233 
NORWAY. 
■are the fir and the pine. The firft yields an annual revenue 
of i,ooo,oco of rix-dollars, if we include the advantage 
refulting from the faw- mills and the mails; one of which 
laft has been known to fell for aoo rix-dollars. The red 
fir-tree, which grows on the mountains, is l'o rich in tur¬ 
pentine as to be almoft incorruptible. Some of the houfes 
belonging to the Norway peafants, built of this tim¬ 
ber, are fuppofed to be above 400 years old. In Guld- 
brandfdale the houfe is ftill to be feen Handing in which 
king Olaf lodged five nights, above 700 years ago, when 
lie travelled round the kingdom to convert the people to 
the Chriftian faith. Even a hundred years after the trunk 
of the fir-tree has been cut down, the peafants burn the 
roots for tar, which is a very profitable commodity, and 
l'o excellent in its kind, that bilhop Berkeley, in his trea- 
tife on the virtues of tar-water, recommends the Norway 
tar in preference to any other. The pine-tree is more 
beautiful than the fir in figure, height, and colour; but far 
inferior to it in fap and ftrength, which occafions the 
boards or planks of it to be fold at a lower rate. Hazle- 
trees are here pretty large, and in Inch abundance, that 
it is no uncommon thing for a hundred tons of nuts to 
be exported from Bergen alone. On the other hand, 
walnuts here are not of afpontaneous growth, but mull be 
fet, when they thrive very well, efpecially in the barony 
of Rofendal. Lime-trees in great quantities are found in 
certain places, both with large-clear and fmall-dark leaves. 
The maple alfo grows here, but little ufe is made of it. 
Willows of feveral kinds are to be found in many places, 
but made no account of except by the goats, who feed 
with pleafure on its juicy and bitter bark ; though of one 
kind, called falina, the bark is ufed for tanning fkins. 
The mines of this country have been defcribed under 
Denmark, vol. v. p. 726. Marble, which in moll: coun¬ 
tries is l'o lcarce and bought up at fo great a price, is found 
here in feveral places, and in fuch quantities, that if all 
Europe were to be lupplied from hence the quarries would 
not be exhaufted ; for feveral ridges of mountains coniill 
almoft wholly, or however chiefly, of marble. Sand-ftone 
is found in feveral places, of a clear and dark grey, yellow, 
and brown, of a fine and coarfe grain, and is ufed either 
for building or grind-ftones. Mill-ftone is exported from 
Guldbrandfdale, Syndford, and other places. Slate is 
found in fuch prodigious plenty, that not only the whole 
ground on which the city of Chriftiania Hands, but the ad¬ 
jacent country, is little elfe than Hate, fplitting into la¬ 
minae, or confifling of a fucceflion of laminous ltrata; 
but the pieces are fo fmall as not to be applicable to any 
particular ufe. Talc-Hone, both light and brown, and 
the fined forts of it, otherwife called fnlkjfein, grytjlein, 
and by fome, blodgnjte and cloveijiein, being veryfoft and 
eafy to be cut, hewn, or fawed, are to be found almoH 
throughout Norway. In the iron-mines near Konfbcrg 
and Skeen, and likewife in fome other places, loadHone is 
found in fuch quantities, that fome tons of it are exported, 
efpecially to Amfierdam. Norway has no flints, fo that 
thofe ufed in fire-arms are imported from Denmark and 
Germany. x 
Among the quadrupeds of Norway are horfes, cows, 
flteep, goats, fwine, dogs, cats, deer, roebucks, hares, 
rabbits, rein-deer, bears, elks, wolves, lynxes, foxes, 
gluttons, martins, fquirrels, badgers, otters, ermines, 
beavers, porcupines, moles, rats, and mice. Of birds, 
the molt remarkable are, the Alca torda, or razor-bill, al¬ 
moH peculiar to this country, and ufeful on account of its 
feathers ; and the Anas molliflima, or eider-duck, fo va¬ 
luable for its down. See the articles Alca and Anas, 
vol. i. and Bird-catching, vol. iii. p. 54. 
No country is more plentifully fupplied with fifli than 
Norway, whether we confiderthe variety or the quantity 
both in the rivers and the feas, from the whale to the an¬ 
chovy ; fo that it would be ufelefs, if not impoflible, to 
enumerate the feveral kinds. Thofe w-ho delight in the 
marvellous would perhaps be entertained with the lately- 
renewed account of the Norway fea-fnake, and thekraken 5 
Vol. XVII. No. 1173. 
but, as our own faith has not been at all flrengthened by 
thefe “ recent difcoveries,” we Hiall merely refer the reader 
to the intelligence already communicated from the good 
bifliop Pontoppidan, under the article Kraken, vol. xi. 
We therefore revert to the fifheries, which, particularly on 
the wefiern coafi, furnifh to the natives employment and 
wealth, and are the means of fupplying the bed feamen 
for manning the fleet in times of w'ar. The principal fifli., 
which, when dried and Halted, fupply a very confiderable 
article of exportation, are the cod, the ling, and the whi¬ 
ting; and betides, the livers yield train-oil, and thefmalleft 
fith ferve as fodder for the cattle. The herring-filhery has 
lately been depreciated in value, as the tlioals, which ufed 
to frequent the coafl of Norway, in their progrefs from 
the North Pole, keep at a greater difiance from the fhore ; 
and thus, by firfi approaching the rocks of Maefirand and 
Stroemfirand, the chief herring-fithery has been tranf- 
ferred to the Swedes. Salmon are taken partly in the bays, 
and partly in the rivers, as they afcend the firearm in fpring 
for the purpofe of fpawning, and are cured by Halting and 
fmoking. Againft mackerel the Norwegians have con¬ 
ceived a prejudice, from a ftrange notion, that flioals of 
this fifli often attack and devour the human fpecies when 
bathing in the fea. 
The Norwegians carry on a confiderable trade with fo¬ 
reign nations. The duty on the produce of their own 
country exported, amounts annually to 100,000 rix-dol¬ 
lars. Thefe commodities are, copper wrought and un¬ 
wrought; iron call into cannon, ftoves, and'pots, or 
forged into bars ; lead, in fmall quantity; marts, timber, 
deal-boards, planks, marble,mill-fiones, herring,cod, ling, 
falmon, lobfiers, flounders, cow-hides, goat and leal Ikins, 
the furs of bears, wolves; foxes, beavers, ermines, mar¬ 
tens, &c. down, feathers, butter, tallow, train-oil, tar, 
juniper and other forts of berries, and nuts ; fait, alum, 
glafs, vitriol, and pot-afli. All other commodities, and 
articles of luxury, the Norwegians import from different 
nations. A confiderable number of people earn a com¬ 
fortable livelihood by hunting, fliooting, and bird-catch¬ 
ing. Every individual is at liberty to purfue the game, 
efpecially in the mountains and commons; therefore every 
peafant is expert in the ufe of fire-arms ; and there are ex¬ 
cellent marklinen among the mountains, who make ufe 
of the bow to kill thofe animals whole Ikins, being valua¬ 
ble, wmuld be damaged by the Ihot of fire-arms. 
Norway can produce above 14,000 excellent feamen. 
The army of this country amounts to-30,000 effeftive 
men ; and the annual revenue exceeds 800,000 rix-dollars, 
or 290,000k fterling. 
As to the manners of the people, the Norwegians, being 
the fame race with the Danes, and long connected with 
them in religion and government, (peak the fame lan¬ 
guage, which is a dialeft of the Gothic, intermixed with 
fome provincial expreflions. In their difpolition and 
habits, they occupy a kind of middle place between the 
fimplicity of the Greenlanders and Icelanders, and the 
more poliflied Hate of the Danes. They are in general 
robuft and brave, but irritable and refentful; the women 
are handfome and courteous ; and the Norwegian forms, 
both of living and of enjoying property, are mild, and 
much referable that of the Saxon anceftors of the prefent 
Englilh. 
The peafants of Norway never employ any handicraftf- 
men for neceffaries to themfelves and families; they are 
their own hatters, Ihoemakers, tailors, tanners, weavers, 
carpenters, finiths, and joiners ; they are even expert at 
fhip-building ; and fome of them make excellent violins. 
But their general turn is for carving in wood, which they 
execute in a furprifing manner with a common knife of 
their own forging. They are taught in their youth to 
wreftle, ride, fwim, Ikate, climb, ilioot, and forge iron. 
Their amufements confift in making verfes,, blowing the 
horn, or playing upon a kind of guitar, and the violin ; 
this laft kind of rnulic they perform even at funerals. 
The Norwegians have evinced their valour and fidelity in 
3 O a thoufand 
