226 NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. 



mountains^ and would not faffer them to come down into the 

 valley. Judges xxxiv. which the -faid writer admits of. This 

 author agrees with us in this Hypothecs, namely, that they were 

 the firft that took poffeffion of thofe parts after the flood * : 



We may farther learn from the Norvegian chronicles, that 

 thofe ancient inhabitants which were expelled, had particular 

 kings, or chiefs who prefided over them, befides the kings of 

 Norway to whom they were tributaries; for Mr. Jonas Ramus 

 in the life of king Hagen the Great, informs us, " that thofe 

 of Finmark, had for a long time neglected to pay thofe taxes 

 which they ought to have paid to the kings of Norway. On this 

 account, king Hagen fent Giffer Galde, an Icelander, to Fin- 

 Morten kingmarken, who executed his commiiilon fo well, that Morten, kino- 



of the Finns. _ " _^. • _ > o 



ol the Finns went in perfon to king Hagen, who was then at 

 Nidros, and there paid him the taxes as he was in duty bound, 

 and gave farther anurances of his fidelity and obedience. Hifl. of 

 the kings of Norway, p. 304. 



SECT. II. 



The more modern Norvegians, like the reft, of the northern 



nations, were a mixture of the remaining Celto-Scythians, and 



the new race of Afers, or Asiatics, who fpread and ftrengthened 



themfelves, by a more civilized manner of living, f fometimes 



under the government of one, and fometimes of many kings. 



Thefe both before and after chriftianity was introduced, but 



chiefly in the tenth century, under king Harold Haarfao-er, who 



of the tranf- fupprefled ail the petty kings, and confequently, raifed many 



many Nor- malecontents, fent federal colonies out of the country to inhabit 



vaf/ous 8 ™ ° Iceland, Greenland, Faerorne, Hetland, and the Orkneys. 



countries in • •' 



parts 6 of * Ger hard Scheming, in the ancient Geography of Norway, fays, Sett. 3. p. 5. 



Europe. " That they formerly in the fouthern and weftern parts of our Peninfula, have been 



fo numerous, that they fent colonies to the Danifh iflands, and that Feyen took its 

 name from them (viz. Finns.) The great Hugo Grotius is of this opinion, and that 

 they muft have been the oldeft, and at firft the only inhabitants of 'Norway and Swe- 

 den, and have fince been driyen by the anceftors of the prefent inhabitants who came 

 from Germany, to the moil barren parts of the North, as the ancient Britons were 

 forced by the Anglo-Saxons to leave England, and retire into Wales. 



f See Chap. x. Se£t. 1, 2, 3. A fimilitude in the Norwegian Peafants manner of 

 living, and the Georgians, may perhaps ftrengthen the tradition, that the Afers, or 

 followers of Othin were Afiatics, and particularly that they were Mountaineers 'ex- 

 pelled by Pompey the Great, from Caucafus, and Ararat, betwixt the Euxine, and 

 the Cafpian-fea.- 



♦Not 



