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TRAVELS OF EHRENMALM. 365
The fand of thefe mountains is white, fometimes as fine as duft; and in humid wea-
ther it is of the confiftence of argil. The greater part of the rocks are of fand-
ftone. Thofe which are found fcattered in the country, become nearly as hard as flint,
no doubt by the action of tle air and wind. Some, which appear to have the nature
of lime-ftone, are not of lefs hardnefs than the others. Some appear of alabafter, and
are harder than flint. In this hideous country are alfo feen a {pecies of hematite,
or blood-{tone, black and grey flate, and many other ftones, fome of which refemble
iron ore, but are only flints and quartz: there are many of thefe fubftances among the
fand-{tones.
The higheft mountains of the north do not admit of trees. The fnow and ice little
accord with verdure. But on the loweft, as well as in the vallies, we here and there
meet with firs. We cut down the largeft we faw, and by the circles of the vegetation,
we judged it to be two hundred and forty-fix years old. Notwithftanding it was only
’ thirty-two feet in height, its diameter near the root was only eighteen hundred and fifty
parts of our geometrical fcale, that is, nine inches and three lines. All its branches
were bent towards the fouth, and inclined to the earth. ‘This direction, no doubt,
arifes from the fnow which the north wind drives towards the fouth. The top of this
tree was pointed, and its trunk unfurnifhed with branches: we obferved, that it had
grown in fpite of the feafons and climate; fimilar to a veflel difabled and without rigging,
caft upon a defart fhore by tempefts and currents.
About this wild pine were birch-trees and poplars, fmall, knotty, and nearly all
withered. Thefe trees perifh by the excefs of cold as foon as they rife above the height
of eighteen feet. They have the fate of the Laplanders, whom nature does not per-
mit to grow to the ordinary height of man. But, in the place of lofty trees, we meet
with junipers of a brown colour, and dwarf oziers. ‘The latter are remarkable by a
fingular difference in the fex. The leaves of the male ozier are green, {mooth, and
fhining ; thofe of the female ozier are grey and rough. If the bark of the male ozier
be fcraped with a knife, the rafpings relemble lint. The Laplanders ornament the
cradles of their children with it, and put it into their fhoes. But the bark of the fe-
male ozier is too hard for fuch gentle purpofes. One would imagine that men de-
ceive themfelves, when they give the qualities of their own fex to thefe female trees.
But we obferve them with berries which they bear, when they are planted near a
male ozier in an ifolated place ; while we fee no berries on thofe kinds of trees which
are aflembled together without order. Monogamy is therefore neceflary to oziers for
fruitfulnefs, as it is ufeful to men.
Although thefe fhrubs are very near the earth; and almoft creeping, they increafe on:
the mountain of Swans, and there thrive fo well, that it may be faid to be their proper
country. In the fouthern diltridts, the berry of this tree feldom ripens. It grows in
great quantity in the fields watered by the Anghemanna. This river, no doubt, dif-
perfes it in its courfe the berries which fall into it near its fpring.
The foil of the hills where the pines grow is nearly every where fandy. A little
black earth is fometimes perceived between the ftones. Grafs is alfo feen in thofe
parts expofed to the fouth. ‘The colour of the grafs becomes greener as we defcend.
This diftri&t produces in particular wild forrel and other plants which the Laplanders
eat, or mince and mix with their milk, when they cook it.
When the weather is ferene, the mountain of Swans exhales from its fummit, and
particularly from the fountains which are feen to iflue from it, a thick mift, which cb-
{cures the fun even in full day, and which is infenfibly converted into clouds. But
; when
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