THROUGH LAPLAND. 
93 
but that he found himfelf by degrees fo involved in it, as to lofe 
his way, and to be ignorant of the direction we had taken. 
When we had any eminence to afcend, we looked at our ther¬ 
mometer at the bottom, and found that it was colder by two de¬ 
grees at the fummit of fome of them. The weather all the while 
was very unfavourable and incommodious for travelling: it was 
exceffively moift, and the clouds with which we were conflantly 
furrounded, communicated fuch a degree of humidity to our tent, 
baggage and clothes, that we could no where enjoy any comfort¬ 
able repofe. We thought it better, without halting, to pufh for¬ 
ward as well as we could. At length, by dint of perfeverance in 
our fatiguing progrefs, we began to defcend the mountains. After 
paffing by a cataradt, dalhing perpendicularly from the fummit of 
fome rocks, which was fed by the melting maffes of fnow and the 
moifture of the clouds that crept along the brows of the moun¬ 
tains, w'e were prefented with the moft charming landfcapes. We 
were ready to fancy ourfelves tranfported as by a magic rod into 
another atmofphere, another country, another climate. On the 
oppofite fide of thofe mountains, which are the Alps of Lapland, 
all is on a gigantic fcale, all is rich and beautiful. Vegetation of 
every kind is both abundant and luxuriant, the herbage thick, and 
the trees large. Here they ftart up to view all at once in fuch 
frequent and extenlive groupes, as are not to be feen any where in 
any of the declivities of the fouthem chain of mountains. We 
plunged into the depths of a wood where the grafs rofe to the 
height of our knees: but I cannot exp refs the pleafure I felt at 
