the sun from December to February. At some places it is invisible for
a longer period, but at Hammerfest the streets, houses, and business
places are lighted with electric lights, and similar plants are being
introduced into other cities of the polar section. It is stated, also,
that the aurora borealis is so brilliant night after night as to make
it easy to read ordinary newspaper print without artificial light, and
by long experience people are prepared for the peculiar conditions
that exist there. The passengers on the steamers in these waters in
winter are mostly commercial travelers and men interested in the
fisheries, which are more active from October to March than at any
other time of the year.

There are also two canals in Norway that are used for passenger
traffic--the Fredrikshald canal, connecting the Femsjöen and Skullerud
lakes, and the Skien-Nordsjö-Bandak canal, connecting the Nordsjö lake
with the Hitterdal and Bandak lakes. Between the Hitterdal and the
Nordsjö lake there is a rise of fifty feet, which is overcome by two
locks at Skien and four at Loveid; and between the Nordsjö and the
Bandak lakes there is a rise of one hundred and eighty-seven feet,
which is overcome by fourteen locks, five of which are around a
waterfall, the Vrangfos, where the average rise for each lock is about
thirteen feet. The postal, telegraph, and telephone systems, all under
government control, are both cheaper and more efficient than in the
United States, where the two latter are private monopolies. With the
exception of Switzerland, Norway is more abundantly supplied with
postoffices, in proportion to her size, than any other country in the
international postal union. The length of her telegraph lines, in
relation to the population of the country is greater than in any other
country. There is no place in the world where telephones are so cheap
or so numerous as in Stockholm. There are more telephones in Stockholm