  We present results from an ongoing search for galaxy counterparts of a
subgroup of Quasar Absorption Line Systems called Damped Ly-alpha Absorbers
(DLAs). DLAs have several characteristics that make them essential in the
process of understanding how galaxies formed in the early universe and evolved
to the galaxies we see today in the local universe.
  Finally we compare DLAs with recent findings of a population of starforming
galaxies at high redshifts, so called Lyman-break galaxies.
