x 
But Norway has another group of Alps, which Switzerland 
has not. This is the continuous mountain range which raises its 
snow-clad summits directly from the sea itself, in an almost un- 
broken chain from the borders of Nordland, straight on, nearly up 
to North Cape. 
Through six degrees of latitude these sea Alps form a continu- 
ous wall, shutting off the inner, somewhat lower districts; and 
ending particularly picturesquely, when they form as in Lofoten, 
a separate branch, which bends out from the principal series, 
and extends like a row of gigantic shark’s teeth, floating upon 
the surface of the sea, straight out into the Arctic ocean. 
‘‘Lofoten’s wall” is seen to the greatest perfection when it is 
viewed from the south, illuminated by the rays of an evening 
sun, until the last points of land lose themselves far away in 
the west, more than 60 miles* to seaward. 
At Bodé, a little south of Lofoten, but also within the Arctic 
circle, begins Norway’s Arctic region, the land of the midnight 
sun. ‘ 
From here the course les across fjords or through narrow 
sounds, where the mountains which rise to over 3,000 feet, 
are wreathed on the sea-ward side with a belt of dark-green 
mountain-birch (Betula odorata, var. alpigena); whilst their tops, the 
whole summer through, bear the remnants of their white winter 
dress. Near the North Cape this Nordland scenery first begins to 
lose something of its character: the mountains become lower, 
and North Cape itself forms a plateau with vertical cliffs down to 
the Arctic Ocean, the height of which hardly reaches 1000 feet. 
On the eastern side of the Cape the deep fjords of Finmar- 
ken open towards the south, and Porsangerfjord, Laxefjord, Tana- 
fjord, and lastly Varangerfjord all cut their way, one after the 
other, deep into the land. Here the coast scenery is quite 
different to what we have seen hitherto. The shores are lower, 
partly swampy, and clothed with vegetation, in some places 
reminding one of the Tundra region in their fauna and flora ; here 
is the home of the Arctic waders (Tvinga and Totanus genera), which 
leaving their winter quarters in Mediterranean lands and Africa, 
* too Kilometers. 
