272 



PREHISTORIC EUROPE. 



between 500 and 569 Norwegian feet ( = 515 to 586 English 

 feet). Nearly all those who have described the " gamle strand- 

 linier " attribute their origin in some way to the sea ; they are 

 generally believed, in fact, to mark former sea-levels. There are 

 difficulties, however, in the way which this view does not 

 entirely remove. In the first place, they hardly resemble the 

 beaches which are being now formed in Norway. Indeed, 

 according to S. A. Sexe, no such rock-shelves occur at the pre- 

 sent water-level. " I cannot say," he remarks, " that I have 

 seen any such incision there which I could imagine as a future 

 ancient coast-line in case the land should rise in the future, 

 although I have travelled not a little both on our fiords and 

 along the coast facing the open sea." In the second place, the 

 strand-lines in closely adjoining fiords seldom agree either in 

 number or in relative height. Thus Professor Mohn found that 

 the strand-lines in the neighbourhood of Tromsoe could be 

 arranged in six groups, of which the average levels were as 



follow : — 



62 feet above sea. 

 89 . 

 124 , 

 159 

 194 

 258 

 304-5 



The strand-lines of the first group varied in level between 53 

 and 72 feet ; those of the second between 82 and 90 feet ; those 

 of the third between 114 and 132 feet; those of the fourth 

 between 154 and 162 feet ; those of the fifth between 190 and 

 202 ; those of the sixth were noticed only in two places, and 

 stood at practically one and the same level ; and those of the 

 seventh ranged between 301 and 308, but they Likewise occurred 

 only at two localities. These differences of level may perhaps 

 be more or less readily accounted for, partly by the configuration 

 of the ground where they occur, which would doubtless have its 

 influence upon the rise and fall of the tide, and partly upon the 



