

i 







of Iheir bite. Than are also four or five different 

 all of which reach the length of 5 or feet; 

 of the United States is extremely numerous 

 of th* Colombia River. Among the frogs and 

 are th* great Bull-Frog of North America 



whose croaking may be heard at more than a mile'* 

 distaste*, sad the K*m* pip* of Surinam, which batches its spawn in 

 certain cell* with which the *kin of the back U provided for that 

 porpoML ami which are inhabited by the young during their tadpole 

 Finally, the Hellbender of the American* (So/astWra 

 the Amphiuma, th* Ax I Mexicans (Sim 



.._, and the Siren*, properly so allied, compose genera 



exclusively American, and unite, by their structure and habits, the 

 frog* sad reptiles with the eels and cartilaginous fish. 



iiupoasible for us to enter into any details concerning the 

 frAtsyir/tjy of this, or Indeed any other continent, The species and 

 varieties of ash are more numerous, and their geographical disti 

 has been lees studied than thatof other animal*. The various fresh- 

 of Europe hare their representative* in the rivers and 



of the New World ; nd the marine tribes which frequent tho 

 coast of America are little different from those of our own shores. 

 The species indeed may be distinct, but the generic forms and 

 characters are invariably the same, or differ only in trifling circum- 

 stance*. The common cod is in every sense the most important and 

 valuable fish that frequent* the American shores. The great sand- 

 banks off the island* of Newfoundland and Cape Breton annually 

 attract myriads of this species to feed upon the lower animals which 

 it produces ; and hither, as is well known, the ships of England, 



!': ,'.... 



Of the 



and America resort yearly during the fishing season. 



Of the Jntcct Triba in America, the mosquitoes, though of most 

 diminutive size, are unquestionably the greatest scourge of the moist 

 tropical countries, and even of many part, included in the temperate 

 one. So great an annoyance are these persevering torments in 

 Venezuela and along the banks of the Orinoco, that the first question 

 which acquaintance* ask upon meeting of a morning in, generally, 

 "How were the flies last night!" The Chigoe (Piter penetrant) is 

 another insect which inhabiU the same localities, and its practice of 

 burying iteelf and depositing it* eggs in the skin, is scarcely less to 

 be dreaded than the mosquito. Centipede* of various kinds likewise 

 abound in America; and the white ants and termites are as trouble- 

 some and a* destructive as their congeners of Africa and India. 



Piamtt tf America. The climate and soil of this extensive continent 

 are so varied by its extensive mountain-ranges, rivers, and forests, 

 and by it* diversified geographical position, that it would be in vain 

 to attempt an account of it* vegetable productions in any other way 

 than by following them in their change* from the stunted llora of 

 the north to the splendid scenery of the equatorial region* ; and 

 thence southward a* diminished temperature, and it* attendant 

 circumstance*, again successively reduce the plants to a condition at 

 the southern extremity in many respects analogous to that of tho 

 Arctic Circle. 



If we contemplate the surface of this part of the world with 

 reference to thoae circumstance* which produce the greatest effect 

 upon vegetation, by the diversity of climate that they occasion, we 

 hall And that it* mountain-ranges, those eternal and stupendous 

 ubeteclss, by means of which nature had cut off all communication 

 between contiguous lands, until the hardihood and skill of man 

 uooseded in overcoming them called the Rocky Mountains in tho 

 north, sod the Cordilleras or Andes in all those countries to th. 

 which once owned the dominion of Spain form what may not 

 unaptly be called a back-bone to the whole continent, dividing it 

 from Patagonia- to the Mackenzie River into two portions of nearly 

 equal length but very unequal breadth, the eastern being many 

 time* wider than the western, which i* comparatively little moro 

 than a tin* of coast 



Th* vegetable productions of the two sides of thin dividing lino 

 are so exceedingly different, that it will be indispensable to notice 

 them separately. 



The most northern station in which vegetation has been discovered, 

 is Melville bland, 74* W N. Ut Of this desolate region an account 

 has been drawn up from the materials collected by the officers 

 a>t Milling Captain Parry, and from it we learn that, although tho 

 mean temperature of th* year i*, 1* to 2* below zero ; and that 

 of July, even on shipboard, where it may be supposed to be influ- 

 enced materially by tho fire* that were constantly burning, but 

 little mon than 42*, yet that a considerable number of species 

 of plant, are able to maintain an existence. These, however, are all 

 of very bumble growth, th* principal part consisting of saxifrages, 

 *, oraextsvoa* pUnta, mosses, and lichens; not a tree or even 

 Is able to raw it* head; nor indeed is there a single plant of 

 ..-JlT structure, exc*!* a little willow (Salijt arttiea). which rises 

 fB^L^i J' " in * l*ftod that th R*d Snow-Plant 

 (/V**sepcrw Mek), that most simple of cryptogamic vegetables, 

 exit* in all iu, beauty, 

 tt lolisw with orisgans) petehes of considerable !*. 



I. itU. part of the fur* a decided similarity exist* to the plant* 

 the same latitudes in Europe and Ask; in many insfe 

 .(* W. dirtfert, but th. general ol-racter of the vegetation 



that of the Arctic Circle in the Old World. Even as we advance 

 southward, the feature* of the country are like those of Norway; 

 vast forest* of spruce-fin (Akin alba and m'yru), among which grow 

 the reindeer-moss and other lichens of Lapland, overspread the land. 

 To these are added different kinds of wild currant*, gooseberries, 

 whortleberries, and a shrub extremely similar to the gueldres-rose of 

 our own marshes ( I'tWrm;* oxycoccw), strawberries, and a variety of 

 [lepilionacoous plant* which abound in the open plains. With these 

 are combined, a* we continue to advance, the majestic poplars of 

 Canada (Popultu JftuUmica), and others, birches (Hrtu/a papyracea 

 and popuJi/olia), and many sorts of oaks and ashes, together with 

 butternuts (Jugian* cinerta) and hickories (Carya alba and amara). 



It v.ould be entering into a far more elaborate view of this subject 

 than the limits of this work will : Imit, if we were to attempt t 

 trace such changes with any kind of precision ; all we can do is, having 

 now pointed out the fact of a gradual change in the face of vegetation, 

 to proceed to notice the great and distinctive features of other American 

 districts, still confining ourselves to the eastern side of the continent 



We will suppose that we hare arrived at the frontier of the British 

 possession!) in North America, where the sugar-maple (Acrrtaccharmum) 

 pours forth its saccharine juice at the first arrival of warm weather, 

 .fore the snows have had time to melt; the azaleas add th. .r 

 gay and fragrant blossoms to the beauty of the opening summer : 

 while the autumn is closed by the appearance of many kinds of 

 asters, which stud the woods and meadows with their ! 

 starry flower-heads. At this point wheat and other kind* of grain, 

 with maize, are successfully cultivated, and even tobacco, such is the 

 degree of summer heat, is a common field crop. 



In the L'nitcd States the great features of the N.-uli American 

 flora are at length assumed. The forests consist of pines and larches 

 unknown in Europe, of many kinds of oaks, of locust-treea (Rotiinia 

 pseudo-acacia), black walnuts of enormous size, hickories, and ashes ; 

 among which the noble tulip-tree rears its towering head; in the 

 swamps grow the deciduous cypress (Tajrodiinn tlutirham), the 

 cedar (Cupretnu thyoida), certain fir-trees (i'iniu irrotina and Abie* 

 penduia), the rhododendron, the glaucous kalmia, andrornedas, 

 sarracenuias, and the glaucous magnolia ; the sides of the mountains 

 and hills are covered with the American urbor-viUc, magnolias, and 

 hemlock spruces, among which spring up the arborescent azalea, the 

 sorrel-tree (Andromeda arborea), and the beautiful mountain-laurel 

 (Kalmia latifulia); and, finally, the undergrowth of the woods and 

 plains contains endless species of aster, several kinds of azalea and 

 osclepios, dwarf Pyntt, and various 



American genera, Lialrit, Phlox, Gerardin 'nt,tc. Tobacco, 



maize, and wheat ore the chief objects of cultivation. 



The approach to a tropical climate ia first indicated by fields of 

 cotton and rice, which on the Atlantic side commence at no point 

 that can be definitely fixed, but generally may be said to begin south 

 of Virginia. As we advance westward, towards the Mississippi, :in<l 

 cross that river, we experience a climate with a mean temperature less 

 than the parts on the Atlantic coast under the same parallel. The line 

 of tropical vegetation therefore does not advance so far to the north in 

 the western parts, u on the Atlantic coast These southern countries, 

 the climate of which in increased hi heat and humidity for beyond 

 that of corresponding latitudes in other parts of the world, present a 

 complete mixture of the vegetable productions of Mexico and the 

 Northern States. Along with the principal part of the plants of 

 Virginia and Kentucky, we have not only the cotton plant, indigo 

 plant, and miger-canc, as common articles of cultivation, but the 

 planes and the deciduous cypress acquire gigantic dimensions. A 

 solitary epidondrum inhabits the branches of the magnolia near 

 Savannah. In the some neighbourhood is found the Pinckneya, a 

 plant closely allied to the Jesuit's Bark of northern Peru; and tho 

 woods are filled throughout tho Florida*, Carolina*, Alabama, anil on 

 the banks of the Mississippi, with dense masses of the tropical 

 Till-ttultia ittiifilSn, which hongs from the branches of the trees like 

 L-iiMMti.- no* -. 



In southern Mexico we enter tho tropics ; and in all tho valleys and 

 plain* whc.ro the temperature i not lowered by Interrupting causes, 

 ,-il vegetation nf such latitudes occurs. Palms, bananas, 

 plantain*, and yams, yield the natives on abundant supply of food. 

 Besides these and the other common articles of e. y the 



inhabitants of the tropics, such as indigo, coffee, sugar-cane, and maize, 

 which here finds it* native home, the Cocoa-Tree (Throbroma ,- 

 from whose seeds chocolate is prepared, is a most important species, 

 and is found wild in the most burning districts. Pine-apples are wild 

 in the woods ; the American Aloe (Ayarr A mericana) yields, when 

 wounded, an abundance of sweet fluid which is fermented into on 

 intoxicating drink called pulque, and distilled into an ardent spirit 

 known by the name of vino mcrcal ; and great numbers of cacti 

 occupy the dry and almost earthless situations, where little else will 

 grow. In the low woods of Honduras are found those rnoi 

 forests which, since they have been wrested from the Spaniards, have. 

 been productive of such important commercial advantages to England 

 from tho abundance of mahogany and logwood trees they c-> 

 In Mexico, and still more commonly in Guyana and Brazil, the m-.n.li...- 

 root or cassava (Jatropka momAof), forma a usual food for the native*. 

 It is here also that the tamarind and Lignum Vita- (Vuaiacunofficinalt) 



