Farewell to Norway. i 2 5 



Mountains. "It was more a sort of nomadic life than a 

 journey. They did not go straight on towards their 

 destination, but wandered over wide tracts of country, 

 stopping wherever it was suitable for the reindeer, and 

 where they found lichen. From the little town of Muzhi 

 the expedition passed up the Voikara River to its 

 sources ; and here began the ascent of the Ural 

 Mountains by the Pass of Kjaila (Kjola). In their 

 crossing of the chain they tried to skirt along the foot of 

 the mountains, climbing as little as possible. . . ." 



" They noticed one marked contrast between the 

 mountains in the northern and those in the southern part 

 of the Ural chain. In the south the snow melts quickly 

 in the lower regions and remains lying on the tops. 

 Here (in the northern Ural), on the contrary, the 

 mountain tops are free from snow before the sun's rays 

 penetrate into the valleys and melt it there. In some 

 valleys, especially those closed by mountains to the south, 

 and more exposed to north winds, the snow lies the 

 whole summer. When they had got across the Ural 

 Mountains they first followed the course of the River 

 Lemva, then crossed it, and now followed a whole system 

 of small rivers, for which even the natives have no names. 

 At last, on May 4th, the expedition reached the River 

 Ussa. on the banks of which lay the hut of the Syriane 

 Nikitsa." This was "the one inhabited spot in this 

 enormous tract of country," and here they stopped two 

 weeks to rest the reindeer and get provender for them. 



