THALASSOLOGICAL NOTES OS THE NORTH SEA. 321 



numberless islets and rocks, many of them sunken, and of 

 the most dangerous kind, both in the land course of the 

 fjords themselves and off the coast on all hands. All these 

 fjords concentrate in the Bukne fjord, strictly speaking a 

 Avide land-locked gulf. 



Forty miles before reacliing the coast Vinda fjord branch 

 is already 3(38 fathoms deep, and (disregarding the con- 

 stant local changes of name), at 20 miles it attains 382 

 fathoms, reduced "to 200 fathoms in passing the last island 

 guarding the entrance into the sea, a circumstance easily 

 explicable by the fact that the slackened current was no 

 longer strong enough to carry off the immense amount of 

 detritus borne down from the mountains any further, on 

 account of the counter current from the sea. Yet, as the 

 100 fathoms isobath is in immediate proximity to the islands 

 there is a clear width of 5 miles of the submerged fjord, and 

 which preserves a mean depth of 190 fathoms. For 30 

 miles to sea the whole sea bottom on all sides is slik, with a 

 pretty uniform depth of 140 to 159 fathoms. 



Bummel, Hardanger and His fjords. Lat. 59° 30' — 60° N. — 

 The extreme length of these fjords is ^2 miles. At 50 miles 

 inland the Hardanger fjord shows soundings of 315 fathoms, 

 but for the last 20 miles of its course the depth is only from 

 160 to 200 fathoms, evidently the result of the extensive 

 deposits of detritus, for the sea bottom for upwards of 20 

 miles from the coast line never exceeds a still lesser depth 

 of 140 fathoms, and consists invariably of sand and slik. 



The imposing Skjeeggedalsfos — unparalleled in Europe — 

 and the Voringfos, are two charming waterfalls belonging to 

 the Hardanger fjord. 



Group of Soslbjorns fjord, Kors fjord, Bjorne fjord, Fuse fjord, 

 etc. Lat. '60° N. — Total length 65 miles. Depth at 28 miles 

 inland 230 fathoms, at 18 miles from the sea 310 fathoms, 

 while at 10 miles further down it already attains 338 

 fathoms. Only 9 miles from the coast of the island of Sotro 

 the soundings at sea show 182 fathoms in the submerged 

 prolongation of the Kors fjord with sand and slik, a depth 

 merely local, and without any parallel in all the batho- 

 metrical measurements hence in a direct line to the shores of 

 Britain. 



Bergen groxqj of fjords, viz., Jelte fjord. By fjorden, Osier 

 fjord, S6r fjorden. 'Lat. 60° 20'— 60° 45' N.— These complex 

 fjords penetrate 45 miles inland, but do not appear to have 

 any important direct outlet for the last 15 miles northwards, 



Y 



