. 64 THE FOREST LANDS OF NORTHERN RUSSIA. 
‘I have paid many visits to Scandinavia, but cannot 
remember any forest ramble so replete with all the 
numerous beauties of nature and scenery as that taken -by 
Mr D. and myself on our expedition to the Falls of Njom- 
melsaska in September last. These superb falls are distant 
thirty-five miles from Jokkmokk, and lying as they do far 
to the north of the route from Lulea to Quikkjokk, and 
entailing on the traveller a seventy mile walk through a 
wild forest country, are but seldom visited. In the entire 
Continent of Europe there is no cataract of equal volume 
and grandeur; and yet so remote is it from the haunts of 
man, that we learned at Jokkmokk that no one had visited 
Njommelsaska for two years prior to our arrival. The lion 
of European waterfalls cannot complain that the solitudes 
in which he lies hidden are ever disturbed by the incursion 
of “ specially-conducted parties.” 
‘Having despatched some hours previously a sturdy 
young Swede with our ulsters and hammocks, to give 
warning of our advent at the half-way house, where we 
were to obtain quarters for the night, we started at mid- 
day, knapsacks on backs, for Vajkijaur, the first of the long 
string of superb lakes which stretch away westward for 
sixty miles to Quikkjokk. Whilst rowing across its blue 
waters, the grand snowy peaks of the Kabbla mountains 
charm the traveller with their picturesque outline, and 
indicate the distant spot where Suoloitjelma, king of 
northern ranges, lifts it proud peak above untrodden snows. 
We land at a little hamlet at the foot of a southern slope 
covered with small fields of grain and potatoes, and without 
loss of time strike into the forest to the northward. The 
trail leads through a dense growth of Scots fir for several 
miles, the trees being of small girth, and in but few 
instances exceeding eighty feet in height. So thick is 
the forest that the branches overhead form almost a com- 
plete ceiling, and the ground is so plentifully strewn with 
the fallen needles that the path is barely traceable. A 
great stillness reigns, the only sound noticeable being the 
low murmur of the breeze through the foliage far above 
