314 APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



till the end of October. The first snow falls about the 20th or 25th 

 September. All the small ponds and lakes were frozen early in October. 

 The Kwiclipak was frozen solid about the 20tli or 25th of this month. 

 On the 1st November the harbour at St. Michael's was still open, 

 but on the morning of the 4th it was frozen solid enough for sledges to 

 cross on the ice. In December there were two thaws, one of them 

 accomiianied by rain for a day. Tiie snow was about 2 feet deep at the 

 end of the month. January was uniformly cold, and it was said that 

 at one ]>hice G5 miles northeast of St. Michael's the thermometer 

 descended to r}S degrees below zero. February was unusually mild all 

 over the country. In the middle of the month there was an extensive 

 thaw, with showers of rain. About half of the snow disappeared, 

 leaving much of the ground bare. March was pleasant, without very 

 cold weather. Its mean temperature was 20 degrees; its minimum was 

 3 degrees below zero. 



Spring commences on the Kwichpak on the 1st May, or a few days 

 later, when the birds return atid vegetation begins to appear. The ice 

 did not entirely disappear from the river till after the 20th May. The 

 sea ice continued in the Bay of St. Michael's as late as the 1st June. 

 The summer temperature is much higher in the interior of the country 

 than on the coast. Parties travelling on the Kwichpak in June com- 

 plained sometimes from the heat. 



The River Youkon, which, flowing into the Kwichpak, helps to swell 

 that stream, is navigable for at least four, if not five, months in the 

 year. Thethennometer atFort Youkon is sometimes at()5degrees below 

 zero of Fahrenheit, and for three months of a recent winter it stood at 50 

 degrees below zero without variation. In summer it rises above 80 

 degrees in the shade; but a hard frost occurs at times in August. The 

 south-west wind brings warmth; the nortli east Avind brings cold. 

 Some years there is no rain for months, and then again showers alter- 

 nate with sunsliine. The snow packs hard at an average of 2J feet 

 deep. The ice is 4 or 5 feet thick; in a severe winter it is 6 feet thick. 

 Life at Fort Youkon under these rigours of Nature, although not invit- 

 ing, is not intolerable. 



Such is the climate of this extensive region, so far as is known, 

 along its coast, among its islands, and on its great rivers, from its 

 southern limits to its most northern ice, with contrasts and varieties 

 such as Milton describes: 



For hot, cold, moist and dry, four cbampious fierce 

 Strive here lor mastery. 



VEGETABLE PRODUCTS. 



IV. Vef/efahle Products <lepeud upon climate. They are determined 

 by its laws. Th.erefore what has been already said upon the one pre- 

 pares the way for tlie consideration of the other; and here we have the 

 reports of navigators and the suggestions of science. 



From the time this coast was first visited navigators reported the 

 aspects which Nature assumed. But their opportunities were casual, 

 and they were obliged to confine themselves to what was most obvious. 

 As civilization did not exist, the only vegetable ])r()ducts were indige- 

 nous to the soil. These were trees, berries, and plants. At the first 

 landing, on the discovery of the coast by Behring, Steller found among 

 the pnWisions in one of the Indian cabins "a sweet herb dressed for 

 food in the same manner as in Kamtchatka." That "sweet herb" is 

 the first vegetable production of which we have any record on this 



