216 
JOURNEY TO BORG A FIORD. 
now blew, I was happy at being able to reach it 
upon ray hands and knees, and then, laying my¬ 
self down upon the sloping side of the ridge, to 
look over the northern precipitous edge, and view 
in safety the rapid motion of the clouds passing 
towards the place on which l was, across the val¬ 
ley which separated this from other mountains. 
The superior height of Skoul-a-fiel above all 
those in its immediate vicinity caused it to at¬ 
tract these clouds more than any of the rest, yet 
the violence of the wind did not suffer them to 
remain long upon it, but soon dispersed them 
after they had rolled a little way down the south¬ 
ern side. Vegetation here was very scanty: in 
such places as were free from snow, and lay in 
their original strata, were to be found Salix her - 
bacea , Saxifraga opposiiifolia , Poly trichum sex- 
angulure , and Lichen geographicus. Nothing 
could be more easy than our descent among the 
loose stones, where the principal requisite was to 
be well provided with stout shoes, and we there¬ 
fore soon got under shelter from the wind. On 
our right was a deep ravine, from the bottom of 
which arose a spring that supplied a little stream, 
which I resolved to take in my way, in order to 
see what plants it might produce, while Jacob 
hastened forward in search of our horses. Here 
I spent some time in collecting one of the richest 
botanical harvests I ever made in one day. Some 
