e matchless
islands off the northwest coast of Norway consist of two
divisions,--the Lofoden and Vesteraalen isles. The Vestfjord
separates the former from the main-land and the Ofotenfjord; and a
prolongation of the Vestfjord separates the latter from Norway
proper. These two groups are separated from each other by the
Raftsund. All the islands on the west of this boundary belong to the
Lofoden, and those on the east and north to the Vesteraalen group.
The total length of all these islands is about a hundred and thirty
miles, and the area is computed at fifteen hundred and sixty square
miles. These estimates, we were informed, had lately been very nearly
corroborated by actual government survey. The population of the
islands will not vary much from twenty thousand. The entire
occupation of the people is fishing, curing the fish, and shipping
them southward. Some of the shrewdest persons engaged in this
business accumulate moderate fortunes in a few years, when they
naturally seek some more genial home upon the main-land. The large
islands contain rivers and lakes of considerable size, but the growth
of trees in this high latitude is sparse, and when found they are
universally dwarfed. There is, however, as the product of the brief
summer season, an abundance of fresh green vegetation, which is
fostered by the humidity of the atmosphere. Still the prevailing
aspect is that of towering, jagged rocks. Though the winters are
long, they are comparatively mild, so much so that the salt water
does not freeze in or about the group at any time of the year. As to
the scenery, the Lofodens must be admitted to surpass in true
sublimity and grandeur anything of their nature to be found in
southern Europe. There is ample evidence showing that in long past
ages these islands were much more extensive than at present, and that
they were once covered with abundant vegetation. But violent
convulsions in the mean time must have rent them asunder, submerging
some entirely, and elevating others into their present irregular
shapes.

In pursuing her course towards the North Cape, the steamer for a
distance of twenty miles and more glides through a strait remarkable
for its picturesqueness and unique beauty, which is called the
Raftsund. Here the shore is studded by the tiny red cabins of the
fishermen, surrounded by green low-growing foliage, the earth-covered
roofs of the huts often spread with purple heather-bloom, mingled
about the eave