fiord; the micaceous schist encloses beryl.

On the layers of the taconic period, which have been
déscribed, there rest in Southern Norway silurian forma-
tions disposed in many layers, and finally layers of sand.
stone and conglomerate, corresponding to the Devonian
formations.

In some places the second layer of the taconic formation
—the dicytonema schists and olenus limestone—supports
thick layers of gray, impure limestone, alternating at
times with dark, argilaceous schist. The limestone encloses
a quantity of fossil trilobites, especially species of the
genus Asaphe, Orthoceras vaginatum, belonging to the
cephalopods, and graphtolites, a species of polypes. From
these fossils it has received the name of ancient graphto-
lite schist and Orthoceras vaginatum limestone. Above

n2 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

this is a second layer designated the trinucleus and chas-
moss limestone, and a third called the layer of gray lime-
stone. These are all comprised in the lower silurian
formations, and above these are three superior silurian.
formations belonging to a later period. ;

Rarely are all these layers found superimposed in a
complete series. Ordinarily there are found some parts of
the series exposed in steep stratifications, which, being
traced, are seen to belong to great corrugations which
have: been produced by a powerful compression of , the
whole. system of layers, by means of a stupendous force
accompanying the appearance of the great later irruptive
masses. Subsequently, the projecting portions of the cor-
rugations having been worn away, their remains appear as
dislocated stratifications.

Above the upper silurian layers, with their abundant
fossils, are great beds of red argilaceous schists, red and
gray coloured. sandstones, and conglomerate, supposed to
beleng to the Devonian formation or old red sandstone ;
but no trace of fossils has yet been found in them. Men-
tion must also be made of a field of sandstone of uncertain
age, but apparently still older.

Subsequently to the period of the first appearance of
swarming animal organisms in the middle of the silurian
period, and repeated perhaps long after the Devonian
epoch, we see that anew great eruptive masses of different
kinds have been thrown up from below, sometimes in lines
straight as if drawn by a cord, sometimes in small isolated
spots, sometimes over great areas, and sometimes as a
stream flowing over the earlier formed layers.

Some of the granite of this region is, as is the case in
the Grefsenaes, near Christiania, very easily wrought in.
long comparatively narrow pieces ; and being susceptible
of a very fine polish, it is exploited on a great scale for. all
kinds: of, building purposes: stairs, kerbstones, sockets,
pillars, tombstones, &c. i

In the time of these eruptions the ground was also
broken up by long: fissures which, opening from: below}.

GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 113

were filled with granite, porphyry, and greenstone. In
these fissures all kinds of fragments are met with, and
many of these dykes extend without alteration beyond the
layers of schist, limestone, and sandstone, which they tra-
verse, on the one hand, into the great eruptive masses of
granite, syenite, and porphyry, and on the other band, far
beyond the limits of the -silurian region into the beds of
the fundamental rock. These dykes inter-cross one another
regularly ; the greenstone dykes are thus seen to be notably
the latest formations. ~

In Southern Norway the series of formations cannot be.
traced beyond the commencement of the Devonian period.
Covering these immediately are those of the glacial period.
All the intermediate formations found elsewhere in Europe,
such as those of the coal measures, and the secondary and
tertiary formations, are entirely awanting.

In the north there is found in the island of Ando, the.
most northern of the islands of Vesteraolen, a sandstone
formation with intercallated beds of coal, and of combus-;
tible schists of little importance. They come to the surface..
The fundamental rock seems to take there the form of a
cup, which is filled with beds of sandstone, and is now-
covered with an extensive marsh. Elsewhere there are
sandstones aud conglomerate of uncertain age, but sup-
posed to be Devonian. In the Beskadesfjeld are found,
beds of graphite supposed to belong to the carboniferous
period. In the peninsula of Varjag, all the heights are
covered with a reddish brown conglomerate and brown
sandstone, supposed to belong to the Permian period; and
it may be remarked in passing, that all the larger rivers
which traverse the plateau of Finmark are auriforous, Go'd
is found in small leaves or scales in the beds of the rivers,
and in the large gravel of the erratic deposits through
which they flow. The formation of these deposits is
attributable to what is known as glacial action, at a later
period of the earth’s history, which will be brought under
consideration in connection with other phenomena which
are ‘attributable to this, Pes

I

CHAPTER XIII.
MOUNTAINS AND FJELDS.

Ir may have been observed that in the details given in
regard to the geographical distribution of different kinds
of forest trees in Norway, mention is made chiefly of
latitude, but the fact: that such distribution is affected by’
altitude as well as by latitude must not be ignored. There
is a co-relation between the two in so far as temperature is
concerned ; and it is mainly in relation to temperature
that the relation of altitude in different localities at which
different trees grow becomes of importance in discussious
connected with this fact. But the difference observable
is not related to this exclusively. The soil is generally.
different in the plain, and even at the base of a moun-
tain, from what it is on the sides, and on the summit of
that mountain; and there is also a difference in the
atmospheric pressure at a high altitude, and at the level
of the sea, and at ail intermediate altitudes, which differ-
ence of pressure may not be without effect on the geo-
graphical distribution of trees.

To the establishment and acceptance of this as a fact,
‘it is not necessary that we should know how it is that
it produces the effect; it is a fact determined by observa-
ae ; and it may be seen on the ocean as well as on dry

and.

‘The ocean, as well as the land,’ writes Balfour, ‘ possesses
its vegetable forms, which are of a peculiar kind, and- exist
under different conditions of pressure, of surrounding
medium, and of light. Some sea-weeds, Harvey remarks,
are cosmopolitan or pelagic, as species of ulva and enterce
morpha, which are equally abundant in high northern and

MOUNTAINS AND FJELDS. ng

southern latitudes, as they are under the equator and in
temperate regions, Codium. tomentosum, ceramium rub-
rum, C, diaphanum, species of ectocarpus, and several. con-
fere, have a region nearly as wide. Plocamium coccineum
and gelidium corneum are common to the Atlantic and,
Pacific oceans; rhodymenia palmata, the common. dulse
of Britain, is found at the Falkland Islands and Tasmania.
Fucus tuberculatus extends from Ireland to the Cape of
Good Hope; fucus vesiculosus occurs on the north-west
coasts of America, and on the shores of Europe; while
desmarestia ligulata is found in the north Atlantic and
Pacific oceans, as well as at the Cape of Good Hope and
Cape Horn. ta! sn

‘In general, however, sea-weeds are more or less limited
in their distribution, so that different marine floras exist in
various parts of the ocean, The northern ocean, from the
pole to the 40th degree, the sea of the Antilles, the eastern
coasts of South America, those of New Holland, the Indian
Archipelago; the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Chinese
and Japanese seas, all present so many large marine
regions, each-of which possess a peculiar vegetation. The
degree,of exposure to light, and the greater or less motion
‘of the waves, are very important in the distribution of
alge. The intervention of great depths of the ocean has
a similar influence on sea-plants as high mountains have
on land-plants. Laminarie are confined to the colder
regions of the sea; sargassa only vegetate where the
mean temperature is considerable. Under the influence
of the Gulf Stream, sargassum is found along the east coast
of America, as far as lat. 44°; and the cold south polar
curreat influences the marine vegetation of the coasts of
Chili and Peru, where we meet with species of lessonia,
macrocystis, d’urvillza, and iridea, which are character-
istic of the antarctic flora. Melanospermez, according to
Harvey, increase as we approach the tropics, where the
maximum of the species, though, perhaps, not of indivi-
duals, is found; rhodospermez chiefly abound in the
temperate zone ; while chlorospermee form the majority

116 FORESTRY OF NORWAY...

of the vegetation of the polar seas, and are particularly
abundant-in the colder temperate zone. The green colour
is characteristic of those alge which grow either in fresh
water or in the shallower parts of the sea; the olive-
coloured alga are most abundant between the tide-marks;
while the red-coloured species occur chiefly in the deeper.
and darker parts of the sea.
‘ As regards perpendicular direction, Forbes remarks, that
one great marine zone lies between high and low water-
marks, and varies in species according to the kind of coast,
but exhibits similar phenomena throughout the northern
hemisphere. A second zone begins at low water-mark, and
extends to a depth of from 7 to 15 fathoms. This is the
region of the larger laminarias and other fuci. Marine
vegetation, including the lower forms, extends to about 50.
fathoms in the British seas, to 70, 80, or 100, in the Medi-
terranean and the Algean sea, Ordinary alge, however,
seem scarcely to exist below 50 fathoms, Diatomaceze
exist in the deep abysses of the ocean and nullipora.and
corallines increase as other alge diminish, until they
characterise a zone of depth where they form the whole
obvious vegetation. : : : OF F :
‘The vertical range of terrestrial vegetation has also
been divided into similar zones in altitude. The relation
is called hypsometrical. As we ascend from the plain to
the top of a mountain we pass through . different belts
of plants, to such zones of elevation is of vegetation,
the extent and variety of which differ in different
countries. When Tournefort ascended Mount Ararat
he was struck with the circumstance, that, as. he left
the low ground at the base of the mountain, he passed
through a series of belts, which reminded him of the
countries he had passed through in travelling from the
south to the north of Europe. At the base the flora was
that of the west of Asia; as he ascended higher he
reached the flora of the countries on the north of the
Mediterranean, then that of northern Europe, and when
he reached the summit he found the Lapland plants,

MOUNTAINS AND FJELDS, ii?

Humbolt found that on all mountains there occurs such a
representation of different floras, and that particular alpine
forms are found almost over the whole world at a particular
elevation. In describing the South American alpine flora
he says:—“In the burning plains, scarce raised above the
level of the Southern Ocean, we find musacez, cycadacem,
and. palma, in the greatest luxuriance; after them, shaded
by the lofty sides of the valleys in the Andes, arborescent
ferns; next in succession, bedewed by cool misty clouds,
cinchonas appear. When lofty trees cease, we come to
aralias, thibaudias, and myrtle-leaved andromedas ; these,
are succeeded by bejarias abounding in resin, and forming
a purple belt around the mountains. In the stony region
of the paramos, the more lofty plants and showy flowering
herbs disappear, and are succeded by large meadows cov-
ered with grasses on which the llama feeds. We now reach
the bare trachytic rocks, on which the lowest tribes of
plants flourish. Parmelias, lecideas, and leprarias, with
their many coloured thalli and fructification, form the
flora of this inhospitable zone. Patches of recently fallen
snow now begin to cover the last efforts of vegetable life,
and then the line of eternal snow begins.’

Madden and Strachy give the following account of the
Himalayan vegetation, proceeding from the plains of India
through Kemaon to Tibet :—‘ Ascending, we find forms
of temperate climates gradually introduced above 3000
feet, as seen in species of pinus, rosa, rubus, quercus,
berberis, primula, &c. At 5000 feet the arboreous vege-
tation of the plains is altogether superseded by such trees
as oaks, rhododendron, andromeda, cypress, and pine. The
first ridge crossed ascends to a height of 8700 feet ina
distance of not more than 10 or 12 miles from the termi-
nation of the plains. The European character of the
vegetation is here thoroughly established, and although
specific identities are comparatively rare, the representa-
tive forms are most abundant. From 7000 to 11,000 feet,
the region of the alpine forest, the trees most commoyg

118 “FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

are oak, horse-chestnut, elm, maple, pine, yew; hazel
growing to a large tree, and many others. At about
11,500 feet the forest ends, picea, webbiana, and betula
bhojpatira, being usually the last trees. Shrubs continué
in abundance for about 1000 feet more; and about 12,000
feet the vegetation becomes almost entirely herbaceous.
On this southern face of the mountains the snow-lne is
probably at about an elevation of 15,500 feet. The high
est dicotyledonous plant noticed was at about 17,500 feet,
probably a species of echinospermum. A urtica also is
common at these heights. The snow-line here recedes to
18,500 or 19,000 feet. In Tibet itself the vegetation is
- scanty in the extreme, consisting chiefly of caragana,
species. of artemisia, astragalus, potentilla, a few gramines,
&c. The cultivation of barley extends to 14,000 feet.
‘Turnips-and radishes on rare occasions are cultivated at
nearly 16,000 feet. Vegetation ends at about 17,500 feet,
scanty pasturage being found in favoured localities at this
elevation ; and the highest flowering plants are corydalis,
cruciferse, nepeta, sedum, and a few others.’

‘If we examine the vegetation of the mountains of Europe
we shall find, says Balfour, ‘a series of similar changes. In
the regions of the plains and lower hills of the Alps, extend-
ing to 1,700 feet, the vine grows; to this succeeds the zone
of chestnuts, which extends to 2500 feet; the zone of the
beech, and of the higher dicotyledonous trees, reaches
from 2,500 to 4000 feet ; we then come to the sub-alpine
region, the zone of conifers, extending to about 6000 feet,
in which are found the Scotch fir, the spruce, the larch,
and the Siberian pine, along with certain sub-alpine forms
of herbaceous plants ; next comes the alpine region, or the
zone of shrubs, extending to 7000 feet, characterised by
rhododendron hirsutum and R. ferrugineum, which repre-
sent the bejarias of the Andes; finally, we reach the sub-
nival region, extending to 8,500 feet, and comprehending
the part between the limits of shrubs and the snow-line,
where we meet with numerous species of ranunculus,

MOUNTAINS AND FJELDs. 11s

draba, saxifraga, gentiana, primula, and poa, besides other
genera belonging to ranunculacéae, eruciferae, caryophyl-
laveae, leguminosae, compositae, gramineae, lichenes, and
musci. On some of the Alps we find flowering plants
reaching to the height of between 10,000 and 11,000 feet
or more. Schlagintweit found, on the central and southern
“Alps, at from 10,650 to 11,700 feet, androsace glacialis,
A. helvetica, cerastium latifolium, cherleria seloides,
chrysanthemum alpinum, gentiana bavarica, ranunculus
glacialis, saxifraga bryoides, S. oppositifolia, and silene
acaulis. The extreme limit of mosses in the Alps isin
general little above that of phanzrogamous plants. The
_last lichens are to be found on the highest summits of the
Alps, attached to projecting rocks, without any limitation
of height.
‘On the Pyreuees the following zones are observed :—
1. The zone of vine and maize cultivation, and of the
‘chestnut woods, 2. A zone extending from the limit of
the vine to about 4,200 feet, at which limit the cultivation
“ of rye ceases; here we meet with buxus sempervirens,
saxifraga geum, arinus alpinus, ernica montana, &. 3.
From the limit of the cultivation of esculent vegetables
at 4,200 feet, to the zone of the spruce fir. 4. From the
limit of the spruce fir zone at 6000 to 7,200 feet, charac-
terised by the presence of the Scotch fir. 5. From 7000
~ to 8,400 feet, is an alpine zone, characterised by the dwarf
juniper, draba aizoides, saxifraga bryoides, soldanella
alpina, juncus trifidus, &c. 6. A zone above 8,400 feet,
exhibits a few alpine species, as ranunculus glacialis,
draba nivalis, stellaria cerastoides, androsace alpina, and
- saxifraga groenlandica,

‘There are thus in lofty mountain districts evident belts
of vegetation. At the lower part is the region of lowland
cultivation, where the ordinary cultivated plants of the
country thrive. In cold regions this is very limited, while
in warm regions it is extended. To this region succeeds
that of trees. In high northern latitudes, as at 70°, it
reaches to between 700 and 800 feet; on Aitna to 6200;

420 ‘FORESTRY: OF, NORWAY.

on the Andes to 10,800, and it is marked by escallonia
myrtilloides, aralia avicennifolia, and drymis winteri ; on
the mountains .of Mexico to 12,000 feet, and is marked by
pinus montezumz; on the south side of the Himalaya to
11,500, and on the north side to 14,000 feet. On the Pyre-
nees its limits are marked at about 7000 feet by pinus unci-
nata, on the Alps at about 6000 feet by pinus picea, on the
Caucasian mountains at 6,700 feet, and in Lapland at about
1,500 feet by the birch, Next in order comes the Shrubby
region, the limits of which in Europe are marked by rho-
dodendrons, which cease on. the Alps at 7,400 feet, and on
the Pyrenees at 8,332 feet ; on the Andes it is limited by
bejaris and shrubby composite, at a height of 13,420
feet; on the south side of the Himalaya, by species of
juniper, willow, and ribes, at an elevation of 11,500 feet.
In Lapland, species of willow and vaccinium, with the
dwarf birch, reach 3,300 feet. The next region is that of
grasses, which on the Andes and the Himalaya extends
to between 14,000 and 15,000. Finally, we come to the
region of Cryptogamic plants, which extend to the snow-
line, lichens being the last plants met with,

‘In contrasting the zones of altitude with those of latitude,
Meyen gives the following regions of alpine vegetation :—
The region of palms and bananas (equatorial) extending
from the sea level to 1,900 feet ; the region of tree-ferns
and of figs (tropical) 1,900 to 3,800 feet; the region of
myrtles and laurels (sub-tropical) 3,800 to 5,700 feet ; region
of evergreen dicotyledonous trees (warm temperate) 5,700
to 7,600 feet; region of deciduous dicotyledonous trees
(cold temperate) 7,600 to 9,500 feet; region of abietineae
(sub-arctic) 9,500 to 11,400 feet ; region ot rhododendrons
(arctic) 11,400 to 13,300 feet; region of alpine plants
(polar) 13,300 to 15,200.

On the Table Mountain range there grows luxuriantly
the silver tree (Leucadendron argenteum), the sparkling
in the sunshine of the silver-like leaves of which charms
the eye of visitors, It grows at a certain altitude, not in

MOUNTAINS AND FJELDS. wah

® Continuous zone, but-in extensive patches, some higher,
some lower, all within a definite range, beneath which,
only a little way, it is found impracticable to cultivate it.

‘Such facts as have been cited seem, together, to warrant
the supposition that atmospheric and oceanic pressure may
possibly have some influence in permitting and preventing
the growth of certain plants within and beyond a certain
range. It may be that we can attribute to this but little
influ :nce in comparison with the modification of light, and
still more the modification of heat, produced by altitude
above the level of the ocean, and depth below its surface.
But be the operation of the influence what it may ;’and
be. it the-case that it is only in the case of such modifica-
tion of pressure, light, and heat, as are strongly marked,
and are incidental to difference in altitude, that it arrests
attention, such differences as are indicated in most locali-
ties by. differences in barometric phenomena have comé to
be valued in investigations of the natural history of these
plants.

The following is a summary of observations of the kind
made in Norway, for which I am indebted to Dr Broch’s
report :— :

In estimating the barometric pressure of the atmosphere
the calculation is made of what it would be in the locality
at the level of the sea. The mean annual pressure attains
its maximum towards the south-west of the Scadinavian
peninsula. It has its minimum in the region from the
Lofoden Islands to the North Cape, descending from 758
mm. at Mandal to 753 at the place last mentioned. At
Christiania the mean pressure of the air is 757.7 mm.
‘Twice in the course of the last forty years it has been 786
mm., and it has been seen as low as 721 mm.

In winter the distribution of the pressure accords as a
general rule with what it is on the average for the year.
Greatest towards the south-east, the pressure decreases
towards the south-west, the isobaric line passing through
localities with equal barometric indications of atmospheric

ae) FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

pressure, enclosing at Iceland a zone wherein it is the
lowest of all; but the Scandinavian peninsula occasions a
little disturbance of the regularity of its distribution.

In summer the distribution of pressure is almost the
contrary of what it is in winter. Along the axis of the
peninsula, from the central mountain mass of the Dovre-
fjeld to the North Cape, there exists a region in which it is
‘comparatively low, with an isobaric line of 655 mm., and’
parallel to this are other isobaric lines following the direc-
tion of the coast, so that, in the central portion of the
peninsula; there is in. summer a minimum of pressure
-begirt by a greater pressure along the coasts,

- The isobaric lines for the. wiuter-and for the year are

-. remarkably accordant with those of the anomalous ther-
mometric distribution, great excess of heat corresponding
with.a feeble pressure of air, and vice versa. In summer
‘the .same thing is observable, but it is less striking.

In the annual variations there are some small inequali-
ties which do not disappear under protracted observation.
But saving these exceptions, over the whole of Norway the
greatest pressure is in the month of May. The lowest

“pressure is seen on the west coast during the months of
winter, At the Skagerack it is seen in spring and summer,
in the eastern part of the country in July. This variation
is least in the east, where it is 3:5 or 4 mm.; it increases
‘towards the west, till at Hammerfest it has attained to
11 mm. This variation is mainly a consequence of the
lower pressure in winter.

The diurnal variation during winter is pretty uniform
in the eastern and western parts, with a maximum of 4 mm.,
the maximum occurring at Christiania before mid-day, at
‘Bergen at noon; the minimum occurs between 2 and 4
A.M.

During summer, on the contrary, the diurnal variation
1g proportionally very great in the eastern part of the
country, where it amounts to 1:22 mm., while on the west
coast it is very little, amounting to 0°27 mm. only. The
maximum occurs at Christiania at 7 AM., at Bergen at

MOUNTAINS AND FJELDS. 123

noon, in both places the minimum is at 6 pM. At Chris-
tiania the lowest amplitude is 0°5 mm.; the maximum
occurs a little before mid-day, the minimum at 6 p.m. The
secondary noturnal maximum and minimum there are
very marked.

The Highlands of Norway are more frequently high-
lying plateaux designated fjelds,* than in outline what’ is
generally suggested to an English reader by the designa-
tion mountains ; but mountains they are. ,

‘In the northern district of Scandinavia,’ says Forbes,
“where the théory of a ridge is in some respects less
maccurate than in the south, its insufficiency was clearly
discovered by the difficulty or impossibility of defining the
Tine of demarcation between Norway and Sweden by that
of a continuous watershed. Such a ridge, if it exist at all,
must be held in some cases to run up to the very coast of
Norway, or even beyond it, into the islands; in otlier
places it dies out altogether, and is resumed with a change
of direction.

‘The present boundary between Norway. and Sweden
was defined by a joint commission of engineers in the
middle of the last century, and is represented on nearly

‘every map as the exact direction ofa slightly zig-zag chain
of mountains called the Kjglen, or Kelen. This is assumed
in most maps to be prolonged along the border of the two
countries considerably to the south-east of Trondhjem
(Droutheim), and it was even long maintained that a
mountain mass existed there of prodigious elevation, from
which a great many rivers, particularly the Glommen, the
Gota, and the Dal, take their rise. The height of this
fabulous mountain was even assumed to be 12,000 feet.
It is, however, only a slight and lower extension ‘of the
Dovre fjeld beyond the deep valley of the Glommen, and
its greatest height does not amount to 5000 feet.’

~ * By Dr Broch there ia given an orographic table, in which is supplied tabulated
information in regard to the different mountain chains and mountain plateaux of Nor-
way, the principal and the secondary regions, and divisions of these, and the names and
altitudes of between five and six hundred of the more elevated peaks.

124 FokRESTRY OF NORWAY.

. Ina paragraph preceding this he says:—‘ Thus the
general surface of the country is in reality composed of
elevated and barren table-lands. The proportion of arable
Jand (land which might be tilled) to the entire extent of:
Norway, is not, according to the competent authority of
Professor Munch, more than 1 to 10; and if we exclude a
few ‘local enlargements of the plains near the capital, it
would not even exceed 1 to 100.. By a rude estimate in’
Professor Keilan’s map, I find that the portion of the sur-
face of Norway south of the Trondhjem fiord, which exceeds
3000 feet above the level of the sea, amounts to very
nearly 40 per cent. of the whole ; and when it is recollected:
that only one summit exceeds 8000 feet, and that the
spaces exceeding 6000 are almost inappreciable on the
map, it will be more clearly understood how completely.
the mountains have the character of table-lands, whose
average height probably rather falls short of than exceeds
4000 feet.’*

Detailed information in regard to all the mountain
systems is supplied by Dr Broch. Passing over his state-
ments in regard to those in western and northern Norway
we find him stating in regard to the mountain chains,
plateaux, and masses, in southern Norway, after having
described them with similar details, that of these, the Dron-
theim plateau, the Dovre field, &c., constitute a remark-
able whole in regard to physical and orographic character.
Cut up almost to infinity, belonging at once to the east, to
the west, and to the north of the country, they occupy
almost half of the portion of Norway situated between
the country to the south of Drontheim and of the valley”
of the Levanger to Jemtland in Sweden. These mountains
thus cover very nearly the fourth part of the whole super-
ficies.of Norway. They reunite in a continuous mountain
mass, the whole of which by the south of this limit rises
more than 600 metres, 2000 feet, above the level of the sea,

* These estimates refer to Rhenish or German feet, which are about 3 por cent. larger
than English feet. - E

MOUNTAINS AND FJELDS. 125

All of this, which is situated between 600 metres and 1000
metres, say 3,500 feet, is still to a great extent, especially on
the east side and in the lower half, covered with coniferous
trees, Pinus abies and P. sylvestris. In the higher portion
of this zone the conifers give place to the birch, Betula
glutinosa, which, especially in the slopes facing the south,
and in places sheltered against the north winds, attain, an.
elevation considerably above 1000 metres, say 3,500 feet,
above the sea level. The juniper, Juniperus communis,
rises higher on dry land; and at a still greater elevation
are found in -moist places smaller species of willows,
Salices, and the dwarf birch, Betula nana, They.attain in
sheltered places an altitude of 1500 metres, 5000 feet,
Higher still vegetation is represented by different grasses,
and carices, and sedges, beyond that by mosses, and finally
by lichens which grow upon the bare rock.

It may further be remarked that the level surface
of the mountain plateau, where they are not wooded—
and, as has been stated, the forests prevail over a portion of
tlie zone situated between 600 and 1000 metres in altitude
—consist in part of naked rock covered only with mosses
and. heath, in part of marshes to which marsh berries in:
some places give it a colouring, in part of bogs, which yield
to the foot, and in part of herbaceous turf. and verdant
flower-decked slopes. On. other parts we meet with
ancient moraines composed now ofa soft and deceptive clay
covered with schistose fragments, in which the incautious
traveller may sink to the knees. In another part: are pro-
jections ot rock, bare, or covered with great heaps of stones,
or, it may be, even to the end of summer, with large and
small sheets of snow. Neévés and glaciers appear in
many places, and cover sometimes a continuous bed -of
some hundred square kilometres, say of. hundreds of
square miles, Thus is it in the region comprised between
the Sogne fiord and the Nord fiord, in the prefecture of
Nordre-Bergenhus, and in that of the Folgefonn to the
south-east of the Hardanger fiord, in the prefecture: of
Soendore-Bergenhus. .The highest: part, the most wild,

126 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

the most bare, the most snowy, the most wintery, the most
desert, the most gloomy of this plateau, stretches along
the western declivities of the precipice. “
: From these mountain chains and elevated plateaux in
Southern Norway come down systems of mountains of
lesser attitude, dominated. in certain places by elevated.
summits, but which, as a general rule, form wooded ridges
of little elevation. And last of all come the low lying
lands, but which only in certain places stretch themselves
out in great plains: ;

In all the Vesteraolen, Lofoden, and Sonjen groups: of.
islands, lying considerably to the north of Drontheim, the
mountains—lofty, .sharp-edged, and tooth-shaped, or ser-
rated, often conical or pyramidal—have a precipitous
descent towards the sea, leaving but rarely a narrow littoral
strip of turfy soil, On some points only do the mountains
recede far enough to give rise to small valleys, generally
filled with marshes, .The interior of the large islands i8
in like manner filled with bogs, which are often, as is the
-Dvergbergmyr, in the Andoe,-of considerable extent, and
eovered with cloudberry (Aubus chamaemorus). The sum-
mits of the mountains rise often to from 800 to 1,300
metres, or 3,700 to 4,350 feet. On the island of Andoe,
the most northern of the Vesteraolen, the mountains are
lower and the summits more rounded.

On many parts of the Lofoden Islands and Vesteraolen
Islands on the coast looking towards the Arctic Ocean are
found remarkable bird mountains called Myker, inhabited
by marcareax (Mormon articus)—common penguins (Alea
Torda), Large guillemots (Uria troile), and three-toed
mews (Larus tridactyllus). The Nyker are composed of
steep pyramidal mountains, which shoot up directly from
the sea, without any cincture of rocks, so it is only after a
long calm, and when the wiad blows off the land, that it
is possible to land upon them. They are often covered
with a layer of sandy vegetable earth of the thickness of
from 50 to 60 centimetres, 20 to 24 inches, the surface of

MOUNTAINS AND FJELDS. 127

which presents the appearance of clods disposed in irre-
gular steps, covered with a vigcrous herbage. Each of
these clods is mined by passages where the birds make
their nests. At some little distance from the sea-shore
these passages are continued, sometimes straight, some-
times sinuously, but in a direction very nearly horizontal,
to a depth of from 1 to. 2 metres, 40 to 80 inches; they
are about 30 centimetres, 12 inches, in diameter,

The Nyker, the inhabitants of which are to be reckoned
by millions, are at the moment when the birds quit their
nests so surrounded by countless swarms, that at a distance
they appear as if enveloped in clouds or in a crape-veil.
There is heard afar off a humming sound, as from a swarm
of bees, and when the midst of the birds is reached, the
noise is altered to a roar, like that of a violent storm or
tempest. The Nyker appear there riddled by white spots
in perpetual motion, or as if seen through a dense fall of
snow, occasioned by the movements of the birds coming
and going. The most remarkable of these Vyker are found
in some heights which shoot up directly from the sea in
the ‘neighbourhood of the isle of Rost, near Malnes, on the
‘west coast of the island of Lango, and on the west coast of
the island of Ando. The Nyker are inhabited by birds of
passage, which quit them in the months of August and
September, to go further into the region of the Arctic
Ocean, whence they return in March and April. To take
them in the subterranean mines where they are found in
their nests, there are employed dogs like the turnspit,
trained for the purpose. Part of the birds are eaten salted,
and money is made by the sale of the eggs. These birds
there take the place of vegetation.

The mountain land stretching between the Porsanger
fiord on the north-west, and the Varangar fiord on the
éast ; and on the south-west the littoral mountain chain
of West Finmark is the Finmark plateau, which, in con-
‘tradistinction to the lands already described, may be
described as a flat country. Its mean elevation is about

>

128 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

310 metres, 1040 feet, above the level of the sea. It
extends into Finnish Lapland on the south-east, as far as
the great Finnish lake Enare, which measures 2530 square
kilometres, and is 150 metres, or 500 feet, above the level
of the sea.

This vast plateau is from Vardo to its south-east
boundary, between Kautokeino and Finland, 350 kilo-
metres long; and the Norwegian portion covers an area of
nearly 40,000 square kilometres. It is traversed from
south to north by two considerable rivers. The western
of these is the Attenelyv.

The plateau of Finmark is traversed from south to
north by two considerable rivers. The Attenelv on the
west is 160,530 kilometres long. It flows into the Atten-
fjord. The Tanaelv—that on the east—is formed by the
junction of the Karasjoka and the Anarjoka. Calculated
with the length of the latter, the Tanaelv is 275 kilo-
metres long, and falls into the sea on the Tana fiord.
The Attenelv and the Tana also take their rise on the
Russian and Finnish frontier, and flowing in valleys of
gentle declivity, almost join one another by the valley of
the Jetsjoka, one of the affluents of the Anarjoka. The
church of Kautokeino, situated only 40 kilometres from
the source of the Anarjoka, is 290 metres, 880 feet, above
the level of the sea. .

In the flat valleys which form the mountain plateau of '
Finmark we met with some stunted birch trees; in the
valleys somewhat deeper we meet also with pines; but
otherwise the plateau is bare, or covered only with rein-
deer moss (Cladoma rangi ferina), and strewed with
rounded stones and large fragments of rock. These last
are often through stretches, dozens of kilometres in length,
the only objects on which the eye can rest. They are
also well known, and serve as reperis for travellers who
cross the plateau. This is done exclusively by means of
reindeer. The plateau is, sv to speak, sown with small
lakes, The heights which rise above the level of the
plateau. reach 600, and exceptionally, 1000 metres of
altitude, 3,333 feet,

MOUNTAINS AND FJELDS. 129

Of the 316,580 square kilometres which constitute the
total area of Norway, 37,000 kilometres have an altitude
of more than 1000 metres, 3,333 feet; and about 91,000
from 800 to 1000 metres, 1,600 to 3,200 feet, above the
sea. The mean altitude of the whole territory may be
estimated at 490 metres, 1,650 feet, above the level of the
sea,

From this it may be gathered that while their are
mountains—isolated mountains, and even chains of
mountains—rising above the level of high-lying lands,
these plateaux impart to the superficial contour of Nor-
way its characteristic outline; and in accordance with
Sor we hear more—a great deal more—of fjelds than of

ills.

There are not awanting mountain crests of pointed
rocks, and rounded nut-like mountains, and mountains
and islands which may be described as grotesque in their
shape. One island, Torghatten, is perforated by a natural
tunnel, which from the sea appears like a bright loop-hole
in a dome of rock; an island near the Arctic Circle has
been named the Hestman or Horseman, from its resem-
blance to a mounted knight; and other forms are as well
defined, though more difficult of description by reference
to well-known objects. But the general character of the
mountain region is an extensive level plateau of high
altitude cut up by ravines, the sides of which are almost
perpendicular.

Of the fjeld, as it is called, I find it difficult to convey a
definite and accurate conception. As a preparation I
may speak of such at the outset as upland moors; but
this would not prove exactly descriptive of the Dovrefjeld,
the Hardangerfjeld, and others of which the traveller
hears so soon as he enters the country, and which he is
likely to visit if he has come to see its wonders and enjoy
its scenery; and yet I feel disposed to retain it _as
accordant with the idea I wish to convey as a preparation
for a more precise description.

, K

18... FORESTRY. OF NORWAY. ,

The designation fjeld is, according to. Forbes, given to
extensive plateauz, or table-lands of great, breadth,-and
generally more or less _ connected | together, though
occasionally separated by. deep but always narrow valleys...
As seen from the lowlands they appear mountain ridges—
mountain ranges they are, but they can. scarcely be called.
with ‘propriety mountain ridges. ‘They are often, writes _
Forbes in his volume entitled Norway and its., Glaciers,
‘interminable wildernesses, undulating, or varied only by
craggy heights devoid of majesty, rarely attaining the, ,
snow line, but spotted over with. ungainly patches of, »
white.’

Of the Dovrefjeld graphic descriptions have been given, _
by Forbes and also by Bayard Taylor, as well as_ by
many other tourists, —

‘They are often so level that upon what may almost be.
called their summits a coach-and-four, says he, ‘might be
driven along or across them for many miles did;roads _
exist, across which the eye wanders for immense
distances, overlooking entirely the valleys, which, are
concealed by their narrowness, and interrupted only by
undulations of ground, or by,small mountains which rise
here and there with comparatively little picturesque effort
above the general level.’ |

And in another connection he mentions that the. forms .
of the Norwegian mountains, contrasted with. the Alps, .
have been aptly enough compared by Wittich—the
former to the embrasure of a parapet, the latter to a ridge
and furrow roof, the depressions in the former represent-
ing the profound gorges which intersect the rocky |
plateaux; in the latter the usual alternations of moun-
tain and valley.

Of the ravines which cut up the plateaux a picture has
been given in connection with what has been told in
regard to the Marie Stegen and the Rinkan Foss
[ante p. 24]. The perpendicular precipice so frequently
characteristic of the ravine is not unfrequently met with _

MOUNTAINS: AND: FJELDS. " 13k

in other scenes,: In illustration I mayeite the’-following®
account of the Horningdalsrokken, a peak crowning one-
of ithe finest ‘precipices in Norway. Ma ‘John P»
Campbell, the writer of a little book. entitled -:How to’
See Norway, states: that he was the-first Englishman who’
reached the top,:and he gives the following acéount: of:
his ascent:—‘I ‘arrived ‘at Haugen on the’ evening
of the 27th July 1866. . Lars Elias, the station-master,
gave me some porridge: and a bed, and next-day’ we two:
started about 5.30 A.M.'in acart.. Our -drivé was: some’:
three and a-half miles up the valley to-a saeter,:where we:
left the cart-horse and cart, and the rest of the way was °-
on foot. Two miles or so brought us near to the head of
the' glen, eventually ‘getting clear ‘of the’ forest, and to a
green knoll which overlooked a tarn. This water--was--
probably 1000 feet above the level of the sea; and almost
vertical from its margin rose the peak we had in view—a
-straight wall of rock between 3000 and 4000 feet high.
The summit, seen from below, appeared to terminate in a
ruined tower; but it was not so (as I afterwards found),
being in reality a ridge, of which we only saw the end.
‘The ascent from where we stood looked uninviting
enough ; but Lars had been up several times before, and
never hesitated about the route. We followed a corry
sheltered by this wall of crag, up to a col, or slack, which
it took us one and a-half hours to reach. It was very stiff
climbing; and from the steepness and slippery nature of
the ground, the descent of this portion on our return was
quite as slow. For a long way up there was verdure,
including ferns and bilberries, which decked the slopes
leading between fjeldhammer—as crags forming terraces
across a mountain side are called—but a3 we approached
the col this disappeared. We were now on the upper part
of a field of névé, from which flowed a glacier down the
reverse side of the fell, Gently rising now in a direction
parallel to the glen, we traversed the névé, the ridge being
above us on our left. The snow was just right for walking
on, and there was no difficulty in winding round to its

132, - FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

junction with the rock at the farther and more accessible
end of the ridge. The edge was very narrow, so much so
that on one part I adopted the crawling system, like a
bear. It sloped up gently to the top, and then continued
nearly horizontal for some way. The whole ridge was
bare of snow, forming a crest on the mountain like the
comb of a cock. We were obliged to follow the edge of it
owing to the smoothness of the craggy slope on the left.
As to the other side, one might have measured it with a
plummet. According to a legend, a very long time ago a
trold, or giant—who resided on the top---used to sit there
and fish the tarn below by throwing down a line. A cairn
marked the highest point. The view was wonderfully
wild. Following the way we had come, we reached
Haugen at 3.30 P.M.’

CHAPTER XIV,

TEMPERATURE AND ALTITUDES OF SNOW-FIELDS
AND GLACIERS.

Ar altitudes varying in different localities according to
their latitudes, we reach a zone of perpetual—or, rather,
as it should be called, perennial—snow. ‘The snow-fields
beyond are known as névés, while the fringe of ice begirding
their lower edge are known as glaciers. In Norway we
find both in the higher-lying plateaux, the remains, it may
be, of a far more extensive Arctic snow-field than that
which now exists in polar regions, one which, with snow
and ice, during what in geology is called the glacial period,
covered extensively the whole of Europe.

While it is the case that difference in soil and difference
in atmospheric pressure at different altitudes in a moun-
tainous country are not to be altogether ignored in con-
sidering causes of the geographical distribution of plants,
it is chiefly as an indication of temperature at which dif-
ferent kinds of trees are found at different altitudes that
it is deemed of importance by the student of forest science,
In this connection the line of perpetual snow is supposed to
supply him with a valuable indication of a temperature
which never falls much below the freezing point, from
which he learn much by ascertaining how near to this may
different species of trees can grow and flourish.

In Norway in the zones of the oak, and of the birch, and
of the cultivated fields, the temperature is moderate. In the
midland districts the cold is more severe; but there pine
and fir forests of boundless extent rise on high stony
ranges, intersected with plains and valleys of meadow and
cultivated land, and dells where the willow and the alder
vegetate in great luxuriance. ‘And here, writes one who

134 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

spent ten years in Scandinavia, and has chosen the pseudo-
nym of An Old Bushman, author of Bush Wanderings in
Australia, ‘ are vast morasses, many of which can never be
traversed by the human foot, rivers and inland lakes of
every size, fringed with the reed, the bulrush, and the
candock, and thousands of acres of low meadow land,
covered; with-thick, coarse grass. It is here that the
British naturalist hegins to meet with rare and new speci-
mens, and it is here that the eye of the traveller first
»igazes:on: thei:fine scenery of the north: and more
‘cbeautiful scenery than Scandinavia displays during: the
: summer months it: would be hard to find. I have wan-
-ndered.-over many:lands, but.scarcely ever saw a European
‘wlandseape to vie with this.’
_ 1 Inthe very far north the appearance of the whole country
‘-becomes gradually more: wild and rugged, and high moun-
tains and ‘barren fells, covered with perennial snows, rise
i. above tthe limits of vegetation; and tower over the forests
which skirt their base.
«he, greati névés,.or snow-fields of Norway, differ from
« those-of ithe’ Tyrol and of Switzerland, in that they do: not
-dean upon collossal mountain masses, and naked summits
which, denominate them. They occupy, on the contrary,
\itheelevated parts of the great.rocky plateaux, on the slopes
‘eof which, ithey-spread out their toothed branches; and in
«this:respect ‘ithey.resemble still the névés: which cover the
Interior of; Greenland.

‘Of the snow-line,.or ‘that: above which the snow lies
‘-constantly;: Forbes writes :—‘ The occurrence of perpetual

snow at a:certain height above the sea, in even the warmest
«megions ofthe globe, has in:all:ages excited the curiosity
of: geographers and naturalists. Regarded at: first as a
“very: simple! indication of the depression. of temperature
'-as we, ascend ‘in’ the atmosphere, it. has been carefully
ustudied.and:applied (often erroneously) to the determina-
«tionof ‘climate, Closer. examination -has shown that the
« presence of perennial snow, in other words, a _predominance

2 Sg Me ee ee ted Wa
ALTITUDES Of SNOW-FIELDS AND GLACIERS, 135

of all the ‘causes tending to its soeut al etion: over those
which ‘tend to its waste or fusion, is indeed a very com-
plicated fact, and cannot be taken as the simple expression
of any one of the elements of the climate. The snow
line is far from having invariably a mean temperature of
32°, as was at one time supposed. Under the equator, it
“is about 35°; in the Alps and Pyrenees about 25°; and
in latitude 68° in No orway it is (according t to Van Buch),
‘only 21°. Yet there are regions, both in the extremity of
‘Siberia and in Arctic’ America, ‘of which the mean tem-
‘perature is below zero of Fahrenheit | (as, eg., Melville
Island), And it is quite established, on the concurrent
authority of those best: acquainted with those regions, that
nowhere tn the northern hemisphere. does the snow-line attain
the low level of the sea, The explanation is to be sought
principally in the intensity of the summer heat during
the period of perpetual day, which effectually thaws the
soil, though only to a trifling depth, and raises upon its
surface @ certain amount of brief vegetation, suitable for
the support of Arctic animals.

“Another cause affecting exceedingly the. level of the
snow-line is the amount of snow which falls. The interior
-of continents being far drier than the coasts, the snow to
be melted is a comparatively slight covering. The snow-
line on the north side of the Himalaya is “at least 3000
feet higher than towards the burning plains of, Hindostan.
This is chiefly due to the excessive dryness of the climate
of Thibet. In like manner five times less rain falls on the
coast of the Baltic than at Bergen., All this confirms the
excellent generalisation of Von Bach that 7 is the tempera-
ture of the summer months which determines the plain of per-
pétwal snow. It is thus easy to understand why the méan
temperature of the snow-line diminishes towards the pole,
because for a given mean temperature of the whole year,
the summer is far hotter in proportion, Also, places at
which the temperature of the summer is low are those
which have a ‘moderated or coast climate; but there also
the fall of rain’ and snow is most abundant, whilst in exces-

136 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

sive or continental climates the precipitations arecompara-
tively small. Thus, to take one illustration, in Iceland
snow lies all the year at a height of only 3,100 feet, whilst
in Norway, on the same parallel, the snow-line would
approach 4000 feet.

‘The same general principle holds good in the Southern
Hemisphere ; its temperature on the whole being greatly
inferior to that of the north (though the extremes are less).
It acts towards the rest of the globe in some measure as
the refrigeratory of a great distilling apparatus (as some
one has correctly observed), and its higher latitudes are
the seat of almost continual storms and fog, of which the
climate of Cape Horn is a familiar example. Summer can
there hardly be said to exist, and the snow-line is propor-
tionally low. According to Sir James Ross, the first
authority of his time on this subject, the snow-line does
reach the level of the sea in the Antartic regions at a
latitude between 67° and 71°, under which forests still
grow in Norway, and even corn in some sheltered places.’

Forbes proceeds to give numerous estimates of the alti-
tude of the snow-line in different parts of Norway, which
may be of great value in the study of meteorology, but
what we require is simply the substance of the’ whole;
and a generalisation of the observations made or followed
by him seems to show :—

First. In latitude 60° to 62°, the snow-line at a short
distance from the coast may be considered to be 4,300
English feet, or thereabout; secondly, in the same latitude,
60° to 62°, towards the centre of the country, it rises to
5,800 ; thirdly, in latitude 67°, in the interior, it is only
3,500 feet ; it is not much lower on insulated summits in
latitude 70°, but on the coast it is as low as 2,900 feet.

It is observed that the summer isothermal line shows a
marked tendency to run parallel to the peninsula, and to
this this trifling effect of latitude is in part attributable.

Von Buch has remarked that in Norway and Lapland
the planes of vegetation of the pine and birch ran nearly

ALTITUDES OF SNOW-FIELDS AND GLACIERS. 137

parallel to the plane of perpetual snow,—the intervals, as

observed by him at Alten, being given by the following

table of limiting heights of vegetation above the sea :—
VEGETATION IN LATITUDE 70°,

The Pine (Pinus sylvestris) ceases at 237 metres = 780 Eng. feet.
The Birch (Betula alba) 80
The Bilberry (Vaccinium

” 482, =1 ”

ys 620 ,, = 2030 %

Myrtillus),
The Mountain Willow
(Salix mirsinites), “3 656 ,, = 2150 36
The Dwarf Birch (Betula
nana), ei 836 ,, = 2740 iy
The Snow-line, » 1060 ,, = 3480 a

From the growth of the birch he has estimated the level
of the snow-line in the islands of Qualoe and Mageroe,
though neither of these rise to the requisite limit. It is
probable, however, that the direct sea-blast to which those
bare rocks are exposed, must act chemically upon vegeta-
tion in a way which would render the deduction of the
snow-line considerably doubtful—which doubt is confirmed
by the more recent determination of the snow-line on the
island of Seiland, opposite to Qualoe.

Von Buch estimates the interval between the limit of
the birch and perpetual snow at about 1,870 English feet
throughout Norway; Wahlenberg estimates it at 1,960
English feet ; which probably represents best the results
in higher latitudes.

And as a guide to fill up the gaps of direct observation,
he adds, some determination of tbe limit level of the
common birch in Norway, taken chiefly from the Gea
Norvegica, from Naumann’s Travels, and from the obser-
vations of Wahlenberg and of Smith, the Norwegian
botanist. These he has given in tabular form, represent-
ing the estimated altitude of the snow-line in twelve
different localities, ranging from 594° to 71° 2’, adding to
the mean limit of the birch 900 feet, as the limit of the
birch and perpetual snow, and in six of the cases the alti-
tude of the observed snow-line, which shows a general
accordance, and, in some cases, an approximate conformity,
of the one with the other.

CHAPTER’ XV.
MECHANICAL ACTION OF GLACIERS.

BEsIpES the interest which attaches to névés and: glaciers
of Norway as indications of temperature at high altitudes,
they possess an interest for students of physical geography
as remains of yet more extensive névés and: glaciers,
which in bye-gone ages exerted a powerful influence in
cutting’ up and carving, or rather graving, the contour of
the country, creating the wild wonders of its features
which make it so attractive to tourists who are in ‘quest
of the wild, the magnificent, and the grand in nature.

As ‘the’ forests of Norway are the remains of forests
‘which ‘once ‘covered more or less entirely ‘the’ whole of
Europe, so are these névés and glaciers the remains ‘of a
‘sheet’ of ‘snow and ice which once covered extensively
Northern Europe, if not the whole continent and lands
‘beyond it; and the existing fiords may be looked upon as
having been to a great extent, if not’ entirely, thé creation
of that far-reaching sheet, as under the superincumbent
‘pressure of the'mass, it sought, here and there, to find a
way to the lower level of the ocean bed, ploughing, and
undermining, and sweeping along with it all débris as it
advanced ‘on its resistless course.

The interest which may be awakened in looking upon
the wild outlines and contour of these fiords in proceeding
from the coast to the glaciers on the elevated’ plateaux
of the interior, may be intensified, if they be contemplated
under a dominating influence of such considerations,

With this view I would bring forward what has been
told of one of these fiords by the experienced traveller
whom we took as our guide from Christiania to the

MECHANICAL ‘ACTION ‘OF GLACIERS. 139

-* Marie Stegen, who, we found bad disappeared while we
. were musingon the exciting scene, and on the romantic
‘incident to which is attributed the name which it bears,
' but of whom I said we might: possibly overtake him at

the Sogne fiord.

The Christiania fiord, of which mention has been made
in' the .opening .chapter, which treats of the general
features of the country, is a continuation of the Skager-
‘rack, and resembles closely the rocky shore ‘scenery
‘through which steamers make their way from Christian-
sand to the capital. Avery different appearance is
‘presented by the Sogne fiord, and this is more
characteristic of the fiords of Norway.

The Sogne fiord may be visited most conveniently’ by
steamer from Bergen, for which’ port stéamers’ sail
_ frequently, if not every day, from Christiania.

'M. Du Chaillu, writing of his visit to this fiord, tells :-—

‘Of all the fiords of Norway none can rival in size,
grandeur, bold outlines, weird’ and sombre. landscape, the
magnificent Sogne. No tourist should fail’ to'sail upon
its waters. The ‘entrance, which*is formed’ on ‘the west
side, by the Sulen Islands and others, is’ at ‘about 61°,
and the main course winds its way inland almost ‘directly
east. . . . ‘The average breadth: of the’ ‘Sogne ‘varies
from three or four to about two miles, and its length, in a
direct line, is over three degrees of longitude, or a’ distance

of about eighty-four miles with its windings.

‘There are several lateral branches, extending! north
and south, besides deep bays or coves. On the northern
shore are the Vadeim and Fjaerland, the latter fourteen

. miles long, the Sogndal ten miles, and the Lyster twenty-
four miles;‘on the southern shore are the Brekke, the
Arne, and the Aurland, the ‘latter being’ sixteen ‘miles
long, with its branch, the Naeroe, about’ six miles. No
description can give to the reader an adequate idea of
the magnificence of ‘the scenery of these narrow ‘lateral
‘fiords: of the Sogne. . . . The: route’ to’ the Sogne
‘fiord is among so many’islatids' that it’ often seems as if

140 FORESTRY _OF NORWAY.

you were sailing on a river. The scenery at times is
extremely fine. The greater part of the country 1s
uninhabited; now and then the sea is so completely
land-locked that it appears as if the journey was ended,
when suddenly comes into view an opening, and another
broad expanse of water stretches in the distance; the
channel is sometimes so narrow and tortuous that the
vessel almost touches the rocks.

‘In about six hours from Bergen the entrance to the-
Sogne is reached, where it is six or seven miles wide.
Skirting the southern shore, you pass a grand mass of rocks,
The Sognefest—the Castle of the Sogne—is very bold in
its outlines, and apparently forming two sides of a square.
The scenery spread before the traveller is superb, a pano-
rama ever changing in its views of snow-topped mountains:
in the north are the Justedal glaciers, towering mountains
in the. east, in the south the snow-fields of Fresvik. The
vegetation improves as you penetrate inland; the bases of
the mountains and hills are clad with woods. Rennes
The valleys by the fiords are often quite fertile and well-
cultivated, contrasting singularly with the barren moun-
tains which surround them. From the water they appear
to form an oval basin with a ravine at the end, towards
which the mountain sides slope gently, evidently hollowed
by the.agency of ice and water. Sometimes two ravines
enter the valley, like radiating branches. At the base of
the mountains the terraces rise one above another to the
number of three or four.

‘ At about sixty miles from its entrance the Sogne seems
suddenly to end at the base ofa high mountain; it sharply
turns northward, and the island of Kvamsoe is passed, and
a few miles further the main fiord runs once more east-
ward, while to the north is the entrance of Fjaerland, the
first large branch of the Sogne.

‘The steamer stops at the thrifty hamlet of Balholmen.
opposite to which is Vangsnaes, the scene of Frithiof’s
Saga. Sombre is the Fjaerland, with its mountains,
glaciers, and its wild scenery. Streams, fed by the melted

MECHANICAL ACTION OF GLACIERS. 141

snow and the ice, run down on every side. In the moun-
tains above are the Langedal and the Bjorne glaciers,
rising to 4,500 and 4,780 feet above the sea; a little
farther north, on the west side, are the Svaere and the
Vetle fiords, between mountains, the highest of which, the
Oatneskri, rises 5000 feet—nearly a mile, which is 1,760
yards, or 5,280 feet. At the end of the Vetle fiord there
is a road of a few miles, leading to the great ice-field of
Justedalfonn. As you sail farther inland, still higher
mountains loom up on both sides of the fiord—the Mels-
nipa, 5,620 feet; the Gunvords and Stendale glaciers,
5,200 feet. The water is of a peculiar opaque light green,
showing the effect of the numerous streams from the ice.
Three valleys diverge from the lowlands at the end of
this fiord. The first, the Suphelle, is a long narrow
ravine, enclosed between rugged mountains; its glacier,
about four miles from the sea, is fed from the side of
another with which it has no direct communication, the
masses of ice falling from a height of between two or
three thousand feet. . . . In the year 1868 a large
number of avalanches occurred in different parts of the
country, occasioning loss of life and property. On the
Fjaerland, on the west side, one descended of such a size
that it formed a bridge over the fiord—at that point 5000
feet [nearly a mile] wide—upon which the people crossed.
If I had not been told this by several trustworthy persons,
I would not have believed it, so incredible does it appear.

‘Leaving the Fjaerland, and again ascending the Sogne
fiord, the scenery becomes more cheerful—woods, fields,
meadows, and hamlets, are far more numerous: at the base
of the mountains the woods crowning even some of the
lower hills. Here is the hamlet of Fejos, while the Fres-
vik snow-field, rising 5000 feet, towers over all. :
Two streams from the Grindsdal and Henjumdal—two
valleys a few miles apart, both formed by the Gunford
glacier, 5000 feet above the sea—empty into the sea here,
and give water-power to numerous grist-mills, ;

‘A few miles farther up on the northern shore is the

142 : FORESTRY OF NORWAY. -’

Sogndal fiord, with its weird: scenery, its fruitful: tracts,
and transverse valleys, over-which farms are scattered... .

‘From the Sogndal the scenery of the Sogne is superb.
On the northern shore rises Storehog, 3,830 feet ; opposite:
Blejen, 5,400 feet ; and the fiord between them: is about: /
two. miles wide..and 2,900 feet:deep. Many of the! moun-
tains rising from the fiord are torn ; in some places birch,
fir,,or pines, are seen to a great height’; and a solitary: farm,
a saw or grist-mill meets the eyes. Fifteen miles above-the .
Sogndal fiord, on the northern shore are the small hamlets
of Lower and Upper Amble, and Kaupanger church. |
These are situated on the shores of a lovely bay of oval
shape. The lower-hills slope gently towards the sea, and
are clad with woods ‘to: their very tops;.while groves of
different trees, the elm, the linden, the birch, and other
trees, grow. here and there. Two beautiful streams. fall —
into the. sea, and .on their banks are little grist-mills. |
Meadows, yellow fields, and patches of potatoes were seat-.:
tered round the farms. On a sunny day the: place: is ..
exquisitely beautiful. How many of these picturesque.
spots one finds upon the fiords ; they burst upon -you when
least expected, A little farther, entering the Lyster fiord,
one beholds a beautiful and extensive panorama of moun-
tains.and water. Snow.and glaciers meet the'eyes-in the
higher. regions ; while a farm, a hamlet, or a church, shows
that men-live by’ the sea -in the: midst of this grand and
stupendous nature. .

‘Some ten or twelve miles inland, on a promontory on
the-eastern shore, is Urnaes, from which an excellent view:
of the fiord presents itself, with its ranges of hills'and
spurs coming down to the sea. On the western. shore
opposite Urnaes, is Solvorn, picturesquely situated in the.
hollow. of the mountains.

‘We are here amongst mountains and glaciers,..and
waterfalls are not. awanting. At the mouth of the Lyster
we enter Aardal, a continuation of the Sogne, and-its most
eastern extremity. At its entrance. rises the Bodlenakken
2,990 feet, and on the opposite side the Boermolnasse,
3,860 feet, with still higher mountains beyond them,

MECHANICAL; ACTION: OF GLACIERS, 143

‘In, the wild valley, which is a continuation of the fiord,

at.a short distance inland, he goes on to say, ‘is a pictur-
esque lake, whose waters are of a deep green colour..
The Stigebjerg mountain rises perpendicularly: from the
lake, with a wild waterfall plunging in white foam from a
towering height. . . . Towards the middle of the lake
the scenery is superb, and looks wild and weird. In one
part the gigantic mass of rocks falls:abruptly intu the
water, and a little further on a grand fall--Hellegaard-
Foss—tumbles in white foam from the heights above, and
looks. whiter on account of the sombre nature of the rocks.
Perched high up are several saeters, one of which is called
Kvenli. Soon after came in view from behind another
white mass of foaming water the. Stige-Foss, which had.
been hidden from our view..

‘Looking backward towards the-fiord a wild spectacle
greets the eye, and one. cannot realise or believe it is the
same country just passed ; towering mountains and wild
ravines are seen in every direction, and the yellow leaves
of the birch and grass look beautiful. Near the upper
end of its northern shore is the Nondal valley, with farms
pitched 2000 feet above the water. At the head of the
lake the valley of the Aardal takes the name of Utland,
which leads to the Vetti-Foss—the waterfall for which we
are now bound. It runs almost parallel with the Lyster fiord,
separated from it by masses of mountains, about twenty-
five miles wide, culminating in the Horunger 7,620 feet
high, and surrounded. by. glaciers.. On the eastern side
the.mountains rise to a height of 6,500 feet, and its lakes
and torrents afford the artist and the. lover of mountain
scenery unfailing and ever-changing sources of delight.

‘There isa neat farm called Noen, where one can find
comfortable quarters. At a short distance from the house
a spur of the mountain covered with fir seems almost to
bar the way; but beyond this is a beautiful dale with a
few farms, looking likejan emerald gem. This lovely
spot. is about an English. mile in length.; From thence

14 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

the valley narrows itself into almost a ravine, strewn with
fragments rended from the mountain sides, and lined
with occasional terraces. Passing the farm of Svalheim,
you reach the Hjaelledal-Foss, a superb cascade falling in
a sheet of foam from a height of seven or eight hundred
feet, and then the Hagadal-Foss, nearly as high. The
river below is spanned by a frail, narrow bridge, composed
of two or three fir logs; and on the other side there are a
few fields of barley, and a patch of potatoes. ‘
Afterwards the Utland becomes very narrow, and almost
obstructed by huge rocks—masses of rock which fall every
year from the mountain, against which the torrent below
dashes wildly, filling the valley with its constant roar;
suddenly the valley expands again, and on the hill you
see the Vetti farm, where the tourist may tarry for the
night.

‘From the house a zig-zag path leads to the heights above
into the deep chasm, from whose edge, by lying flat on
the ground, one may venture to look into the depths below,
and follow the fall. Another path leads into the valley,
and to the foot of Vetti-Foss, or Moerk-Foss. This beau-
tiful waterfall is formed by a stream from two small lakes
at the base of the Koldedal plateau 6,510 feet high. From
a dark perpendicular wall, forming almost a semi-circle,
the stream plunges down from a height of more than a
thousand feet. Towards the end of summer, so small is
the volume of water that it falls gently in a transparent
column of spray, looking the more white by contrast with
the dark wall which forms the background. I wondered
that this cloud of spray could make such a volume of
water, rushing so violently among the rocks that it was
with difficulty that I crossed to the opposite bank, from
which a better view of the fall is obtained. The soil and
rocks are covered with a dark fungus, and everything con-
tributed to make the spray appear whiter, I could see no
land beyond, and only a few birch trees on the ridge. As
the fall is vertical, only a small portion of the water strikes
upon the rocky walls. As I looked the column of spray

MECHANICAL ACTION OF GLACIERS. 145

began to move to and froas the rising breeze swept round
the walls, until it swung like the pendulum of a clock over
a space of 250 feet; then came a strong gust of wind, and
the whole mass spread into a transparent sheet of spray
from top to bottom ; as it became still it contracted once
more into a white column, For along time I stood watch-
ing the fascinating spectacle, and could hardly tear myself
away. It resembles in this changing column of spray the
Staubbach fall in the valley of Lauterbrunnen in Switzer-
land, and still more, according to descriptions and photo-
graphs, the upper portion of the Yosemite fall in the
famous valley of California. This latter plunges vertically
about a thousand feet over a granite precipice, varying
much in appearance according to the volume of water in
different seasons, and its column of spray, in the same
manner, is the delicate plaything of the winds. But the
Vetti-Foss has more water. These bridal-veil water-falls
are counted by hundreds in Norway.

‘Tf the tourist ascend the grand fiord of the Aurland,
on the southern shore of the Sogne, some ten miles west
from Laerdalsoeren, and cross the mountain ridge separat-
ing this basin from that of the Hardanger fiord, the lovely
basin further to the south already spoken of, he will pass
by the way the Tvinde-Foss, which pours over a sparsely
wooded ledge, three or four hundred feet in height, and its
cascades, if not grand, are among the loveliest in Norway.’

But we have not yet done with the Sogne fiord. ‘One
of the striking characteristics of the Sogne fiord is the
varying depth of the water. South of Yttre Sulen, the
island lying in the mouth of the fiord, the depth of the sea
is stated by Du Chaillu to be about 600 feet; farther
inland, between Big Store Hilleoe and Stevsundoe, it is
1,584 feet ; a little farther up it diminishes to 1,200 and
900 feet, and immediately south of Poe church it attains
the enormous.depth of 3,980 feet [more than three-fourths
of an English mile]; north of Arnfjord church 3,222 feet ;
at the entrance of the Aurland, 3,766 feet; and just south

L

146 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

of Kaupanger, 2,964 feet: [still, more than half a mile, 2,640
feet, in depth]. The branch fiords are much narrower, but
their depth of water is also very great. The Sogndal at
its entrance, which is narrow, is 132 feet, but about mid-
way it is 1,194 feet, thence becoming near its end 216 feet
deep. The Lyster is at its entrance 2,170 feet [half
a mile] deep; half-way, 1,176 feet; towards its end 276
feet. Even in the Aardal and the Laerdal, which form
the upper end of the Sogne, the sea in the former is 840
feet, and in the latter 780 feet deep.’

In these varying depths may be found indications of an
action of glaciers which well deserves study.

Existing glaciers may be considered remains of a sheet of
ice or snow, which, in the glacial era, and long after,
covered extensively Northern Europe. Glaciers are now,
and probably were then, in a state of continuous flux,
flowing from a higher to a lower level, as does water, as
does tar, as does honey, and as do many substances more
tenacious than are they, whenever they are allowed so
to gravitate.

It may be asked how can a solid body like ice flow?
And the answer is forthcoming. All matter, even the
most solid and compact, is composed of minute particles
of the substance kept together by mutual attraction, but
not in actual contact. When the attracting force can
only act within a very limited distance, though powerfully
within that distance, the body is friable, easily broken, it
may be easily shattered. Thus is it with glass, with
sealing wax, with cast-iron; but there are also substances
which, when warm, can be spread out in sheets, or drawn
out in threads—the attracting force still keeping the
particles together ia one mass, though individually to
some extent dissevered; and even in their solid state
they may be found to be within certain limits elastic,
allowing of distension without destruction of the attracting
power, which brings them into position again when the
pressure by which the body may have been bent has been

MECHANICAL ACTION OF GLACIERS. 147

withdrawn ; and ice is elastic, as elastic, apparently, as is
glass. But there is also another phase of the same pheno-
menon which presents itself. It is alleged, and it has
been satisfactorily demonstrated, that in the course of
passage through a narrow strait or over a steep precipice,
a sheet of ice becomes broken up into an infinite number
of small pieces, admitting thus of an easy passage of the
mass ; and that these become frozen together again on
their escape from the pressure. And thus, like the
tenacious substances which have been named, honey and
tar, the ice flows on in an apparently solid, as do these in
a semifluid form or consistence.

But in doing so the friction on the bottom and sides of
the channel is great, In many places—I had almost said
in all countries in these northern latitudes, including our
own—there may be seen hard rocks on mountain sides,
and in some cases on mountain tops, marked with striae,
fine parallel hairstrokes, which are attributed to the
passage of ice in a state of flux. Besides these there are
found everywhere what are called boulders—large masses
of rock, which have been torn from sides of mountains by
passing glaciers, borne along by the moving stream, em-
bodied in it it may he, and deposited where the ice melt-
ing could no longer sustain it. On the surface of the
glacier, moreover, there are often seen longitudinal streaks
of débris which have fallen upon it from higher situated
mountain sides as the glacier passed. Moraines, linear
deposits of stones and rubbish across valleys, are the pro-
duce of such, carried down to the lower edge of the glacier,
and dropt as this melted away through the heat. In
some valleys there are a succession of such moraines,
separated by greater or less distances. These indicate
what had at successive periods been the extremity of a
glacier previously existing there, which extremity in exist-
ing glaciers may be shown to have alternately receded and
advanced, and again, it may be, receded and again ad-
vanced, only again to recede, after more or less protracted
periods of stationary limit, according as the local tempera-

148 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

ture may have risen, or fallen, or remained stationary for
a time.

While on its progress from the higher-lying resting-
place to the lower-lying ocean bed, the base of the bed, as
well as its sides, is often made to feel the effects of its
passage. As the waterfall washes out at its base a basin
into which it falls, so does the glacier, not at its extreme
edge, but wherever it descends from a higher to a lower
altitude, excavate a hollow. And thus may these pro-
found depths in the fiords have been produced.

In a volume entitled The Forest Lands and Forest Man-
.agement of Finland * I have had occasion to remark :—

With ice as with water, notwithstanding its hardness
and its tenacity, it seeks the lowest level to which it can
attain ; and the glacier is ever in a state of flux from the
land towards the lower level of the sea, on its advance
grinding away, smoothing, and striating the surface of the
rocks, past which, or over which, it flows. The pressure,
and consequent abraiding power of a glacier must be tre-
mendous: the vis a tergo being such that-it treats as mere
pebbles in its path ridges, and even hills of considerable
elevation, and it seems to pass as easily over them as a deep
river flows over the stones that may be in its channel.

Thus may be accounted for the numerous lakes existing
in Finland, giving to it its character and its poetic designa-
tion The Land of a Thousand Lakes, and the existence
of the lakes so abounding in Norway and in Sweden.

In the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, vol.
xviii, p. 185, in a paper by Professor (now Sir Andrew)
Ramsay, entitled ‘ The Physical Geology and Geography of

* Finland: Its Forests and Forest Management. In this volume is supplied in-
formation in regard to the Jakes and rivers of Finland, known as the Land of a Thou-
sand Lakes, and as the Last-born Daughter of the Sea. In regard to its Physical
Geography, including notices of the contour of the country, its geological formations,
and indication of glacial action, its flora, fauna, and climate; and in regard to its
Forest. Economy, embracing a discussion of the adyantages and disadvantages of
Svedjande, the Sartage of France, and the Koomaree of India Details of the develop-
ment of Modern Forest Economy in Finland, with notices of its School of Forestry, of
its forests and forest trees, of the disposal of its forest products, of its legislation, litera
ture,‘and forestry. .

MECHANICAL ACTION OF GLACTERS. 149

Great Britain, may be found the first suggestion, and illus-
tration, and proof of this fact. There ‘ he has shown that
the innumerable rock-enclosed basins of the Northern
Hemisphere do not lie in gaping fissures, produced by
underground disturbance, nor in areas of special subsid-
ence, nor in synclinal folds of the strata, but that they are
true hollows of erosion.’

I cite the statement of Professor Geikie, in his Scenery
of Scotland, viewed in connection with its Physical Geography ; and
to this work I am indebted for the following illustrations :—

* Lakes, at least those which mottle the surface of Scot-
land, may be grouped into three classes: 1st, those which
lie in original hollows of the superficial drifts ; 2d, those
which have been formed by a bar of drift across a valley
or depression ; 3d, those which lie in a basin-shaped cavity
of solid rock.’

Lakes of each of these kinds may be seen in Scandin-
avia and Finland. It is in regard to the formation of the
last description of lakes that there is any difficulty-—the
formation of a cup-like hollow in solid rocks, sometimes
along the line of a valley, sometimes on a plateau, some-
times on a hill top, or on a watershed.

There are in many rivers deep holes. At the Cape of
Good Hope one hears constantly of See-Koo vleys, or hip-
popotamus holes, and occasionally, even in the rocky bed
of a river, we find cylindrical cavities called pot-holes,, In
the bottom of such are generally found a few well-rounded
pebbles and boulders. The cavities are due to the circular
movements of these or other stones and boulders, which,
caught by an eddy, have been kept whirling there, and by
friction abrading the rock they have gradually formed,
these holes working downward into the solid rock. And
often on the sea-shore may be seen cavities lined with
sea weed and filled with sea-water, each a natural aqua-
rium. Some of these are formed, as are the pot-holes, by
boulders lying in their bottom which have been kept
whirling round in the eddies of a vexed tideway instead
of a rapid brook or river.

150 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

But it is not thus that these rock lakes have been formed.
Of the theory of Professor Ramsay the following illustra-
tion is supplied by Professor Geikic:—‘ A river of ice is
not bound by the same restraints as those which determine
the action of a river of water. When a glacier is, as it
were, choked by the narrowing of its valley, the ice
actually rises. In such places there is necessarily an
enormous amount of pressure, the ice is broken into
yawning crevices, and the solid rocks suffer a propor-
tionate abrasion. The increased thickness of the mass of
ice at these points must augment the vertical pressure,
and give rise to a greater scooping of the bed of the
glacier. If this state of things lasts, it is plain that a
hollow or basin will be here ground out of the rock, and
that once formed, there will always be a tendency to pre-
serve it during the general lowering of the bottom
of the valley. On the retreat of the ice, owing to
climatal changes, this hollow, unless previously choked up
with sand and stones, will be filled with water, and form a
lake. It will be a true rock basin, with ice-worn surfaces
around its lip, and over its sides and bottom.

‘ And such is the appearance presented by many a lake
and tarn in the Highlands of Scotland. One of the largest
and noblest of the whole—Loch Awe—may be taken as
an illustrative example.’

Nor isit only the formation of single Jakes which can be thus
accounted for; a continuous succession of lakes in the direc-
tion of the movement of the glacier may be thus produced.

As popular illustrations of the mode of operation I may
cite the following:— Young boys, and girls too,amuse them-
selves making what they call ‘ducks and drakes’ by
throwing flat stones across a placid sheet of water, as
nearly parallel to the surface of it as they can, causing
them to skim along and above the water, touching and
rising again and again, rebounding in ever-diminishing
bounds till they sink, The same phenomenon may be
seen on a larger scale in the recochetting of a cannon ball

MECHANICAL ACTION OF GLACIERS. 151

fired at a target out at sea; and the same thing may be
seen in the effects of the wind striking the surface of the
water in a river, in a lake, or in the sea, for rarely, if ever,
does it blow horizontally or parallel to the surface of the
water,

In another volume, entitled Forests and Moisture,* I
have had occasion to refer to another and different pheno-
menon occasioned in the same way. It is of frequent
occurrence at the Cape of Good Hope, and in local phrase
is spoken of as the Devil’s Table-Cloth on Table Mountain.
At these times the summit of the mountain is covered
with a dense mass of beautiful white fleecy cloud in con-
stant flow over the precipice, and pouring down the almost
vertical front of the mountain facing Table Bay as if
threatening to bury in an avalanche the capital of the
colony at its base; but long ere it reaches the town, not-
withstanding the continuous flow, it stops; to that line it
flows on continuously, but beyond it not; there the cloud,
in unceasing flow, terminates, the spectator sees not why.

The beautiful and interesting phenomenon is occasioned
by a south-east wind, which up to the Table Mountain
range, was undimmed. The wind was strong, but the sky
blue and serene, though the wind was loaded with vapour
—vapour dissolved and invisible.

But, passing over Table Mountain, the elevation of this
is such that the decrease of temperature, consequent on
expansion under diminished pressure, bringing this below
the dew-point, the moisture is deposited by the air in the
form of a cloud, which, as it reaches, at a lower level to lee-
ward, a locality with a higher temperature, the moisture is

* Forests and Moisture ; or, Effects of Forests on Humidity of Climate. In which
are given details of phenomena of vegetation on which the meteorological effects of
forests affecting the humidity of climate depend, —of the effects of forests on the humi-
dity of the atmosphere, on the humidity of the ground, on marshes, on the moisture of
a wide expanse of country, on the local rainfall, and on rivers,—and of the correspon-
dence between the distribution of the rainfall and of forests,—the measure of corres-
pondence between the rainfall and that of forests,—the distribution of the rainfall
dependent. on geographical position determined by the contour of a country,—the dis-
tribution of forests affected by the distribution of the rainfall,—and the local effects of
forests on the distribution of the rainfall within the forest district.—Edinburgh : Oliver
and Boyd. London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. 1877.

152 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

again absorbed, and the air loaded with it is again trans-
parent, as is all the air around, and as it was itself before
passing over Table Mountain in its course.

From Claremont, or Wynberg, or the Flats, or any place
to the back of Table Mountain, it may be seen that the
cloud is not blown to the mountain, but that there it first
appears ; and if some few cloudlets, formed over the crests
of hills belonging to the range situated to windward, be
seen sailing towards it, it is evident that they are ‘A
sailing, a sailing with the wind, and not attracted only,
for none are seen floating toward the Table-Cloth in other
direction than that in which the wind blows.

Of this phenomenon Sir John Herschel writes, ‘ That
the mere self-expansion of the ascending air is sufficient to
cause precipitation of vapour, when abundant, is rendered
matter of ocular demonstration in that very striking
phenomenon so common at the Cape of Good Hope, where
the south or south-easterly wind which sweeps over the
Southern Ocean, impinging on the long range of rocks
which terminate in the Table Mountain, is thrown up by
them, makes a clean sweep over the flat table-land which
forms the summit of that mountain (about 3,850 feet high),
and thence plunges down with the violence of a cataract,
clinging close to the mural precipices that form a kind of
background to Capetown, which it fills with dust and
uproar. A perfectly cloudless sky meanwhile prevails over
the town, the sea, and the level country, but the mountain
is covered with a dense white cloud, reaching to no great
height above its summit, and quite level, which, though
evidently swept along by the wind, and hurried furiously
over the edge of the precipice, dissolves and completely
disappears on a definite level, suggesting the idea (whence
it derives its name) of a “Table-Cloth.” Occasionally,
when the wind is very violent, a ripple is formed on the
erial current, which, by a sort of rebound in the hollow of
the amphitheatre in which Capetown stands, is again
thrown up, just over the edge of the sea, vertically over
the jetty—where we have stood for hours watching a

MECHANICAL ACTION OF GLACIERS. 153

small white cloud in the zenith, a few acres in extent, in
violent internal agitation (from the hurricanes of wind
blowing through it), yet immovable as if fixed by some
spell, the material ever changing, the form and aspect
unvarying. The “Table-Cloth” is formed also at the com-
mencement of a “north-wester,” but its fringes then
descend on the opposite side of the mountain, which is no
less precipitous,’

Other illustrations, perhaps more pertinent, are supplied
by sand ripples on the shore, and by the contour of sand
drifts, while an illustration of reboundings out at sea, like
to the erial rebound described in the passage cited from
the writings of Sir John Herschel, are supplied by banks
in some of the Argyleshire lochs, vertical to the line of
descent of the Highland glen down which in pre-Adamic
times poured the glacier which hollowed out the basin.
The confining sides of a valley once formed would elongate
the furrow or depression thus created in a direct rather
than a cross direction; but the alternate elevations and
depressions, and thus the succession of pits in the thalweg
of the glacier, may also have been thus produced.

In view of this it becomes more easy to see how
pools of such depths of water as 780 feet, 840 feet, 1,584
feet, 2,964 feet, 3,766 feet, and 3,980 feet, may have been
produced in the Sogne fiord and its branches, while the
depth of the sea at the mouth of the fiord is only 600 feet,
may have been produced, and successions of such hollows
in the line of the fiord and lateral branches. In alike way
may have been produced the basins of such lakes in the
interior of the country as the Miosen with a depth of
basin 1,110 feet below the level of the sea, corresponding
to the depth of the sea basin in the outer portion of the
Christiania fiord.

The force with which the water of such falls as have
been described impinge on the basin at their base must be
tremendous; but water is a liquid yielding material.
Imagine what must have been the impinging force of an

154 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

ice-fall from such heights as those of some of the moun-
tains around, 6,500 feet, and 7,620 feet—a mile and a-half
above the level of the sea—into a basin 3,980 feet below
that level, a fall of two miles and a quarter (Can it be),
and there seems nothing difficult in further imagining it
excavating such basins as have been mentioned.

Reference has been made to Loch Awe. The western
lochs of Scotland appear to abound in such pools, and in
chains of them.

In Gairloch, there is at the head of the loch, I was in-
formed when there lately, a pool very much deeper than
the basin of the loch, and the basin of the Clyde beyond;
separated from this bya low range of high land, on which
is situated Shandon, Row, and Helensburgh, is a dry valley
of much greater depth in its upper and middle stretches
than at its lower extremity. And a little beyond is Loch
Lomond, with a deep pool towards its upper extremity ;
and another of less depth in the line of its basin a little
below and within sight of Inversnaid.

In accordance with what has been said in regard to the
striae to be seen on the face of the rocks, two theories
have been advanced in regard to the production of such
striae observed elsewhere.

Both theories attribute them to the action of ice. In
one of these, advanced and expounded in a volume entitled
Frost and Fire, by Mr J. F. Campbell, they are attri-
buted to the friction of icebergs and icefloes, drifting from
the north on ocean currents. In the other, advanced,
maintained, and illustrated by Agassiz, Ramsay, Lyell,
Chambers, Jamieson, and Geikie, they are attributed to
the grating action of glaciers, or land ice, formed where
they are seen, or at a somewhat higher level, and con-
tinuously descending in a state of flux to a lower level.
Thus does it appear to have been here.

Professor Esmark in a paper On the Geological
History of the Earth, in Jameson's Journal, October 1826

MECHANICAL ACTION OF GLACIERS. 155

to April 1827 (p. 120), describing certain phenomena near
the embouchure of the Sogne fiord, says :—‘ On this rock
there seemed to me to be proofs of the powerful operation
of ice. I found that the precipices on the side of the moun-
tain next the sound were several [hundred ?] feet in height,
and perfectly perpendicular,and though they were composed
of boulders cemented together, they were perfectly even
and smooth, If these precipices had been the effect of
rents, attended with successive masses tumbling down,
then the boulders adjoining the rent must have been found
adhering, sometimes to the one and sometimes to the
other of the separated masses (those which have fallen
into the sea are no more to be seen), and in that case the
boulders left on one mass must have left a mark of them-
selves in the corresponding one. This, however, was by
no means the case, as the rock which remained was per-
fectly smooth, and had the appearance as if these boulders
had been cut across with a sharp knife. I can explain
this phenomenon in no other way than by supposing that
large masses of ice, pressing through the sound, have cut
these precipices lying parallel in the direction of the
sound.’

Forbes, citing this statement, shows that the reference
is to the action of glaciers, and not to that of floating ice.

Principal Forbes, who had gone to Norway to study the
glaciers of that country, writing of the locality below what
has just been described, says :—‘ In the course of the fore-
noon we passed the opening on the great Sogne fiord, the
most ramified in Norway, stretching landward not less
than 110 English miles, to the head of the Lyster fiord,
one of its farthest tributaries. Having heard much of the
surprising and gloomy cliffs of the Sogne fiord, I was dis-
appointed td find its entrance tame, undulating, and with-
out much interest, whilst the higher mountains were too
remote, or too much concealed by the intermediate hills,
to produce a favourable effect. The character of the rocks
and islets of the fiord was, however, worthy of notice,

156 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

though far from picturesque. They present to an exces-
sive degree the forms of roches moutonnées—the bare grass-
less surfaces, dome-like, or undulating in tedious monotony,
so characteristic of glacial action, with the usual accom-
paniments of flutings and polished channels. The materia]
of the rocks renders these impressions of external friction
still more striking, for it is chiefly a coarse conglomerate,
of which every part, the boulders as well as the cement
is cut as by the lapidary’s wheel. The wonderful extent
over which these appearances occur, and the unsparing
severity with which the natural inequalities of the most
obdurate rocks have been smoothed down, is strikingly
impressive, when we couple it with the fact that if glaciers
really were once much wider spread than at present, this
vast chasm was the natural outlet of an icy flood, drawn
from a more extensive origin than any other existing in
the north of Europe.’

There may seem to be here an account of the general
appearance presented by the fiord at its mouth differing
from that given by the more graphic pen of Du Chaillu.
I look upon the latter as probably the more valuable as an
account of its picturesque effects; that of Forbes as more
valuable as testimony of a scientific student of distin-
guished attainments, giving his special attention as he had
been doing long, to the indications of glacial action. On
this point both are agreed, and Forbes speaks only of the
mouth of the fiord, Du Chaillu takes us into its recesses,

By some of the geologists whom I have cited it is held
that in what is known as the glacial period Scotland must
have been covered with one wide-spread sheet of ice and
snow of great thickness, as at the present day is Northern
Greenland, where there may be seen an interminable glacier
extending league upon league, broken only by some black
hill top or mountain peak that rises as an island above the
sea of ice. But there this vast sheet is ever, even while
being replenished by fresh falls of snow, slowly and
persistently flowing, or rather creeping, down to the sea,

MECHANICAL ACTION OF GLACIERS. 157

covering the face of the country, filling up the valleys,
mounting over the hills, and pressing with constant resist-
less force upon all the rocks over which it advances; and
blocks of stone, either loosened from the mountain by
frost, or torn off by the moving glacier, are jammed in in
the rear, and pressed along the rocky bed or sides of the
valley ; and the stones, mud, gravel, and sand thus borne
along act like files, scratching and scoring the hardest
rocks, and being themselves scratched by the same process.
As it is now in North Greenland so must it have been
during the glacial period in Scotland. There we find the
rounded, filed-down projections on the mountain top and
on the mountain sides, and the parallel striae. So must it
have been at the same period, and on to a later time, in
Norway; and thus many numerous phenomena, presented
by the mountains and the rocks there be satisfactorily
accounted for.

The rasping of the ice, charged with fragments of stone,
and gravel, and sand, would occasion striae and markings
on the rocks, and by the direction of these may be traced
the direction of the movement, while variations in the
direction of these can be accounted for.

The striae produced by glaciers are generally.apparently
parallel and straight. The normal erial currents, popu-
larly known as the ‘ trade winds,’ produced by well-known
causes, follow a curved direction, throwing off eddies both
upward and horizontal. Similar currents and eddies have
been observed in the ocean. Like eddies may be seen in
the river, and even in the cup of tea, produced by upward
currents from the dissolving sugar ; and strdae may be seen
following a curve more or less expanding, and more or less
contracting, and variations in their direction may have
been similarly produced.

Another of the results of the flux of a glacier is the for-
mation of a deposit of stones at the extreme edge of it;
stones which have been borne along on its surface, or, it
may be, in some cases a little way beneath this by the slow
massive advance of the body of ice, on reaching the ex-

158 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

tremity of it where it is slowly melting away, though con-
tinuously replaced, like the lower fringe of the so-called
‘Devil’s Table-Cloth ’ on Table Mountain, which has been
spoken of, there drop and accumulate. We have many
indications of such glacial action in Norway.

It requires sometimes an experienced geologist to judge
satisfactorily in regard to such deposits, and determine
whether they be the products of glacial or of torrential
action. Several discussions relative to the origin of large
deposits in France are cited by me in a volume entitled
Réboisement in France* (pp. 101-117, &c.) In regard to the
deposits in Finland there is little room for reasonable
doubt that they are moraines, and not what in France are
designated lis de dejection from torrents.

Norway abounds in similar indications of glacial
action in the ages to which these are referred, and many
tourists have recorded their impressions of the appearances
presented by the glaciers and snow-fields which still
exist.

The indications of such glacial action—carrying off
boulders and stones from mountain tops and mountain
sides, transporting them to the extremity of the glacier,
however remote, and depositing them there—are to be
found everywhere, But the indications of this action,
according to the authority I have cited, are various.
They consist of striae, or somewhat parallel markings,
on the surfaces of the rocks, of moraines, or heaps of
stones and gravels, of erratic deposits, of beds of clay,
and of débris of marine shells. The continental ice, at the
time of some of these deposits, must have covered the
whole Scandinavian peninsula, And it is supposed that

* Réboisement in France ; or, Records of the Re-planting of the Alps, the Cevennes,
and the Pyrenees wlth trees, herbage, and bush, with a view to arresting and prevent-
ing the destructive consequences of torrents: in which are given a résume of Surell’s
study of Alpine torrents, and of the literature of France relative to Alpine torrents, and
remedial measures which have been proposed for adoption to prevent the disastrous

consequences following from them,—translations of dc ts and enact its, show-
ing what legislative and executive measures have been taken by the Government of
France In cor tion with rébot tas a remedial application inst destructive

torrents,—and details in regard to the past, present, and prospective aspects of the
work.—London : Henry 8. King & Co. 1876.

MECHANICAL ACTION OF GLACIERS, 159

a this time the Baltic communicated with the White
ea.

It is alleged that it was after the melting of the con-
tinental ice, and while the glaciers were thus receding from
their extension to the valleys, to the summits and elevated
ridges, where they still maintain their position, that the
transition issuing in the existing state of the country
occurred, At about the same period the communications
between the Baltic and the White Sea were interrupted,
and the ground of the Scandinavian peninsula, in the
southern part of Norway, was elevated about 160 metres,
or 530 feet. Old shore lines, banks of marine shells, and
sand terraces, supply indications, both in Norway and
Sweden, of this having been the case, and prove at the same
time that the elevation varied with time ; and that during a
lengthened period it was a time of stagnation, perhaps even
of subsidence. In Norway there exist banks of marine
shells at, at least, two different altitudes, the one about
150 metres, or about 500 feet, the other about 300 metres
or 1000 feet, above the present level of the sea, With
the origin of these heaps of shells we have not at present
to deal; it is their position alone which here concerns us.
The higher-lying banks contain Arctic shells ; the lower-
lying ones northern shells, corresponding to the species
which live at the present day along the coast. Consider-
ing both to have been collected on the shore of the ocean
—the upper heaps in days more remote, the lower ones in
days nearer to our own, these heaps supply indications at
once of an elevation of the land, and of the other pheno-
mena referred to in connection therewith. In our own
time the coasts of Sweden, on the Baltic, are supposed
to be rising at the rate of a metre, or forty inches, in a
hundred years.

Old moraines exist at a succession of altitudes up to
that of those which are being formed under our eyes—
sometimes lying across the depth of the valley, terminal
moraines; sometimes along the line of the water-courses,
lateral moraines. Large moraines exist on the two sides of

160 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

Christiania fiord, the one in an almost direct line from
Moss to Fredrickshald, the other in a line almost direct
from Horten to a little below Larvick; the two form
nearly equal angles with the direction of the Christiania
fiord. Their lengths, about 45 kilometres, are also pretty
nearly the same. But the striae produced by erosion
show that these are two separate terminal moraines. The
eastern moraine was formed by the continental ice coming
from what is now the forest land of the Folloberge and
Smalene; the second has been formed by ice coming from
the Skrimsfjelde. The great roads of the kingdom tra-
verse these ancient moraines, which supply excellent
material for the construction of them.

Small moraines may be seen in a line almost direct
between Droebak and the south end of the Lake Oieren,
at the end of Mandalsvand, near Christiania, at five kilo-
metres from Christiania, across the railway to the Miosen
lake, in some places through the valley of Lier; at the
waterfall of Vestfoss, in Eker, fifteen kilometres beyond
Drammen, on the low lands of Jederen, and near to
many of the West fiords, Some banks of sand and rounded
stones have a great resemblance to moraines, but are not
such. They have been deposited, on the contrary, under
the surface of the sea; the round stones do not present
themselves pell-mell, as stones do in moraines, but in
regular beds. One of these connects the Drammen fiord
with Svelvik; higher up, near the Dramselv, a similar
bank may be seen of more strange outline, and still higher,
between Drammen and the waterfall of Vestfoss, the Ryg-
kollen forms a third.

The débris of moraines of the glacial period often cover
great areas on the mountains. Erratic deposits, and trans-
ported blocks, both great and small, are scattered every-
where high and low on the summits of very high moun-
tains, but not, however, on the highest. Thus they are
found on many mountain summits on the borders of the
Jotunfjelde, in Valders, and in Grunbrandsdal, but not on
the highest of these mountains. These erratic deposits

MECHANICAL ACTION OF GLACIERS. 161

are also found in the large moraines of which mention has
been made.

_Débris of moraines cover likewise great extents of low-
lying landsand valleys; and they there entail nosmallamount
of labour in clearing the ground for cultivation. To obtain
ground fit for cultivation 50 centimetres, or 20 inches, in
depth, it is often necessary to dig out and carry away
erratic stones which would have covered the whole area
to a depth of a metre, or 40 inches.

Beds of clay and banks of shells of the glacial period are
often found spread over areas of great extent, especially
in districts open to deposits from Silurian regions of lime-
stone and argilaceous schists, which have been ground
down and worn away during the glacial period. Trans-
ported as moraine mud by the waters flowing from the
glaciers, they have formed beds under the surface of the
sea in these ancient times. In different places the lower
bed of clay is limestone or marly clay ; often it is filled with
diversely shaped lumps of hard marl, which sometimes
enclose fossils. This marly clay has made fertile the flat
country of Remerike and of Smaalehnene, the east part of
the valley of Christiania, Eker, the west flat part of Ring-
erike, Jederen, and the flat country of Drontheim. The
marshy and peat lands of Listerland and of Jederen rest
on a bed of marine clay. For all of this information I am
indebted to the reports by Dr Broch and Principal Forbes ;
and this is also the case with what follows. It is only the
circumstance of my having neglected to mark quotations
in MS. notes made years ago, which prevents me from
in licating such here.

By the fragmentary shells found in cretaceous sand, the
succession of molluscs, both marine and those of fresh-
waters, may be traced. For our present purpose it is
enough to notice that by the remains of these the ground
has been enriched.

In going up one of the great water-courses from the sea
towards its source we come first to a level where the

M

162 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

ancient marine formations terminate, and where the con-
tinental formations begin. This point is passed ia the
valley of the Glommen at Kongsvinger, and it is equally
marked in numerous other localities. At a higher altitude
in the valleys we come to a second slip, formed by the
rocks contracting the valley, or by a moraine. Behind or
beyond this slip there is found generally the basin of the
valley covered with sand, or near this more rarely with
clay; and so on, as further and further the valley is
ascended. In proportion as the continental ice was thick,
some valleys have remained a shorter or a longer period
filled with ice. The lower limits of glaciers have always
been receding to higher altitudes, and in places where
they have remained stationary for a long time they have
left moraines. These have there formed dykes, behind
which was thus created a reservoir in which the clay
carried off by the waters fell to be deposited in layers.
Beds of clay in extensive areas above the ancient sea level
are rarely met with; but they are met with in certain
places behind these dykes, amongst the filling up of the
later formed slips in the basin of the valley.

Tn the valley of the Glommen, in the water-course of
the Guldbrandslagen, and in the basin of the Dokka, all
of these may be seen

On the west coast of Norway the same succession of
slips may be seen, but with a character somewhat different
on account of the shortness and the depth of the valleys.
At the extremity of the interior ramifications of the fiords
there rises often a rampart of gravel and erratic deposits ;
it is the moraine of the glacial period. Behind this there
is ordinarily found a lake at a height a little above the
level of the sea, while the depth of the lake is often con-
siderably below the sea level. Such lakes are numerous,
and beyond them, landwards, there are met with on many
points a distinct slip in sandy ground, steep towards the
sea, but flat towards the interior of the country; it marks
the ancient level of the sea.

In the diocese of Drontheim, where the valleys stretch

MECHANICAL ACTION OF GLACIERS. 163

out to a considerable length, and are not so steep, we find
the country rising in steps corresponding to those of
Southern Norway. Here considerable spaces are found
above the ancient level of the sea. In Orkedal the first
step which marks that ancient level is a little to the
south of the church of Medal; in Guldal it is at the

church of Stceren.

CHAPTER XVI.

APPEARANCES PRESENTED BY GLACIERS AND
SNOW-FIELDS.

OF the Justedal glacier, adjacent to the Sogne fiord, Du
Chaillu writes:—‘This field of snow, the largest in
Scandinavia, covers a continuous tract of over eighty-two
English square miles, its depth in many places reaching
1000 feet. It comprises the area bounded on the north
by the North, fiord, on the south by the Sogne, on the
east by the Justedal valley, and on the west by the Sogue
fiord. Its lower part is entirely fringed by glaciers which
‘flow in every direction. The glaciers in the Fjaerland
fiord are three miles inland; the extremity of the
Poyum being about 400, and the Suphelle 160 feet above
the sea. The backbone or rocky ridge of this mass of
snow has an average height of 5000 feet, the highest
point lying between Stryn and Justedal valley, Dals-
kaupos peak reaching a height of 6,410 feet in the
eastern, and 6,110 in the southern part.

‘ At the head of Gaupe fiord, on the Lyster, is the valley
of the Justedal, which derives its name from the great
glacier which overtops its mountains. At the entrance
is the hamlet of Roeneid, with a comfortable inn, where
horses can be procured. A narrow road, used as a bridle
path, and passable with a cariole for a distance of six or
seven miles, leads to the end of the valley.

‘About fourteen miles from Roeneid stands the plain
parish church of the valley, surrounded by a rough stone
wall and the humble churchyard, with only a few wooden
crosses ; the adjacent parsonage has a small garden, and
a few patches of barley and potatoes, and may be said to
be the only clean and comfortable place in the vicinity.

APPEARANCES OF GLACIERS AND SNOW-FIELDS. 165

‘A few miles farther on is the Berset glacier, the first
in the valley, and near it is the poor hamlet of Nygaard.
From the deep-blue cavern at the base of this glacier
flowed with great force a dirty stream into the valley, and
close to the icy edge was a parallel line of boulders,
stones, and sand, left behind by the retiring mass.
Beyond this were several other transverse ridges, formed
by similar deposits, showing that the glacier is fast
retiring.

‘After a pony ride of twenty-eight miles I came to
Faaberg, the last hamlet of the valley, containing several
well-stocked farms, and surrounded by verdant fields and
meadows, a ee

‘From Faaberg the path was extremely rugged. The
ceaseless noise of the rushing water, formed chiefly by the
glaciers of Bjoernestig, Lodal, and Stegeholt, at times was
so great as to drown the voice. . . . Winding our
way for a while through meadows and woods, we saw in
the distance, at the end of the valley, the Stegeholt and
Lodal glaciers; the summit of the peak is 6,410 feet
above the sea. At the end of that wild valley was the
usual moraine with rounded stones, pebbles, and sand,
left by the retiring glaciers. The streams from them
divide and meet again; the current was very strong, and
the water so dirty that our horses were almost afraid to
cross. One would naturally think, not knowing the laws
which govern the movement of a glacier, that a stream
created by-the melting of pure ice could only produce the
clearest water; on the contrary, the very nature of a
glacier prevents any other sort of stream. In June, and
even in the beginning of July, these streams are unford-
able. The Vodal glacier was covered with dirt, stones, and
débris from the mountain side, Its cavern was by far the
finest and longest that I had seen, being about 20 feet
wide ; from it a turbid river rushed with great force. The
beauty of this cavern cannot be adequately described, the
blue colour of the ice gradually became deeper, finally
merging into an intense inky-blue. Owing to the great

166 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

pressure every air-bubble had been expelled, and the
whole mass was clear and transparent ; the cavern appeared
like a tunnel cut through a mountain of sapphire. Un-
fortunately I could not explore it on account of the great
depth and velocity of the water, as it ran between two
stone ridges, split by the ice. The retiring glacier had
uncovered part of a spur or hill of gneiss, which had ob-
structed its march, and which was split into several enor-
mous parts, which were still in contact with each other.
A considerable number of boulders were resting on the
frozen mass, some supported on pillars of ice, which were
prevented from melting by the protecting shade of the
stones. In places the glacier was white, not from snow,
but in- consequence of the cracking of its surface and
numerous air-cells. It was easy to see that the Lodal had
formerly been much lower down the valley, and that the
transverse glaciers we had met on the way were once its
lateral branches, the whole forming a single vast frozen
river reaching the sea, retiring, advancing, again retiring.
Thus the ice ground deeper and deeper into the rocks; the
same marks were visible, left by that which had retired
the year before. Iheard arumbling sound, and had hardly
raised my eyes when a huge stone from the glacier rolled
within a few feet of me; and I had hardly seated myself
the second time when I saw another stone roll down car-
rying with it in its flight several lesser ones.’

M. du Chaillu goes on to say: ‘A glacier is not an
immovable mass closely attached to the mountains, but a
body slowly impelled forward by the immense pressure of
the upper portions. On its way the mass slides down
grinding its rocky bed, thus deepening and enlarging its
channel, day by day; its silent power, overcoming all
obstacles, carries with it whatever bas been buried in the
icy stream, such as stones that have fallen from the moun-
tain sides, earth, and sand, which combine to render the
water turbid, and to form the moraines. It has the charac-
ter of a stream; it is a moving river of ice fed from the
sneebraer or perpetual snow-fields above, modifying or creat-

APPEARANCES OF GLACIERS AND SNOW-FIELDS. 167

ing its channel, eroding valleys, often covering vast areas,
an agent of great destructive power.

‘The motion of a glacier being largely due to expansion
from the consequences of its melting, is slower at night
than during the day, and in winter than in summer; the
movement is greater in the middle, than on the sides,
where it is held in check by friction, and also more slug-
gish at the bottom than atthe top. A glacier will accom-
modate itself to the sinuosities and unevenness of its bed,
expanding or contracting like the waters of a river, and
will precipitate itself over a ledge, making a cascade of
ice: these I have seen in almost every glacier in Norway.
The ice is often broken transversely, the moraines are
engulphed in the crevasses and lost. ‘The main glacial
stream starts with a moraine on each side ; long dark bands
raised above the ice are formed by the stones and earth
which have fallen down the side of the mountain, in the
same manner‘as the heaps of stones and débris we find at
the base of mountains, and in many ravines and valleys.
These lateral or marginal moraines vary in height accord-
ing to the amount of the deposits massed together, and to
the time of their formation ; they range from a few feet to
twenty feet in heignt, but are never much more, for there
is no time for accumulation ; the material is collected as
the ice moves downward, and the motion of the Norwegian
glacier may be a few hundred feet a year. These moraines
stand in regular ridges, and are slowly and surely carried
to the end of the glacier; their origin, by the materials,
can often be traced back for great distances. As the
frozen river moves onward, it is joined by others, all uniting
in one solid mass; the moraines meet side by side, and
remain distinct on the journey down. The number of
these moraines indicates how many branch streams have
united with the main trunk. Sometimes a glacier is com-
pelled to make its way through a narrow defile; then the
mass of ice contracts, and becomes deeper, and a grinding
process takes place on the sides and at the base with im-
mense force; many valleys with perpendicular walls have

168 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

been formed in this manner. Not far from Lodal is the
very interesting glacier of Stegeholt, reached by again
fording the Lodalriver. The end of this glacier is narrow,
and the ice comes through a contracted gorge choked with
large stones, which prevented me from seeing the terminal
cavern.

‘On the left bank, tc a certain height, birch trees were
abundant, and there was a dense growth of grass and
weeds within a few yards of the ice. Here also I saw
evidence that the ice had much diminished that year.
Numerous large boulders, forming longitudinal moraines,
were stranded along its sides. The crevasses indicated a
powerful strain ; through the cracks, which crossed the
whole breadth of glacier, you could see the deep blue
colour growing darker and darker with the increasing
depth.

‘We have given a description of retiring glaciers. We
must also speak of those which are advancing with an
irresistible power.’

Following an account of the Ringedal waterfall, our
traveller writes :—‘ A row of one hour on the fiord brought
us to Odde; from which the tourist should not fail to
visit the Buer-brae-en, one of the glaciers, of the Folgefonn.
A ridge of mountains crosses the Folgefonn, in a north-
easterly direction, forming the Svartdal—black dale—and
the Blaadal—blue dale; and another ridge forms the
Kvitnaadal. Blocks of stone mixed with sand showed
their unmistakeable origin. The glacier had reached this
point years before, had retired, and was now again ad-
vancing ; while higher up, our path continued through a
‘wood, in which numerous moss-covered stones could be
seen showing that the glacier had not reached that alti-
tude for a very long time.

‘The view of that narrow glacier was imposing, impres-
sing the mind with a sense of the great power of destruc-
tion possessed by a vast body of moving ice. In the study
of other glaciers which were retiring, we have seen how

APPEARANCES OF GLACIERS AND SNOW-FIELDS. 169

the boulders and smaller stones have been deposited in the
fields in former times, and we could trace, by the marks
of the ice on the rocks, the course taken. But now stand-
ing before the Buer-brae-en, we could ‘understand how
valleys had been dug out of the solid rock by that most
destructive form of water the glacier. The huge irresist-
ible mass was still advancing slowly, and had been doing so
for a longtime. My guide said it had advanced more than
fifty feet since the previous year, driving everything before
it. All along the base of the ice was a transverse ridge of
earth in which fresh greensward and stones were mingled
together, which the glacier pushed forward as it glided
over the rocks. On the right was a huge mass of rock
which had been tcrn apart by the pressure of the advanc-
ing ice. The weight which had overcome this obstacle
must have been enormous, for the evidence of such ter-
rific force was before my eyes. Not even the solid moun-
tain walls, composed of the hardest of our rocks, could
arrest the forward -march of the terrible glacier. This
block of granite, torn from the mountain side, was about
twenty feet long and fifteen broad. It had been broken
unevenly, and. was still covered with moss. A part of it
was overlapped by the ice; and the upper stratum of the
glacier having a stronger current than the lower would
finally run over it, and hide it from view as the onward
march continued; and when the glacier again retired the
boulder would be deposited in some new resting place.
The glacier came down a steep gorge leaping three dis-
tinct ledges of rock, and it was crowded between solid
walls not more than 250 to 300 yards wide towards its
end. The moraines seen higher up on each side above
were engulphed further down into deep crevasses formed
by the pressure of the ice and ledges. On its left were
towering mountains; Mount Reina being 5,210 feet above
the sea, and the second highest point of the Folgefonn.
The ice was of a magnificent blue; the cavern was small,
but extremely beautiful ; and its stream was far from being
as dirty as those of the glaciers of the Justedal. Lower

170 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

down in the valley, not far from the glacier, was the Buer
farm ; and from the mountain side came a cascade between
700 and 800 feet in height. The owner of the little farm
was in great tribulation. He saw with much anxiety the
steady advance of the ice which had already destroyed
some of his pasture land at the head of the valley, and in
a few years would probably sweep away the little wood
which we had passed on our way up; then the farmer
would be compelled to find new quarters, and perhaps be
aruined man, He had tried to sell his farm, but nobody
was willing to buy it, fearing to cast away their money.
It would not be strange indeed if in the course of forty
or fifty years this glacier should reach the very shore of
the Sandven lake, whence it could go no farther, for the
ice would melt in the water; but glaciers are fickle both
in their forward and retrograde movements, and in a few
years the Buer-brae-en may retire instead of advancing.’

It is interesting in lookiug upon such scenes —forgetting
for the time, if we be there in the prosecution of the study
of forest science, the importance of these glaciers as
perennial sources of supply of water in the rivers which
are made use of for the floatage of timber from remote high-
lying lands to the coast—to look upon them as modern
illustrations of what was written well nigh 3000 years ago
in Kcclesiastes—attributed to the Royal Preacher, who
‘gpake three thousand proverbs; and his songs were a
thousand and four ; who spake of trees, from the cedar tree
that is in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth
out of the wall ; who spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and
of creeping things, and of fishes ;\—and that twice repeated,
‘That which hath been is now; and that which is to be
hath already been. . . . ‘The thing that hath been is that
which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall
be done; and there is no new thing under the sun. Is
there any thing of which it can be said, see this is new?
It hath been already of old time which was before us,
—and to look upon them as supplying us with data for the

APPEARANCES OF GLACIERS AND SNOW-FIELDS. 171

explanation of phenomena, which abound in these northern
lands as elsewhere.

Other travellers bave supplied additional sketches
which help to fill up the outline.

William’s writing of his voyage to Hammerfest, in the
far north, says:—‘At about four o’clock on the second
morning of our return journey we passed some remarkable
glaciers near to the Havnes station; one of them very
nearly reached the sea. We were near enough to examine
them pretty fully, and with the aid of telescopes or opera
glasses to look down the blue crevasses which rib the lower
parts. They exhibit the whole phenomena of glaciers at
one glance; there is the snow-field or névé above, the
source from which the true glacier is derived; the deep
lateral valley narrowing downward, one of the essential
conditions of glacier formation ; then the ice torrent, with
its sharp billows and blue chasms, filling this valley, and
carrying with it in its slow descent blocks of rock forming
the moraine, which, when deposited at its boundaries,
will remain to mark its place, though the climate of the
whole region should change, and the ice and snow all melt
away.

That was in the far north. Writing of his visit to
the Romsdal in the south, he says :—‘ Veblungsnaesset is
the port of the Romsdal, which valley is the “lion” of all
Norway; the Norwegians themselves travel long distances
to see it. In the Christiania Illustrated News there are
numerous wood-cuts of its finest scenic features, and every
Englishman who comes to Norway is told that he must see
it, and his expectations are raised to the highest. The
descriptions given by him of the waterfalls are numerous,
varied, grand, and picturesque, and seem to show that ‘ the
Romsdal caa safely bear this terrible ordeal of much re-
peated praise.’ But what concerns us at present is the
following statement :—‘In nearly all the tracks and hol-
lows of the dark precipitous rocks are patches of snow,
some of them so low as almost to touch the corn fields; for

172 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

amid all this savage sublimity there are rich substantial
farms. These farms are due to the table-land of the
terraces, of which there are two very distinctly marked.
Besides the snow patches there are Lilliputian glaciers
in abundance, where the whole history of glacier formation
is shown at a glance. There are the snow-fields above
filling a basin, from which dark peaks arise; the basin has
a downward opening, a notch leading to a little steep
trough-like valley that closes in below. Inthe upper basin
the snow surface is thawed by the sun, the water sinks
into the spongy snow below, freezes again on its way, and
binds it all together as a seeming solid, but capable of
yielding to the pressure of the mass above, and the expan-
sion of refreezing; this pressure forces it through the
notch of the upper basin into the lower. As it passes
over the bend from the lesser to the greater declivity it is
split upon its surface by this bending, and the blue
crevasses are formed. In squeezing so forcibly through
this opening it polishes its rocky sides, and the fragments
of stone that are torn away, or that fali upon it, become
bedded into the ice, and when they reach the portion that
slides upon the rock they groove it with parallel lines,
which will mark the place where these glaciers have been
if in future ages they should cease to exist.

‘There are other snow basins which fail to form true
glaciers, owing to the want of the trough-like valley below,
that closes in at its lower part. Yet in these there is
evidently a downward flow, or alvancement of the ice and
snow, which is forced through the notch; but this uotch
communicating with a long straight trough like a water
gully, the foremost of the advancing mass bends over until
it becomes detached, and then forms an avalauche instead
of a glazier. Several of these small avalanches came down
during my walk. I mistook the first for a water cascade,
until its cessation, and the thundering rumble which fol-
lowed undeceived me.

‘In these I found an explanation of the snow patches
nearly level with the corn fields; tor each of the aval-

APPEARANCES OF GLACIERS AND SNOW-FIELDS. 173

aches deposits itself as a sort of talus, or sloping delta-
shaped heap at about that part of the terrace which must
have been the shore of the ancient fiord. All these aval-
anche tracks are smoothed by the falling snow, and ice,
and stones; they are probably scratched and grooved like-
wise, but this I cannot positively affirm, as they were on
the opposite side of the river.’ ;

In writing of his journey in still higher lying lands,
whence flow the rivers terminating in the Romsdal fiord,
and the Sogne fiord, and several others in the district
called coliectively the ‘ Nord fiord, although there is no
individual fiord bearing that name, he says, ‘The ascent of
the valley towards the snowy wilderness of the Nord fiord
and Jostedals Breen is by an abominable path, over the
wreck of glacier moraines, and through thickets of low
beech trees, or rather bushes; the elastic arms of which,
entangled with each other, continually bar the way, and
springing back as they are bent aside, pick off one’s hat,
flog one’s face, and take most tantalising liberties with the
knapsack behind.

‘The vegetation soon ceased, and I came upon a waste
of loose stones, with sloppy snow between, and every ves-
tige of the track obliterated by the thawing. The diffi-
culties and adventures in which he was thus involved are
graphically told. He found himself at the head of a
valley terminating in three peaks, the centre one being
just in the direction he ought to take, but that was
impossible. He must follow one or other of the hollows
between ; but which? It was evident that these courses
led to very different places; to valleys branching off in
very different directions. They all led upwards to the
great snow deserts of. the Jostedal and Nord fiord, or to
the dreary Sogne fjeld, and downwards again to rocky
solitudes filled with the ruins that the recently receded
glaciers had left behind.

He ascended one of the peaks in hopes of making a
survey that would aid him; but found that the apparent
‘summit was surmounted by another far above and far

174 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

away, and that probably by another, and, perbaps, another
still; as is often found to be the case in making such
ascents, And he saw little more than peaks of rocks and
plains of snow, and a portion of the fond, or motherland of
glaciers, the vast table-land of snow and ice from which
the numerous glaciers of this region descend. He descended
and made for the pass that seemed the most likely to be
the correct one. Of what he saw he writes :—

‘On reaching the summit a singular scene presented
itself. At the foot of a vast amphitheatre of snowy moun-
tain peaks is a gloomy basin of rock, filled with the waters
of a half-frozen lake. The water comes directly from the
snow above, and is of a peculiar blue white, semi-opaque,
London-milk colour, common to such snow water. This
lake is called the Stiggevand, which, I believe, may be
translated “Stygian Pool;’ and a better name could
scarcely be invented, for its gloom and desolate aspect
would satisfy the imagination of the most dyspeptic and
bilious of poets.

‘The hollows, or basins, which occupy a higher level
than the lake, are filled with snow and with ice formed by
the melting and re-freezing of the snow. Thus filled up,
they form great plains, having a surface of virgin snow,
without a footmark, or a scratch, or spot visible. These
apparent plains are, however, not quite level, but slope
towards the rocky precipice rising above the lake. The
ice sea, pressed forward by the mass above, flows over
these walls in great bending sheets that reach a short
way down, and then break off and drop in masses into
the lake, their broken edges forming a blue cornice fringed
with icicles, If these walls of the lake shore had suffi-
cient slope to hold the icy cascade without breaking,
glaciers would be formed ; or if the supply of breaking
masses were sufficiently great to overpower the thawing
below, the basin of the lake would be filled up and become
continuous with the great ice and snow-fields above, and
might extend onwards to the spot on which I was standing,
or even overflow this, and push down the valley up which

APPEARANUES OF GLACIERS AND SNOW-FIELDS. 175

Thad come. That this was formerly the case is shown by
abundant evidences at every step of the day’s walk, and
the latter part of yesterday’s.

‘The soft, though sharp outline of the virgin snow,
standing against the blue sky, just where it pours over the
precipice, is very beautiful. There are no birds up here,
no roaring torrent, no rustling of trees, no buzzing of
insects; not even the ripple of a thin stream, as heard on
the Swiss glaciers, but a silence that is almost absolute,
and adds vastly to the effect of such a scene,

‘The snow-plains, which are here seen bending over in
cascades above the lake, are the northern terminations of
the great table-land of snow forming the fond, or “Snee-
fond,” of the Jostedals Breen, a great untrodden desert
of perpetual snow and ice, extending for about fifty miles
to the south-west, with a varying width, and covering
altogether a space of about 400 square miles. Every
valley of favourable configuration that branches from this
great reservoir of ice is filled with a glacier or ice torrent,
replacing the water torrents of the valleys that descend
from the Dovre and other fjelds, that are not snow-
covered.

‘I now descended over similar ground to that on the
opposite side of the pass. . . . I walked on over a
wide field of glacier moraine, leading at last to the outlet
of the Stigevand; a torrent of respectable dimensions
which, fed by a succession of glaciers, grows to a river,* as
it flows down the Jostedal. At the point where the stony
fjeld narrows and descends to form the head of this valley
the torrent makes a succession of falls over walls of piled-
up boulders.’ i

* The Stor-elv, or Large River,

CHAPTER XVII.
SAETER LIFE.

Or most, if not of every one of the existing glaciers in
Norway, and they are numerous, Principal Forbes has
given an account with details, such as might be desiderated
by the special student of their phenomena, but which are
not so desiderated by the more general student of forest
science; and sketches, not less graphic, of the phenomena
presented by one and auother of those connected with this
Sneefond of the Jostedal Breen, is given by Williams—
amongst. others of the Lodal, one of the largest, if not the
largest, glacier in Norway, and of the Nygaard glacier;
but enough has been adduced to give some idea of these
feeders of the rivers.

Of the waterfalls details have been given sufficient to
suggest some of the varied appearances presented by them ;
and of the lake scenery there have been given incidental
notices, which leave. them not altogether unknown.
Bayard Taylor, in an account given by him of a trip to
the Voring Foss, describes lake scenery and waterfalls in
combinations which show each a character of scenery as a
foil. to the other. But the following description of the
Nisservand lake, by the author of a volume entitled Frost
and Fire, brings out as fully, and perhaps as effectively, the
combination of lake and woodland scenery and may prove at
once pleasing and more satisfactory. In the narrative
referred to the author writes :—

‘The pasteur (whose guests he and his fellow travellers
had been) accompanied us to the beach, where we found
a boat and two stout rowers in attendance. Pursuing our
course up the Nisser-Vand, the western shore still con-
tinued to present the same bold and barren appearance;

SAETER LIFE. 177

but the prospect on the other side was enlivened by the
frequent occurrence of hamlets and green pastures, occu-
pying the gentle slopes of the hills. Every scrap of land,
however small, that would afford footing to a goat, or
space for a patch of potatoes, was taken advantage of.
These little clearings, surrounded by the deep forest, and
intermixed with crags and thickets had a most picturesque
appearance. The marvel was how, with their utmost
industry, the few roods of soil thus reciaimed could afford
even a scanty subsistence to the population, which was
evidently numerous. One might have wondered how
access was obtained to these insulated settlements, shut
in between precipitous cliffs above and the lake below,
but that little piers and boat-houses under every cultivated
nook indicated that its waters afforded the principal means
of communication with each other and with the rest of the
world. The winter, when it is one unbroken sheet of ice,
must be the principal season for traffic and good neigh-
bourhood.

‘As we approached the head of the lake we were
delighted with the series of dioramic views which the
folds of the hills, stretching down in long slopes to the
edge of the water, successively opened. In one place the
bordering hills fell back, and left an amphitheatre of two
or three miles in diameter, the undulating area of which
gave to view the flowing lines of smooth and rounded
masses of pines with which it was richly clothed, sur-
mounted by bare cliffs bebind; and over these, at some
distance, rose a group of mountains of extremely fine
- contour, on the sides of which rested patches of snow at
not a very considerable elevation. The lake terminates
among a chain of low islets of graceful outline, some
covered with young birch, feathered to the ground; others
with a small clump of spruce firs, dropping their pendu-
lous branches; some so small that a single tree only shot
up its spiral form above the tiny patch of greensward that
gave it footing.

‘Threading our way through this bowery maze, we

N

178 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

landed at Vraadal, and, dismissing the boatmen, began the
ascent from the shores of the lake, through open glades
tufted with alder and birch. Looking backwards towards’
the bird’s-eye view of the bay of islands now spread
beneath, as on a map, with all the outline of bay, and
inlet, and grassy promontory, and its network of intersect-
ing channels gleaming like silvery threads, and opening
out into the last broad reach of the noble lake, was a
scene of indescribable beauty. Before us, at a great dis-
tance to the north-east, stretched away the dark chain of
mountains which bounds the valley of the Maan, towards
which our course was tending. In about two hours,
descending through a spruce grove of particular luxuri-
ance and very lofty growth, we caught glimpses among
the trees in the windings of the road of a fine sheet of
water below, and of an enormous mountain mass, which
rising directly from its edge, towered to a height of 4000
feet above the fiord.’

In the higher-lying plateaux, whither we have been led,
there is carried on an interesting phase of rural industry,
which has been alluded to in some of the narratives which
have come under consideration in preceding statements
in which mention has been made of Saeters, or cheese-.
making establishments on the mountain pastures. These
are generally at a considerable distance from the farm-
house, and thither are sent the milch cattle under the
charge of young women, there to spend the summer months,
where, for the accommodation of the dairy maids, and the
prosecution of their dairy operations, there are huts bear-
ing the designation I have cited.

There, is seen a phase of rural life extensively practised
in Norway, and not unknown in Sweden, so distinct in its
usages from corresponding practices followed in dairy estab-
lishments in other lands that it may be cited as one of the
rational peculiarities.

These saeters are one-storeyed huts, each containing twa
rooms. The outer apartment, which is fitted up with a

SAETER LIFE. 179°

hearth, a table, and a coarse bed, is the living room; the
inner one is the dairy, containing the cheeses and the im-
plements used in the manufacture of them.

Often several, belonging to different proprietors, form a
group in a mountain hollow; sometimes you see them by
the shore of a tarn, Within a few miles from Christiania
is Frogner Saeter, the property of Herr T. J. Heftye,
Consul of the United States, and President of the Turdst-
forening or Tourist Society, an association formed to foster
a taste in the country for mountain exploration, to facili-
tate which they have, at considerable expense, had moun-
tain roads made and improved, and huts erected in remote
localities in which members of the society may find shelter
and rest on their extensive tours.

Frogner Saeter is situated some 1,700 feet above the
level of the sea. The approaches toit are through a large
and dark forest by a road made at great expense by the
owner. From the saeter a magnificent view may be had,
Another mountain lodge belonging to the same proprietor
is Sarabraoten, situated in a wild region in a romantic spot,
overlooking a picturesque lake. His love of wild scenery has
prompted him to build at both of these places houses like
those constructed in the olden time; but to see saeter life
in its reality the traveller must go much further afield.
In most of the published journals of tourists in Norway
may be found accounts of visits made by them to saeters,
An interesting chapter in Du Chaillu’s volume, entitled
The Land of the Midnight Sun, is devoted to an account of
a visit which he made for some days to a saeter in the
Valdal.

‘In the midst of the mountains, he writes, ‘ Far away
from the farms, by the shores of lonely lakes and rivers, or
on the slopes of ridges beyond the limits cf the growth of
grain, are the saeters. These are mountain houses or huts
built of logs or of rough stones, where during the summer
months the people of a farm come to pasture their cattle,
for in the midst of this great wilderness of rocks there are
many spots covered with aromatic grass, which gives a rich:

180 HontsTRY OF NORWAY.

flavour to the milk of these places. Many of these saeters
are very difficult of access; high mountain ranges and.
snow patches have to be crossed, and rivers forded by man
and beast. Solitary indeed is the life in these mountains,
for only once or twice during the summer does the farmer
go up there to see how those who have been left are get-
ting’ on, to hear about the herds, and if the season has been
good. . . . On these visits they bring. provisions, and
take back the produce of the dairy. The saeter life is also
a hard one; the pastures are far away from the huts, and
during the whole day the maidens have to follow the herd,
rain or shine, andreturn in the evening, cold, hungry, and
often wet.

‘In some mountains pastures are very abundant, and
saeters are numerous; in others they are few and far
apart. Almost every farmer possesses one, but some who.
have more mountain land than they require rent part of
this to those less fortunate. . . . The people start
for the saeter in many districts toward the middle of June,
the time varying somewhat, but generally not after mid-
summer—St. John’s Day—according to the distance and
the mountain heights that are to be crossed. They return
between the middle and end of September, and if high
mountains are to be passed, about the first week in Sep-
tember.

‘The young maidens, the pride of their family or of a
neighbourhood, will remain in the mountains all alone
feeling as safe as in their father’s home ; they have no fear
of being molested, for they trust to the honour and man-
hood of the Bond—agriculturist—blood. Very few things
in Norway have impressed me more than this simple faith.

‘The young lover comes once or twice to cheer the hours
of his sweetheart, but only for aday. If engaged to him
he is the more welcome, for in the autumn, after the
labours of the harvest are over, the wedding will probably
take place,’

In connection with this I may cite the following infor-
mation given by him in another connection :—‘ A betrothal

SAETER LIFE. 181

in Scandinavia is celebrated in a festive manner. In the
country districts the engaged couple often go before the
clergyman, who, in presence of the respective families,
says :—“ Before God, the All-knowing, and in presence of
these witnesses, I ask thee if thou wilt have, him or her,
for thy betrothed?” After an affirmative answer from
both, rings are exchanged as a pledge; these are worn on
the ring finger of the left hand, The custom of going
before the parson is dying out. In cities, or among the
educated classes, after a gentleman and a lady have become
engaged both their names are written on a single visiting
card and sent toall their acquaintances, this being a notice
of the.betrothal; it is also published in the newspapers.
The lady, after her engagement is announced, is allowed
to go with her affianced, and they are often seen tozether
without their fatmilies at balls or places of amusement.
Nothing but a plain gold ring is given even among the
most wealthy. The wedding token is of the same char-
acter. When a woman has a family she wears three rings
as a mark of distinction, of which many feel very proud,
though this last fashion is going somewhat into disuse.

‘A few days before the departure for the saeter a great
stir takes place on the farm; milk-pails, churns, and
wooden vessels, the great iron pot, the mould for the
cheese, two or three plates, and a cup or two, a frying pan,
and abuve all the ccffee kettle, are made ready for packing.
Salt for the cattle, flour to be mixed with skim-milk for *
-the calves, bread, a piece of bacon for Sunday, coffee and
sugar, a covering for the beds, must not be forgotten. The
girls take their Sunday clothes, and prayer-books, and old
garments for every-day use ; a good stock of spun wool to
make stockings, mittens, or gloves, in their leisure hours,
and pieces of cloth upon which they can embroider. The
old horse which carries the load is often let loose to pas-
ture in the mountains for several weeks, for the ploughing
is over, and the grass or hay left from the year before is
-earefully saved,

182 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

‘On the morning of departure the cows, sheep, goats, and
a pig or two are watched by the children to keep them
from straying far away. If the farm is small, and the
people poor, all the family go to the saetar till harvesting
takes place, The mother is often seen carrying on her
back the last baby. Before starting the mother prepares
an extra good meal for the farm-hands, or that part of the
family who are to accompany the saeter girls—the daughter
or girls hired for the season. Those who take the lead
often carry long horns by whose shrill tones the animals
are called to follow, salt being given to them, now and then,
to coax them on, and the children keep them in line.’

” Of his visit to the saeters he tells :—‘ In the beginning
of July I left the old city of Stavanger. . . . The sail
on the fiord was very interesting. After a trip of twelve
hours we came to the end of Sands fiord, a branch of the
Stavanger; here I landed with my guide, Samson Fiskek-
joen, who had been recommended to me as trusty, and well-
acquainted with the mountains. . . . After a drive of
two hours through the picturesque valley of Suledal, along
the clear river, we reached his farm, where we found his
father, then eighty years old, splitting wood with a strength
which augured well for a life of twenty yearsat least. The
old couple received me with great kindness.

‘A number of farms were scattered about, and in sight
was the church; a short walk brought me to the parsonage.
aa . During my absence a complete metamorphosis was
effected in the farm-house, and everything was tidy and
clean; bread, butter, cheese, and sour milk were on the
table, and the good people excused themselves for having
no sweet milk, as the cows were far away in the mountains,
I slept with my door wide open, for the night was very
warm ; I do not think they slept at all, as coffee was ready
for me at four in the morning. They pressed me to eat,
as the journey before me was a long one.

‘T left with two boatmen. We had notsailed far before
we came abreast of a comfortable white-painted house, the

SAETER LIFE. 183

pleasant home of a Storthingsmand, where we went ashore.
The host was not at home, but his amiable wife, who had
heard of my coming this way, had been expecting me, and
seemed quite disappointed when she heard | had spent the
night at the farm of Samson. Though I assured her that
I had breakfasted she insisted that I should partake of
another.

‘The Sulsdal valley, near the lower extremity of the
lake, is exceedingly interesting to the antiquarian, on
account of the numerous tumuli, or tombs of heathen times,
some of which are hollow, or circular in shape, and sur-
rounded by stones, while others are square. As we ascended
the lake we could see the paths leading to the saeter, and
patches of snow on the mountains. After a pull of four-
teen miles we landed at Naes on the right shore, near the
upper extremity of the lake, from which there is a horse-
path leading to the numerous saeters met between the
Suledal and the Poeldal lakes. . . .

‘The path, after leaving Roeldedal, ascended gradually
along the Valdal river, in view on the left bank of the
white column of the Risp-Foss; descending again and
crossing the stream on a bridge, we saw on the opposite
shore the bridle-path going to Lake Staa and Upper The-
lemarken.

‘On the right bank of the Valdal are seen many saeters
and paths branching in every direction. The river flows
for some distance through a flat country, dotted with fine
pastures and small farms. Another stream throws itself
into the Valdal, and forms a magnificent cascade of 1000
feet, below which the current was so strong that even the
horse could hardly keep his footing while fording it.
Twelve miles from Foeldal we came in sight of the Valdal
lake, the mountains sloping gently to the shore, near which
were several saeters. Herds of cattle which had come
from the mountains to be milked grazed on the green
banks, and on our left high up was the Barken saeter ;
while at the head of the lake the smoke curled upwards

from the Valdal saeter, and we heard the loud cries of the

184 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

girls calling the cattle that wended slowly on their way,
browsing as they went. On the right bank of the lake a
magnificent cataract fell from a great height.

‘We followed the shore till we came to the upper ex-
tremity of the lake. The people were watching us, wonder-
ing who we could be, for they expected no one from their
home.

‘On our arrival they bade us enter the house, which
was as comfortable as that of a farm, and the usual saluta-
tions took place ; the milk was passed around in the large
flat pail in which it is kept for the cream to rise; taking
the customary sip we handed it back with thanks, and the
usual pressing invitations to drink more were responded
to by drinking as much as we could with Many thanks—
Mange tak.’

There, as elsewhere in Norway and in Sweden, he was
made the more welcome when they learned he was from
America where a member of the family was settled. ‘The
father had come the day before to carry back the butter
and cheese which was made to the gaard or farm, which
was at a great distance on the Soer fiord, one of the
branches of the Hardanger. He was the father of a large
family of grown-up children, . . . atypeof the Norse-
man—North-man—hospitable but undemonstrative, with
a tall and spare figure, and a kind face. Three of the
daughters were at the saeter for the summer, all of them
pictures of health, and blondes of the type of the descend-
ants of the fair-haired Vikings. Syvnor, the eldest, rather
short in stature, was nineteen years old ; Anne was seven-
teen, tall, muscular, with piercing blue eyes, and fully able
to take care of herself: she would have made a good model
for a valkyrie; Martha was sixteen, with golden hair, soft
blue eyes, and delicate complexion. All three were cele-
brated on the Hardanger for their beauty, and young
farmers, without number, were trying to win their hearts.’
He praises the maidens, and the invigorating climate pre-
vailing at such places 4000 feet above the level of the sea;
and he goes on to tell:—

SAETER LIFE. 185

‘The mountain life is an active one, and the girls are
busy from sunrise to twilight. The pastures belonging to
this saecter were extensive in the neighbouring mountains,
and sufficed for fifty-two milch cows, with eight others,
and four horses. The cattle belonged to three different
farms, including that of Nels. The farthersome coming
from Soer fiord, fifty miles distant; two of his daughters
had charge of those not belonging to him, for which they
were paid. The milk of each herd was put in the vessels
_ belonging to the place from which the cows came, and the
butter and cheese were set apart in like manner. The
people are so honest that no farmer fears that the girls
will favour one at the expense of the other, or put any of
the butter or cheese in vessels belonging to any but the
rightful owners.

‘ A large enclosure, surrounded by a stone wall, contained
a fine meadow, the grass of which was carefully cut and
dried, to be taken away by sleighs in the winter. There
were upwards of 250 milch cows at the Valdal saeters,
besides large numbers of heifers, calves, and horses, The
calves were kept at home ; every morning and evening they
were fed on a mixture of churned milk and flour, with
salt; or if no milk was to be had, on hot water, in which
juniper shrubs had been kept for a while.

‘At four o’clock in the morning we were awakened by
the ringing of the bells, which some of the cows wore
around their necks; they had come by themselves from
the mountains to be milked, and this was the signal for the
girls to rise. This they did at once, and were soon on
duty. . .-. Each buckling on her waist a belt from
which hung a horn filled with salt; this is given to the
cows as well as to the horses and sheep, generally in the
morning and evening, when they go to or from the
mountains,

‘After the milking the girls drove the cows up another
path in the mountains to new pastures, from which they
would come and go by themselves after knowing the way.
Qn their return the maidens went into the milk-room, the

186 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

door of which was always carefully closed, skimmed off the
cream which had been formed on the milk of previous days,
and putting it in the churn, they began to make the butter.
Others took the empty vessels to the river, and rubbed
them inside and outside with fine sand from the shore, and
afterwards with juniper branches, finishing by a thorough
rinsing in the stream. The pails are generally made. of
white pine, and are clean and spotless. Cheese day also
proves a busy time, and its work is done in the same
thorough manner. The room where the milk is kept was
marvellously neat; about 150 pails filled with it were on
the shelves, each being about twenty inches in diameter
and five inches deep, made of white pine, with wooden
hoops; the milking-pails stood on the floor ready to be used.
Several barrels for the churned milk and butter-milk, and
vessels for the butter, were also arranged in order.

‘On Sunday, after their morning milking, every one
commenced his or her toilet, as if getting ready to go to
church, putting on clean linen, and all their holiday clothes
and shoes. ‘lhe girls and their mother wore dresses of
thick dark-bluish woollen material, homespun, with cor-
sages of the same colour. The bottom of the skirt was
ornamented with a wide green band all around. The cor-
sage was open, and showed a handkerchief embroidered
with gold. Each girl wore a close-fitting little cap, which
seemed to be made only to hide the ends of her thick
luxuriant hair. No work was done, except what was
absolutely necessary ; some of the family read the Bible
and sung a few hymns of praise. After dinner visiting
took place from saeter to saeter, and the afternoon was
spent in the social fashion customary to the country.’

Du Chaillu went on such a visit with one of the maidens.
‘Early on Monday morning,’ says he, ‘ Everybody was up;
the horses were ready for the return of Nels to the farm ;
the pack-saddles were put on over two thicknesses of
woollen blanket; the butter, cheese, and milk for the
-working people on the farm were not forgotten ; the father,
in a quiet way, without kissing, said good-bye to all his

SAETER LIFE. 187

family, and soon was lost to sight in the windings of the
path beyond the lake.’ Du Chaillu also resumed his
Journey to visit other saeters.

‘From Lake Valdal, says he ‘ The path northward, over
the mountains, is wild and dreary, even in the beginning
large patches of snow having to be crossed.

‘ After leaving the lake we ascended over a rugged coun-
try above the birch region where juniper and Arctic ber-
ries were abundant. An hour’s walk brought us to the
shores of the lakelet Visadal Vand, not far from which was
an isolated poor-looking saeter built of loose stones. The
inside was far from clean; on one side were the beds,
placed on the rough slab-floor ; on the other the fire-place ;
in a corner lay a heap of juniper bushes, five or six pails,
a copper kettle for making cheese and boiling milk, a
coffee-pot, and a churn. The occupant of the saeter and
his wife welcomed me ; the man was apparently more than
‘eighty years of age, but hale and hearty ; he had travelled
about eighty miles to spend the summer here, and well
exemplified the hardiness of these mountaineers. This
saeter had 120 dry cows, belonging to many farmers, who
had sent them here to pasture. A hired woman and three
men had the charge of them, having also five milch cows
for their special use beside,’ He and the guide continued
their journey over bare rocks. and patches of snow, some-
times the horse taking one way up the steep ascent, and
they another, passing many cascades and waterfalls. Others
have told me the same tale, He writes, . . . ‘We
were still ascending, and our pass was more than 4000 feet
above the level of the sea. The fields of snow, which were
deep and soft, increased in size, and we had to cross one,
horse and all, almost one and a-half miles long: now and
then we saw tracks of wild reindeer. Suddenly we found
a track of red snow in the midst of the white, the first I
had ever seen. I imagined a reindeer had been killed
there, and that the snow had been stained by its blood.’
‘This is gammel snow—old snow,’ said my guide. As we
advanced these rose-coloured’ patches became more nume-

188 FORESTRY UF NORWAY,

rous. Some of them being fifteen feet long, the effect was
very striking. This red snow is always fuund in the large
melting patches, and its colour is due chiefly to the pres-
ence of minute vegetable organisms, enclosing an oily-like
red liquid, this alga is known as Haematococeus—Protococ-
cus nivalis. We then passed on the border of Vasdalseggen,
where the mountains, largely covered with snow, range in
the direction of north north-west. After we had traversed
this plateau for about three hours it slopped downwards to
the east, and a toilsome tramp through wet snow brought
Lake Bjoerne into view. On its shores I saw cattle graz-
ing, and not far off the smoke curling from a solitary pige
saeter—girl saeter, in this mountain home of the wild rein-
deer.

‘Every year, towards the latter part of June, from. the
Hardanger fiord, or from Roeldal, a farmer, accompanied
by two girls, with a drove of milch cows crosses these
mountains. During the summer the girls are left to take
care of the cattle, and to attend to the diary.

‘It was late in the day when we arrived at this lonely
place ; the girls came out to see who the strangers were,
suddenly disappearing at our approach, to put on their
best clothes to receive us. They wore the costume of the
girls at Roeldal, and their caps were set very coquettishly
on their heads. One had red stockings, the other blue,’

M. Du Chaillu goes on to describe the life and occupa-
tion of the girls, which were similar to those of the first
saeter visited by him. I have been pleased with what I
have heard of the chivalrous respect with which the saeter
girls are treated by young men, their acquaintances, occa-
sionally visiting them; and with what has been told me
of young women completely non-plussing young men who
had presumed to think they might be trifled with with
impunity. One scene flashes itself .upon my memory: a
brave maiden raising into threatening position the handle
of her broom, and, with contempt in look and tone, speaking
to the cowed bully, much as God spake to Sennacherib,

SAETER LIFE, 189

‘The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and
laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath
shaken her head at thee, while the would-be bravado
looked like a whipped cur.

‘In Norway,’ it is said, ‘ butter and cheese are much used
as food. There are three peculiar kinds of cheese:—1.
The Mysost is made from the whey remaining from the
common cheese, boiled till the water is evaporated ; then
it is shaped into square cakes, weighing from two to five
pounds; the colour is dark brown. It must stand at least
a day before it is fit to be eaten. It is only made at the
saeters where wood is plentiful, for it requires a great deal
of fuel. It is eaten in thin slices, and with bread and
butter; women and children are especially fond of it.
The best is from goats’ milk. It should hardly be called
a cheese, as it consists chiefly of sugar and milk. 2. Camel-
ost, made from sour skimmed milk, is a fermented round
cheese which is kept for months in the cellar. 3. Pult-ost
is also a fermented cheese mixed with carraway seeds, not
formed into cakes, but preserved in wooden tubs.’

The Mys-ost has a sweetish flavour. It is the colour of
Windsor soap, and nearly the shape of a brick. The
Camel-ost, or old cheese, when good, reminds one of stilton
in the very last stage of decay.

CHAPTER XVIII.
VALLEYS.

DescenDiING from the high-lying plateaux with their
snow-fields and glaciers, and passing saeters scattered
among the hills, we find we are brought by a succession
of valleys towards the coast. As we journey adown these
valleys it may occur to us that the origin of them we
have seen in the apparent level of the fjelds from which
we have come.

Of the plateau of Southern Norway, Dr Broch writes:
‘From this plateau issue all the great water-courses and
rivers of Southern Norway. They take their rise in part
from marshes, in part from the névés, in part from deep
basins without any apparent affluents, in part from lofty
eminencies where the sources are unseen, but where are
constantly being condensed the currents of humid air
coming from the west. At their birth the rivers wind
about on the plateau in innumerable small tortuous fur-
rows, which go from pool to pool, from hollow to hollow,
from lakelet to lakelet. Having attained mediocre develop-
meat, they rush along in sinuosities from pond to pond,
and at length from lake to lake. These reservoirs follow
in succession, like strings of pearls, the smaller they are
the closer are they together. The more the land is cut
up, the deeper also are the waters, and in general the
more restricted in size. And it is no small portion of the
area of the plateau which is covered with stagnant water
which, as do also the running waters, abound in fishes and
frogs.’

These water-courses are incipient valleys—they are
valleys in the plateaux—valleys which may yet become in

VALLEYS. iol

the course of ages wider and deeper, with well-defined
slopes, and already they are the upper portions of the
valleys which lie far beneath, into which they lead; and
the thalweg, or valley-course, may be traced by the con-
tinuous flow of the water by the rivers, from these stream-
lets on the plateaux to the mouth of these, by which the
water of a million rills, or a million million of them,
flows into the sea.

Treating lakes as we have done, as expansions of rivu-
lets or rivers filling some hollow or valley, we come
naturally to consider valleys as river-courses and lake
basins; and such they are—in some few cases having sup-
plied water leadings and reservoirs; in most, having been
fashioned, if not also formed, by the flow of water or of
ice—formed, it may be, by the latter, and fashioned by
the subsequent water-flow. In the descriptions given
both of rivers and of lakes we have found the setting of
the picture to be valley scenery; but the valleys may be
described apart.

Williams, a graphic writer, of whose word paintings I
am glad to avail myself, supplies an illustration. In con-
tinuation of a narrative which he gives of a journey which
he made across the Dovrefjeld and into regions beyond,
he writes: ‘The road beyond the station [Bjerkager]
commands fine views of the valley, a deep ravine, thickly
wooded with fir trees, and the river dotted with pine-
covered islands, There are many indications of glacier
action hereabouts, similar to those in the valley of the
Driva, but more extensive and decided.

‘The rich verdure of the Guldbrandsdal prevails over
the greater part of the country through which I have
walked to-day, and the fields are carpeted with sweet
flowers as were those of yesterday. I little expected to find
this element of heauty so generally prevalent in the far
North” Passing Soknaes station he writes: ‘The road
now enters the Guldalen, or valley of the Gula, the view
down which is very beautiful. It is a rich. cultivated

192 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

valley, the river winding through a fine wooded plain, and
round about green knolls and mounds, that have a very
complicated appearance even from above. On descending
the valley, and walking a few miles down it, the structure
upon which the peculiar appearance depends becomes
evident.

‘There are two very distinct kinds of valleys commonly
met with in mountainous countries: one, the long narrow
ravine, a mere stone trough, formed by the rocky slopes of
tbe mountain sides meeting each other at an angle; this
angle being more or less choked with fragments of fallen
rock, among which a torrent roars. These valleys vary very
considerably in their features according to their elevation,
the steepness of their sides, and the character of the rock
composing them. Some are deep gorges, with barren and
almost perpendicular walls; others have a more gradual
incline, and their sides are covered with woods, or culti-
vated ledges and slopes. The other is the open, basin-
shaped valley. This, like all valleys of any considerable
extent, gives path to a river or small stream; but if the
wide basin-shaped valley be deepest in the middle, as is
usually the case, the river fills the hollow, and forms a
lake, spreading itself out in calm repose after its fitful
journey among the rocks above. Thus, the lake of
Geneva is the sleeping Rhine. That of Constance is the
Rhine reposing in like manner. The Mediterranean is a
larger valley filled with waters, where many rivers sleep.
And the ocean is the main valley of the world, the final
resting-place of all the rivers.

‘ There is-another modification of this open basin-shaped
valley, where a lake of earth, generally fertile soil, takes
the place of the outspread river. This is easily accounted
for. The toiling river brings a burden with it, which it
‘lays down at its resting-place. So long as it continues in
rapid motion, stirred and eddied by the resisting rock, it is
turbid and milky with the suspended particles it has
abraded from the mountain sides, but when it becomes
quiescent, these sink to the bottom, the largest first, and

VALLEYS. 193

so on; and the river issues from the other end clear and
ees, ready to resume its levelling labours lower
own.

‘By such a process of deposition are these wide valleys
gradually filled up, and then the river flows gently in a
long winding course through the rich territory of its own
depositing, like an old man calmly enjoying the fruits of
his early. toil, and contemplating the good deeds of his
youth ; for the youthful river, in the brawling early days
of its mountain life, is doing good servise to the world
in thus converting desolation into fertility. Nearly all the
fertile plains of the earth have been created thus by the
industry of rivers.

‘Besides these there is seen yet another kind of valley,
partaking of the characters of both of the above: a long
trough-like valley formed by the mountain sides, but which
widens as it-proceeds downwards, and branches into the
great valley of the sea. The waters of the sea fill its lower
part, and an estuary, firth, or fiord is formed. These in like
manner are continually being filled up by the rivers which
come to rest in the waters of the sea, and deposit their
burdens there. Thus has Holland; the master-piece and
last labour of the Rhine, been formed.

_ ‘The Gula, into whose valley I now descend, presents some
illustrations of these river agencies, and a problem to boot.
The mounds and knolls that appeared so complex from
above are seen from below to be formed by the river cut-
ting its way through the alluvium it has deposited, This
may have been effected in two ways ; the deposit may have
been made in a lake filling a basin-shaped valley, and the
river may have cut down and lowered the channel of its
outlet considerably beyond its original depth, and thus have
not only drained the waters of the lake, but have given suffi- -
cient inclination and velocity to the river to enable it to
carry with it much of the soft earthy matter over which it
was flowing; or it may be that this was an estuary valley,
an ancient fiord, up which the sea stretched an arm, the
alluvium being deposited by the river when it entered the

ca)

194 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

sea; and after this was done, the whole valley, mountains,
river, and its deposits were all uplifted by the fiery forces
within the earth, which battle against the working of the
waters outside, raising new mountains while the waters
wear the old ones down. Such an uplifting would lengthen
the journey of the river, as the sea rolled back from the
uplifted land. In its new course the river would cut
through the soft plain it had formerly deposited on the
bottom of the ancient fiord, and continue cutting down till
it reached nearly the level of the sea; and thus the depth
of the cutting would measure the amount of uplifting.

‘Throughout nearly the whole of to-day’s walk—about
twenty-five miles—terraces formed of alluvium were
visible. In some parts the river flows at the foot of a steep
bank of even slope, above three hundred feet high, the top
of which isa cultivated or wooded level; at other parts there
are several step-like terraces, parallel roads, as they are
called in Scotland. Near to Medhaus station I counted
five of these, one above the other, and perfectly parallel.
From the course of the river, and configuration of the
valley, I suspect that these terraces have been formed in an
estuary which has been rendered high and dry by the up-
lifting of the land. If so all the neighbouring valleys that
carry considerable rivers into the sea should present similar
phenomena, more or less distinctly marked.’ That this
is the case with some of them,I knew from reading the
accounts of other travellers. It is the general opinion of
geologists that the whole of Scandinavia has been uplifted
at a geologically recent period.

CHAPTER XIX.

FOREST EXPLOITATION, TRANSPORT OF TIMBER, AND
EXPORT TIMBER TRADE,

From a friend who has travelled mere extensively in
Norway than I have done, I have learned—and the
information is in accordance with what may be seen from
numerous forest maps which have been issued by the
Government—that most of the forests are found along
river-courses. They extend from half a mile to three or
four miles from the banks of the river, and up the preci-
pitous hill-sides beyond. Sometimes the continuity is
broken abruptly on the river-bed by perpendicular cliffs ;
but the forest extends on the table-land above, like a
dislocated geological stratum, or the further side of a dyke
or fault, and this gives, as has been stated before, a char-
acter to the exploitation of the forests, in connection with
the bringing out of the timber.

Many of the forests are private property ; others belong
to commercial proprietors. In both classes of forests the
right to fell timber is generally let to contractors possessed
of large capital, by whom arrangements for felling wood
upon an extensive scale are made.

Previous to the introduction, of late years, of an
improved forest economy, the system of exploitation or
working usually adopted was one intermediate between
that known in France as Jardinage, felling only such trees
as were desired,and that known as A tire e¢ atre,in which the
forest is divided into as many sections as periods required
for the reproduction of the crops, and these are cleared in
succession, but only one in each period: the coupés, or fell-
ings in different periods in these Norwegian forests not
being regulated in extent by precise measurement, but

196 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

being determined by the convenience of the contractor ;
and only trees suitable for his purpose being felled.
These are generally trees, on an average, a little under
two feet in diameter; and all such are felled, leaving after
them but a poor and scraggy crop of growing trees to
replace, in course of time, if they can, what has been
removed,

In Norway there is no lack of means for transporting
the felled timber by water to the coast. In many places
the felled trees, stripped only of their larger boughs, are
tumbled into a mountain stream, to be by it borne to the
nearest river or lake; in others, they are shot along arti-
ficially constructed slides, leading to some lake or river.
These slides are in structure intermediate between the
chemins & trainaux and the langoirs or glissoires artificiels,
used in France. They are about 5 feet wide. Sleepers
are laid across the line at about equal distances apart, and
upon these are laid, lengthwise, trunks of young trees
about 5 or 6 inches apart, and often so arranged that those
at the sides are somewhat higher than those in the middle
so as to form a groove of sufficient depth to keep the shot
timber in the slide. In some cases these slides run
directly down the declivity to the river or lake to which
they are destined to convey the timber. In other cases,
they run across the side of the hill in a slanting direction.
In some places earth is removed to allow of the desired
angle of inclination being secured. More frequently this
is attained by the slide being supported at places by piles
of earth or beams. When necessary, they are carried on
supports across small valleys, or watercourses, separating
the forest on the one side of a mountain from the forest
on the side of another; and occasionally there may be
seen their straight course altered only by an angle more or
less abrupt. Atsuch places there is generally raised at the
outer angle of the slide a bank against which the trees
may strike in their descent and then recoil into the new
direction; these by the new direction thus given to their

TRANSPORT AND EXPORT TIMBER TRADE. 197

course, go on, sometimes head foremost, and sometimes
making first a complete somersault or revolution. In
general also a workman, or it may be two, or even three,
are stationed at these points with long poles to aid at the
time the movement of any trees which might otherwise
be in danger of sticking fast and blocking the way. The
slides in general lead to pools of considerable depth in a
lake or river. Into these the trees ofttimes descend more
than their entire length, starting up again vertically before
setting off anew on their course.

Much. débris is found all about such spots; but it is
compazatively seldom that logs are seriously damaged.
The quantity of splinters may be, to a great extent, com-
posed of the lesser branches left on the tree when placed
in the slide.

Brands or marks may be seen upon some logs. These
are, I presume, the marks of the woodcutter or the con-
tractor, made to enable each one to claim his own property
should logs belonging to different proprietors get mixed
together.

The logs are carried down by the river, and if the
river falls into a lake, they are—at the embouchure of the
river—collected and formed into a raft; and such rafts
are sometimes towed by a little steamer across the lake
to its outlet. If the stream flowing thence be smooth,
they may be floated further as a raft; if it proceed over
waterfalls in its course, the logs are unchained and allowed
to float down apart, to be reformed into a raft below these,
if circumstances allow of this. Notwithstanding the care
which may be taken, many logs are stranded on the banks
of the lakes and rivers. The logs are cut into size and
‘shape for the foreign market by saw-muills near the coast,
which are driven by water-power.

Saw-mills of the simplest structure, consisting only of
a water-wheel and a circular saw, fixed apparently on the
same axle, are common appendages to farmhouses in-the
country. They are employed in cutting up the firewood
required for the family and their retainers.

198 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

By Forrester it is mentioned that in some cases two
years have been occupied in the transport to the sea of
the timber cut in the upper mountains. From this some
idea may be formed of the difficulties which have to be
overcome, and which are overcome, by the indomitable
industry of the people.

I have stated what I saw and learned of timber floatage
Torristal, or Otter-elv [ante. p. 4], and what I saw of
the floatage of timber on the Glommen [ante. p. 10].

There, as elsewhere, logs are transported from the spot
where they are felled to the banks of the nearest stream,
and marked with the initials of the owner. On the melt-
ing of the ice they are pushed into the current, and the
contributions of many affluents find their way to the river,
which may at the time be covered with the floating masses,
which become more or less compactly interlaced, till some
projecting rock in the bank or, the river bed arresting
some, others are impeded and stopped in their course, and
ultimately many thousands, it may be, are stopped, and
piled up ina confused heap. It is perilous work to break
up the piled mass, and set the logs afloat upon the stream
again. In doing'so, ‘the men employed go about balancing
themselves on detached logs in the middle of the stream,
pushing on each log by means of a boat-hook, till at last
the mass of logs hanging together begins to be disturbed
and shake, and then comes the struggle for the men to
regain the shore. The skill which the men display in dis-
entangling the logs, the agility with which they run about
and maintain their balance on the floating logs, as well as
on those which are fixed, the intelligence which they apply
to the separation and setting afloat again of all those
interlaced logs, and, in fine, the courage with which they
face all these perils, are all of them worthy of admiration,’
The statement is cited from the report by Dr Broch.

The author of the work entitled Frost and Fire, to
which I am indebted for the sketch of logs performing the

TRANSPORT AND EXPORT TIMBER TRADE. 199

Halling dance below the waterfall on the Torristal river,
some distance above Christiansand, tells that after the logs
have been launched ‘many get waterlogged and sink ; and
these may be seen strewed in hundreds upon the bottom,
far down in clear green lakes,’ and he goes on to say :—

‘Many get stranded on the mountain gorges, and span
the torrent like bridges; others get planted like masts
amongst the boulders; others sail into quiet bays, and
rest upon soft mud.

‘But in spring, when the floods are up, another class of
woodmen follow the logs and drive on the lingerers. They
launch the bridges, and masts, and stranded rafts, help
them through the lakes, and push them into the stream ;
and so from every twig on the branching river floats gather
as the river gathers on its way to the sea.

‘Sometimes great piles of timber get stranded, jammed,
and entangled upon a shallow, near the head of a narrow
rapid ; and then it is no easy or safe employment to start
them. Men armed with axes, levers, and long slender
boat-hooks, start down in crazy boats, and clamber over
slippery stones and rocks to the float, where they wade
and crawl about amongst the trees, to the danger of life
and limb. They work with might and main at the base
of the stack, hacking, dragging, and pushing, till the whole
mound gives way, and rolls and slides rumbling and crash-
ing into the torrent, where it scatters and rushes onwards,

‘It is a sight worth seeing. The brown shoal of trees
rush like living things into the white water, and charge
full tilt, end on, straight at the first curve in the bank.
There is a hard bump and a vehement jostle; for there
are no crews to paddle and steer these floats. The dashing
sound of raging water is varied by the deep musical] notes
-of the battle between wood and stone. Water pushes
wood, tree urges tree, till logs turn over and whirl round,
and rise up out of the water, and sometimes even snap
and splinter like dry reeds,

‘The rock is broken, and crushed, and dinted at the

-water-line by a whole fleet of battering-rams, and the

200 ¥YORESTRY OF NORWAY.

square ends of the logs are rounded; so both combatants
retain marks of the strife.’

Like pictures might be cited from Rambles in Norway,
by Thomas Forester, Esq., and others.

In the Revue des Eaux et Foréts is given an extract from
a report of M. de Reujoux, Consular Agent of France at
Christiania, On the exportation of wood from Norway,
which had appeared in the Bulletin Consulaire Francais,
of which the following is a translation :—‘The exportation
of wood from Norway in the year 1880 amounted to
894,816 tons. England occupies the first place, with an
increase over 1879 of 156,498 tons— viz., 33,345 tons of
planed wood, 37,564 tons of sawn wood, 85,589 tons of spars
and mine props of two dimensions. Then comes France,
with an augmentation over 1879 of 26,567 tons—viz.,
planed wood, 4,355 tons ; sawn wood, 17,967 tons ; beams,
2,639 tons; staves, 1,608 tons. The exportation to Ger-
many has considerably fallen off, owing to the rigorous en-
forcement of protective duties since the 1st October 1879,
leading to a decrease of 23,599 tons in 1880, chiefly in
planed wood.

‘Norway has founda new outlet for its timber produce in
Holland, in consequence of the abolition of impost, which
impost formerly rendered exports to this country almost
impossible. During the year 1880 about two-thirds of the
wood sent to Holland merely passed through it in transit
to Germany. Consequently, of the 38,942 tons sent to

Holland, only 19,862 tons could be assigned to the trade
in Holland.

‘With regard to Australia, it is impossible to supply pre-
cise numbers, seeing that England sends thither much of
what she herself imports from Norway. The direct ex-
portation to Australia (11,575 tons) is considerably above
that of 1870, which only amounted to 7,787 tons. The
last three years (1878, 1879, and 1880) give a mean of
6,382 tons.

TRANSPORT AND EXPORT TIMBER TRADE. 201

‘With Africa since 1870 transactions have been continu-
ously augmenting.

1870 Sw 5 ‘i ‘ - . 823 tons
1879 a i . . ‘ A 3,806 ,,
1880 . . ‘ . ‘ ; 7,646 ,,

_‘Spain is of no importance to Norway in connection with
timber exports, nor will be so long as the present system
of taxation there is continued.

‘ With Belgium business has manifested some develop-
ment in 1880, but the impost duty still shackles it
considerably.

‘It follows from a comparison of the totals of the quan-
tities exported during the years 1879 and 1880 that the
export of wood during 1880 has exceeded that of the pre-
ceding year by 187,546 tons which is divided in so far as
the different kinds of wood are concerned as follows :—

1880, 1879. 1880. Tao.
. ; . 1880.
Kixps oF Woop. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tone,
Planed Wood, No. 1 ........eceeeeeeee 193,654 | 164,682 | 28,972 _

Sawn Wood, No. 2.......0..0ce0eee00 245,548 | 176,893 | 68,655 —_

Spars, Mine Supports, Nos. 4-8,

LO, Wsdsicccsanttsetsnrtvanssccterers 295,616 | 207,497 | 88,119 _
Beams, No. 3 ........... 88,519 | 102,054 _— 13,535
Staves, Nos. 12, 13 30,061 | 26,148 9,913 -
Other Woods (Danish No. 9)...,...| 29,576 | 29,996 — 420
Laths and Firewood, No, 14........ 11,842 — 11,842 =

Totals,........... wave 894,816 | 707,270 | 201,501 | 13,955
—
Difference in excess, 1880, gs ia ae 187,546

With the exception of the years 1871, 1872, 1874, and
1876, Norway has never exported so much wood as in
1880. The exports of late years are otherwise shown by
the following table :—

1880, ; ; . 894,816 tons,
1879, , ; ; » 706,950 ,,

902 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

1878, , . . 737,014 tons.
1877, F ; 3 : 830,508 ,,
1876, , ; : | 932,654 ;,
1875, f ‘ p a 751,309 .,

‘Since 1870 the exportation of planed wood shows a
continuous augmentation. In 1880 it amounted to more
than one-fifth of the whole export, showing an increase,
which was progressive, from 96,445 tons in 1870 to
193,654 in 1880. Sawn wood, on the contrary, has fallen
from 428,553 tons in 1870 to 245,548 tons in 1880. Spars
and mine supports have increased from 100,552 tons in
1870 to 295,616 tons in 1880. Lastly, staves have in-
creased from 19,631 tons in 1870 to 30,061 tons in 1880.

‘ The six principal Norwegian ports, arranged according
to the importance of the wood exports, give for the years
1880 and 1879 the following results :—

1880. 1879.

Tons. Tons.
Fredrikstadt . ‘ : . 132,383 107,244
Christiania ‘ . ‘ . 126,234 90,838
Dranimen ‘ F . . 117,270 87,783
Christiansand . ‘ ‘ . 63,739 41,994
Fredrikshald . : . . 53,436 34,583
Arendal . . « ‘ . 50,585 46,038
Totals. - é . 533,647 408,481

‘It may be seen from this table that the town of Fredrik-
stadt occupies for the past, and it always will occupy, the
first place, on account of its advantageous position at the
embouchure of the Glommen. Indeed, the general report
for the year 1880 shows that in the basin of the Glommen
there have been marked by the traders 185,395 tylters
and three pieces of trees. (A tylter contains twelve trees,
felled and bound together.) These 185,395 dozen trees
have been floated and delivered to the owners at their
mills, with only a loss of 3 per 200. This is far beyond
what they had expected, according to the prospects sug-
gested by the spring and summer of the year preceding.

‘The good result has been equally complete in the

TRANSPORT AND EXPORT TIMBER TRADE, 203

greater part of the water-courses utilised for floatage, so
that of the 680,000 dozen nearly which have been floated
throughout the entire country, there has remained scarcely
8 per cent., or 54,000 dozens, of which 30,000 dozens belong
to the basins of Krageroe, of Arendal, of Christiansand,
and of Mendal, where there were marked about 125
dozens.

‘The mean gross price of the wood floated in 1880 in
the basin of the Glommen (calculated according to the
results yielded by more than 100,000 dozens) was 25
crowns 26 ore, about 26s 6d sterling per dozen. Conse-
quently there had been paid to proprietors of forests in
the basin of the Glommen for the 185,335 dozens of wood
delivered for floatage in 1880 a gross amount of 4,683,077
crowns, which sum, after deduction of 1,345,000 crowns
for felling, sorting, carriage, and floatage, shows that the
proprietors have been benefited to the extent of 3,337,077
crowns (£183,610.) .

‘The exports of wood from Sweden in 1879 were less
satisfactory ; and of about 890,000 dozens of old and new
wood, 500,000 dozens only were floated and delivered.’

CHAPTER XX.
SHIPBUILDING AND SHIPPING.

In Norway there is a great consumption of wood as fuel
for domestic purposes and in manufactures; there is also
a great consumption of it in buildings constructed entirely
of timber, and in carpentry, in the manufacture of furni-
ture, in the construction of railroads, and in the construc-
tion of carriages of various kinds. Surpassing all these in
interest for foreigners, is the consumption of it in ship-
building ; but that more in reference to the shipping pro-
duced than the quantity of timber thus employed. From
of old the Norsemen have been famous for their maritime
enterprise. It may be that it was as sea-rovers that they
found their way to Scandinavia. The course followed by
the Lapps, and that subsequently followed by the Finns,
can be traced from the east through Northern Russia ; but
it is not so with the Norsemen.

It is alleged that the Lofoden fishing boat of the present
day is almost exactly of the same build as the war galleys
of the ancient Vikings, in which they ravaged every shore
of Europe from, the bleak and storm-beat coasts of Orkney
and Shetland, to the sunny Isles of Greece. There is the
same lofty prow, the same sheer, and the single lofty mast
with its heavy square sail.

In a treatise on Prehistoric Sweden, by Oscar Montelius,
it is stated that there was found in a peat-bog at Nydam,
in Jutland, two large boats, accompanied by Roman coins of
the second century, and numerous articles belonging to the
first age of iron. They were clincher-built. The one of
oak, the other of pine. They were not decked, and they ter-
minated beth before and aft in a point, were fitted only

SHIPBUILDING AND SHIPPING. 205

for oars, and showed no trace of a mast. The oaken boat
was remarkable for the elegance and the flexibility of its
outlines ; it measured 24 metres, 80 feet, between the high
points of the two stems; the greatest breadth was 3°50
metres, nearly twelve feet. It was propelled by means of
14 pairs of oars, exactly like those of our own day, the
rudder was narrow, and had been attached to one of the
sides of the boat.

A boat in most particulars resembling these, but which
belonged to the age of iron, was found at Tune, near
Frederikstad, in Norway. This had still preserved the
remains of a mast.

A year or two ago an ancient Viking ship, which had
been deposited in a grave mound at Sandeherred, in Nor-
way, was discovered and disinterred for preservation in the
Museum of Antiquities connected with the University of
Christiania. Great importance was attached to it. While
the operation of disinterment was being prosecuted, a
correspondent of the Hamburgh Correspondent, writing
from Bergen, said:—‘A measurement made on the 14th
May showed the length ofthe portion already excavated to
-be 714 feet, and it is estimated that the total length will
be about 75 feet. As regards the equipment of the ship,
it is evident that, when deposited in the grave mound, it
was as fully armed and equipped as when it lay ready to
sail on a Viking expedition. So far as can be judged at
the present stage of the process of excavation, all the
appliances in use at the time for evolutions at sea are
represented with quite remarkable completeness. The
greater part of a mast in good condition remains; the
entire length of the mast seems to have been about 22
feet. Remnants of sails and tackle are frequent, as also
fragments or complete specimens of ships’ utensils and
divisions, the place and application of which it will be the
difficult task of antiquarians to solve. Several wooden
articles of a peculiar form have been found in excellent
preservation, and executed with remarkable skill. That
these articles, which-are about one and a-half feet in length,

206 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

were used as grooves through which the ropes passed is
evident from the fact that their circular openings are
completely worn by use—a proof, at the same time, that
this ship must have frequently ploughed the sea before
finding a last resting-place in the grave mound. How these
pieces of wood, which are constructed of excellent oak,
were fastened to the mast or the body of a ship, isa
problem, the solution of which will be of great interest.
If this point be successfully cleared up we will obtain a
hitherto unexpected insight into the method in which a
Norwegian Viking ship was handled during manceuvres in
the eighth or ninth century. Among the other wooden
implements are several spades almost entire. A fact of
very great interest is the finding of many shields, or,
speaking more correctly, remnants of shields; for of the
wooden sbield nothing has been preserved to us but the
iron plate which strengthened its outer side. From the
present position of these remnants it is evident that a
great part of the inner side of the bulwarks formed
hanging places for the shields of the crew. The distance
between each shield is found to be almost exactly 1} feet,
aud it is probable that the number of the shields nearly
corresponds with the number of fighting men on board;
Of human remains only a few calcined bones have, as yet,
been found, which seem to indicate that either the bedies
of these latter, or of the persons buried on the spot had
been burned. On the other hand, the skeletons of three
horses have been discovered, two on the right and one on
left side of the stern. It is possible that the opening of
the grave itself, which is in the centre of the ship, may
bring more human remains to light ; but the latter remains
as yet untouched, the principal object having hitherto
been to free the ship in its entire length and breadth from
the surrounding masses of earth. After the excavation
has been completed the ship will be drawn up to the
surface.’

The roof of a cathedral church, built in what is popu:

SHIPBUILDING AND SHIPPING. 207

larly known as the Norman style of architecture, has
been often likened to the over-arching boughs of a forest
forming a long and lofty vista, with lesser, but like vistas,
on either hand. In Norway I met with a different account
of this: I found it likened to the upturned boat which was
used in olden times to roof an earthen house, a sepulchre,
or a temple—a representation in stone of an ancient boat so
employed, commemorating with the luxury of advanced
civilisation, wealth and power, memories of the childhood
of the nation,

While an improved and increased shipping of late years
witnessed in Norway is intimately connected with the
later development of commerce in that country, as else-
where, it is as manifestly an effect as it is a cause of that
development; and in Norway, while it has facilitated the
transport and exportation of timber, it has also increased
the home consumption of this by the demand it has made
for a supply of home-grown timber to be used in the.con.
struction of the vessels.

‘The Norwegians may be characterised as a maritime
people ; and in proportion to the population, the first place
must be allotted to them in this respect.

At the end of 1875 the mercantile navy of Norway was
composed of 7,814 vessels, of an aggregate tonnage of
1,419,300 tons English, with an aggregate crew of 60,281
men. This gives for every thousand of the population 781
tons, while at the same period there were for every thou-
sand of the population of Britain 210 tons of British
vessels. In the United States of America the proportion
was 90,in Russia 10. Even in regard to tonnage alone
Norway took the third place, being only surpassed by Great,
Britain and the United States of America.

_ By Dr Broch there are supplied tabulated statements. of
the number, tonnage, and crews of the Norwegian mer-
chant navy in 1767, 1792, 1800, and every five years
thereafter till 1850, and every year thereafter till 1876,
giving the number of ships, the tonnage, the mean tonnage,

208 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

the crew, the proportion of these per thousand tons, and the
number of steamers, tonnage, crews, and horse-powers of
these; and of the annual additions made and losses sustained
by the mercantile navy in each year from 1861 till 1875,
giving the number and tonnage of vessels built in Norway,
of vessels purchased abroad, of vessels sold abroad, of
vessels lost at sea, and vessels condemned; the means of
each of these particulars in the successive semi-decades,
and like particulars in both respects relative to steamers.
He gives like tabulated statements of the number and
tonnage of vessels entering Norwegian ports from abroad,
loaded and in ballast, of vessels leaving Norwegian ports,
loaded and in ballast, for foreign ports, and the number
of each of these categories entering or leaving laden; the
number of Norwegian vessels sailing between foreign ports,
arriving and departing, and the number of these in cargo.

From the first of these tabulated statements it appears
that the mercantile navy has doubled within the last pre-
ceding ten years, and quadrupled in the last twenty-three
years. The increase dates from the opening of English
ports in 1850, and from demands arising out of the Crimean
war. But the second shows that while the increase in
numbers was made both by construction and purchase, the
great increase in proportionate tonnage was by purchase,
the average tonnage of the vessels built being 228 tons,
the average tonnage of those bought, 392 tons.

The average size of the vessels has been more than
doubled within the last twenty years; in 1855 it was 83
tons, in 1875 180 tons.

The greater portion of the Norwegian merchant ships
are sailing vessels, but the number of steamers is con-
‘siderable.

The value of the mercantile navy of Norway amounted in

1850 to “i ‘ 93 million f; *
1868 to : 260 ef aatcat
1874to0 ; 278 3

1875 to. : 267

* In round numbers 26 francs may be reckoned equivalent to a guinea,

SHIPBUILDING AND SHIPPING. 209

In general, the captain holds a share in the ship, and
sometimes he is sole owner; and the greater part of the
shipowners are old captains, well acquainted with what
ships should be, and what sbips should do.

Captains and mates of vessels sailing to foreign ports
must undergo an examination in navigation, and must
have served a certain time as seamen. There are 15
navigation schools maintained by the State, or by com-
munes. From 1871 to 1876, upon an average 1432 candi-
dates presented themselves for examination. The Nor-
wegian seamen are generally skilful and well-behaved, and
the country is proud of them. Many Norwegian seamen
serve in foreign vessels, more especially those of Ureat
Britain, and of the United States of America.

Dr Broch gives a tabulated statement of the annual
consumption of victuals in the State hospital in Chris-
tiania, in the workmen’s economic dining halls in
Christiania, in the Royal navy, in the merchant navy,
and in the army, in camp and in garrison. From this it
appears that the diet in the mercantile navy is very satis-
factory—the consumption of butter is astounding: it is
given as 26 kogren per annum.

The census of 1865 gives the following as the numbers
of persons mainly occupied with navigation :—

Heads of Other Members Domestics.

Family. of Family,
In Towns, ‘ F 13,386 21,613 1,835
In Country Districts, 17,647 20,171 1,947
In whole Kingdom, . 31,033 41,834 3,782

Or a total of 76,649 persons, equal to 4°5 per cent. of
the entire population.

By Dr Broch there is given the number of strandings
and of shipwrecks which have occurred on different, parts
of the coast ; the total number of these ; and the number

g

210 FORESTS OF NORWAY.

of men lost; with a classification of the vessels according
to the national flag which they bore. From these 1t
appears that the mean annual loss from 1871 to 1875 was
2°37 per cent. of the vessels, and 3:05 per cent. of the ton-
nage. On an average 176 men were lost annually by ship-
wreck; in 1873, 1874, 1875, about 300 men, it was
calculated, died of disease. Mes

There are numerous maritime insurance companies 1n
Norway. Formerly, say from 1814 to 1837, assurance was
generally effected in Hamburg. In 1875 there were
in Norway 18 assurance companies, insuring that year
against loss 282 million francs, on premiums amounting to
2,780,000 francs.

The coast is well lighted, according to most approved
methods, throughout its entire extent. In the end of 1876
there were 120 lighthouses, and one light-ship, many of
them of a high-class, and constructed according to the sys-
tem of Freesnal. Of these 108 were maintained by the State,
built at an expense of 5,700,000 francs. The others are
port lights, maintained by communes. The expense of
lighting the coast and of signals wasin 1875 808,600
francs.

Pilotage was first established by law in 1720. Sundry
changes have from time to time been made in the laws
relative to it. The fundamental regulations now in force
are embodied in the law of 17th June 1869. These pre-
scribe the organisation and the tariff. Pilotage is com-
pulsory only on vessels coming from or going to foreign
ports, and vessels of above 104 tons going to or returning
from the fishing. The prohibition of employing others
than members of the staff, which was previously in force, was
then abolished ; and the obligation to employ these in their
turn in going out, and to employ the first who boards on
entering, was modified so far that such must be paid, but
they need not be employed.

A fund in aid of pilots was organised in 1805, lending
money free of interest for equipping pilot boats, and su :
porting the aged and infirm, and widows and children,

SHIPBUILDING AND SHIPPING. aii

The Norwegian pilots are famous tor their skill, and
energy, and daring ; but every year some are lost. In the
fifteen years 1861-1875, 126 pilots were drowned, of which
98 perished in the service, and 26 at sea, but not at the
time so engaged.

At several localities there are stationed life-boats and
safety rockets, the latter being in some places necessary,
the stony coast being such that no life-boat could reach
the shore ina storm. The annual budget for expense of
maintaining these stations amounts to 1700 francs. In
the twenty-two years subsequent to 1855, when the stations
were organised, safety rockets have been employed in 11
cases ot shipwreck, and they have saved 69 men.

For all of this information I am indebted to the report
by Dr Broch.

CHAPTER XXI.
FOREST DEVASTATION.

NotTWITHSTANDING the great recuperative power mani-
fested by Norwegian forests, of which mention has been
made, they are, under the excessive drain made upon
them in districts favourably situated for the prosecution
of trade in timber, being greatly impoverished. Of this
there are indications in more than one of the official
reports mentioned in connection with the information
given in a previous chapter relative to the geographical
distribution of different kinds of trees in Norway.
Amongst these is a report on the condition of the forests
in Romsdal county, which lies between the Dovrefjeld
and the sea, along the coast to the south of Drontheim
fiord, where the shore trends to the south-west, passing the
town giving its name to the county. The report is by
Johannes Schioetz, LL.B. Forest-Assistant, and was
issued by the Forest Section of the Department of the
interior in 1871.

In this it is reported in regard to the amount of forest.
in the County of Romsdal :—

‘Large forests cannot be expected in this county owing
to the natural formation, which is mountainous, and greatly
intersected by fiords; moreover, the narrow valleys are
cultivated, and the mountain sides often nearly bare rock.
The inhabitants are often in want of fuel: turf also being
rare. Even in the lower districts the mountains rise above
the forest line, and on the coast the inhabitants and sea-
breezes have almost completely destroyed all the forests
which existed there in earlier times. Only on the islands
in Nordmore are there some important exceptions.

‘The forest line does not lie high, and depends not so
much on temperature as on sheltered position. Among

FOREST DEVASTATION. 213

the fiords firs grow commonly at 1000 feet above the sea
level, and in very sheltered spots, even so high as 2,500 or
2,800 feet, but all these are smalland stunted. Trees grow
best at about 300 feet above the sea level, where the soil
seems to be best. All over the district it is very sandy.

‘Coniferous forests are exclusively formed of fir, and are
very unequally divided among the three bailiwicks, being
in inverse proportion to the mountainous formation. The
higher the mountains the smaller the woods, until they
vanish altogether.

‘*While in Nordmore there is a good deal of wood,
sufficient for home wants, with a small surplus for exporta-
tion, in Romsdal there is much less, and in Soud-
more the fir is seldom seen, and, with the exception of
some good forests of foliage trees, there is a great scarcity
of timber, which must either be brought from a distance
or bought at a ruinous price on the spot. Turf is known
and used, but not so extensively as might be expected, the
people preferring to destroy the last remnants of the forests
rather than adopt anything new. In all-the three baili-
wicks the forests have deteriorated for the last ten or
twenty years on account of the increasing population and
the high price given for timber.

‘The fir woods are badly managed, being thinned in the
usual way, and consequently there are many trees stunted
for want of light and room at an early period of their
growth. The fellingsare made without judgment, and too
frequently. It is only lately that small timber was needed
for various purposes, and now the trees have no chance of
growing to any size, and are already vanishing in a very
sad manner, fortunately heath burning, so destructive in
other places, is here unknown,

‘There seem to be no communal forests in this county,
although in the public archives I found notices of some in
Surendalen and Surrdalen, but I had not time to make
inquiries. In the first district I rather think they have
been allotted to private individuals, although there may
still exist one or two of small extent.

214 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

‘Of different trees, Pinus sylvestris, Abies excelsa, and
Sarix Europea are found in pleasure grounds ; also Abies
pectinata, first planted by a Scotchman. Betula alba is the
most common tree next to the fir. We have Alnus incana,
Alnus glutinosa. Corylus avelana is much used for making
barrel hoops. Populus tremula is found everywhere, but
not in great numbers. Ash grows wild, but is always sadly
misused for the sake of the foliage for the cattle. Moun-
tain ash is common, especially on the islands, where it is
mixed with birch. Oak is found wildin one or two places,
but there only like a shrub. Besides these, there are the
following, of no economic value :—Salix caprea, bird-
cherry, mauy willows, Sorbus area, holly, white thorn, and
crab apple; lime trees are also found in one or two places.

‘ Nordmore Bailiwick, --The greatest extent of wood is
found here; formerly it must have been much greater,
which is seen in the large size of the beams in old houses,
many of which are from 8 to 12 ells long, and five quarters
in breadth. Long ago this wes a secluded district, and
prices were not so high as to tempt the people to cut down
the woods. Most of the inhabitants were engaged in
seafaring pursuits. Even yet the sawing up is done by
the hand, and of course not on a large scale. It also
seems as if the fiord and coast population were economical
in their consumption of the timber, especially with regard
to young trees Had they been as extravagant as their
neighbours the woods would have altogether disappeared,
the climate and soil being both bad. As it is, there is a
great change for the worse within the last ten years. The
population is rapidly increasing, and the sale of Govern-
ment lands is hastening the work of destruction. Many
of the farmers (bonderne), are awake to the evil, and wish
there were some regular system of forest management.
Nowhere have I seen the pernicious practice of leaf
stripping so common, even in the path of the avalanches,
which, as the forests disappear, are becoming more frequent
and formidable: one killed thirty men in one night.

FOREST DEVASTATION. 215

This also causes a great want of fuel, particularly in the
drier districts, where turf is unknown.

_‘The climate also suffers in this extremely dry rocky
district. In winter there is no shelter from the icy winds,
and everything is scorched in summer, unless.the weather
be very wet.’ There follow local statistics which I do not
think any of my readers would find interesting.

‘Romsdal Bailiwick.—The amount of wood is almost the
same as in Nordmore, with only this difference—that
Romsdal has always possessed fewer fir woods, and even
these are rapidly disappearing. In the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries Britain imported largely from this
district ; and its near neighbourhood to scantly wooded
Soudmore, has occasioned a further drain on its resousces.
The inhabitants say that the day of the fir is past, that it will
not now thrive. This is a mistake. Good management
is all that is needed, both climate and shelter being pretty
good, and many trees rare in Nordmore are here quite
common, The people are economical in their own use of
the timber, though using unhewn timber for their houses,
or at most, with only two planks cut off. Here also the
climate has changed for the worse, wherever the woods
have been cut down, and the people are themselves aware
of this. There follow statistics of the several parishes.

‘ Soudmore Bailiwick—The whole of this district is very
mountainous, some of the peaks being 4000 feet high.
There is only a small area fit for the growth of timber,
and even this is much exposed to both sea-storms and
avalanches. Sheep and cattle go at large, and greatly add
to the destruction of the young trees. All these circum-
stances, combined with communal privileges, caused the
fir woods to vanish long ago. In fact, the scarcity of trees
is by the country people said to have been the work of
enemies in the olden time; but Ido not believe this, The
fragments of charcoal still to be found scattered on the
fields may bave either been purposely manufactured, or
the trees may have been accidentally burned’

216 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

‘The foregoing plainly. shows the scarcity of wood in
Soudmore, the pecple being obliged to import largely.
Matters have come to such a pass that Government ought
to interfere to prevent further mischief. To further this
end I offer the following advice : —

‘1st.—That all woods attached to clerical or other offices
should be taken in charge by the Government. Their
extent is small; but doing this would spread informa-
tion, and awaken an interest in forest science, especially in
Nordmore, where the people are intelligent enough to see
how profitable the forests might be made, { found it very
encouraging that the farmers voluntarily accompanied me
to the woods for the sake of instruction, although it was in
the midst of harvest. They expressed sorrow and wonder
that the Government had not interfered earlier.

‘2nd.—The purchase of forests on a great scale by Govern-
ment would also be a profitable investment, but in Souder-
more there are some obstacles to this. The land is much
subdivided and expensive; and the rights of pasturage and
communism would be an almost insuperable obstacle to
the purchase of great continuous stretches, It is much to
be regretted that the Crown lands were sold in this district.

‘3rd.—All Government employés should be bound to
assist and instruct the inhabitants in the best modes of
forest culture.

‘4th.—Great stretches should be planted. The climate
and soil are pretty good; shelter at first is all that is
required ; but here again we are met with the obstacles of
rights of pasturage and communal privileges.

‘5th.—Scientific planting and development should be
steadily carried on. Something has already been done in
this direction by Storthingsmand Aartlot, and Judge
Thamb, by a distribution of seed; but with small result,
except in attracting attention to the subject, which it has
now done in some measure,’

As is the case with this so is it with others of the reports
from forest officials, they all ring the changes on the same

FOREST DEVASTATION. 217

topic, the rapid disappearance of the forests, especially
those of fir. They report that Government must do the
work itself; nothing or little can be expected from private
proprietors : only one of the latter is spoken of approvingly
as making a movement in the right direction.

The rights of pasturage are reported to be a great ob-
stacle, as the young trees must be fenced in order to protect
them from sheep, which in Norway seem to be very agile
in that particular part of the west coast, needing a higher
fence than usual. The expense of fencing falls of course
on the improving proprietor. One writer says Government
should interfere on this point, for nothing will be done so
dong as sheep can roam at large. Another brings the same
complaint against cattle.

It is recommended that the heath under the trees should
be cut down when there is a good seed year, as it chokes
the young plants. Another suggests that all woods
attached to clerical or other offices should be resumed
hy Government ; their extent is small, but the operations
would give instructions to proprietors in the neighbourhood.
In some places land is cheap, and could be bought to advan-
tage, in others it is very much subdivided, and difficult to
obtain.

All write gloomily, and the only hope is in the Govern-
ment buying and replanting large stretches, and limiting

the rights of pasturage.
> It is recommended further, that Government officials
should be required to assist all who wish their help in
making attempts at forest culture. In general the people
only care for money, and are careless of the future, with,
of course, cheering exceptions. One English company, it
is reported, has been hewing down at a great rate.

Something similar may be said of the reports on the
economical condition of the kingdom, made by the pre-
fects of nineteen prefectures, and a report of the same to
the king by the Department of the Interior, with copies
of administrative instructions, and forms of tabulated

218 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

returns required, and copies of tabulated returns received
in regard to agriculture and cattle, including meteorolo-
gical observations, in regard to fishing and the chase, in
regard to industrial occupations and products, in regard
to commerce, navigation, and roads, and in regard to finance
and financial conditions for the years 1861-1865 ; and there
are given official reports on the economic condition of the
several prefectures for the years 1866-1870,

In the report on the forest condition of Lister and
Mandal—a report made to the Department of the Interior
by Forest-Assistant Aars, published in successive numbers
of the Christiansand Stiftsavis in the latter months of
1870, the whole series is charged with most interesting
minute local descriptions; but the burden of the whole is
complaint of the disappearance of the forests. The first
district mentioned, Vauso and Herred, is described as sub-
ject to inundations of drift sand; and the planting of the
ground with trees, and the covering of the sand with
sea-weed are suggested as remedial measures, the adop-
tion of which is urgently called for. Of the Praesterg-
jeld, or parish of Fjotland, the clergyman writes that
‘things are bad and every day becoming worse; as time
goes on every stick growing will be converted into
money, and then—— ?’ From another district the clergy-
man writes that there is no hope unless the Government
come forward and purchase the remaining forests, From
a third district the clergyman, after pouring out a long
Jeremiad of lamentations, winds up with a like suggestion
as the only measure likely to prevent utter devastation :
and from the Praestergjeld, or parish of Siredalens, the
report is that the destruction of forests has been carried
so far that even the interposition of the Government
could effect nothing in preventing desolation, as some
places must ere long be almost uninhabitable.

The report was furnished to me by the Government:
it is in exact accordance with what I have seen of the
results of reckless felling elsewhere.

CHAPTER XXII.

REMEDIAL MEASURES.

In Norway it was reported in 1882 that there were
147,000 farms, 131,000 of which were farmed by their
owners, and to the recklessness with which these treat
their forests was attributed much of the impoverishment
manifested by these.

In view of the waste which has been going on, and of
the extent to which lands comparatively unproducted
might be utilised profitably by planting them with trees,
it was deemed expedient that more attention should be
given to this in the education, instruction, and training of
students at the National School of Agriculture and Rural
Economy at Aas, than had been, and was being, done.
And advantage was taken of a re-organisation of this
school in 1871 to secure the accomplishment of this. And
something is being done to secure at the same time the
extension, as well as the conservation and improved
exploitation of the forest.

The - following is a translation, of a report on forest
cultivation at Aas, by Mr H. Fougner, which has been sent
to me :—‘ Forest cultivation was commenced at Aas in the
year 1868, when, as a first attempt, trees were planted on
two small pieces of woodland close to the forest on
the Séraas Hill. On one of these about 4 maal (1
maal = 02,363 acres) were planted different kinds of
foreign fir trees—as Pinus austriaca, Pinus strobus, Pinus
cembra, Pinus montana, Abies alba, Abies pectinata, and
Larix Europea; onthe other piece about ? maal were
planted mostly deciduous trees, more especially elm, maple,
and ash, mixed with small groups of Pinus austriaca, and
Pinus strobus. Both these plantations, after having been

220 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

a little filled up in the following year on account of
damage caused partly by mice and partly by frost, have
since then succeeded well, and they show at present on
the whole a good, and in some parts even a very good,
growth. In the spring of 1870 some maple and a little
ash were planted in groups on more exposed places within
the same woodland (about 4 maal). A part of this plan-
tation has, however, been damaged by frost and by mice,
which have gnawed the bark off the trees; and it does not
look so well as the plantation made in 1868; within the
last two years, however, it has shown a better growth, and
it seems to be thriving. In 1871 attempts were made to
rear forests by sowing. The upper or easter forest at Aas,
on the hill between Frydenhaug and the workmen’s lodg-
ing house, a piece of about 34 maal, was sowed with fir
seed mixed with larch seed. This succeeded well on the
whole; and with the exception of a few spots, where the
thick grass had prevented the growth of the small plants,
this sowing has at present a good appearance. In the
lower or western forest, between the high road and the
neighbouring farm, Kvestad, about 1 maal was also sown
with fir seed mixed with larch seed; this, however, did not
succeed so well, on account of there being here another
kind of soil. The sowing of larch seed was a failure, and
therefore we find here more bare spots, which will have to
be atterwards filled up. Next to this sowing, about 2 maal
were experimentally sown in the same spring with oak
and ash, the experiment was, however, a failure, the plan-
tation, situated on a low level, close to the high road,
having since suffered so much from frost that it has had
for the greatest part to be cleared and replanted with pine
and some Betula oderata; the replanting, which was com-.
menced in 18738, and continued in 1875, looks well. All
of these experimental plantations in 1868-1871 (all to-
gether about 8} maal) were executed exclusively by the
pupils of the school, although forest cultivation at that
time was not not among the ordinary subjects of teaching
which were prescribed.

REMEDIAL MEASURES. 291

‘When the Agricultural School at Aas was re-organised
in 1871, forest cultivation, sowing as well as planting of
woods became, in accordance with the rules of the school,
an obligatory work, and therefore cultivations of wood
entered a new stage. Up to this time the work done had
been considered merely as experiments, and did not belong
to the ordinary instruction; but in the sequel special
importance had to be attached thereto, and the pupils had
to be instructed as well in sowing as in planting. Thus
the forest cultivation came into more intimate connection
with the forest belonging to the school, forming a regular
and constant contribution to the renewal of woods; the works
will also serve as experiments, from which may be drawn
knowledge relative to artificial cultivation of woods under
ordinary favourable circumstances in the easterly low dis-
tricts, and such knowledge may gradually become vaiued
and utilised by others; finally, if the cultivationg should suc-
ceed, the example would give an impulse, better care being
taken of the woods after growth in general,and to the raising
of thicker wood, when the soil would be turned to more use
than has been the case up to this time in the neighbour-
ing districts. Pursuant to these reflections it may be
said that the present forest cultivation has to serve three
different ends—in the first place as experiences for the pupils
of the school; in the second place as forming a continuous
contribution to the cultivation of the forest belonging to
the school farm ; and, finally, as an example relative to
the raising of woods of normal denseness. These three
ends have always been kept in view, when the forest culti-
vations were commenced and executed. Therefore as a
rule the cheapest system of cultivation has been employed,
and only, where it was absolutely necessary has a more ex-
pensive method been followed. Regarding the quali-
ties of trees used special importance has been attached
to the raising of as many different kinds of trees as
possible, and to forming as heterogeneous—partly pure,
partly mixed—stocks as practicable, in order to pro-
cure the greatest possible material from which to

929 FORESTS OF NORWAY.

judge for the future what would be most suitable
and best to choose for the purpose of forest cultivation
under circumstances similar to those at Aas. This, how-
ever, entails, what it is difficult to avoid, that some pieces of
the cultivated woodland do not succeed so well as others,and
that some small bare spots have to be replanted; this in-
convenience will, however, be removed by more experience.

‘Further, it must be noticed that the present forest culti-
vations, on account of their serving in the first place as
experiments for the pupils of the school, can conse-
quently never be expected to be executed with the same
exactness and prospect of a successful result as if workmen
of experience could be employed ; the pupils having only
when they have finished their instructions in forest culti-
vation in each course, acquired the experience necessary,
and such knowledge of matters as that would be required
from an ordinary trained planter. The practising foresters
in Germany are wont, in a well-known phrase, to talk with
a certain disrespect of “academical plantings”: plantings
executed by the students at the agricultural academies ;
and the same thing might consequently with some right
be used about the plantings executed by the pupils here.
This point should therefore be well considered when criti-
cising the cultivations; and it must not be forgotten that
these cultivations are, and must be considered as, works of
inexperienced pupils; on which account the ordinary
plantings here will also always have a comparatively
greater extent than would be the case under other circum-
stances.’

After these remarks, which were considered necessary to
draw attention to the forest cultivations executed sabse-
quent to the same becoming an obligatory subject of
instruction, the report proceeds :—

‘In the year 1872 about 3 maal on the hill between
Frydenhaug and the lodging-house for the workmen,
near to the sowing of 1871, were sowed with fir seed,
mixed witha little larch seed. The seed came up all right,
and it looks well. On the space between the high road

REMEDIAL MEASURES. 293

and Kvestad, about 12 maal, were sown with fir seed, mostly
fir and pine, and some larch, mixed together in different
proportions. The seed sprouted well, but the small plants
suffered the first year partly from wetness, and the follow-
ing winter partly from frost, later alsu a little from the
strong growth of grass. Inthe spring of 1873a fire broke
out in the sowing, through which there is a footpath. The
fire originated probably from carelessness with matches of
passers by, and about 4 maal of the sowing was destroyed,
but it was resown the same year. Later it suffered also
a little from unlawful pasturing, and last year from the
military manoeuvres when it served as battlefield for a de-
tachment of the infantry attacking the position at Aas.
This sowing shows, therefore, at present a rough and less
favourable appearance, even less favourable than it de-
serves ; and there are some bare spots which will have to
be filled when the ordinary replantings commence. It is
worth while to notice that there is a distinct difference
relative to the qualities of trees, the fir having succeeded
best, next the pine, the larch appearing poorer. The soil
may be characterised as fir wood land with some swampy
spots, and now and then a little harder clay underground
where planting would have been more effective, if there had
been a supply of suitable plants, which was not the case at
that time. This year a planting of about 2 maal of foliaceous
trees was executed on the space close to the high road,
and nearer to Brisnenid, consisting of oak, ash and birch,
in groups, mixed a little with elm and maple. The plant-
ing has up to this time succeeded tolerably well, although
some of the ash and elm trees have been damaged by frost,
especially in the strong winter 1874-75, whilst on the other
side the oak plants have come through this inconvenience
much better. Besides, some foreign firs, oak, and larch
were planted in the same year’s planting on some small
spots alittle further from the high road, The forest culti-
vation in 1872 thus embraces together a little more than
17 maal.

‘In the year 1873, on the bill between Frydenhaug and

204 FORESTS OF NORWAY.

the lodging-house for the workmen, close to the last year’s
sowing, about 1 maal was sowed fir seed, mixed with larch
seed. The sowing has a good appearance, but the plants
are yet too small to warrant any decisive opinion as to this.
On the hilly ground at Aake about 12 maal were sown
with wixed fir seed, consisting mostly of fir, a little less
pine, and a little larch. The seed came ont well, but:
suffered the following year from the sharp and dry winds on
the more exposed places, and later on from the thick grass
on other spots; yet the sowing on the whole appears well,
although it is yet too early to form any decided opinion.

‘In the year 1874, on the hilly ground between Fryden-
haug and the workmen’s house, a piece about 8 maal were
sowed with mixed fir seed, in the same proportion as
regards the mixing as on the Aake hill. The seed did
not come up as evenly as was desirable, because of the soil
in this place being very much exposed through sloping
down southward, and its suffering very sorely from
drought ; it is yet too soon, however, to give any reliable
opinion. At the foot of the same hilly ground, below the
sowings, about 74 maal were planted with pine. This
piece consists for the most part of an abandoned gravel
pit, with very uneven surface, partly covered with stone,
partly with pools, which made the planting very difficult.
The plants however appear to thrive tolerably well. The
whole area planted in 1874 amounts thus to 124 maal.

‘Tn the year 1875 the rest of the hilly ground between
Frydenhaugh and the workmen’s lodge, about 9 maal,
situated nearest to the lodging-house was this year sowed
with a similar mixing of fir seed, which succeeded very
well. The planting of pine at the foot of the hill was
continued for about 14 maal towards the lodging-house.
In this plantation were mixed some foreign fir trees.
At present there is every appearance of a good result.
pe aia cultivation in 1875 comprised altogether 103
inaal.

‘The forest cultivation here from 1868-75 extended to
about 64 maal in all.

REMEDIAL MEASURES. 225

‘As a general remark it may be said that the forest
cultivation here, as is so often the case with plantings
of trees in this country, ‘has also suffered and been
damaged by mischievous and evil-minded persons. Re-
peatedly trees have been broken and the bark fleeced off ;
sometimes even the trees have been torn up by the roots
and thrown on the field, consequently it was necessary to
put up warnings against violence and damaging the
forest plantings, and this has led to some improvement in
this respect.

‘In conclusion, I desire to state some results gained by
experience in the eight years’ forest cultivation which has
been carried on at this place. The fir seed sowed has given
better results than pine seed, and this again better than
larch seed.

‘In sowing the different kinds of seed they must be
mixed with different kinds of common “rudesod ;” and
in the mixing fir must be the predominating sort, as a
mreans of avoiding bare spots and obtaining more even
growth.

‘In plantings of pine, the plants, four years old, which
have been transplanted, give a better result than younger
ones, in ordinary hole plantings.

‘Larch seed ought to be sown as early in the spring as
possible on account of its early budding.

‘In planting the better sorts of foliaceous trees, such as
oak, elm, maple, beach, &c., it is under similar favourable
circumstances safer to choose hilly than low land, thus
avoiding damage by frost. Dunbeach (Betula oderata) can,
however, without any risk, be planted in low-lying places
and in damp moist land.’

With this report there was supplied to me a document
issued by the Budget Committee in 1872 entitulated Ved
Kommende Skovsagen, in one of which are described a
number of estates on forest lands about to be purchased
on behalf of Government ; and in another is given the staff

Q

226 FORESTRY OF NORWAY.

of forest officers, and the locations of these in aiferent
districts. This was as follows :—

1. Prefectures of Akershus and Hedenmark—
1 Forst-Meister stationed in Christiania, and one
assistant at Hamar.

2. Prefecture of Christiania—
1 Forst-Meister at Lillehammer.
1 Assistant in Valders and Thoten.
1 Assistant for Almindingerne in Vaage and Lorn.
1 Assistant for Lesje, Dovre, Foldalen, and
Udmaalingsskovne, at Fjeldstuerne, stationed
at Dovre.

8. Drontheim Forest District.
1 Forst-Meister at Levanger.
1 Assistant in the Prefecture of Soudre Drontheim.
1 Assistant in Stor and Veerdals, Fogderi.
1 Assistant in Resten of Indercen,
1 Assistant in Namdalen.

4. The Prefecture of Nordland—
1 Forst-Meister in the Parestergjeld or Parish of
Skerstad.
1 Assistant in Beieren.
1 Assistant in Saltdalen.
1 Assistant in Ofoten and Hommere,

5. Prefecture of Tromsce and Finmark—
1 Forst-Meister at Tromsee.
1 Assistant in Malangens and the Maalselv
District.
1 Assistant at Alten.
1 Assistant at Tauen.

6. Vestland District—namely, Prefectures of Lister and
Mandal, Stavanger, and Southern and Northern
Berganhus—

1 Forst-Meister in Sognedal.
1 Assistant in Bergen,

REMEDIAL MEASURES. 227

Together with these are the necessary functionaries and
Forest-Warders and labourers. In Varanger a Reiverfer-
valton, and elsewhere other officials. There is also an
estimate of the revenue and the outlay.

THE END.