NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY j$ 



everal fhip-loads are annually exported ; tho' this is but a fmall 

 matter in comparifon with fixty, or more, fine large mips laden 

 with fait, which come every year from Spain and France, for the 

 fifhery and other ufes< 



SECT. VII. 



Next to its faltnefs, the oil, or fatnefs, or unctuoufnefs of the lie fea-wa~ 



r • teroily.' 



north-fea, is a remarkable property of it, efpecially as the innu- 

 merable fhoals of large and fmall fifh, which are h>oth ingendered 

 and nourifhed there, ferve both for food, and for the benefit of 

 light, to almoft all countries in Europe. For it is not merely 

 by devouring one another that the fifh are fattened, or by the 

 aliment they receive from an infinite number of worms } and other 

 infects, like wife fea-grafs, fea- trees, and fuch vegetables, which 

 are the food appropriated to particular kinds of the inhabitants of 

 the fea ; the falt-water itfelf, is from its faltnefs fo fat and oily, 

 that when a fhip is on fire, the fea- water, fo far from extinguifh- 

 ing, encreafes the flame. The Chemifts know how to extract oil 

 from fait, and Ariftotle fays, Quoniam mari fuum pingue eft, quod Arifi. Probiv 

 oleum demon&rat quod in fale eft. Befides this, in many places i*™' 

 the bottom of the fea is covered with a kind of unctuous loam, or 

 flime, which, unquestionably, is formed from the fuperfluous roes 

 and fpawn of the fifh, which cannot all produce young, nor can 

 they be all confumed by the other fifh whilft they are frefh, altho' 

 they hunt for it with the greater!: eagernefs. It is moreover not 

 improbable, that fmall fprings or currents of rock-oil, naphtha, 

 fulphur, or pinguous effluvia of coals, and other ilimy and ole- 

 aginous juices, may arife in the fea as well as the earth. 



SECT. VIII. 



This unctuoufnefs of the fea has probably fome connection with Normal 

 its effulgence and fcintillations, when the water being, ftirred by Ztm^L 

 rowing, or otherwife, appears all on fire, which by our mariners is ofthefeI 

 called Moorild. I have already in the firft chapter, in treating, of 

 the Aurora Borealis, or north-light, taken occafion to quote Cap- 

 tain Heitman's opinion concerning this phenomenon, and mail 

 only obferve here, that Mr. Urban Hierne, the Swedifh naturalift, 

 who in a paffage before cited, derives the fea-falt from the fun, 



judges 



