Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/793

 L O G L O G 769 and picturesque group of islands lying north-east and south west off the north-west coast of Norway, between 67 30 and 69 20 N. lat, and between 12 and 16 35 E. long. The extreme length of the group from Andenses, at the north of Ando, to Host, is about 130 English miles; the aggregate area amounts to about 1560 square miles, supporting a per manent population of about 20,000. It is separated from the mainland by the Vestfjorcl, Tja&amp;gt;ldsund, and Vaagsfjord, and is itself divided into two sections by the Raftsund between Hindu and Ost-Vaago : to the west and south of the Raftsund lie the Lofoten Islands proper, of which the most important are Ost-Vaago, Gimso, Vest-Vaago, Flakstado, Moskena?so, Mosken, Varo, and Host; east and north of the Raftsund are the islands of Vesteraalen, the chief being Hindu, Ulvo, Langb, Skogso, and Ando. The islands, which are all of granite or metamorphic gneiss, are precipitous and lofty ; the highest peaks are in the Lofoten group, Vaagekallan on Ost-Vaagb rising directly from the sea to a height of 3090 feet. The channels which separate them are narrow and tortuous, and generally of great depth ; they are remarkable for the strength of their tidal currents, particularly the Raftsund mentioned above, and the once famous Malstrbm or Moskenstrom between Moskenses and Mosken. Though situated wholly within the Arctic Circle, the Lofoten and Vesteraalen group enjoys a climate that cannot be called rigorous when compared with that of the rest of Norway. The isothermal line which marks a mean January temperature of 32 F. runs south from the Lofotens, passing a little to the east of Bergen onwards to Gothenburg and Copenhagen. The prevailing winds are those from the south and west ; the mean temperature for the year is 38 0&amp;gt; 5 F., and the annual rainfall is 43 - 34 inches. In summer the hills have only patches of snow, the snow limit being about 3000 feet. The natural pasture produced in favourable localities permits the rearing of cattle to some extent ; but the growth of cereals (chiefly barley, which here matures in ninety days) is insignificant. A few potatoes are planted. The islands yield no wood. The great and characteristic industry of the district, and an important source of the national wealth, is the cod fishery which is carried on along the east coast of the Lofotens in the Vestfjord from January to April. It employs about 18,000 men from all parts of Norway ; the annual take of cod amounts to an average of twenty millions, worth on the spot about 250,000. The fish, which is dried during early summer, is exported principally to Spain (where it is known as bacalao), but also to Holland, Sweden, and Belgium. Other industries arising out of the fishery are the manu facture of cod-liver oil and of artificial manure. The summer cod fisheries and the lobster fishery are also valuable. The herring is frequently taken in large quantities off the west coasts of Vesteraalen, but is a somewhat capricious visitant. The bailiwick contains no towns properly so called, but Kabelvaag on Ost-Vaago and Svolvasr on a few rocky islets off that island are considerable centres of trade and (in the fishing season) of population ; Lbdingen also, at the head of the Vestfjord on Hindo, is much frequented as a port of call. Regular means of communication are afforded by the steamers which trade between Hamburg or Christiania and Hammerfest, and also by local vessels ; less accessible spots can be visited by means of boats, in the management of which the natives are adepts. There are some roads on Hindo, Lango, and Ando. The largest island in the group, and indeed in Norway, is Hindo, with an area of 864 square miles. The south-eastern portion of it belongs to the amt of Tromso. In the island of Andb there is a bed of coal at the mouth of Ramsaa which is likely to prove ultimately of some prac tical value. LOG. The ordinary log for ascertaining the speed of a ship consists of four parts, viz., the log-glass, log-line, log-reel, and log-ship. The word log may have been derived from the fact that a piece of wood was thrown overboard, to lie as a log in a fixed position, motionless ; now the same name is applied to many contrivances and ingenious inventions for indicating directly, or for registering, the ship s progress through the water. Though such information now appears to be so essential, nay, imperatively necessary to the safe conduct of a ship, it is a fact that no such simple means as the log and line was devised before the 17th century, or the subject even thought of theoretically before 1570. At least nothing can be found in ancient writings, or even in the works professedly treating upon navigation, till after 1G20, while, on the contrary, various passages occur from which we may fairly infer that there was nothing better at the command of the mariner than a rough unassisted estimate. The work of Martin Cortes (Seville, 1556), after giving much valuable information for that day, including a description and use of the cross-staff, astrolabe, &c., a table of the sun s declination, with much else, makes no other reference to the ship s motion through the water than this, the pilot must estimate the distance, making allowance for the effects of winds and currents, every day, and as the estimation &quot; is imperfect, especially in a long voyage and long time, it is convenient that he should rectify his position by the corresponding position of the heavens.&quot; Mr J. Tapp, who published a translation and improved edition of Martin Cortes fifty-three years after (1609), made no alteration in that part of the work. In 1578 William Bourne published Inventions and Devices. There are one hundred and thirteen subjects treated of, many of them highly interesting, as they contain the crude germ of useful inventions. The twenty-first device is a close approach to Massey s self-registering log, which was found so useful two hundred and sixty years later. The credit of the device is ascribed to Humfray Cole ; the probable date is 1570. The proposal was to have a &quot; little small close boat &quot; with a wheel, or wheels, and an axletree, to turn clock-work in the little boat, with dials and pointers to indicate respectively fathoms, leagues, scores of leagues, and hundreds of leagues. If a small screw rotator had been used instead of a wheel, this might have been a great success. It was only a suggestion, perhaps untried ; and in common with seamen and writers about that time the author allows only 5000 feet to a mile. Edward Wright s Certain Errors in Navigation detected and corrected (1610) gives much new and useful information, but the nearest allusion to the ship s speed is in the part translated from the Spanish of Roderigo Samorano, under the head of finding the ship s place on the chart, called the &quot; point of imagination.&quot; &quot; This point doth presuppose the knowledge of two things : to wit, the rhumb by which we have sailed, and that is known by the compass, and the leagues which we have run ; and this hath no certainty, but is a little more or less than a good mariner according to his imagination supposeth that he hath sailed ; whereof the said point took its name.&quot; In 1624 an edition of Gunter by Edward W r eaver, after much valuable geometric information, proposes at chap, vi., in a long rambling manner, that an account should be kept of the ship s way. &quot; The way that a ship maketh may be known to an old seaman by experience, by others it may be found,&quot; as he recommends, with the log-line or by known marks on the ship s side, bearing the proportion to a league or mile, that a certain number of seconds do to an hour. So far good ; but he reckons a mile as 5866 feet (214 too little), and states that seamen count in paces of 5 feet each, and 1000 to a mile, i.e., only 5000 feet. He also proposes to XIV. - 97