260 NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. 



Norwegian-women, Mr. Buffon's words concerning Olaus Rud- 

 beck's account are as follows : " In Sweden the women are very 

 fruitful : Rudbeck fays that they have frequently eight, ten, or 

 twelve children; and it is not at all ftrange that fome women fhould 

 have eighteen, twenty, twenty-four, or even thirty children. Rud- 

 beck fays farther, that there are men who live to be upwards of 

 100 years old, and fome to 140; and that there were two in par- 

 ticular, one of which arrived at 156, and the other at 160 years 

 of age. But it is true that this writer is a little enthufiaftic in the 

 praifes of his own country, (II eft vray que cet auteur eft un en- 

 thuliafte au fujet de fa patree) and according to his reprefenta- 

 tion, Sweden muft in all refpecls'be the fineft country in the 

 world," See. Buffon. Hiftoire Nat. Tom. iii. p. 172. 



SECT. IX. 



Health af. Though Norway, like Sweden, is in general a very healthful 

 {to!* amf" country, yet it is not exempted from its peculiar difeafes ; efpe- 

 cially the inhabitants of the diocefe of Bergen, along the fea-fide, 

 and on the weft-fide of File-field. The air in thefe parts is not 

 very falubrious, and differs very much from that of the eaftern 

 and fouthern parts of Norway ; for on the other fide of that long 

 chain of mountains, which I have taken notice of before, they 

 have both in winter and fummer a fine clear fky, with as dry and 

 healthful an air as in any part of Europe. In this province the 

 air is generally damp, thick, and foggy ; and tho' it caufes milder 

 winters, it is not fo healthful as a thinner air. This appears by 

 the effect it has on our peafants, when they come here from other 

 parts of the country ; for they feem as if they were entirely out 

 of their element, and can hardly breathe in it; nor does it agree 

 with their health. This muft be attributed to the great weftern- 

 ocian, that extends from America to Norway, from the furface of 

 which a vaft quantity of damps, or particles of water, are daily 

 evaporated. Thefe are driven hy the foutherly, wefterly, or north- 

 weft winds to our coaft, without meeting with any obftruction, 

 till at laft they ftrike againft the high chain of mountains men- 

 tioned above, which are ninety-fix Englifh-miles eaft of Bergen, 

 There they meet with refiftance, and being condenfed, their 

 gravity prevents them from rifing above the tops of the mountains 

 to go farther, and they cannot get back except they meet wMi 

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