HAMMERFEST  , the most

northern town in Europe . Pop . (1900) 2300 . It is situated on an island (Kvalo) off the N.W. coast of Norway, in Finmarken amt (county), in 70° 40' 11'' N., the latitude being that of the extreme north of Alaska . Its position affords the best illustration of the warm climatic influence of the north-eastward, Atlantic drift, the mean annual temperature being 36° F . (January 31°, July 57°) . Hammerfest is 674 M. by sea N.E. of Trondhjem, and 78 S.W. from the North Cape . The character of this coast differs from the southern, the islands being fewer and larger, and of table shape . The narrow strait Strommen separates Kvalo from the larger Seiland, whose snow-covered hills with several glaciers rise above 3500 ft., while an insular rampart of mountains, Soro, protects the strait and harbour from the open sea . The town is timber-built and modern; and the' Protestant church, town-hall, and schools were all rebuilt after fire in 189o . There is also a Roman Catholic church . The sun does not set at Hammerfest from the 13th of May to the 29th of July .

This is the busy

season of the towns-folk . Vessels set out to the fisheries, as far as Spitsbergen and the Kara Sea; and trade is brisk, not only Norwegian and Danish but British, German and particularly Russian vessels engaging in it . Cod-liver oil and salted fish are exported with some reindeer-skins, fox-skins and eiderdown; and coal and salt for curing are imported . In the spring the great herds of tame reindeer are driven out to swim Strommen and graze in the summer pastures of Seiland; towards winter they are called home again . From the 18th of November to the 23rd of January the sun is not seen, and the enforced quiet of winter prevails . Electric light was introduced in the town in 1891 .