■^i" 
18 BOTANY OF THE VOYAGE OF E.M.S. HERALD. 
localities never higher than two feet, while their crooked growth and numerous abortive leaf- 
buds indicate their struggle for existence. All attempts to spread their dominion towards 
the north prove unsuccessful ; two degrees higher, and they are seen no more. At Wain- 
wright Inlet a boundless plain presents itself. No tree interrupts the uniform line of the 
horizon, no slu-ub shows itself above the level of the turfy vegetation ; all woody plants are 
prostrated to the ground, and only maintain life by seeking shelter among the mosses and 
lichens. The polar wind, which never affects the graceful palm, and is incapable of injuring 
the hardy oak, yet at last succeeds in laying low the offspring of Flora in these regions. 
Here they are doomed to slumber two-thirds of the year without sun, without warmth, in an 
icy bed, till the return of the great light restores the brightness of day and enables them 
to rcsmuc, for a few creeks, the busy operations of organized beings. 
The region is as yet unchanged by human efforts. The Eskimaux, by their migratory 
habits, by spreading from Greenland to the Aleutian Islands, and by their annual jom-neys, 
as well as by thcu' intercourse with the Tchukchis of Asia, may have contributed towards 
extending the range of certain species ; but since cidtivation of the soil is unknown, they can 
have exercised only a Hmitcd influence on the aspect of the Hora. Villages exist, yet all that 
our minds associate with them is wanting. On approaching we expect to meet with roads and 
bridges and smiling fields, to behold peaceful dwellings peeping through green boughs, and 
the steeple of the chm-ch towering hcavenwai'ds. In an Eskimaux village these pleasing 
features are looked for in vain. In the commencement of summer the habitations are de- 
serted, the natives having left for the coast, in order to lay in a stock of whale and seal 
blubber. The underground dwellings look cheerless and are filled with water, the sur- 
rounding gi'ound is scattered with bones and fi-agmcnts of skin, broken sledges and other 
remnants ; the paths are overgrown with herbage ; the whole presenting a pictm-e of misery 
and desolation. The Eskimaux have not yet leanit that migratory habits and progress in 
civihzation are opposed to each other; they have not yet learnt to make the soil supply 
more than it is wilhng spontaneously to yield. The whole region is in a state of nature, 
and up to the year 1850 the only plants cultivated were a few turnips, which the com- 
mandant of a Russian trading post had sown near the fort of St. Michael. The natives 
care httle for vegetable food, though they cannot 'entirely dispense with it. In the spring the 
leaves of the Sorrel {Rumex domesficits, Hartm.) are eagerly sought, in order to arrest the 
ravages of scurvy ; and again towards autumn the roots of the Mashu {Fo^r/onum Bistoria, 
Linn.). As a stock for the winter, raspberries, whortleb ernes, and cranberries are coUcctedj 
placed in boxes, and preserved by being frozen into such a hard mass that in order to divide 
it recom-sc must be had to the axe, or some other sharp instrument. Nor do the Eskimaux 
make more use of vegetable substances for other purposes. Fuel they scarcely need except 
for cooking. In their summer tents they require no fire, and their subterranean dwell- 
mgs, on bemg heated, become uncomfortable, and begin to thaw and leak. The flames of 
a few lamps, the wicks of wliich are made of a moss {Splmgmm fimhriatum, Wils. et Hook ) 
