tion, is unique of its kind. The dam at Vrangfos, which has a
height of 121 ft., raises the level of the water 75 ft., and the
waterfall thus produced is something really worth seeing. The
construction of the canal presented many very great difficulties.
COAST TRAFFIC.
In the section on Population (p. 90), a statement will be
found to the effect that 2/s of the population of Norway live upon
the coast and fjords. One eighth live upon the islands in the
«skjsergaard». When consideration is also taken to the fact that
almost the whole coast-country is mountainous, and, to the west
and north, often exceedingly wild and impracticable, it will be
easily understood that water-traffic must necessarily play a part in
addition to land traffic, greater than perhaps in any other land.
This natural circumstance is the more significant from the fact
that the «skjsergaard» along almost the whole of the long coast
affords sheltered navigation, where the condition of the weather
is seldom a hindrance to the traffic.
A large proportion of the daily traffic for short distances
along the coast is carried on in boats. The same open boats that
are used by the coast • population for fishing, are employed to a
great extent for travelling and transport. There is a number of
peculiar forms of boat along our extensive coast. In the south,
the boats regularly carry fore-and-aft sail. The bestknown type
of open boat .is the Lister boat. The Hvaler boat is a very
practical form of small decked boat, that is much used by the
pilots in the south. In the west and north, the boats are as a
rule lighter and more pointed, with more upright, high prow,
and carrying only one sail, a square sail. The most developed
type of these is the Nordland boat, which, on account of its
rigging, is not very well adapted for sailing close-hauled, but
goes capitally before the wind, and is moreover exceedingly light
to row.
The transport of goods for longer distances along the shore,
was formerly carried on in small sailing-vessels. These, like the
boats, were also as a rule with fore-and-aft sail in the south,
and square sail in the north (Nordland jagt). In some trades,
especially the fisheries, these sailing-vessels have, continued to be
Nordland Boat.