114 THE FORESTS OF LAPLAND. 



had there on the rapids below the falls: now timber 

 follows this river, and skirts the lakes almost all the 

 way up to Quick-jock, considerably further to the north- 

 ward, and even beyond that point dwarf pine forests 

 exist. A large trade in very fine timber is done on 

 the Lulea and other rivers entering the northern por- 

 tion of the Gulf of Bothnia: whose shores are covered 

 almost everywhere with dark pine forests so much 

 so indeed that travellers are often heard to complain 

 of the monotony of its scenery on this account. On 

 the Russian side of the gulf the same thing occurs. 



On the Norwegian coast, too, numerous travellers 

 will be aware that timber is found on the fiords and 

 rivers, beyond the arctic circle ; and those who have 

 visited the coasts of Alaska (formerly Russian America) 

 will be aware that the same statement will apply there also. 



Though the intense severity of an arctic winter is 

 as we see adverse to the growth of trees, doubtless 

 because of the shortness of the annual period of growth 

 and the prolonged sleep of plant life during the cold 

 period : it is not a little remarkable to find that a forest 

 covering to the earth is a great factor in retarding 

 the spring growth, and in increasing the rigour of the 

 climate generally. This has been put almost beyond 

 a doubt by the evidence of the early Canadian records, 

 which show that there has been a material improve- 

 ment in the climate there since the opening up of the 

 country by settlement, and the consequent clearing 

 of the forest; and if we think of it for a moment, it 

 is evident that the canopy of branches overhead must 

 seriously interfere with the action of the solar rays, in 

 melting snow, and loosening the iron fetters with which 

 the frost has bound up the earth. 



