name of science is taught; nor do individuals, by pursuing
any branch of knowledge, excite a degree of curiosity which is the
forerunner of improvement. Knowledge is not absolutely necessary to
enable a considerable portion of the community to live; and, till it is,
I fear it never becomes general.

In this country, where minerals abound, there is not one collection; and,
in all probability, I venture a conjecture, the want of mechanical and
chemical knowledge renders the silver mines unproductive, for the
quantity of silver obtained every year is not sufficient to defray the
expenses. It has been urged that the employment of such a number of
hands is very beneficial. But a positive loss is never to be done away;
and the men, thus employed, would naturally find some other means of
living, instead of being thus a dead weight on Government, or rather on
the community from whom its revenue is drawn.

About three English miles from Tonsberg there is a salt work, belonging,
like all their establishments, to Government, in which they employ above
a hundred and fifty men, and maintain nearly five hundred people, who
earn their living. The clear profit, an increasing one, amounts to two
thousand pounds sterling. And as the eldest son of the inspector, an
ingenious young man, has been sent by the Government to travel, and
acquire some mathematical and chemical knowledge in Germany, it has a
chance of being improved. He is the only person I have met with here who
appears to have a scientific turn of mind. I do not mean to assert that
I have not met with others who have a spirit of inquiry.

The salt-works at St. Ubes are basins in the sand, and the sun produces
the evaporation, but here there is no beach. Besides, the heat of summer
is so short-lived that it would be idle to contrive machines for such an
inconsiderable portion of the year. They therefore always use fires; and
the whole establishment appears to be regulated with judgment.

The situation is well chosen and beautiful. I do not find, from the
observation of a person who has resided here for forty years, that the
sea advances or recedes on this coast.

I have already remarked that little attention is paid to education,
excepting reading, writing, and the rudiments of arithmetic; I ought to
have added that a catechism is carefully taught, and the children obliged
to read in the churches, before the congregation, to prove that they are
not neglected.

De