594 



inland ; the leaves of the Ruraex clomesticiis and the different scurry- 

 grasses, as well as the roots of some Polygonums, may, in the absence 

 of better vegetables, serve for culinary purposes, and they may even, 

 under cultivation, become more palatable ; the various kinds of ber- 

 ries may be highly useful to the Eskimaux, destitute as they of any 

 other fruit, and they may be most welcome antiscorbutics to those 

 voyagers whose daring leads them to the Polar Seas ; the Iceland 

 moss and other lichens may be useful tonics and dyes ; but all these 

 productions are of little or no coramereial importance. Should the 

 country be ever inhabited by a civilized people, they will have to look 

 to the animal creation for those means which procure the commodities 

 of more favoured climes, and they will have to exchange walrus-tusks, 

 eider-down, furs, and train oil, for the spices of India, the manufac- 

 tures of Europe, and the medicinal drugs of tropical America." 



Writing of the phenomenon of the never-setting summer sun in 

 high northern latitudes, Mr. Seemann makes the following highly inte- 

 resting remark, which shows how universal are the laws by which the 

 vegetable world is governed : — 



" It must not be supposed that during this time the sleep of plants 

 is suspended. That function, though short, is as regular as in the . 

 tropics. With a midnight sun several degrees above the horizon, the 

 leaves droop when evening approaches, partaking of that rest which 

 seems to be necessary to the existence of both animal and vegetable 

 life. If man should ever reach the Pole, and be undecided which way 

 to turn, — when his compass has become sluggish, his timepiece out 

 of order, — the plants which he may happen to meet will show him the 

 way ; their sleeping leaves tell him that midnight is at hand, and that 

 at that time the sun is standing in the north. Human skill has long 

 tried to construct instruments to aid those venturing to the Pole to 

 find their way back. How curious, if an all-wise Providence should 

 have extended the range of a few Leguminous plants to the very axis 

 of our planet, and made some humble herbs the means of furthering 

 the solution of the greatest of geographical problems ! " 



It will be next to impossible for the botanist to read these copious 

 extracts without perceiving how admirably the author is fitted for the 

 task he has undertaken. In thus dividing the botanical acquisitions 

 made during the voyage of the ' Herald' into separate Floras, he has 

 adopted the only course by which the result of his labours could be 

 reduced to an intelligible and useful form. To English botanists this 

 riorula of West Eskimaux-land is particularly acceptable and inte- 

 resting, since, notwithstanding the vast lange both of latitude and 



