28 TKAVEL, ADVENTUEE, AND SPORT. 



from the station we passed our friend the Lapp from 

 Malasjok, who, in company with the widow from 

 Ravna, continued his journey to Karasjok on snow- 

 shoes. 



The country about us was thickly covered with trees, 

 and seemed likely to afford good pasturage in summer. 

 The forstmester, however, was much alarmed to 

 observe that a great number of the best trees were 

 dead or in a state of decay. The reason probably 

 was, as he stated, the excessive heat of the previous 

 summer, accompanied by a long-continued drought ; 

 on the other hand, the Lapps maintained that this 

 general destruction of timber arose from the very low 

 temperature of the winter, which here, as over the 

 rest of Europe, was unusually severe in 1878-79. But 

 the forstmester held that the effects of this year's cold 

 could not already be visible, and therefore adhered 

 to his former opinion. As the district over which he 

 presides contains about 200 square miles of forest, 

 besides many square miles of scattered woods, it can 

 easily be imagined that the damage done is not in- 

 considerable. 



But to continue. We now came to the worst part 

 of the whole route viz., the last few miles to Karas- 

 jok. The road ran through a thick wood and had 

 evidently been pretty much used lately, for it was fur- 

 rowed up into deep holes here and there, and for the 

 whole way there was at least a poolk track visible. 

 We were, of course, going downhill, and downhill we 



