N & W Æ à 'L :H IS T O R Y j é f M O R W À T*
mountain Nordenfield, which moft aboxiÉél JA'tin® métaly ffe'Sqiî-
■ denfield doth in hiver and iron. The excellency of our.$feoppef
hath recommended it fo mueh among foreign nations,,that many
fhiploads of it'are annually »exportedy : tho’ for theidiofti part,xm-
wrought, which is contrary to the maxim of our neighbours {he
Swedes.
S E Ç T , VI. ^
^ The fir ft, and hitherto the richeft copper-work in Norway, and
hnce that of Falun in Sweden, is laid to be neâr^b^ftédf-poffi-
bly the richeft in all Europe, is that'of Roraas,‘twenty miles Isf. E.
ofDrontheim, and difcoypred, in 1^ 4 4 ,^ Laurence Lofftusy-refiner
at, the mine ofQvhckne, and who at the C3tpen.ce o f his fa-
tlier-in-law M- Andrew Olfens,. fuperintendant of Dalerne, and in
ptineçrrçnce with him opened,, and forwarded this great'Undertaking.
, There are feme other particulars relating to this work recited
in a printed ferman of Mr. Peter Abildgaard, bn occafto'n of
a jubilee Celebrated on the 9th of October'1744, bydhemhabi-
tants of Roraa§y which k now a confiderable mkte--towa*. in gratitude
for the Bnkterrupted profperity of their ndae-during the
cqurfe of a hundred years i and it ‘is remarkable, that in thkju-
Moeyeaj-, a new fhaft of excellent ilafe -.was dilcovered not fer
from the old mine of Storvart, which is one of the .oldeft: and heft
coyrfes. ; Thefe courfes of the Qopper-veins,:agree im their. direct
don with thofe of ©flier parts, neither a fc e i^ g nbr declining,
but like other ftrata, tmverfmg the mounthos horizQntally> thQ’
thinneft towards their centre, like a lu-mp.of dough, whicffpreffed
betwixt two ftones, is thinneft where, the prefture hysfegreateft.
From the nature and dhpcdStion of the ,phtt%Afc Daniel Tilasÿ ia
his diicourfc before the Swedifh Royal Academy of Sciences *742,
borrows a very ingenious argument, -and ihews from formp pii-iipr
correfpondent inftances, what I preiùme has been already evinced
by me, tofbme degree of probability, in the fécond chapter. He
likewife applies thofe inftances to Dr. Woodward’s hypothefis on
the alterations of the terraqueous globe by the deluge. And this
entertaining little piece not coming into my hands till after I had
difcuffed that fubjeâ, to which it properly belongs, I fhall here
infert that part of it which ipeaks of the copper-mines now undet
: I con-
N A T U R A L H . I S T O R Y < £ \N 0 R W A FV I 93
tonfideration. The paffage in a free tranflation runs as follows i
tc A more than cojtiVhï&g proof that the mountains once were
f@ft and fluid* 'is .the ^horizontal and expanded direction of the
coppen-veins near- Roraas in Ndrway, efpfecially thofe in Hefte-
fleld* likewife .the 1-mines Ohriftiaètri-V. Myr, and Hefteklets
Thk mountain'is tof ak raft breadth, and rifes- with yar very fteep
^.celihtyj with feveral protuberances on it; Oh i^jl&tth end, fe-
veral courfes of > ©re fpread tiaemfelves:eaft and weft* the eafterri
being carried on by the mine - king ChriftianusV;abd the- weftem
by that of Heftekkt y and thefe,-two mines,’ in'length'of time,
would certainly "meet, ^fo.4W* to open a paffage quite through the
yyinnntnirij had it not lately been obfetxtfed of the oti^eewfes,* that
the greater the heighttof the mountain Is» óver tteft* the more
they are comprcffcd.\ Théy srfealready fb neartè eaeh öther, ’that
thfe workmen in one can hear the ftrokes ofthofe in the öflróh •
But the mine Chriftianus V. heitig -advanced'i to the h%heft paft
of the mountain, the ore-eèurfe is akeady too narrow to be
worked, Md thatMef tekfet is alfo grMually-kpJk(febhiftg to
the h^feontr adtion; a Circumftance which has heretofore ihëwiï
itfelfonallthe mines, that, mnjepming under an eminence,5-the
orè-cöurfe -beneath has beerrcompreffed, &cè. 1 Befides, the body
'dffthe mountain itfelfj under thefe eminence!?,' Ihews itfelf'to be
much more comprêftèd, and, viG© veria. I fee. ho other caufe to
which lhk cartj be imputed, than to the primordial fluidity of this
fubftance, and the fnbfcquent eompreflioxi indreaiing from the
weight of thê fuperjaCent ftrata.” Scf far Mr. Tilas* wherein he
f^nas to predict tb' pdfterity a want of ore in thefe parts j , ,buti they
who are thoroughly acquainted with the affair, are of opinion that
the country near Rofaas contains a ftore fervrhahy generations,
and that a want of fuel is more to Be apprehended, the "neigh“
bouring woods being already cqnfumed, which' occafroiis .the coal
to-be brought from fbme diftance; and confëqtfehtly raifes their
price. This fliould incite thofe, of whom it is the more immediate
concern, to promote the growth of young woods, and to
reftrain the keeping of goats, which, do fo much damage among
the fajflmgs j for how mariy thóufend laft of coal, Bêfidè flacks
of wood, this copper-work requires, ‘ may in fomê; meafüfe be
conceived only from this circumftance, that only the calcination
o f