COXe’s TRAVELS IN NORWAY. 3 65

The caftle of Aggerhuus, built on a rocky eminence on the weft fide of the bay, at afmall diftance from the city, is a very ancient fortrefs, and was befieged, in 1310, by theSwedes, according to an infcription over the door of a brick tower. It was ftrengthen-ed in 1633 by Chriftian the Fourth; and feveral other dates and infcriptions fhewed,that additional fortifications had been made by the fucceeding Kings of Denmark. Thisfortrefs is fmall but ftrong ; in peace the garrifo.n confifts of five hundred troops, but inwar is augmented to one thoufand. Aggerhuusfuftained a fiege in 1717 from Charlesthe Twelfth in perfon, who occupied the city and fuburbs, but was compelled, for wantof provifion, to retire. The walls of many houfes in Chriftiana ftill bear marks of theballs fhot from the batteries againft Charles, as he rode daily through the ftreets, withhis ufual rafhnefs, to reconnoitre the ftate of the fortrefs.

The governor of Aggerhuus is the chief governor of Norway . He prefides in thehigh court of juftice, called Qverhoflet , which judges, in the laft refort, civil caufes belowa certain value. In all caufes furpaffing that value, an appeal lies to the fupreme courtat Copenhagen .

Chriftiana has an excellent harbour, and carries on a confiderable trade. The prin-cipal exports are tar, foap, iron, copper, planks, and deals ; allum manufactured at Mr.Cooper’s works for about 3000I.; iron from the four works of Borum, Edfwold, Nar-kedahl, and Ondahlen, 14,0001.; copper from Foldahl, io,oool.; planks and deals,9°?oool., principally to England.

The planks and deals are of fuperior eftimation to thofe fent from America , Ruftia,snd from the different parts of the Baltic, becaufe the trees grow on the rocks, and arectherefore firmer, more compact, and lefs liable to rot than the others, which chieflyfhoot from a fandy or loamy foil. The planks are either red or white fir or pine. r I hered wood is produced from the Scotch fir, and the white wood, which is in fuch higheftimation, from the fpruce fir. This wood is the moft demanded, becaufe no countryproduces it in fuch quantities as this part of Norway . Each tree yields three pieces oftimber, eleven or twelve feet in length, and is ufually fawed into three planks; a freegenerally requires feventy or eighty years growth before it arrives at the greateft per-fection.

The environs of Chriftiana not yielding fufficient planks for exportation, the greaterpart of the timber is hewn in the inland country, and floated down the rivers and cata-racts. Saw-mills are ufed for the purpofe of cutting the planks, but muft be privi-leged, and can only cut a certain quantity. The proprietors are bound to declare onoath, that they have not exceed that quantity ; and if they do, the privilege is takenaway, and the faw-mill deftroyed. There are one hundred and thirty-fix privilegedfaw-mills at Chriftiana, of which one hundred belong to the family of Anker. Thequantity of planks permitted to be cut, amounts to twenty million ftandard deals, twelvefeet long, and one inch and a quarter thick.

During our flay at Chriftiana we received great civilities from the Ankers, the richeftand moft commercial family in Norway . Mr. Bernard Anker, who is a fellow of theRoyal Society , fpeaks Englifh nearly as well as a native, poflelfes an excellent houfe inDhriftiana, elegantly furnifhed in the Englifh tafte, and ornamented with a good collec-tion of pictures, which he purchafed in Italy . He lives in a ftyle of magnificence, andreceives all travellers with unbounded hofpitality. He has an excellent library, a goodapparatus of natural philofophy from England, and a curious collection of the mineralsand marbles of Norway .

We accompanied Mr. Anker to Vickery, a neat villa belonging to his family, fourmiles from Chriftiana, which Hands pleafantly on the bay, and commands many pic-

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