GLACIERS AND VOLCANOES 



75 



temperature than Scotland, but it has a much greater rain- 

 fall. This enormous precipitation on the Pacific coast has 

 a striking effect on the vegetation. The whole of south-eastern 

 Alaska is densely timbered with forests of spruce and hem- 

 lock, also red and yellow cedar and other trees, their luxurious 

 growth contrasting strongly with the open forests of the 

 interior and the more northern treeless barren-grounds. Yet 

 the lowlands of the interior are usually well wooded with 

 spruce, cottonwood, birch, willow and alder. At a height of 

 from about 2,000 to 3,000 feet above sea-level, forest growth 

 ceases altogether. Here the climate becomes continental in 

 character, with great extremes of heat and cold. In the 

 northern parts of the country the surface everywhere is 

 covered with dense growth of moss and grass, with an 

 abundance of wild flowers, whereas the ground beneath is 

 perpetually frozen. 



Alaska possesses many other features of unrivalled interest. 

 The magnificent peaks clustering about Mount Fairweather 

 as a centre, and containing Mount St. Elias, Mount Logan 

 and Mount McKinley, the latter with a height of 20,400 

 feet being the loftiest mountain in North America, have 

 excited the just admiration of those who have been fortunate 

 enough to visit this region. Splendid glaciers here and there 

 descend from the great mountain valleys down to sea-level, 

 while further west we notice in Mount Wrangell a fine example 

 of an active volcano. The vast glaciers have given rise to 

 the popular idea that Alaska is a country of unlimited snow 

 and ice. As a matter of fact they are almost entirely confined 

 to the Pacific mountain system. 



Near the sea border the climate is, as I mentioned, much 

 milder than in the interior of the country, yet an abundant 

 precipitation from the warm moisture -laden winds here pro- 

 duces the extensive snow-fields from which the glaciers are 

 fed. On the land side of the Pacific Mountain range glaciers 

 are very poorly developed. Further inland they are entirely 

 absent. 



Since a vast area of land in Alaska remains uncovered by 

 ice, in spite of a low mean temperature, we must recognise the 

 justice of Professor Whitney's assertion, that a still greater 

 increase of cold would not cover those regions with ice, nor 



