152 LEAVES FROM THE BOOK OF NATURE. 



led from the same Mediterranean northward to the frozen 

 ocean. 



Still more striking is the sudden change in high northern 

 regions, as in crossing the lofty, snow-capped mountains 

 which divide Sweden and Norway. On the south you 

 leave summer behind; as you climb up the steep ascent, 

 misty autumn and cold winter seize you by turns. At 

 last you stand on the very line that forms the water-shed 

 between the two kingdoms, and parts the loving sisters. 

 Huge boulders of dark granite lie scattered about in wild 

 disorder, and gigantic blocks of ice rise in stern majesty 

 before you. Beyond is Norway. As you turn round one 

 of these awe-inspiring masses, behold ! a sight meets your 

 eyes that freezes the very blood in your veins. A vast 

 table land, bare and silent, spreads its horrors before you : 

 it is strewn with the bones of hundreds of men, who lay 

 there stiff and cold not a feature marred " death had put 

 on so slumber like a form" but unburied, uncoffined and 

 unknown. They are the sad relics of a whole regiment 

 of brave, blooming sons of Sweden, who had marched into 

 Norway. It was a fierce, bleak day of winter, and as com- 

 pany after company defiled from the well-protected south 

 around the very rock, by which you stand, the cold blast 

 from the pole froze their breath within them, and laid 

 them, one by one, lifeless on the cold ground. 



And yet, within a few hours' ride from this most melan- 

 choly scene, there lie spring and summer at your feet. 

 You descend, from the eternal snow, through the treeless 

 zones into the faint, fairy sheen of white birch woods, and 

 the dark shade of pine-forests, brightened up by the showy 



