282 NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. 



milk, and to keep a fort of dairy, in little huts built for that pur- 



pofe. 



That the employment of a fhepherd has been in efteem even 



in thefe later times, may be concluded from Baron Holberg's de- 



fcription of Bergen, p. 133, where he fays, that Gudleich Off- 



mundarfon, one of the King's ftewards, in the year 1328, had 



been one of his Majefty's fhepherds before. And Adam Bremenf. 



fays, in his hifL ecclef. pag. 239. " In multis Normannias vel 



Suecias locis paftores pecudum flint etiam nobiliilimi homines, 



ritu patriarcharum & labore manuum viventes." 



Cutting of Cutting of wood, felling; and floating; of timber, burning char- 



wood or fell- - P ; ° P 1 1 1J 



in g of timber, coal, extracting tar, and every thing that belongs to the woods, 

 is the principal employment of the peafants here in Norway. 

 Some do it in their own grounds, but'moft of them are employed 

 in the large woods, at a great diftance from their place of abode,, 

 which belong to the public, and are no one's peculiar property. 

 They have the wood, &c. for their labour, and generally fray 

 there for feveral weeks together, taking as much provision with 

 them as they can carry, or have it lent after them. When the tim- 

 ber is felled and cut, they are obliged to leave behind a great deal 

 of what they lop off, to rot. They fetch away the large timber 

 in the winter, putting a horfe, or two, or more, to each piece, 

 and drag it over the mow to the neareft river or lake, and in the 

 fpring the merchants, or their agents, are there to receive it, and 

 to order it to be floated where they think proper. In this work, 

 as well as at the faw-mills, and preparing wood for faggots, 

 making ftaves for calks, and hoops for the fifheries, a great num- 

 ber of people are employed, and greater numbers ftill in burning 

 charcoal. Of this commodity vaft quantities muft be delivered 

 at a fet price to the melting furnaces, namely, at four Danim 

 marks, or two millings and eight pence Englifh per lair, each laft 

 confifting of twelve tons, and every ton two feet fquare. The 

 peafants that live within eighteen Englifh miles of every melting- 

 houfe, is obliged to furnifh his quota at that price, for it is not 

 left to his option. If this privilege were not granted to the mines, 

 it would be impoflible to work them. 



Out of the roots of the fir-trees, which, after the trees have 

 been cut down, have flood feveral years in the ground, and im- 

 bibed 



