CHAPTER’ XV. 
MECHANICAL ACTION OF GLACIERS. 
BEsIpES the interest which attaches to névés and: glaciers 
of Norway as indications of temperature at high altitudes, 
they possess an interest for students of physical geography 
as remains of yet more extensive névés and: glaciers, 
which in bye-gone ages exerted a powerful influence in 
cutting’ up and carving, or rather graving, the contour of 
the country, creating the wild wonders of its features 
which make it so attractive to tourists who are in ‘quest 
of the wild, the magnificent, and the grand in nature. 
As ‘the’ forests of Norway are the remains of forests 
‘which ‘once ‘covered more or less entirely ‘the’ whole of 
Europe, so are these névés and glaciers the remains ‘of a 
‘sheet’ of ‘snow and ice which once covered extensively 
Northern Europe, if not the whole continent and lands 
‘beyond it; and the existing fiords may be looked upon as 
having been to a great extent, if not’ entirely, thé creation 
of that far-reaching sheet, as under the superincumbent 
‘pressure of the'mass, it sought, here and there, to find a 
way to the lower level of the ocean bed, ploughing, and 
undermining, and sweeping along with it all débris as it 
advanced ‘on its resistless course. 
The interest which may be awakened in looking upon 
the wild outlines and contour of these fiords in proceeding 
from the coast to the glaciers on the elevated’ plateaux 
of the interior, may be intensified, if they be contemplated 
under a dominating influence of such considerations, 
With this view I would bring forward what has been 
told of one of these fiords by the experienced traveller 
whom we took as our guide from Christiania to the 
