NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY, 



m metals, fuperior to all the treafures that ever the eaft af- 

 forded *. 



SECT. II. 



Should time verify this prediction, the generation then in being 

 muff con/true it an accomplifhment of the words of Job, xxxvii. 2. 

 from the north cometh gold', for in the year 1697, when, although 

 prematurely, Paracelfus's golden age was thought to be at hand, 

 a golden mine being difcovered, the abovementioned words were 

 the impreiTlon on one fide of the ducats, with the image of Chri- 

 ftian V. on the other. The number of them however was incon- 

 siderable, the mine foon failing, but in finenefs the gold was 

 equal to that of Hungary. Andfometime before, namely in 1644, 

 and 1645, Mr. Berenfen relates, page 274, that near Aggefide, or 

 in the diocefe of Chriftianfand, on the eftate of Mr. Chriftopher 

 Gios, gold ore was found f , from which thofe ducats were ftruck, 

 which the foreigners would by no means believe to be of Norway- 

 gold, from a falfe prepofTeiiion that Norway afforded no fuch 

 precious metal. However, Chriftian IV. to avoid the charge of 

 an oftentatious parade, in decking himfelf with foreign feathers, 

 in the year 1647, ordered other ducats to be ftruck of the fame 

 gold, which were called Spectacle- ducats, the reverfe of them 

 being a pair of fpectacles with this legend, Vide mira domi +. 



The 



* I cannot fpecify the place in his writings, having only met with it in Scaffer's 

 Lapland, quoted from Turnsus, and it is repeated by Mr. Peter Hogftrom, in his 

 Defcription of Lapland. 



f Anno 1644, NobilifT. D. Jo. Sigfrid de Lutichau, rei metallics in Norv. Prs- 

 fedus generalis, minera auri invenit in traclu Nedenecenfi prope portum Arndalen- 

 fern et curiam Barlo, nigram talcofam, frequentibus fplendentem micis, in cujus 

 bonitatem cum inquihviffet, invenit pondo centenarium ejus miners prsbere auri 



pnri marcas triginta oclo, et infuper centum quadraginta fex marcas argenti. Ali- 



am akerius vens mafTam Anno 1646, qus ignibus depurata, ex libra una, auri 

 puri dedit drachmas fex, prsfente Reg. M. fruftrum quod teneo minutioribus fplen- 

 det micis et priori magis ad rubidinem vergit. Adduces font ex eodem loco mi- 

 ners talcofs itidcm ex frequentibus granatis prsgnantes, quas auro fcatere multi 

 exiftimanr. Hanc mineram Anno 1646, Regi ipfi detexit rufticus quidam Gammel 

 Grodewyn, i. e. old Grodewyn, dicfus. Sita fodina eft ad portum Marede di&um 

 (this mud be Mardoe) extraclu Nidrofienfi lapis quidam arenofus aureis fcatens 

 fdntilhs et granulis minutis, mihi allitus et talci aurei nigrefcentis fquamuls, ex 

 quibus aurum erui volunt.' In argentifodinis Norv. prope Regiomontum putens 

 Brunf.vig diclus, aurum prsbet, refert namque D. Normand, quod A. 163.0, d. 3, 

 Agril. 7, marcs et fex uncis cum dimidia, auri unciam femis obtenuerit. Ol. Worm, 

 in Mu1;"eo, page 115. 



% Theie are, doubtlefs, the gold-mines meant by Olig. jacobeus in his Mufsum 

 Regiurn, p. 31, Miners dus auri e fodinis Norveg. quarum una intermixtam fibi 



-L j art I. A a a . habet 



