$^94 REMARKS AND OPINIONS. 



and plains do not, as there, cherish a more luxu- 

 riant vegetation, and more southern plants. An 

 entirely Alpine Flora unites itself, as further north, 

 to the strand Flora. The raised ridges of moun- 

 tain fragments are overgrown with black and pale- 

 coloured lichens, the places watered by the melt- 

 ing ice with Sphagnum^ mosses, and a few Carices. 

 The earth has no more springs : the different 

 arctic plants choose, according to their nature, rocks 

 or moorland, and none of them rise above the soil 

 on which they creep. The Lupinus at St. George, 

 the Achillea at St. Paul, remind us of Oona- 

 lashka j but several plants, which are not met with 

 at Oonalashka, of the higher latitudes. Ranunculus, 

 Pallasii, and Gmeliniy an AndrosacCi a Claytonia, &c. 

 We found a single plant (a Cochlearia ? ) exclu- 

 sively on these islands^ where it is frequent and 

 characteristic. 



Both islands, before they were discovered by 

 the Russians, were unknown to the neighbouring 

 people; and the peaceable abode of the water- 

 fowl and seals (Phoca leonina and ursinay On 

 both of them, there are only Aleutians under the 

 superintendance of the Russians ; and the animals 

 are subdued as well as the people. The island of 

 St. Matwey, (Choris Island), is still uninhabited ; 

 the fate of the intended settlement is known. 

 During the winter, the people found themselves 

 abandoned by the animals, on which they had 

 reckoned for their support ; and starved, with the 



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