RIVERS, 85 
on the fjelds than in the valleys of the interior. The 
height of the. mountain plateau is such as to be covered 
more.or less with snow during two-thirds of the year or 
more; during the period the rivers and cascades are, 
comparatively in many cases, absolutely dry. The vast 
accumulations of autumn, winter, and spring, are to be 
thawed during the almost constant warmth of the long 
summer days. In this season alone the interior of Norway 
is usually visited, and we see the result in the amount of 
drainage concentrated into that brief season. In the Alps, 
no doubt, a similar cause is active, but the comparative 
want of cascades is explained by the absolute want: of 
.table-lands, and the infinitely ramified character of the. 
valleys. In the Pyrenees, which have a still more ridge- 
like character than the Alps, the cascades are more 
numerous, but yet far more scanty,’ 
By Dr Broch it is reported in regard to the rivers of 
Norway —I give a free, but substantially correct transla- 
tion of his statements :— 
‘From the position of the mountains the large rivers can 
only flow from north to south, or south to north. Affluents 
and small rivers on the west coast alone flow in a different 
direction. All the rivers of south Norway flow through a 
chain of. lakes generally of considerable size, and almost: 
always elongated in the direction of the river’s course. 
They are often so narrow that they may be considered 
only expansions of the rivers where their depth, which is 
often very considerable, does not impart to them the 
character of lakes. These lakes form reservoirs which 
receive. and modulate the flow of the rivers, and with a 
view to. increase this effect there has been established 
moveable dykes at the embrochure of some lakes, 
‘The rivers of Norway experience a pretty regular flood, 
produced in the end of May and in June by the melting 
of snow in the valleys and on the elevated plateaux. The 
magnitude of this flood is very variable and depends not 
onlyon the quantities of snow.which may have fallen in 
