44 N A T U R A L H I S T O R Y of N R WA T. 



carriages *, the way is marked all along with ports, at two or three 

 hundred paces diftance, that in fnowy or dark weather, the tra- 

 veller may not lofe himfelf -in thefe defart wilds, where no living 

 creature is to be met with, except here and there a few rain-deer, 

 and which cannot be conftantly inhabited, unlefs by Finlappers, 

 who, as their dwelling is among the Koelen chain in Nordland, 

 and Finmark, ioo miles farther north, may live very commo- 

 dioufly here. In the valley called Smiddedal, there were for- 

 merly iron-works, but they have long fince been difcontinued, 

 fufficient quantities of iron-ore having been found in other more 

 convenient places ; for befides the fcarcity of birch and alder, the 

 extreme cold, and the fnow, with which the ground is covered 

 nine months of the year, ftunt the growth of trees. 

 Mountain- In fome meafure to relieve and refrefh the traveller, two 



* tove£ ' n n • * 



mountain-itoves, or reiting-houies, are maintained on Filefield at 

 the public charge, and three on Dofrefield, and furnifhed with fire, 

 light, and kitchen utenfils. There is but one way of avoiding this 

 chain of mountains in the road from Sweden iu Nurdcnfields, where 

 it feems as it were interrupted by a long and deep valley, reaching 

 from Romfdale to Guldbrandfdale ; and this road many prefer in. 

 their journies from the highlands towards the fea-coafts, to 

 Romfdale market with corn, butter, hides and furrs, which they 

 barter for fifh. It was in their march through this long defile, 

 that a body of iooo Scotch, fentoverin 1612, as auxiliaries to 

 the Swedes, were, together with Sinclair their commander, put to 

 the fword by the peafants of Guldbrand, who never give quar- 

 ter. In thefe precipices and narrow pafles confift the beft fortifica- 

 tions of Norway, and to them it was owing, that in the laft war 

 numbers of Swedes met with the fame fate as thofe Scotch ; par- 

 ticularly, in the hollow- way near Krogkoven, where 200 men 

 were cut off by lieutenant Cocheron, afiifted by the peafants. 



* At a fmall diftance from the road is a chapel called St. Thomases, one of the 

 Votive-churches, as they are called, it having been an ancient cuftom, in iicknefs, 

 or any other difbrefs, to vow an offering there. There is ftill a fermon once a year, 

 on the Vifitation of the Bleffed Virgin, which inftitution poflibly arofe from the 

 hiftory of this day, that Mary was gone early upon the mountain. Some fuperftitious, 

 tho' poflibly, well meaning people, refort hither with their offerings, in difcharge of 

 their vows ; whilfl others make the journey, as the minifter complained, a pretence 

 for caroufals, aflignations, and all manner of licentioufnefs and diforders. 



SECT. 



