T£e‘ foil of
feveràl kinds
N A T U R A'sL'i I I I S T O R Y :H. N & K W A T *
- rocks, floues, ;and unities, -Théfè I fhali treat of according,to »my
ability, till fome fupérior pen gives £.Si more iperfecft itiGCotmtof
them, to which this impeifeÆEdày « a y provean’indnéfanynt;.,
- As "the motintâirïs of Norway, in1 general,1 ; eonfifr óf rocks, -intermixed
with quarries ‘of ; marble, " fféfe-fïöiië,' fanddïöne, '
mill-ftône, &c. which, towards tfie *fca, are almoft: ftnpped o£
and 'iri tn^ crbeksj j'apd'further
in the cbühtry, arc ctiverëd iiïdèëd with earth', but not mnretlian'
a few yards ■ deep, • and very ofteti ïëfs, ‘ drie Would be'apt to think,
that below this {lender covering, the Wnóle kingdom o f Norway
is hut ofieu Mid flotte, only of a different .pâture,, . figure, and
height.. But the erröf o f filch a conclüfión ià:evident, nôt only
from 'the . many' deep creeks fuiiiiitig Up the country, but freftiJ
water lakes, fwamps, and fens, in feme o f which,, though founded
with lines o f lèverai hundred fathoms,' ho 'bottom has ever been
found. And to this may be added, that however mountainous,
and craggy Norway in general is: thought 'to be, yet it affords
many champaign well cultivated trails offix/eight, or ten lea,gues,
and more hyextent, as.Jedfferen, the, lordfhip o f Nedenaes, He-
demark, and Other parts, which are a confiderable exception to the.
general rule.
S E C T., II..
. The foils, âs irr other cOuntries, arè very different here} boiw
lifting' of à' black mould, fand, loorii, chalk, gravel, turff, mud,
&d. In many places, 'when the inhabitants are digging deep for
a fpring imdrv ground, all thefe kinds are found lying over.eaéh
other in unequal raataj and t h r e e N | M H j B M |
The black mould which generally lies uppermoft, is exceedingly
fine and mellow, and fit for all forts of vegetables ; info-
much, that if not damaged by the cold, which feldom happens
in. thedioçefo pf Bergen, the hufbandipan-finds* his labour amply,
compenfatedj for the ground yields five, fix, or foven fold, and
fometimes even more. His harveft: confifts for the mofl: part ojf,
barley and oats, with fome lye, and here and there peas and
buck-wheat}- but‘of thefe I ihall treat more fully when X come,
to the vegetables, or produits of the earth. I have only to add
here concerning the foil of Norway, that betwixt the mountains,
and in the diocefe of Bergen, it moftly confifts of an aftèmblage
N A T U R A L HT s;T-?Ö R Y h ïlÊ y §k ïV A Y-. 37
4bffftich earth as drom 'time ‘to* time hath rolled down with the
fragments;of the rocks, or-bëen Walked- offfrom the mountains,
and fettled either a& the foot of the mountains,'"or on the fides,
and by thefe acceffions the valliés in many parts have been coh-
fiderabjy raifed. This appears evidently from one remarkable cir-
cumftanoe, that the fields in the''Valliés are naturally formed like
a cajnp.^' • the regular ® minenGes! andi gintteBo'pesjlooking like 'the
ramparts of a fortification. A'frrong. inftaïiGê of this}'’is the famous
valley of Viig in Sognefidrdy .afidr'Eidet in' Nordfiord, where, a
ftrangcf, at firft, would-imagine the fëotn'fields} as they lie raifed
aboye èach other, -to be fo'many 'battoties erected by arf, though
with fome irregularity. All thefe terraffes have gradually rifeii
from, fragments of rocks, and. eruptions o f - Iprings} which1 hkvê
|igpai|-éd thé loft and damagè fiiftained in fome places,, -by dépo-
the foil in other adjacent* parts in thëfo- regular
which Were thus formed by v the light earth and t fand, btought
thither by the courfe of the waters *;
The land {of Ndlway1 is feldom of tht white klpd, whifeh is at
the fame tibib'thefiheftj 'but it is. jafually brown or greyifli; and
that!on the fea-fhore is,of the.'coarfcfly being rather particles of
ftone, ^as inay indeed he laid .of -.all grains of land, but pjirticu-
farly .ofthefe, their fubftance being’ fo:i hard that t they are; hot
lb eafily diffolved, nor fit- to..be ,ftrewed;ahout l^ë ^ ë "other;
Thé, .little ’fine or ■ white land wé have in Bergen, • .ifPne ver pure,
but.ygry ti|iuch mixed with powder, ofmufcle-fhells, that is,’.with
the fineft fehaiky fiibftance. |
- i!,Syndfiord,;! Jufledale, and dome other parts afford: a kind of
fhining land} I a&'if mixed with antimony, of with iron or tin-duft.
This is moftly ufed for writiftg-farid, aïid as fiich èxpórted.'
Tavernier, Chap, xxiii. p. 2 84, bf his Travels to Perfia, relates,
that the Portuguefe carried feme' of this’ glittéritig’fëhd from Ormus
to Lifbon, and at firft made cent per cent of it ; but'this trade
being founded, on a falfe expeftation, foon canie to: nothing. The*
* Relative tó this is' thé following paÖage from Baron .Lerohlfz’s , IJrotogsea,
Seft. xxxix. pag.7 1 .
gamus, (hybitatonbus fortaf&Antiquiora Nojt^dhs, tamenjmrtiorabj-tnur qute id no-
ftris oris' exprefla non haberitojj® : Agyptum fftlo, SfeKffihkt&i, agrum v&fodano
deberi Ariftoteles et Pqïjtefhitis cfröunt ï:t?a£Bnjus:Bataviam munusiefft Bote?è!Rhëni-
q«e. j Certp flumina matènam advehentia fpoBan.t fuperiores. terras;.,friCËBfcdaóti;.
die hóftris" deaiinenöl:!épüit«if.''■ *
lüiual