MOSSES. 17 



evinced than in providing both beds and coverings for those 

 who traverse the savage wilderness of Lyckselle Lapland. 

 Linnseus availed himself of the protection thus mercifully 

 bestowed, when, having to pass the night amid scenes of 

 inconceivable desolation, far from all human habitation, 

 and unknowing where to bend his steps, he selected the 

 starry-headed plants, on account of their greater softness, 

 and, having traced with his knife a considerable circum- 

 ference, he separated the thickly-tangled herbage from the 

 earth beneath; for, although the shoots were scarcely 

 branched, they were yet so much entangled as to form an 

 elastic couch and coverlet, beneath which the traveller lay 

 down to rest, amid the solemn stillness of those wild re- 

 gions, while on high a few stars of the first magnitude 

 looked down through the dim twilight on that solitary man. 

 The same moss grows also in different parts of Britain ; 

 and those who cheer their rambles with pleasant thoughts 

 of things around them, may do well to observe the won- 

 derful construction of our brother. His haunt is often on 



c 



