6o NATURAL H IS T O R Y of NO R WAT. 



and not the leaft danger, to which the inhabitants in this and fome 

 other provinces, tho' feldom in Ofterland, are expofed, is, that 

 fometimes by a hidden disruption of a rock, great damages are 

 done to the cattle, fields, and woods, and fometimes houfes and 

 families are involved in the deftru&ion. Thefe disruptions (called 

 Steenfkreed) generally happen in the fpring, when the dilation of 

 the ftrata of earth, occasioned by the thaws and rains on the fum- 

 mits of the mountains, loofens fome adjacent fmall ftones, which 

 as they roll down, gradually gather more, and carry before them, 

 or after them, fuch heaps of ftones, fand and rubbifh, that all the 

 trees in the way are torn up, and the mountain is fo Stripped of all 

 its covering, that it has the appearance of a beaten road ; and if the 

 earth chance to lie too deep for this mifchief, many deep trenches, 

 or long and narrow vallies are formed, the foil of which is thrown 

 on the contiguous fields and pastures, which in time, tho' it requires 

 fome years, recover their verdure and fertility. The greatest and 

 moft deftruc~t.ive fall of ftone as well as fnow, of which I have elfe- 

 where made mention, happened in this diocefe about Candlemafs, 

 in the year 1679, when many cultivated tracts of land were de- 

 ftroyed, feveral houfes demolifhed, and, only in the district of Sund- 

 moer, 130 fouls periined, and all this as fuddenly as in other coun- 

 tries by earthquakes. 



There is another much more terrible, and a more extraordinary 

 natural accident, which in fome degree refembles this laft ; it 

 is distinguished by the name of Bergrap ; the mountain being as it 

 were convulfed, gives way, feparates, and falls down on the coun- 

 try ; fometimes in fmall pieces, and then the damage is but flight; 

 but fometimes, tho' feldom, entire creSts of rocks fome hundred 

 fathoms in length and breadth have fallen ; which occaSions a vio- 

 lent agitation in the air, and has all the appearance of a prelude 

 See pkte v. of a general destruction of the world. The veftiges of fuch a Ber- 

 grap, are mofl evidently to be feen at Steen-broe, in Laerdale, in 



and their entrails immediately gufh out ; which is plainly the cafe, when they happen 

 to fall into a creek, or any other water, for all the limbs remaining whole, but the 

 belly is burft. The certainty of this matter throws a light upon an obfcure patfage, 

 efpecially in Luther's and our Danifh tranflation of the Bible, where it is faid, A6ts, 

 chap. i. 18. he hanged himfelf and burft in two, and ell his bowels fell out. On the 

 contrary, the words are, w^w ytvopim iXxxwi ^,£<k»?, prasceps faftus eft, falling 

 headlong^ he burft afunder in the midft, is the Englilh tranflation, and agrees perfectly 

 well with the iequel, according to the above obfervation, which in this country is 

 but too often exemplified. 



the 



