268 Of the Checks to Population Bk. ii. 



nerally about two months before harvest; and at 

 this time the cows, of which the poorest house- 

 men have generally two or three, and many five 

 or six, begin to give milk, which must be a great 

 assistance to the family, particularly to the younger 

 part of it. In the summer of the year 1799, the 

 Norwegians appeared to wear a face of plenty and 

 content, while their neighbours the Swedes were 

 absolutely starving ; and I particularly remarked, 

 that the sons of housemen and the farmers' boys 

 were fatter, larger, and had better calves to their 

 legs, than boys of the same age, and in similar 

 situations in England. 



It is also without doubt owing to the preva- 

 lence of the preventive check to population, as 

 much as to any peculiar healthiness of the air, that 

 the mortality in Norway is so small. There is 

 nothing in the climate or the soil, that would lead 

 to the supposition of its being in any extraordi- 

 nary manner favourable to the general health of 

 the inhabitants ; but as in every country the prin- 

 cipal mortality takes place among very young 

 children, the smaller number of these in Norway, 

 in proportion to the whole population, will natu- 

 rally occasion a smaller mortality than in other 

 countries, supposing the climate to be equally 

 healthy. 



It may be said, perhaps, and with truth, that 

 one of the principal reasons of the small mortality 

 in Norway is, that the towns are inconsiderable 

 and few, and that few people are employed in 

 unwholesome maimfactories. In many of the 



