212 Professor Hoffmann on the Geological Investigations 



After this important discovery, Buch crossed the Dovre- 

 field by Sneehattan to Drontheim ; thence he travelled north- 

 wards, partly by land partly by water, through the innumera- 

 ble rocky coasts and islands, until he at length, towards the 

 end of July 1807, reached the most northern point of Europe 

 — the North Cape, on Mager-Oe (71° 20'). He examined the 

 geognostical structure of the island, and had the satisfaction 

 to find again the new rock, first discovered by him in Silesia, 

 the Gahbro, Our indefatigable observer returned through 

 Lapland up the river Alton, and then down the Tornea river 

 to Tornea, whence he travelled along the coast by Stockholm, 

 and back to his starting-point Christiania. 



The results of this remarkable journey were, in many points 

 of view, of the highest importance ; for not only were a large 

 number of valuable and unexpected conclusions obtained re- 

 garding the structure of the crust of the globe in these re- 

 gions, but we also acquired, apart from the masterly delinea- 

 tions of scenery and cultivation, a rich collection of facts re- 

 specting the climate and the limits of vegetation of these 

 mountainous countries ; and lastly, we derived from it one of 

 the most important observations which we owe to Buch, — I 

 allude to the conclusion to which he was led by the remark- 

 ably distinct depression of the height of the level of the sea, 

 more especially on the coasts of the Gulf of Bothnia, viz. that 

 the whole continent of Sweden is still constantly rising very 

 slowly from Frederickshall to Abo, and probably to Peters- 

 burg. 



All Buch'*s observations are recorded in his work entitled 

 Travels through Norway and Lapland (2 vols., Berlin 1810).* 

 They were afterwards partly not only confirmed by Haus- 

 mann, Hisinger, Keilhau, Naumann, Wahlenberg, and Hall- 

 strom, but were enlarged and extended by these naturalists. 

 Each of these geologists, however, has only taken up certain 

 portions ; for no one has yet produced a work similar to Buch's 

 on the whole country.-f 



* Translated into English by Mr Black, editor of the Morning Chronicle, 

 with Notes by Professor Jameson. London, 1813. 



t We know that Professor Keilhau has materials for a geological account 



