593 



surface than is at present assigned to them. The corroboration of 

 this supposition would be productive of important results. It would 

 throw additional light upon the geogi'aphical distribution of vegetable 

 forms, and prove that the diffusion of plants had taken place, not from 

 north to south, but from south to north, — a direction which, in the 

 absence of these data, may be supported by plausible arguments. 



" An essential difference exists between the Flora of the southern 

 and the northern portions of Western Eskimaux-laud, a few degrees 

 in so high a latitude exercising a marked influence. In the southern 

 or subarctic region there are still plants which the eye is accustomed 

 to meet in the plains of more temperate climates, such as Rosa blanda. 

 Spiraea betulsefolia, Achillea Millefolium, Ribes rubrum, Corydalis 

 pauciflora, Lupinus perennis, Sauguisorba Canadensis, and Galium 

 boreale ; besides annuals and biennials, and shrubs and trees. How- 

 ever, in proceeding northward and having entered the Arctic circle, 

 these forms disappear ; the trees dwindle into low crooked bushes, 

 and annuals and biennials cease almost entirely, the remaining plants 

 being such as depend for iheir propagation rather on their buds than 

 seeds. They are chiefly perennial herbs with caespitose habit, such 

 as Geum glaciale, Artemisia borealis, A. glomerata, A. androsacea, 

 Stellaria dicranoides, Dryas octopetala, D. integrifolia, Saxifraga 

 caespitosa, and Androsace Chamaejasme. These, and mosses, lichens, 

 cotton-grasses, and low willows, chiefly cover those endless steppes 

 whose uniform aspect renders the Arctic region so dreary and mono- 

 tonous. 



" A peculiar feature of the vegetation is its harmless character. 

 The poisonous plants are few in number, and their qualities are by no 

 means very virulent. The traveller need not fear to get blinded or 

 giddy by entering a thicket ; no members of those families to which 

 the Mazanillo, the Upas-tree, or the nightshade belong, inhabit the 

 extreme north. He need not be afraid to be hit by an arrow dipped 

 in the sap of the deadly Wourali, — no Loganiacea extends its range 

 to these latitudes, — nor be much on his guard against spines and 

 thorns. Save the Geum glaciale, and a rose — which forms no excep- 

 tion to the rule incorporated in a popular adage, — there are no plants 

 bearing arms, belonging to that group which has been termed the 

 * milites.' " 



" When considering the Flora in a commercial point of view, we 

 find, as far as our present knowledge enables us to see, no produc- 

 tions which would play a prominent part in the traffic of civilized 

 nations. Of wood there is only a limited quantity, and that is too far 

 VOL. IV. 4 G 



