MISCELLANIES. 



.513 



Drontlieim ; no where are the 

 people capable of making greater 

 sacrifices, or more easily united in 

 the accomplishment of any object 

 beneficial to the country. The 

 causes of this, however, are not 

 difficult to discover. The patriot- 

 ism of Drontheim is more con- 

 centrated in the country and less 

 diffused. Christiania sends boards 

 and planks to England, from 

 whence it draws the means of 

 living with comfort and even splen- 

 dor, and therefore it naturally 

 wishes the prosperity of England, 

 M'ilh which its business has been 

 always successfully carried on. 

 Trade has thus given an extension 

 to the country, and enlarged the 

 sphere of interest. Bergen sends 

 fish to Holland, and expects gar- 

 den stuff in return. In Bergen, 

 therefore, the people cannot be 

 indifferent to what passes in Hol- 

 land, and they have no cause to 

 wisli more for the injury than the 

 advantage of Holland. Butin Dron- 

 theim these foreign relations are 

 not so determinate: their view is 

 alone fixed on the country in 

 which they live in security and 

 repose ; and every attempt to dis- 

 turb that repose awakes most 

 powerfully in them the spirit of 

 self-defence, and repulsion of fo- 

 reign attacks by which their peace 

 may be endangered. 



At the last enumeration, the in- 

 habitants of Drontheim amounted 

 to eight thousand three hundred 

 and forty souls. This is a consi- 

 derable number for a town situated 

 so far north ! There are few towns 

 in Denmark equal to it. These 

 inhabitants are also, in general, 

 .brought together by commerce, 

 but not 80 much by foreign com- 



VoL. LV. 



merce as the internal communi- 

 cation between numerous valleys 

 and districts, to which this place . 

 forms a central point of union. 

 The boards which are exported 

 from hence to Ireland are of 

 small importance compared with 

 what is exported from the south 

 of Norway. The exports of cod, 

 herring, train-oil and hides, are 

 more considerable, and especially, 

 the copper from the mines of 

 Roraas. The two hundred thousand 

 cwt. and upwards which for cen- 

 turies have been procured from 

 Roraas, not only enrich numbers 

 of families in Drontheim, but give 

 life, population, and cultivation, to 

 what would otherwise be waste and 

 dreary mountains, keep the whole 

 valley between Drontheim and 

 Roraas in perpetual activity, and 

 create a brisk circulation through 

 the very heart of the country. If 

 it were not for Roraas, Drontheim 

 would at least lose the fourth part 

 of its inhabitants, and a consider- 

 able share of its prosperity. At 

 present, an immense number of 

 horses are kept in perpetual em- 

 ployment between the two places. 

 In winter the copper is brought 

 down in long rows of sledges,^ 

 which return with provisions and 

 other necessaries. In summer, also, 

 there are always horses and cars on 

 the road, employed in carrying and 

 drawing what in winter is much 

 easier conveyed in sledges over the 

 snow. 



I know not whether the quantity 

 of fodder consumed by so many 

 horses, which deprives the other 

 cattle of their proper share, has 

 been the means of inducing the 

 inhabitants to avail themselves of 

 their horses in feeding their cattle ; 



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