376 A Visit to Lapland. 



in all directions, assumes every fantastic shape. At first, the 

 fell-birch grows to a height of about four feet, but when we 

 come higher up the fells it dwindles to a mere bush, and at 

 length becomes nothing more than a creeper, matted and 

 tangled on the ground; but the dwarf willow (Salix herbacea), 

 the smallest shrub in the world, grows on some of the fells as 

 high as the dwarf birch. Above this, the fells assume their 

 true character, and are covered with lichens or mosses, and in 

 many places with perennial snows." 



The lines of vegetation are clearly defined as the traveller 

 looks from a fell top down its sloping sides, and the fells 

 are composed of huge masses of iron-stone and shingle, of 

 all shapes and sizes, towering above one another, and capped 

 with snow. During the short, but active summer, " no one, 

 who has not seen it, can picture to himself the beauty of 

 the valleys that' lie between and at the foot of the fells them- 

 selves. Nowhere have I seen so rich a vegetation, or such a 

 profusion of wild flowers, as bloom in this so-called wilderness ; 

 and nowhere do the wild flowers appear so beautiful as when 

 we see them in a spot where we least expect to meet with 

 them.-" ... To stand in one of these fell valleys on a carpet 

 of grass aud moss, as soft as the richest mat Turkey can yield, 

 variegated with wild flowers of every hue, from one to the 

 other of which, rare and beautiful butterflies are continually flit- 

 ting — to see the rugged fells themselves, frowning down in severe 

 majesty upon one, excites a feeling of awe, perhaps, rather 

 than admiration ; and though we know that not a human being 

 is within miles of us, we cannot call it solitude : — 



" Tis but to hold 

 Converse with Nature's charms and view her stores unrolled." 



During two summer months the nights were as light as days, 

 and shooting could be done as well at midnight as at noon. 

 The " Old Bushman " gives some magnificent descriptions of 

 scenes at night, with the sun pursuing his course above the 

 horizon ; but for them, and for many details of natural history 

 we must refer to his own pages. 



The Swedish bear he found (C a very well-behaved animal " 

 if unmolested, and wolves are by no means plentiful. Tho 

 quadrupeds and tho fish occupied a fair share of the " Old 

 Irishman's" attention, but birds and eggs were the principal 

 objects of his pursuit. About March 1st he tells us the ice 

 and snow began to melt; on the 10th of April tho snow 

 bunting appeared ; on the 25th, wild geese, swans, and larks, 

 arrived. The papillio (vanessa?) urticse was seen, and patches 



of hare ground appeared. On the ! st of May came i he white 

 wagtail $ on the 21th the marsh marigold was in flower; on 

 the 28th the birch in leaf. June is a warm month, but night 



