No. Xxxix. A scene in longsound firth. This is one of those stupendous features of norway, mostly to be found in districts a few miles from the seacoast. Navigation is rendered exceedingly dangerous, by the squalls or sudden currents of wind, which rush with great impetuosity between the mountains, causing many distressing accidents, and sometimes the premature death of intrepid adventurers, among the rocks, and in the forests of these uninhabited regions. Occasionally profound silence prevails; not even a leaf is agitated; not a human being or an animal is to be discovered. At those periods the objects reflected by the lake beneath, have a magical effect; the extraordinary gleams of light, the great depth and purity of the water, the transient prismatic colouring, the mists or clouds, and other singular effects, tempt you to believe the whole to be a new creation. In many of these regions, it is common to see millions of fine timber trees, situated on inaccessible places, destined to die a lingering death, or perhaps be eaten up by a destructive moss, which completely envelopes every branch, from its trunk to its top; this moss consists of livid green and purple threads, as fine as if spun by spiders, having at a distance the appearance of a white veil spread over the whole. The above observations apply to forests in the environs of isolated lakes in the interior, which have no communicating river or outlet to the seacoast, capable of transporting timber, and where of course the trees must infallibly perish on the spot, it being wholly impossible to remove them over land, in this rugged country, by any machine hitherto invented. Many of these solemn mountains are inaccessible to a human being. In holes on their perpendicular sides, are the nests of the eagle, and other birds of prey. Others by their cavernous security, afford lurking places to ferocious beasts, and the approach is trod with instinctive caution; sometimes these animals commit great devastation in the surrounding country; but fortunately their visits are rare, and these savage intruders have always paid the forfeit of such temerity with their lives. On the first intelligence, the norwegian, regardless of danger, goes to meet his foe in his ambush, with the riflegun, and knife. A few huts, at a distance from each other, are to be met with under the rocks, where the stray fisherman moors his solitary boat. The dispersion of fogs has a fine effect in the morning, but it is hideous and frightful when seen by moonlight in november: these vapours then rise from the waters to half the height of the mountains, with a gentle undulating motion, and pearly whiteness; the enormous heads of the black rocks which are seen peeping above them, present to the credulous observer's fancy, huge monsters of dreadful and questionable forms. Date: 1800. A scene in Longsound Firth (JW Edy plate 39)
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