DESERT OF ICE. 33 



no flowers would ever bloom in Spitzbergen or Nowaja Semlya, 

 where now many a ranunculus or purple silene 



' is born to blush unseen, 

 And waste its sweetness on the desert air 



but for this, no trace of verdure could ever enliven the deso- 

 late shore of Melville Island, or fringe the estuaries of the 

 Mackenzie. 



Many of the Arctic animals that have not been gifted with 

 the capacity, or the instinct, to undertake long journeys in quest 

 of a milder climate, likewise owe the preservation of their life 

 to the thick non-conducting snow-mantle under which they lie 

 concealed during the long winter months. Without this cover- 

 ing they would freeze in their burrows, or the iron soil would 

 refuse them the nourishment which they find by digging or 

 scratching in its entrails. 



What would become of the migratory birds, which, at the 

 beginning of summer, arrive in countless swarms on the banks 

 of the northern waters, if the snow had not harboured an infinite 

 number of worms under its warm cover ? And what would be the 

 fate of the rude inhabitants of the Arctic world, who, after the 

 long penury of winter, anxiously are awaiting their arrival, if 

 their winged legions were to omit their visits ? 



So much is certain, that if during the Arctic winter only cold 

 showers of rain fell upon the earth, or if the frozen aqueous 

 vapours of the atmosphere, instead of descending in light 

 flakes of snow, were to pour down in thick hailstones, vast 

 tracts of country now blooming with a rich summer vegetation, 

 and capable of affording nourishment to numerous animals, 

 would have been nothing but naked wastes. 



The loose movable nature of snow greatly facilitates its re- 

 moval from the highlands of the earth. Scarcely have the 

 warm breezes of spring fanned the mountain vales of Switzer- 

 land, when numberless small lavines are seen to descend from 

 every declivity like streamlets of floating silver. Their loud 

 voices sound like delightful music to the herdsman, who greets 

 them as the heralds of approaching abundance. For wherever 

 they leave the slope uncovered, the sun and rain act with a 

 double force, and thus in a short time vast quantities of snow, 

 which would have given way but slowly to the unassisted efforts 



D 



