﻿1848. FOREST. 199 



As has been already said, the general aspect of 

 the forest does not alter in the descent of the 

 Mackenzie. The white spruce continues to be 

 the chief tree. In this quarter it attains a girth 

 of four or five feet, and a height of about sixty 

 in a growth of from two to three hundred years, as 

 shown by the annual layers of wood. One tree, cut 

 down in a sheltered valley near Clark's Hill, mea- 

 sured the unusual length of one hundred and 

 twenty-two feet, but was comparatively slender. 

 Most of the timber is twisted, particularly where 

 the trees grow in exposed situations. The Banksian 

 pine was not traced to the north of Great Bear 

 Lake River; but the black spruce, in a stunted 

 form, is found on the borders of swamps as far as 

 the woods extend. The dog-wood, silvery oleaster 

 (El(eag?ms argentea)^ Shepherdia^ and Amelanchier 

 grow on banks that in Europe would be covered 

 with gorse and broom, and the southern Salix 

 Candida is replaced by the more luxuriant and 

 much handsomer Saliv speciosa, which is the 

 prince of the willo'w family. The Hedysarum 

 Machenzii and horeale flower freely among the 

 boulders that cover the clayey beaches ; while the 

 showy yellow flowers and handsome foliage of the 

 Dryas Drummondii cover the limestone debris, 

 which give shelter also to the Androsace ChamcB- 

 jasmi. In the heart of the spruce- fir forests, the 



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