8 A JOURNEY TO FINMARK. 



Avhilst the real guidance of the ship remained in the hands of 

 the pilot, who was always on board. Our journey was 

 favoured with the most beautiful weather, and this con- 

 tributed, together with the agreeableness of our Norwegian 

 travelling companions, much to increase the charm of the 

 grotesque beauties of nature surrounding us. The 17th 

 May, the anniversary of the Norwegian day of freedom, was 

 celebrated as a festival, and the inhabitants of the small town 

 Namsos (consisting of 6 — 8 larger houses), greeted us by 

 firing a salute. Early on the 19th May we reached the 

 small town Bodo, in latitude 67° 18' N., where we made our 

 first small excursion within the arctic circle. Bodo lies at 

 the end of a flat piece of ground, which is partly cultivated, 

 and partly consists of moss. The church is about half-an- 

 hour from the commercial town of Bodo, and here begins a 

 hilly piece of ground, grown over for the most part with 

 birch, alder, willow, &c. I certainly believe that the 

 neighbourhood of Bodo would prove very profitable for an 

 Entomologist ; this was indicated by our small excursion in 

 May, as well as by the later one in August. Here I was 

 already surprised to find on the mosses, which were only a 

 few feet above the level of the sea, the almost full-grown 

 larvae of Zygccna Exulans, a species which in the Alps is 

 hardly found but at the height of 6000— 8000 feet above the 

 sea level. 



At midday we started from Bodo, and soon crossed over 

 the large Vestfjord, where it frequently is very stormy, toward 

 the remarkable group of islands, the Lofoten or Lofoden. 

 After an extremely interesting passage by the strangest rock 

 formations, and through apparently impassable straits, we 

 arrived on the 21st of May, at mid-day, at Tromso, the most 

 considerable northern commercial town in the world. Tromso 

 lies on a small island, which rises in the middle to about 



