62 NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. 



hand, according to promife, to recite the advantages of mountains; 

 and thefe alfo are very many, and fome very conliderable, fo that 

 the kind Creator has univerfally, in fome things, compenfated the 

 want of others, which he has thought fit to withhold from man- 

 kind. 



The firft benefit of mountains is, that they collect the clouds 

 and diffolve them in rains, as I have already fhewn ; likewife that 

 the maffes of fnow, refervoirs, and fprings in the mountains, fend 

 down large and fmall currents of water, whereby the fields, woods, 

 and cattle are refrefhed, and even the fubterraneous veins of water 

 and fprings, which do not immediately ifliie from without the 

 mountains, owe their origin to them, efpecially where the veins are 

 large and rapid, as has fufficiently been made out by Ray, 

 Scheuchzer, Wolff, and other naturalifts. I would only remark 

 here, that feveral level heaths remain barren and uncultivated, 

 merely becaufe, after digging deep for fprings, men can fcarce pro- 

 cure water fufficient for their own ufe, and have no fodder for 

 their cattle at all. I am alfo of opinion that mountain- water is 

 more fertilizing than common rain-water, and whether from fait- 

 petre effluvia, or fome other caufe, has in it a particular vegeta- 

 tive power, as is manifeft not only from the quicknefs of the 

 growth, and vigor of all kinds of young trees, particularly pines, 

 afhes, oaks, and other trees on the fides of mountains, where is very 

 little earth, and fometimes even in arid clefts, where they are known 

 to thrive better than when planted in other parts; but the fame is 

 likewife vifible in the cultivated parts, which indeed are fmall, but 

 in fuch fecundity, as both in ftraw and grain greatly to furpafs the 

 champaign country, the marfh-lands and the like excepted. It is 

 alfo well known, that the furface of the hard mountains, tho' unfit 

 for the plough, affords large and excellent pafturages, and the pro- 

 perty of the northern peafants in oxen, cows, iheep, and goats, 

 would be reduced very low, were it not for their fpacious range on 

 the fides of the mountains ; not to mention that wild-fowl, and 

 beafts, do as well as the feveral hurtful animals find more refuge 

 and food in the mountains, than in the level country. Befides, the 

 ™TZ?- mounta inous countries may be confidered as the ftore-houfes or 

 v^ e ° pr °" trea f uri es of providence, where are laid up, and from whence he 

 kindly difpenfes, according to the exigencies of the world in every 



age, 

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