﻿1848. VEGETATION. 319 



kick them," say the ungallant Indians, " but they 

 cause you to stumble and never go out of the way." 

 In the drier, sandy, and gravelly spots, which are 

 more common among the primitive rocks, the 

 ground is covered with the lichens on which the 

 musk oxen and rein-deer feed. Of these the 

 cornieularice and cetrarice are the most important ; 

 and they are most prized by the animals when the 

 melting snow in spring renders them soft and 

 tender. As the season advances, the grasses and 

 bents which flourish in sheltered valleys furnish 

 the chief food of the herbivorous animals; and, 

 when the snows fall, the rein-deer retreat south- 

 ward to the woody districts, into which they 

 penetrate deeper in severe weather, and in the 

 milder intervals return to the barren grounds to 

 scrape the hay from beneath the snow. The sud- 

 denness of the winter in these high latitudes 

 serves the important purpose of arresting the 

 juices of the grasses and freezing them, so that 

 until late in spring they retain their seeds and 

 nutritive qualities without withering. It has the 

 same effect on the berry-bearing plants. The 

 crow-berry (Empetrum nigrum)^ bleaberry ( Vacci- 

 nium uUginoswn), and cranberry ( Vaccinium vitis 

 idea), which grow in profusion among the lichens 

 of the arctic wastes, not only furnish fruits for the 

 bears and geese in autumn, but retain them in 



