vm 



port in forms more fantastic and extravagant ; but in colder 

 countries she compensates for the greater sameness of her 

 gifts by the prodigality* with which she bestows them, and 

 makes amends for the want of that gracefulness and delicacy 

 of outline which mark the vegetation of sunnier climes, by 

 the strength and loftiness of many of her productions, em- 

 blematic of the qualities of mind and body which belong to 

 the human race in these situations, and distinguish them 

 from the natives of the Tropics. 



And yet, notwithstanding the embarrassment we should 

 feel in finding appropriate terms to depict their distinctive 

 physiognomy, how different is the impression produced upon 

 the mind by a picture of the vegetation in each, such as 

 may be conveyed through the medium of verbal description ! 



* The exuberance of Nature by no means seems to diminish in proportion 

 as we approach the Polar Circle. On the contrary, as Professor Hausmann 

 has remarked, (' Essay on the Physiognomy of Scandinavia/) in these northern 

 regions the organic world is marked by even a greater multitude of individuals 

 belonging to the animal, as well as to the vegetable creation. Legions of 

 rats and mice people Norway and Sweden ; in Lapland the swarms of gnats 

 are so great, that he who travels in that country during summer must filter 

 the air through a veil ; thick Pine-forests cover the greater part of the habit- 

 able North ; Reindeer-moss overspreads the largest flat districts of Lapland ; 

 and Lichens are in such abundance, that Norway and Sweden send whole 

 shiploads of some of the species to England, where they are used in dyeing. 





