310 GEOGEAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS. 



Canada, Wisconsin, and the other Northern States, but was not 

 seen by us on the canoe route. Ostrya virginica, hop hornbeam. 

 This tree, which has also the trivial name of iron wood, grows 

 as far north as the River Winipeg, and is plentiful on Rainy 

 and Red Rivers. Its southern range, according to authors, is 

 to Carolina and Georgia. 



Corylus americana, hazel nut, and C. rostrata, beaked haze\ 

 nut, range northwards to the Saskatchewan, the former also 

 crossing the continent to the Pacific coast. 



Myricace^e. — Myrica gale, sweet gale or Dutch myrtle, is 

 also a European shrub. It is common in North America, on 

 the stony margins of lakes, and in peat bogs, from Virginia to 

 the arctic circle, and in the island of Sitka. The native popu- 

 lation of Rupert's Land use the buds as a material for dyeing* 

 Comptonia asplenifolia, sweet fern, is common in the Northern 

 States, and terminates on the northern slope of the Saskatchewan 

 basin ; it ranges southwards along the mountains of Carolina 

 and Georgia. 



BetulacejE. — Betula papyrqcea, paper or canoe birch, is an 

 invaluable tree to the population of Rupert's Land. Its bark 

 is indispensable for the construction of their canoes, and also 

 serves for the covering of tents in localities where the skins of 

 large animals are scarce. Neatly sewed and ornamented with 

 porcupine quills, it is moulded into baskets, bags, dishes, plates, 

 and drinking vessels ; in short it is the material of which most of 

 the light and easily transported household furniture of the Crees 

 is formed. The ruder Tinne use it, but dispense with many of 

 the forms into which it is worked by their southern neighbours. 

 The wood serves for paddles, the framework of snow shoes, 

 sledges, hatchet helves, and occasionally for gun-stocks ; and in 

 spring the sap forms a pleasant sweet drink, from which a syrup 

 may be manufactured by boiling. Beyond the arctic circle it is 

 a scarce and crooked tree, but occurs of a small size as high as 

 the 69th parallel. It grows in perfection on the north shore of 

 Lake Superior, in the neighbourhood of Fort William, where, 

 owing to the ample supply of good bark, a manufactory of canoes 

 or the use of the Hudson's Bay Company has been established. 



