The river Karax, where is a pearl fishery, runs not far from hence. On its banks I remarked the _Sceptrum Carolinum_, which became very common as I advanced further on my journey.
Another mile brought us to the lake of Randiau; on approaching which we saw nothing before us but lofty mountains of an oblong obtuse form, lifting their summits one above another, and on the most distant of these snow was to be seen, though half melted away like snow in the spring.
Parkajaur, the first lake I reached after leaving the place where I slept, is a short mile in length. At its opposite shore rises the lofty peaked mountain of Achiekoivi, or Tornberget, upon whose summit the Laplanders used, in ancient times, to offer sacrifice, for the success of their herds of reindeer. The mountain still shows traces of fire. At the western end of this lake a Laplander resided, and from thence it was scarcely a quarter of a mile by land to the next lake, called Skalk, where as I passed near a waterfall, I found the _Barbarea_ and _Pedicularis_, both already mentioned, also the Asphodel (_Tofieldia palustris, Fl. Brit._) and the little _Astragalus_, see _p. 159_.
When I came to the lake Skalk in the way towards Kiomitis, about a mile short of the last-mentioned place, I was much struck with an opening between the hills to the north-west, through which appeared a range of mountains, from ten to twenty miles distant, as white as the clouds, and seeming not above a mile from the spot where I stood. Their summits reached the clouds, and indeed they resembled a range of white clouds rising from the horizon. They recalled to my mind the frontispiece of Rudbeck's _Lapponia Illustrata_. Mountains upon mountains rose before me in every direction. In a word, I now beheld the Lapland alps.
Arriving in the evening at Kiomitis, I saw the sun set apparently on the summit of a high mountain called Harrevarto, situated over against the house of the parish clerk. This spectacle I considered as not one of the least of Nature's miracles, for what inhabitant of other countries would not wish to behold it? O Lord, how wonderful are thy works!
At Kiomitis I rested during the whole of this day, Sunday.
Here the beautiful corn was growing in great perfection in valleys between the snowy mountains. It had shot up so high as to be laid in some places by the rain. It had been sown on the 25th or 26th of May, as at Umoea.