MOUNTAINS AND FJELDS. 125 
All of this, which is situated between 600 metres and 1000 
metres, say 3,500 feet, is still to a great extent, especially on 
the east side and in the lower half, covered with coniferous 
trees, Pinus abies and P. sylvestris. In the higher portion 
of this zone the conifers give place to the birch, Betula 
glutinosa, which, especially in the slopes facing the south, 
and in places sheltered against the north winds, attain, an. 
elevation considerably above 1000 metres, say 3,500 feet, 
above the sea level. The juniper, Juniperus communis, 
rises higher on dry land; and at a still greater elevation 
are found in -moist places smaller species of willows, 
Salices, and the dwarf birch, Betula nana, They.attain in 
sheltered places an altitude of 1500 metres, 5000 feet, 
Higher still vegetation is represented by different grasses, 
and carices, and sedges, beyond that by mosses, and finally 
by lichens which grow upon the bare rock. 
It may further be remarked that the level surface 
of the mountain plateau, where they are not wooded— 
and, as has been stated, the forests prevail over a portion of 
tlie zone situated between 600 and 1000 metres in altitude 
—consist in part of naked rock covered only with mosses 
and. heath, in part of marshes to which marsh berries in: 
some places give it a colouring, in part of bogs, which yield 
to the foot, and in part of herbaceous turf. and verdant 
flower-decked slopes. On. other parts we meet with 
ancient moraines composed now ofa soft and deceptive clay 
covered with schistose fragments, in which the incautious 
traveller may sink to the knees. In another part: are pro- 
jections ot rock, bare, or covered with great heaps of stones, 
or, it may be, even to the end of summer, with large and 
small sheets of snow. Neévés and glaciers appear in 
many places, and cover sometimes a continuous bed -of 
some hundred square kilometres, say of. hundreds of 
square miles, Thus is it in the region comprised between 
the Sogne fiord and the Nord fiord, in the prefecture of 
Nordre-Bergenhus, and in that of the Folgefonn to the 
south-east of the Hardanger fiord, in the prefecture: of 
Soendore-Bergenhus. .The highest: part, the most wild, 
