NOEWEGIAN TOWNS. 



125 



centuries boon the common rendezvous of all the Oppldndcr, or " Men of the 

 Uplands," and here St. Olaf was elected King of Norway in 1020. Ilamar, on 

 the east side of the lake, was the religious cajDital. It contains the ruins of an 

 imposing cathedral, but was destroyed by the Swedes in 1569, when the inhabitants 

 fled to Opslo, thus contributing to the prosperity of the town destined later on to 

 become the capital of the state. 



All the coast towns south and west of Christiania are engaged in the export 

 trade — Drammen, for instance, shipping planks and minerals ; Stavanger, cured 



Fif'. Gl.— «HiTTEiiDAL Chukch. 



fish. At the end of 187G the commercial navy of the ports on the Skager Rak 

 and Stavanger-fiord, in the Christiania and Christianssand districts, comprised 

 5,500 vessels of 1,270,000 tons, with over 46,000 hands. Thus this " Phœnicia of 

 the North " possesses a larger mercantile fleet than vast states like France, Spain, 

 or Paissia, with tens of millions of inhabitants. 



Dramincn is one of the chief centres of this commercial activity. Standing at 



