THE ARCTIC LANDS. 21 



When the soil is moderately dry, the surface is covered by a dense carpet of 

 lichens {Cormcularice), mixed in damper spots with Icelandic moss. In more 

 tenacious soils, other plants flourish, not however to the exclusion of lichens, ex- 

 cept in tracts of meadow ground, which occur in sheltered situations, or in the 



C*^^ 



lAST OF LABKADUK. 



alluvial inundated flats where tall reed-grasses or dwarf willows frequently 

 grow as closely as they can stand. 



It may easily be supposed that the boundary-Une which separates the tun- 

 dri from the forest zone is both indistinct and irregular. In some parts where 

 the cold sea-winds have a Avider range, the barren grounds encroach consider- 



