The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

CLIMATE. 103by engineers at 225,000 horse -power, is partly utilised by industry, but the millsdo not here, as at the Sarps-fos, prevent access to the view.On the Baltic side the gentle slope of the land has prevented the developmentof such stupendous falls as on the west side, though even here there are some of avery imposing character. Thus the majestic Dal-elf, which throughout its lowercourse is little more than a series of lakes, contracts suddenly at Elf-Karleby, and,dividing into two branches, descends through a number of rapids a total heightof 50 feet just before reaching the sea. There are also some fine cascades on theSkelleftea and the Lulea. At the Njonimelsaskas, or " Hare Leap," the Lulea, hasa clear fall of over 266 feet in height, and several hundred yards in width, andhigher up a lake, separated from another reservoir by a simple ledge, rushes over acataract 140 feet high. To this lake the Lapps have given the name of Adnamuorkekortje,or " Great Cloudy Fall."Climate of Scandinavia.The main ocean current on the Norwegian seaboard sets south-west and northeast.The warm waters from the tropics strike the outer banks of the peninsula,often throwing up drift-wood and seeds from the West Indies, which the Lappscarefully preserve as amulets. So well known is this northward current thatwhen anything falls overboard the sailors jocularly speak of going to pick it upat Berlevaag ; that is, at the easternmost extremity of Lapland. This stream ofwarm water gives to Norway its climate, to the people their trade, commerce,daily sustenance, their very lives, so to say ; for, but for it, the shores of thefiords would be blocked with ice and uninhabitable. The Scandinavian peninsulaforms with Greenland the marine portal through which the Atlantic communicateswith the Frozen Ocean. But under the same latitude what a prodigiousdifference of climate ! On one side ice and snows eternal, on the other mainlyfogs and rain. The great western island absolutely treeless ; the easternpeninsula covered with tall forests, orchards of blossoming apple, pear, plum,and cherry trees, gardens in which the vine itself is cultivated! as a wall fruit ina richly manured soil. Yet a portion of Scandinaviaj estimated at 60,000square miles, is already comprised within the polar zone, where throughout thewinter night follows night in perpetual darkness. In summer, on the otherhand, the dying day melts in the new dawn. The Finmark hills commandthe amazing spectacle presented at the summer solstice by the midnight sungrazing the horizon, and again climbing the eastern skies. From the crest ofthe-Avasaxa, overlooking the Tornea valley near the arctic circle, the sun maybe seen, between June 16th and 30th, describing fifteen complete circuits in theheavens. As he stands bathed in sunshine, the spectator beholds at his feet allthe southern lands shrouded in the great mantle of night, and the snowy heights,instead of reflecting a white light, are made glorious by the dazzling colours inwhich the purple of the setting sun is blended with the soft tints of dawn. "Withthe great lakes, the boundless heaths, the snowy mountains, storms, and limitlessi 2