4 2 



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. 



