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362 TRAVELS OF EHRENMALM.
The foil which produced thefe woods was partly of rock and partly of ftones, co-
vered with mofs, between-which was perceived a fine fand of a brown colour: the
land about the marfhes we met with in thefe woods was alfo a fand, among which
from time to time we perceived a black earth, formed by putrified mofs. This foil in
fome places was half a foot thick, in others two feet, and perhaps more ; for we were
not able to meafure it every where. ‘The marfhes are covered with a prodigious quan-
tity of flies, which they appear to produce. They are in greater number in thefe
mountains than in the parifh of Afehle, and of a different form. Their body and feet
are yellower: their fting is fharper. Their {tings pierce through the cowls of crape
with which the inhabitants in vain cover their faces. They are allo more venomous,
and commonly leave a black {pot on the fkin, which becomes a tumor.
At the extremity of the wood, we found a verdant country, the foil of which was
ftoney. We faw many plants and herbs which were unknown to us; among others,
one, the leaves of which refembled thofe of the lily of the valley. We alfo faw many
junipers, but very fmall, and without kernel, of a very deep brown as if they had been
burned.
All thefe obfervations are not wholly ufelefs, even to the inhabitants of more fouthern:
countries. Every where we meet with fandy and barren foils, where grow pines and fhrubs
fimilar to thofe which alone nearly cover all Siberia, Lapland, and the moft northern
countries. By eftimating the quality of the foils, and the nature of the productions
which are found in fuch different climates, we might examine if the foil contributes
{till more than the fun, to the generation of plants ; whether the abode of the waters.
of the fea, or the internal ftructure of the earth, do moft determine the difpofition of the:
beds on its furface. The fands of Africa, thofe of the heaths of Spain and France,
thofe of the north of Europe and Afia, are they the fame’with refpeét to grain, colour,,
thicknefs, mixture, vegeteble fubftance ?. Nature has done nothing in vain ; her con-
templator fhould obferve nothing without reaping benefit.
We at length arrived at the foot of the mountain of Rod-fiall. It occupied us an en-
tire hour to reach its fummit. From the lake of Malgomai, whence we had perceived
it, it feemed to fupport the heavens. -Neverthelefs we found this mountain to be of lefs:
alcitude than any of the furrounding.
In Lapland a mountain covered with ftones is called a fal/. The mountains which:
are wholly of rock, an uncommon circumftance,’ have fo many gaps, that they may be:
regarded as a pile of rocks, ‘Lhe latter are fometimes bare, but oftener covered with a
little mofs, or earth, The mountain of Rod-fiall is curved towards the north, and forms:
an arch of a circle about the lake of Rodfio.. The foil is rich, and overfpread with fmall
birch-trees, oziers, and herbs of every kind, r
The foil of the hills is a white and fine fand; beneath is a white argil, having no:
binding earth. If the fountains which iffue in great numbers from that mountain, did:
not hinder the corn in the {pring from thriving, by the frofts, of which the coolnefs of
the running waters augments the cold, this diftrit might fupport many inhabitants. It
is the beft we have feen in the whole of this country. Here we meet with a pure black
earth, a foot in thicknefs, with a little mixture of gravel. The declivity of the land is:
gentle, and ftretches fufficiently far, for one to walk upright.
Purfuing our route we pafled by a round mountain, encompaffed with ftones and.
marfhes. ‘The latter are very common. ‘They might be drained, and prepared for
culture by manure, fuitable to the productions we would familiarize. The moft ele-
vated might be turned int fields; the lefs elevated into meadows. The Laplanders
fay that, towards Norway, fimilar lands have been peopled and cultivated. “Thole which
we
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