408 LABRADOR 



are again found in protected valleys at the heads of 

 the inner bays of the coast. At Davis Inlet, in latitude 

 56, trees grow on the coast and high up on the hills, the 

 barren grounds being confined to the islands and head- 

 lands, which remain treeless to the southward of the mouth 

 of Hamilton Inlet. These barren islands and bare head- 

 lands of the outer coast, along with the small size of the 

 trees on the lowlands, have caused a false impression to be 

 held regarding much of the Atlantic coast, which from 

 Hamilton Inlet southward is well timbered about the 

 heads of the larger bays and on lowlands of the small 

 river- valleys. . . . Picea nigra is the most abundant 

 tree of Labrador and probably constitutes over ninety 

 per cent of the forest. . . . Larix Americana is probably 

 the hardiest tree of the subarctic forest belt; it grows 

 everywhere throughout the Labrador Peninsula, and is 

 probably next in abundance to the black spruce. . . . 

 Throughout the forest belt, the lowlands fringing the 

 streams and lakes are covered with thickets of willows 

 and alders. As the semi-barrens are approached, the 

 areas covered by these shrubs become more extensive, 

 and they not only form wide margins along the rivers and 

 shores of the lakes, but with dwarf birches occupy much of 

 the open glades. The willows and birches grow on the 

 sides of the hills, above the tree line, where they form low 

 thickets exceedingly difficult to pass through. Beyond 

 the limits of the true forest, similar thickets of Arctic 

 willows and birches are found on the low grounds, but on 

 the more elevated lands they grow only a few inches above 

 the surface. In the southern region, the undergrowth 

 in the wooded areas is chiefly Labrador tea (Ledum latifo- 

 lium) and laurel (Kalmia glauca), which grow in tangled 

 masses, from two to four feet high, and are very difficult to 

 travel through. In the semi-barrens this undergrowth 

 dies out, and travel across country is much easier in conse- 

 quence. In the southern regions the ground is usually 



