CHAPTER I. 



THE POLAR ZONE. 



INCLUDING ALL TRACTS OP LAND ABOVE LAT. 72o. 



THAT we may prize at its full value the scanty vegetation 

 of the Polar Zone, let us try to forget that such a thing as 

 a tree, or even a shrub, exists ; for nothing of the kind is 

 to be seen beyond 7 2 of latitude. Let us place ourselves 

 there in fancy, and look round ; and, that we may properly 

 enjoy the six weeks' summer, let us first imagine the state 

 of things through the long night of winter. All the great 

 white bears tucked up to sleep out the cold in their hol- 

 lowed beds of snow; the 'cold round moon' looking 

 steadily down on all that white, frozen world, never setting 

 for fourteen days and nights together, and only hiding her 

 face from her third to her first quarter, as if for sorrow 

 that she could then be of so little use ; but even then 



