246 SPORT IN NORWAY. 
the immediate neighbourhood of the coast. But on 
penetrating for a few miles into the interior, out of the 
influence of the sea air, the cold in winter is intense to 
a degree, while the heat in the summer is equally 
oppressive. To give but one instance. At Valle, in 
Seetersdal, in the south-west, lat. 59° 12', lying at 
an altitude of 1,000 feet above the sea, the thermometer 
in summer may stand at + 42° Cent., and m winter 
fall to — 35°! 
Tn these northern latitudes the winters are of course 
very long, and the summers very short. And what 
makes the winters still longer is that for all practical 
purposes there is in fact really no spring. 
Winter may be said to begin about the end of 
October, and to last till the middle of April. At this 
period an interregnum of about three weeks occurs ; and 
though the sun’s rays have great power at mid-day, 
and though the days are now longer than is the case in 
England, yet the melting snow, and the great depth to 
_ which the frost has penetrated into the ground, neu- 
tralize any effect that might have been produced, and 
every night there is a sharp frost. Thus, vegetation is 
retarded. About the beginning or first week in May, 
however, a change occurs. Suddenly, as if by magic, 
+ 15:5 for the corresponding periods. At Ullensvang, in Hard- 
anger, lat. 60° 16', the mean temperature for the whole year is 
+ 7°25 Centigrade; for the winter — months 1°0, and for the 
summer + 15°16. 
