8 ENTOMOLOGICAL TRAVELS IN NORWAY. 



small lakes. Near this most desolate part of the Fjeld rises 

 the lofty pyramid of Snehaetten, upwards of 7,000 feet high, 

 covered with perpetual snow and rarely free from clouds. 

 Individual mountains in the south and north-east, such as 

 Blaahoe near Fokstuen, which I frequently visited, and 

 Knudshoe and Nystuhoe near Kongsvold, have an altitude 

 of more than 5,000 feet, but form broad table-lands, often 

 marshy, poorly clothed with vegetation, with occasional 

 groups of broken rocks. 



To the north these heights generally fall more abruptly 

 and are here clothed with snow in patches, whilst the 

 southern inclination is less steep and offers no impediment to 

 the ascent. A depression, with only a height of 3,000 feet, 

 goes transversely across the Dovrefjeld from N.E. to S.W., 

 into which the waters from the lateral heights form marshes 

 and tarns, and collect into two streams, one of which runs 

 south-westerly to the Laagen, the other easterly to the 

 Follaelv. One thing which makes a sojourn on the Dov- 

 refjeld extremely pleasant to the naturalist is the post-road 

 which goes across it from Christiania towards Trondhjem, 

 with the station-houses erected for the reception of travellers. 

 This road ascends very steeply from Dombaas, at the head of 

 Gudbrandsdal, in an easterly direction till it attains a height 

 of 3,000 feet ; then runs nearly level along the above-men- 

 tioned depression, past Fokstuen to the station Jerkind, which 

 is three German miles further, whence it again rises steeply 

 towards the north, attaining its greatest elevation of more 

 than 4,000 feet between Jerkind and the next station, Kongs- 

 vold ; thence it gradually descends and beyond Kongsvold 

 runs between rocky mountains 5,000 feet high, and is con- 

 tinued along the banks of the foaming Drivelv, which forms 

 continual waterfalls. This valley is the most beautiful in 

 the whole mountain range. The road is sometimes cut out 



