THE MAGAZINE 



OF 



NATURAL HISTORY, 



FEBRUARY, 1835, 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



Art. I. Notes of a Natural History Tour in Norway. 

 By Edward Forbes, Esq. 



The tour which has occasioned the following notes was made 

 in company with a friend, a fellow-student of nature, during 

 the summer of 1833 ; and, as much of the ground passed over 

 is new to the naturalist, I trust that these notices, however 

 short, may not be without their value. 



I was awakened, on the morning of June 6., with the 

 pleasant news that we were nearing the shores of Norway. 

 It was a beautiful summer morning ; and we were only three 

 or four miles from the islands which circle the coast as with a 

 girdle : we were opposite the situation of Christiansand. Ex- 

 pecting to see a bold and precipitous coast, with distant moun- 

 tains towering in the background, I saw a shore of low and 

 shelving rocks, without a hill of any magnitude in sight. 

 These rocks were bare and barren at first; but, as we proceeded 

 eastward, the aspect of the country changed, the land became 

 covered with mighty forests ; and, on steering in among the 

 islands, the novel sight delighted us of pine trees clothing the 

 edge of the land, and mirrored in the clear deep blue water; 

 often dipping their branches in the sea : while, now and then, 

 we passed some little cove, the dwelling-place of pilots ; whose 

 bright red wooden cottages contrasted showily against the 

 dark green background of the pine woods. 



The billowy aspect of the little gneiss hills, and the innu- 

 merable islands, like the tops of hills whose bases were beneath 

 the waters, presented a sight of a new and unaccustomed 

 character. About two o'clock, we entered Arandal (whither 

 we were bound), a small town built on several islands, in a 

 most picturesque and exquisitely beautiful situation. After 



Vol. VIII.— No, 46. f 



