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of it, consists to a great extent of a lofty plateau of the
character common among the mountains of Finmarken. At the S. end
of this island lies (29 Kil.) Hasvik, the next station. The vessel
steers through the broad Sørsund, round the Fugitives, and passes
on the left the curiously shaped island of Haajen. The steamer
now reaches —
61 Kil. (38 Engl. M.) Hammerfest (Jensen’s Hotel; Nordpolen;
English vice-consul, Mr. G. Robertson; telegraph-station), the
‘northernmost town in the world’, situated in 70°40’ N. lat., which
has enjoyed municipal privileges since 1787, had 77 inhah. only in
1801, hut now numbers about 2300. Its trade with Russia and the
Spitzhergen expeditions organised here are the chief resources of
the place. The climate is mild, the mean temperature here being
the same as at Tromsø (p. 253). Sportsmen and Arctic explorers
may charter a vessel here for a northward cruise for a sum of
3000-6000 kr., according to its size and the duration of the
voyage. — The town presents a neat and clean appearance, hut
smells strongly of cod-liver oil, the chief manufactories of which
are in the Grønnervolds-Gade. Lapps in their quaint and
picturesque costumes, often intoxicated, and Finns from the
principality of Finland, are frequently seen in the streets. The Russian
vessels trading with Hammerfest are generally of the ordinary
European build, the old-fashioned Lodje, a clumsy kind of lugger
with two masts and disproportionately large cabin-windows, being
now rare. Some of the shops, where hear-skins, walrus-tusks
(Hvalros, ‘whale-horse’), Lapp costumes, and other specialties of
the country are sold, are attractive, though inferior to those of
Tromsø. — The Church gtands on a rocky hill to the V. of the
town, and is adjoined by the Churchyard, enclosed by a stone
wall. — On the E. side of the town are seen numerous Hjelder,
or wooden frames for the drying of fish. Crossing the outlet of
the Lake to the E. of the town, and following the road round
the harbour, where a number of civilised Gammer, or Lapp huts
(corap. p.254), are seen on the rocky shore, we may walk in 1
to Fuglnces, the N. promontory of the island , with a lighthouse,
commanding a fine view. In 1823 Sir Edward Sabine made some
of his famous experiments with the pendulum here. A column of
granite, called the Meridianstøtte, has also been erected here to
commemorate the measurement in 1816-52 of the number of
degrees between Ismail near the mouth of the Danube and this point,
undertaken, as the Latin and Norwegian inscription records, ‘by
the geometers of three nations, by order of King Oscar I. and the
Emperors Alexander I. and Nicholas’. The hills to the E. of the
Meridianstøtte command a view of the horizon of the Arctic Ocean
and the midnight sun.
To the S. of the harbour is a valley extending into the interior
of the Kvalø, whence a path ascends to the top of *Sadlen (pron.
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