The reader may confult the table of dimenfions in Denmark for its extent, which is not, however, well ascertained.

CLIMATE.] The climate of Norway varies according to its latitude, and its pofition toward the fea. At Bergen the winter is moderate, and the fea is practicable. The eastern parts of Norway are commonly covered with fnow; and the cold generally fets in about the middle of October, and continues, with intenfe feverity, to the middle of April; the waters being all that time frozen to a confiderable thickness. In 17 19, 7000 Swedes, who were on their march to attack Drontheim, perished in the fnow, on the mountain which feparates Sweden from Norway; and their bodies were found in different poftures. But even froft and fnow have their conveniences, as they facilitate the conveyance of goods by land. As to the more northern parts of this country, called Finmark, the cold is fo intense, that they are but little known. At Bergen the longest day consists of about 19 hours, and the fhorteft of about five. In fummer, the inhabitants can read and write at midnight by the light of the fky; and in the most northerly parts, about midfummer, the fun is continually in view. In those parts, however, in the middle of winter, there is only a faint glimmering of light at noon for about an hour and a half owing to the reflection of the fun's rays on the mountains. Nature, notwithstanding, has been to kind to the Norwegians, that, in the midst of their darkness, the fky is so ferene, and the moon and the aurora borealis fo bright, that they carry on their fishery and work at their feveral trades in the open air.

The air is fo pure in fome of the inland parts, that it has been faid the inhabitants live fo long as to be tired of life, and cause themselves to be transported to a lefs falubrious air. Sudden thaws, and fnow-falls, have, however, fometimes dreadful effects, and deftroy whole villages.

MOUNTAINS.] Norway is reckoned one of the moft mountainous countries in the world; for it contains a chain of unequal mountains, running from fouth to north; to país one of which, called the Ardanger, a man muft travel about feventy English miles; and to pass others, upwards of fifty. Dofrefield is fuppofed to be the higheft mountain, perhaps, in Europe. The rivers and cataracts which interfect those dreadful precipices, and that are paffable only by flight tottering wooden bridges, render travelling in this country very terrible and dangerous; though the government is at the expence of providing, at different stages, houfes accommodated with fire, light, and kitchen furniture. Detached from this vaft chain, other immenfe mountains present themselves all over Norway; fome of them with refervoirs of water on the top, and the whole forming a moft furprising landfcape. The activity of the natives in recovering their fheep and goats, when penned up, through a false step, in one of thofe rocks, is wonderful. The owner directs himself to be lowered down from the top of the mountain, fitting on a crofs ftick, tied to the end of a long rope; and when he arrives at the place where the creature ftands, he faftens it to the fame cord, and it is drawn up with himself. The caverns that are to be met with in those mountains are more wonderful than thofe, perhaps, in any other part of the world, though lefs liable to obfervation. One of them, called Dolfteen, was in 1750 vifited by two clergymen, who reported, that they proceeded in it till they heard the fea dafhing over their heads; that the paffage was as wide and as high as an ordinary church, the fides perpendicular, and the roof vaulted; that they defcended a flight of natural ftairs; but when they arrived at another, they durft not venture to proceed, but returned; and that they confumed two candles going and returning.

FORESTS.] The chief wealth of Norway lies in its forefts, which furnish foreigners with mafts, beams, planks, and boards, and ferve befide

for all domeftic ufes, particularly the conftruction of houfes, bridges, ships, and for charcoal to the founderies. The timber growing here are fir, and pine, elm, ash, yew, benreed (a very curious wood), birch, beech, oak, eel, or alder, juniper, the afpin-tree, the comol or floe-tree, hazel, elder, and even ebony (under the mountains of Kolen), lime or lindentree, and willows. The fums which Norway receives for timber are very confiderable; but the industry of the inhabitants is greatly affifted by the course of their rivers and the fituation of their lakes, which afford them not only the conveniency of floating down their timber, but that of erecting faw-mills, for dividing their large beams into planks and deals. A tenth of all fawed timber belongs to his Danish majefty, and forms no inconfiderable part of his revenue.

STONES, METALS, AND MINERALS.] Norway contains quarries of excellent marble, as well as many other kinds of ftones; and the magnet is found in the iron mines. The amianthus, or asbestos, of an incombuftible nature, the thin fibres of which may be woven into cloth, and cleaned by burning, is likewife found here; as are cryftals, granites, amethyfts, agate, thunder-ftones, and eagle-ftones. Gold found in Norway has been coined into ducats. His Danish majefty is now working, to great advantage, a filver mine at Koningsburgh; other filver mines have been found in different parts of the country; and one of the many filver maffes that have been discovered, weighing 560 pounds, is to be feen at the Royal Museum at Copenhagen. Lead, copper, and iron mines, are common in this country one of the copper mines at Roraas is thought to be the richeft in Europe. Norway likewife produces quickfilver, fulphur, falt, and coal mines, vitriol, alum, and various kinds' of loam; the different manufactures of which bring in a large revenue to the crown.

RIVERS AND LAKES.] The rivers and fresh water lakes in this country are well stocked with fifh, and navigable for fhips of confiderable burden. The most extraordinary circumftance attending the lakes is, that fome of them contain floating islands, formed by the cohesion of roots of trees and fhrubs; and, though torn from the main land, bear herbage and trees. In the year 1702, the noble family feat of Borge, near Fredericftadt, fuddenly funk, with all its towers and battlements, into an abyfs a hundred fathoms in depth; and its feite was inftantly filled with water, which formed a lake 300 ells in length, and about half as broad. This melancholy accident, by which 14 people and 200 head of cattle perished, was occafioned by the foundation being undermined by the waters of a river.

UNCOMMON ANIMALS, All the animals that are natives of DenFOWLS, AND FISHES. mark are to be found in Norway, with an addition of many more. The wild beafts peculiar to Norway are the elk, the rein-deer, the hare, the rabbit, the bear, the wolf, the lynx, the fox, the glutton, the leming, the ermine, the marten, and the beaver. The elk is a tall afh-coloured animal, its fhape partaking at once of the horfe and the flag; it is harmlefs, and in the winter focial; and the flesh of it taftes like venifon. The rein-deer is a fpecies of ftag; but we shall have occafion to mention it more particularly hereafter. The hares are small, and are faid to live upon mice in the winter time, and to change their colour from brown to white. The Norwegian bears are ftrong and fagacious: they are remarkable for not hurting children; but their other qualities are common with the rest of their fpecies in northern countries; nor can we much credit the very extraordinary fpecimens of their fagacity, recorded by the natives: they are hunted by little dogs;

and fome prefer bear hams to thofe of Weftphalia. The Norwegian wolves, though fierce, are thy even of a cow or goat, unlefs impelled by bunger the natives are dexterous in digging traps for them, in which they are taken or killed. The lynx, by fome called the goupes, is fmaller than a wolf, but as dangerous; they are of the cat kind, and have claws like tigers; they dig under ground, and often undermine fheep-folds, where they make dreadful havoc. The fkin of the lynx is beautiful and valuable, as is that of the black fox. White and red foxes are likewife found in Norway, and partake of the nature of that wily animal in other countries; they have a particular way of drawing crabs afhore, by dipping their tails in the water, which the crab lays hold of.

The glutton, otherwife called the ervan, or vielfras, refembles a turnfpit dog, with a long body, thick legs, fharp claws and teeth; his fur, which is variegated, is fo valuable, that he is fhot with blunt arrows, to preferve the fkin unhurt: he is fo bold and ravenous, that it is faid he will devour a carcafe larger than himself, and unburdens his ftomach by squeezing himfelf between two clofe-ftanding trees; and that, when taken, he has been even known to eat stone and mortar. The ermine is a little creature, remarkable for its hynefs and cleanlinefs; and its fur forms a principal part even of royal magnificence. There is little difference between the marten and a large brown foreft cat, only its head and fnout are sharper; it is very fierce, and its bite dangerous. We shall have occafion to mention the beaver in treating of North America.

No country produces a greater variety of birds than Norway. The elks build upon rocks; their numbers often darken the air, and the noise of their wings resembles a ftorm; their fize is that of a large duck; they are an aquatic fowl, and their flesh is much efteemed. No fewer than 30 different kinds of thrushes are found in Norway; with various kinds of pigeons, and feveral forts of beautiful wild ducks. The Norwegian cock-of-the-wood is of a black or dark grey colour; his eye resembles that of a pheasant; and he is faid to be the largest of all eatable birds. Nor way produces two kinds of eagles, the land and the fea; the former is fo ftrong, that he has been known to carry off a child of two years old. The fea or fifh-eagle is larger than the other; he fubfifts on aquatic food, and fometimes darts on large fishes with fuch force, that, being unable to free his talons from their bodics, he is dragged into the water, and drowned.

Nature feems to have adapted thefe aërial inhabitants for the coaft of Norway, and induftry has produced a fpecies of mankind peculiarly fitted for rendering them serviceable to the human race. These are the birdmen, or climbers, who are amazingly dexterous in mounting the steepest rocks, and bring away the birds and their eggs: the latter are nutritive food, and are parboiled in vinegar; the flesh is fometimes eaten by the peafants, who generally relish it; while the feathers and down form a profitable commodity. Even the dogs of the farmers, in the northern diftricts, are trained up to be affiftants to these birdmen in taking their prey.

The Scandinavian lakes and feas are aftonishingly fruitful in moft kinds of fish that are found on the fea-coafts of Europe. Stock-fish innumerable are dried upon the rocks without falting. The haac-moren is a fpecies of fhark, ten fathoms in length, and its liver yields three cafks of train oil. The tuella flynda is an excellively large turbot, which has been known to cover a man who has fallen overboard, to keep him from rifing. The feafon for herring-fithing is announced to the fishermen by the fpouting of water from the whales while following the herring fhoals. Of the whale feven fpecies have been remarked the

hrge whale refembles a cod; has fmall eyes, a dark marbled skin, and white belly; they spout up the water, which they take in by infpiration. through two holes or openings in the head. They copulate like land animals, ftanding upright in the fea. A young whale, when firft produced, is about nine or ten feet long; and the female fometimes brings forth two at a birth. The whale devours fuch an incredible number of small fish, that his belly is often ready to burft; in which cafe he makes a most tremendous noife, from pain. The fmaller fish have their revenge; fome of them faften on his back, and inceffantly beat him; others, with fharp horns, or rather bones, on their beak, fwim under his belly, and fometimes rip it up; fome are provided with long sharp teeth, and tear his flesh. Even the aquatic birds of prey declare war against him when he comes near the surface of the water; and he has been known to be fo tortured; that he has beat himself to death on the rocks. The coaft of Norway may be faid to be the native country of herrings. Innumerable shoals come from under the ice near the north pole, and, about the latitude of Iceland, divide themselves into three bodies. One of these fupplies the western ifles and coafts of Scotland; another directs its courfe round the eastern part of Great Britain, down the Channel; and the third enters the Baltic through the Sound. They form great part of the food of the common people; and the cod, ling, kabeliau, and torfk fishes follow them, to feed upon their spawn, and are taken in prodigious numbers, in 50 or 60 fathoms water: these, especially their . roes, and the oil extracted from their livers, are exported and fold to great advantage; and above 150,000 people are maintained by the herring and other fishing on the coaft of Norway. The fea-devil is about fix feet in length, and is fo called from its monftrous appearance and voracity. The fea-fcorpion is likewife of a hideous form, its head being larger than its whole body, which is about four feet in length; and its bite is said to be poisonous.

The fabulous fea-monfters of antiquity are all equalled, if not exceeded by the wonderful animals, which, according to fome modern accounts, inhabit the Norwegian feas. Among thefe, the fea-fnake, or ferpent of the ocean, is one of the most remarkable, and perhaps the best attefted. In 1756, one of them, it is faid, was shot by a mafter of a fhip; its head resembled that of a horfe; the mouth was large and black, as were the eyes; a white mane hung from its neck; it floated on the furface of the water, and held its head at least two feet out of the fea. Between the head and neck were feven or eight folds, which were very thick; and the length of this fnake was more than a hundred yards, fome fay, fathoms. They are faid to have a remarkable averfion to the smelt of caftor; for which reason, ship, boat, and bark mafters provide themfelves with quantities of that drug, to prevent being overfet; the ferpent's olfactory nerves being remarkably exquifite. The particulars related of this animal, however incredible, have been attefted upon oath. Egede (a very reputable author) fays, that on the 6th day of July, 1734, a large and frightful fea-monfter raifed itself fo high out of the water, that its head reached above the main-top-maft of the bip; that it had a long sharp fnout, broad paws, and spouted water like a whale; and that the body feemed to be covered with scales; the fkin was uneven and wrinkled, and the lower part was formed like a fnake. The body of this monster is faid to be as thick as a hogfhead; his fkin variegated like a tortoise-fhell; and his excrement, which floats on the furface of the water, to be corrofive, and blifter the hands of the feamen if they handle it.

it is faid to be a mile and a half in circumference; and that when part of of it appears above the water, it resembles a number of small islands and fand-banks, on which fithes fport, and fea weeds grow; upon his farther emerging, a number of pellucid antenna, each about the height, form, and fize of a moderate maft, appear; by the action and re-action of which he gathers his food, confifting of fmall fishes. When he finks, which he does gradually, a dangerous fwell of the fea fucceeds, and a kind of whirlpool is naturally formed in the water. In 1680, we are told, a young kraken perifhed among the rocks and cliffs of the parish of Alftahong; and his death was attended with such a stench, that the channel where he died was impaffable.

The mer-men and mer-women are likewife faid to have their refidence in the Norwegian feas; but it is not eafy to give credit to all that is related concerning them by the natives. The mer-man is about eight fpans long, and is defcribed as bearing nearly the fame refemblance as an ape does to the human fpecies. It has a high forehead, little eyes, a flat nofe, and large mouth, without chin or ears; its arms are fhort, but without joints or elbows, and they terminate in members refembling a human hand, but of the paw kind, and the fingers connected by a membrane. The parts of generation indicate their fexes; though their under parts, which remain in the water, terminate like thofe of fishes. The females have breafts, at which they fuckle their young ones.

CURIOSITIES.] Thofe of Norway are only natural. On the coaft, latitude 67, is that dreadful vortex or whirlpool, called by navigators the Navel of the Sea, and by fome Malestrom, or Moskoeftrom. The ifland Mofkoe, from whence this ftream derives its name, lies between the mountain, Hefleggen in Lofoden, and the island Ver, which are about one league diftant; and between the ifland and coaft on each fide, the ftream makes its way. Between Mofkoe and Lofoden it is near 400 fathoms deep; but between Mofkoe and Ver, it is fo fhallow as not to afford paffage for a small ship. When it is flood, the fiream runs up the country between Lofoden and Mofkoe with a boifterous rapidity; and at ebb, returns to the fea with a violence and noife unequalled by the loudest cataracts. It is heard at the distance of many leagues, and forms a vortex or whirlpool of great depth or extent, fo violent, that if a fhip comes near it, it is immediately drawn irrefiftibly into the whirl, and there disappears, being abforbed and carried down to the bottom in a moment, where it is dafhed to pieces against the rocks; and juft at the turn of ebb and flood, when the water becomes ftill for about a quarter of an hour, it rifes again in fcattered fragments, fcarcely to be known for the parts of a ship. When it is agitated by a ftorm, it has reached veffels at the diftance of more than a Norway mile, where the crews have thought themselves in perfect fecurity. Perhaps it is hardly in the power of fancy to conceive a fituation of more horror than that of being thus driven forward by the fudden violence of an impetuous torrent to the vortex of the whirlpool, of which the noife and turbulence, ftill increafing as it is approached, are an earneft of quick and inevitable deftruction; while the wretched victims, in an agony of defpair and terror, cry out for that help which they know to be impoffible, and fee before them the dreadful abyfs into which they are to be plunged, and dashed among the rocks at the bottom.

Even animals, which have come too near the vortex, have expreffed the utmost terror when the found the ftream irrefiftible. Whales are frequently carried away; and the moment they feel the force of the water, they firuggle against it with all their might, howling and bellow