here to give a considerable contribution towards the maintenance
of human life. I t is to the moraine gravel of the sides of the
valleys, and the alluvial deposits of the bottom, that the population
of our valleys is confined, in the east country we often find theT
farms following them in two separate rows. I t is the loose schists
in particular, that mate the larger valley-parishes, such as Gfud-
brandsdalen -and Yaldres; and it is- the moraine tracts of the
Silurian country that present the largest continuous area of inhabited
inland country, round Mjosen and Randsfjord (See map)..
But all this is little to support a population upon. I t is only. on
coming down to the marine step, to the loose masses deposited
under the sea in the last glacial period, the terraced country at
the mouth of the valleys, and the ancient shore-line belt along
the sides of the fjord and in the sounds of the skjærgaard -9 it
is only then that cultivable land appears in any considerable extent.
Here too lives the mass of the population. I t has been estimated
that half of mountainous Norway lies more than 1600 feet above
the sea, Vs even above 3200 feet and rather less below 500 feet:
But in this latter eighth lives about 2/s of the population, the
average of the inhabited country scarcely coming much over 500
feet. The largest part of the Highland — s/i of the country
and of the Woodland — perhaps 1/a — is exceedingly thinly populated.
The Norwegians are essentially a littoral nation, in a
secondary degree, a valley-dwelling people.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
J e n s K r a e t , Topographisk-Statistisk Beskrivelse over Kongeriget Norge. K ris tia n ia .
1820—35.
Goea Norvegica, h g . v .B . M. K e ilh a tj. Kristiania. 1833.
O. J. B r o c h , L e royaume de Norvège et le peuple norvégien. Kristiania. 1878.
Norges Land og Folk, topografisk-statistisk beskrevet. (In course of publication,
Kristiania. 1884 ff.
Dèn norske Twristforenings Aarbog. Kristiania. 1869 ft. (yearly).
Y n g v a r N i e l s e n , Beisehaandbog over Norge. 9 o p l. K ris tia n ia . 1899.
Norge. Dybde- og H 0ideforhold. Kristiania. 1900. Published by the Government
Survey Office.
This institution has, in addition to general maps, coast maps, etc. published the
following series of maps:
Topografiske Karter, to the scale of . . . 1:1 0 0 000
Amtskarter .................................................... 1 : 200 000
G eneralkarter.................................................... 1 : ftfÉj 000
GEOLOGY
ARCHAEAN.
Th e oldest rocks of the globe, which'constitute the Archaean
and contain no fossils, have a great extension in Norway.
An Archaean area stretches along the coast from Bergen in
the south to Hammerfest in the north. This area is not continuous
in its northern part, but is divided into smaller portions
by younger stratified rocks. Gneiss and granitic gneiss are the
prevailing rocks, the others occurring only subordinately. The
strike runs, upon the whole, parallel to the coast. The Lofoten
Island group, somewhat to the north of the Polar circle, which
is renowned' for its fisheries and picturesque scenery, consists of
eruptive rocks; within the last two years it' has been found that
there are not only granite and syenite, as . was believed before,
but to a great extent gabbro and kindred rocks.
Olivine rock, which is a rather uncommon rock, occurs in the
region to the north of the 62nd parallel. The chief constituent
of the rock is medium-grained greenish olivine sometimes mixed
with some enstatite: The olivine rock occurs in globular and
lenticular masses, which vary in diameter from four kilometers
to a few meters or even less than one meter. The olivine
rock masses, occur in the gneiss and weather with a reddish
colour which contrasts with the gray colour prevailing in the
gneiss suriounding it.
Olivine changes easily into serpentine. The larger masses
owever are metamorphosed only in their outer parts. -