84 NOTES ON A SUMMER TOUR IN NORWAY. 
sloping gently from east to west. This wonderful tunnel increases 
in height from 66 feet at its eastern to 200 feet at its lower or 
western entrance. As the steamer passes the island, daylight can 
be clearly seen through this passage, and standing at its upper or 
eastern end, a view of the sea and islands is obtained, as through 
a gigantic telescope. We were fortunate enough to be able to 
land, and I spent a few hours in endeavouring to ascertain how 
the tunnel had been produced, as I have never seen, in the scanty 
notices of this remote island, any attempt to explain it. 
The hill itself is, as I have said, of solid granite, but, like all 
such rock, it shows lines of weakness in certain definite directions, 
which are known as joint planes. It is along the line of one of 
these joints that the tunnel has been excavated. No doubt it 
originally commenced as a sea cave, at a time when the land was 
relatively lower than at present, and the rock dérts, as it broke 
away by weathering along the line of least resistance, just as 
it is doing now, was removed by the action of the sea, the 
cave extending farther and farther, until the hill was completely 
pierced. 
The commencement of this action is well shown in some of the 
joint planes near the tunnel, where excavations have been made 
to a depth of several feet from the face of the rock. If the sea 
now laved the cliffs at this level, and could remove weathered 
fragments, all the conditions would be present for the production 
of a series of caves, which might in time completely penetrate the 
hill as the present tunnel does. 
The old Norse legends are, I regret to say, against this simple 
but natural explanation of the origin of the tunnel, and if we are 
to accept these legends as history, my matter-of-fact explanation 
must give place to the following. The giant, Hestmand, whilst 
pursuing a maiden whom he loved, was attacked by her brother, 
at whom the giant discharged an arrow which pierced the 
brother’s hat. The hat, now turned into stone, is the island of 
Torghatten ; and in further proof of the correctness of the story, 
the flying figure of the woman is still to be seen, turned into 
stone, on the adjoining island of Leko, whilst 100 miles further 
