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THROUGH LAPLAND. 33
the adjoining land. Here we made a large fire, in order to drive
away the infects, that we might take our dinner with comfort.
The country around ‘offered a fcene very uncommon, and to us
quite new. The mofs on which the rein-deer feeds covers the
whole ground, which is flat, and only {kirted by hills at fome dif-
tance; but thefe hills alfo are clothed with this mofs. The co-
lour of the mofs is a pale yellow, which, when dry, changes to
white: the regularity of its fhape, and the uniform manner in
which the furface of the ground is decked with it, appears very
fingular and ftriking: it has the femblance of a beautiful carpet.
Thefe plants grow in a fhape nearly odtagonal, and approaching
to a circle; and as they clofely join each other, they form a kind
of mofaic work, or embroidery. The white appearance of the
country, which thence arifes, may for a moment make you ima-
gine that the ground is covered with fnow; but the idea of a win-
ter fcene is done away by the view of little thickets in full green,
which you perceive fcattered here and there, and ftill more by the
prefence of the fun and the warmth of his rays. As this mofs is
very dry, nothing can poffibly be more pleafant to walk upon, nor
can there be any thing fofter to ferve as a bed. Its cleannefs and
whitenefs is tempting to the fight, and when we had put up our
tent, we found ourfelves in every refpect very comfortably lodged.
I had many times before met with this mofs, but in no place had
I found it fo rich. It was the only produce here, which nature
feemed to favour and fupport :. no other herb was growing near it,
nor any other vegetable on the fpot, except a few birch-trees,
Vom IE F with
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