Norwegian coast

“ When it is recalled that two-thirds of the inhabitants of Norway live upon the coasts and fjords, the large part which water traffic plays in the economy of the country will be easily understood. The coast being well protected by a chain of islands, the skjaergaard, both travel and commerce are carried on by means of small open boats. The fjord rowboats, as a rule, are light and pointed, with upright and high prow, and they carry a square sail. They are light to row, and they go capitally before the wind. ”

“ The passage was very rough, and all on board were brought low with sea-sickness, but the German Ocean was soon crossed, and they came into port at Christiansand, finding it light enough at midnight to read and write and to see the beautiful Norwegian scenery around them.
The western coast of Norway is everywhere indented by arms of the sea called fiords; the coasts are rough and rugged, overhung with crags of rock beaten and worn by the age-long dash of these northern waters. ”

“ Confined for a time to the North Sea and the neighbourhood of their own coasts, steam fishing-vessels now regularly visit distant quarters in large numbers, and trawlers from England and Germany make the long voyage to the grounds off the White Sea, traversing the whole coast of Norway, in quest of fish. The absence of foreign competition in the fisheries of the Norwegian coast is due largely to the generally rough and rocky nature of the bottom and the great depth of the water, which make trawling difficult or impossible ”

“ Strange to say, many of these islets, which are mere rocks, contain fresh water, some of them in pools in the rocks, but many in regular springs, and in this particular case a very respectable little streamlet trickled down a crevice of the rock.
Every beach, rock, and islet on the Norwegian coast is fringed with a layer of drift-wood, in pieces of every size, from the great baulk which in England would be worth five or six pounds down to the smallest splinters. The reason of this is, that each river is continually floating down its yearly freight of pines to the sea ”

“ Ice-cut land has always quite a decided and easily recognizable character, and a Norwegian fjord landscape might, therefore, quite easily be mistaken for a scene from the west coast of Scotland, or for {43} one from the lakes of Italy or Switzerland. ”

“ Norway in winter is not quite so dreadful a place as most people would imagine. After the first heavy fall of snow the days become bright and clear, and blue skies prevail, often for several weeks in succession, especially in districts which lie at some distance inland from {169} the coast, or near the heads of the larger fjords. The air is here fresh and bracing, and the five hours of sunshine during even the shortest days make walking, sleighing, and ski-running attractive exercises. ”

“ In the spring months, there are on an average 800 vessels on the northern coast, between the North Cape and Vadsö, with a fishing population of 5000 men on board, whose average gains, even at the scanty prices they receive amount to $30 apiece, making a total yield of $150,000. It is only within a very few years that the Norwegian Government has paid any attention to this far corner of the peninsula. ”

“ On the European-African side the descending movement is more marked, partly because the coast-line is much more irregular and the northward current is deflected against it by the earth’s rotation, and partly because of the outflow of salt water from the Mediterranean; here the movement is traceable to at least 1000 fathoms. The northward movement of water across the Norwegian Sea extends down from the surface to the Iceland-Shetland ridge, where it is sharply cut off; the lower levels of the Norwegian Sea are filled with ice-cold Arctic water, close down to the ridge. ”

“ Small forests are found near the coast in places where they are protected by islands or promontories from the sea winds, but we must go farther inland, and to the heads of the larger fjords, before we can come across any large extent of forest-covered country. The western part of Norway, however, is not remarkable for its forests in comparison with the eastern districts. ”

“ The fishing industry may be considered the most ancient and important means of {164} livelihood of the Norwegian people. More than a thousand years ago, according to the old sagas, "splendid painted ships, with sails of several colours," sailed with fish from Norway to England; and this great industry is still one of the most important in the land, especially the sea fisheries, which obtain their peculiar value from the natural conditions and geographical features of an exceedingly long coast-line, with its deep inlets and numerous islands. ”

“ It is from this point too that Norwegian territory broadens so as to include not only the highest land in the peninsula, but a considerable part of the general E. and S.E. slope. The high plateau broadens and follows the S.W. sweep of the coast. Pursuing it S. the Dovre Fjeld is marked off by the valleys of the rivers Driva and Sundal, Laagen (or Laugen) and Rauma, and the fjords of the coast land of Nordmöre. Here Snehætta reaches a heightof 7615 ft., and the Romsdal (the name under which the Rauma valley is famous among tourists) is flanked by many abrupt jagged peaks up to 6000 ft. high. ”

“ The fact that forty per cent of the whole surface of Norway is over three thousand feet above the sea is certainly a corroboration of this legend.
This island fringe gives to the coast of Norway an indefinable charm,—the charm of endless maze, vista, expectation, and surprise; lure, also, suggestion, dim hint, and reticent revelation, like a character one cannot fathom, and behavior one can never reckon on. Though the ship sail in and out of the labyrinths never so safely and quickly, fancy is always busy at deep-sea soundings ”

“ All along the coast there are excellent harbors, which are free of ice both winter and summer. A multitude of islands, some rocky and barren, others covered with a scant growth of grass and trees, afford hiding-places for ships and pasturage for cattle. Moreover, long arms of the ocean—the so-called fiords—penetrate far into the country, and being filled with water from the gulf-stream [5] which strikes the western coast of Norway, tend greatly to moderate the climate. ”

“ The sails of the pleasure-yachts and fishing-smacks gleam against the dark bosom of the fiord; and at intervals of a few miles along the shore are towns or villages where white houses shine from afar—proofs positive of the industry and thrift of the Scandinavian race. One may travel thousands of miles west and east, north and south in Norway and never behold a fairer scene than that which made everybody on the train thrust head out of window and gaze at it until a range of low coast-hills shut it from view. ”

“ The Christiania Fjord has nothing of grandeur about it, like the wilder fjords on the west coast of Norway. It is smiling and gracious, with beautifully rounded and interlocking hills,—intervals of pine woods, with green meadows and fields, pretty villages and hamlets, farm-houses 325 and country-seats, and islands unnumbered, which deceive the eye continually, seeming to be themselves the shore. ”

“ To reach the North Cape takes a good deal of time, and many people dislike a lengthy sea voyage; but even if one starts from Bergen and goes all the way by sea, there is something of interest to be seen every day, as the steamer keeps close to the coast, threads its way among the innumerable small islands, and calls at many places with beautiful scenery in the background, more especially Molde and Christiansund. ”

“ The Norwegian Sea forms the meeting-place of waters coming from the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, and it also receives coastal waters from the North Sea and connecting areas, and from the Barents Sea. As communication with other basins is cut off comparatively near the surface, the inflow and outflow of waters must take place entirely in the upper strata, and the isolated water in the deep basin has typical physical characters of its own. ”

“ A sterile limestone plain (Alvaren) stretches the whole length of the island from north to south, and from this the country slopes both towards Calmar Sound on the west and towards the Baltic on the east. The slopes, especially the western, are very fertile.
Depths of surrounding sea. Sea-Bed.—The seas that surround Sweden are remarkably shallow. Round the south part of Norway runs a depression in the sea-bed, called the Norwegian Channel (see Norwegian Sea) . It stretches along the west and south coasts of Norway southward and eastward almost to Christiania Fjord and the Cattegat. ”

“ The steamer’s course lay among the groups of islands that fringe the southern shore of Norway, and these, in that portion of [222] the chain, at least, which lies between Hellesund and Lyngör, are, for the most part, bold rocks, clothed with every variety of foliage which Norway produces, and, being sheltered from the sweep of the sea breezes by the outer chain exhibit that foliage in its fullest perfection. The idea usually connected in our minds with Norwegian scenery, is that of wild and desolate grandeur ”

“ As regards Norway, this consists of information from Querini’s voyage in 1432, as well as from other sources which are unknown to us; this is indicated by, amongst other things, an inscription on the sea to the north of Russia [“Permia”] , which relates that a short time before two Catalan ships had sailed thither [cf. Vangensten, 1910] . On this map the Scandinavian Peninsula has been given a more reasonable extension to the north; but the west coast is very imaginatively supplied with peninsulas and islands, while the ocean outside is full of fabulous islands and contains many legends. ”

“ It is strange that there are very few large towns in Norway; every peasant builds his house in the midst of his fields.
Beyond this hill the scenery grows more monotonous. The mountains are lower, the valley narrower, and the road is enclosed by wood or rocks. One peculiarity of Norwegian rocks is their humidity. The water penetrates through countless fissures, but only in such small quantities as to cover the stones with a kind of veil. When the sun shines on these wet surfaces of rock, of which there are many and large ones, they shine like mirrors. ”

“ Each valley has its stream, fed from the upland snow, and often widening into a long, narrow lake. Along the coast are countless rocky islands, known as the Skjaergaard, which so fringe the shore that it is possible for a steamer to pass from Vardö to Kristiania with but few occasions to traverse the open sea. Norway thus resembles a chain of mountains with deeply dissected valleys, which has been sunk many hundred feet into the ocean. ”

“ Hundreds of tourists from various nations visit this place every summer. Here they may see the midnight sun circle around the horizon, through two long months of summer. After we leave North Cape the coast line draws north-east and east to south, until the great Atlantic ocean surrounds Norway's northern, barren and fjord-furrowed coast. ”

“ Norway must naturally be better calculated to form hardy persevering sailors than Denmark. With the exception of the west coast of Jutland, where there is not a good harbour to be found, and where, consequently, navigation must, in ancient times, have been very limited, Denmark is washed by an enclosed sea with flat coasts. The ocean, on the contrary, washes almost the whole of Norway’s rocky shores; where the numerous and deeply-indented fiords resemble so many harbours. ”

“ The entire coast of Norway is cut up by innumerable fjords, which are long bays or arms of the sea, penetrating far inland between rocky cliffs, contracting as they advance until many of them end in narrow creeks. ”

“ But this is only the beginning of Norway's wonders. Exposed to all the fury of the North Sea, Arctic and Atlantic, the navigation of its coast would be well-nigh impossible had not indulgent Nature made here countless breakwaters, by means of a vast fringe of islands more than a thousand miles in length, behind which are smooth, sheltered channels for the largest ships. ”

“ As those things which are permanent will interest a larger number than the transient ceremonies attending the crowning of a new king, I shall give the preference to the most distinguishing feature of Norway, that which has been interwoven with her name, viz., the midnight sun. Owing to its accessibility and to the fact that its climate is moderated by the influence of the Gulf stream, the coast of upper Norway furnishes the best opportunity which Europeans have to mount the Arctic merry-go-round and view the sun through the whole nightless day. ”

“ The summits of the Norwegian Fjelds have only the charm of wildness and bleakness. I doubt whether any mountains of equal height exhibit less grandeur in their upper regions. The most imposing features of Norwegian scenery are its deep valleys, its tremendous gorges with their cataracts, flung like banners from steeps which seem to lean against the very sky, and, most of all, its winding, labyrinthine fjords—valleys of the sea, in which the phenomena of the valleys of the land are repeated. ”

“ The high plateau lies along the W. side of the peninsula, so that except in the S.E. Norway is mountainous throughout. Even the part excepted is hilly, but it partakes of the character of the long eastern or Swedish slope of the peninsula. Beyond the coast line their floors sink far below sea-level, and thus are formed the fjords and the belt of rugged islands which characterize almost the entire seaboard of Norway. Where Norway marches with Russia, a few heights exceed 3000 or even 4000 ft., but the land is not generally of great elevation. ”