﻿1017 



NOKRIiATTD. 



NORRSKA FIELLEIT. 



1018 



shipped at this harbonr. The town has a population of about 1 2,000. 

 It has a grammar school, free schools for the poor and for orphans. 

 The Jews are p'rmitted to settle in this town, and have a synagogue. 

 Norrkoping is situated in the district (liin) of Linkoping, imd is about 

 90 miles distant from Stockholm. [Swedes.] 



NORRLAND. [Sweden.] 



NORESKA FIELLEJf (the Norwegian Range), a mountain mass 

 which occupies with its branches the southern portion of the Scandi- 

 navian peninsula. The southern portion of the Norrska Fiellen is 

 sometimes called the Dovre Field, though this name properly belongs 

 to the most northern portion of the mass. The range that lies north 

 of the Norrska Fiellen is called Kiolen. The boundary-line between 

 the Norrska Fiellen and the Kiolen lies between 63° 30' and 64° 

 N. lat., east of the Vardals Fiord, the eastern portion of the bay of 

 Trondbjera, where the range is less than 12 miles across, and presents 

 one of tbe most convenient roads for passing it. 



The range of the Scandinavian mountains begins on the south with 

 Lindesnaes, the most southern extremity of Norway (south of 58° 

 N. lat.), and extends to Cape Nordkyn (71° N. lat.>, and the Varanger 

 Fiord, over a space exceeding 1000 miles in length. The Norrska 

 Fiellen is only about 360 miles in length, but it considerably exceeds 

 the Kiolen range in width and in elevation. 



The Norrska Fiellen occupies more than three-fourths of the 

 southern part of Norway. Its elevated, rocky masses approach close 

 to the southern and western shores : on the east its boundary is deter- 

 mined by a line drawn from the shores of the Skagerrack at the Lange- 

 snnds Fiord (9° 40' E. long.), to the town of Trondhjem, though some 

 of its lower offsets advance considerably to the cast of that line. In 

 the whole country west of this line thert! is no low level, except in the 

 narrow valleys ; but on the summits of the rocky mosses there aro 

 extensive plains. 



South of £9° N.lat. the mountain masses do not attain a great eleva- 

 tion. They rise from the sea with a steep ascent to the height of 300 

 or 400 feet ; but at the distance of about 20 miles from the coast they 

 hardly exceed 1000 feet in elevatinn. Farther north they rise still 

 higher in the Heck Field and in the Bygle Field, which attain.^ an eleva- 

 tion of 2000 feet above the sea. In the latter the upper pnrt of the 

 mountains begins to extend into plains. South of it they are broken 

 into narrow ridges running north and south, and separated from one 

 another by deep narrow valleys. These valleys, though they contain 

 only a small portion of low and level land St for agricultural purposes, 

 are fertile ; and being sheltered against the western and northern 

 winds, have a more temperate climate than any other part of tbe globe 

 under the same parallel. The declivities of the ranges are covered 

 nearly to their summits, except where they are very steep, with 

 forests of pines, birches, and beeches. The coast is much broken, but 

 none of the numerous inlets advance more than five miles within the 

 mountain masses, and most of them not half that distance. 



Bygle Field and the mountains south of it are only the southern 

 slope of the whole mass. North of 69* N. lat, it attains, in the 

 Ybkle Field, an elevation of about 4500 feet, which may be considered 

 as tbe general height of the Norrska Fiellen as for as the Dovre Field, 

 whooa bnuicbes extend to 63° N. lat. The highest part of the rocky 

 masses is towards the western shores. These shores are cut up in 

 a very remarkable manner by numerous inlets, which are generally 

 only a few miles wide, but penetrate to a great distance inland, some 

 of them TO and 80 miles, between the huge mountain-masses that 

 incloM them. Along the open sea and close to the water's edge the 

 mountains are on an average between 600 and 1000 feet high, and they 

 continue to rise as they proceed eastward ; so that at the (Ustance of 

 10 or 15 miles they attain the general level of about 4500 feet, which 

 they preserve for more than 100 miles. They form indeed an elevated 

 I>lun of uneven surface, on which are scattered bold peaks, rugged 

 precipices, and extensive lakes. The general elevation of the plain 

 does not rise above the line of perpetual congelation, which in 60° N. lat., 

 in this county, is said to occur at an absolute height of 5600 feet, 

 and in 62° N. lat, at 5100 feet ; but it rises considerably above the 

 line of trees, which cease to grow, even in a stuntei sttte, below the 

 height of 4000 feet. The surfaci< of the plain consists either of barren 

 naked rock.', or is covered with extensive morasses. In some places 

 them are tracts on which heath and lichens are thinly scattered. These 

 tracts are inhabited by the reindeer and lemming. Here and there a 

 few depressions occur in tbe plain, which in summer are covered with 

 a scanty growth of grass, and are pastured for about two months ; 

 but they ore from 60 to 60 miles distant from the nearest village. 

 Along the western shores, owing to their steepness and to the western 

 gales, the mountains are quits bare. But along the shores of the 

 inlets there are level tracts of moderate extent, which are partly 

 covered with tall pines, and are partly cultivated. The clear blue 

 water of these inlets, the high mountains rising from their shores 

 with a steep ascent, varic<l by the forcst« and cultivated spots, give 

 to the whole a degree of beauty and sublimity which is hardly sur- 

 passed in any country oo the globe. The scanty and scattered 

 population find their subsistence mainly in the deep sea, which con- 

 tains fish in Bbun<lance. The beauty of these inlets is sometimes 

 much increased by tbe falls of water from the high rocks which 

 surround them. Some of thess falls pour down perpendicularly from 

 • gnu height, m the Feignm Fou <or F«U), 700 feet, tbe Serle Fose, 



1000 feet, and the Keel Foss, 2000 feet These three cataracts occur 

 on the shores of the Sogna Fiord. On the Hardanger Fiord are the 

 Skyttie Foss and the Boring Foss, each 900 feet high. The eastern 

 declivity of the Norrska Fiellen may be considered to commence 

 about 100 miles from the western coast, near 8° E. long. This 

 slope is much less rapid than the western, occupying about 50 miles 

 in width, and descending in this space about 4500 feet. Its surface 

 is exceedingly broken, consisting of precipitous ridges, which have 

 flat and sometimes extensive plains at their tops, and of deep narrow 

 valleys. Though a few of the ridges, as the Hailing Skarven (5436 

 feet), the Gouata Field (5522 feet), rise above the lino of trees, tho 

 valleys and a large portion of the declivities of the lower mountains 

 are covered with extensive woods, and the largest and best portion of 

 the timber exported from Norway comes from this region. But the 

 valleys are generally too high for cultivation, though they supply good 

 pasturage. Many of the valleys are occupied by deep aud extensive 

 lakes, especially near the beginning of the descent Several of these 

 lakes are from 1200 to 2000 fe-t above the sea-level. 



The highest part of the Norrska Fiellen is situated at the inner- 

 most recess of the Sbgne Fiord, and is known by tbe name of 

 Hurungerne. Its surface is covered with snow nearly all the year 

 roimd. The Skagstols Tind is 8000 feet above the sea; farther 

 east is the Ymes Fjeld (3400 feet), the highest summit in Norway. 

 Contiguous to the Hurungerne, on the north-west, is the Sogne Field, 

 which is somewhat lower; but west of the Sbgne Field lie the Juste- 

 dals, or Snee Briien, an immense sheet of perpetual snow and ice, 

 covering a surface of more than 600 square miles. This is by far the 

 largest mass of ice in Europe ; the large snow-fields which surround 

 the Finster Aarhoru and the Jungfrau do not occupy more than 200 

 square miles. The elevation of the Snee BHien is not known, but it 

 is estimated that tbe more elevated portions are 7000 feet above tho 

 sea. From tbe sides of this mass descend glaciers, which terminate 

 in several lakes at their base. The Folge Fonden is another remark- 

 able and elevated mountain-mass ; it is situated on the southern shores 

 of tbe Hardanger Fiord, and partly occupies the peninsula formed 

 by this long frith and one of its branches, the Sbr Fiord. The masses 

 of ice covering its summit extend 25 miles from north to south, and 

 about 10 miles in average width. Its elevation is stited at 5380 feet ; 

 glaciers descend from the sides to a height of only 2000 feet above 

 the sea-level ; the summit rises above the snow-line, which here occurs 

 at 4120 feet. (Forbes, ' Norway and its Glaciers.') 



The most northern portion of the Norrska Fiellen is the Dovre 

 Field, in the southern and highest part of which is the Snee-hUtton, 

 which rises to 7487 feet above the sea, and nearly 3000 feet iibove 

 the mountain plain on which it stands. The northern aud lower parts 

 of the Dovre Field approach the entrance of the Trondhjem Fiord, or 

 Bay of Trondhjem. 



The mountain plains of the Norrska Fiellen terminate with the 

 Dovre Field. East of 10° E. long., the rocky masses do not extend 

 in plains, nor do they constitute a continuous range ; still the country 

 between 61° 30' and 63° N. lat, 10° and 11° 30' E. long., is a moun- 

 tain region, its surface being in general more than 2000 feet above 

 the sea-level, and there being only a few valleys which sink below 

 that elevation. Its surface is exceedingly broken, and presents a 

 continuous succession of ascents and descents. Neither the mountains 

 nor the intervening valleys occupy a large space ; mountains generally 

 extend from north to south, in the direction of the whole system, but 

 they rarely continue for a few miles without being broken by deep 

 depressions. Still more rarely do their summits present a level sur- 

 face. Many of the valleys aro only ravines, which however widen 

 towards the border of the mountain region so as to become narrow 

 valleys, and to admit cultivation, which even extends on the declivities 

 of the mountains to some elevation. The whole region is wooded, 

 though the timber-trees are not so large as on the eastern declivity of 

 the mountain plains. Several of the mountains rise above the line of 

 treci", but only a few attain the snow-line. Tho Trou FioUet (near 

 62° N. lat) is 5593 feet, and tho Sylfiellen (near 63° N. lat) is 5747 

 feet high. 



Oidy two roads fit for carriages traverse the Norrska Fiellen ; one 

 of these connects Christiania and Bergen. It runs from Christiania 

 northward, skirting the eastern shores of the Rands Fiord I^ake, at 

 the northern extremity of wliich it turns west, and begins to ascend 

 the eastern declivity of the mountain mass. It pa.sses over the table- 

 land in a depression lying near 61" N. lat, between the Hurungerne 

 on the north and Mount Sule Tind on the soutli. The highest point 

 of the road does not much exceed 3000 feet above the sea, from which 

 elevation it descends in a narrow valley between high mountains to 

 the Sbgne Fiord, and then traverses a hilly and broken tract till it 

 reaches the Sbdra Oester Fiord and Bergen. The second road leads 

 from Christiania to Trondhjem. It runs from Cliristiania to tho 

 Lake of Mibsen ; along the eastern shore of that lake and up the 

 valley of the Lougen, nearly to its northern extremity, and ascends 

 tho Dovro Field, passing near the base of the Suee-hiitten, where it 

 attains an elevation of more than 4500 feet. As snow-storms are very 

 frequent oven in summer in tliis elevated region, and as travellers are 

 exposed to great danger during these storms in an uninhabited region, 

 four ' field-stner,' or houses of refuge, have been erected ever since the 

 IStb oeottti7 i they oootu: in n space of about ten milet. The ro«d 



