mvseif 



on 



r 



e 



abov 

 " a com. 



iQieto 

 'f lunar 



en 



sea- 



he 



iiid and 



f, 



)r are 



1* 



~hed on 



'pnturr. 

 ^Ti. and 

 yf land 



■^'.vedisli 



9 ink- 



nr d "Tl 



3 



where 



in deep 

 the 



L.ir 



It IS 



- 1 days 



»eeD 



aD 



1 tlies? 



or 



3 



.tion 



of 



.al'P^^: 



a 





I 



Ch. XXXI.] 



EISE OF LAND IN SWEDEN. 



189 



an inner and an outer one ; the inner being tlie sliore of the 



mainland 



dimensions 



small 



vessels make their coasting voyages within this skar; for 



sail in smooth v^ater, even when the sea 



here 



may 



without is strongly agitated. But the navigation is very 



must 



with the breadth and depth of every narrow channel, and 



innumerable 



If on 



such a 



coast the land rises 1 or 2 feet in the course of half a 

 century^ the minute topography of the skar is entirely altered. 

 To a stranger^ indeed^ who revisits it after an interval of 



many years^ its general aspect remains 



but the 



inhabitant finds that he can no longer penetrate with his 

 boat through channels where he formerly passed^ and he can 

 tell of countless other changes in the height and breadth of 

 isolated rocks^ now exposed^ but once only seen through the 



clear water. 



The rocks of gneiss, mica-schist, and quartz are usually 

 very hard on this coast, slow to decompose, and, when pro- 

 tected from the breakers, remaining for ages unaltered in 

 their form. Hence it is easy to mark the stages of their 

 progressive emergence by the aid of natural and artificial 

 marks imprinted on them. Besides the summits of fixed 

 rocks, there are numerous erratic blocks of vast size strewed 

 over the shoals and islands in the skar, which have been 

 probably drifted by ice in the manner before suggested.^ All 



these are observed to have increased in heio^ht and dimensions 



within the last half-century. Some 



formerly 



known as dangerous sunken rocks, are now only hidden 

 when the water is highest. On their first appearance, they 

 usually present a smooth, bare, rounded protuberance, a few 

 feet or yards in diameter ; and a single sea-gull often aj)pro- 

 priates to itself this resting-place, resorting there to devour 



meantime 



its prey. 



long reefs, and are constantly whitened 



multitude 



sea-fowl ; while others have been changed from a reef. 



C-Tt' 



ie^' 



^ See p. 182 and Chap. XYI. Vol. I. 



