LXxkII 
RomMANTIC 
Views, 
HEIGHTS OF 
MOUNTAINS. 
iM. Qo Re ae OW, 
the diftinguifhed fummits of Horrikalero, Avafaxa, and Kittis, and ends in feat~- 
tered mafles of granite, in the low province of Finland. It inclofes Scandinavia 
in form of a horfe-fhoe, and divides it from the vaft plains of Ruffia. The an- 
tient name of this chain was Seve mons, to this day retained in the modern name 
Seveherg. Pliny compares it to the Riphzan hills, and truly fays, it forms an 
immenfe bay, even to the Cimbrian promontory *. 
The mountains and iflands break into very grotefque forms, and would furnifh 
admirable fubjeéts for the pencil. Among the defiderata of thefe days, is a 
tour into thofe parts by a man of fortune, properly qualified, and properly at- 
tended by artifts, to fearch into the great variety of matter which this northern 
region would furnifh, and which would give great light into-the hiftory of a 
race, to which half Europe owes its population. Among the views, the moun- 
tains of the Seven Sifters in Helgeland +, and the amazing rock of Torg-hatten t, 
rifing majeftically out of the fea, with its pervious cavern, three thoufand 
ells || long, and a hundred and fifty high, with the fun at times radiating through 
it, are the moft capital. Not to mention the tops of many, broken into imagi- 
nary forms of towers and Gothic edifices, forts, and caftles, with regular walls and 
baftions. 
I agree with the Comte De Buffon, in thinking that the heights of the Scan- 
dinavian mountains, given by Bifhop Pontoppidan, and Mr. Browallius, are ex- 
tremely exaggerated §, They are by no means to be compared with thofe of 
the Helvetian Alps, and lefs fo with many near the equator. ‘The fober accounts 
I have received from my northern friends, ferve to confirm the opinion, that 
there is an increafe of height of mountains from the north towards the equato- 
rial countries. M. Afcanius, profeflor of mineralogy at Drontheim, aflures me, 
that from fome late furveys, the higheft in that diocefe are not above fix hun- 
dred fathoms above the furface of the fea; that the mountains fall to the weftern 
fide from the diftance of eight or ten Norwegian milesq ; but to the eaftern, 
from that of forty. The higheft is Dovre-fiel in Drontherm, and Tille in Ber- 
gen. They rife flowly, and do not ftrike the eye like Rom/dale-horn, and Horn- 
alen, which foar majeftically from the fea. In Sweden, only one mountain has 
been properly meafured to the fea. Profeffor Ritzius of Lund, acquaints me, 
that Kinnekulle in Weftro-Gothia is only eight hundred and fifteen Englifh feet 
* Seva mons ibi immenfus, nec Riphaeis jugis minor, immanem ad Cimbrorum ufque promonte- 
rium efficit finum, qui Codanus vocatur. Lib. iv. c. 13. 
+ Pontoppidan, i. 46. tab. iii. t The fame, i. 47: tab. iii. | Of two Danif/h feet each. 
§ Epogues de la Nature, Suppl. tom, vi..p.136. edit. dinflerdam. M Of 18,000 feet each. 
above 
