NINE MONTHS IN THE ARCTIC. 195 



FOWL. 



Geese and ducks are abundant, besides a great 

 variety of other water-fowl. 



The country bordering on the Ochotsk Sea, a 

 place visited by hundreds of whalemen, presents 

 a scenery in some respects quite different from 

 that of the arctic. 



While the surface of the country is uneven, 

 interspersed with hills, valleys, and mountains, 

 yet it is quite well wooded, especially on the sea- 

 board. 



As far north as 60° we have found patches of 

 potatoes, turnips, barley, &c. As soon as the 

 snow leaves the earth, numberless wild flowers 

 of every hue and color, and some of them very 

 odorous, immediately start into life and beauty, 

 and adorn both the valley and hill side. And 

 what is most remarkable in the multitude of 

 flowers which follow the line of retreating frost 

 and snow, we find in nature, as in opposite and 

 antagonistical views and principles, that extremes 

 meet. 



Vegetation here in this region thrives with the 

 greatest possible rapidity. It seems sometimes 

 to put on the air even of romance, or fiction. 

 One season we were in the Ochotsk Sea, which 

 was the loth of June, and then we found the 



