102 NORTH AMERICA 



teeming with fish, are another source of wealth. In 

 short, this northern Pacific coast affords a picture of 

 what the west coasts of Scotland and Ireland were like 

 previous to their complete ruin by man, with this differ- 

 ence, that the species of trees in our countries were not 

 so varied. The numerous islands are similarly clothed 

 with conifers. 



The eastern or landward slopes are decidedly drier. 

 In Alaska the timber-growth on the northern slopes 

 of the coast-range is much more scattered and loose, and 

 belongs to the ' scattering ' belt of the North Canadian 

 forest. 



Further south, the difference between the sea- and 

 land-slopes is marked by the abundance of the pine- 

 type on the inland side, and the thinner, shorter, 

 and poorer forest-growth. An increasingly meagre and 

 smaller kind of forest is carried along the coast-range 

 proper down to San Francisco : the Californian portion 

 which follows on the south is no longer timbered ; thin 

 woodland patches of some extent can only be seen 

 occasionally. The predominant vegetation is now the 

 ' chaparral ' or scrub ; yet in northern California the 

 Californian red- wood, with the Monterey cypress, form 

 stately forests with a dense undergrowth of hard-leaf 

 evergreens. 



Behind the coast-range, and still able, thanks to their 

 superior elevation, to condense a fair amount of moiscure 

 from the sea-winds, the southern Cascades offer in a 

 lighter form the same vegetation, in which douglasias, 

 tsugas, and spruces are conspicuous. The sugar-pine 

 attains here the largest proportions, and several kinds 

 of silver-firs are found on the upper slopes. The eastern 

 slopes are again poorer, for the forest growth becomes 

 patchy and scattered, with hardly any cover on the 



