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I. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
by lichens, mosses, and a few flowering plants; only in spots copiously
supplied with moisture does a richer and more varied flora appear. On
the mountain-slopes the birch (Betula odorata) struggles upwards, in the
southern parts almost everywhere closely followed by the Norway spruce
(Picea excelsa); in the northern parts it grows alone over vast regions,
though somewhat lower down it is sparsely mingled with Scotch firs. The
possibility of grazing and tillage on the lower parts of these mountain
regions (say up to 600 or 800 m ) is far greater than might be supposed,
thanks to the large areas of fine, fertile sand or loain that was deposited
during the latter portion of the glacial period in the large, ice-blocked
lakes then occupying the greater part of the valleys. It is in these parts
that the cultivated districts are now mostly to be found.
b) The Moraine and Peat-Moss Belt. This region almost wholly
coincides with the area marked on the orographical map on p. 6 as lying at
an altitude of between 200 and 500 meters above the sea. The
river-valleys are far less deeply excavated here than in the mountain region.
This is especially the case farthest north and as far south as the Lule
River; in that district we find plains, many miles in extent, traversed by
slow, winding rivers, while here and there solitary hills with long and
gradually sloping sides rise from their surface to the height of some few
hundred feet. It is here that the famous Lappland iron-ore mountains
are to be found: Gällivara, Loussavara, Kirunavara, Svappavara and
others. Further south, hills are more numerous, rendering the surface
more broken in character; the highest mountains attain an elevation of
from 500 to 600 meters above sea-level.
The surface throughout the belt in question has approximately the
same appearance as at the close of the Glacial Period. The ancient
moraine deposits are spread like a coverlet, a few meters in thickness,
over the original röck, which consists of varieties of gneiss, granite etc.;
peat-mosses are almost the only recent formation to be found. The
moraine districts are stony in character, in places so much so that the
surface consists of rugged boulders. In consequence of the hilly and
uneven surface and the difficulty that moisture has in making its way
through the closely packed moraine deposits, all the low-lying tracts are
liable to become swampy, this circumstance accounting for the very large
areas of marshes and peat-mosses, amounting to from about 15 to 30 %
of the whole region. "On clear, cold summer evenings", writes A. G.
Hög-bom, "when the mists settle upon these lowlands, the heights rise from
their midst like rocky islets from the surface of a sea. The landscape
displays a similar scene in winter, when the wooded heights strongly
contrast with the snow-clad plains around them". — An evidence of the
extensiveness of peaty soil within this belt is the brownness of those
rivers that take their rise here (e. g. the Gide, Öre and Råne), a colour
due to the humus substance they contain; the great rivers that proceed
from the mountains have all of them far clearer water.
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