CHAPTEE II. 



THE FORESTS OF ACADIE. 



A GLANCE at a physical map of the country will serve 

 to show the relative position of the main bodies of the 

 North American forest, the division of the woods where 

 the wedge-shaped north-western corner of the plains comes 

 in, and their well-defined limit on the edge of the barren 

 grounds, coincident with the line of perpetual ground 

 frost. 



Characterised by a predominance of coniferous trees, 

 the great belt of forest country which constitutes the 

 hunting grounds of the Hudson's Bay Company, has its 

 nearest approach to the Arctic Ocean in the Mackenzie 

 Valley, becoming ever more and more stunted and 

 monotonous until it merges at length into the barren 

 waste. 



In its southern extension, on meeting the northern 

 extremity of the prairies, it branches into two streams — 

 the one directed along the Pacific coast line and its great 

 mountain chain ; the other crossing the continent 

 diagonally between the boundaries of the plains and 

 Hudson's Bay towards the Atlantic. On this course 

 the forest soon receives important accessions of new 

 forms of trees, gradually introduced on approaching the 

 lake district, and loses much of its sterner character. 



