The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

B2SCANDINAVIA.other equally dangerous whirlpools in these waters, and in several places the tidesadvance with terrific speed through the narrow straits.South of the Lofotens there are no islands comparable in size with the largermembers of that group ;but there are hundreds still large enough to shelter theFig. 39.-6land and Kalmar Sound,Scale 1 : 1,110,000.families of fishers and even la-bourers, and afford pasture fortheir cattle. Amongst themare several of extremely eccentricforms, resembling towers,castles, and such-like. Here isthe Staven, or " Giant's Staff,"a tall, slender rock wrapped ina cloud of snowy water-fowl1yonder the Hestmand, a cavaliershrouded in a mantle, eternallyriding through mist and storm ;elsewhere the better-knownTorghatt, a gigantic rocky mass800 feet high, pierced abouthalf-way up by a grotto 900feet long, of extremely regularformation, and with two portals230 and 120 feet high. Accordingto the legend this vast openingwas made by the arrow ofa giant, whose petrified bust isstillto be seen a few miles off.The Norwegian islands, includingthose of the SkagerRak, but exclusive of reefs flushwith the surface, have a totalarea of 8,500 square miles, orabout the fourteenth part of themainland ;but, thanks to theirconvenient harbours, relativelymild climate, and fisheries, theyare much more densely peopled,containing about one-eighth ofthe whole population of Norway.*The Swedish islands are farless numerous, and long tracts, especially of the Scanian seaboard, are entirelyfree of islets or reefs. But on the Kattegat coast, north of Goteborg, there is* According to Broch the 1,100 inhabited islands of Norway had a population, in 1S75, of 238,000 souls.