886 



mils with only a meagre rocky-flat vegetation, Ihe niajority of 

 the piants shelter around and on the lee-side of stones. Another 

 example of the power of the wind in the mountains may be given : 

 One frequently comes across small patches of poM^dery soil quite 

 devoid of any vegetation whatever; they are generally situated in 

 a shallow depression liable to be flooded with water, but when this 

 evaporates, the soil dries up and forms cracks arranged in a kind 



Fig 167 An »Eide« at Kvalbo on Sydero. The soil over large patches has been carried ofT by the wind ; 



the portions where the plant-covering still remains form slightly elevated tables or pedestals with scarped 



or overhanging hoUowed out margins. (From photo. by E. Warming.) 



of polygonal honeycomb (»Rudemark«). In summer the gaping cracks 

 are seen to be filled with stones varying in size from a nut to a 

 closed fist (see Fig. 168); on the surface, however, there are hardly 

 any stones. This we regard as evidence that the wind tumbles these 

 stones about, and causes them to lodge in the cracks. 



The few trees to be found, chiefly in and about Thorshavn, 

 are all planted in piaces sheltered from the wind, and cannot grow 

 any higher than their shelter allows; they have the same stunted 

 growth as the trees on the western coast of Jutland. 



e. Light. There are no forests on the Færoes, and the piants 

 receive the fuU benefit of any light which may reach the surface 



