I. The Northernmost Stift Or Diocese Of Norway

The Northernmost Stift Or Diocese Of Norway, bordering on the Arctic and Atlantic oceans; area, 42,687 sq. m.; pop. in 1865, 155,335. It is divided into the bailiwicks of Nordland, Tromso, and Finmark, and includes the Loffoden islands, celebrated for magnificent scenery and extensive cod and herring fisheries. (See Loffoden.) There is little agriculture, the main means of subsistence being derived from fisheries.

II. A Town

A Town, capital of the diocese, on an island in the sound of Tromso, between the island of Kvalö and the mainland; lat. 69° 38' N., Ion. 19° E.; pop. about 4,000. It is the seat of a governor, and has several schools, a church, a Lappish printing office, and a hospital chiefly for lepers. The seat of the bishop has been removed to Alsta-houg. The town was founded in 1794, and has an active shipping trade and an excellent harbor sheltered by mountains. Many vessels belonging here are engaged in the walrus fishery at Nova Zembla and Spitzbergen.