The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

M SI AXDIXAYIA.insular masses. The surface resembles that of quagmires baked in the sun, andattempts have been made to restore the Norwegian chart by indicating all theprimitive fissures that have become fiords. But although these fissures at firstsight seem the result of erosion, it is difficult to understand how it is that theyoccur generally in the hardest rocks, and are spread with remarkable uniformityfor hundreds of miles over fiords and highlands. A series of such parallel troughsFig. 40.—QUADRANGULAR MASSES IN SOUTH NORWAY SEPARATED BY FlSbUKES.Scale 1 :6IS,000.E. o-FGDepth under 2/5 Fathoms.Depth over L'7j Fathoms.— 10 Miles.extends north and south from the Molde-fiord to the Naze, and another is connectedsouth-east with the Gulf of Christiania.All these intricate inlets present an enormous coast-line, the navigable channelsalone being estimated at no less than 12,000 miles. Most of the coasting trade iscarried on through these inland waterways, or between the outer islands and theseaboard. The lighter craft are even transported from fiord to fiord acrossportages or depressions, known as ej'der, often less than 300 feet high.Some of the fiords are so effectually cut off from the sea by islands and reefsthat the fresh water of the melting snows and rains lies 4 feet deep on thesurface. It is so pure that vessels are able to replenish their water casks from