92 FORESTRY OF NORWAY. 
between three and four thousand feet. above the sea level. 
It has no particular claims to the picturesque, and the 
absence of great rocky masses deprives it of any savage 
grandeur though it is sufficiently desolate. The, tints of 
the abundant reindeer moss,.or rather; lichen (Cenomyce. 
rangiferina), are in many parts very beautiful.; especially 
where a rounded heap of earth-eovered boulders is over- 
grown with it.. It.is:dry and crisp, forming a luxurious 
mountain couch ; it varies. from. straw-colour, through a 
pale buff, to a bright orange and red brown. Its habit is 
to grow on the :dry, well-drained ‘spots, while peat: moss 
occupies the swampy localities.* 
Du Challu, in his work entitled The Land of the Mid- 
night Sun, has given a graphic sketch of reindeer grubbing 
under the snow for this article of their food; and he has 
given a genial account of the domestic life of the farmers 
in Guldbrandsal. 
--In continuation of his journey, after describing Jerkin 
and the hospitalities of the hostelry there, Williams says:-— 
‘ Walking on the fjeld the view of Schneehaettan is rather 
‘fine from its highest ridge. This mountain, long regarded 
the highest in Norway, is not so imposing as might be 
expected from its height, 7,620 feet above the sea; but it 
is only 4,500 feet above Jerkin, and 3,520 above this 
point, which is 4,100 feet above the sca level, and said to 
be the highest carriage road in North Europe. The 
ascent appears very easy from here—a long ridge stretch- 
ing gradually down from the summit like Goat Fell in 
* The botanic name of the lichen, Cenomyce, is derived from kenos, empty, and 
mykos, a minute fangs, and has been given in allusion to the hollowness of the little 
fungus receptacles with which it is studded. This constitutes for the greater part of- 
the year,.and especially in winter, the food of the vast herds of potudeat on which | 
the Laplanders further to the north are dependent for support—hence comes its popular 
name. Linnaus tells that no vegetable grows throughout Lapland in such abund: 
as this, especially in woods of scattered pines, where for very many miles together the 
surface of the sterile soil.is covered with it as with snow. On the destruction of forests 
by fire, when no other plant finds nutriment, this lichen springs up and flourishes, and 
after a few years attains its greatest size. Here the reindeer are pastured, and whatever 
may be the depth of snow during the long winters of that climate, they have the power 
of penetrating it and obtaining their 1 ‘y food. Li has given a beautiful 
description of this lichen, and of the animals whose support it is,in the Flora La; aca, 
carr ee Ag found in ar? ela and bs species found growing on 
e Cupped conomyce, C. py: &—is sometimes employed by the poor in. the. 
cure of the hooning-cough-—-Louden. ye y Pe 
