179 
BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
Letter from Mr. BertHoLp SEEMANN, Naturalist of H.B.M. Survey- 
ing-ship HERALD, addressed to Sir W. J. Hooker, after the return of 
the Herald from the second voyage in search of Sir Johu Franklin, by 
the way of Behring's Straits, and dated Mazatlan, Mexico, Nov. 13, 
1849. 
(Continued from p. 158.) 
Having now completed the outline of our proceedings in the north, 
I will add a few general remarks on the north-west coast of America : 
a more elaborate account must be postponed. 
The whole country, from the southern extremity of Behring’s 
Straits to Point Barrow, is a vast moorland, whose even level is only 
interrupted by a few promontories and isolated mountains. The soil, 
' in most parts consisting of a rich clay, is always frozen a few feet 
below its surface, to which cireumstance, more than to any other cause, 
the peculiar nature of the country must be attributed. The rain and 
snow-water, prevented by this frozen mass from descending, form 
numerous lagoons, or, where the formation of the ground opposes this, 
bogs, whose general aspect and vegetation do not materially differ from 
those of northern Europe. A dense mass of Mosses, Lichens, and 
othes uliginous plants cover the soil, the most common of which are 
Ledum palustre, Arbutus alpina, Vaccinium uliginosum, V. Oxycoccos, 
Rubus Chamemorus, Betula nana, Cetraria Islandica, Sphagnum angusti- 
folium, &c. &c, Places less crowded with plants are sometimes difficult 
to pass. The ground is soft, and covered with isolated tufts of 
Eriophorum capitatum. In walking over them, some give way, or the 
foot slides, and then sinks into water or mud, from which it has often 
difficulty to extract itself. Wherever drainage exists, either on the 
shores of the sea, the banks of rivers, or the slopes of hills, the clay 
is free from peat. Such localities are generally clad with a luxuriant 
herbage, and produce the rarest, as well as the most beautiful plants. 
The gaiety of the vegetation in some localities is very striking, even 
to one acquainted with the brilliancy of the equinoctial, and familiar 
with the robust nature of the temperate zone. Many flowers are large, 
2a2 
