also necessary to go ahead of the caravans to find out the easiest passages. The cedar also 

 seemed to be more common here than lower down; in short, the character of the forest 

 itself reminds, up here, more of the one to be found on the north side of the mountains. 

 This may be accounted for by the greater amount of moisture on the heights here — 

 as is the case on the north side. 



A marked birch-belt above the tree limit constituting a transition zone between the 

 coniferous forest and the bare mountain, as is to be found over the greater part of Scan- 

 dinavia, was not observed by me in these regions. It is especially interesting to state this 

 fact in connection with the phytogeographic discoveries in the extreme north and north- 

 eastern parts of Scandinavia. For, according to the investigations of H. Lindberg, 

 every trace of the «birch period» is wanting here, a period characterized by birch forest 

 mixed up with alpine types, which further to the south seemed to have been the first 

 vegetation seizing the land left by the ice. 



Fig. 37. From the «Altalan», about the tree limit at a height of about 1800 m. above sea-level. The 



conifers — chiefly cedar — reaching right up to the bare mountain. The birch belt is wanting. 



Scattered bushes of Alnus fruticosa subspec. montana, and Salix. 



In the more elevated subalpine tracts about the tree limit are to be met with, 

 besides some of the above-mentioned plants occurring in the neighbourhood of Ust 

 Algiac, also some new ones, which seemed to be predominant here. Among plants of 

 especially frequent occurrence may be mentioned: 



61 



