272 NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. 



quantity to every common man.; and there is ftill feveral cafks 

 of the fnuff that was left lying in the magazine at Aggerhuus. 



SECT. II. 



Thdr ancient xhe Norvegians who live in towns have nothing remarkable 

 or particular in their drefs; but the peafants differ pretty much 

 from thefe, as to the fafhion of their garments, and the manner 

 of wearing them. The ancient drefs ufed in Norway, was with- 

 out doubt, the fame as the Fin-laplanders ftill ufe, conlifting of 

 ordinary furrs made of the rain-deer's fkin. The Afers, or the 

 followers of Othin, that poffefTed themfelves of the north, and 

 obliged the old Celto-Scythians either to retire to the mountains, 

 or to conform to their manner of living, introduced another fort 

 of drefs, which is defcribed in Otto Sperling's Commentat. de ve- 

 teri Danorum veftitu *, I think their firft change did not make 

 fo great an alteration, nor was it fo fplendid or fuperfluous, as 

 that which was introduced in the middle of the eleventh century, 

 in the reign of king Oluf Haraldfen. That monarch founded the 

 city of Bergen, and drew a great concourfe of merchants thither 

 from foreign parts, who brought new fafhions with them; of 

 which, Snoro Sturlefen writes thus in his Norvegian Chronicles, 

 P a g- 3% 3- ' Then the Norvegians took up many foreign cuftoms 

 and dreffes, fuch as fine laced hofe, golden plates buckled round 

 their leggs, high-heeled ftioes ftitched with filk, and covered with 

 tiffue of gold, jackets that buttoned on the fide, with fleeves ten 



* Concerning the Norvegians ancient mantle, called joop, Otto Sperling treats at 

 large, in his learned obfervations on archbifhop Abfolon's teftament, p. 119, 123, 

 from which I will quote a paffage, to {hew, that formerly others took their fafhions 

 from us, as we have fince done from them. " Quis vero crederet, Danicam vocem 

 joop tot terras peragraffe, et tantam gloriam fui excitare potuifle. Bene concludit 

 Menagius, poftquam in lexico fuo omnia recenfuit: les Allemans difent Giupp, pour 

 dire un Juppon, et je crois que c'eft de ce mot Allemand que 1' Italien Giubba a ete 

 forme. Unde Germani traxerint ac habuerint hoc nomen et alia plura, nemo haclenus 

 folicitus fuit. Ex Dania enim, Norvegia et Suecia nemo credit quicquam proficifci 

 pone quod juvet, cum tamen ad antiquitatem omnem illuftrandam, hinc fere petenda 

 fint omnia, fi quis rede fapere vult. Ufus eft ilia voce chronici Norvegici fcriptor in 

 manufcr. de magno Barfod, rege Norveg. dum ejus armaturam et veftitum defcribit, 

 p. 399. (Hann hafdi oc filki Hiup rautan y firfkyrto, oc fkorit fyrer oc a bak 

 med guli filki leo. h. e.) Tunicam rubram fericeam anterius et pofterius leone flavi 

 ferici fignatam, fuper indufio geftavit. Quod fatis docet, vocem Joob et Hiup an- 

 tiquam Danicam et Iflandicam eife. Ita quoque paulo poll eadem hiftoria memorat: 

 (Eivindr. hafdi oc filki Hiup, med fama hoetti fern Konnungr. h. e.) Evindus etiam 

 . tunica ferica, eodem modo quo rex indutus erat." In the tranflation of the laft words, 

 I think it is likely, that the good O. Sperling has been miftaken, da med fama hsetti, 

 may probably be rendered with the fame hat, eodem pileo, non eodem modo. 



* feet 



