On the Physical Geography of Norway. 163 



The configuration of Norway may be conveniently con- 

 sidered in two portions ; the comparatively narrow district, 

 extending from near Throndhjem to the North Cape, a dis- 

 tance of above 600 English miles, and the more expanded 

 part, 400 miles in its greatest dimension, from Throndhjem 

 to the Naes of Norway. Throughout the former, the moun- 

 tains cling, as it were, to the coast, and the boundary be- 

 tween Sweden and Norway is only one-fourth of the breadth 

 of the peninsula distant from the North Sea, which yet in- 

 cludes all the more considerable elevations. South of the 

 Syl-field (lat. 63°) the high ground occupies by far the greater 

 part of the breadth of Norway in its widest extension, and 

 fully half the breadth of the peninsula in the parallel of the 

 Dovre-field. This is due chiefly to the expansion of the coast 

 to the westward, where mountains of enduring crystalline 

 rocks form that prodigious lobe of land dividing the North 

 Sea form the Skagerack, which, bearing the whole brunt of 

 forces which appear to have come from the north, not only 

 defended the entire north of Europe from the shock, but 

 probably furnished by their attrition the material of which 

 the low grounds of the continent of Europe are mainly com- 

 posed. 



In this general disposition of the mountainous masses of 

 Norway we see a strong analogy to the west coasts of our 

 islands, and likewise to those of North and South America. 

 It appears almost certain that a common cause has devas- 

 tated the western shores of nearly every continent. 



The forms of the Norwegian mountains have been very 

 generally mistaken by geographers. They do not constitute 

 either unbroken chains rising from the low grounds and form- 

 ing a ridge, nor are they a series of distinct detached eleva- 

 tions, but, in the southern division of the country especially, 

 they form plateaux or table-lands of great breadth, and 

 generally more or less connected together, though occasion- 

 ally separated by deep but always narrow valleys. In the 

 description of the view from Sneehattan I have endeavoured 

 to convey a clear idea of these wonderful expansions of moun- 

 tains, often so level, that upon what may almost be called their 

 summits, a coach and four might be driven along or across 



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