by
JAMES EDWARD SMITH, M.D. F.R.S. ETC.
PRESIDENT OF THE LINNÆAN SOCIETY.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
"Ulterius nihil est, nisi non habitabile frigus."
Ovid.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR WHITE AND COCHRANE, HORACE'S HEAD,
FLEET-STREET,
BY RICHARD TAYLOR AND CO., SHOE-LANE.
1811.
JOURNEY
TO
LAPLAND.
In the latter part of this day, July 15th, I set out on my return from the low grounds of Norway. The heat was very powerful as we began to ascend the mountains. When we reached what had seemed to us from below the summit of a hill, we saw just as lofty an eminence before us, and this was the case nine or ten successive times. I had no idea of such mountains before. The elevation of this hill cannot be taken by any geometrical instrument, as the summit is not visible, even at some miles distance. I believe its height must exceed a Swedish mile, but to climb it was
worse than going two miles any other way. Had we not frequently met with such abundance of water, we should have been overcome with fatigue. In this ascent I found the little Astragalus (alpinus) with a white flower, and the Little Gentian (Gentiana nivalis).