“Near the city I observed rich meadows, that were cut once a year, and some herds of half-wild reindeer, which grazed and roamed about freely. We shall deceive ourselves, however, if we consider Hammerfest a dull or melancholy city. Its principal streets, on the contrary, consist of very fair new wooden houses, well ordered, and in all respects comfortable. These are the habitations of the better class of inhabitants. The houses of the lower classes are poorer and older; borrowing, however, a particular charm from the flowery turf with which they are covered. The roofs are formed of great squares of turf, on which a number of plants have germinated and grow vigorously. In seeing these aerial gardens I have for the first time been able to comprehend the phrase ‘_in tectis_’, which often occurs in the writings of Linnæus, indicative of the locality. In short, it was upon the roofs of houses that the learned botanist of Upsala herborized at Hammerfest; indeed, I frequently borrowed a ladder myself from the proprietor in order to gather the plants which grew round the chimney of one of these picturesque old houses. What I often found there were _Cochlearia anglica_, _Lychnis diurna_, _Chrysanthemum inodorum_, Shepherd’s Purse, _Poa pratensis_, and _P. trivialis_. In autumn, when the flowers of _Chrysanthemum inodorum_ are in full bloom, these hanging meadows rival in beauty those of our own more genial climate, and give the city a smiling physiognomy which contrasts most happily with the severe aspect of surrounding Nature. _Ranunculus glacialis_, _Arabis alpina_, _Silene acaulis_, _Saxifraga nivalis_, Bilberries, _Diapensia lapponica_, _Salix reticulata_, _S. herbarcea_, etc., grow in the neighborhood. “How great was my surprise on landing at the North Cape, in latitude 71°, to find myself in the middle of the richest subalpine meadows that can be imagined! high and tufted grass, which reached my knees. I found here, in short, at the northern extremity of Europe, the flowers which had so often attracted my admiration at the foot of the Swiss Alps; there they were, as vigorous, as brilliant, and much larger than among the mountains.”