Farewell to Norway. i i 3 



clusters, and here and there with bluish forget-me-nots 

 and white cloud-berry flowers ; in some boggy hollows 

 the cotton-grass spreads its wavy down carpet, while in 

 other spots small forests of blue-bells softly tingle in the 

 wind on their upright stalks. These flowers are not at 

 all brilliant specimens, being in most cases not more than 

 a couple of inches high, but they are all the more 

 exquisite on that account, and in such surroundings their 

 beauty is singularly attractive. While the eye vainly 

 seeks for a resting place over the boundless plain, these 

 modest blooms smile at you, and take the fancy captive. 



And over these mighty tundra-plains of Asia, stretching 

 infinitely onwards from one sky-line to the other, the 

 nomad wanders with his reindeer-herds, a glorious, free 

 life ! Where he wills he pitches his tent, his reindeer 

 around him ; and at his will again he goes on his way. 

 I almost envied him. He has no goal to struggle 

 towards, no anxieties to endure he has merely to live ! 

 I well-nigh wished that I could live his peaceful life, 

 with wife and child, on these boundless, open plains, 

 unfettered, happy. 



After we had proceeded a short distance, we became 

 aware of a white object sitting on a stone heap beneath a 

 little riclge, and soon noticed more in other directions. 

 They looked quite ghostly as they sat there silent and 

 motionless. With the help of my field-glass I dis- 

 covered that they were snow-owls. We set out after 



i 



