SKETCH OF THE FLORA OF ALASKA. 435 



Quercifs Garryana, Doiig-1., which is so abundant near Fort Vancouver, is also 

 found on Vancouver island. Hooker states *' the wood is good and well adapted 

 to sbip-building." It grows 80 feet high. 



Pyrus rivularis grows to be a small tree, and the wood is hard enough to take 

 a g'ootl polish ; it may be turned to some use in the arts of life ; the fruit has a 

 decidedly pleasant flavor, and is largely used by the Indians. 



The less elevated prairie lands of the lower Frazer are thickly covered with 

 various species of Poa., Eragrostis, &c., intermixed with Vicia Americana. Even 

 as far nortli as Fort St. James I have seen the grass and "pea vine" three feet 

 high ; these spots afford luxuriant pasturage. At the above-mentioned jjost of 

 the Hudson 13ay Company, (latitude 54° iV north,) the horses live nearly the 

 entire year without other forage than such as they find. Mules, however, are not 

 so successful in sustaining themselves when the snow covers the grass, and require 

 "looking- after." The swamps are thickly covered with caricesj among which 

 Carex utriculata predominates in number of individuals over the other species. 

 The high grounds afford the "bunch grass" (Ehjmus) of the packers; so imtri- 

 tious is this that even when apparently dead and dry, "stock" will become fat 

 on it, and remain so under hard work for long periods if this be plentifully sup- 

 plied. 



Of the main land fi'om Steekinc river north to Bristol bay we have but little 

 definite botanical knowledge. Sitka, however, has been well explored, both by 

 a\Iertens and later by Ferd. Bischoff. We may be said to know its flora pretty 

 thoroughly. Perhaps after the list of plants given on the following pages I can 

 ])resent no better popular idea of the vegetation of this island than by quoting 

 from a letter of Mertens " to a friend in St. Petersburg ;" it is published in Hooker's 

 Botanical Miscellany, vol. iii : "If we compare the lofty forests of Sitka (Sitcha 

 in letter) with the wintry coasts of Kamschatka, where, 4° more southerly at St. 

 Peter and Paul, the birch only attempts to rise into a kind of tree, we shall here 

 find a confirmation of that law which proves, by comparing the climates of lis- 

 bon and Philadelphia, Paris and Quebec, England and Labrador, Drontheim and 

 Iceland, that countries situated to the east of the sea possess a milder tempera- 

 ture than those which are placed to the west of the ocean." — (Op. citat., p. 12, 

 prefatory remark by Adrian von Chamisso.) " It [the forest] principally consists 

 of two kinds of fir; the Russians who inliabit Sitka call one of them pine, (yely 

 or jdl,) the other the larch, (listivcnjj though neither of them bears the least 

 similarity to the trees which are thus named in Russia. Both are referable to 

 Michaux's genus Abies. The pine, as it is called, seems to me analogous te the 

 North American pine, fPinus haJsamca.J Both of these trees must be peculiarly 

 eligible for masts and building timber in general, as they attain an innnense 

 height; yet the wood of the pine is not much prized; it is said to be of short 

 duration ; that of the larch, as it is called, lasts much longer." — (Mertens in lit. 

 ex. op. citat., p. 16.) " The axe scarcely ever echoed in these woods ; indeed, 

 the surrounding wilderness is immense, and strikes the l)eliolder with a feeling 

 of horror. For centuries these trees have never fallen but under the weight of 

 years ; and their mouldering remains give rise, without alteration of fonn, to future 

 generations of trees again to flourish and again to die ! Nevertheless, the abund- 

 ance of shrubs, herbs, and mosses, which clothe these hoary forests, and rise 

 over the natural graves of their former denizens, impart to the scenery an air of 

 vigor and of youth." — (L. c, p. 17.) 



After ascending some distance up the mountain sides of the island he finds 

 "the wood, Avhich now appears again in increased denseness before us, consists 

 particularly of a noble Thuja, called, on account of its agreeably scented wood, 

 duschnik, (scent-wood.) It is the timber most valued here. The tree, indeed, 

 occurs frequently lower down at the foot of the mountains, and even to the sea, 

 but so scattered that it is necessary to search for it among the more predominant 

 pine trees which conceal it from view; but here it constitutes almost the entire 



