5 GO REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



passes would, as heretofore, be surrounded by vast mountains rising 

 perpendicularly, and, in comparison with these, the elevation of these 

 passes above the level of the sea would appear quite insignificant. The 

 sea would approach these passes from all sides, through the valleys of 

 the Rhone, the Leyantine, and the Tavetsch ; many other valleys would 

 be entirely overflowed by it, while more detached mountains, like the 

 lligi and the Pilatus, would be surrounded by it, and thus form islands 

 of different size. 



"This is in reality the character of the fiord, sound, and island belt 

 of the Norwegian coast. Here we really see the high Alpine passes 

 which in our imaginary sketch we saw extending to the level of the 

 sea, forming the low and narrow connecting links between vast sea-bound 

 mountain ranges. As in the Alps the passes are measured by thou- 

 sands, so here the so-called "EJder" are measured by hundreds of feet. 

 At the upper end of the Ofoten fiord an "ejde" between mountain 

 ranges 3,0U0 feet in height forms a mountain pass 800 feet above the 

 level of the sea ; between mountains of 4-5,000 feet" the Tamokvand 

 ''ejde" rises to a height of 550, the Balsflord "ejde" of 200, and the 

 Lyngs "ejde" of only 150 feet above the level of the sea ; and more is 

 not needed to show the transition from "ejde" to sound. Here the level 

 of the sea has risen higher, and the moment the traveler leaves his ves- 

 sel he steps on high mountain sides of the ancient Scandinavian Cor- 

 dillera. 



"The combined island groups of Vesteraalen and the Loffoden are 

 thus in reality a branch of the great Scandinavian mountain range 

 partly flooded by the ocean. The rising floods entered the valleys, ap- 

 proached the mountain passes, and covered some of these entirely, so 

 that many became low " ejder " while others became sounds. For 

 thousands of years the breakers have exercised their destructive influ- 

 ence along this coast, until finally the mountain ranges became only 

 very loosely connected, or entirely torn ^om each other like shreds. In 

 examining a tolerably good map of Norway, the strange and fantastic 

 outline of these islands will indicate very correctly the torn character 

 of the mountains; and any one visiting these islands will find that the 

 reality comes fully up to the preconceived idea. The steamer traverses 

 this strange island-world ; now it leaves a sound and circumnavigates 

 an outer island, and before us extends the illimitable ocean in all its 

 grandeur; now it turns again toward the coast, the sound becomes 

 narrower and narrower till at last it seems entirely closed, when, turn- 

 ing a corner, a narrow channel discloses the entrance to another and 

 broader sound. 



" The rugged mountains present themselves to view from every side; 

 we also get a glimpse of the northwest coast of the Loffoden Islands 

 looking toward the open sea, and losing themselves in the hazy distance 

 we see the long rows of promontories. In Vesteraalen, forests cover 

 the lower slopes in many places ; in many parts of the coast one farm 



