BARREN GROUND DISTRICT. 277 



stumps I speak of stand often on the exposed side of a hill, 

 and indicate a deterioration of climate, however that may- 

 have been produced. We saw no young firs growing up 

 in such situations to leave similar vestiges in a future 

 age. 



In many sheltered valleys on the sea-coast, and even 

 in the more elevated interior, especially where a fertile 

 soil has been formed by the decomposition of trap rocks, 

 there is a good growth of grasses, several of which flourish 

 well on lands that are occasionally inundated by the sea. 

 Among these are Ehjmus mollis, Spartina cynosuroides, 

 Calamagrostis stricta, Caricesstans, compacta, glareosa, mem- 

 hranacea, and livida, Colpodium, Deschampsia, Festuca, and 

 several JPoce. In some of the maritime meadows to which 

 the reindeer resort to bring forth their young, there are 

 treacherous mud-banks, which are soft enough and deep 

 enough to swallow up a deer or musk ox, that may rush 

 heedlessly into them when chased by a wolf; but in general 

 the frozen subsoil is so near the surface as to preclude any 

 such accident. The existence of these boggy places, which 

 were seen only on the sea-coast, scarcely affords a satis- 

 factory solution to the problem of the entombment of a 

 living elephant or rhinoceros, and the subsequent preser- 

 vation of the entire carcass in the frozen soil. But in 

 whatever manner this may have taken place, I should infer, 

 from the economy of the arctic regions, that these animals 

 were migratory, like the reindeer of the present day, and 

 wintered in milder climates. 



On approaching the arctic circle the relative proportion 

 of the Composites greatly decreases, and that of the Cype- 

 racece increases within the woody tracts, though it falls 

 off on the barren grounds. Taking the Avhole zone between 

 the arctic circle and the extremity of the continent, which 

 includes much woodland, the Cyperacece are the most 



