﻿lots 



NORTHUMBERLAND INLET. 



NORWAY. 



lOJi 



NORTHUMBERLAND INLET. [Nobth-West Passaqe.] 



NORTHWICH, Cheshire, a market-town and the seat of a Poor- 

 Law Union, in the pariah of Great Budworth, is situated on the banks 

 of the Weaver, near the coniluenoe of that river with the Dane, in 

 63° 16' N. lat., 2° 30' W. long., distant 17 miles E.N.E. from Chester, 

 and 174 miles N W. from London. The population of the township of 

 Northwich in 1851 was 1377. The living is a perpetual curacy in 

 the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester. Northwich Poor-Law Union 

 comprises (30 parishes and townships, with an area of 65,445 acres, and 

 A population in 1851 of 31,202. The high road from London to 

 Liverpool passes through the town, and is there intersected by the 

 road joining Manchester and Chester. Many of the houses in the town 

 are of considerable antiquity. The church is large, and chiefly 

 remarkable for its semicircular chancel. The Wealeyan and Primitive 

 Methodists, Independents, and Baptists, have places of worship. There 

 *re a National school, a school with a small endowment, and a savings 

 bank. A county court is held. Both the salt-uiines and brine- 

 iprings are belierod to have been wrought during the ooeupation of 

 Britain by the Romans. At present thesa mines are exoeediogly pro- 

 ductive. The brine-springs are usually met with at from 90 to 120 

 feet beneath the surface. The salt is conveyed to Liverpool by the 

 rivers Weaver and Mersey. The Qrand Trunk Canal, uniting the 

 rivers Trent and Maraey, passes the town on the north. Ship-builJiui;, 

 rope- and sail-making, brick-making, iron and brass founding, and 

 brewing, are the principal sources of employment. The markot-day is 

 Friday; fairs are held April lOtb, August 2ad, and December 6th. 



NORTON. [Ddrhau ; SoMBiunsBiRX.] 



NOllWALK. [CoHaECTicoT.] 



NORWAY, a country in Europe which comprehends the western 

 portion of the Scanilinavian peninsula, extends from 58° to 71° N. lat. 

 Its most southern point, Cape Lindesnaes, is in 57° 58' N, lat., and 

 the moat northern. Cape Nordkyn, in 71° 8' N. lat. It lies between 

 6* sod 28° E. long. Its length is about HOC miles, but its width varies : 

 the width is greatest near 61° N. lat, where it is about 250 miles wide, 

 and smallest between 67° and 68° N. Ut., where the deep inlets of the 

 sea terminate at a distance of leas than twenty miles from the boundary 

 of Sweden. Its area is 122,711 square miles, and its population at the 

 esd of 1845 was 1,828,471. On the north and west it is surrounded by 

 the North Atlantic, and on the south by the North Sea and the Skager- 

 rack. East of it is Sweden, and towards the northern extremity Russia. 



By far the greatest part of this extensive country is covered with moun- 

 tains, which constitute an immense rocky mass, called in the southern 

 part Norrska Fiellen, and in the northern Kiblen. [Norrska Fiellen.] 

 From near Tron>ilijem (63° N. lat.) to the north caps the mountains 

 generally cling to the coast, and form a ridge of comparatively narrow 

 width ; but southward from the Trondhjem Fiord they expand so as to 

 cover by far the greater part of the breadth of Norway. The Kioleu 

 Mountains form a range diminishing in height as it goes northward, 

 broken by many depressions, but distinguished by summits of noble 

 forms, though their absolute elevation is nowhere very great. The 

 Ul^Mst part of the range is the mass of Sulitelma (66° 1' N. lat.), the 

 highest mountain in the Arctic circle. This range is 4906 feet high, 

 but is surmounted by several summits, of which the highest towards 

 the north is 6200 feet above the level of the sea, and the southern 5618 

 feet. It is covered with vast snow fields, from which descend glaciers 

 of great width. [Norbska Fiellen.] On the eastern declivity of the 

 Kiolen Mountains there is a remarkable chain of lakes, one or more of 

 which occur upon almost every river that runs from it into the Gulf of 

 Bothnia : they nre nearly equidistant from the west coast, and occur 

 at a pretty uniform level of 1200 to 1600 feet, showing a remarkable 

 symmetry in the fall of the ground nearly through the whole peninsula. 



In the southern divinion the mountains do not form a ridge, but 

 consist of elevated barren table-Unds of great breadth and almost 

 perfectly level, generally more or less connected together, though 

 occasionally separated by deep narrow valleys. Those fiat-topped 

 mountains are called Fjelds, which in their highest and most expanded 

 puis are distinguished by specific names. 'The chief of them pro- 

 ceeding fix>m south to north are the HanlangerFjeld, the Fille-Fjold, 

 the S^ne-Fjeld, Homngeme, the Ymes-Fjeld, the Lange-Fjeld, and 

 the Dorre-Fjeld. The Boeehattan, the most elevated point of the 

 Dovre-Fjeld, was formerly considered the highest hill in Norway 

 (7487 feet), but it is exceeded by the Skagtolstund (8000 feet) and 

 other snmmits of the Homngeme, and by the Ymes-Fjeld, which 

 lies farther east, and rises to 8400 feet above the sea, being the highest 

 known i>oint in the Scandinavian peninmila. About 40 per cent, of 

 the whole surface south of the Trondlijem Fiord exceeds 3000 feet 

 above the sea. The average hei^dit of the moimtain table-lands is 

 about 4000 feet. The ratio of arable land to the whole area of Norway 

 is not more than 1 to 10; and if we exclude the local enlargements 

 of the places near Christiania, Christiansund, and Throndhjem, the 

 ratio would not ezcacd 1 to 100. (Professor Forbes, 'Norway 

 and its Olacioni.') About one-tenth of the surface rises to the 

 height of 800 feet, and perhaps about one-thirtieth part is below 

 300 feet. The lowest tract, that which does not rise to 30 feet, 

 is situ»te<l on both sides of the Bay of Christiania. The moro 

 elevatf'd country, that which rises to between 300 and 800 feet, partly 

 sorrounds this low tract, and partly extends along the shores of tho 

 Skager-rack, or incloses the Bay of Trundbjem on the south and east. 



Cultivation is ne.irly limited to these two regions. In all the other 

 parts of the country cultivation occurs only in the narrow valleys by 

 which the i-ocky masses are indented. A large portion of the mouu- 

 tain masses is always covered with snow, and glaciers in many parts 

 occupy the depressions in the high table-lands, and the heads of the 

 valleys in which the numerous Fjords that indent the western coast 

 terminate. The Suphelle glacier in the eastern valley at the head of 

 the FjaerlandsFjord is the lowest in Norway proper, being only 105 

 feet above the sea, but the glaciers of the Jokuls- Fjord in Finnmarkena 

 are much lower, in some instances reaching to tho very shore. As to 

 the nature of the lower country see Christiania ; Chkistiansand ; and 

 Tkonoiijem. a railway connects Christiauia with Lake Hiosen ; the 

 lake itself is navigated by steamers. 



As alt the rivers of this country rise at a great elevation above the 

 sea, and have a comparatively short course, they are not fit for navi- 

 gation. Some of them however are used to float down timber, at 

 least in a part of their course. The largest of these rivers is the 

 Glommen Elf, which rises near 62° N. lat, on the declivities of the 

 Rute Fiell, and after traversing the Lake of Oresund, which is nearly 



1 5 miles long, about 3 miles wide, and 2400 feet above the sea, passes 

 near the town of Ruraas, and running in a southsouth-westorn direc- 

 tion skirts tho base of tho high peak of the Tron-Fiellct, which is 

 nearly 3600 feet high, aud then turning nearly south it enters the 

 cultivable region, iu which it continues its southern course to Kongs- 

 vinger. At this place it turns abruptly to the west, but after ruimin;^ 

 a few miles iu that direction it again changes to the south-south-west, 

 and passing through the Lake of Oiern, which U 15 miles long and 

 about 8 miles wide, it enters tho Skager-rack near Predrickstadt. The 

 last of its numerous cataracts occurs near Hafolund, about 10 miles 

 from its mouth ; it is called the Sarpe Foss, and is 60 feet high. 

 Below this place the river is navigable for large boats. It is remark- 

 able that during the high floods, after the melting of the snow iu 

 spring, a part of the water of this river is discharged into Lake Wenom 

 in Sweden, by the Wranga Elf, at the sharp turning of the river near 

 Kongsvinger. The whole course of the Glommen probably exceeds 

 400 miles. Below Kongsvinger it is joined by the Wormen Elf, the 

 outlet of Lake Miosen, which receives its waters from tho mountain 

 plain lying south-west of tho Snee-hiittan by the river Lougen. This 

 river originates in a series of small lakes, called Lessouvorks Vand, 

 weet-south-west of the Sneo-hiittau, which are more than 2000 feet 

 above the sea, and discharge their waters by two outlets, the Roms- 

 dals Elf, which runs north-west, and the Lougen, which flows south- 

 east. After a course of nearly 150 miles the Lougen enters Lake 

 Midscn, which is nearly 60 miles long, and from one to more than five 

 miles wide ; it is more than 420 feet above the sea-level, and lies in 

 the middle of tho best cultivated portion of Norway. The Wormen 

 Elf runs about 20 miles with a gentle current. Tho Drammeu Elf 

 originates on the eastern declivity of the Norrska Fiellen in two 

 branches, the Beina Elf and the Snarum Elf. After a rapid course 

 of more than one hundred miles the two branches unite about forty- 

 five miles above their influx into the Gulf of Christiania, into which 

 the Drammcn Elf enters by a wide mstuary called the Drammeu Fiord. 

 Much timber is floated down this river. 



The other rivers remarkable for the length of their course are— the 

 Louven Elf, the Skeen Elf, and the Otter, or Torrisdals Elf, which run 

 from 120 to 150 mil(>8 each ; and, like the Glommen Elf ami Drammeu 

 Elf, fall into the Skager-rack. No consideraliie river falls iuto tho 

 Atlantic south of the Namsen£lf, which has its mouth between 64° 

 and 65° N. lat,, and runs nearly one humlred miles through a well- 

 wooded valley, Tho Alten Elf falls into the Alten Fiord, near 70° 

 N. lat. It runs northward about one hundred miles, first through an 

 inclined plain, bat against the declivity of the plain, so that its bed 

 sinks lower and lower below the surface of the country as it proceeds 

 farther north. In the lower part of its course it crosses tho Kioleu 

 Mountains by an exceedingly deep ond narrow valley, which at last 

 becomes a mera fissure, iuto which no person liai yet been able to 

 penetrate. It issues from this flHsuro by the cataract of I'ursoronka, 



16 miles from its mouth. [Ai.ten.] The Tana Elf, which for the 

 greatest part of its comse forms the boundary-line between Nox-way 

 and Russia, originates east of the source of tho Alten Eif, aud descends 

 from a plain which declines towards the north-east, in which direction 

 the river flows more than two hundred miles, until it approaches the 

 Varanger Fiord, where it suddenly turns to the north and falls into the 

 Tana Fiord, after a course of nearly three hundred miles. It is the 

 least rapid of tho rivers of Norway, but it flows through so sterile a 

 region as to be entirely useless. 



Norway, like a huge breakwater, defends Sweden from the tremend- 

 ous force of tho North Atlantic Ocean, and the state of its western coast 

 with its rugged outline, the dejith of its fiords, tho boldness of its head- 

 lands, and tho multitude of its islands, prove the long continuance of the 

 stmgglo. Towai-ds the north it has been observed that the sea sweeps 

 along the very base of the motmtains ; but towards the south, where 

 enduring crystalline rocks have bome the whole brunt of the wash 

 of the sea, there is a considerable expansion of const, though it is 

 rent and torn by narrow bays of great length. These inlets of tho 

 sea, soma of which in several places extend 70 or 80 miles inland, 

 would be of great advantage if the adjacent country possessed only a 

 moderate degree of fertility. But ou the sherea of these iulvts, with 



