On the Physical Geography of Norway. 169 



axis of the range has entirely passed to the coast. The 

 second section (from C to Don the map) passes through 

 Throndhjem and part of the Syl-field to the Gulf of Bothnia, 

 about 2° north of Stockholm. The third section, E F, is 

 made to pass through some of the most elevated ground in 

 Southern Norway, including the Justedal mountains and the 

 Fille-field. It begins at the conspicuous headland of Stadt. on 

 the western coast (lat. 62° 10'), and terminates at Drammen, 

 on a branch of the Christania-fiord, being very nearly parallel 

 to the marked direction of the river-courses of Norway 

 already referred to. In all these sections the elevations are 

 to the horizontal measures in the proportion of about thirteen 

 to one. These are all prominent sections. They shew the 

 character of the elevations when well developed. That there 

 should be profound valleys intersecting the mountain ranges, 

 or even occasional discontinuities, cannot fairly be urged 

 against the existence of mountain chains altogether. Though 

 the boundary of Sw r eden and Norway be often fanciful, and 

 the maps founded on its supposed physical meaning be egre- 

 giously wrong, a certain continuity of elevation is still to be ob- 

 served. And, indeed, the same error which has prevailed in 

 maps of Scandinavia, applies in a measure to those of better 

 known countries. The construction of maps by river-courses 

 instead of by lines of elevation is general ; and geologists are 

 well aware thateven the chain of Alps, which is remarkable for 

 its continuity, is arranged in groups rather than in a denned 

 ridge. Many of the passes seem to let the traveller through 

 the chain as it were by stealth, and really mark the boundary 

 between two conterminous blocks of mountains, or massifs, 

 as they are termed by foreign writers. Such is the pass of 

 the Little St Bernard, as well as the Col de la Seigne, and 

 still more strikingly that of the Finstermunz in Tyrol (Reschen 

 Scheideck, 4600 feet), between the huge Oertler Spitz 

 and the glacial mountains of the Oetzthal. Some of the 

 highest and most imposing summits, instead of occupying 

 the crown of the ridge, are found in lateral subordinate ranges, 

 or even in the mere spurs or offsets of. the great chain 

 of Alps. Such are the massifs of Mont Pelvoux in Dauphine, 

 13,500 feet above the sea, communicating with the Cottian 



