votes on the forests of norway. 463 



Forest Work and the Transport of Timber. 



According to the census of 1891, there were then 19,451 

 persons earning their living by working in the forests. The 

 felling of timber is commenced about the middle of September, 

 and is continued throughout the autumn and winter, by men who 

 find temporary accommodation in log-huts built in the woods for 

 the purpose. The timber is barked and collected at convenient 

 points. When the snow is sufficiently deep and the bogs are 

 frozen, it is dragged or otherwise conveyed to the banks of the 

 nearest stream suitable for floating; timber shoots, dry or wet, 

 being employed to convey the logs down mountain slopes or over 

 rugged ground, where the use of horses would be impracticable or 

 unduly expensive. Arrived on the bank of the stream down which 

 it is to float, the timber is piled, and it is usually thus taken over 

 by the purchaser, who affixes his mark to each log. In the spring, 

 when the ice has broken up, the logs are cast into the stream, and 

 are worked down it into one of the larger rivers, in which hundreds 

 of thousands of loose logs may perhaps be found floating. 



The log-drivers must be both skilful and experienced, and they 

 must be thoroughly familiar with the water-way. They must 

 regulate the amount of timber cast into the stream so as to avoid 

 congestion ; they must push off logs that go ashore, are arrested in 

 back-waters, or caught on rocks or in narrow gorges. If a log has 

 been stopped in such a place, increasing quantities, to the number 

 of many thousands, may become piled up, arresting the further pro- 

 gress of the timber, and even perhaps closing the channel to the 

 passage of water. Should this occur, a serious disaster may ensue; 

 for when the barrier thus formed ultimately gives way, much of the 

 timber forming it becomes split and broken, and the flood carries 

 destruction to the country below. Should the commencement of 

 such an accumulation of timber be observed, the log drivers must 

 deal with it promptly. Stepping out on to the logs, they loosen 

 one after another of them by means of their hooked levers, until 

 the remaining mass is put in motion, when they must make good 

 their escape as best they can. This business is of a dangerous 

 kind, demanding both skill and courage for its successful pei*- 

 formance. 



Floating work on the larger rivers is carried on jointly by the 

 forest owners and the merchants, who act in concert; the expenses 

 of floating the timber are divided, and control is exercised by a 



