of loose material, an ancient sea-beach., corresponding to the terraces
at the month of the valley. I t is the old raised leach line.
There is sometimes a shelf cnt in the solid rock, bnt generally
the shore current and the beating of the waves has thrown np a
beach of clay, sand and shingle. This old shore-line, like the terraces,
diminishes in height towards the edge of the coast; the
land has risen most along the glacier’s axis of height east of the
watershed, and the loose deposits farthest ont are not higher than
from 30 to 60 feet above the sea. The raised beach itself is
generally only from 60 to 300 feet in width. I t thus seems to be
quite a trifling phenomen in the topography of the land, bnt is of
quite extraordinary significance as regards human habitation. Above
the line, there is generally the bare mountain or on steeper sides
a tains, on which there grows a scanty vegetation; while from the
line downwards, there is shingle' and sand and clay and arable land.
Human habitations-in the west country generally stop, therefore,
a t the ancient shore-line level.
Immediately above the old marine limit, there is in the valleys
too, a scarcity of loose deposits. A considerable quantity of moraine
gravel, however, is often found a little way up the slope, especially
in slate country, where the glacier carried more with it. About
the large east country lakes, which lie in the Silurian district,
there are still larger continuous tracts of bottom moraine with
fertile boulder clay (Hedemarken, Toten, Hadeland). Down at the flat
bottom of the valleys themselves, there is the river deposit, coarse
gravel where the incline is steep, finer sand upon the level ledges.
Nor has the glacier left any considerable amount of bottom
shingle beneath it, beyond the valleys, upon the Highland, or in
the Woodland. In the hard granite and gneiss in the Woodland
especially, there was nothing but some gravel in the hollows
between the naked mountain knolls. Beyond the valleys, there is
therefore exceedingly little cultivated land here above the marine
step. Considerably more loose covering is found in the Highland,
especially on its eastern slope, generally, covered with bogs and
dreary heaths.
Thus, on the whole, the loose covering plays an unimportant
part in the topography of Norway, this being in strong contrast
to the circumstances in other countries. The more continuous
deposits of any thickness cover scarcely - Vio of the surface of the
country. We can see everywhere the original shapes of the mountain
masses. We see the Highland rising in a gentle curve from the
edge of the shore, and sinking down again towards the continental
plain of the Woodland. And we have followed the work of the
glaciers, seen the Alpine forms worked out into sharp peaks above
and outside the' great 'glacier which has shaped the ordinary
undulating plateau between the river courses with the whale-like
hills. And we have seen the various glacier streams hollowing
Valley (Eastern Norway).
out their peculiar beds in the solid rock in the shape of fjords,
lakes, valleys and glens -— a varied and magnificent sculpture.
. But it is not with the bare, unweathered rock that the activity
of man is associated. I t is only the loose covering that is of any
use worth mentioning in the struggle for existence, small though
the part that it plays is, in the topography of Norway. I t is
with the scattered moraine tracts of the Highland that the mountain
summer pasturage is associated. Much of the fertile land lies
too high for any other use. I t is with the poor gravel and sand
tracts between the granite hills, that the thin population of the
Woodland beyond the valleys is associated, and the" forest has