THE ARCTIC LANDS, 



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tinuous belt, stretching through three jiarts of the A\orId, in ii breaJtli of from 

 15° to 20°, even the woods of the Amazon, which cover a surface fifteen times 

 greater than that of the United Kingdom, shrink into comparative insignifi- 

 cance. Unlike the tropical forests, which are characterized by an immense 

 variety of trees, these northern woods are almost entirely composed of couif- 

 erse, and one single kind of fir or piue often covers an immense extent of 



