42 
tribution of the white colour ; these light and dark varieties are 
often found paired with each other, and producing individuals 
which partly resemble both parents, partly constitute inter- 
mediate forms between them. 
We have completed the tour which we had proposed to 
ourselves. We have picked up some of the scattered features 
of the life-history of a single group of animals in the arctic parts 
of our country, as they occur to us among the numerous islands 
girding the coast, on the birch-covered slopes in the sheltered 
valleys, and upon the treeless expanses of the mountains. Our 
porters stand ready, outside the little mountain hut, which for 
several days has afforded us a roof over our heads, and we retire 
again into the valley, where the first trace of civilisation begins 
to show itself. 
But we only leave these regions reluctantly, with their mar- 
vellously attractive nature, thin pure air, and the free, uncon- 
strained life. And as we stand on deck, and see the last 
snow-covered peaks which defend the Land of the Midnight 
Sun disappear under the horizon, and return again to “the 
gilded misery” (as the enthusiastic Englishmen say when they 
take leave of our mountains), a yearning draws us strongly 
back towards those regions which are apparently so poor, but 
which nevertheless yield to every lover of nature, memories 
never-to-be-forgotten. : 
