from Christiania to Bergen^ in the Summer ^1821. 213 
upbraiding me for not having wakened him the evening before. 
From this moment all the difficulties of my journey ceased, and 
the part of the country which I afterwards went through is bet- 
ter known, my remaining adventures shall -be very shortly told. 
The Dean had the goodness to put off his journey to Fin- 
daas, till mid-day of the 9th of July, that I might make my ob- 
servations at leisure. This whole neighbourhood is, in a singu- 
lar degree, remarkable, both from the natural appearance of the 
place, and from the monuments of former times. Sorfiord or 
southfiord, on the eastern side of which Ullenswang lies, is here 
very narrow, about 3500 ells, or one-fifth of a Norwegian mile 
in breadth. The mountain on the western side, which is appa- 
rently above 4000, or, according to Dean Herzberg, above 
5000 feet high, rises almost perpendicularly over the sea. Upon 
its upper surface, lies the extensive glacier of Folgefond, five 
miles (above 35 English) in length from north to south, and 
from 1 to 2 in breadth from east to west. It is said, that, un- 
der this glacier, has been buried a whole district, called tlie pa- 
rish of Folgedal, in which both priests and people were very 
wicked ; and that, in consequence of this, there fell such a quan- 
tity of snow, that the great valley they inhabited was filled up 
with it, to the very top of the mountain. This circumstance is 
mentioned by Pontoppidan, in his Natural History of Norway. 
As a confirmation that the district has been inhabited, although 
the late Professor Smith, not without reason, considers it as im- 
probable either on historical or physical grounds, it is affirmed 
that the streams which flow from the glacier often bring with 
them pieces of hand-mills, pieces of timber cut with the axe, old 
casks, tubs, and other household articles. If I am not mistaken 
I have read similar stories of other glaciers. That this one is 
increasing yearly in height, seems probable from the following 
circumstance : An aged peasant, still alive, told Dean Herzberg, 
that, either in his own or his father’s youth, one could just see 
the upper line of the glacier over the mountains which lay be- 
fore his house ; whereas now a very considerable portion of it is 
seen. That such a monstrous mass of ice should increase after 
it has once been formed, 1 can readily conceive ; but how it 
should have been first formed on a mountain, the height of 
lyhich is considerably less than that of the summit of Harda% 
