and the enslaved vaffals of Denmark, to their fuperiors, yet paying pre though both living under the fame per refpect to thofe above them. government. "Many of the peafants pretend to be defcended from the antient nobles, and fome even from the royal line: they greatly pride themfelves upon this fuppofed defcent, and are careful not to give their children in marriage but to their equals in birth and blood. "A curious cuftom prevails in Norway, called odels right, or right of inheritance, by which the proprietor of certain freehold eftates may re-purchase his eftate, which either he or any of his ancestors have fold, provided he can prove the title of his family. But in order to enforce this claim, his ancestors, or he, must have declared every tenth year, at the feffions, that they lay claim to the eftate, but that they want money to redeem it; and if he, or his heirs are able to obtain a fufficient fum, then the poffeffor muft, on receiving the money, give up the eftate to the odels-man. For this reafon, the peafants who are freeholders, keep a ftrict account of their pedigree. This cuftom is attended with advantages and difadvantages. As to the advantages, it fixes the affections of the peafant on his native place, and he improves with pleasure thofe poffeffons which are fo ftrongly fecured to him: it increases the confequence and excites the industry of his family. On the contrary, the eftate lofes its value when fold to another perfon, becaufe, as he poffeffes only a precarious eftate, which he may be obliged to refign, he is not inclined to improve the lands, as if they were irrecoverably his own. "The Norwegian peafants poffefs much spirit and fire in their manner, are frank, open, and undaunted, yet not infolent; never fawning "Their principal mode of falute is by offering their hand; and when we gave them or paid them a trifle, the peafants, inftead of returning thanks by words or by a bow, thook our hands with great franknefs and cordiality. "The peasants of Norway are well clothed and well lodged, and appear to poflefs more comforts and conveniencies of life than any which I have seen in the course of my tra vels, excepting in fome parts of Switzerland. "They weave their ordinary cloth and linen; they make also a kind of ftuff like a Scotch plaid. The cloth which the men ufe for their coats is principally of a stone colour, with red button holes, and white metal buttons. "The women, while employed in their household affairs, frequently, as in Sweden, appear only with a petticoat and a fhift, with a collar reaching to the throat, and a black fafh tied round the waift. Their linen is remarkably fine: and as they are ufually well made, this mode of drefs fets off their fhapes to the highest advantage. I "The common food of the peafant is milk, chçefe, dried or falted fish, and fometimes, but rarely, fleth or dried meat, oat-bread called fladbrod, baked in small cakes about the fize and thickness of a pancake it is ufually made twice a year. obferved a woman employed in preparing it: having placed over the fire a round iron plate, fhe took a handful of dough, and rolled it out with a rolling-pin to the fize of the iron plate; he then placed it on the plate, and baked it on one fide, then turned it on the other with a fmall ftick. In this manner the baked an aftonishing number in lefs than a quarter of an hour; and I was informed that one woman, in one day, can bake fufficient for the family during a whole year. The peasants alfo, in times of fcarcity, mix the bark of trees, ufually of the fir tree, with their oatmeal; then dry this bark before the fire, grind it to powder, mix it with fome oatmeal, then bake it, and eat it like bread it is bitterifh, and affords but little nourishment. "As a luxury, the peafants eat fharke, or thin flices of meat, fprinkled with falt, and dried in the wind, like hung beef; alfo a foup made like a hafty-pudding, of oatmeal or barley-meal, and in order to render it more palatable, they put in it a pickled herring or falted mac kerel. "The use of potatoes has been lately introduced, but thofe roots do not grow to any fize in a country where the fummer is fo fhort. "Fabricius ftrongly recommends, in times of fcarcity, the moffes and lichens, and particularly the lichen iflandicus, which yields a very nourifhing fuftenance, and is commonly ufed for food in Iceland. "According to a feries of meteorological obfervations taken by Mr. Wilfe, paftor of Sydeborg, it fnows moft in December and in the middle of January. It rains moft in April, October, and Auguft. The cleareft weather is from the middle of June to the middle of July, and during the whole month of March. Winds are most violent in the middle and latter end of April, May, and October. The ftilleft feafon is in Japuary; from the tenth of June to the eleventh of July, and in the middle of Auguft, a circumftance very profitable to the oat-harveft, which of all corn is more eafily fubject to caft its ripe grain in windy weather. If we compare the cli mate of Norway with the climate of London, March at London is like April and the beginning of May in Norway; and the March of Norway is our January. On account of the frequent fpring frofts, feeds ought not to be fown in gardens before the twentieth of May, and the frosts of the latter end of Auguft are no lefs detrimental. "The heat and cold varies fo much in Norway, that in June or July, the mercury in Fahrenheit's thermometer, as obferved by Mr. Wilfe at Sydeborg, near Frederickfhall, not unusually rifes to 88, and on the firft of January 1782, fell to 22, or 54 degrees below the freezing point. At Eger, according to profeffor Stroem's obfervations, it fell on that fame day to-36; and at Kongsberg to-40, or 72 below freezing point, a degree of cold by which quickfilver is congealed. This extreme rife and fall of the quickfilver makes a difference of 110 degrees between the greatest heat and greatest cold at the fame place; a difference much more confiderable than is obferved at Upfala or Stockholm, which lie nearly in the fame latitule as Sydeborg. "In fome places vegetation is fp quick, that the corn is lown and cut in fix or feven weeks. "Tillage cannot generally be very flourishing in a country, which is in many parts fo rocky as to defy the plough; where the climate is fo fevere, that the hoar-frofts begin in September, and where the cold in the highlands prevents the maturity of the corn. It is true, indeed, that the fmall vallies, and the intervals between the rocks, are ufually provided with a fruitful foil, and that the induftry of the peasants covers the naked rocks, and the fandy grounds with a new earth; yet the arable grounds are few, and no parts of Norway yield fufficient curn for interior confumption, the diftricts of Hedemark, Toten, and Ringerike, excepted. "This deficiency is occafioned by the nature of the climate and foil. In fpring, and in the firft fummer months, the drought and heat are frequently fo intolerable, and the vegetable mould fo thin, that the roots of the corn and grafs are burned up, if a few days of funfhine fucceed each other without rain. Alfo the greatest part of the foil is fo much blended with fand, that too much rain cannot fall in fpring and fummer. In autumn, on the contrary, the decreased warmth, and the great quantity of rain prevents the corn from ripening, and it is frequently cut green. Not unufually, when a favourable feafon has ripened the corn, the frequent and violent autumnal rains hinder the carrying of it in until it is almoft fpoiled. Alfo the fmall quantity of arable land feldom lies fallow, but is fowed every year, and therefore requires more manure than can be easily procured. "All these circumstances fo much counteract the induftry of the Nor. wegian farmers, that even in the most favourable feasons, a confiderable importation of corn is annually ne effary; and in unfavourable harvefts the utmost dearth is experienced in all the inland parts, as the tranfport of the corn from the fea coafts is highly expenfive. "In order to dry the corn expofed to the heavy rains, the peasants fix forked poles, about ten feet high, place rows of other poles transverfely, on which they file the fheaves, the lowermoft row hanging about two feet from the ground. They are alfo frequently obliged to bake the corn in wooden sheds, heated by means of ftoves. "As Norway, therefore, does not produce fufficient corn for its own confumption, Denmark enjoys the exclufive privilege of fupplying with grain that part called "Sudenfields, comprehending the two governments of Aggerhuus and Chriftianfand. This monopoly frequently occafions afcarcity of corn; but though fometimes attended with great inconveniencies and occafional diftrefs, yet will not be abolished without great difficulty, because the Danish nobles, who are always at the head of af fairs, find their intereft in its continuance. "But Norway, however deficient in arable land, is exceedingly rich in pafture, and confequently produces much cattle. The mode of keeping the cows is fimilar to that practifed in the mountains of Switzerland. About the middle of May they are driven to the meadows; towards the middle of June are fent to pasture on the heights, or in the midst of the forefts, where they continue till autumn. The cows are ufually attended by a woman, who inhabits a fmall hut, milks them twice a day, and makes butter and cheese on the fpot. On their return the cattle are paftured in the meadows, until the fnow fets in about the middle of October, when they are removed to the ftables, and fed during winter with four fifths of ftraw, and onefifth of hay. The horfes are usually foddered with hay during winter, and are feldom paftured before the beginning of June. In fome places the cattle are fed alfo with falted fish. "Agriculture has been of late years greatly improved in thefe parts, and the landed eftates are increased within thefe laft fifty years near one third in their value. This improvement is confiderably owing to the labours and encouragement of the pa triotic triotic fociety, which gives premiums for the beft improvements and inftructions in every part of farming. "The fisheries, particularly on the western coaft, furnith employment and wealth to the natives, and are the means of fupplying the fineft failors for manning the Danifh fleet in times of war. "The principal fifh, which, dried and falted, furnish fo confiderable an article of exportation, are the cod, the ling, and the whiting: their livers, befides, yield train oil, and the smallest are given as winter fodder to the cattle. "The herring fishery is not fo profitable as formerly, as these fif, which used to frequent the coafts of Norway, in their progress from the north pole, now keep at a greater diftance from thefe flores, and firft approach the rocks of Marftrand and Stroemftrand, which has trans. ferred to the Swedes the principal herring-fishery in these parts, though ftill fufficient profit accrues to thofe enterprifing fishermen who venture further from the coafts. "The falmon are taken partly in the bays, and partly in the rivers, the ftreams of which they afcend for the purpose of spawning in fpring. This is the moft coftly fifh in these parts, and is cured by falting and fimoking. "Mackerel might alfo be taken in much larger quantities, if many of the Norwegians were not prejudiced againft eating them, from a ftrange notion, that fhoals of mackerel often attack and devour the human fpecies, when bathing in the fea, แ 1. For fpars, beams, and planks, which are exported in fuch large quantities. 2. For charcoal, which is required for the fmelting of the ores, for the glafs furnaces, and other manufactures. The wood ufed for this purpofe is ufually of an inferior fort, and chiefly in the inner parts, where the tranfport of the planks is too expenfive. 3. For building, the greatest part of the houfes in Norway being conftructed of wood; for although there is plenty of ftone, yet the transporting of the materials, and the lime, are too expensive for common ufe. 4. For the roads, which, in the more northern parts, are almost entirely formed with wood. 5. For turpentine, for which the oldeft trees are moftly used. 6. For fencing and enclosing the fields, quick fet hedges being almoft unknown. The wood ufed for enclosures is chiefly pine or fir, and must be renewed every three or four years. 7. For fuel. For manure, by the fame process of burning the trees and manuring the foil with the afhes, which is practifed in Sweden, and is fo deftructive to the forefts. 8. "Befides these general ufes derived from the forefts, the particular trees are beneficially employed to the fol lowing purpofes: "The bark of the pine or fir, and alfo of the elm, which is not common in Norway, is dried, ground, and mixed among meal, and is boiled up with other food, to feed fwine, who thrive much upon it. "The birch, which flourishes in thefe northern regions, is particularly ufeful for various purposes. It is more generally ufed for fuel than any other wood. The outer bark, or the white rind, on account of its firmness and fap, eafily efcapes pu trefaction trefaction even in the dampeft places: and for this reafon is employed for covering the roofs of the houses, in order to keep out the rain. "This mode of roofing occafions fuch a large confumption of the outward bark, that the birch, which are felled, would not fupply a fufficient quantity; it is, therefore, not unufual to ftrip off the outward bark while the tree is standing, and if peeled with care, it always grows again. The inner bark of the birch is applied like the bark of oaks for tanning hides, fishing nets, and fails, which it renders more durable. "This tree alfo fupplies a kind of wine by the following procefs: a hole is bored in the trunk, and the wine diftils into a flafk placed under it. The tree fuffers little damage, if the hole is immediately clofed by a wooden peg. The twigs of the birch, as well as the elder and afpen are given to horfes in fcarcity of fodder. A decoction of oak leaves in beer is ufed by the peasants as a cure for the rheumatifm, by applying a cloth dipped in the decoction to the part affected. "The general exports of Norway are tallow, butter, falt, dried fish, timber and plank, horfes and horned cattle, filver, allum, Pruffian blue, copper, of which the celebrated mine of Roras yields annually to the value of . 67,500; and iron, of which the most productive mine is near Arendal. "Norway abounds in lakes and rivers, more than any country I ever vifited excepting Switzerland. It is remarkable for the number and beauty of the bays fringed with wood. Many of the lakes are fo large, that they appear like inlets of the fea: and the bays are fo fmall, that they appear like lakes: but I am anticipating my journal." CHARACTER, MANNERS, and CUSTOMS of the PEOPLE of MOROCCO. [From Lempriere's Tour from Gibraltar to Tangier, Sallee, Moggo. dore, &c.] cr T 0 think justly and with candour of the Moorifh character, we must take into our confideration the natural effects of a total want of education, a moft rigidly arbitrary government, and a climate calculated, as far as climate has influence, to ftimulate and excite the vicious paffions, as well as by its debilitating and relaxing influence to weaken and deprefs the nobler energies of the mind. To thefe we may add the difadvantages arifing from the want of a free intercourfe with other nations, and the influence of an abfurd and uncharitable religion. "In fuch a state of things the traveller is not to be surprised if he obferves moft of the vices of favage nations grafted upon thofe of luxury and indolence; if he obferves fuperftition, avarice, and luft, the leading features of character, with their natural concomitants, deceit and jealoufy; he is not to be furprised if he finds but little of the amiable attachments and propenfities, little of friendship or focial union with each other, fince the nature of the government, and the |