Thirst in Snow-covered Countries. 65 



15. Ficus carica, Lin. ; Unjoor, Duk. Fig.— Excellent 

 figs grow in various parts of this district. 



16. Ziziphus jujuha, Lin. ; Bair, Duk. — This is found [in 

 great abundance in the Darwar jungles, and the fruit is sold in 

 the bazaars. The Dukhuny name of the fruit has been adopted 

 by the English in India. 



{To be continued.) 



On Thirst in Snow-covered Countries. By Mr J. F. Sloane. 

 Communicated by the Author. 



Before opening any book of travels, an intelligent reader has 

 a general idea of those scenes which his author has undertaken 

 to describe, and he can almost fortel what was the nature of the 

 toils, and the risks, and the dangers, the traveller had to en- 

 counter. It is by anticipations of this kind that we are disposed 

 to draw our chair a httle nearer to the fire, the moment we pre- 

 pare to peruse Parry's Voyages to the Pole, or Franklin's and 

 Richardson's most interesting Travels to the Shores of the Artie 

 Sea ; and it is thus, too, owing to previously formed associations, 

 that the very mention of Africa sets our imagination to work 

 among scorching sands and pathless forests, and venomous rep- 

 tiles, and vindictive savages. Travellers have not deemed the 

 fact worth mentioning, and, therefore, no one who has not been 

 there can imagine or believe that, during winter, man is exposed, 

 on the cold and snow-covered plains of North America, to the 

 most painful of the many privations connected with African dis- 

 covery ; — that, even while walking on frozen-water, he is ago- 

 nized by parched and burning lips, — and that by snow, eaten 

 under such circumstances, the thirst of the traveller, or hunter, 

 is proportionally increased. 



In the higher latitudes of North America, all the snow falls 

 at the commencement of winter. Clear skies, and an intensely 

 cold atmosphere, characterize the climate, until warmer airs, and 

 fogs, and flights of birds, intimate the approach of spring. The 

 sun, however, during winter, and even on the shores of Hud- 

 son's Bay, has power sufficient to melt a small portion of the 

 surface of tiie last fallen snow. This is frozen by the cold of 

 the succeeding night, and then presents a glassy surface, on 



APKII, JUNE 18S9. E 



