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E. promontory of the Magerø and the Sværholtkltih and Nordkyn
in the distance; to the N. stretches the unbounded horizon of
the Arctic Ocean. A granite Column was erected at the top in
commemoration of the visit of Oscar III in 1873 (wine sold here).
‘The northern sun, creeping at midnight at the distance of five
diameters along the horizon, and the immeasurable ocean in apparent
contact with the skies, form the grand outlines in the sublime picture
presented to the astonished spectator. The incessant cares and pursuits of
anxious mortals are recollected as a dream; the various forms and
energies of animated nature are forgotten; the earth is contemplated only
in its elements, and as constituting a part of the solar system’.
Acerbic ‘Travels to the North Cape’. London, 1S02.
‘And then uprose before me,
Upon the water’s edge,
The huge and haggard shape
Of that unknown North Cape,
Whose form is like a wedge’. Longfellow.
On the S.E. side of the Magerø lie the steamboat-stations of
Honningvaag (telegraph-station) and (55 Kil. or 34J/2 Engl. M.
from Gjesvær) Kjelvik (Kjedelvik. ‘kettle’ or ‘cauldron creek’),
with its church, pastor, and local merchant, situated, as its name
imports, in a basin of peculiar form.
IV. From the North Cape to Vadsø.
The direct distance from the North Cape to Vadsø is about 290 Kil.
(180 Engl. 3I.J, but the course followed by the steamer increases this to
G90 Kil. (428 Engl. M.). 31ail-steamer once weekly in 2 days. The
celebrated ‘bird-mountain’ of Sværholtklubben (p. 264), the most interesting
point of the whole journey, is touched at also by the tourist-steamers,
which return thence to the North Cape.
Distances are calculated from station to station.
Beyond the North Cape the sole attraction of the voyage
consists in the utter bleakness’ and solemnity of the scene. Both
mainland and islands now consist of vast and monotonous plateaux,
called Næringen, rising to a height of 1000-2000 ft., and generally
unrelieved by valleys. The steamboat traverses long fjords without
seeing a boat, or a human habitation, or even a bush, for half a
day at a time. At the heads of these fjords, on the other hand, we
frequently And smiling little colonies, surrounded with bushes
and trees, and houses boasting of the amenities of pianos,
newspapers , and engravings. With the North Cape terminates the
Skjærgaard, or island-belt of Western Norway, and the coast is
here washed by the long sweeping waves of the Arctic Ocean.
Fogs often prevail here, causing detention and even danger to
the steamboats.
The immense Porsanger-Fjord, about 75 Engl. M. in length
and averaging 12 M. in breadth, opens to the E. of the
Magerø-sund. Numerous streams fall into it at its head. The banks
are barren, unpicturesque, and almost entirely uninhabited, but
present a beautiful appearance when richly coloured by the
midnight sun. In July and August the Sei (’saithc’, (Indus rirensj, a
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