EROSION ON LOFJELD 425 



stria3 were seen, the forms of the ledge being about as much weathered as 

 the summits of the Belknaps at 2,000 feet elevation in southern New 

 Hampshire. The lee side is completely shattered by frost into a mere 

 heap of fragments. 



On the stoss side, to north and east, is a vast gray wilderness of shat- 

 tered blocks, mostly angular and none suggesting glaciation. The rock 

 is not greatly weathered. There is none of the solar effect, the splitting 

 off of little chips of surface rock revealing the fresh rock below, as the heat 

 of sunshine was following by night radiation under a clear slvv, which 

 is familiar on southern faces in the Belknaps and in the drier south of 

 Norway near Kristiansand. Both effects are probably much hindered by 

 the prevalent cloudiness and abundant precipitation characteristic of all 

 of west Norway north of the sixtieth parallel. 



At Loen but 12 days of 50 were clear. In Germany the summer of 

 1904 was one of great and unusual drouth. At Kristiansand the heather 

 was withered and burned brown in all the shallow pockets of the rocks ; 

 at Loen there was overabundant precipitation. It is the custom at 

 Kristiansand to cure hay on the ground. In the glacier region it has to 

 be hung on fences built for its curing. 



EuNNiNG Water and its 'Woek 



It would be difficult in the Loen region to get out of sight and sound 

 of running water. There is a point on the Olden lake where one may 

 see 14 considerable streams descending from heights of 2,000 or 3,000 

 feet, making great leaps in the air, and then disappearing in clefts in 

 the rock. Below the snowline rock faces everywhere glisten with water. 

 Level surfaces are either covered with snow or wet and boggy with quak- 

 ing peat. To leave the highway is to put one's feet in water. 



The Brengsnaesvoss, issuing from one of the hanging valleys of the 

 Loen lake to descend 1,800 feet of cliff, shows an extraordinary feature 

 about 1,000 feet above the lake. From below this appears as a curious 

 leap and tuft of spouting water, but on ascending it is seen that the 

 water has bored a deep pothole in the rock and, falling into this, has 

 force enough to leap again 25 feet into the air before turning far out 

 over the cliff, which it does not again touch for a long distance. That 

 these streams cut actively is attested by the very large fans of detritus 

 that project into the lake below them. That they often glide over the 

 surface of the rock without any channel is a consequence of the steepness 

 of the wall. That frostwork is of great effect may be imagined. Nearer 

 the sea the milder oceanic climate deprives the water of this effect. Ber- 



