NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. 279 



SECT. IV, 



According to the natural order, I muft now take fome notice Their various 

 of the trades and occupations of the Norwegians which are thefe 

 following ; commerce, mechanic-trades, agriculture, grazing and 

 breeding of cattle, cutting of wood, working in the mines, fail- 

 ing, fifhing, and hunting. 



Commerce, or trading with foreign nations, has for many Commerce. 

 ages been in a flourifhing condition in Norway, and even before 

 the planting ChrifKanity amongft us. It was conflantly encou- 

 raged by all our kings, as may be feen in feveral places in the 

 Norwegian Chronicles ; and particularly Snorro Sturlefen fays, 

 page 89, and king Sagur, page 11, " That when Biorn Haraldfeh 

 reigned in Veftfold, he did not often go to war ; but traficked 

 with the merchants that came from various places and countries 

 to Tonfberg. He had merchant-mips at fea which brought hint 

 precious jewels and valuable things. Upon this account his bro- 

 ther called him Biorn the merchant." In the following king's reign 

 there is often mention made of merchants from Denmark and 

 Germany, efpecially at Bergen, which was probably a place of 

 trade long before*. 



In the year 1170, king Oluf Kyrre made great regulations 

 at Bergen with regard to trade, and granted great privileges to 

 foreigners, particularly the Englifh, and Scotch, who for many 

 ages have carry'd on a great trade in this country, and continue 

 it to this day, as do the Dutch, and other trading-nations. I 

 have fpoken at large in another place of the German hanfe-com- 

 pany, fo that I need not fay any thing more of it here f . 



bread, habits, efpecially belts and fnow-fhoes. I muft like wife obferve, that thofe 

 Afiatic-mountaineers, have jufb fuch houfes, Rog-Stuer, and fky-Jights. " Les 

 maifons font baties de groffes poutres jufqu'a comble, Ce qui eft fait en terraffe et 

 couvert de Gafons. Us laifient une ouverture au milieu, c'eft par ou la lumiere 

 entre et par ou fort la fumee. On bouche ce trou quand on veut. Ces fortes de 

 cavernes ont cela de commode, qu'elles font plus chaudes en hiver et fraiches en 

 ete, et qu'elles ne font fujettes a etre percees par les voleurs." 



* I know not otherwife what to make of Pliny's words, which feem to fhew that 

 they had a confufed idea of the northern countries in his time ; in Lib. iv. cap. 16. 

 he fpeaks thus : " Sunt qui etiam alias prodant Scandiam, Dumnam, Bergos, maxi- 

 m am que omnium Norigon, ex qua in Thulen navigaretur. A Thule unius diei 

 navigatione mare concretum." Here Norway is put after Skaane, Denmark, and 

 Bergen, which laft the Romans muft alio have imagined to be a country. 



-J- Forty or fifty merchant-men deeply laden from different parts of the world come 

 in annually in the fpring, and about eight hundred fhips loaded with the produce of 

 the country fail out of Bergen-harbour, where two or three hundred fail are {eea lying 

 at a time. 



3 Tron- 



