FLORA OF A^TSTERN ESKIMATJX-LAND. 21 
are few in number, and tlieix qualities are by no means very virulent. The traveller need 
not fear to get blinded or giddy by enteiing a tliicket ; no members of those famihes to whieh 
the ManzaniUo, the Upas-tree, or the Nightshade belong, inhalnt the extreme north. lie 
need not be afraid to be hit by an aiTow dipped in the sap of the deadly Womali,— no 
Loganiacea extends its range to these latitudes,— nor be mueh on his guard against 
spines and thorns. Save the Geum glaciate, and a Rose— which forms no exception to the 
rule incorporated in a popular adage,— there are no plants bearing arms, belonging to that 
group which has been termed the "mihtes." The Eauna presents an analogy. Reptiles do 
not venture into the Subai'ctic and Arctic regions. Pliysical circumstances seem to have 
exercised upon that tribe the same check as, according to tradition, the presence of St. Pa- 
trick has done in one of the British islands. Some of the quadrupeds arc ferocious, but not 
to the same degree as in the tropics. How the beai' may be trained we have frequently nn 
opportunity of seeing, and how easily the reindeer may be domesticated is well known. Even 
the wolf, — the dismal howling of which seems to be a fit concert in the wilderness of the north, 
— becomes under the care of man a useful animal. The Eskimaux dog is to all nppearances 
the result of such treatment*. From being the enemy, the wolf becomes the fiiend of man, 
and is dragging the sledge of the very master whom herds of his wild relatives are ready to 
attack and devoiu. 
When considering the Mora in a commercial point of view, we find, as far as our present 
knowledge enables us to see, no productions which would play a prominent part in the traffic 
of civihzed nations. Of wood there is only a limited quantity, and that is too far inla/id ; 
the leaves of the Hwnex domesticus and the different Seurv}^- grasses, as well as the roots of 
some Polygonums, may, in the absence of better vegetables, serve for cuhnary purposes, 
and they may even, under cultivation, become more palatable ; the various kinds of berries 
may be highly useful to the Eskimaux, destitute as they are of any other fruit, and they 
may be most welcome antiseorbutics to those voyagers whose daring leads them to the Polar 
Seas ; the Iceland Moss and other Hchens may be useful tonics and dyes j but all these 
productions are of little or no commercial importance. Should the country be ever inhabited 
by a civilized people, they will have to look to the animal creation for those means which 
procure the conmiodities of more favoured chmes, and they -wTii have to exchange walrus- 
tusks^ eider-down, furs, and train oil, for the spices of India, the manufactm-es of Europe, and 
the medicinal drugs of tropical America. 
* " The wolf is often caught bj the Eskimaux for the purpose of croasiug theu* dogs, and thus adding to 
their size and strength The resemblance between the wolf and the Eskimaux dog is indeed striking. 
Bot]i have the same low, melancholy howl, and although the dog has the head and ears shorter, the eyes 
tilualler and more sunk, the tail handsomely curled over the back, tlie paws smaller and less spread, and the 
colour of every hue, yet these distinctions are not of aufficieut importance to raise it to the rank of a separate 
species." — Bedford Fim's Western Belief Expedition, 2ISS. 
