POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



139 



with its low temperature is unfavorable 

 for the ripening of grain. Gardens, how- 

 ever, are successful at Sitka and Wrangel, 

 and the commoner vegetables are raised 

 without difficulty. Berries of many kinds 

 grow luxuriantly. The remarkable contrast 

 between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of 

 North America is due to the influence of the 

 Kuro-Siwo, or great Japanese current, which 

 is similar to that of the Gulf Stream on the 

 west coast of Europe. There are many 

 points of resemblance between the two 

 streams. The Japanese current is divided 

 by a cold current, and fogs are produced by 

 the contact, as they are when the Gulf Stream 

 meets the Labrador current in the North At- 

 lantic. The Kamchatka or northerly branch 

 flows into Bering Sea and passes through 

 Bering Strait into the Arctic Ocean, first 

 striking the coast of northern Alaska ; the 

 mild climate of that coast is due to it, and 

 possibly its influence on the ocean tempera- 

 ture has much to do with the presence of fur 

 seals in Bering Sea. The main body of the 

 stream crosses the ocean and reaches the 

 American coast not far from the strait of San 

 Juan deFuca, whence it flows southward to 

 join the great northern equatorial current off 

 Lower California. In spite of the superfluity 

 of rainy and cloudy weather, southeastern 

 Alaska is said to be by no means an unin- 

 viting place. In summer the twilight almost 

 meets the dawn, but winter restores the day- 

 light to the general average, for at Sitka 

 lamps are extinguished at nine in the morn- 

 ing, to be relighted at three in the afternoon. 



Characteristics of the Tropical Forest. 



To the naturalist, says the London Spec- 

 tator, the most marked feature of the great 

 tropical forest south of the equator is the 

 inequality in the balance of Nature between 

 vegetable and animal life. From the forests 

 of Brazil to the forests of the Congo, through 

 the wooded heights of northern Madagascar, 

 to the tangled jungles of the Asiatic Archi- 

 pelago and the impenetrable woods of New 

 Guinea, the boundless profusion of vegetable 

 growth is unmatched by any similar abun- 

 dance in animal forms. A few brilliant 

 birds of strange shape and matchless plum- 

 age, such as the toucans of Guinea and the 

 Amazon, or the birds of paradise in the Mo- 

 luccas or the Papuan Archipelago, haunt the 



loftiest trees, and from time to time fall vie 

 tims to the blowpipe or arrow of the na- 

 tives, who hardly dare to penetrate that food- 

 less region, even for such rich spoils, until in- 

 cantation and sacrifice have propitiated the 

 offended spirits of the woods ; but, except the 

 sloth and the giant ant-eater, there is hardly 

 to be found in the tropical regions of the 

 New World a quadruped which can excite 

 the curiosity of the naturalist or form food 

 even for the wildest of mankind. In the 

 corresponding tracts of Africa and the Asi- 

 atic Archipelago the rare four-footed animals 

 that live in the solitary forests are for the most 

 part creatures of the night, and do not leave 

 their hiding places till the tropical darkness 

 has fallen on the forest, when they seek their 

 food, not on the surface of the ground, but, 

 imitating the birds, ascend to the upper sur- 

 face of the ocean of trees, and at the first 

 approach of dawn seek refuge from the 

 hateful day in the dark recesses of some 

 aged and hollow trunk. There is nothing 

 like the loris or the lemur in the fauna of 

 temperate Europe. AVe may rather compare 

 them to a race of arboreal moles, the con- 

 dition of whose life is darkness and invisi- 

 biUty. But, unlike the moles, the smaller 

 members of these rarely seen tribes are 

 among the most beautiful and interesting 

 creatures of the tropics, though the extreme 

 difficulty of capturing creatures whose whole 

 life is spent on the loftiest forest trees is 

 further increased by the reluctance of the 

 natives to enter the deserted and pathless for- 

 ests. The beautiful lemurs, most of which 

 are found in Madagascar, are further be- 

 lieved by the Malagasi to embody the spirits 

 of their ancestors ; and the weird and plaint- 

 ive cries with which they fill the groves at 

 night, uttered by creatures whose bodies, as 

 they cling to the branches, are invisible, and 

 whose delicate movements are noiseless, may 

 well have left a doubt on the minds of the 

 first discoverers of the island as to whether 

 these were not in truth the cries and wait- 

 ings of true lemurcs, the unquiet ghosts of 

 the departed. 



Indian Basket Colors. No chemist, says 

 the Lewiston (Maine) Journal, has ever pro- 

 duced brighter colors than are made by the 

 Maine Indian basket makers. For the 

 greater part of the material, ash logs are 



