NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. 227 



* Not to mention their many warlike expeditions to Scotland, 

 England, and Ireland, France, Portugal, Spain, Sicily, Calabria, 

 Greece, and the eaft. Of thefe powerful and fortunate expeditions 

 Thorm. Torfasus gives an account at large. An extracl: of the moflr 

 important of them is to be found in Gefe et Veftigia Danor. 

 extra Dan. Tom. 1. et 11. In ChrifL Reitzer's dedication of 

 Thormodus Torfaeus Hift. Rerum Norvegicar. to king Fred. IV. 

 where he briefly fpeaks thus : " Leges hie quales quantique illi 

 fuerunt tui majores. Videbis Haraldos, Olafos, Magnosj Suerreres, 

 Haquinos, et fateberis, illos in fortitudine prudentia fanctitate ne 

 celeberrimis quidem quos habuit antiquitas regibus ceilirTe. Quid ? 

 quod imperitabant genti ex qua tot fortiilimi viri, tot prodiere 

 Heroes, digni certe quos ne nefciat unquam orbis quam ingentia 

 eorum fuerint facta, quasque fudore fuo et fanguine adepti iint 

 decora, aeternus annalium colat honos. Haec enim ilia gens, qua? 

 olim fimul cum tuis Danis, fub nomine Normannorum, per om- 

 nem fere, qua clailibus adiri queat, Europam, victricia arma cir- 

 cumtulit. Hasc gens, quae toti illi, quod Norvegiam, Britanniamque 

 et feptentrionalem Americae oram interluit, mari jura pofuit; infu- 

 las omnes coloniis complens, chriftianamque fimul mox cum novis 

 his colonis inducens religionem. Hinc Rolfus ille Neuftris do- 

 mitor, qui non pedibus magis quam yictoriis, disjuncliilimas perva- 

 gabat terras. Hinc Tancredus, cui in privato domo quot filii, tot 

 /ere etiam, inaudito per omnia fecula exemplo, futuri nafcebantur 

 principes : virtute fola apud exteras nationes quse, ad pofteros etiarn 

 . tranfmitterent, imperia fadturi. Hinc regis Magni Nudipedis filius 

 Sigurd us, qui in Hifpania, devictis terra marique Saracenis, ex- 

 actis Sicilia Mauris, adferta Chriftianis Syria ac Palasffcina, Afiam, 

 Africamque et Europam admirationis fua fama conjunxit. Hinc 

 denique ut reliquos omnes taceam, magnus ille Angliae rex Wil- 

 helmus Conqueflor, &c." 



It will not be improper here to give an account of an extraor- The Nonve- 

 dinary fea-expedition of the Norwegians to North- America, tho' SeWdLin. 

 but little known. This country is now porTefTed by the French, fore the s P a* 



niards. 



* In the London Magazine of June 1725* we are informed that the inhabitants 

 of thefe lafb mentioned iilands, which in fact are alienated from Norway, ftill talk 

 the Norwegian dialect; many of the people, efpecially in the more northern ifles, 

 fpeak the Norze, or corrupt Danifh, which, in ibme places, is the firfr. iarjsua~e 

 their children leam* 



and 



