12 A JOURNEY TO FINMARK. 



there some mossy tufts rise above tliera ; the heath-marshes 

 consist exclusively of such mossy tufts, between which it is 

 more or less wet, and their principal growth consists oi Em- 

 petrum nigmirn, the species ofVaccinium, Muhus Chamcsmo- 

 rus, Betula nana, &c. The marsh behind the church was 

 at first and for some distance a grass-marsh, but at the foot 

 of the forester's house, and further towards the river, it be- 

 came a heath-marsh. The greater part of it is grown over 

 w^ith alder and willow bushes ; on the open grassy places 

 Erebia Disa and Argyjinis Frigga especiall}^ occurred. 



To the south of the Skovfoged's house rose above the 

 marshy ground several of those remarkable sandy banks, 

 which also occur in other parts of Fin mark ; one of these 

 banks ran in a southerly direction, and was intersected nearly 

 in the middle by a small valley with marshy ground. This 

 bank was throughout thickly covered with juniper, the most 

 southern portion moreover with birch, Vaccinium uligino- 

 .su7)i, &c. The length of this bank extended to about 400 or 

 500 steps ; its average height above the marsh 50 feet. At 

 its southern point, separated only by a depression, is a short 

 bank running in the direction from east to west. This is 

 about 100 steps long, but at least from 80 to 100 feet above 

 the level of the marsh. With the exception of some few 

 juniper bushes, as also Vaccinium Vitis Idcea, &c., the 

 middle portion of it was almost entirely clothed with a short 

 grass, Festuca oviiia. 



To the west of the middle marsh the ground rises to a 

 height of about 30—50 feet, and is then continued, with a 

 breadth of about an English mile, nearly in a horizontal line 

 to the slopes of the Skaaddavara. This piece of land con- 

 sists almost entirely of heath-marshes, in which here and 

 there pieces of naked rock protrude. In these mosses are 

 numerous fir-trees, sometimes singly, sometimes forming little 



