VOYAGE TO SPITSBERGEN. 19 



countries ; but I had no difficulty in declaring, that 

 it was from some such scene as this only, that one 

 could form an adequate conception of natural mag- 

 nificence. 



The face of the country exhibits a prospect of 

 black craggy mountains and marshy plains, inter- 

 spersed with some verdant spots which appear 

 smooth and fertile. Neither tree nor shrub is to 

 be seen, except the juniper and heath. 



'* Throughout the horrid wild no tree was seen, 

 Earth, clad in russet, scorn 'd the lively green." 



This want of trees and shrubs is the more re- 

 markable, as in different parts of these islands there 

 are evident marks of their having been once a wood- 

 ed country. In the island of Foula are often found 

 the remains of large trees laid bare by the violence 

 of some tempest, carrying away the strata which 

 covered them. At present, however, no kind of 

 wood can be made grow ; and it is found extremely 

 difficult to cultivate even the lowest and most com- 

 mon shrub. This decrease of vegetation has not 

 been satisfactorily accounted for. 



The nature of the soil is very different. In 

 some places it consists of deep moss, with a sandy 

 bottom ; in others the moss is only about a foot deep 



