ALTEN, HAMMERFEST, 8cC. 465 



tive structure, built of wood, as is the whole town. It is 

 apparently old, but contains relics of an older edifice, in the 

 curiously carved pulpit, &c. 



In the church-yard, which is just outside the town, we found 

 Cormis suecica, Trientalis Europosa, and Polygonum viviparum 

 growing on the graves. Some rocks a little further along the 

 shore afforded us Saxifraga rivularis, Cerastium alpinum, and 

 other alpine plants. 



We supped at the house of one of the principal merchants, 

 where we were regaled with the sour milk of the country, and 

 rein-deer venison killed the previous winter, which was per- 

 fectly fresh and good. The remarkably dry air of this 

 country greatly retards the putrefaction of animal matter. 

 The greater part of the fish which is cured for exportation is 

 merely dried by exposure to the air, without any salt. 



17th. — After attending divine service in the church, we took 

 the track towards the Tyvefield or Thief Mountain, — the high- 

 est point of elevation in the immediate neighbourhood. It is 

 only about 1,200 feet high, but still affords a magnificent 

 view over the islands and fiords. From its summit the North 

 Cape on the island of Mageroe is distinctly seen at the dis- 

 tance, in a straight line, of about thirty-six miles. A small 

 ravine at the foot of the mountain was filled with stunted 

 birches, theonly trees, if I may so call them, which occur so 

 far north. Beneath them the ground was quite yellow with 

 the blossoms of the lovely Viola biflora. Here I also met 

 with abundance of Menziesia cosrulea. The musquitoes were 

 too abundant to render botanizing here at all agreeable. With 

 the exception of this troublesome little insect, we have been 

 much struck with the very great dearth of animal life in 

 these northern regions. Hardly a bird breaks the desolate 

 repose of the scene, except now and then a solitary eagle, 

 (F. albicilla ?) or a few golden plovers or stonechats. 



Even insects are almost entirely wanting. A few small 

 Lepidoptera (principally moths,) and some minute Diptera, 

 comprise all we have seen. Amongst other plants, Salix 

 lanata, so rare with us, was not uncommon. On our return 

 to Hammerfest we were much amused by the little patches of 

 ground called gardens. The principal houses each possessed 

 one, a few yards square, containing potatoes, which attain the 

 size of walnuts, turnips about the size of our turnip-radishes, 



