FROM DRONTHEIM TO THE NORTH CAPE. 



131 



70th degree of latitude ; here we still find a flourishing agriculture in the inte- 

 rior of the Malanger Fjord in 69°. On the opposite side of the Polar Ocean 

 extends the inaccessible ice belt of East Greenland; Spitzbergen and Nova 

 Zembla are not 400 miles distant from Talvig and Hammerfest, and yet these 

 ports are never blocked with ice, and even in the depth of winter remain con- 

 stantly open to navigation. What are the causes which in this favored region 

 banish the usual rigors of the Arctic zone ? How comes it that the winter even 

 at the ^N'orth Cape (mean temperature 4-22°) is much less severe than at Que- 

 bec (mean temperature +14°), which is situated 25° of latitude nearer to the 

 equator ? 



The high mountain chains which separate I^orway from Sweden and Fin- 

 land, and keep off the eastern gales issuing from the Siberian wastes, while its 

 coasts lie open to the mild south-westerly winds of the Atlantic, no doubt ac- 

 count in some measure for the comparative mildness of its climate ; but the 

 main cause of this phenomenon must no doubt be sought for in the sea. Flow- 

 ing into the Atlantic Ocean between Florida and Cuba, the warm Gulf Stream 

 traverses the sea from west to east, and although about the middle of its course 

 it partly turns to the south, yet a considerable portion of its waters flows on- 

 ward to the north-east, and streaming through the wide portal between Iceland 

 and Great Britain, eventually reaches the coasts of Norway. Of course its 

 warmth diminishes as it advances to the north, but this is imparted to the 

 winds that sweep over it, and thus it not merely brings the seeds of tropical 

 plants from Equatorial America to the coasts of Norway, but also the far more 

 important advantages of a milder temperature. 



The soil of Norway is generally rocky and sterile, but the sea amply makes 

 up for the deficiencies of the land, and with the produce of their fisheries, of 

 their forests, and their mines, the inhabitants are able to purchase the few for- 

 eign articles which they require. Though poor, and not seldom obliged to reap 

 the gifts of nature amidst a thousand hardships and dangers, they envy no other 

 nation upon earth. 



The Norwegian peasant is a free man on the scanty bit of ground which he 

 has inherited from his fathers, and he has all the virtues of a freeman — an open 

 character, a mind clear of every falsehood, a hospitable heart for the stranger. 

 His religious feelings are deep and sincere, and the Bible is to be found in every 

 hut. He is said to be indolent and phlegmatic, but when necessity urges he sets 

 vigorously to work, and never ceases till his task is done. His courage and his 

 patriotism are abundantly proved by a history of a thousand years. 



Norway owes her present prosperity chiefly to her liberal constitution. The 

 press is completely free, and the power of the king extremely limited. All 

 privileges and hereditary titles are abolished. The Parliament, or the " Stor- 

 thing," which assembles every three years, consists of the " Odelthing," or Up- 

 per House, and of the " Logthing," or Legislative Assembly. Every new law re- 

 quires the royal sanction ; but if the Storthing has voted it in three successive 

 sittings, it is definitively adopted in spite of the royal veto. Public education 

 is admirably cared for. There is an elementary school in every village, and 

 where the population is too thinly scattered, the schoolmaster may truly be said 



