BRAVAIS ON LINES OF FORMER SEA-LEVEL IN EINMARK. 547 



but it can hardly refer to the terraces and lines of erosion in Nor- 

 way, which manifestly and necessarily belong to a different order 

 of phenomena. 



Lastly, with regard to the hypothesis of elevation itself, I can 

 hardly assert that it fully satisfies all the points of the case. The 

 possibility of explaining in this way the appearances presented on 

 the coast of the Scandinavian peninsula was suggested by Playfair, 

 and even before him, according to M. Keilhau, by the Danish author 

 Jessen. Von Buch, after his return from the North, and without 

 being aware of what Playfair had said, expressed the same opinion, 

 and added, that the nature of the elevatory movement in Norway 

 was different from that on the shores of the Baltic. " Hence it 

 results," he observes, " that the shelly bed of Tromsoe owes its 

 existence to other causes than those which gradually elevated 

 Sweden above the sea level."* M. Keilhau, after having clearly 

 demonstrated this latter fact, showed also that the whole change is 

 the sum of a certain number of successive changes which have 

 alternated with periods of repose, and that Norway has thus been 

 elevated by impulsive upheavals or jerks. He illustrated the 

 length of the intervals by the slow rate of submarine deposits of 

 the same kind now and the thickness of the deposits that have 

 been elevated, stating that there were no grounds for assuming 

 that they were formed under any different conditions ; and lastly, 

 he added, " if there is no doubt as to the existence and long dura- 

 tion of periods of repose, there is still a question as to the dura- 

 tion of the elevatory movement. We do not know whether it took 

 place suddenly, like that on the coast of Chili, or whether, like that 

 of the neighbouring shores of Sweden, it was of extreme slowness, 

 although the proximity of the latter district is an argument in 

 favour of the same process being followed. If such is the case, 

 the Norwegian coast is at the present day in an interval of re- 

 pose, while that of Sweden is undergoing elevation." 



§ 4. Other Lines of Ancient Level in Northern Europe. 



The accounts of travellers in many parts of Northern Europe 

 record phenomena, similar to those we have been considering. It 

 may be worth while to allude to some of these. 



Five leagues only N.N. E. of Hammerfest, on the island of 

 Rolfsoe, M. Martin has seen a terrace about 6 metres above the 

 sea, covered with rolled flints, and exhibiting three successive 

 steps or stages. 



On the island of Maasoe, in 71° N. lat., about 36 marine miles 

 N. E. of Hammerfest, an ancient line of level, 34 '8 metres above 

 the sea, was visited and described by Hell ; and in Varanger fjord, 

 the most westerly of the Norwegian gulfs, similar terraces have been 

 observed by M. Keilhau, 63 metres above the sea. These two ob- 

 servations probably refer to the continuation of our higher line. 



In the Lang fjord, one of the friths of the Bay of Alten, a line 



* Von Buch, Voyage en Scandinavie, traduction d'Eyries, vol. i. p. 424. 



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