IV.

CHAP. grounds about the town are planted with them, and with the cabbage turnip, which here attains unusual size and perfection. Wheat is never sown, nor much rye; but barley and oats thrive very well. Grass is cut for hay in the middle of July: the environs of Trönijem produce very fine crops, and, at the same time, the barley is in full ear. Rye is the chief corn imported; but the most common article of food among the peasants is the oaten cake. Enough is generally grown in the country for its consumption; and, as was before stated, it is seldom necessary to import much, either of barley or cats. The barley, when imported, comes from England and Scotland: the rye, from the Baltic. When there is a plentiful year in Scotland, much oatmeal is imported, which is highly valued, and bought up with avidity. Apples ripen here; but not apricots, which succeed tolerably well at Christiania. Upon the whole, there is not that difference of climate which might be expected between the two places; perhaps owing to the greater proximity of Trönÿem to the sea. The bay of Trönijem never freezes. The cold is not nearly so great here as at Rörůůs, which lies more to the south. It should have been before stated, that during the last winter at Röråås, the mercury in the thermometer and barometer froze

IV.

naturally: but this intense frost lasted only CHAP. three days; and throughout the northern part of Norway, it had generally been considered as a mild winter, although great apprehensions were entertained lest every thing would be killed on account of the small quantity of snow. The inhabitants complain much of the uncertainty of Climate. the weather in the summer: one day may be excessively hot, and the next quite cold: the transition sometimes takes place in the course of a single hour. In winter, the climate is much more regular: and they have, in general, a clear sky. As a proof that cultivation is going rapidly forwards, it is sufficient to state, that, notwithstanding the great increase in the population, of late years, there has been no increase in the importation of corn, but rather the contrary. The people on the sea-coast are the poorest, and suffer the most: in general, they marry young, and have large families, which they hope to support by fishing; and in a bad year, when the fisheries are unsuccessful, they are reduced to extreme poverty. The people in the interior parts of the country seldom marry till they can get a place in which they may support a family; and this does not always happen while they are very young. The chief exports Exports. of Trönijem are, fish, deal-planks, tar, and copper:

IV.

CHAP. three hundred thousand shippounds of copper are exported at Trönijem from the mines of Röråås only.

Rapidity of Vegeta

tion.

The rapidity of vegetation on some spots, and in some years, has been very extraordinary. On a farm to the south of Trönijem, two crops of barley were reaped in the same year: and the year before our arrival, a similar instance had occurred on a farm ten miles north of Trönÿem. It is not uncommon for barley to be reaped six weeks after it has been sown. Some of the valleys have a most fertile soil; and being shut out from all winds, retain the heat very much add to this, that the sun is so long above the horizon, that the mercury in Fahrenheit's thermometer, during the short night, often does not fall below 60°; and it may be imagined what the effect must be upon vegetation. It generally happens, that the ground is prepared, the seed sown, and the harvest reaped, in the course of two months. The grass grows under the snow; and it is a custom here to throw ashes upon the snow, to hasten its melting. The severest cold in winter is in general about 17° or 18° of Réaumur: last year, for two days, the mercury in his thermometer was at 20°: in summer it is sometimes as high as 21.-The state of the thermometer, estimated according to

the scale of Réaumur, is noted every day, and inserted in the Gazette which is published every Saturday morning. Very erroneous accounts have been given, in other countries, of the climate here. Linnæus, describing the temperature of the same latitude, says the winter returns, without autumn, before the end of August. We did not leave Trönijem before the third of October; and the heat of the sun was at this time so great in the streets, that we could not walk without undergoing a copious perspiration. The inhabitants had then in their gardens many plants in flower; a beautiful blue Gentian, the Gentiana campestris, covered the tops of the hills; and ripe cherries, apples, plums, and pears, were hanging upon their trees. The birch, it is true, was dropping its leaf, but every other forest-tree was in full foliage. During the time we staid, we had neither frost nor snow, but the most serene and delightful weather imaginable. At the same time, the English papers mentioned very stormy weather in our own country.

CHAP.

IV.

with Ire

land.

The commerce of Trönijem is carried on chiefly Commerce with Ireland; and it is to the Irish that the strange names of Dronton and Drontheim, as applied to this city, are to be attributed. With England the inhabitants have little intercourse;

which is a principal cause of the ignorance that has so long prevailed in England respecting this place and its worthy enlightened inhabitants. A French author describes the latter as "wild Laplanders, very like bears'." The trade with Ireland is owing in great measure to the shortness of their deal planks, for which they would hardly find a market in England; but, besides this, the duty in England is the same whether the deal planks be short or long; whereas in Ireland it is said to be proportioned to the length. Their ships sail also to the Mediterranean; whence they return with freightage for Hamburgh, and from thence proceed to the Baltic. In the Baltic they are freighted with corn, and then return to their own port.

(1) Voy. Nouveau Voyage vers le Septentrion, &c. Amst. 1708.