20. 



9 2~ NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. 



Among the frefh- water lakes*, through which thefe rivers run, 

 the moft noted are RyiTvand in Nordland, Snaafen, the lake 

 Sclboe, the greater and leffer Mioes, Slirevand, Sperdille, Rand, 

 Vefteri, Saren, Modum, Lund, Norfoe, Hvidfoe; Farifvand, 

 Oeyevand, and feveral others, the fituations of which may be found 

 in the maps. My prefent defign requires me only to obferve, that 

 thefe lakes abound in fifh, and are navigable, in cafe of necef- 

 iity, for large vefTels. The hiftory of Norway even informs us of 

 fleets fitted out, and wars carried on in thefe inland feas, betwixt 

 the kings and their competitors f. In fome of them are alfo float- 



rioating ing iflands, or parcels of land about thirty or forty ells in length, 

 with trees growing on them, which having been feparated from 

 the main land, are driven about as the wind fets, and when clofe 

 to the fhore, are moved off with a pole. They are faid to grow, 

 as it were, by the acceflion of reeds, grafs, weeds, and the like 



Lib.ii. Ep. f u bftances. Both the Plinys, efpecially the younger, mention 

 the like curiofities in Italy, which Kircher has alfo thought worth 

 notice, in hisMundus Subterraneus, lib. v. cap. 2. particularly the 

 floating iflands on the lake di Bagni, or Solfatara, four miles from 

 Tivoli ; and, in my opinion, they are not different from thofe 

 which I have feveral times feen in this country, particularly in 

 1749, on my return from Chriftiania, when the rains had fwelled 

 the river near Nitfund to fuch a degree, that it overflowed a con- 

 siderable tract on both fides of the valley, riling above the tops of 

 the middling trees, and carrying away great quantities of earth and 

 wood, fome of which floated along fide of my boat. Yet this is not 

 a matter of fo much wonder as what is called the Mardyne, which 

 is frequently met with on the falt-water, in the creeks ; thefe are 

 level clods compofed of fea-grafs, twigs, and the foam of the fea, 

 upon which, the fifhermen fay, certain fea-fowls lay their eggs. If 

 this be matter of fact, it muff, be acknowledged another inftance 

 of the providence and wife difpofition of the Creator. 



* M. Scheuchzer, in his treatife on the Menfuration of the Height of Mountains, 

 iudiciouily fhews the wife difpofition of Providence, in providing for rivers, efpeci- 

 ally in mountainous countries, room to fubfide and break the violence of their 

 fall or courfe, in the lakes where they fpread their waters. Without this provifion, 

 they might by their inundations in fummer, when the fnows melt on the moun- 

 tains, occafion great damage to the grafs and corn in the vallies beneath. Philofoph. 

 Tranfacl. Vol. xxxv. N° 1. 



■f Several vefTels of coniiderable burden are Hill ufed in Faris-Vand, and fome 

 others, for the carriage of goods, efpecially for the ufe of the founderies. 



SECT. 



