IN NORTHERN MISTS 



in Norway, the effect of which was as demoralizing to all activ- 

 ity in the country as it was paralyzing to our navigation. But 

 not the least destructive were the royal monopolies of trade with 

 the so-called tributary countries of the kingdom; like all State 

 monopolies, they laid their dead hand upon all private enter- 

 prise. In this way the Norwegian command of northern waters 

 received its death-blow; while the mercantile fleets of other na- 

 tions, especially the English, came to the fore, to a large extent 

 by making use of Norwegian seamanship and enterprise; thus 

 the English seaport of Bristol seems to have had many Nor- 

 wegians among its citizens, who certainly found there better con- 

 ditions to work under than at home. 



The mass of knowledge the Norwegians had acquired 

 about the northern regions, before their time entirely unknown, 

 was to a great extent forgotten again; and at the close of 

 the Middle Ages all that remained was the communication 

 with Iceland and the knowledge of the neighboring seas, 

 besides the continuance of the connection between the White 

 Sea and Norway; while the voyage to Greenland, to say 

 nothing of America, was forgotten, at any rate by the mass of 

 the people. 



The development of humanity often proceeds with a strangely 

 lavish waste of forces. How many needless plans and unsuc- 

 cessful voyages, how much toil and how many human lives 

 would not a knowledge of the Norwegians' extensive discoveries 

 have been able to save in succeeding ages? How very different, 

 too, might have been the development of many things, if by the 

 chances of an unlucky destiny the decline of Norwegian navi- 

 gation had not come just at a time when maritime enterprise 

 received such a powerful impetus among more southern nations, 

 especially the Portuguese, then the Spaniards, later the French, 

 the English, and the Dutch. By their great discoveries it was 

 these nations who introduced a new era in the history of 

 navigation, and also in that of polar voyages. But if Norwegian 

 seamanship had still been at its height at that time, then cer- 

 tainly the Scandinavians of Greenland would once more have 

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