258 HALT FOR THE NIGHT. 



tical precipices. A few old tracks of deer were 

 seen near them. 



The oppressive sultriness of the weather 

 having affected my servant so much that he 

 was unable to proceed, we halted ; and as 

 we had no tent, we took up a position for the 

 night on a smooth carpet of reindeer moss, 

 under the thick and spreading branches of a 

 tall pine. A few willows growing round the 

 margin of the small lakes we had passed were 

 not so forward as those at the house, though 

 the latter, probably nipped by the north-east 

 winds which had latterly prevailed, had made 

 little progress in the shooting of the catkins ; 

 indeed, one flower only had blown, and the 

 green buds of the dwarf birch were but just 

 perceptible. Whether this was owing to the 

 accidental lateness of the season, or to poverty 

 of soil, I cannot take upon me to determine ; 

 but it may not be out of place to mention, that 

 some cress sown in a box, in the best earth that 

 could be found, never came to perfection, at 

 least in three weeks' trial, though it was care- 

 fully kept in a warm room at night, and exposed 

 to the sun during the day. The only green 

 observed along our route was in the arbutus 

 and the younger firs ; all besides wore the 

 sombre brown of an advanced autumn. A 

 smart fall of rain in the night reminded us that 



