Prof. Hausraann on the Physiognomy of Scandinavia, 83 



Norway, according to Naumann, attain a height of about 8000 

 feet above the level of the sea— are covered with perpetual 

 snow. On the western side, where the mountain-range be- 

 comes remarkably precipitous towards the sea, the snow extends 

 downwards along the deep fiords which cut into the mountain- 

 chain, the snow here and there terminating in glaciers. The 

 lower parts of the range are no doubt, in mid-summer, free 

 from snow. But their rocky foundations, deprived of earth, 

 and their high situations, prevent the growth of the flowers 

 of phaenogamous plants *. It is only the numerous family 

 of the lichens and mosses which are here in their place, 

 among which the reindeer-moss (Lichen rangiferinuSy Linn.) 

 is particularly distinguished : this often clothes boundless 

 plains, with a white elastic carpet. In somewhat lower re- 

 gions, and particularly in marshy places, are found chiefly some 

 dwarf-willows, also dwarf-birches (Betiila nana)^ and we likewise 

 see rugged dwarf juniper bushes. At a somewhat greater dis- 

 tance below the mountain heights, particularly in valleys which 

 are somewhat sheltered, there grow white-stemmed birches, but 

 of a humble, nearly shrub-like, growth. It is then that the 

 Scots-fir first begins; and somewhat later, we find the spruce-fir 

 appearing in crooked shapes. These appear in solitary trees, 

 with distorted branches, which are often entirely deprived of 

 leaves, and having suspended from them long pendulous para- 

 sitical lichens, and afford a sorry shelter to the rein-deer and 

 elks upon the unmeasurable mountain plains, which, under the 

 name of Kolen, form the boundaries of Dalekarlia and Norway. 

 A person may travel for some days over these plains, withoUit 

 lindipg ^jingle human habitation •(-. 



• Among all the phaenogamic plants of Norway, according to Wahlenberg, 

 Diapensia iapponica flourishes the nearest to the limits of the snow. 



•j- There is an error in most of the geographical works, even the latest of 

 them with which I am acquainted, viz. that the K51en mountains form the 

 boundary between Sweden and Norway. No doubt, beginning from JSnitland, 

 there is a mountain-chain which constitutes the boundary between Sweden 

 and Norway, but which has no general name to denote it. And under the 

 name of Kblen, as already mentioned, are implied large mountain plains, 

 which are here and there marshy, or covered with forests. They are such as 

 are termed platforms, plateaus, or table-lands, and extend along the limits be- 

 tween Dalekarlia and Norway. But after a person has passed these limits, 

 he begins to ascend the greater heights of the mountain-range. 



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