134 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. CHAP. vin. 



the smaller rings are thin as a sheet of writing-paper, 

 but firmly attached to the rocks, and slowly effecting its 

 disintegration. 



A little farther on, and these first efforts of vegetable 

 life give place to a different species, larger, growing in 

 alternate concentric green and grey rings, forming broad 

 circles on the rock. Detaching one with a knife, we 

 find below it some minute grains of sand, the result of 

 its growth the beginning of a soil. Moving on to a 

 spot more favourable, perhaps, because it is level, small 

 patches of caribou moss begin to show themselves. 

 A few steps farther on and they grow luxuriantly in 

 bunches and round tufts ; beneath each bunch is a little 

 collection of sand. They are very feebly attached to the 

 rock, and with a gentle push of the foot may easily be 

 moved. In little hollows club mosses and kindred species 

 have established themselves, and with their deep-green 

 contrast beautifully with the prevailing purple-grey of the 

 caribou lichen. Now we arrive at some scattered clumps 

 of the Labrador tea-plant ; and a little farther on are two 

 acres of this unyielding shrub, through which it is trouble- 

 some to walk. It grows amidst a profusion of the preceding 

 mosses, which have prepared the soil for it. Here and 

 there a larch or spruce finds sufficient nourishment for a 

 free and beautiful growth. Dwarf birches occupy crevices 

 wherever they find moisture and plant-food. On tearing 

 up a larch, the roots are seen to stretch far and wide over 

 the rock, under the shelter of the moss and Labrador tea- 

 plant. The birch has sent its roots deep into the crack, 

 and defies all attempts to pull it up. Descending still 

 lower down the terraced rocks, we come to the edge of 



