N O R W A Y. 
232 
intended to attack Drontheim, perifhed in the fnow on 
the mountain of Ruden or Tydel, which feparates Jempte- 
land in Sweden from the diocefe of Drontheim. A com¬ 
pany of 200 Norwegian fledge-men under major Emahus, 
found them all frozen to death on the ridge of the moun¬ 
tain, where they had been furprifed by a (form accompa¬ 
nied with fnow, hail, and extreme cold. Some of thefe 
unhappy vidlims appeared fitting, fome lying, and others 
kneeling in apofture of praying. They had cut in pieces 
their mufkets, and burned the little wood they afforded. 
The generals Labarre and Zoega loft their lives ; and of 
the whole corps, conftfting originally of 10,000, no more 
than 2500 furvived this dreadful cataftrophe. 
The cold is ftill more intenfe in that part of Norway 
called Finmark, fituated in the frigid zone, near the polar 
circle. But, if the winter is generally cold, the fummer 
is often exceffively hot, in Norway. In June or July the 
mercury in Fahrenheit’s thermometer not unufually rifes 
at Sydeborg to 88 ; and on the ift of January, 1782, fell 
to —22, or 54. 0 below the freezing point. At Eger it fell 
on the fame day to — 365, and at Kongfberg to —40, or 
72 below the freezing point, a degree of cold by which 
quickfilver is congealed. This extreme rife and fall of 
the mercury makes a difference of 110® between the greateft 
heat and greateft cold at the fame place. The longeft day 
at Bergen confifts of 19 hours; the fun riling at half an 
hour after two, and letting at half an hour after nine. 
The fhorteft day does not exceed fix hours ; for the fun 
rifes at nine in the morning, and fets at three in the af¬ 
ternoon. In the beginning of the year the daylight in- 
creafes with remarkable celerity; and, at the approach 
of winter, decreafes in the fame proportion. In fummer 
one may read and write at midnight by the light of the 
Iky. Chriftian V. while he refided at Drontheim, ufed 
to fup at midnight without candles. In the diftridt of 
Tromfen, at the extremity of Norway, the fun is conti¬ 
nually in view at Midfummer. It is feen to circulate day 
and night round the North Pole, contracting its orbit, 
and then gradually enlarging it, until at length it leaves 
the horizon. In the depth of winter, therefore, it is for 
fome weeks invifible ; and all the light perceived at noon 
is a faint glimmering for about an hour and a half, pro¬ 
ceeding front the reflection of the fun’s rays from the 
liigheft mountains. But the inhabitants of thefe pro¬ 
vinces are fupplied with other lights that enable them to 
follow their employments in the open air: the Iky being 
generally ferene, the moonfliine' is remarkably bright, 
and, being reflected from the mountains, illuminates the 
valleys : they are alfo aflifted by the aurora borealis, which 
is very frequent in the northern parts of Europe. 
From the nature of the climate, Norway isalmoft every¬ 
where fo unfit for agriculture, though not for pafture, that 
upon a meafurement of the ploughed lands, the propor¬ 
tion in refpeCt to the meadows and woods, the waftes and 
barren mountains, would not be greater than as one to 
eighty; and, if the peafants of Norway were not confi- 
derably aflifted by the great fiftieries on the fea-coafts, and 
the timber and charcoal-trade for the mines, the graziery, 
and liberty they have of killing game, the country could 
not furnifh fuhfiftence for above half the inhabitants ; 
for, as thefe vifibly increafe, and fpread themfelves year 
after year, fo feveral trafts of uncultivated land have been 
tilled, and feveral woods burnt, and the land turned to 
hufbandry; yet ftill there would be a fcarcity in thofe 
places which are not capable of cultivation. In fome 
parts alfo of the moft fruitful provinces the grain is often 
injured by fudden frofts ; infomuch that one day it may 
feem in a flourifhing ftate, and promife a plentiful harveft, 
but by the nipping cold of one night it appears withered 
the next day, and never attains its proper ripenefs. It 
is to be obferved likewife, that in every century, as far 
as can be afcertained from tradition, the country is vifited 
with fome unfruitful years, which are remarkably fo, and 
happen two, three, or four, lucceflively ; fuch were the 
years from 1740 to 1744, when the fun feemed to have 
loft all its heat and genial power; the vegetables grew', 
but (hort of theirnatural height, and budded and bloomed 
without bearing. In thofe years the trees likewife faded 
in their growth and ufual verdure, and bore no (hoots. 
Moft of the grain that w'as fown alfo perilhed, yielding 
only empty ears, infomuch that the difappointed peafant 
was reduced to the greateft diftrefs. Yet Norway ufually 
yields grain enough not only for the fupport of the inha¬ 
bitants, but a furplus, which they difpofe of among their 
neighbours, and even the Swedes. The corn-grounds 
throughout the diocefe of Bergen, which, on account of 
the many mountains, are few’, in moft places never lie fal¬ 
low, but are every year ploughed and fowed, bear all kinds 
of grain, barley and oats efpecially, and not only fix, 
eight, or ten, fold, but in fome places wdth a much greater 
increafe; and the corn is generally allowed to be larger, 
and the ears fuller, than what is imported from Denmark 
and Germany, being inferior only to the Engliih corn, 
which the Norwegians prefer to any other. 
Thepafturages or meadows with which Norway abounds, 
are not only equal to thofe of other countries, but furpafs 
many ; a proof of this is, that in moft of the provinces no 
fiefti, butter, cheefe, &c. is imported, except fome bacon 
from Denmark, the good lands being too valuable to turn 
(wine into them ; whereas every year^from feveral parts, 
and chiefly Bergen, there is a very confiderable foreign 
exportation of thofe commodities, efpecially fuet and 
butter. It is however to be obferved, that in the fpring 
the cattle do not graze in the valleys and on the (kirts of 
the mountains after Whitfuntide; for, when the feed¬ 
time is over, and the people can be fpared, they are driven 
on the fides of the mountains to Jailers or to jiuls, as the 
country pbrafe is, which at that feafon afford them fufli- 
cient fodder, the fnow being no fooner melted than the 
grafs appears, at ieafta quarter of an ell high, grown un¬ 
der the maffes of fnow, from which it derived both warmth 
and moifture. When the diftance is within a Norwegian 
mile, the milk is brought home twice a-day ; but, if the 
diftance betw'oor three miles, they keep fceterboe, or huts, 
on the hills, where a maid-fervant, diftinguiftied by the 
name of buedye, conftantly lives for the fecurity of the 
cattle againft the wild beads, who generally fly from fuch a 
weak keeper. She is at the fame time employed in making 
butter and cheefe, with which (lie goes down to the houle 
once or twice a-week. Regulations againft difputes and 
quarrels with neighbours, or borderers, concerning this 
right of common on the mountains, are laid down in the 
Norway ftatute-book. The grafs in the valleys, or near 
the houfes, is cut for hay ; and, though in moft places it is 
mowed with a fcythe, yet in fome, like the grain, it is 
reaped with a fickle, after which it is hung to dry on 
kcezgiers, which are movable gardens, confiding of poles 
fattened together both in length and breadth by birch 
twigs, where the hay dries much better, and the rain eva¬ 
porates fooner, than when left to dry on the ground. 
Thefe hsezgiers, however, are only ufed in the diocele of 
Bergen, being not fo neceffary in other parts, where the 
rains are lefs frequent. 
All kinds of efculent vegetables thrive in the gardens; 
they produce cabbage of all kinds, green-peafe, common 
and French beans, afparagus, artichokes, melons, cucum¬ 
bers, garlic, parlley, celery, marjoram, thyme, fage, penny¬ 
royal, purflain, forrel, lettuce, fpinach, endive, creffes, 
chervil, dill, fennel, and cummin, radiihes, carrots, parf- 
nips, potatoes, together with a particular kind of turnips 
called napers, which the peafants endeavour to raife more 
than any other, and fell by tuns in the city; they are 
fometimes very large, and as flat as a difh. To thefe may 
be added a variety of medicinal and other plants. It is 
proper here to mention, that horticulture and agricul¬ 
ture in general have been of late years much improved in 
Norway, owing to the exertions of the “ Patriotic Society,” 
which gives premiums for improvements and practical 
hints in every part of farming. 
Of the trees that grow wild in Norway, the principal 
are 
