ARENDAL  , a seaport of

Norway, in Nedenaes amt (county), on the south coast, 46 m . N.E. from Christiansand . Pop . (190o) 11,155 . It rises picturesquely above the mouth of the river Nid,with a good harbour protected by an island from the open waters of the Skagerrack . The town itself occupies several islets, and some of the houses are supported above the water on piles . The chief exports are timber (very largely exported to Great Britain), wood-pulp, sealskins and felspar . In 1879 Arendal ranked second (after Christiania) as a ship-owning port; in 1899 it had dropped to the fifth place . In and near the town are factories for wood-pulp, paper, cotton and joinery; and at Fevig, 8 in. north-east, a shipbuilding yard and engineering works . The neighbourhood is remarkable for the number of beautiful and rare minerals found there; one of these, a variety of epidote, was formerly called Arendalite . Louis Philippe stayed here for some time during his exile .