Another source of occupation in Norway is the dig ging of the mines, and the various operations connect ed with the preparations of the metals for home use or foreign trade. This portion of native manufacture ap pears to have been followed since the fourteenth cen tury; but it \vas chiefly by the encouragement given by Christian III. (who sent miners and workers at the forge from Germany,) that the mines were brought into a more flourishing state, and better management. The right to all mines is retained by the crown ; but this may be renounced in favour of those who discover the mines and undertake the working of them, upon whom various privileges are conferred. The silver mines of Kongsberg employ 2,i00 workmen, most of whom are the descendants of German miners, and require annually 1200 loads of charcoal, and 30,000 of wood for binning., be sides what is wanted for building. The produce of the different mines has varied greatly according to the modes of prosecuting the work. The gold mine of Edswold in the district of Rommerige, discovered in 1758, has not yet defrayed the expense of working it. The sil ver mines of Kongsberg, from the year 1623 to 1792, produced 25,130 573 rixdollars ; hut the expenses have been very considerable, and the clear profits very limit ed. The copper mines of floras, from 1646 to 1791 produced 337,863 skeppunds or refined copper, worth above 17,000,000 of rixdollars, and yielding in some years a clear profit of 149,162 rixdollars. The iron mine of Laurvig yields annually about 7000 skeppunds of bar iron, and 2000 of cast iron; that of Mioss about 4000. Several others yield about the same amount as the last mentioned ; and the total annual produce from the iron mines is estimated at 40,000 or 50,000 skep punds. The cobalt mines of Fossum yielded, in 1792, 2817 quintals, valued at 38,709 rixdollars. The salt works of Norway have not succeeded so generally, in consequence, as has been supposed, of a deficiency of saltness in the sea-water ; hut one establishment at Val loe, by using foreign salt to facilitate the operation, has begun to prosper, and produces annually about nine thousand tons, yielding a clear profit of 11,770 rixdol lars.
The peasantry display a truly wonderful ingenuity in carving vessels and other articles of household furniture with their knives. They ornament knife-handles with differently coloured wood, beautifully inlaid; cut out bowls and cups as if they had been turned; and manu facture the most elegant utensils of all sizes, from a ca binet to a snuffbox, without any other instrunient than their knives.
The internal trade of Norway is very considerable along the coasts, particularly in the gulf of Christiania and the neighbouring bays, which form a kind of na tural canals, running- into the country. But, throughout the inland tracts, communication is greatly obstruct ed by the precipitous mountains, impenetrable forests, and bottomless marshes. l'he principal roads, however, have been greatly improved. One of them from Christia nia to Drontheim is carried over the Dovrefieldt heights, through very drealy tracts and difficult passes; but the horses of the country are so remarkably steady and well trained, that few accidents take place. The number of travellers is too limited to support a regu lar succession of post-horses ; but the peasants are obliged, in their turns, to furnish horses at a regu lated mice, which is in general too low to recompense the loss of time. During winter, sledges are used in
travelling, and in summer small Swedish cars; but, in the spring season, during the whole of April, and the first half of May, all communication is interrupted hy the wet state of the roads, which are neither frozen enough to support the sledge, nor dry enough to admit of the car. The cars also are broader than the sledges, mid cannot go in their tracks, which alone are first clear of snow ; and even a single horse is continually in clan ger of sinking into hollow places covered with the half melted snow and ice. Nay, for sonic time, it is very difficult in certain places to conduct a heavy carriage along the roads; and Von Buch gives the following de scription of the passage over Tellegrod in Vardalen: " The earth freezes in winter for a depth of several yards; and when the thaw comes on in spring. it is long before the warmth can fully expel the frost from the ground. Hence the winter has been long past Oil the surface, ancl the earth become dry and firm, while the undermost rind remains still frozen. The middle thawed part remains beneath the dry surface like a morass, ancl cannot penetrate deeper into the earth. Such places on the road cannot be known, and horses and coach sink at once like a vessel at sea. The firm tind shakes for a great way around, and rises and falls in continual undulations.. The cartiage dances, the horses take fright, the crust immediately gives way, and the horses and carriage sink for a number of feet into the abyss. The common expression at parting to all strangers who travel in spring is, throughout Norway, ,‘ Heaven preserve you from Tellegrod ;" and truly they arc in the right. It is frightful to see the carriage and horses rolling- over the firm ground, as if convulsed by an earthquake, every moment to expect to sec the ground open and swallow them up." The rivers which water the country, though they are of great service for float ing down the timber, are so interrupted by falls and ra pids, that they cannot contribute much to inland naviga tion, unless means werc employed to alter their course. Besides weekly markets at the principal towns, there are annual fairs, which bring the country people toge ther from a great distance with their domestic produce, and some of these are held in the interior of the coun try for the convenience of the more remote districts. On these occasions the roads are crowded with sledges loaded with tallow, cheese, butter, and hides, for which they generally find a ready sale ; and with the price of which they purchase in return, corn, malt for beer, iron, and ironware, fish, and a variety of small articles which administer to the comfort of existence. At the com mencement of winter, also, thousands of oxen are driven into the towns, to supply' the inhabitants with their ne cessary winter provisions. In like manner the great sta ple commodities, deals and iron, are brought down on sledges during winter, or in summer hy means of horses and cars, which rcturn with provisions and other neces saries.