JOURNEY TO LAPLAND. 35 



both these voyages and observations, was a full confirmation of New- 

 ton's opinion, that the earth is a spheroid, higher towards the equator 

 and more depressed about the poles. 



" Newton in the starry sky, 



" Newton saw them, and from the heavens, 



" Bade them confirm his discovery 



" To the astonish'd world." 



Let US return to our traveller. Having explored the interior parts 

 of the provinces of Lapland, Linn^us direfted his steps to the al- 

 pine mountains which part Norway from Sweden and extend from the 

 Frozen Sea to the southern province of Warmeland, in a latitude of 

 between ten and twenty, and a longitude of two hundred Swedish miles. 

 The obstacles and dangers which he had overcome, could not at all be 

 compared with those presented by this steep and rocky region, whose 

 summits are the throne of winter, and whose remote and interior parts 

 were seldom trod by the foot of man. But even this dreary distriQ had 

 the greatest allurements for Linnaeus. 



He continued courageously those arduous travels, bidding defiance 

 10 dangers and difEculties, disregarding the nipping frost of the moun- 

 tains and the heat of the vallies. He turned his most serious attention 

 to the third part of natural creation, the mineral reign, to the better 

 order and division of which his reform was likewise to extend ; and 

 having reached the northern boundaries, he visited the mines and ob- 

 tained fresh knowledge. The fruits which he reapt from his excursions, 

 were so attraftive to his mind, as to induce him to go as far as 

 the shores of the North Sea, whither two good-natured Laplanders fol- 

 lowed him as his guides and interpreters. He then set out on his re- 



F turn 



