MECHANICAL ACTION OF GLACIERS. 141 
snow and the ice, run down on every side. In the moun- 
tains above are the Langedal and the Bjorne glaciers, 
rising to 4,500 and 4,780 feet above the sea; a little 
farther north, on the west side, are the Svaere and the 
Vetle fiords, between mountains, the highest of which, the 
Oatneskri, rises 5000 feet—nearly a mile, which is 1,760 
yards, or 5,280 feet. At the end of the Vetle fiord there 
is a road of a few miles, leading to the great ice-field of 
Justedalfonn. As you sail farther inland, still higher 
mountains loom up on both sides of the fiord—the Mels- 
nipa, 5,620 feet; the Gunvords and Stendale glaciers, 
5,200 feet. The water is of a peculiar opaque light green, 
showing the effect of the numerous streams from the ice. 
Three valleys diverge from the lowlands at the end of 
this fiord. The first, the Suphelle, is a long narrow 
ravine, enclosed between rugged mountains; its glacier, 
about four miles from the sea, is fed from the side of 
another with which it has no direct communication, the 
masses of ice falling from a height of between two or 
three thousand feet. . . . In the year 1868 a large 
number of avalanches occurred in different parts of the 
country, occasioning loss of life and property. On the 
Fjaerland, on the west side, one descended of such a size 
that it formed a bridge over the fiord—at that point 5000 
feet [nearly a mile] wide—upon which the people crossed. 
If I had not been told this by several trustworthy persons, 
I would not have believed it, so incredible does it appear. 
‘Leaving the Fjaerland, and again ascending the Sogne 
fiord, the scenery becomes more cheerful—woods, fields, 
meadows, and hamlets, are far more numerous: at the base 
of the mountains the woods crowning even some of the 
lower hills. Here is the hamlet of Fejos, while the Fres- 
vik snow-field, rising 5000 feet, towers over all. : 
Two streams from the Grindsdal and Henjumdal—two 
valleys a few miles apart, both formed by the Gunford 
glacier, 5000 feet above the sea—empty into the sea here, 
and give water-power to numerous grist-mills, ; 
‘A few miles farther up on the northern shore is the 
