316 APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



is represented iu a print wLich you will find amonjj;- tlie views of the 

 vegetation of the Pacific in the London reproduction of the work of 

 Kittlitz. This peculiarity was first noticed by Cook, who says, witli a 

 sailor sententiousness, that he did not see there "a single stick of wood 

 of any size," but "plenty of grass very thick and to a great length." 

 Liitke records that after leaving Brazil he met nothing so agreeable as 

 the grass of this island. 



jS^orth of Alaska, on Behring Sea, the forests do not approach the 

 coast, exce])t at the heads of bays and sounds, although they abound 

 in the interior, and exteinl even to within a short distance of the Frozen 

 Ocean. Such is the personal testimony of a scientific observer who 

 has recently returned from this region. In Norton's Sound, Cook, who 

 was the first to visit it, reports "a coast covered with wood, an agree- 

 able sight," and, on walking in the country, "small si)ruce trees, none 

 more than or 8 inches in diameter." Tlie next day he sent men ashore 

 "to cut brooms, which he needed, and the branches of spruce trees for 

 brewing beer." On the Kwichpak and its affluent, the Youkon, trees 

 are sometimes as high as 100 feet. The sup[)ly of timber at St. 

 Michael's is from the drift wood of the river. Near Fort Youkon, at 

 the junction of the Porcupine and the Youkon, are forests of pine, 

 po}>lar, willow, and birch. The pine is the most plentiful; but the 

 small islands in the great river are covered with poplar and willow. 

 Immense truidvs rolling under the fort show that there must be large 

 trees nearer the head-waters. 



But even in northern latitudes the American coast is not without 

 vegetation. Grass here takes the place of trees. At Fort Youkon, in 

 latitude ()7°, there is " a thin, wiry grass." Navigators notice the con- 

 trast between the o])posite coasts of the two continents. Kotzebue, 

 while in Behring Straits, where the two approach each other, was struck 

 by black, mossy rocks frowning with snow and icicles on the Asiatic 

 side, while on the American side " even the summits of the highest 

 mountains vv^ere free from snow, and the coast was covered with a green 

 carpet." (" Voyage," vol. i, p. 249.) But the contrast with the Atlantic 

 coast of the continent is hardly less. The northern limit of trees is full 

 seven degrees higher in Pussian America than in Labrador. In point 

 of fiict, on the Atlantic coast, in latitude 57° 58', which is that of Sitka, 

 there arc no trees. All this is most suggestive. 



Next after trees early navigators speak oftenestof herries, which they 

 found in i)rofusion. Not a sailor lands who does not find them. Cook 

 reports "berries" on Norton Sound, and "a great variety" at Ouna- 

 laska. Portlock finds at Port Etches "fruit bushes in great abundance, 

 such as bilberry, raspberry, strawberry, and currant, red and black." 

 At Prince William Sound "any quantity might be gathered for a. win- 

 ter stock." Meares saw there "a few black currant bushes." J>illings 

 finds at Kodiak " several species of berries, with currants and rasp-* 

 berries in abundance, the latter white, but extrenu'ly large, being big- 

 ger than a mulberry." Langsdorf finds all these at Ounalaska, with 

 whortleberries and cranberries besides. Belcher I'eports at Carden 

 Island " strawberries, ])igeon-berries, whortleberries, and a. small cran- 

 berry in tolerable profusion, without going in search of them." All 

 these I quote ])recisely, and in the order of time. 



Next to berries were plants fi)r Ibod; and these were in constant 

 abundance. Behring, on landing at the Shumagin Islands, observed 

 the natives "to eat roots which they dug out of tlie ground, and scarce 

 shaked off the earth before they ate them." Cook rejiorts at Ouna- 

 laska "a great variety of i)laints, such as are found in Europe and other 



