Towards the close of day, July 6, accompanied by a native, who acted as his servant and interpreter, he ascended the heights of Wallavari, the first of the range. Here he found himself as in a new world. The forests had disappeared; mountains upon mountains, covered with snow, presented themselves on all sides; no traces of human habitations were to be seen; the plants of the lower districts had ceased, and a vegetation of a peculiar kind occupied their place, presenting such a profusion of new forms to the delighted eye of the naturalist, that he was overcome with astonishment. He observed the silken-leaved alpine lady's-mantle, the deep-green sibbaldia, the little purple-flowered azalea, the diapensia lapponica, the beautiful saxifraga stellaris, rivularis, and oppositifolia, the succulent rose-root, the red lychnis, several ranunculi, and a variety of other species, most of which are found towards the summits of our own Grampians. The more elevated parts were composed of slaty rocks; and from the snow with which they were covered the water was running in copious streams. He caught a young ptarmigan, upon which the parent bird ran so close to him that he might have taken her also. "She kept continually jumping round and round me," says he; "but I thought it a pity to deprive the tender brood of their mother, neither would my compassion for the mother allow me long to detain her offspring, which I restored to her in safety." About the evening of the following day, they reached a secluded spot where a Laplander had pitched his tent. Immediately after their arrival, the herd of reindeer, consisting of seven or eight hundred, came home to be milked. Some of the milk was boiled for the stranger, but it proved rather rich for his stomach. His host furnished him with his own spoon, usually carried in his tobacco-bag, and which he washed by squirting a mouthful of water upon it. He was here joined by another guide, and after refreshing themselves by sleep they proceeded on their journey. On the sides of the hills were observed in abundance the holes of the lemming-rat; and the alpine hare occasionally presented itself. Scarcely any other fish occurs in the lakes than the char, a beautiful species of trout, with the belly of a bright-red colour. In the evening they sought in vain for one of the native dwellings. Linnaeus had walked so much that he could hardly stand; and, being ready to faint with fatigue, lay down, resolving rather to endure the cold and boisterous wind than proceed any farther. But his companions at length found some reindeer-dung, which by smelling they discovered to be fresh; and, perceiving a track in the snow, they advanced till they came to a hut, where they remained all next day, it being Sunday.