750 



SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



and the surplus 237,500 specie dalers. The 

 public debt, in December, 1870, amounted to 

 7,696,900 specie dalers. The imports, in 1870, 

 were valued at 26,020,000, the exports at 

 20,200,000 dalers. The number of vessels en- 

 tering Norwegian ports in 1870 was 11,917, 

 of a burden of 762,600 lasts ; of those cleared, 

 11,994, of a total burden of 775,991 lasts. The 

 aggregate length of railroads in operation in 

 18ffl was 422 kilometres ; the state telegraphs 

 had 5,898 kilometres of lines, and 8,770 kilo- 

 metres of wires. 



King Charles XV. of Sweden and Norway 

 died on September 18th, at Malmo, while on 

 his return from the baths at Aix-la-Chapelle. 

 His brother, the Prince-Regent Oscar, was pro- 

 claimed King, with the title of Oscar II. 



The millennial festival of the establishment 

 of the kingdom of Norway, by the fusion of 

 her petty kingdoms into one realm, was cele- 

 brated on July 18th, in every part of the king- 

 dom. Tradition relates how one of the many 

 kinglings of the land Harold, afterward called 

 "Fair Hair" asked for the hand of Githa, a 

 daughter of another petty prince, but the only 

 answer he got from her was that she would 

 only listen to his suit when he had laid all 

 Norway under his feet. After a long series 

 of weary struggles and conflicts he actually 

 succeeded in accomplishing this task. One 

 prince after another was forced to bow before 

 him, and at last, in a bloody sea-fight at Hafs- 

 fjord, he, in the year 872, was able to crush all 

 opposition to his absolute rule. Several years 

 ago, a general wish was expressed that a mon- 

 ument should be raised over the grave of Nor- 

 way's first king, as the man with whose name 

 history has especially connected the tradition 

 of the consolidation of the kingdom, and that 

 it should be inaugurated on the thousandth 

 anniversary of the battle of Hafsfjord. The 

 sagas tell us that King Harold was buried 

 close to the present town of Haugesund, and 

 though the description of the locality has 

 caused antiquaries to doubt the truth of the 

 statement, this much at least is certain, that 

 Harold's cairn has been long since so disturbed 

 and defaced that no trustworthy traces remain 

 of its exact position. In choosing a place, 

 therefore, for the monument, a spot has neces- 

 sarily been selected which is designated as the 

 resting-place of the great king by a very un- 

 safe tradition. By a peculiar accident Harold 

 was buried but a few miles from the fjord on 

 which he completed his conquest of Norway. 

 Hafsfjord, where in 872 he fought his crown- 

 ing battle against the last of his foes, is a little 

 bay on the south side of the entrance to the 

 broad Stavanger Fjord, while the island of 

 Karm, off which Haugesund lies, touches the 

 northern side of the Stavanger Fjord. When 

 it was first proposed to erect a monument over 

 Harold's grave, it was hoped that this object 

 might be effected by means of subscriptions 

 from the people over the whole country. But 

 this hope was not fulfilled. Though the whole 



cost, it was calculated, wonld not exceed 

 $5,000, even that amount could not be raised 

 by subscription ; and, in order that the work, 

 when undertaken, should not stop for want of 

 funds, the Storthing had to pass a grant to 

 carry it on. Harold's monument consists of a 

 huge cairn, which, at its base, is fenced by a 

 square enclosure of hewn stone. On the outer 

 edge of this low wall rise, at intervals, 24 pil- 

 lars, eight feet high, on which are inscribed 

 the names of the 24 provinces or petty king- 

 doms into which the ancient Norway was di- 

 vided. From the midst of the cairn rises an 

 obelisk, or "Bauta-stone," which springs from 

 a pedestal enriched with bass-reliefs. These 

 ornaments are cast in bronze, and represent on 

 one side an old Norse war-galley running into 

 battle under full sail, and on the other a 

 phy of old Norse weapons. On the two 

 maining sides of the pedestal are inscriptioi 

 which tell that Harold Fair Hair lies buried 

 on this spot, and that this monument' wj 

 erected a thousand years after he consolidated 

 Norway into one kingdom. The height of the 

 whole monument is 70 feet. The cairn is 

 feet high, and the obelisk, with its pedestal, 

 55 feet ; and the impression it produces, ii 

 spite of its very simple form and proportions 

 is both graceful and imposing. To this ma 

 be added the fact that it stands on a bare an( 

 rather flat' elevation, whence it towers over all 

 adjacent objects, and can thus be seen from a 

 considerable distance. The whole consists, 

 with the exception, of course, of the cairn it- 

 self, of hewn Norse granite. 



The Storthing thought it could not refuse to 

 entertain an invitation to be present at the 

 unveiling of the monument, and it confided to 

 twelve of its most distinguished members 

 the charge of being present at the festival in 

 Haugesund. The chairman and spokesman of 

 this deputation was one of the two Presidents 

 of the Storthing, Advocate Daniel Kildal ; the 

 other President of that Assembly, however, 

 the leader of the Opposition, Hr. John Tver- 

 drup, was not a member of the deputation, as 

 he recently requested that he might not be 

 chosen to serve on it ; adding, as is reported, 

 that if he had lived in the days of King Har- 

 old he would in all probability have figured 

 among those Norsemen who emigrated to Ice- 

 land. Responding to the expressed wish of 

 the promoters, a member of the royal house 

 arrived to take part in the festival, in the per- 

 son of Prince Oscar, the King's brother, who 

 began, on the 12th of July, a journey along 

 the coast, in the course of which he received, 

 in the various towns on his route, a number 

 of loyal addresses. The prince had requested 

 the chief of the Norwegian Government, Privy- 

 Councillor Frederick Stang, to accompany him 

 on this journey. In addition to these distin- 

 guished personages, a number of deputations 

 were present from all parts of the Scandinavian 

 kingdoms ; also one from the Norwegians of 

 America, led by the famous violinist, Ole Bull. 



