BOOK By an article of the constitution, the king must pass some CXLVII. time every year in Norway, unless prevented by urgent Actual state. circumstances; and by another, public employments are conferred only on Norwegian citizens, who profess the established religion, which is declared to be the Lutheran. Jews, by an express article, are prohibited from entering Norway. In a country where man seems to have always enjoyed his rights, and preserved the exercise of his dignity; where the peasant, far from being subjected to a kind of moral and political non-existence, under which he has been everywhere else oppressed, lives a free-man, and is represented by deputies in the national assemblies; where the rich proprietor is, so to speak, merely a rich peasant, — where the order of nobility is unknown, where large estates and mansion-houses corresponding, are less frequent than in any other country, the epocha of the reformation would naturally be an era consolidating institutions dear to a population jealous of its liberty: and thus Protestantism was easily established in Norway in the year 1525. The Norwegian clergy, no less charitable and virtuous than those of other Christian countries, are superior to them in information. It is amongst this respectable class that the peasantry find well-informed teachers, indulgent reprovers, assiduous comforters, and models of behaviour. Every plan which is conducive to the general interest, public utility, and the prosperity of the country, finds wise appreciators of its value in the simplest country curates. It is also to their advice and to their influence that government is anxious to have recourse, when it is intended to erect granaries, to repair bridges and roads, or to adopt some new mode of cultivation. It is rare not to find among the clergy well informed mineralogists, economists, botanists, and agriculturists. There have been amongst them many sufficiently acquainted with astronomy to find pleasure in diffusing the knowledge of this science, and so zealous, as at their own expense to raise observatories furnished with every necessary instrument. They have been even known to introduce among their parishioners the art of making watches and clocks. BOOK In travelling through Norway, we at this day discover the truth of what has been said above of the taste of the CXLVII. оссира Scandinavians for separate habitations: a village is often Summer composed of houses scattered here and there, and forming occupaone parish extending over a space of several leagues. On tions.. Sundays the roads are seen covered with light carriages, which transport the peasant, with his whole family, in their best array to church to assist in divine service; the churches, although large, can rarely contain the crowds eager to listen to the voice of their pastor. After sermon the whole population give themselves up to the amusement of the dance, to games, and various gymnastic exercises. Often the young men unite to go through military manœuvres. At a fixed time every year, the youth, who, still inheriting the warlike inclinations of their ancestors, voluntarily enrol themselves in the militia, assemble together under the command of their officers, and form military camps, where they are instructed in the manual exercise and other military evolutions. Industry and frugality, sources of civil virtues, form pro- Winter oc minent features in the Norwegian population: information cupations. and education strengthening these valuable qualities, shelter them from corruption of manners, and maintain in all hearts the sacred fire of love of independence. Christmas is the only time of the year, when the reassembling of families, and accompanying festivities, make the Norwegians deviate from their simple and frugal habits. It is also about the same time, and during the month of January, that the peasant, trusting to the swiftness of his sledge, travels to the towns, to exchange the produce of his crop for country implements and for articles of manufacture suitable to his wants and inclinations. The aptitude of the Norwegians to imitate every thing is such, that during the long winter-evenings, they are seen in every family, assembled around the fire-place, the men employed in making knives, spoons, shoes, and buttons for their clothes; the women, in weaving stuffs of linen and woollen for their dress, and even dyeing them with the colouring lichens with which the country abounds. Besides, the skill which distin guishes the population in some districts is such, that it 522 BOOK transforms every habitation into a little manufactory, the CXLVII. products of which are exported into districts less indus Character wegians. Dress. trious. In Norway there are few great proprietors, but, on the of the Nor other hand, extreme poverty is unknown. Nothing is more uncommon than to meet with a beggar. If age or infirmities disable some unfortunate creature from working, he finds assistance and generous attention in the bosom of his family or his parish. Compassion towards indigence and misfortune is with the Norwegian rather an old virtue, than the effect of Christian charity. It is the same as to hospitality, which with him is a sacred duty. To these personal qualities there is joined great quickness of apprehension, a character lively and frank, and unflinching fidelity. He loves with enthusiasm his country and his sovereign, and respects his superiors, but refuses them slavish homage. His manners are gentle, polished, affectionate; his mien is noble, his gait easy, his dress always neat. The costume of females is simple and graceful; at home they wear a plain morning gown, with a linen chemise of a dazzling whiteness, plaited around the neck and fastened by a collar. A complexion of the lily and the rose, beautiful flaxen hair, a person tall and well-shaped, give them a peculiar grace, which a stranger would be tempted to take for coquetry, if Scandinavian modesty and stateliness did not betray themselves in their look and behaviour. Some districts situated in the mountains have preserved the old Scandinavian. costume, such as that of Valvers, where the inhabitants are no longer seen, according to an ancient custom, fighting with the knife, after being tied together by their girdles; the district of Tellemark, where mutual trust and good faith leave them in ignorance of the use of locks; and, in fine, vallies, where some families of peasants, which only marry with one another, pretend to be descended from the ancient kings of the country. Manners of towns. Such are the manners of the peasantry: the manners of the inhabitants of the towns are, it is true, less irreproach able and less pure; some seeds of corruption are already remarked there, but there is nothing at all resembling the depravity which we see in cities in other parts of Europe. Mountains Let us now cast a glance at the physical state of Norway. BOOK The mountains which traverse this kingdom and Sweden CXLVII. form of themselves a range which we may call the Scandinavian, and which divides itself into three groups. That of the Koelen mountains, the most considerable from its length, extends from the northern extremity of Lapland, to its junction with the Dovre mountains, near the source of the little river of Nidelv. Strictly speaking this forms but one great chain, but the branches it casts off to the right and to the left, the mountainous isles of Lofoden, which are merely the summits of some of its branches, the mountains which terminate near Lake Enara in Russian Lapland, merit for it the name of group. That of Dovre or Dovrefield may perhaps be considered as forming with Snoe-Hoettan to the west, and Seveberg and Svuku which terminate in platforms in southern Sweden, a second group. Lastly, this group is separated by the course of the Vog, from that which is composed of Langfield, Soynefield or Sunnanfield, and Hardangerfield, and the divisions which they send out to the west and south. This last group occupies all the southern part of Norway.* The average distance of the summit of the Koelen Rivers mountains from the sea-cost of Norway being only twenty leagues, the rivers proceeding from them and running into the North Sea, can be of no great length. The most important is the Namsen, which, from its exit from the lakes. that give rise to it, has only a course of thirty leagues. Other more considerable streams descend from the mountains Dovrefield and Sunnanfield: these are the Glommen, the Drammenselv, and the Lougen; which empty themselves. into the strait of Skager Rack, separating Denmark from Norway. The Glommen is a river of one hundred and fifty leagues in length, the principal tributary of which, the Vormen-elv, has a course of not less than fifty leagues. The Glommen has a great many falls; and, on the melting of the snows, or after great rains, it acquires a frightful rapidity, and its inundations desolate the fields. One of these falls is at Hafslun, about ten miles distant from Frederic For the height of these mountains, see Vol. VI, p. 15. BOOK CXLVII. Geological constitu tion. 6 stadt. Here the Glommen, about the size of the Thames at Richmond, gradually contracts itself with more hurried current, till it arrives at the deep gorge formed by the projecting rocks, and then bursts headlong into the abyss beneath. The fall is not quite perpendicular. Some idea may be given of the body of water that descends, from the circumstance that a three-masted ship was loading at some distance below.'* The height of the fall is seventy-two Norwegian feet. A melancholy catastrophe occurred here on the 5th February 1702. The family seat of Borge, situated over against Hafslun, together with every thing in it, sunk down into an abyss of a hundred fathoms deep, the gap being instantaneously filled up by a sheet of water of between three and four hundred ells long, and half the breadth. The house was doubly walled; but of these, as well as several high towers, not the least trace was seen; fourteen persons and two hundred head of cattle perished. The cause of this melancholy occurrence is attributed to the Glommen having undermined the foundation. The declivity of the ground does not admit of the lakes of Norway being equal in magnitude to those of Sweden. The largest is the Miæsen, twenty leagues long by two in breadth, through which passes the Vormen-elv. The most important waterfalls are those of Feiumfos near Lister, six hundred feet in height, and Roegenfos, in the province of Tellemark, eight hundred and fifty feet in height. The soil of Norway is, in general, composed of primitive earths. In the Hardangerfield mountains, the summit of Vetta-Kelden is composed of red porphyry, which, at the depth of from twenty to thirty feet, assumes all the characters of the rock called 'syenite. In the highest mountains of the group gneiss predominates; from the mountain Lie to the rivulet Totak, we find micaceous schistus; in all that mountainous region schistus shows itself at every step, and here furnishes slates which readily split into long and straight sheets, or else, as in the neighbourhood of Groven, give place to mines of whetstones. On the banks of the Totak the soil is strewed with blocks of stone from *Everest's Journey through Norway, &c. |