248 SPORT IN NORWAY. 



damage from the frosty nights in the latter part of 

 August ; but the position of the locality exercises great 

 influence, for it often happens that the corn is ripe for 

 the sickle on the side of the fjeld facing the south, 

 while that on the opposite side is still green. In 

 Jemteland, in Sweden, the peasants heap up large 

 masses of brushwood on the north side of their small 

 patches of corn to protect them against the north-wes- 

 terly winds which prevail usually during the night-time.* 



As may be anticipated from the configuration of the 

 country, the quantity of rain that falls in different 

 localities varies exceedingly. Thus, while but little 

 rain falls in the eastern districts, an immense quantity 

 falls on the western coasts. At Bergen,-f for instance, 

 it may be estimated at 85 inches, while at Christiania, 

 taking the average of twenty years, it is 2O7 inches. 

 In 1859 it was at this latter place 21 inches, while in 

 the disastrous year of 1860 it amounted to 30'5. 



It is no exaggeration to say that Norway enjoys 



* During the summer, when it is fine weather, a wind called the 

 " Sol-gang " is prevalent ; that is, the wind follows the sun, blowing 

 in the morning from the east, and during the evening and night 

 from the west. 



t The rain at Bergen is quite proverbial. A native of that city 

 informed me that he should say they did not have fifty fine days in 

 the whole year. And though the skipper's logical '?) inference, 

 that because it rained when he sailed out of the port, and rained 

 when he returned, that it therefore always rained there, is no more 

 to be relied on tban that Calais is a very windy town, because the 

 hat of the author of " A Sentimental Journey" was blown off as he 

 turned the corner of a street ; yet from the immense quantity of 

 rain that falls there it will be evident that the wet days must far 

 outnumber the fine ones. 



