10 Prof. E. Hull — The Norivegian Fjords. 



channels are less deep and precipitous on the eastern or Swedish side 

 than on the western or Norwegian side of the peninsula, and the 

 watershed approaches the western coast and is nearly conterminous 

 with the boundary between Sweden and Norway. 



The special interest regarding the Norwegian fjords is concentrated 

 on those entering the Atlantic, and is not repeated in any other part 

 of Europe. It is here, and nowhere else, that the waters of the 

 ocean find their way up into the very heart of the mountains, the 

 summits of which are covered by perennial snow giving rise to 

 the streams which enter the fjords at their upper limits ; and it is in 

 Norway, and nowhere else, that the glacial ice falls directly into the 

 waters of the Atlantic, as is the case with the Jokel Fjord, where 

 detached masses of ice float away on the ocean surface. It is in 

 Norway also that we find the largest snowfield of Europe, in the 

 Jostedalsbrse, which is estimated to have an area of 580 squai'e 

 miles. ^ 



From what has been said it will be evident that the fjords are 

 continuous with the rivers draining the interior snowfields and 

 glaciers, and are to be considered as partially submerged river valleys, 

 or, as designated by Lord Avebury, " drowned river valleys." ^ 



We have now to consider the process which has eventuated in the 

 formation of these unique physical features. 



Tiie Archaean ridge in all probability formed part of a great 

 primordial land barrier ranging along the Arctic Ocean in pre- 

 Silurian times ; but it is impossible to suppose that any of the 

 streams now entering the Atlantic from Scandinavia had their origin 

 at this period. However this may be, there can be no doubt that 

 they drained a land surface from the Silurian period downwards 

 throughout the whole of the vast lapse of time represented by the 

 Mesozoic and Tertiary formations. These formations have no repi'e- 

 sentatives in Scandinavia ; and in their absence we may assume they 

 were not deposited upon the submerged surface of the older forma- 

 tions. It is far more probable that the peninsula remained as 

 unsubmerged land throughout the succeeding geological periods ; and 

 throughout this vast lapse of time the rivers which drained into the 

 ocean were eroding their channels. This at any rate is the view 

 I find it necessary to take, as it helps us to understand how, amidst 

 rocks of such hardness as those of Norway, channels of the depth we 

 contemplate, both emergent and submerged, were eroded ; and have 

 thus produced the lofty cliffs which rise from the banks of the 

 streams and excite our admiration and astonishment : such are those 

 of the Romsdal, the Gudvangen, and the Stalheim, rising from 2,000 

 to 4,000 feet on either hand from the river banks. ^ 



The Fjords. — We shall now turn our attention to some of the fjords 

 which I have myself visited and which, with the aid of the soundings 

 on the Admiralty Charts, excite surprise bj- the depths to which they 



' Encyc. Brit., 11th eel., vol. xiv. 



^ The Scenery of England, 1901, p. 101. 



^ Professor J. W. Spencer has remarked that many of the sharper peaks and 

 precipitous cHffs owe their form to the pecuhar cHmatic conditions of Norway — 

 the frosts of winter and long days of summer. 



