7o NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY, 



joys with the fea. For the many infurmountable rocks and pre- 

 cipices, the roots of which are penetrated by thefe navigable 

 creeks, would elfe have rendered it impoffible to dwell any where 

 but on the fea-coafts, many tracts on this account being wild and 

 uninhabited, in the mountains of Tyrol ; and divers parts of 

 this diocefe, diftinguifhed by the name of Uddale, i. e. inacceffi- 

 ble vallies, are, for want of communication with other countries, 

 either without inhabitants, or they are deftitute of conveniencies, 

 tho' here and there in no want of fuel and pafture. Concerning 

 this depth of the fea, I muft further add> that in fome places no 

 bottom can be found, as in Floge creek, a Norway mile from 

 Drontheim, where, after meafuring it with a line of a thoufand 

 fathoms, the fearch proved fruitlefs, fo that unqueftionably the 

 bottom of the fea has an opening or communication with this 

 immeasurable abyfs. 



SECT. IV. 



Weight of the Altho' the fea- water, towards the north, contains lefs fait,, 

 than that near the line, as fliall hereafter be mewed, yet its 

 weight is much greater than in the warm countries, the caufe of 

 which is fe by Ifaac Peyrere, in his letter concerning iflands, to M. de 

 la Mothe le Vayer, attributed to the aqueous particles, which are 

 here more denfe and impure than elfewhere. But as this creates, 

 another inquiry, he might more pertinently have faid, that the 

 air near the poles being eondenfed by the cold, compreffes clofe 

 whatever it touches, and confequently the particles of the water, 

 Rohadt anc l as by this compreilion they adhere clofer to each other, con- 



Phyfique, fequently they have force to bear up heavy burdens, which in 



Tom. ii. p. J J J r j > 



lighter waters would link. 



SECT. V. 



According to the obfervation of Mr. Urban Hiernes, the water 

 of the north-fea is of a bluifh tinge, as that near the Green Cape 

 and Florida partakes of the colour of the fea-grafs, which grows, 

 in great abundance thereabouts; near Vera Cruz it is white,, 

 from the chalky bottom, and near Maldivia it is as black as ink, 

 probably by reafon of the effluvia from the coal-mines, or fome 

 other black fubftance at the bottom. But that the water of the 

 north-fea 3 has in itfelf a blue tinge does not appear, and I am. 

 % in- 



li i. cap. m 

 * 9- 



Its colour. 



