Skildring av kystmiljø fra år 1800, fra Boydell's picturesque scenery of Norway
No. LXII. LARKOUL AND SLETTERY. This view exhibits a beautiful little island, forming the west side of Larkoul harbour, as seen from the rocks under the fortifications, described in plates No. 61 and 65. This island, with the adjacent ones towards the Fiord, presents every appearance of being a volcanic production of early origin. It is totally difFerent in strata, form, and colour, from the primitive grey granite rocks on the continent in its immediate vicinity, no particle of that substance being visible in this island. It is of no great extent on the other side ; and is generally well clothed with trees, shrubs, and mosses, of various species, to the water's edge, around which may be seen a profusion of marine planta and flowers. The bold projecting rocks, and general features of the whole, present a very picturesque combination ; and considerable delight is excited in walking through the little sombre groves, and in tracing the beds of lava to their source, a conical eminence. composed of vast blocks, of a deep red highly calcined stone, firmly cemented in parts to each other by similar matter, bearing evident marks from its several laminæ, of having been more than once in a fluid state. It resists aquafortis, and will not receive any impression from a steel instrument. Between these blocks, and up to the apex, where evidently was the crater, are deep and dangerous fissures, to the sides of which grows a luxuriant long moss, which may be traced down them, as far as the eye can reach. A stone dropped down, is heard falling for a considerably longer interval, than that which elapses when one is thrown from the top of the hill into the sea, at its base, and this proves that the cavity descends below the water's level. There is no perceptible vapour, or fetid smell, nor any appearance of sulphur ; the water in the island is not at all brackish; and there are no remains of insects, fishes, fossils, or shells, to be found in the stones or rocks. A varde, or mark which serves as a beacon and national telegraph, is erected on the summit of this little cone or crater, which commands an extensive view of the Fiord, and its numerous islands, and rocks, down to the Fader light, and up to the magnificent mountains about Holmstrand, Drobak, Mos, Haoe, and Dram, with its Fiord. Here the pilots pass a great portion of their time, in looking out for ships. Between the two hills, as seen in the picture, is a small grove of firs, in the centre of which is situated the solemn little burial place for shipwrecked mariners, described in Plate 64. There is no human habitation on the island: what I supposed to be one, proved to be an immense colony of ants; it was in a thick grove of firs, and was formed of the dead leaves, or vegetation, which falls off yearly ; its green hue was changed to a deep saffron colour. The base of the ant-hill was nearly 40 feet in circumference, its height about 12, its form perfectly conical, and it had the appearance of a poor fisherman's hut. Myriads of ants were on and about it, performing their difFerent labours with alacrity; in form, size, and colour, they were similar to ours, and if we reason by the time occupied in raising the diminutive heaps of the latter, this metropolitan mountain must have been a work of five centuries. The island in the middle distance is Slettery, surrounded with shallow water, frequented only by small Dutch or coasting vessels, boats, &c. The land is flat and sandy, with a solitary clump of firs in the centre, near which is a remarkable lake of fresh water, which never fails in the driest summers ; the sea-worn rocks about the entrance to these harbours, strewed with fragments of wrecks, present a frightful appearance. On the reef in the distance, the sloop from Bergen, mentioned in the description of Plate 58, was lost.