288 REMARKS AND OPINIONS. 



At Oonalashka, where we resided at three dif- 

 ferent times, in spring and autumn, we were par- 

 ticularly engaged in studying its Flora ; and this 

 island will serve as a point of comparison for the 

 other more northern countries which we visited. 



At Oonalashka (under the latitude of Lubeck), 

 the willows in damp places scarcely rise above the 

 luxuriant growth of grass and herbs. Immedi- 

 ately you ascend from these plains to the next 

 hills, you find an entirely alpine Flora, and only 

 some kinds of Vaccinium myrtillus grow as shrubs 

 in the lowest region of the mountains. Otherwise 

 a damp atmosphere nourishes the verdant mantle 

 of the earth, up to the more naked rocky summits 

 and to the shining snow ; and several fme plants 

 adorn this gloomy world with an admirable splen- 

 dour of colour. (^Lupinus nootkaensiSy Mimulus 

 luteuSy Pursch. Guttatus, Willd. En. Sup., Epilo- 

 hium cmgustifolium et latifolium, Rhododendron 

 Kamtsdiaticum, &c.) The fresh verdure of the 

 meadow^s reminds us of the valley of Urseren. 



The Flora seems to have no other affinity to that 

 of St. Peter and St. Paul, than that which it de- 

 rives from the general alpine or arctic Flora, and 

 the strand Flora of these northern coasts. Besides 

 such plants as we again met with in higher north- 

 ern latitudes, we observed at both places only the 

 Liliiim Kamtschaticiim (if the variety at Oona- 

 lashka is not a peculiar species) and the Uvidaria 

 ampleJcifoUa ; and, on the contrary, found on tlie 



